Consequence of the Prophecy
Chapter 16: Voldemort's REAL Fury
"Can you tell us the story again, Harry?" Hermione asked on the teenagers' way to King's Cross.
"Again?" the girl sighed. "How many times do I need to say it? It's uncomfortable, you know."
"I know, but Riddle might have let something slip. We need the exact memory." Draco advised.
"Heard you needed to share something. By the way, there's a small Pensieve on the side of the car." Arthur informed the group who had stubbornly refused to be separated into different cars.
"Harry? Do the honours please." Ron said, smiling with that sincere smile that Harry recognised; the typical Ron smile.
Harry extracted the white wisp from her forehead and set it into the tiny Pensieve, which immediately projected the memory out as no face could fit into that Pensieve.
Flashback
"Crucio!" Voldemort yelled at absolutely every Death Eater in the near vicinity. "WHERE WERE YOU?"
"My Lord, we were, erm, defeated by Potter and his blood-traitor friends." Bellatrix said regrettably.
"WHAT?" Voldemort screamed till his red eyes almost popped out. "DID YOU KILL ANYONE?"
"We turned that Mudblood into a werewolf." Bella announced happily.
"Good. Did she die?" Voldemort asked.
"Not sure, My Lord. She doesn't deserve to live though." Bellatrix said maniacally, laughing crazily at the last sentence.
"How many losses do we have?" Voldemort asked.
"Greyback, Nott, Gibbon and a few others." Bellatrix lowered her head.
"WHAT!" Voldemort shrieked. "Gellert!"
"What?" Grindelwald asked casually.
"Go torture these idiots." Voldemort said, pointing at the returning gang. "Oh in the name of Salazar's locket, Hufflepuff's cup and Ravenclaw's diadem, this is turning out terribly."
"What was that about?" Grindelwald asked.
"CRUCIO!" Voldemort yelled, angry at being interrupted.
"Actually Gellert, I need you." Grindelwald looked up. "Capture Harry Potter's friends. Any one of them."
"Which one?" Grindelwald asked.
"Any. ANY ONE." Voldemort sneered. "Hold them in captivity and then Potter will come stupidly and kill himself."
"Alright." Grindelwald quickly brushed himself up. "When?"
"When they're at the platform." Voldemort informed the dark wizard.
"My Lord, can I come too?" Bellatrix asked. "I won't fail you, I promise."
"No Bella." Voldemort restrained. "I have another job for you."
"What is it, My Lord?" Bella asked quickly.
"Torture these imbeciles that failed me. I need to think." Voldemort informed.
"Easy. CRUCIO!" Bellatrix cast at her so-called colleagues.
The Death Eaters yelled in agony as the memory faded into oblivion.
End Flashback
"So what do you think? Anything?" Neville asked after a minute of deliberation.
Luna thought hard before saying his opinion. "We're safe. We have the mirror and we don't look the same. As long as we stay vigilant, we'll be on the train in no time."
The Ministry driver leaned back. "We're reaching in 5 minutes. Get ready with your trunks."
"Should we stay away?" Draco asked.
"Yes. Don't mix with us. Molly and Arthur can't as well as it'd be a dead giveaway." Harry told the Slytherins and Astoria. "No one that normally mixes with Harry Potter."
"We don't mix with Harry Potter." Daphne said. "Normally, at least."
"I know but Grindelwald will inform Tom of you changing sides and you'd be in trouble." Harry warned.
"Just pretend you don't know us as other's won't as well." Ron said.
"Wait. Won't they take Ron and Ginny as each other?" Astoria asked.
"True." Ron conceded.
"I can change their hair colour. I think we're safe here. Ready?" Draco asked.
"Erm… is this permanent?" the siblings asked hesitantly.
"Nope, it'll wear off after an hour." Draco said.
"Colour?" Ron asked.
"I'll change Ginny's to jet-black hair and Ron's to blond." Draco replied, readying his wand.
"Alright. Ready." Ginny said. Ron, on the other hand, was just stunned.
"Blond?" she finally muttered. "No way in hell!"
"Want to be captured?" Draco shot back. "This is a matter of life and death here, people."
Ron sighed. "I guess…"
Draco smiled, muttered the Transfiguration spell and Ron and Ginny's hair changed on the spot.
"Not bad, guys." Luna complimented. "Ron looks exactly how I looked before this incident, except the unbrushed hair." Ron blushed.
"And Ginny looks like Harry before this incident without glasses, the scar and the emerald eyes." Neville started.
"We're here! Ready?" Arthur called out.
"Almost!" Hermione replied. "Draco, can you make Ron's hair a little bushy?"
"Sure." A flick of the hawthorn wand rectified that.
"Right, come on. Let's go." Ron told the audience. "See ya 'round, Slytherins."
"Later." Draco waved and Daphne smiled.
"Arthur, can you and Molly not follow us to the platform?" Harry asked. "Please. It's necessary."
"Why?" the Weasley patriarch demanded.
"Arthur, I heard from Tom that Grindelwald is looking to capture one of my friends, therefore we need to make sure that we're not around anyone Harry would normally be with. Draco, Daphne and Astoria separated from us so their betrayal isn't known to Tom yet. You've got to persuade Molly."
"Who's Tom?" Arthur asked, confused.
"Voldemort." Harry said with zero fear whatsoever.
Arthur looked apprehensive at the name but at Harry's firmness, nodded.
"Where's Ron and Ginny?" Arthur asked, scanning the gang.
"Draco Transfigured their hair to make them unrecognisable. Ron's the blonde girl with curly hair and Ginny's the boy with black, messy hair."
"Alright thanks." Arthur smiled. "I'll tell Molly for you."
"Thank you, Arthur. See you for Christmas." Harry replied happily.
"Enjoy school, Harry." Arthur waved off the redhead.
"Come on guys, let's go. You can never be too early." Hermione encouraged.
"Alright, and remember, STAY ALERT." Luna warned. "Them Nargles are around often."
"Grindelwald's a Nargle?" Ron joked. "Didn't know he was one. Any Spectrespecs?"
Harry smiled. Always count on Ron to provide positive energy.
"Just walk quickly. The platform is on the right so when we're there, we need to be the most vigilant. Get into the train early." Harry warned the small crowd before they ran into the platform.
Draco raised his eyebrows as he, Daphne and Astoria made their way to the platform.
"You first, Mudbloods, blood traitors, and idiots in general." Draco sneered, but his eyes gave away that he didn't mean it.
"Alright." Harry said smugly.
Harry, Ron and Hermione went first, followed by Ginny, Neville and Luna. As Ginny, the last one among them started his run, Draco advised, "Remember: constant vigilance."
Ginny smiled as he went through the wall.
"Come on, let's go. Quickly." Harry urged.
The sextuple boarded the train, and waited for Draco, Daphne and Astoria before finding a carriage as they knew the Slytherins weren't far behind. They didn't know where Grindelwald was, and they didn't really care. They managed to avoid captivity, and that was all that mattered.
"There you are!" Daphne greeted.
"Apologise for my name-calling. I just want to disguise it and make it looked like I never changed." Draco said, bowing his head.
"No worries, Draco, we understand. Now let's go find a compartment." Hermione forgave for everyone else.
They ventured through the carriages, one by one, until they saw Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick waiting for them.
"Professor McGonagall!" Hermione greeted politely. "Professor Flitwick!" The others quickly echoed the brown-haired boy.
"Mr. Granger." the Gryffindor Head of House addressed.
"We've arranged private rooms for you 6, in the train and in the castle. Do you want to have a look at it?" Flitwick explained.
Harry looked around, everyone just shrugged. "Sure." she said.
"Follow us." McGonagall instructed. The 9 friends followed, including Draco, Daphne and Astoria.
"Are you sure you want the 3 of them to be with you? This is supposed to be private." Flitwick asked, gesturing to the Slytherins and Astoria.
"We've bonded over the holidays, it's alright." Ron insisted. Harry, admittedly was a little surprised, as Ron was a little cold to the Slytherins when they joined the gang.
"Alright, up to you." McGonagall insisted. Their carriage was apparently the last.
"What do you want the password to be?" Flitwick asked as they arrived at their carriage. It disguised itself with the rest of the train, but clearly no one that knew the password couldn't get in.
"What do you want the password to be?" McGonagall asked.
Everyone looked at Harry, who scratched her head, clearly under pressure.
"Whisper your password at the disguised window to set the password and open the door." McGonagall instructed.
Harry continued thinking, thousands of potential passwords going through her mind. Finally, she decided on one.
"Lost family." she whispered. Something shared with Neville, Luna and Draco.
The door opened to reveal an excellent suite.
"Oh wow." Ron breathed.
The suite had 3 sofas for 2 people each, with comfy pillows around them. There was a bathroom, a shared bathroom as all of them have been in both genders and they've seen the other side's… yeah, you get the idea. There was ample spaces for many trunks, as many as 12 and even a cage for Hedwig, Pigwidgeon and Celeste, Draco's owl.
"Not bad." Neville complimented.
"Not bad?" Astoria looked at the girl. "This is awesome!"
"Are we allowed to stay?" Draco asked.
"You can invite whoever you choose. That's all we have to say, so we think we'll leave you to it." McGonagall said courteously and the two Professors Apparated back to Hogwarts.
"We'll be sitting just here, ok?" Daphne said, pointing at the last carriage before their private one.
"Up to you." Harry shrugged. "We're not dictators."
"Here it is then." Daphne concluded as Draco dumped his trunk on the floor loudly. Too loud though, as the trunk broke, spilling all its contents.
"Shoot." Draco swore.
"We're an hour early, chill." Ginny sighed.
"We'll help." Neville offered her former nemesis.
"Thanks, thanks." Draco smiled.
The mess was cleaned up in 10 minutes and the trunk was Reparoed. The gang just played Exploding Snap for 45 minutes as the train filled up. Then… some unwelcome people arrived.
"What's this?" Pansy sneered as Harry packed up the game. "Draco, dating that Weaslette?" as she only saw the back of Harry.
Harry turned white at that familiar voice and rushed into the carriage, slamming the door behind her.
"What's that about?" Theo asked firmly and harshly as he entered with Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle and the other Slytherins, with the exception of one Tracy Davis.
"Stupid interference." Draco scowled, but he recognised an Extendable Ear peeking out; Theo didn't care.
"Stupid interference?" he asked sarcastically. Draco shuddered. Theo really was scary at the best of times.
"Be careful Malfoy. You wouldn't want to screw up, would you? Thin ice is between you and the Dark Lord, and you seem like you want to break it." Theo sneered. "You ain't getting out of here."
Draco just sighed, bored but inside, he felt worried. How much did Theo know?
"Come on Daphne, blood-traitors don't deserve our attention." Theo acted as the ring-leader now and Draco felt scared. Blood-traitor?
Of course, Harry and the others heard this and was shocked at Theo's words.
"Blood-traitor?" Ron questioned.
"Dunno." Ginny sighed. "What we know is that Draco's definitely on our side now and Theo certainly is on Tom's. I think he's our main target over the school year."
"Target?" Luna asked. "What exactly do you mean by target?"
"Our so-called 'person we need to stalk so he doesn't get up to any funny business'." Ginny explained in a hilarious manner. Everyone laughed.
During the next few hours, the friends discussed Horcruxes and Nott, while Draco just sulked and pretending to read a textbook, with a Theo Nott eye on him the whole time. However, he put his mirror into his textbook, so if someone called he could reply instantly. And someone did call.
"Harry?" the blond boy whispered.
"Draco, get to the toilet. Then we'll talk." Harry whispered.
Draco got up and Nott instantly asked, "Where're you going?"
"Toilet." he said, stuffing the mirror in his pocket hoping Nott didn't see it. He did.
"Stupefy!" the teenage Death Eater cast.
"Protego!" Draco quickly retaliated and the Stunner bounced harmlessly off the shield and at Pansy's trunk, making a hole in it. Harry saw the duel, and sprung into action under the Invisibility Cloak.
"Guys, go change. I'll deal with Theo." Harry whispered as she draped the Cloak over herself.
"Petrificus Totalus!" she casted. Nott was hit and Pansy was furious.
"Diffindo!" the pug-faced Slytherin yelled.
She missed, obviously.
"Stupefy!" Zabini got involved, shooting one at Harry, but barely missed.
The redhead retaliated with a Stunner of her own, but also missed. Crabbe and Goyle attempted to cast Stunners, but couldn't even get red light to appear. Pansy went for the kill.
"Sectumsempra!" She yelled at what looked like air. The spell hit Harry's ankle, severing it and causing the girl to reveal herself and Ron to come out in anger.
"Stupefy!" Ron shouted. Hermione yelled, "Obliviate!" behind her.
The Stunner hit Pansy and the Memory Charm missed the girl, hitting Goyle, who fell back in confusion.
"Daphne, treat Harry!" Draco yelled as he shot a Incarcenous at Crabbe, who was bound to the seat.
Daphne looked at it, recognised the Sectumsempra spell and tried the spell to cure it, but only managed to stop the bleeding. It seemed that Harry's left ankle was permanently severed off.
"Harry, I can't save your ankle. The most I can do is stop the blood flowing." Daphne said regretfully.
"Whatever! Just do anything you can!" Harry yelped. The pain was getting unbearable.
"Ginny? Neville? Luna?" Daphne called out. "Can help?"
Ginny saw Harry's ankle and freaked out. Big time.
"Reducto!" he yelled at Zabini and Milicent Bulstrode, but the former used a Protego and it bounced off and hit Pansy's unconscious body, ricocheting off her left index finger, breaking it off.
"Confringo!" Bulstrode yelled. The spell was deadly, forcing Ron and Neville go to ground.
It blasted a window off the Express, yet somehow there still was no interference from teachers.
"Slugulus Erecto!" Zabini shot at Harry to compound her misery, but it was absorbed by Ron. The first slug came out in minutes.
"Flipendo!" Neville yelled, knocking Zabini into Bulstrode and they both smashed into the wall, breaking a window. Daphne, Astoria and Luna were all attempting to treat Harry and Ron, but to no avail. Especially Harry.
"What happened?" Harry asked weakly. Ron spit out an especially gooey slug that was ditched by Hermione out of the open window and another smaller one was threw through the half-broken one by Ginny.
"Transfigure a bucket people." Daphne asked.
Hermione did the favours just in time for Ron's next slug.
"And a stick?" Daphne asked next.
"Stick?" Neville asked incredulously.
"Harry has to walk doesn't she?" Astoria asked like it was obvious. It probably was for a few people. "It's only temporary."
"Oh… Of course." Neville stammered.
Hermione, as usual, did the business.
"Thanks Hermione. Always could rely on you." Harry whispered, before finally falling into unconsciousness like most of the Slytherins on the floor. Crabbe moaned under the pressure of the ropes and Goyle just lay there, asking a million questions.
"What is going on." Ginny moaned.
"Can someone undo the Memory Charm on Goyle?" Draco asked.
"Why?" Hermione asked. Ron still couldn't speak, but nodded with Hermione.
"Evidence." Draco said plainly. "They have evidence we attacked them." Crabbe yelled but Draco lazily silenced and stupefied him. He then continued, "We have evidence through Harry's severed ankle and Ron's continuous slug-vomiting. But so do they. They might get all 15 or 16 of us expelled."
"Oh sh*t." Ginny swore.
"I know a False Memory Charm." Hermione suddenly spoke up. "I could implant new memories into his mind."
"What mind?" Goyle asked in a slurred voice. "Who am I?"
Hermione started casting the charm, but Draco and Ginny stopped him.
"What?" he protested.
"Give him a girl's mind so he goes nuts. Then we can just say he went crazy in the thing. Modify Crabbe's as well as he listened to quite our conversation." Draco said.
Hermione smirked. Unlike what many thought, he did have a sense of humour.
"Sure." He modified Crabbe and Goyle's memories to 13 year old girls'.
"Oh crap, it's my period today!" Goyle yelped, running to the girl's toilet, getting weird stares from everyone. Draco laughed after he closed the carriage door.
"He looks like such an idiot." Draco laughed.
"Rennervate! Finite Incantatem!" Daphne cast at Crabbe between giggles.
"Goyle? Where are you? Did you take my skirt?" Crabbe asked, stumbling out. "We still got to talk to Theo about our first Hogsmeade date afterwards!"
Hermione chuckled. "This is so funny." Ron agreed by nodding, and a slug or two came out.
"That's gross." Ginny said, but smiled.
The Great Hall met quite a few interesting scenes that night; a red-haired girl with a peg foot, another red-haired girl vomited slugs, less continuously and a brown-haired boy devouring medium-rare meat at an incredible rate. And Crabbe and Goyle in skirts was also a cool sight. The Golden Sextuple sat at a private table with Draco, Daphne and Astoria, while everyone else looked at them weirdly.
Dumbledore called for attention.
"Dumbledore, what is going on?" Seamus Finnigan called out. "The new students get a private table with those Stupherins, and one of them has a peg leg?" Harry looked at the Irish boy icily. "And where's Harry?"
"Good question, Mr Finnigan. So the 6 people over there, with an exception to Mr Malfoy and Misses Greengrass, are actually familiar friends to you, especially the Gryffindors." Dumbledore addressed. "Your friends actually are sitting on that table, gender-swapped."
"Hey Seamus!" Harry waved.
"What turned you into the Girl-Who-Lived to have a peg foot?" Dean yelled across the hall. "And what turned Hermione into a ravenous carnivore?"
Hermione looked up. "Wut?" he said with his mouth full.
Ron shook her head. "I thought you were the one criticising me when I ate with my mouth full." she said sarcastically. Hermione shook his head violently as he tried to swallow his food.
"What is wrong with the world!" Seamus yelled. Everyone laughed. "And Harry, what in the world are you doing with Draco effing Malfoy?"
"He changed sides." Harry said coldly.
"That's it?" Seamus asked sarcastically. "He changed sides?"
"I told you Harry Potter was a fraud!" Zacharias Smith yelled. "How on earth does he, or she now, have any superpower if she had been gender-swapped and lost a foot?"
"She's not invincible!" Ginny yelled; his new masculine voice was loud and clear, silencing almost all. "Sometimes we do screw up once in a while, as if you'd been so awesome against You-Know-Who? Or you want me to bring him here now?" Zacharias turned white.
"SILENCE!" Dumbledore shouted as the talk resurfaced.
After dinner, Nott confronted Harry, Ron and Hermione in a corridor while they went to the Gryffindor common room.
"The Golden Trio?" Nott guffawed. "More like the Broken Trio! All gender-swapped, the Girl-Who-Lived with a peg leg, the Weasley traitor vomiting slugs, the Mudblood still a Mudblood! Going down to the Dark Lord, you three idiots are."
"Get lost, Nott." Ron said threateningly as she moved away quickly.
"Ah, Weasley!" Nott taunted. "So now you want to befriend Malfoy for money, huh? D'you know I've got a million Galleons and none are going to you?"
Ron snapped quickly and slapped Nott across the face, pining him to a pillar. Harry had flashbacks to when Hermione slapped Draco in her 3rd year, as it was remarkably similar. Ron was turning red with anger.
"Sectumsempra!" Pansy yelled. The spell missed Ron and blasted at the wall, alarming a portrait.
"20 points from Slytherin!" Hermione docked from the offending House.
"A thousand points from Gryffindor!" Pansy replied.
"That's another 5 points from Slytherin for attempting sabotage." McGonagall told the girl, who turned white quickly and moved away. "10 points from Gryffindor for physical conduct." she said, seeing Ron's fist an inch from Nott's face.
Ron let go and whispered to Harry, "Worth it."
Harry smiled.