Hi. We are disclaiming that we don't own Harry Potter, or else we'd be J.K. Rowling and not Jeli. Jeli is the misspelled word for stuff you spread over toast and Rowling's a famous author. So, we just borrowed her characters, you know, to have a bit of fun. (Like beat up McGonagall).
Dragon Scales
(part 2)
~
Several hours before opening night, Dumbledore and Minerva were killing time with an excellent game of chess.
Decisively, she moved her chessman and cocked her head. "Check."
Dumbledore stroked his beard, leaned forward to pick up his knight, and SWOOSH! There was a ruffle of feathers, the chessboard was knocked three feet in the air, and a message promptly fell into Minerva's lap. It was addressed to the Headmaster, so she handed it to him. It bore the seal of the Ministry.
"Bad situation…Voldemort's rounded up Muggles…lining them up and killing them off…" He shook his head sadly, taking out his wand, about to Apparate.
"W-what….where?"
By then, Dumbledore had disappeared.
About an hour before the start of tonight's, show, the cast and crew started to arrive. Hagrid directed everyone to their costumes while Minerva examined the props for the millionth time. Miriam had taken charge of applying stage make-up.
She was distorting Fudge's skin by wrinkling it and making it look deathly white.
"Put your wand down. It's getting in the way."
He tightened his hold on it.
Miriam sighed. "It's not like you're going to lose it again." She yanked it out of his grasp. It gave off funny vibrations.
"Hurry up. We're going to be late." Fudge had done the rest of the make-up by himself and had succeeded in looking very evil. "It's time to go on."
Fumbling on the opening lines, Howard was not his usually cheery self. He was not the only one. The other actors were dispirited when they heard the reason of Dumbledore's absence, and it was affecting their performance.
What's taking Albus so long? It's been nearly seven hours since he's left? Lost in thought, Minerva stopped playing the background music. Why am I directing a play? There are people dying by the thousands, and I'm just sitting here playing the piano?
She thudded an angry chord to the astonishment of Miriam and Niles, who were reading baby Harry a story onstage.
He probably doesn't want my help. The last time…
During the rise of Voldemort, Dumbledore had established a hit-and-run group of several highly talented wizards in all fields of magic, she the youngest member. On her first mission, she was to slip into a fortified base as a cat, and deactivate the defense mechanism. Anxious to finish the job, she did not completely override the code…
To Miriam, the scenes flew by quickly. Very soon she was on the ground, 'dead.'
Fudge was mumbling something, but she was lost in thought. The floor smelled of fresh cedar…Fudge was laughing hysterically, menacingly, over Harry's crib. Miriam gasped and bolted upright. "The dragon scales!"
"DILOSOXYS UPINUWROG!"
Minerva was tugged out of her thoughts as the Minister gave a startling laugh. He seemed to be mocking her. As Miriam sat up, Minerva yanked out her wand. She pointed it at Harry's crib. "DILOSOXYS UPINUWROG!" Her voice was lost in the screams of the audience as Fudge shot the Unforgivable Spell, aimed high at the defenseless baby Harry.
A scarlet dome encircled him.
Cornelius spun around, infuriated. He began an onslaught of curses directed towards McGonagall.
Before Miriam had a chance to attack, she was brought down by a tackle from Nixon.
Pandemonium broke out. There was chaos in the audience. Wizards Disapparated as parents rushed their children towards the exit.
Angry spells flashed back and forth as Miriam dueled with Nixon.
"Impedimenta!"
Taking advantage of the fact that he was rooted to the ground, she darted in and out, hitting him with the most powerful spells she knew.
By now, Harry was about the size of an adorable six year old. He was also stuck in the crib. Desperately, he rocked back and forth, trying to topple it over.
Minerva wondered how long she could keep Harry's force field intact. Voldemort's attacks had not lessened one bit.
A blinding light flashed through the auditorium, and for a split second Minerva was unable to see. There was a deep rumble, humming and thundering. A powerful force blasted her off her feet as she shot backwards with tremendous speed. The opposing force was the wall. Minerva's head reeled as she crumpled to the floor. The thing Minerva wanted most was sleep, and as she gave in, the world became a swirl of darkness. Meanwhile, Harry's force field flickered and died.
Sirius had seen the battle, and called Hale and the others over. Seeing Pettigrew fighting along side the Death Eaters, he jumped right in, ready for combat.
"Wormtail," growled Sirius, lunging for Peter. A huge hand pushed down Black as a flash of black light sped over his head.
"Yer hafta watch yer back." Advised Hagrid, punching the daylights out of a Dark wizard.
Minerva thought she heard a beautiful phoenix song float from a far distance. Dumbledore was standing in front of her; his eyes were stormy and terrible. He raised his wand…it began to glow fire-hot in her side…Thickly, Minerva tried to cry out…the wand burned brighter than ever…"never desert those in need of help. Do not fail them..." The while-hot wand dug into her, as Albus disappeared in a mist of color. Minerva woke with a start, and swept beads of sweat from her brow.
Her first thought, which brought a hot surge of shame, was of Harry, whom she'd left to face Voldemort. After picking up her wand, which was smoldering strangely, she dashed off to find the boy.
Her frantic search brought her backstage, where Voldemort loomed over Harry, who glared defiantly back at the man.
"Give me a wand, and I'll kill you." He shouted, hate flickering in his eyes. "I'll kill you the way you killed my parents. You're nothing but a coward."
The Dark Lord laughed. "I've waited too long for this, Potter." He raised his wand.
With a pop Harry disappeared. McGonagall had Disapparted him out of the auditorium and into Hogsmeade.
Voldemort shook his head. "You meddle too much, Professor. Let's duel, shall we?"
They both whipped out their wands with incredible speed. Voldemort muttered spell after spell as Minerva countered or dodged them. He noted that she was very talented at dueling. Almost as good as Dumbledore.
His thoughts were pierced by an onslaught of spells from McGonagall. The Dark Lord nodded approvingly. Not many wizards who dueled with him actually survived long enough to launch attacks at him. He supposed it was time to move the level of difficulty up a notch.
Sirius smiled at his handiwork. His opponent was bound, gagged, and unconscious. He glanced at Hagrid and Howard. They were still fighting Pettigrew.
Sirius sprinted over. "Hello, Wormtail!" Peter's eyes widened, facing the three angry wizards. It was clear he wanted to Disapparate.
"Stupefy!" Howard's spell brought Peter down in an ungraceful heap. A few more spells and Pettigrew was bound as well.
"Now we can hand him to the Ministry." Sirius said with satisfaction.
Severus was dueling with a Dark wizard. He had a bloody shoulder and a damaged left arm, but his foe was definitely worse off.
Bang. Snape looked very smug as he blasted his enemy into oblivion.
Miriam was running out of ideas. She had never needed to call upon deadly curses right off the top of her head before.
"Expelliarmus" Her wand shot out of her hand. Nile looked triumphant.
Oh, please work. "Accio wand."
Nile lunged forward to catch the magical rod. It did an about-face, and flew straight into Miriam's outstretched hand.
She muttered a Furnunculus Curse and silently cursed herself when explosions of light obstructed her view. A punch came out of nowhere. Then, a hex.
It brought her down. He stood lingering above her, wand pointed at her chest. Though panting hard, he was smiling broadly. Then it faded.
"Darn, I can't think of a good curse to kill you with….what are you laughing at?"
Miriam was grinning with a maniac smile on her face.
"Have you finally lost it, in your final—" Whatever Nile was going to say, it never came out of his mouth. He froze and became a handsome ice sculpture.
Howard was standing behind Nixon, trying for all the world to look like a gallant knight, wand still poised. He offered Miriam a hand.
An almost unheard of curse brought Minerva down. As the spell hit, the make-up table collapsed on top of her, partially burying her with cosmetics and broken planks. Minerva's wand was knocked askew from her grasp, and it landed a mere distance away from the outstretched tips of her fingers. She strained her hand until her fingers encircled the bit of magic wood. There was a distinct crunch as a black polished boot ground into the underside of her arm. Voldemort smiled with pleasure as he heard bones crackle and shatter under the intense pressure. "You've given me a creative idea, Professor. This ought to be entertaining to watch: Fracturis Skilletius!" He pointed his wand at Minerva's lower body. "Enjoy."
Minerva inhaled deeply and tried to clear her mind of the agonizing pain that was rippling through her body. Stay in focus, she reprimanded herself angrily. What would Dumbledore do if her were here? She already knew the answer.
Severus had a giant wad of bandages being wound on his shoulder by Flitwick.
"Anyone else hurt?" He glanced at Hagrid, then Howard, and finally Sirius, who was punching Peter and making incoherent threats under his breath. "Yeah, I think I bruised a knuckle."
"Don't!" Flitwick squeaked. "You'll wake him up. We have to take him like this to the Ministry. They should be coming soon."
Voldemort watched the professor with overwhelming distaste. She looked like she was meditating.
"Are you trying to think your way through this battle, McGonagall?" He gave a slight chuckle. "Since dueling failed, thinking is your next best option?"
He flicked his wrist. "Well, ponder over this."
A few seconds later, a man tumbled over. "What der 'eck?" he gasped, still disoriented from his flight.
Voldemort greeted him. "It's been a long time, Rubeus."
The giant sprung up, hands reaching for his throat.
"Well, then, Crucio."
Minerva froze in horror. She heard Hagrid screaming, and she knew she'd failed one more person today.
"A-VA-DA." Pointing his wand at Hagrid, Voldemort pronounced each syllable loud and clear for McGonagall to hear. "KE-"
Surprising both herself and the Dark Lord, Minerva bounded up, her broken limbs forgotten, pushing off the rubble that trapped her down. She grabbed at his wand, trying to wrench it away as he stuttered "davra". It broke with a loud snap. The curse went wild. It zipped past Hagrid and hit the mirror before it rebounded back on its maker. In that instant, Hagrid's torture stopped.
Minerva's leg crumpled and she fell down, blinking from the pain.
"What on earth's happened here?" asked a shocked Snape, poking his head through the torn stage curtain and looking quite ridiculous. Flitwick wasted no words as he sent an incinerating flame towards Voldemort's fallen body. As the fire lapped up the flesh, a dark presence rose, lingered a moment, and disappeared.
No one spoke for a long time.
"Sirius, are Neville, Ron and Hermione—"
With a small screech the side door opened and in walked Albus Dumbledore. One look at the stage, and he stopped. He gazed at the dead bodies, the wounded actors, and Hagrid, still moaning.
"Howard, Severus, take the wounded up to the Infirmary. Poppy will be able to fix them up."
"Where is Voldemort?" Albus inquired after they left.
"I don't know," Flitwick said, puzzled. "Minerva snapped his wand and the Avada Kedavra spell got him. That's all that remains of his body." He pointed at a pile of ashes.
In the Hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey hurriedly gave Hagrid a mug full of bluish liquid. "Here, drink up. It'll help the ache go away." She then quickly moved on to McGonagall, who was lying on a bed.
"Minerva, are you alright?" Taking out her wand, she meticulously began giving odd taps to McGonagall's legs. "Ferula," Madam Pomfrey murmured, and bandages wrapped themselves around McGonagal's bones. "You feel a bit stiff tonight. Take those pills if the pain gets to you."
"Poppy, I'll be fine. Others need attention, too."
Dumbledore and his former actors searched around Hogsmeade the whole night without success. Owls flew back and forth between them and the Ministry, all bring disappointment. Nothing worked. It was as if Fudge had plunged into another realm.
"Look, Polyjuice Potion." Howard handed Dumbledore the small plastic can. "I found it inside a trash can backstage. It was enchanted to look like a tube of lipstick."
Dumbledore took it, frowning with worry. "I should never have left. An attack in Latvia, of all places… just a trick to lure me away."
That night, Miriam's dreams were vague and troubled. She saw the fake Fudge, heard the laugh…the wand she knew was missing dragon scales…so it must be another wand belonging to someone else…Voldemort. Her nightmares ended with the dueling…Pettigrew, Sirius, McGonagall and Voldemort, Nixon's frozen dead body—
Something wet and feathery grazed across her cheek, and she woke up.
A barn owl had settled by her pillow, a damp envelope clamped in his beak. She blinked. Outside, it was drizzling lightly. The owl dropped the letter and flew away.
Anticipating news, Miriam unfolded the newspaper clipping. It was from the Daily Prophet.
Double Attacks by The Dark Lord
At 5:30 this morning, Mundungus Fletcher, a Hit Wizard in the Ministry, found the body of Cornelius Fudge.
"Shocking," says Fletcher. "Unbelievable, how You-Know-Who has impacted the Magical Community. This will cause mayhem in England. The death of our own Minister!"
The body, cleverly concealed by numerous spells, was found in Fudge's own office—one of the first places searched.
This is not the only piece of astounding news, however. Only last night in Hogsmeade, You-Know-Who pretended to be Fudge by using the Polyjuice Potion. He was helped by Nile Nixon, acclaimed actor and recent member of the DADA League.
Miriam shuddered and stopped reading. The article only confirmed what she had been thinking since last night. Voldemort never left loose ends untied.
Along with the clipping was a note, written in Dumbledore's own loopy handwriting. Obeying the instructions, she dressed quickly and flew back to the Hogsmeade Auditorium.
Many of the former actors were already there. Sirius, Flitwick, and Hale were in a corner, talking grimly. Dumbledore paced on stage, while Minerva sat, frowning, reading the Daily Prophet. Severus Snape stood off to the side, wearing a curious expression.
"Good morning, Miriam." Dumbledore greeted. He gave her a grave smile. "I take it you've heard the news?"
"Yes." She didn't know what else to say.
In a few moments giant footfalls announced Hagrid's arrival. Behind him, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville ran panting.
"Ah yes." Dumbledore clapped his hands. "We are all here. Last night Minerva told me all that happened."
There was silence, so he kept talking. "I think, for the most part, everyone agrees that Voldemort has vanished again. The loss of his wand will decrease his powers greatly. You have all shown courage and good sense last night. We—"
There was a small pop, and a tall witch appeared. "Sorry to interrupt, Albus, but the Ministry's sent me here with important news."
"Yes, Arabella?"
"Firstly, the date of Cornelius Fudge's funeral will be on Sunday, a week from now. The procession will start at the Head Quarters of the Ministry and the memorial service will be held at Hogsmeade Cemetery. Your presence is requested."
She paused. "Secondly, Peter Pettigrew has been questioned last night under powerful Veritaserum. He admitted on the radio how he betrayed the Potters and that all these years, he had been working for Voldemort. As we speak, he is headed for a life-sentence in Azkaban. Mr. Black, you are welcomed back into the Magical Community by the common public, and we apologize deeply for your wrongful imprisonment—"
Cheers and shouts from everyone drowned out Arabella Figg's voice. Harry was yelling louder that anyone else. Sirius ran over and gave Harry a huge hug.
"—be prepared for the swarm of reporters headed your way, Sirius!"
Ms. Figg reached into her robe pocket and brought out a small velvet box. She waited until the happy hubbub receded. "Lastly, Minerva McGonagall, you are commended for your bravery last night. By an unanimous vote the Ministry has awarded you with Order of Merlin, First Class!"
There was tumultuous applause as Minerva, rather red in the face, walked up to receive her medal.
* * *
The day after Fudge's funeral, Harry was poring over the Daily Prophet with Sirius.
"Hey, whatcha doing?" asked Ron, plopping himself down next to him.
"House-shopping. Want to go check out this house with Sirius and me?" He jabbed his wand at the picture. It started moving like a Muggle movie. Pictures of the yard, kitchen, and bathrooms flashed across the page. "Cool…"
By the end of the school year, the house had been bought, and Sirius and Harry were ready to move in. Harry felt giddy with happiness and Sirius hummed with delight.
When they reached King's Cross, Harry told Ron and Hermione, "You can come over during the summer! Sirius says he'll tell us of all the top-secret passageways that aren't on the Marauder's Map!"
Saying this, he headed towards the Dursleys, with Sirius by his side.
Uncle Vernon was eyeing Hedwig. "If that ruddy owl makes a racket at night again then I'll—"
"Hello, Uncle Vernon. Meet my godfather, Sirius. You know, the one who escaped wizard prison…"
Sorry for the long delay. It's hard for two people to write together…serious arguments have taken place. Please review? Our next story will take place the summer after this story. It will be long.
~Jeli