Disclaimer: I only own the story
Author's notes: see bottom of page
Every Time I Close My Eyes - Chapter 21
Lupin saw Harry sprawled inside the room with the Geolite, then
Mortority sent another curse, slamming the door shut before he could do
anything. Lupin stood up from behind the desk, shouting, "Reducto!", but
Mortority dove to the side out of view. Then Lupin heard "Expelliarmus!"
and with horror watched his wand soar across the room. Mortority re-
appeared, a wand in each hand, his frozen smile returning.
"Hello Werewolf." A wand was extended, Lupin turned towards the door,
heard, "Crucio!" and closed his eyes in expectance of the pain. But it
didn't come. He turned and saw Mortority backing away from Hagrid,
who seemed to be brandishing an umbrella at him.
"Expelliarmus!" Hagrid boomed, then deftly caught both wands, throwing
one to Lupin. Lupin walked over and stood next to him, facing off with
Mortority. But Mortority kept smiling. In one movement he pulled
something shiny out of his robes, and turned it. Lupin realised what it was
a second too late. Mortority blurred, still smiling, then was gone.
"Dammit!" Lupin kicked a chair in frustration.
"Wha' happened?" asked Hagrid, astonished.
"It was a time-turner. He could be any time by now." Lupin paced to
relieve his anger, eyes going back to the black room in the centre of the
floor. He turned to Hagrid.
"Is there any way to get in there?" Hagrid's face was still angry, and he
was muttering curses under his breath, but he gathered himself together.
"No. In an hour the door'll open automatically. It was one of the safe
guards Dumbledore insisted on."
"Then," Lupin said grimly, "We have an hour to give Harry the choice he
deserves."
Harry slid down the wall, the Geolite's golden glow washing over him.
They knew. Somehow, someone had found out. He glanced at his watch,
hoping for some miracle, but Sirius' hand still fell over "Lost". What good
would it do though? They still couldn't help Sirius. That was, if Mortority
hadn't caught them yet. Or worse..... He turned sitting leaning against the
door. The Geolite looked like a giant gold nugget, glittering innocently
away. Harry wasn't fooled by its outward appearance though. This thing
had caused him months of misery.
Ron coughed a little as Lupin poured something over his face. Hagrid
breathed a sigh of relief as Ron's eyes slowly returned to normal as
Hermione's had done. Hermione, along with the school House Elves had
already gone off with a supply of the liquid from Lupin to start healing
other people. Ron blinked and squinted at them. Lupin smiled then said,
"It'll stop hurting in a minute, then everything will seem less bright." Ron
nodded and clamped his eyes shut, mumbling,
"What happened, where's Hermione?"
"A Light Bomb exploded in the stadium, blinded everyone. The effects
can be countered however, and Hermione is as we speak healing her
fellow students." Ron looked through the gaps between his fingers.
"Healing them with what?"
"Carrot juice." Said Lupin with a half smile. Then he turned serious again.
"Ron, what has been happening? Hermione said You-Know-Who was
forcing Harry to make a wish for him." Ron had opened his eyes again,
and opened his mouth to speak when,
"RON!" He turned to be confronted by a near hysterical Hermione and a
smiling though confused Albus Dumbledore. Ron gently prised Hermione
off himself and shakily got to his feet. He turned to the Headmaster.
"There's something you have to see."
Draco longed to itch at his new robes, but that would be a sign of
weakness. He followed his father silently down a stone passageway,
which seemed vaguely familiar. Since his 'disappearance', his Father had
been teaching Draco on the proper way to address the Master, how to
show the proper respect, how to speak to other Death Eaters. Death Eater,
that was what he was to become. Lucious had said something about
"proving himself in this difficult time". He had changed that morning into
the robes for the first time. As a child he had played with the masks he
found in the mansion, thinking they were costumes. Now he would give
anything to take it off. They had flown very close to Hogwarts, and for a
terror filled second Draco had thought he was expected to help attack it.
Then his father had thrown the chain of a time-turner around his neck, and
the scenery had abruptly changed. He had no idea where they were, or
even when.
They continued silently down the passageway, then came to a door
flanked by two Death Eaters. Draco did as he had learnt and didn't even
glance at them as they passed. Inside the room, Draco caught himself
before he looked around in surprise. They were in a huge Hall, lit from
above by a purple glow that covered the whole ceiling. That wasn't the
surprising thing though. What was surprising was the three people in
chains by one wall, and the skeletal figure standing over them.
Dumbledore was gazing at the crystal infront of him. Ron and Hermione
had finished telling what they had seen, and how. Lupin paced backwards
and forwards behind the chairs they were sat on, occasionally glancing at
his watch in an agitated way. Hagrid stood silently by the door. Hermione
was gripping Ron's hand, so hard he couldn't feel his fingers. But it didn't
matter. All he could think of was what was going on in the Geolite room
right now, and what had already happened to his parents. He was startled
by Dumbledore's voice.
"You said you can now control the crystal?" Ron nodded. Dumbledore
looked thoughtful. "We know that Harry is being controlled, and must
make a certain wish. We don't know what that wish is, but we do know it
is for Voldemort." Ron shivered involuntarily. "We also know that he is
now trapped in that room for another 40 minutes, and must make the wish
before then. What we need, are more options." He looked expectantly at
Ron, but Ron was completely lost. Hermione spoke.
"Ron could use the crystal to show us more?"
"Exactly." Said Dumbledore, as Ron looked between them.
"But," he stammered, " I'm not very good at it. I wanted to see Harry's
dream but it showed me our trip to Diagon Alley instead."
"I'm sure you can do it with guidance." Said Dumbledore. Ron wasn't
convinced. Hermione spoke again, but with reluctance.
"There....might be a way." Dumbledore looked at her. She squirmed, but
continued, "If Ron was controlled, then it would be a lot faster."
"Controlled?" asked Lupin. Dumbledore's gaze moved over to Ron as he
answered Lupin.
"The Imperius Curse." The room was silent. Hermione felt Ron tense next
to her, and quickly said,
"It'd be Dumbledore, Ron, and not for very long. He could find what we
need through you."
"It's your choice, Mr Weasley." Said Dumbledore. Ron turned to
Hermione, still gripping her hand.
"This will help Harry, right?" He ignored the rest of the room, he trusted
her judgement above everyone's. He was rewarded by her smile,
Hermione's smile, and a nod of her head. He smiled back, then said,
"I'll do it."
The people Draco assumed were the Weasleys were staring defiantly up at
the man, while the third prisoner seemed to have trouble staying
conscious. Lucious walked over to the scene, standing at a respectful
distance. After a while that seemed forever to Draco, the skeletal man
turned to his father.
"Yes, Lucious?" That voice was enough to send Draco running, but he felt
rooted to the spot.
"The new recruit, my Lord, to follow in faithful service." Draco felt his
hands bawl into fists as he man turned, those red eyes narrowing
maliciously. He extended one long finger and beckoned Draco over. In a
state of barely controlled panic, Draco walked slowly to the scene. He
spoke again.
"Bow for your lord, Draco." Out of the corner of his eye Draco saw the
third prisoner look up in surprise at his name. He quickly fell to the floor
as his father had shown him. He was rewarded for this with laughter, cruel
high laughter.
"Get up, boy, get up. I see you have learnt your father's obedience. Now,
look at these people. What do you think they did to deserve this
treatment?" Draco looked at the Weasleys, dirty and dishevelled and pale.
He looked at the other man who seemed vaguely familiar, bruised and
beaten. Say "Nothing", said a voice in his head. Instead he said,
"Whatever it was that displeased you......My Lord."
Ron felt like he was floating away. Why had he been so worried? There
was nothing to worry about. Everything was easy, what did the world
matter to him? He was vaguely aware of images floating through his
mind, of far away voices, but none of it made sense to him. He could lye
here forever, and nothing would ever bother him again. A voice floated
towards him.
"Time to get up, Mr Weasley." He cringed away from the voice. he didn't
know what was outside this place, but he knew it frightened him. As the
voice grew more insistent, Ron felt the clouds slipping away, as the
whispering voices got louder and louder. Then,
"He's awake!" Hermione's relieved voice. Ron opened his eyes. He was
lying on a couch in Dumbledore's comfortable office, Hermione and
Dumbledore bent over him. All that had happened flooded back into his
head and he quickly sat up.
"Did it work? Did you see it?"
"Yes." Said Dumbledore looking sombre. "I had known there was
something about Mortority, but I assumed he was a plant of Fudge's
harassing Harry. I was wrong." Ron had never seen the Headmaster
looking so down, it was as if the fire in his eyes had gone out. Lupin
spoke.
"I thought he was just another prejudiced teacher. But that doesn't matter
now Dumbledore. What matters is, where are they?" Ron turned as
Hermione ran a hand through her hair, a sure sign she was thinking hard.
Then her eyes lit up.
"Sir, doesn't it say in "Hogwarts, A History" that before the enchanted
ceiling in the Great Hall was installed the roof was made of glass?"
Dumbledore looked up, and Ron breathed a sigh of relief as the twinkle
was back.
"Excellent, Miss Granger, a thousand points to Griffindor. Yes, above the
enchanted ceiling is a roof of purple glass. It was like that for about a
hundred years as I recall."
"There was something else too." Said Hagrid. "In the crystal, the walls
were stone, and once when I chipped them in the Hall with a Christmas
Tree I saw there's a lot of plaster over the stone." Lupin joined in.
"The time would have to be when no-one was around. Even You-Know-
Who won't mess with History." Dumbledore strode over to a cabinet and
retrieved a set of History books. Ron raised an eyebrow.
"Knowledge, Mr Weasley, as you will learn, really is the key to power.
Not trust, not obedience, and not defiance. But to use this knowledge takes
some effort." He gestured to one of the books. Ron sighed, then opened
the cover.
Draco sped up to keep pace with Mortority and his Father. "The Master"
had apparently been pleased with him, pleased enough to let him watch
the prisoners get tortured. His stomach turned just thinking about it. The
three of them were now on another mission, but Draco didn't know what.
They stopped, and Draco recognised this as the place they had
materialised at. The two Death Eaters pulled off their masks, and Draco
hastily did the same. The hatred between the two was almost palpable, the
first expression visible on their faces was loathing. The glares continued
as they removed the black robes from over their clothes.
"Come Draco." Draco walked to his Father's side as Mortority retrieved
his own time turner. The chain was slung around his neck and he felt the
sensation of speeding very fast forwards. When the world stopped moving
Draco looked around at the scenery outside Hogwarts again. He looked
around, but the others were already speeding away towards an entrance.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Author's notes: Did you miss me? this turned out way longer than I
expected, so there may still be another three parts to go. Chill though, I'm
getting there. Still liking it? still reading it? any plot holes or similar
alarming mistakes? Any guesses yet on the last line of the story containing
"Every Time I Close My eyes?"
Author's notes: see bottom of page
Every Time I Close My Eyes - Chapter 21
Lupin saw Harry sprawled inside the room with the Geolite, then
Mortority sent another curse, slamming the door shut before he could do
anything. Lupin stood up from behind the desk, shouting, "Reducto!", but
Mortority dove to the side out of view. Then Lupin heard "Expelliarmus!"
and with horror watched his wand soar across the room. Mortority re-
appeared, a wand in each hand, his frozen smile returning.
"Hello Werewolf." A wand was extended, Lupin turned towards the door,
heard, "Crucio!" and closed his eyes in expectance of the pain. But it
didn't come. He turned and saw Mortority backing away from Hagrid,
who seemed to be brandishing an umbrella at him.
"Expelliarmus!" Hagrid boomed, then deftly caught both wands, throwing
one to Lupin. Lupin walked over and stood next to him, facing off with
Mortority. But Mortority kept smiling. In one movement he pulled
something shiny out of his robes, and turned it. Lupin realised what it was
a second too late. Mortority blurred, still smiling, then was gone.
"Dammit!" Lupin kicked a chair in frustration.
"Wha' happened?" asked Hagrid, astonished.
"It was a time-turner. He could be any time by now." Lupin paced to
relieve his anger, eyes going back to the black room in the centre of the
floor. He turned to Hagrid.
"Is there any way to get in there?" Hagrid's face was still angry, and he
was muttering curses under his breath, but he gathered himself together.
"No. In an hour the door'll open automatically. It was one of the safe
guards Dumbledore insisted on."
"Then," Lupin said grimly, "We have an hour to give Harry the choice he
deserves."
Harry slid down the wall, the Geolite's golden glow washing over him.
They knew. Somehow, someone had found out. He glanced at his watch,
hoping for some miracle, but Sirius' hand still fell over "Lost". What good
would it do though? They still couldn't help Sirius. That was, if Mortority
hadn't caught them yet. Or worse..... He turned sitting leaning against the
door. The Geolite looked like a giant gold nugget, glittering innocently
away. Harry wasn't fooled by its outward appearance though. This thing
had caused him months of misery.
Ron coughed a little as Lupin poured something over his face. Hagrid
breathed a sigh of relief as Ron's eyes slowly returned to normal as
Hermione's had done. Hermione, along with the school House Elves had
already gone off with a supply of the liquid from Lupin to start healing
other people. Ron blinked and squinted at them. Lupin smiled then said,
"It'll stop hurting in a minute, then everything will seem less bright." Ron
nodded and clamped his eyes shut, mumbling,
"What happened, where's Hermione?"
"A Light Bomb exploded in the stadium, blinded everyone. The effects
can be countered however, and Hermione is as we speak healing her
fellow students." Ron looked through the gaps between his fingers.
"Healing them with what?"
"Carrot juice." Said Lupin with a half smile. Then he turned serious again.
"Ron, what has been happening? Hermione said You-Know-Who was
forcing Harry to make a wish for him." Ron had opened his eyes again,
and opened his mouth to speak when,
"RON!" He turned to be confronted by a near hysterical Hermione and a
smiling though confused Albus Dumbledore. Ron gently prised Hermione
off himself and shakily got to his feet. He turned to the Headmaster.
"There's something you have to see."
Draco longed to itch at his new robes, but that would be a sign of
weakness. He followed his father silently down a stone passageway,
which seemed vaguely familiar. Since his 'disappearance', his Father had
been teaching Draco on the proper way to address the Master, how to
show the proper respect, how to speak to other Death Eaters. Death Eater,
that was what he was to become. Lucious had said something about
"proving himself in this difficult time". He had changed that morning into
the robes for the first time. As a child he had played with the masks he
found in the mansion, thinking they were costumes. Now he would give
anything to take it off. They had flown very close to Hogwarts, and for a
terror filled second Draco had thought he was expected to help attack it.
Then his father had thrown the chain of a time-turner around his neck, and
the scenery had abruptly changed. He had no idea where they were, or
even when.
They continued silently down the passageway, then came to a door
flanked by two Death Eaters. Draco did as he had learnt and didn't even
glance at them as they passed. Inside the room, Draco caught himself
before he looked around in surprise. They were in a huge Hall, lit from
above by a purple glow that covered the whole ceiling. That wasn't the
surprising thing though. What was surprising was the three people in
chains by one wall, and the skeletal figure standing over them.
Dumbledore was gazing at the crystal infront of him. Ron and Hermione
had finished telling what they had seen, and how. Lupin paced backwards
and forwards behind the chairs they were sat on, occasionally glancing at
his watch in an agitated way. Hagrid stood silently by the door. Hermione
was gripping Ron's hand, so hard he couldn't feel his fingers. But it didn't
matter. All he could think of was what was going on in the Geolite room
right now, and what had already happened to his parents. He was startled
by Dumbledore's voice.
"You said you can now control the crystal?" Ron nodded. Dumbledore
looked thoughtful. "We know that Harry is being controlled, and must
make a certain wish. We don't know what that wish is, but we do know it
is for Voldemort." Ron shivered involuntarily. "We also know that he is
now trapped in that room for another 40 minutes, and must make the wish
before then. What we need, are more options." He looked expectantly at
Ron, but Ron was completely lost. Hermione spoke.
"Ron could use the crystal to show us more?"
"Exactly." Said Dumbledore, as Ron looked between them.
"But," he stammered, " I'm not very good at it. I wanted to see Harry's
dream but it showed me our trip to Diagon Alley instead."
"I'm sure you can do it with guidance." Said Dumbledore. Ron wasn't
convinced. Hermione spoke again, but with reluctance.
"There....might be a way." Dumbledore looked at her. She squirmed, but
continued, "If Ron was controlled, then it would be a lot faster."
"Controlled?" asked Lupin. Dumbledore's gaze moved over to Ron as he
answered Lupin.
"The Imperius Curse." The room was silent. Hermione felt Ron tense next
to her, and quickly said,
"It'd be Dumbledore, Ron, and not for very long. He could find what we
need through you."
"It's your choice, Mr Weasley." Said Dumbledore. Ron turned to
Hermione, still gripping her hand.
"This will help Harry, right?" He ignored the rest of the room, he trusted
her judgement above everyone's. He was rewarded by her smile,
Hermione's smile, and a nod of her head. He smiled back, then said,
"I'll do it."
The people Draco assumed were the Weasleys were staring defiantly up at
the man, while the third prisoner seemed to have trouble staying
conscious. Lucious walked over to the scene, standing at a respectful
distance. After a while that seemed forever to Draco, the skeletal man
turned to his father.
"Yes, Lucious?" That voice was enough to send Draco running, but he felt
rooted to the spot.
"The new recruit, my Lord, to follow in faithful service." Draco felt his
hands bawl into fists as he man turned, those red eyes narrowing
maliciously. He extended one long finger and beckoned Draco over. In a
state of barely controlled panic, Draco walked slowly to the scene. He
spoke again.
"Bow for your lord, Draco." Out of the corner of his eye Draco saw the
third prisoner look up in surprise at his name. He quickly fell to the floor
as his father had shown him. He was rewarded for this with laughter, cruel
high laughter.
"Get up, boy, get up. I see you have learnt your father's obedience. Now,
look at these people. What do you think they did to deserve this
treatment?" Draco looked at the Weasleys, dirty and dishevelled and pale.
He looked at the other man who seemed vaguely familiar, bruised and
beaten. Say "Nothing", said a voice in his head. Instead he said,
"Whatever it was that displeased you......My Lord."
Ron felt like he was floating away. Why had he been so worried? There
was nothing to worry about. Everything was easy, what did the world
matter to him? He was vaguely aware of images floating through his
mind, of far away voices, but none of it made sense to him. He could lye
here forever, and nothing would ever bother him again. A voice floated
towards him.
"Time to get up, Mr Weasley." He cringed away from the voice. he didn't
know what was outside this place, but he knew it frightened him. As the
voice grew more insistent, Ron felt the clouds slipping away, as the
whispering voices got louder and louder. Then,
"He's awake!" Hermione's relieved voice. Ron opened his eyes. He was
lying on a couch in Dumbledore's comfortable office, Hermione and
Dumbledore bent over him. All that had happened flooded back into his
head and he quickly sat up.
"Did it work? Did you see it?"
"Yes." Said Dumbledore looking sombre. "I had known there was
something about Mortority, but I assumed he was a plant of Fudge's
harassing Harry. I was wrong." Ron had never seen the Headmaster
looking so down, it was as if the fire in his eyes had gone out. Lupin
spoke.
"I thought he was just another prejudiced teacher. But that doesn't matter
now Dumbledore. What matters is, where are they?" Ron turned as
Hermione ran a hand through her hair, a sure sign she was thinking hard.
Then her eyes lit up.
"Sir, doesn't it say in "Hogwarts, A History" that before the enchanted
ceiling in the Great Hall was installed the roof was made of glass?"
Dumbledore looked up, and Ron breathed a sigh of relief as the twinkle
was back.
"Excellent, Miss Granger, a thousand points to Griffindor. Yes, above the
enchanted ceiling is a roof of purple glass. It was like that for about a
hundred years as I recall."
"There was something else too." Said Hagrid. "In the crystal, the walls
were stone, and once when I chipped them in the Hall with a Christmas
Tree I saw there's a lot of plaster over the stone." Lupin joined in.
"The time would have to be when no-one was around. Even You-Know-
Who won't mess with History." Dumbledore strode over to a cabinet and
retrieved a set of History books. Ron raised an eyebrow.
"Knowledge, Mr Weasley, as you will learn, really is the key to power.
Not trust, not obedience, and not defiance. But to use this knowledge takes
some effort." He gestured to one of the books. Ron sighed, then opened
the cover.
Draco sped up to keep pace with Mortority and his Father. "The Master"
had apparently been pleased with him, pleased enough to let him watch
the prisoners get tortured. His stomach turned just thinking about it. The
three of them were now on another mission, but Draco didn't know what.
They stopped, and Draco recognised this as the place they had
materialised at. The two Death Eaters pulled off their masks, and Draco
hastily did the same. The hatred between the two was almost palpable, the
first expression visible on their faces was loathing. The glares continued
as they removed the black robes from over their clothes.
"Come Draco." Draco walked to his Father's side as Mortority retrieved
his own time turner. The chain was slung around his neck and he felt the
sensation of speeding very fast forwards. When the world stopped moving
Draco looked around at the scenery outside Hogwarts again. He looked
around, but the others were already speeding away towards an entrance.
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Author's notes: Did you miss me? this turned out way longer than I
expected, so there may still be another three parts to go. Chill though, I'm
getting there. Still liking it? still reading it? any plot holes or similar
alarming mistakes? Any guesses yet on the last line of the story containing
"Every Time I Close My eyes?"