A cold voice laughed, venom dripping from her teeth as she did so. Snakes and unicorns kept her alive, along with the odd spell or two. Being posessed by the Dark Lord didn't matter at all - she was his disciple. She was his only follower left, apart from that old Malfoy fool who denied the true way most of the time, plus the captured, weaker ones in Azkaban.
"Voldemort," Maya Greenword said to her shrine. "Today, we take over. We destroy the Potter boy. We destroy all of the mudbloods and idiots who decline to follow!" Another laugh. The shrine's mirror glowed an evil shade of green. "I will make do with the portal. I will not hide myself, moreover, they will hide from me!" And she grinned, a distorted gesture on such a marked face.
The shrine glowed again. The various body parts on it disintegrated into small piles of dust, and then materialized into nothingness. Maya seemed to grow in stature.
"I will take these strengths," She said in a low tone. "I will accept the bodily functions you have given me."
The shrine gave a final glow, then, the light went out of it completely and it went blank, reflecting what was around it, but darker. The spirit inside of it had died.
A small, fat tear rolled down Maya's cheek, but she brushed it away angrily; crying was a weakness, and a weakness meant failure. She swung her bag full of spells and concoctions over her back, and walked out of the small shack, partially regretting it a second after the movement. Her cloak billowed after her when she strode forward into the portal, and was the last thing to pull through.
"Goodbye, shack of nightmares," Was the last thing she said in the dingy place she called home. As soon as she left, the shack disappeared and several trees grew in its place. The sky turned its usual colour of blue instead of the dirty grey colour it once was, and the place was no longer dark, it was bright. The trees and grass turned back into their happy green colour, and flowers sprouted where they used to be. Maya had some sort of influence on the weather also. Being posessed by the biggest force of evil in the world could do that to you.
"Today's a disgusting day." Amelia commented the next morning, looking out of the dorm's square window. "Yesterday was so beautiful."
"True," Ginny said mindlessly, putting her robes on over jeans and a shirt. "Nice sun, blue skies..." Ginny also went to the window.
"Hmm..." Amelia wondered out aloud. "Let's go to breakfast."
They both wandered down through the common room, and the lonely halls and corridors, and when they finally reached the Great Hall, the ceiling was a picture of purtrid pollution and disgusting coloured fog.
Ginny and Amelia sat down at the end of the Gryffindor table, and ate while chattering about what they had today. Ginny and Amelia both had Herbology. Colin Creevey came and sat down next to Amelia.
"Hi Ginny, Amelia." He chirped.
"Hullo, Colin." They both said.
Soon, and thankfully, enough, they had finished breakfast, and were just heading out of the heavy, carved doors of the hall when Amelia noticed another thing.
"Isn't Dumbledore usually up there?" She pointed to where Professor Dumbledore usually sat, at the head of the main table.
"Yeah..." Ginny said, fingering her throat. She wasn't feeling very well today. "He might be sick."
"Duh, he's been sick for ages. But he always comes down for breakfast." She frowned. "Or maybe he's at a conference or something?"
"Maybe... hey, can you come with me to Madam Pomfrey? I want some Pepper-up Potion."
"Sure." Amelia smiled.
They then walked to the Infirmary. Its white-washed walls flew out at them when they entered, and, like they had to in the forest a while ago, their eyes had to adjust to the sudden contrast of colour before they enquired about the potion.
"Girls?" Madam Pomfrey asked. "What are you wanting?"
"Er, I've been feeling a bit off for a while, and I was wondering if I could have some Pepper-up Potion?" Ginny asked meekly. Madam Pomfrey was known around the school for her stern attitude.
"Of course not, Miss Weasley. That is used in only extreme conditions. You'll be smoking from the ears for days if you drink that in such a mild case. Here, sniff this for a while, you'll get better." She handed Ginny a tissue which smelt oddly of tea-tree oil.
"What is it?" Ginny asked.
"Rawley's Ready Relief. Now, I have patients to attend. Aren't you the girl who had detention earlier this year?" She loomed down on Ginny, her hairpins glinting dangerously in the harsh light of the room.
"Erm, yes." Ginny squirmed while Amelia giggled off to the side.
Madam Pomfrey almost growled. "Best you keep acting studious, Ginny, you said your name was?"
"I'll be going, then..." Ginny said, slightly wavering.
"Good form," Madam Pomfrey said. "Good form indeed."
Ginny and Amelia left then, cowering under her fierce glare.
They rushed to the Herbology greenhouse, Ginny sniffing her tissue as she went along.
Professor Sprout seemed in a doggish mood that day. The horrid weather had affected her new batch of ginkgo trees, and they had wiltered and died while the class watched in horror. Professor Sprout blasted profanity, then pardoned herself to look after the trees while everyone else had free time.
"We're supposed to be pruning these Jelificus roots," Vara said dimly. "But I'm doing my Astronomy project."
"It's the weather, probably." Amelia told her. "Ginkgos are prone to wiltering when they dislike the weather, those plants have a mind of their own."
"We used to have ginkgos in front of our house," Ginny remarked. "But then they uprooted themselves and walked away. We never saw them again."
"How annoying." Vara said in a monotone.
Ginny pulled her Transfiguration book out of her bag and flopped it on the table. She opened it to page thirty when Amelia started acting funny.
"Tch," She spat. "Tch tch tch."
"Mill...?" Ginny said in question. "What's wrong?"
Amelia's only answer was to chant 'tch' again, and her eyes rolled back into her head, so only the whites showed.
"I've heard of this..." Vara said in a whisper full of awe. She shooed the circle of people who were now standing around them away. She then put the palm of her hand on Amelia's forehead, and it began to glow a reddish colour.
Amelia woke up after a few minutes of this, not remembering anything of the sort. The rest of the class looked warily at her and went back to their own studies.
Ginny and Vara sat down looking a bit bemused by the whole thing. While Amelia was busily working on a Study of Ancient Runes sheet, Ginny spoke to Vara.
"What happened just then?" She asked, her eyes low.
"I don't know how you're going to take this, but..." She coughed, her expression turned stony. "Someone was trying to intercept her brain pattern. Someone was trying to take over her thoughts."
"You mean... like the Imperius curse?" Ginny asked, her eyes wide.
"Much worse. Someone was trying to posess her." Vara's voice was dull, and so was her face, but her eyes were dancing as if the prospect were very exciting indeed.
Ginny sniffed her tissue, and felt a strong sense of fear rip through her subconscious. She looked around at Amelia, who was busy writing her rune diagram in neat writing. Then, it started to get colder. And mistier. The greenhouse glass kept the mist out of the room, but outside of the glass it looked like just a bleak greyish colour.
Amelia looked up into the sky, and saw that it was all grey too. Then, suddenly, all the mist had gone. It was normal, although the disgusting weather was still there. A blackened figure fell from the sky above where the ripped, shining portal was, and landed like a cat on all fours. It shook its blonde head and scampered off into the Forbidden Forest.
Ginny watched the being run off with a bitter taste in her mouth. She had to speak to Draco. She had to speak to Harry, Amelia, Hermione and Ron too. It was time for desperate measures. Maya Greenword had set foot in the grounds.
When the class had been horded up to their common room, Professor McGonagall had sent a message through her magical megaphone to the school. It was one of very grave stature.
"Students, I have something to announce." Her tone was dull and lifeless, like Vara's. Compared to her usual strict yet kindly voice, she sounded like a motionless doll. "Professor Dumbledore has... fallen ill." She sounded as though she was struggling to get the words out. "He is unconscious and..." She sniffed. "That is all." Her voice clicked off.
Harry and Ron looked at each other with concern. "What do you think that's about?" Ron asked Harry. Harry didn't do anything but shrug.
Amelia looked to her feet, and Ginny tapped her finger to her chin, stil worried about what she had seen through the paned glass of greenhouse four. If it was Maya Greenworrd herself, then an invasion of Dark forces was due any time soon.
"Hey Mill," Ginny asked Amelia while Harry and Ron were busy. "Did you see .. something run into the woods after the fog in Herbology?"
"Nah," Amelia turned to Ginny. "Why?"
"To be blunt, I think I saw... you know." Ginny looked seriously into Amelia's eyes.
"Oh my God..." She put a hand over her mouth, her eyes widening. "Are you sure?"
Ginny nodded. "The fog, and you were, well, nevermind, and then the dark figure with long light-coloured hair as we know, and then she ran into the forest." Ginny said quickly, as Hermione bounced over and sat in the bean bag opposite.
"Hi guys," She said. "What's new?"
"Er-" Ginny and Amelia said at the same time, looking at each other nervously.
"How would you feel if I, um, we, told you that there's a new kind of evil trying to take over Hogwarts at this very moment?" Amelia rushed ahead.
Hermione coughed. "What? Oh, that can't happen. You-know-who's destroyed."
"We're serious." They said at the same time.
"...You're joking." Hermione said, kind of half-laughing, but she had a pained expression on her face.
"Nope." Ginny said. "Do you think we should tell Harry and Ron? It's time for desperate measures."
"True," Amelia said, her long fingers twiddling through a strand of hair.
"Ron, Harry, get here..." Hermione said, her eyes still on Ginny and Amelia's serious expressions.
"Yeah?" Harry asked as they both drew near.
"Er..." Ginny stuttered. She was at a loss for words. How could you tell your friends you've uncovered a plan to turn the world to the Dark side? "We've recently found out that... that..."
"It's quite complicated, really..." Amelia said, sounding British for the first time that year. "We've found a--"
"Let me guess." Ron interrupted, looking to Harry and Hermione. "You've found out someone's trying to take over Hogwarts a la You-know-who, again? I never knew you were so slow." He raised his eyebrows and put on a sly expression.
"We've known it for ages. We just haven't done anything about it." Harry said, shrugging his shoulders.
"The Marauder's Map helped along, of course." Hermione piped up. "But can we talk about this somewhere else? Boy's dorms, five minutes. We'll go up in groups to make sure we're not making it obviouus we're all going somewhere important. Or, rather, to talk about something important."
"Don't be ridiculous, Hermione." Harry said. "What's with all the precautions? There's nothing harmful in all walking up to the dorm together. Let's just go."
Ginny had a strong sense of deja vu.
"Hmm, yeah." Amelia agreed with Harry.
So they all trooped up to the sixth year boy's dorms. Once inside, Amelia spoke up.
"What, exactly, is the Marauder's Map?" She asked tentatively, looking a bit embarrassed.
"It's a map that shows us the whole of Hogwarts and all the little people that are walking around in it." Ron said. Ginny, who didn't know of the Marauder's Map before, was mystified.
Harry pulled the Map out of his pocket, mumbled "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,", and flattened the piece of old parchment onto his bed cover. "Here we go." He said. Harry pointed his wand to a place near the dungeons. "See, Vincent Crabbe is in the Slytherin boys toilets. Wonder how long he's been in there, eh? Haha..."
The other chuckled along, but toilet humour was obviously not Hermione's thing.
"Please." She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Can we make a plan? Can we concentrate for one minute? This could mean our entire future!"
"That's true," Ron said.
"Now," Ginny said. "Harry- you're the 'chosen one'. Using the term loosely." Ginny added, when Harry's cheeks tinged pink. "Hermione- you're smart. Ron- you can assist Hermione." Hermione batted her eyelashes at Ron, who smiled weakly back. "Amelia... you're... you're..."
"Hmm, I don't know either." Amelia said. "I don't really have much on me, as neither do you. We're just witnesses, and we know most of her secrets. Erm, she's insane. Plus Gin's got the Divinator technique. I've got ... connections."
"Draco can help." Ginny said. Silence followed.
"At the moment, Draco is... being followed by Pansy Parkinson. He just slammed the door of his dorm, and Pansy now seems to be throwing a tantrum..." Ron said.
"Thanks, Ron, we don't need a commentary." Ginny bristled. "Well?"
"What can he do?" Hermione asked. "Like, what assets does he have in this 'battle'? We need the best of the best. We need annhilation."
"Sure, Napoleon..." Amelia muttered, and Hermione eyed daggers at her.
"He can help. We don't need the best, we need someone who's willing and has a good knowledge of spells, hexes, etcetera... we need powerful spells." Harry said. The rest were reminded of when he last met up with Voldemort, and went silent again.
"Well," Hermione said, breaking the silence. "We can find those out."
"I'll ask Callista what the spell was that killed her, she was killed by You-know-who, and we can try and find out about it." Ginny said.
"No, we can't beat an evil force with one of their own tricks, that's not right." Ron corrected. "Sorry, Gin, but why make an Eva Unit in the shape of your enemy if you're planning on fighting them?"
"Good point, but what's an Eva Unit?"
"Never mind."
"Useless chatter!" Amelia shrilled. "We need to get down to business! What are we going to do?" She plucked the Map from the bed, and stared at it. "Alright. Maya Greenword is... in the Forbidden Forest. That'd be right, everyone goes there for some odd reason..."
Ginny looked around at the map, and sure enough, a small dot labelled 'M. Greenword' was pacing in a clearing in the forest.
"Shall we just go and get her?" Ron tentatively asked. "I mean, ambush her? She won't have expected us."
"Ohmygod, she's moving.." Ginny whispered in a frightened voice. "Fast, too."
They all moved around to see the map, and saw that she was moving at alarming speed.
"She's used the Nincompetus charm, that makes you run and walk faster than the average highest speed." Hermione said in a flat tone. "It's rather difficult... you have to have... oh, Lords, I can't believe this."
"What?" Harry asked rudely. "What now?"
"I think she might be carrying You-know-who with her." Said Hermione, her eyes wide and glassy.
"Don't be an idiot, Hermione, he was killed last year!" Ginny cried.
"Yes, he was, wasn't he?" Hermione retorted, her voice loud and sounding like she was on the verge of tears. "But no-one's soul really dies, do they? No, they don't! She must have been at the site when You-know-who was killed, and might have called his soul into her being... we've researched and found out she's a former Death Eater, she has the power to do such a thing!"
"Ohh..." Amelia gasped.
"That could have happened..." Harry agreed.
"Maybe that's why she was driven insane?" Ginny asked, her eyes also wide.
"Ginny, the shrine! Voldemort must have been in the shrine!" Amelia cried. Ron, Hermione and Harry ignored her saying of the name, and asked what the shrine was. "She had a sort of altar dedicated to You-know-who! She ..."
"Harry, she killed Professor Lupin." Ginny said solemnly, looking at her feet which were dangling over the side of the bed.
Hermione burst into tears, and Ron put an arm around her. He too looked a bit teary, but sniffed them away. Harry breathed deeply, and spoke.
"I already know." He said. "Draco told me when he offered his friendship."
Ginny blinked, and shivered briefly before Ron started talking.
"You didn't accept it, did you?" He said, and Harry nodded a yes. "So that's why you haven't been calling him 'Malfoy' anymore... I have one question: why did you accept?"
"Because in order to kill this enitity that resides in the Forbidden Forest at this very moment, sometimes you have to get a clichéd rivalling situation straight." Harry said seriously.
"Guys... Maya's heading for the portal again..." Amelia stuttered. Hermione wiped her eyes, which were red and puffy, and sat up.
"We'll get a viewpoint from the Astronomy tower." She said, sniffling a bit. "Shall we go?"
The rest agreed, and they all sped off without any question from students or teachers who were confused and questioning about Dumbledore's current status. They got to the Astronomy tower, pushing open the door which had a note stuck to it saying 'Back in 5 mins, visiting Divination tower'.
At the top, they could see the fog was spilling out of the portal again, and the figure was hovering above the light. She was dressed in a long, black cloak which covered her body.
They saw Maya slowly raise one arm. Time seemed to slow around them, the wind was a slow push against their bodies, and Ginny's hair whipped over her eyes. She brushed it away hastily and focussed her vision. Hermione was sniffling beside her, and Amelia reached for Harry's hand, while he batted hers away. They seemed to be moving faster than everything around them, which was dizzying. When Ginny looked back at Maya, she was gone.
"Where'd she go?" Ron whispered. "Did she see us?"
"She Apparated." Hermione said.
With a slight fizzle that carried along the breeze, Maya materialized back on the grounds. She had her wand with her, and her dangerous, violet eyes lit up as she spoke.
"Harry Potter!" She called, her misty voice echoing in itself. "Harry Potter! Come out!"
Harry blinked at her. As if she seemed to notice, her shadow wavered, and she disappeared for another second. She reappeared then, her back to the Astronomy tower, though only a few feet from it. The group immediately dropped behind the stone wall put there to make sure people don't fall over the edge, their eyes just peeping over the top.
Maya flew to the opposite side of the placade, and and floated there. Her scratchy and echoey voice spoke again.
"I am waiting for you, martyr! Harry Potter, to this I dedicate... thee!" She screeched, anger consuming her and showing in her eyes as they started to darken. "Take this!" She shoved her hands forward, her fingers bent around her wand, which was vibrating furiously. A complex spell was about to take place.
Harry, up at the Astronomy tower, watched as she spun a bright red crucifix where the portal was. It was tall, almost taller than the castle, and was very daunting. He was afraid.
"I will nail you to this cross personally, Potter! For disabling the Dark Lord's chance to strike!" She turned around and faced the Astronomy tower, where they were still hiding. "I know where you are!"
"Oh, Albus..." Professor McGonagall wept, next to Professor Dumbledore's bed. Since she last reported to the school, he had fallen unconscious. Now, he was in a coma. "Can you hear me?"
"I think he can, Minerva." Madam Pomfrey said gently, putting a hand on the Professor's shoulder. "People in comas can usually hear what's around them, but don't realise what it is. He's in a dormant state now."
"So, it's my duty to... to alert the school. They have a right to know." Professor McGonagall looked up at Madam Pomfrey. "How do you think they'll react?"
"I've had to tell people of their injuries, and in some cases, I've even had to tell someone that they were going to die." She swallowed. "I think you'll be able to tell the school of this. He isn't dead."
"But he is ... unconscious?"
"Yes. He is, but in a different, more dangerous, sort of way."
"Then the students will keep believing that he is just that." Her faced turned strong. "I won't have them worrying about him. They need to carry on with their subjects. And this weather... it's terrible. I'm--" She stopped mid-sentence and looked out of the window. "The fog's back! Damn it to the seven hells, it's back!"
"Ohh..." Madam Pomfrey gasped. "How can it be? Why can't Snape or Flitwick fix this? No-one supposed to have power over the weather, fog or mist never comes in May... someone must be controlling it..."
"But why?" Professor McGonagall asked desperately, and as she finished the last word, it dragged along the room. She tried to lift up her hand, and it took her about five minutes to do so. Someone had issued a slow-motion charm on them.
Madam Pomfrey looked helplessly down at Professor McGonagall, and said one word that took forever to hear. "How?"
-To be continued (but not for long!)-
-Page-
Author's Note:
Here we go, another chapter. The end is nigh... still! Be on the watch! Erm.. sorry about the small gory bit in there. And sorry if anyone gets offended about the crucifix bit. Umm, yes. I've got lotsa homework, so the next part might be a bit slow on coming. One, being that it's the most important part in the series (well, I think...) and two, that I'll have to edit it to make it perfect, cause I'll probably be annoyed at myself if it isn't. ^_^ Soo, that's me. What did you think of this? Hope you all liked it... and yes, the title was a bit weird. Oh well. Please review!