Harry Potter and the Deathday Curse
Chapter 21 Looking in…
The first page of the book turned black, and started to swirl so much that it made Harry's head spin. Then the black melted away, leaving a picture of a dark chamber, in which Voldemort was sitting in a throne, he was holding a meeting with his Death Eaters. Harry was extra careful so not to make any noises, for they could hear him if he did.
"Death Eaters," Voldemort was saying. "Our spy at Hogwarts just reported back, saying that half of the Hogwarts library has been searched, but the book has not been found. The whole Restricted Section has even been searched, but still no book. I will be sending you all out searching for the book. Except for Wormtail, who will probably screw up everything and give away our plan." One of the Death Eaters shifted uncomfortably. Voldemort ignored it.
"Nott, you will go the Ministry, as they do not know that you are a Death Eater. See if you can dig up any information. Malfoys, I'll give you both a list of people that might have an information. Lestranges, you'd better stay here, as you're on the run…" Voldemort continued to give instructions. Harry was quietly writing down the instructions that Voldemort was giving to his Death Eaters, careful not to let Voldemort and the Death Eaters hear the scratching of his quill.
"All right," Voldemort said quietly, "I will expect reports from all of you tomorrow. You are dismissed." All of the Death Eaters filed quietly out of the room. Voldemort remained in the room, staring at the door, obviously thinking hard.
All of a sudden the door to the dorm room opened and Ron came in.
"Hey, what's up?" Ron asked. Voldemort had heard him. Voldemort looked up, trying to see where the voice was coming from. Harry slammed the book shut.
"What was that all about?" Ron asked. "Who were you looking in on this time?"
"Voldemort," Harry said, "I was trying to see what he was going to do next. James was right, there is a spy at Hogwarts. He's looking for the book. Voldemort-"
"Don't. Say. That. Name." Ron hissed.
"-Was giving them all instructions," Harry said, ignoring Ron. "I listed them, and I'm going to be giving them to Dumbledore in the morning, so he can take action."
"He's going to ask you how you got all this information. You'll have to tell him about the book."
"No I won't. I'll just tell him that I had a dream, and when I woke up I wrote down as many things I could remember."
Ron shrugged and then got into his bed.
Harry didn't sleep much that night.
"Harry, are you all right?" Ginny asked the next morning, looking kind of concerned. "You looked really tired."
"I'm all right Gin," Harry said, pouring himself some pumpkin juice. "I just didn't get much sleep last night."
Harry had gone early that morning to Professor Dumbledore. He had thanked Harry for the information, and had dismissed him. He hadn't said much more than that. Had something already happened? Had Voldemort already found the book? Harry's stomach gave a lurch, when he thought about what a disaster that would be. Perhaps he had just found out about Marvin. Harry hadn't told him about the dream he had in Divination. It had slipped his mind.
"Harry?" a voice penetrated Harry's thoughts, "Harry?"
"Yes Gin?"
"Are we having practice tonight?" Ginny asked. "We have a match against Hufflepuff coming up in February."
"Yeah," Harry said. "We're having practice tonight. Will you tell the others? I'm kinda busy today."
"Sure Harry…"
At that second, Hermione and Ron showed up. Hermione was giggling and Ron was smiling broadly.
"Guess what." Ron said. "They're going to have another dance soon. It's on Valentines Day." Hermione started to giggle again.
"That's great," Harry said, feeling happier already. "Gin, want to go?" Ginny nodded shyly. "Cool."
"Harry, we'd better go, we have Defense Against the Dark Arts," Ron said, looking at his watch.
"'kay," Harry said, dropping his fork with a clatter. "I'll see you tonight Gin." He pecked her on the cheek, making her blush, and followed Ron and Hermione out of the Great Hall.
"Today, we will be studying Dark Creatures, I am aware that you have had some study of these creatures in your third year with Professor Lupin-" Something very odd happened to Professor Perry, she glared at the sound of the name, and muttered something to herself before continuing. "However, you have not studied a one of the darkest creatures, the Lethifold, it sneaks up on sleeping victims and-"
"But Professor Perry," Hermione exclaimed. "You said that we were going to learn about more Dark Curses today." Professor Perry looked at Hermione at a loss for words.
"Er, right. Well, I changed the schedule, you see, we're having a guest speaker er… at the next lesson. Today however, we will be learning about more dark creatures." Professor Perry said slowly. Hermione looked glum for a moment and then muttered, "okay."
So, they learned about Lethifolds, which resemble black blankets. They swoop down on unsuspecting sleepers, and suffocate them. Then they devour them, and leave no traces of their victim behind. Professor Perry started to teach the Gryffindor 7th years how to defend themselves against a Lethifold. The only spell that could make a Lethifold go away was the Patronous spell. Harry had learned the spell in his third year to defend himself from Dementors. Harry and Hermione were the only ones who produced a descent Patronous, however, Ron managed to make one appear for a few seconds. It resembled a giant fly swatter. When Harry asked him about it, he simply muttered, "Spiders," and then shuddered.
After dinner that night, Harry and Ginny went up to Gryffindor Tower together and got their Quidditch Robes and their broomsticks. David, Audrey, Allison, and Evan were already there. Jennifer arrived about five minutes after Harry and Ginny. Harry started to teach the Chasers the Woollongong Shimmy and the Reverse Pass, then while they took a water break, Harry taught Ginny how to do the Double Eight Loop. Then he taught the two Beaters to do the Bopplebeater Defence. After Harry and the other team members got hit numerous times with the speeding Bludgers, Harry proclaimed that the practice was over.
Harry and Ginny walked up to the castle together, chatting happily about the upcoming dance.
Someone was watching them, however…
"Who is that?" said Voldemort, looking through the dark, swirling mist of the crystal ball. He had always been good at Divination. He could look in on people if he wanted to. He used this to keep wraps on all of his Death Eaters, to make sure that they were not actually working against him. Two years earlier he had seen Snape, who had 'tried' to rejoin the Death Eaters, reporting to Dumbledore. That was why he killed him. Voldemort now looked down at Harry Potter and a girl who seemed familiar for some reason.
"Could she be a way to break into Potter's mind?" He asked himself. "Could she be close enough to Potter to give me information about him?" Voldemort glared down at the girl who was now holding Potter's hand and leaning against him. "No, she'll never come willingly. But perhaps Potter cares about her so much that I can use her somehow, hmmm…" All of a sudden a giant snake, twice the size that Nagini had been, came slithering into the room.
"Narcissa Malfoy is here to report to you master," she hissed.
"Thank you Kavina." Said Voldemort. After he said that the doors opened and Narcissa came running in.
"My lord, I have news," She said, taking down her hood. "It's about the Deathday Book."
"Maybe we should ask your dad about the Deathday Curse." Said Harry, rubbing his eyes and staring down at the book, the pages sliding in and out of focus.
"Nah, he'll get suspicious. He'll think we're trying to nose in on Ministry business. Either that or he'll think we turned into Death Eaters." Ron said.
"It has to be somewhere," Hermione said. "If we were to ask someone about the book we should ask James. After all, he's a Auror."
"Ex-Auror," Harry corrected. "He retired early in order to find a cure for Avada Kedavra."
"Whatever, but we really should ask him." Harry picked up his quill lazily and started to write a note to James.
We're trying to find out more about the Deathday Curse and the book it is in. Do you know anything about it? If you do, can you tell us about it?
Harry
Harry anxiously awaited for a reply, and he finally got one about five days later.
What do you want to know about the Deathday Curse? Why? Harry, just be concerned with what's going on at Hogwarts. Anything that has to do with the Deathday Curse is dangerous, and I don't want you getting mixed up with it. Take care of yourself.
Love,
James
P.S. When's the next Quidditch Match? I want to come see it.
Harry looked sadly down at the letter. His own father didn't want to tell him about the curse. But if he didn't find out anything else about it, then how could he stop Voldemort from getting it? Harry put the letter into his school bag and continued eating his scrambled eggs.
A.N. Okay, I have a special little thing that involves YOU, the reviewer.
Okay, should Harry:
- Continue to badger James until he spills the info on the Deathday Curse
- Keep searching for the Deathday Book, and continue spying on Voldemort
- Go to Dumbledore and tell him all that he knows about Voldemort and the Deathday Curse.
Please reply and I'll put the one that is most popular in the next chapter!
