Author's Note: Thanks to all who review…where's everyone else? That's ok though. Sorry if Draco stays the little punk he is in the books. It's not like I don't love the fan fics that portray him in a sweeter light, but hey, I don't have that vivid of an imagination. Ok, nuff said. I already have the next chapter written, but I'll be hanging on to it for a little while why I decide some things. Oh, and Madam Rowling has the privilege of owning these names, but everything behind them belongs to all of us!
Chapter Fourteen
"How do you know about Aglaia Gryffindor?" asked Lupin, not sure if he should be upset that someone told Harry or relieved that he hadn't had to.
"It feels like I can hear everything going on all over Britain when Voldemort uses that Blood Stone." Harry had wanted to tell someone about what he had heard that first night at Hogwarts, the story behind Voldemort's bloodlust. He had wanted to talk to Sirius about it after he heard his "father" say it was all his fault. But Sirius's eyes always glazed over, haunted just as they had been after his escape from the dementors, whenever he was reminded of the night Harry's parents were killed. Besides that, Harry knew what Sirius would say. He always said the same thing: "It wasn't your fault. There's nothing you could have done." Sirius had said this after Peter Pettigrew had escaped, then after Cedric died and Voldemort returned to power. But Harry knew there was something he could have done, never being born at the top of the list. But at the moment, he wasn't looking for pity and he certainly wasn't entertaining self-pity. Right now, he wanted to fight back, and Remus Lupin was an expert on that.
"Harry, whatever you heard, about your parents…" Remus didn't know quite what to say. But the look of determination on Harry's face decided it for him. Harry didn't need him to say anything.
"All of that doesn't matter," Harry answered. "Well, it does matter, but right now I want to know about this thing I've inherited and how I can use it. Aglaia could block a lot of curses, right? Maybe, if I knew how to handle that power, I could block the Blood Stone as well."
"I'm not so sure, Harry. There's only two known ways to…"
"Well I don't bloody want to be a vampire!" Harry snapped. "I think I have enough on my mind most of the time without worrying about nibbling on Ron's neck." Then Harry realized how that last statement sounded and he felt his face burning from the embarrassment. "I mean…"
"It's ok," Lupin laughed, relieved that some of the tension had left the room. "Alright, Harry. I can see that you need something constructive to do in this situation, so I'll try my best to help in every way I can. But you must realize that this magic hasn't properly been used since Aglaia's death. And unfortunately for us, she didn't leave behind an instruction guide. But Professor Dumbledore does have some texts that might be useful. Why don't we take a walk up to his office and go from there?"
The two were rather quiet on the walk towards the stone gargoyle leading to Dumbledore's office, both thinking about the arrival of Luca. Remus had owled his old acquaintance and was surprised to receive a reply only an hour later. The last time they had seen each other, Luca was living in his fortress in Russia, thanking Remus for ridding him of some troublesome Pogrebin's that just could not be stupefied. But as Lupin was able to subdue the beasts with a few sharp kicks to the backside, he refused to accept pay, instead opting for an IOU. Luckily, Luca remembered the promise and had agreed to travel to Hogsmeade and hear what Lupin had to say.
"Where's Sirius?" Lupin asked, breaking the draining silence.
"I haven't seen him since breakfast," Harry answered. "Maybe he's helping with the security problem."
….
"Bloody Black…lazy git…damn prickler bushes…" Snape muttered. He had been trekking around the perimeter of Hogwarts property for over an hour, checking the seals in the protective guards and adding new security measures here and there. He knew it wasn't the smartest thing Black had ever done, leaving him to do all the work. After all, he was bound to be called to Voldemort's side sooner or later and, like it or not, the Dark Lord did have ways of making one talk. "I'll just leave the castle walls to him," he thought to himself. "But knowing that man, he'll probably leave the work to Granger and skip out to cause trouble."
Snape continued cursing the name of Sirius Black as he walked along the edge of the Forbidden Forest, skirting around the Whomping Willow, "damn tree", never noticing the rat perched on it's immobilized branch, the rat with one silver paw. Once Snape had gone out of sight, the rat scooted down a hole at the base of the tree and soon vanished. After all, Peter Pettigrew couldn't risk being seen on the Marauders Map, now could he?
"Well?" snapped the cold, needling voice that sent shivers down Wormtail's spine. He wished he could use his new hand, with all of its steely strength, to crush the vocal chords that produced that hideous voice, but then where would he be? No, Wormtail was not a man that could stand on his own and he knew that.
"Severus Snape will know all of the new charms. He's overseeing the security additions."
"Good. We shall see if he's faithful enough to report these without being asked. If not, maybe it's time to be done with his services."
"But, master, I thought you wanted him as a spy within Hogwarts?"
"There really will be no more need, once I've mastered the stone. After I get my hands on the Potter boy, Dumbledore will be next and then all power will be mine."
****
"It's not going anywhere!" Harry was rather frustrated. He and Lupin had been working for three hours straight and still Harry couldn't perform the simplest spell in Dumbledore's book. He was beginning to feel rather put out by the whole thing.
"Harry, you can hardly expect to just pick it up on the first try," comforted Remus. "Why don't we stop for lunch? If you still want to work on it, we can meet again later this afternoon. I'm sure that Ron and Hermione are looking for you."
"I doubt it. Have you even seen those two together? It's kind of revolting." Well, Harry didn't find it too revolting, but he had to admit that he could go without all of the public displays of affection Ron was throwing about.
"Well, there's always Ginny. I'm sure she must be getting tired of watching the twins torment your cousin." Harry had nearly forgot about the Dursleys. No doubt they'd be expecting lunch soon as well.
"All right, I'm going to collect the Dursleys. And in case you'd be worried about my whereabouts from then on, I'll be taking my lunch out to the lake."
"I don't need your itinerary, Harry. Granted, I'd prefer you not be alone, in case there's another attack. Will you at least take somebody along?" Harry gave Lupin an indecisive nod and headed off towards the Hufflepuff quarters, bumping into the Fat Friar along the way.
"That man in the Hufflepuff common room is the most intolerable individual I have ever met!" the Fat Friar huffed.
"Sorry about that," Harry apologized. "He's not used to seeing ghosts is all."
"No excuse, all that bellowing. Threatened me with a chaise lounge! Not that that would have had any effect, but still!"
Again apologizing to the ruffled ghost, Harry let himself into the Hufflepuff dormitory. It looked as if there had been a siege there in the short time between breakfast and lunch. All of the furniture was pushed against the wall in an attempt to block the portrait way, so it took Harry several Wingardium Leviosa's to get through the door. "You do know that ghosts can go through solids, right?" he asked, directing his voice to where the Dursleys had hidden once the chairs started flying.
"Oh, it's you. Yes, we bloody realized that, thank you very much. How much longer until we're out of here then?" Uncle Vernon asked, although his tone was a little less harsh than it had been earlier. Must be tired of Fred and George's tricks, thought Harry.
"It all depends on a number of factors really, and I'm sure you'd rather not hear about them," grumbled Harry, who had begun to lead the Dursley's back to the Great Hall. It was hard for him to avoid getting lost, even though he knew the castle well, because of the various changing hallways and trick steps in the alien Hufflepuff wing of the castle.
"Why don't you try me?" snarled Uncle Vernon, having just freed his ankle from one of those trick steps. A portrait of Uric the Odd laughed at him from beneath his helmet.
"All right then, Professor McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley are trying to find you a decent house in the same neighborhood, so who knows how long that will take. Besides that, Voldemort, the nastiest wizard since Grindewald and the guy that killed Mum and Dad, is after me and, according to his politics, wouldn't mind topping off you lot as well. And apparently I'm safe when I'm around my family, so you may be stuck here until we can stop Voldemort's new plan for world domination, or until he kills me, which may be tonight for all I know. Of course, I'm supposed to be this really powerful wizard, but that's not going to do me any good in the short term. And finally, I may become a vampire any day now, in which case you can go as soon as they find you a house. Now here's your table, have a pleasant lunch, I'm off." And with that, Harry left the Dursleys, mouths agape, and went down to the kitchens to get some picnic food from Dobby and Winky.
Harry hadn't planned on taking Lupin's advice about finding a chaperone to heart, but as he made his way towards the lake, he saw Ginny coming towards him from Hagrid's hut.
"Hello, Ginny, how's Hagrid doing?" he asked, placing his picnic basket on the ground after tiring of its substantial weight (Dobby, so excited to see Harry again, had crammed an entire turkey, three loaves of bread, a few different types of puddings and two jugs of pumpkin juice into the basket before Harry got a word in edge wise).
"He's doing well. He went off with Mr. Black and Professor Snape a while ago, and Ron and Hermione have already gone inside for lunch. Why aren't you in there with them?" Harry couldn't help but notice that Ginny's face was rather flushed, but he decided not to say anything. It was refreshing to hear more than a sentence from the youngest Weasley.
"I'm not sure, maybe I just wanted some fresh air. Care to join me? I've got enough food to feed a hippogriff in here," he said, nudging the basket with his foot. Soon the two of them had set up lunch by the lake's edge, just out of reach of the giant squid's tentacles. "So, what are Fred and George up to?" Harry asked, passing Ginny a glass of pumpkin juice and watching the squid gliding across the glassy surface.
"I think they're on the Quidditch pitch. They've got their minds set on being co-captains this year, even though they know you'll get the job."
"I doubt that," Harry mumbled. Ginny took it as a sign of his endearing modesty, but Harry was thinking more on the lines of I doubt I'll live that long, and if I do, I doubt I'll be up for a day in the sun. "Have you seen anyone or anything else this morning? I've been locked up with Remus all day."
"No, it's been very quiet around here. Mum and Professor McGonagall came back for a bit but then went off to Hogsmeade for lunch. I think they overheard Fred and George arguing over whether to turn your aunt into a horse or a blast-ended skrewt and decided they'd rather not deal with it." They both laughed, and Harry nearly forgot all that had been bothering him until a blinding light flashed within his eyes and a building pressure seized his entire body. Go to the tree. You know the way. You can't fight me this time. And if you do, next time I won't come after you alone. Harry knew that voice. This time, Voldemort wasn't speaking through his dad. "Ginny, get help," he managed to squeeze out, before he doubled over in pain. As Ginny ran frantically towards the castle, Harry's hand went up to his temples and he began again chanting some ancient spell that did not sound like anything he had reviewed with Lupin earlier that morning. Soon, his neck began to seize up, then his head began to convulse, but Harry still had control of his lower limbs.
This isn't working! He thought, amazed that the words he had been repeating over and over again were still coming out of his mouth, even without thought. Of course it isn't working! Hissed Voldemort. Go to the tree and the pain will stop. Forever. Harry ignored the voice. He would have even laughed at the pathetic level of influence that Voldemort's words seemed to have over him, if not for the fact that his head was locked in what felt like the worse Cruciatus curse imaginable. Come quick, its Harry! Harry knew that voice. Ginny had made it to the castle and they'd be there soon. But Harry was already beginning to lose what little control he had left, and he did not want to think of what would happen if the Blood Stone led him through the Whomping Willow's passage. And then he remembered how Lupin and Sirius had stopped the attacks earlier: by throwing him into a wall. Granted, there was no wall here, but any shock would work, right? Anything damaging enough to stop the connection…and Ginny would be there with help in a minute. So it was decided; Harry walked into the lake, trying to swim into a deep enough area, gave up on fighting the Blood Stone once underwater, and immediately started convulsing, taking in great gulps of water, the weight of his robes dragging him down to the lake bed.