Chapter 2 - The United
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Severus knocked on Proffessor Dumbledore's door and waited to be called inside.
"Enter!" Came the voice.
Severus pushed open the door and burst in.
"Albus! I -" He stopped as he saw that sitting opposite Proffessor Dumbledore was Ginny Weasley,
looking very pale and frightened. "Sorry." He muttered, "I'll come back later."
He began to back out of the door but Albus said,
"No, no. Stay. I think what Ginny has to say might be of relevance to you."
Severus gave Ginny a puzzled look.
//How can anything she says be relevant to me?//
He took the seat next to Ginny, and waited for Proffessor Dumbledore to explain.
"Ginny came to see me because she had a rather frightful dream." Proffessor Dumbledore turned to
Ginny, "Please describe what you saw." He said gently.
She nodded and took a deep breath.
"I was in this room. It was all dark and there was a wizard I didn't know standing in one corner. Then
this high-pitched voice called the person 'Wormtail' and he went to stand near the direction of the
voice." She paused, taking a ragged breath, "The voice said that they'd bewitched someone, and that
they'd kill two people...a girl and a traitor." She paused again as Severus took a sharp breath in,
realising that he'd had exactly the same dream. "Then the th-thing got a body and it was..." She
hicupped, "It was You-Know-Who! He cursed m-me and I woke up."
She sank her head into her hands and began to sob. Dumbledore looked at her sympathetically, then
turned to Severus.
"Severus. Why did you come to see me?"
"I came because I'd had a dream."
"I see."
"And the dream was exactly the same one as..." He stopped.
"So you both had the same dream." Dumbledore said. "Do either of you have any idea what that could
mean?"
Ginny shook her head miserably, but Severus was thinking quickly, putting two and two together.
"In the dream..." He said slowly, "He said 'the girl and the traitor'. I presume I'm the traitor so..." He
left the sentence open for Dumbledore to finish.
"Ginny." Dumbledore said, bringing Ginny out of her silent weeping, "I'm afraid it appears that you are
Voldemort's new target."
"B-but why? It's Harry he hates, not me!" She wailed.
"I believe it is something to do with the theory of 'the United'." Dumbledore said, getting up and pacing
back and forth stroking his beard. "Both you and Severus have thwarted Voldemort's plans to gain
control."
"Me?" Ginny exclaimed, "But what have I done?"
"You were bewitched by Tom Riddle's diary, but you had enough willpower to prevent him gaining
control of you completely. You fought him, making it impossible for him to achieve control as quickly as
he hoped. As you have both prevented him from gaining power, you are targets."
"But what about Potter?" Severus asked, "Surely he's stopped Voldemort more times than we have."
"True. But I believe Voldemort has bigger things planned for Harry. For the moment he will settle for the
death of you."
"What's the theory of The United?" Ginny asked quietly.
"Ah!" Dumbledore said, "I believe that is your hope for survival." He sat back down again and looked
straight at Ginny, "Hundreds of years ago, a wizard almost as powerful as Voldemort began gaining
power. He singled out two victims who had thwarted him previously, a young girl and a man, and
waged war against them. They managed to defeat him by becoming The United." He paused and
cleared his throat. "At the final battle, they bound themselves together magically, making the power
they mastered far greater. The combined power of the two of them crushed the wizard and they
survived unharmed."
"So we use that?" Severus asked.
"Yes, well. That's the problem. The binding only worked because the two were close friends, some even
say that they were lovers. Without having a link with the other person beforehand, and a strong link at
that, the spell will cause the death of both parties." He looked hard at both of them, "Unless you can
become friends, there is nothing more I can do."
"But isn't there something else?" Severus asked.
"Nothing that would be able to defeat such a strong power."
Severus looked at Ginny.
//Oh God. What did I do to deserve this?//
"There is one more condition." Dumbledore said with a smirk on his face. "To re-enforce the bond
between you, you will have to spend more time together."
Severus groaned inwardly.
Ginny, who had been silent, asked,
"How much time?"
"At least twelve hours each day."
"How can that work?" Severus asked, "I have to teach, she has to go to her lessons."
"I have already thought of that." Dumbledore answered, "As no one else is to know of this, I shall say
that Miss Weasley is on what is called 'work experience' in the muggle world. She will accompany you
to your lessons, and sit at the staff table for meals, because she is 'seeing what it is like to be a teacher
at Hogwarts'. Your 'work experience' will begin this morning."
Meanwhile, outside the door to Dumbledore's office, crouched Harry, his ear against the door. He
grinned to himself as the voice in the back of his head said,
"Now the plan will work better than ever. You have succeeded well."
Satisfied that he had heard enough, Harry stood up and crept silently away, ready to put the first part of
the plan into action.
The kitchens
~~~~~~~~
Harry stepped through the painting of the fruit and saw all the house elves busily working to get
breakfast ready. He spotted what he was looking for and hurried over.
"Harry Potter!" A squeal came and Harry was almost bowled over by Dobby flinging his arms round his
waist.
"Hello Dobby."
"Would Harry Potter like a cup of tea?" Dobby asked excitedly.
"No thank you, Dobby. I'm in a hurry."
"Of course, of course." Dobby whipped out a chair, "Sit down, Harry Potter, sit down!"
Harry sat down obligingly.
"Dobby, I wonder if you could tell me which goblet is Proffessor Snape's?"
"Ah yes, sir! It is this one!" Dobby pointed to a golden goblet. "Why must Harry Potter know this?"
"Oh, me and Ron were just going to have a little fun today at breakfast," Harry said, lying through his
back teeth, "Just a little joke."
"But sir!" Dobby's eyes grew wide, "Harry Potter will get into trouble!"
"Don't worry, Dobby. No one'll notice."
"As long as Harry Potter is sure."
Harry nodded.
"I will make myself busy somewhere else, so that Harry Potter can do joke." Dobby winked at Harry
conspiratorily and scurried off.
Harry looked round to make sure none of the other elves were looking, then took from his sleeve
a small packet. He emptied the green powder it contained into Severus's goblet and stirred it in, till no
trace was visible. He slipped the packet back into his sleeve and stood up.
"Bye, Dobby!" Harry waved to him.
"Good bye, Harry Potter!" Dobby called back. He winked again, "Good luck!"
Harry winked back and smiled. He ducked through the picture again and his face became stony.
Now just to wait until breakfast, then the fun would begin.
Two hours later, at breakfast.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry sat by himself at the Gryffindor table, surrounded by the noise of everyone enjoying their
breakfast.
Ron and Hermione were taking a walk by the lake, and Dean, Seamus, Lavender and Parvati were
together next to him, whispering and giggling about something.
He looked down at his sausages and decided that he was no longer hungry. He pushed his plate away
and sat and waited.
Suddenly, Ginny came hurrying in, holding a goblet. She cast a glance at Harry, then turned away to talk
to Dean and Seamus.
"What's in the goblet, Ginny?" Seamus asked.
"Oh, it's this medicine that Madame Pomfrey gave me. I've been feeling a little under the weather lately.
Have you seen Ron?" She asked.
"No. He's down at the lake with Hermione." Dean said. Lavender and Parvati giggled.
"Could you give him this?" Ginny put her goblet down and produced a piece of parchment and a quill.
As she scribbled a message, Harry moved his sleeve over Ginny's goblet, making it look like he was
reaching for the pumpkin juice, and let a little of the powder fall into the greenish-blue medicine.
Ginny took hold of the goblet again and Harry busied himself with pouring out his juice.
"Where are you going, Ginny?" Dean asked as she began to walk away.
"That's what the note's about." She explained. "I'm starting work experience as a teacher today, so I
have to sit at the staff table."
"Oh." Dean said, puzzled, "Why didn't you tell us?"
"It was a last minute kind of thing."
"Okay then. See you later."
"Yeah." She nodded and walked up to the staff table.
Proffessor Dumbledore indicated a seat with a nod of his head, and Ginny found, to her displeasure, that
she was sitting next to Severus.
He gave her a grim smile,
"Good morning, Miss Weasley."
"Proffessor."
She took her seat and raised the goblet to her lips, wrinkling her nose at the bitter taste of the
medicine.
She felt her head get lighter, as if someone had lifted a great weight of it, and she suddenly felt dizzy.
She presumed it was a side effect of the medicine.
"Are you alright?" Severus asked her, noticing her go pale.
"Yes, sorry. I just felt a little dizzy."
Ginny put her hand down on the table to steady herself, and knocked a fork to the floor. Both she and
Severus bent to pick it up, and in the instant that their hands touched, Ginny felt a tremor of electricity
run through her fingers.
She glanced quickly at Severus, and noticed the same puzzlement on his face. He had obviously felt it
too.
He quickly removed his hand and sat straight again. Ginny picked up the fork, a little dazed and
wondered what had just happened.
Harry, who had been watching out of the corner of his eye, saw what happened. He alone saw the
spark of blue electricity jump between them. He smiled to himself darkly. The spell was already working
on them and soon they'd no longer be able to resist the desire it had created in them. Soon they would
be bonded in a deeper way than Dumbledore ever meant for them to be. Soon, they'd be ready for
the final stage of Voldemort's plan.
Far away, in the small, dark room, Voldemort laughed his high, cold laugh. His plan had worked
perfectly. Not only was Harry putty in his hands, but soon the other two would be unable to resist
each other, and would fall into a spell-induced love, making the killing of them both far easier than it
would have been.
Now, no one could stop him from regaining the power he felt he was owed. Not even Harry Potter.
To Be Continued......
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Severus knocked on Proffessor Dumbledore's door and waited to be called inside.
"Enter!" Came the voice.
Severus pushed open the door and burst in.
"Albus! I -" He stopped as he saw that sitting opposite Proffessor Dumbledore was Ginny Weasley,
looking very pale and frightened. "Sorry." He muttered, "I'll come back later."
He began to back out of the door but Albus said,
"No, no. Stay. I think what Ginny has to say might be of relevance to you."
Severus gave Ginny a puzzled look.
//How can anything she says be relevant to me?//
He took the seat next to Ginny, and waited for Proffessor Dumbledore to explain.
"Ginny came to see me because she had a rather frightful dream." Proffessor Dumbledore turned to
Ginny, "Please describe what you saw." He said gently.
She nodded and took a deep breath.
"I was in this room. It was all dark and there was a wizard I didn't know standing in one corner. Then
this high-pitched voice called the person 'Wormtail' and he went to stand near the direction of the
voice." She paused, taking a ragged breath, "The voice said that they'd bewitched someone, and that
they'd kill two people...a girl and a traitor." She paused again as Severus took a sharp breath in,
realising that he'd had exactly the same dream. "Then the th-thing got a body and it was..." She
hicupped, "It was You-Know-Who! He cursed m-me and I woke up."
She sank her head into her hands and began to sob. Dumbledore looked at her sympathetically, then
turned to Severus.
"Severus. Why did you come to see me?"
"I came because I'd had a dream."
"I see."
"And the dream was exactly the same one as..." He stopped.
"So you both had the same dream." Dumbledore said. "Do either of you have any idea what that could
mean?"
Ginny shook her head miserably, but Severus was thinking quickly, putting two and two together.
"In the dream..." He said slowly, "He said 'the girl and the traitor'. I presume I'm the traitor so..." He
left the sentence open for Dumbledore to finish.
"Ginny." Dumbledore said, bringing Ginny out of her silent weeping, "I'm afraid it appears that you are
Voldemort's new target."
"B-but why? It's Harry he hates, not me!" She wailed.
"I believe it is something to do with the theory of 'the United'." Dumbledore said, getting up and pacing
back and forth stroking his beard. "Both you and Severus have thwarted Voldemort's plans to gain
control."
"Me?" Ginny exclaimed, "But what have I done?"
"You were bewitched by Tom Riddle's diary, but you had enough willpower to prevent him gaining
control of you completely. You fought him, making it impossible for him to achieve control as quickly as
he hoped. As you have both prevented him from gaining power, you are targets."
"But what about Potter?" Severus asked, "Surely he's stopped Voldemort more times than we have."
"True. But I believe Voldemort has bigger things planned for Harry. For the moment he will settle for the
death of you."
"What's the theory of The United?" Ginny asked quietly.
"Ah!" Dumbledore said, "I believe that is your hope for survival." He sat back down again and looked
straight at Ginny, "Hundreds of years ago, a wizard almost as powerful as Voldemort began gaining
power. He singled out two victims who had thwarted him previously, a young girl and a man, and
waged war against them. They managed to defeat him by becoming The United." He paused and
cleared his throat. "At the final battle, they bound themselves together magically, making the power
they mastered far greater. The combined power of the two of them crushed the wizard and they
survived unharmed."
"So we use that?" Severus asked.
"Yes, well. That's the problem. The binding only worked because the two were close friends, some even
say that they were lovers. Without having a link with the other person beforehand, and a strong link at
that, the spell will cause the death of both parties." He looked hard at both of them, "Unless you can
become friends, there is nothing more I can do."
"But isn't there something else?" Severus asked.
"Nothing that would be able to defeat such a strong power."
Severus looked at Ginny.
//Oh God. What did I do to deserve this?//
"There is one more condition." Dumbledore said with a smirk on his face. "To re-enforce the bond
between you, you will have to spend more time together."
Severus groaned inwardly.
Ginny, who had been silent, asked,
"How much time?"
"At least twelve hours each day."
"How can that work?" Severus asked, "I have to teach, she has to go to her lessons."
"I have already thought of that." Dumbledore answered, "As no one else is to know of this, I shall say
that Miss Weasley is on what is called 'work experience' in the muggle world. She will accompany you
to your lessons, and sit at the staff table for meals, because she is 'seeing what it is like to be a teacher
at Hogwarts'. Your 'work experience' will begin this morning."
Meanwhile, outside the door to Dumbledore's office, crouched Harry, his ear against the door. He
grinned to himself as the voice in the back of his head said,
"Now the plan will work better than ever. You have succeeded well."
Satisfied that he had heard enough, Harry stood up and crept silently away, ready to put the first part of
the plan into action.
The kitchens
~~~~~~~~
Harry stepped through the painting of the fruit and saw all the house elves busily working to get
breakfast ready. He spotted what he was looking for and hurried over.
"Harry Potter!" A squeal came and Harry was almost bowled over by Dobby flinging his arms round his
waist.
"Hello Dobby."
"Would Harry Potter like a cup of tea?" Dobby asked excitedly.
"No thank you, Dobby. I'm in a hurry."
"Of course, of course." Dobby whipped out a chair, "Sit down, Harry Potter, sit down!"
Harry sat down obligingly.
"Dobby, I wonder if you could tell me which goblet is Proffessor Snape's?"
"Ah yes, sir! It is this one!" Dobby pointed to a golden goblet. "Why must Harry Potter know this?"
"Oh, me and Ron were just going to have a little fun today at breakfast," Harry said, lying through his
back teeth, "Just a little joke."
"But sir!" Dobby's eyes grew wide, "Harry Potter will get into trouble!"
"Don't worry, Dobby. No one'll notice."
"As long as Harry Potter is sure."
Harry nodded.
"I will make myself busy somewhere else, so that Harry Potter can do joke." Dobby winked at Harry
conspiratorily and scurried off.
Harry looked round to make sure none of the other elves were looking, then took from his sleeve
a small packet. He emptied the green powder it contained into Severus's goblet and stirred it in, till no
trace was visible. He slipped the packet back into his sleeve and stood up.
"Bye, Dobby!" Harry waved to him.
"Good bye, Harry Potter!" Dobby called back. He winked again, "Good luck!"
Harry winked back and smiled. He ducked through the picture again and his face became stony.
Now just to wait until breakfast, then the fun would begin.
Two hours later, at breakfast.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry sat by himself at the Gryffindor table, surrounded by the noise of everyone enjoying their
breakfast.
Ron and Hermione were taking a walk by the lake, and Dean, Seamus, Lavender and Parvati were
together next to him, whispering and giggling about something.
He looked down at his sausages and decided that he was no longer hungry. He pushed his plate away
and sat and waited.
Suddenly, Ginny came hurrying in, holding a goblet. She cast a glance at Harry, then turned away to talk
to Dean and Seamus.
"What's in the goblet, Ginny?" Seamus asked.
"Oh, it's this medicine that Madame Pomfrey gave me. I've been feeling a little under the weather lately.
Have you seen Ron?" She asked.
"No. He's down at the lake with Hermione." Dean said. Lavender and Parvati giggled.
"Could you give him this?" Ginny put her goblet down and produced a piece of parchment and a quill.
As she scribbled a message, Harry moved his sleeve over Ginny's goblet, making it look like he was
reaching for the pumpkin juice, and let a little of the powder fall into the greenish-blue medicine.
Ginny took hold of the goblet again and Harry busied himself with pouring out his juice.
"Where are you going, Ginny?" Dean asked as she began to walk away.
"That's what the note's about." She explained. "I'm starting work experience as a teacher today, so I
have to sit at the staff table."
"Oh." Dean said, puzzled, "Why didn't you tell us?"
"It was a last minute kind of thing."
"Okay then. See you later."
"Yeah." She nodded and walked up to the staff table.
Proffessor Dumbledore indicated a seat with a nod of his head, and Ginny found, to her displeasure, that
she was sitting next to Severus.
He gave her a grim smile,
"Good morning, Miss Weasley."
"Proffessor."
She took her seat and raised the goblet to her lips, wrinkling her nose at the bitter taste of the
medicine.
She felt her head get lighter, as if someone had lifted a great weight of it, and she suddenly felt dizzy.
She presumed it was a side effect of the medicine.
"Are you alright?" Severus asked her, noticing her go pale.
"Yes, sorry. I just felt a little dizzy."
Ginny put her hand down on the table to steady herself, and knocked a fork to the floor. Both she and
Severus bent to pick it up, and in the instant that their hands touched, Ginny felt a tremor of electricity
run through her fingers.
She glanced quickly at Severus, and noticed the same puzzlement on his face. He had obviously felt it
too.
He quickly removed his hand and sat straight again. Ginny picked up the fork, a little dazed and
wondered what had just happened.
Harry, who had been watching out of the corner of his eye, saw what happened. He alone saw the
spark of blue electricity jump between them. He smiled to himself darkly. The spell was already working
on them and soon they'd no longer be able to resist the desire it had created in them. Soon they would
be bonded in a deeper way than Dumbledore ever meant for them to be. Soon, they'd be ready for
the final stage of Voldemort's plan.
Far away, in the small, dark room, Voldemort laughed his high, cold laugh. His plan had worked
perfectly. Not only was Harry putty in his hands, but soon the other two would be unable to resist
each other, and would fall into a spell-induced love, making the killing of them both far easier than it
would have been.
Now, no one could stop him from regaining the power he felt he was owed. Not even Harry Potter.
To Be Continued......