Credits: All the references to Harry Potter, the world of Hogwarts and the magical community are J.K. Rowling's. All the rest are mine.
Author's Note: I feel like a VERY BAD PERSON… I haven't written on this in like a month!!!!!! Sorry my people… and here it is. The 15th chapter. *grins* Oh, I AM a bad person… don't you HATE cliffies???? ' ) hehe. ^_^ Well…
Chapter 15
BOOM!!! With a loud, ringing noise, the doors to the Great Hall slammed shut. The Care of Magical Creatures class stood, shivering in still darkness- the storm, no doubt related to Voldemort, thought Harry uncomfortably, had temporarily flickered the castle's lights. Sure enough, a few seconds after they'd stood there, the lights wavered once and then blew back to life, revealing the shaken and sodden class, dripping on the clean stone of the floor. The class could hear angry footsteps coming their way.
"Hagrid!!!" Filch's mad voice came roaring towards them, though not as loud as the gale outside. "PLEASE don't just STAND there!!! You know how LONG it takes me to clean a puddle like that??? TWO HOURS OF MY VALUABLE TIME!!! Gone!!! Scrubbing away at a PUDDLE!!!"
Hagrid, who had been listening to the weather and frowning, gave a start. "Righ'… everyone go to their common rooms, now- won' be havin' any more class in this storm now…"
Filch hovered, his face a bright pink. "Students," he finally muttered, ignoring the pupils who were now leading their muddy tracks to their rooms.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione, at the front of the Gryffindor students, winced as they heard a spine-tingling yell from Filch.
"AND NOW WOULD YOU JUST LOOK AT THIS MESS!!!!!! I'VE GOT ENOUGH WITH THIS PUDDLE, DO YOU THINK I CAN CLEAN ALL THIS ON MY OWN?!!!!!! Never again in my life…"
His voice receded slightly as they walked towards the Fat Lady.
"Screams like a girl, you reckon?" Ron said conversationally to his friends, earning a Look from Hermione. " Er- a ninny…"
Harry gave a shrug as he and the others climbed into the almost-empty room. "Sure seems like he's got a lot to do… bet the storm's gonna go on for the night." At this, Hermione frowned.
She hesitated, then spoke. "Somehow... We read about those kinds of clouds in Arithmancy… Scereny Magic. Pure black clouds mean…" She gave a significant look at Harry, who carried on.
"Right… I thought it was him, but I didn't feel anything on my scar…" Harry intoned, puzzling this out. "Voldemort."
Ron shuddered. "Stop saying the name! Nirry'd be likely to hear, and then she'll…" Ron stopped, staring at Harry, who had gone oddly still. "What's up?"
"Where's Nirry?" Harry asked, his voice scared. Around the common room, they could see people doing homework, people starting to doze, people reading… but no Nirry.
"I don't know," Hermione said in an odd tone of voice. "Wasn't she right behind us?"
They immediately got up towards the portrait hole, which by now was closed, cozily insulating the heat from the common room. Harry and Ron swung it open, causing Hermione to shiver at the gust of icy wind that came from the deserted corridors.
"Nirry?" Three voices spoke into the calm silence. There was no answer.
Harry went out onto the cold floor. "Nirry?" he yelled. "NIRRY?!!!!!!!!!!"
"Oh do be quiet!" snapped the Fat Lady. Hermione and Ron jumped a mile into the air. "I was dozing, mind you. Your friend never came in tonight."
"What???!!!" cried Harry. "But she was with us the whole time… wasn't she?"
Taking
no notice of the cold, Harry started pacing. Ron looked awkward. "Er- she was with us during class…"
"Right,"
Hermione said shakily. "But-"
"She
didn't come in with us?" Harry said, suddenly stopping. "You reckon she's out there, freezing to death, in… in VOLDEMORT'S
storm?"
"Would
you kindly be quiet? Most portraits SLEEP during storms. Not me, oh no… I have to stay awake, breaking up arguments and whatnot…
you get inside!!! You'll catch your deaths of a cold" -Harry suddenly swallowed-
"and I'LL get the blame!!! Now
scoot!" the portrait said
very irritably, bundled up in a new, purple coat and yellow scarf.
Click! The portrait shut, Harry, Hermione, and Ron inside. They stood, looking at each other
helplessly, oblivious to the noise in the common room.
"She's
out there." Harry said,
whispering. He started
shivering. "Alone."
They
stared somberly at him.
* * *
"Whoa!!!" Nirry's words were wiped from her mouth
by the ten-buckets worth of water being poured on her. Cinnamonne had slowed slightly to
navigate in the dense forest. "OW!!! Shit!!!!!" Nirry
screamed, blindly swiping at a slimy branch that slapped her hard on the face.
Cinnamonne
screamed- a hair-raising sound, one Nirry'd heard only once before, at a barn
in Canada…
Instantly,
Nirry felt them both drop what felt like 10 feet down, into blurry and muddy,
yet tree-free earth. She barely
had time to scream before blackness enveloped her, casting a misty fog on her
mind.
***
Away
in a deserted mansion a hundred miles from Hogwarts, Lord Voldemort sat at a
dinner table.
"Wormtail…
more meat. Now!!!"
His
servant scurried, obeying his master rapidly. Voldemort sat, munching, with an evil gleam of satisfaction
in his eyes.
Peter,
having done the task, stood timidly behind Voldemort's chair. "Master, would you like more
wine?"
Voldemort
spun slowly, coming to a stop in front of Wormtail's nervous face. "No, my faithful servant. My devoted servant. Wormtail. My most faithful slave."
Wormtail
suppressed a thought of Bartemis Crouch, Jr. His master was in a good mood. No need to spoil it.
"You
have, of course, been keeping up with my plans?" Voldemort said softly, looking with red eyes at Wormtail who
was now very pale.
"Yes,
master."
"Good. I must call my Death Eaters tomorrow- I
must discuss them further." Voldemort paused.
"Not
now, my Lord?" Wormtail asked
timidly.
"Silence!
Do not spoil my mood." Voldemort took a breath, not noticing Wormtail's cringing. "Not now. I can relax. Soon I will kill him. The storm is under way."
"Good…
Milord," Wormtail murmured.
Voldemort
gave a small laugh. "Of
course it's good." He stood
up and walked to a table on which a small diagram lay. He stood there, six feet tall, red
eyes, and an evil aura.
He
took out his wand with gleaming white fingers and touched a part of the
parchment.
The
indiscernible lines became 3-D- a castle surrounded by clouds.
It
was an image of Hogwarts.
Magically
and proportionately correct, the castle showed no signs of life on the
grounds. Only minute black clouds gathered
around the castle, blotting all lights and making the school's model seem
suddenly small and defenseless.
Voldemort
gave another slight chuckle. "Potter
comes out, and we leave Dumbledore helpless… no vision in my clouds. Owls, eliminated."
Wormtail
ventured a question. "How
will we lure… ah- him- out?"
He
gave a small sigh of relief- his master did not turn around and strike at
him. Instead, Voldemort smiled.
"I
believe it is time for my servant Malfoy to take part."
"Didn't…
didn't he get thrown out as governor?" Wormtail whispered, steeling himself for a lashing. None came.
"No…
it is time for his son learned the proper aspects of being devoted to a great
wizard. He shall come tomorrow."
"The-
the son, my Lord?"
Voldemort
grinned. "To learn of the
plan. He lures Potter out, into
the cover of the clouds. You take
care of Dumbledore- we want him alive, don't we? Ah yes." He
sneered. "Can't be leaving
the Mudbloods without a headmaster. Well. I take Potter, and
we'll see for once and for all who the better wizard is."
Wormtail
relaxed. "You, milord."
"Precisely."
* * *
"Urgl…"
Nirry came to only to find her legs covered in mud and slime. A weak whimper made her head go up.
Cinnamonne's
legs, torso and behind were buried in muck. With a glance, Nirry could tell they were in deep, deep
trouble. As in, a hole in the
ground. A man-made hole. Hagrid's hole, Nirry
thought with a sardonic smile.
"What
kind of thing needs a hole this big?" muttered Nirry. Then she groaned. "Don't answer that."
Cinnamonne
nickered. The mare's face was
undamaged, yet dripping with water, which was still pouring down from the
clouds in gallonfuls.
With
a big SLURPing sound, Nirry managed to pull herself out of her mud bath. After a mental check for any injuries,
she hurried over to Cinnamonne, who nickered pathetically.
"I
know, girl… hang on, I'll get you out."
Nirry
spotted a soggy branch hanging from a side of the three-walled hole. The fourth was stone.
Wrenching
it out of the wet earth, Nirry dragged it over to Cinnamonne.
Within
about 10 minutes, Cinnamonne was able to get forelegs out, and she thrashed
them about, freeing the rest of her body.
"That's
it, girl, come on, one more kick…" Nirry coached her mare, hands on knees, breathing lungfuls of water and
air and wheezing.
NEIGH!!! Nirry's head snapped back up to the
desperate whinny of her horse. Cinnamonne looked at her frantically, eyes rolling.
Nirry,
with a gasp, saw the problem. Cinnamonne's left hind leg was at right angles from the rest of the leg-
broken.
Nirry
cursed, which made Cinnamonne throw her head back nervously.
"It's
okay, it's okay… hang on… I think I learned this. Just one second."
Nirry's
robes were caked with still-slippery mud, weighing her down considerably. She slipped them off, revealing Muggle
jeans and T-shirt on top of mud-splattered tennis shoes.
"Oh
I could just win a beauty contest right now," muttered Nirry as she
rummaged around, looking for her wand. Amazingly, her wand was unbroken… and dry.
Nirry
screwed her brain up. "Okay. I can do
this."
At
that moment, they found out why the Hagrid's hole was so deep.