Harry
Potter and the Eye of Darkness
Chapter
5
The
"Darkness" Ceremony
A/N: Okies, I got some reviews, so I decided to continue. Here goes!
There was screaming, yelling, and
pushing as everyone scrambled to get to the balcony. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were
fighting their way through to get to Ginny. "Out of my way!" screeched Mrs.
Weasley. "Something's happened to my daughter!"
Harry hopped down from the stage and
joined everyone at the balcony, his heart racing fast. When he approached
Ginny, he saw that her face was pale, and she was looking at something,
horrified. Harry followed her gaze and gasped. By their reactions, Harry knew
that everyone else had seen in too.
On one of the balcony's walls, right
behind a set of drums, written in blood, were the following words:
Muggles and Mudbloods,
Foes of Darkness,
Beware,
For he whom you all fear,
Is back for a scare
So be ready to be frightened
Be ready to be concerned
Be ready to encounter death
For the
dark lord has returned
The screams grew louder. Children were
wailing, and Harry's heart was thumping loudly. He glanced around at Fudge, who
was pacing around nervously.
"Is
this some kind of sick joke?!", he was screeching. " Who would do this?! You,
girl, did you see anyone?!"
Ginny
was trembling. "N-no, I just came out, and – and saw them!"
"He's
not back!" said Fudge stubbornly. "It's just someone trying to cause trouble! I
tell you, this is-"
But what it was, no one knew, for at
that moment, a hissing voice from far off muttered indistinct words. Harry
looked up at the sky, knowing what he was going to see, though he had not heard
the spell.
Sure enough, a green figure was
appearing in the sky: a skull with a serpent protruding from its mouth.
"My God….," muttered Destire, a
terrified tremor in his voice. "It's the Dark Mark!"
Screaming filled the air again this
time much louder. Harry was frozen in shock; it had happened again. Surely
Fudge would come to his senses now?
"There
you have it, Minister!" bellowed Diggory. " The Dark Mark! HIS sign! For the
second summer in a row! What more proof do you need that he's returned?"
But Fudge finally seemed at a loss for
words. He took one last horrorstruck look at the Dark Mark hovering in the air,
then sped off out of the hall and to his office.
Mr. Weasley was shaking his head in
disbelief. " Some Minister," he muttered. " Rushes off like a coward instead of
calming all the panic."
And panic was right. Everyone was in a
state Harry was sure they had been in only in the days of Voldemort. And now it
looked like those days were back. He stared around helplessly. Surely someone
was going to calm the situation, at least take control of the chaos!
As he was having that thought,
Dumbledore stood up in front of the crowd and started calling for silence.
"Where
is he?!" shouted an angry wizard. "That frightened child of a Minister who's
supposed to be protecting us!"
Dumbledore
sighed. " Mr. Fudge is feeling quite- frazzled, and I don't think he will be
much of a help to any one of you, as much as I hate to say it."
There were more angry calls concerning
Fudge .
"Why
don't YOU do something, Albus?"
"I'm
trying to! Listen to me. This state of panic will get us nowhere. I assure you,
a few others and myself are working hard to stop the rise of darkness before it
is at its height again. What you can do at this stage is face what is happening
and stay united. I advise you all now to go home and stay on your guard."
The noise had calmed down a bit;
people were actually listening to Dumbledore.
"But
Albus," sobbed a witch, " We're just supposed to sit around in our homes every
second in fear of him attacking? Or worry all day at work, fearing to come home
and find the Dark Mare hovering above our homes?"
Dumbledore
looked somberly at her. " There is nothing we can do about that," he said
quietly. "Fear will stay no matter what."
It was a long time before everyone had
started to leave; everyone was still terrified. When Harry, the Weasleys, and
Hermione finally started off back to the Burrow, Harry felt a tap on his
shoulder. It was Dumbledore. "All right, Harry?" he asked gently. Harry managed
a weak smile. "I'm fine, thanks." Dumbledore nodded. " I know what you are
wondering about, and I promise I will explain everything as soon as I have a
chance, at school. It took Harry a moment to realize he was talking about Mrs.
Figg. He had forgotten about her in all the excitement.
"Oh,
you mean the- oh, okay." Dumbledore nodded again and smiled. "Well, I'll see
you at Hogwarts, Harry." With that, he walked off.
Back at the Burrow, there was talk of
nothing but the words, the Dark Mark, and the return of Voldemort. Even after
Mrs. Weasley had finally ushered everyone to bed, insisting that they'd had a
long day, Harry and Ron continued discussing the day's events in their beds. (
Hermione was sleeping in Ginny's room.) And even after Harry had heard Ron's
snores, it was a long time before he had fallen asleep.
* * *
The rest of the summer passed by
slowly. The atmosphere in the region was tense and frightened. People were
jumpy wherever they went. As Rita Skeeter wasn't writing gossip anymore, the
true story of what had happened was all over the papers. Mr. Weasley was having
more work than ever. But he said it was nothing comparted to Destire, who was
having quite a job at the Department of Wizard Safety and Health Care.
Mr. Weasley and Percy kept giving them
news of the happenings at the Ministry. They said that Fudge had helplessly
given up, and all he did was send owls to Dumbledore, asking him for advice.
"Bit early of him, isn't it?" Mr. Weasley once said bitterly.
Sirius had sent him a letter asking
about him:
Dear
Harry,
Sorry
this letter is so short, but I'm quite busy at the moment. I just want to make
sure that you're all right after what happened. Take care of yourself,
Sirius
On the day before the first day of school, Ron's parents took them (excluding Percy) to Diagon Alley to get all their school things. Harry noticed there was a very advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts book on the list. His heart churned a little.
Harry made sure all his books and
things were packed that night. He went to sleep, sad for leaving the Burrow and
the kind Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and glad that the next day he would be heading
off for the safest place on earth.
There
you have it. I didn't make you wait too long, did I? Don't forget to review!