Chapter 6
Descent to Darkness
A/N: Thank you all for the support. Sorry for the wait, here is Part 6. Like always, please review if you enjoy it.
"Zee can't be good at everyting, 'Arry." Fleur tried to explain, as the three of them walked out from an enjoyable evening of bowling. "Tenpin bowling takes a bit of practice…" Cho smiled at this, and shook her head. Harry had been even more annoyed to find out, that Fleur, who had never picked up a bowling ball in her life, had been quite a natural at the game. He had spent the remainder of the evening grumbling, although Cho could see that he was not seriously unhappy.
The three of them were out very late at night, although in the city of Latrinval, nothing every really stopped. Wizards and witches were still hurrying in the darkness of the night sky, and the ever-present iridescent beams of colored light were still sweeping the streets, illuminating countless buildings and structures that Harry had never seen before.
"What next?" Harry asked eagerly.
Fleur looked at him appraisingly. "Zee should get back home…it ees quite late."
"Oh come on, Fleur. He's slept the entire afternoon. Let him have some fun!" Cho cried indignantly, grabbing Harry's arm. Her cheeks colored red when he gave her a smile of thanks, and the three of them continued down the street. They decided not to mention the Magic Missile again for fear that Fleur would break out into one of her tirades.
"So where do you want to go Harry?" Cho asked, smiling at him. He felt a little funny, and turned nervously away, looking down at his feet as if they were the most interesting things in the world.
"Um…" Harry started. "I…don't really know."
"Of course he doesn't. Zee forgot he has never been here before, how ees he supposed to know where to go?" Fleur said, looking at Cho knowingly. Cho looked away from her and an awkward moment passed. "Wee could go see the Ministry of Magic."
"Oh!" Harry said with surprise and more than a little interest. "It's here?"
"Of course it is…" Cho said smiling at him. "At least, the Ministry of Magic for Britain is. You should really come see it, Harry. It has all these departments full of important witches and wizards…they even have guided tours."
"Yeah, I'd really like that." Harry said, smiling at her. He felt himself turning red again as he saw her looking at him funny. "My friend Ron's father works in the Ministry of Magic…" He said, trying to change the subject.
"Oh! Ron…" Cho paused as if thinking. "Your tall friend with the freckles?"
"Yeah…wait…how did you know that?" Harry queried a little suspiciously.
"Well gee Harry, it might be the fact that you hang out with him, and that other girl with the glasses all the time." He heard her reply. Harry could have sworn that Cho's voice had changed when she mentioned the 'girl with the glasses.' He couldn't put his foot on how exactly it had changed though.
"Yeah…I should have realized that." He said, rearranging his glasses awkwardly.
"Here…let me do it." Cho said, watching him. Her hands slowly reached for his face and then for his glasses. He felt her carefully place them correctly on his eyes before leaning in a little bit more as if inspecting her work. She was so close…he could feel his heart racing, and his breathing quickening. She had never quite been this close.
Close up, Cho's light brown eyes were…beautiful. He instantly blushed at his choice of words, but could think of no other. Her black hair swirled around her, making her look both bewitching and innocent at the same time. He could see why so many guys seemed to follow her around. She was really pretty. The thought of the men of Cho's life instantly brought his mind back to Cedric, and that sobered him quickly. He stepped away from her, but didn't miss the disappointed look she gave him.
"Well…if zee are done…" Fleur said very carefully as she looked at them. "Wee can be on our way…"
"Oh right!" They said together, and blushed.
Fleur looked at them strangely, and together the three of them continued walking down the paved roads. Harry was studiously avoiding Cho's glance, and Cho was avoiding his. Fleur couldn't help but notice that Harry seemed to be preoccupied with his surroundings a little more than usual, while Cho seemed to be trying to figure out if something was wrong with her robes.
"Harry!" A familiar voice called out. Harry turned eagerly as a thin figure strode towards them from a large marble building. On top of it, in golden bright letters were the words 'Ministry of Magic.' Stone dragons guarded the entrance, while designs of all kinds filled the doors. Harry gaped in wonderment just as the thin figure called out again. "Harry, is that you?"
"Mr. Weasley!" Harry blinked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"
"I work here…" Mr. Weasley said, a kind smile coming to his face. "I've heard about that little mess you got into coming here…ah…this must be the infamous Cho Chang."
Cho turned marvelously red at this, and turned away trying to hide her blush.
"I was hoping you'd stop by!" Mr. Weasley said enthusiastically. "Got some…eh…computers I want you to have a look at. There some kind of Muggle device used to write…can't see why they can't use a good quill and ink, but you can never tell with Muggles. You simply must come over and stay with us again! I insist!"
"Eh…" Harry said looking at Cho who was still avoiding him. "I'm actually staying here with a friend…"
"Oh!" Mr. Wealsey said as if noticing Harry's companions for the first time. "Your Fleur Delacour aren't you? The Beauxbatons champion? I remember you…spectacular performance last year at that Tri-Wizard Cup my dear. My son Charlie has been talking about you…"
Fleur blushed and smiled happily at the compliment. Harry looked over at the marvelously decorated if somewhat solemn building still in front of them, eager to get a peek inside. "So…Mr. Weasley, do you think it'd be ok if we took a look?"
"Oh!" Arthur said, glancing back over. "I can't see why it would hurt…if you must know, Harry. Security's been a little high around here…what with the rumors about you-know-who and other …stuff." Harry stifled a smile. Mr. Weasley just like Ron, was a notoriously bad liar.
"What other stuff?" Cho asked curiously, but Mr. Weasley made a point of ignoring her question as they passed the stone dragons. Harry and Fleur both shivered a bit, having experienced the power and ferocity of real dragons all too closely.
"Well, this is the Reception area…where we get requests for help, send off letters, get complaints…that sorta think." Mr. Weasley said as the four of them walked down a long hallway carrying thousands of owls. Little owls, big owls, tiny owls, snowy white ones, brown ones, every owl imaginable seemed to be stacked on the shelves. It was even bigger than the owlery at Hogwarts. Everywhere, official looking documents and papers were strewn on the shelves and even on the floors. "Eh…we aren't exactly very organized here…" Mr. Weasley said apologetically.
"It's amazing!" Harry said. Cho mirrored his thoughts, although Fleur managed to look as suitably unimpressed as always.
"Department of the Care and Regulation of Magical Creatures…" Mr. Wealsey said as they passed a large room. Harry stopped right in his tracks. Pixies, trolls, ogres, werewolves, and even some creatures he hadn't seen before were all milling about among wizards and witches who were frantically trying to solve their problems.
"But my teeth hurt! Why can't you fix that?" He heard a vampire cry from the corner. A pair of pixies made off with a wizard's hat only to be frozen and then tossed into a cage. Disorder and chaos raged in the area as a large giant got free and started clubbing everything in his sight before a trio of wizards got the situation under control.
"It is a little…crazy around here sometimes…" Mr. Weasley said, shrugging a bit. "At least there's no dementors…" He offered weakly.
Harry shuddered at the thought before continuing onwards. He almost stopped in his tracks again when he felt a hand envelop his own. Looking up, he saw Cho studiously avoiding his gaze, although her hand tightened around his. More than a little nervous, they walked slowly together after Fleur and Mr. Weasley who had gotten ahead of them.
"And this…" Mr. Wealsey said proudly. "Is my Department."
It was very small compared to the other Department. But it was stacked with everything that could have been related to Muggles. Harry saw books upon books stacked talking about the History of Muggles to their Pop Culture. Radios, clocks, TVs, VCRs, and one computer were stacked haphazardly around a large table. A large collection of batteries, plugs, and wires had been placed in a large bowl. Even parts of a car had been strewn onto a small desk.
"Wow…" Cho said. "This is really neat!" She immediately started to examine a small TV inquisitively, pressing knobs and buttons.
Mr. Weasley turned red with the compliment and shook his head. "It's not much, but then I don't need all that much." He puffed out a bit, and grinned. "Now why don't you show me how to work this…computer, thing Harry?"
As the other two girls examined things that Harry had taken for granted, he was more than happy to show Mr. Wealsey how a computer worked. Just as he was explaining the world of the Internet, which to Mr. Wealsey, was even more fascinating than traveling by floo powder, a large owl suddenly swooped in carrying a message.
Mr. Weasley snatched at it, a little irritated at the distraction, before a wide smile came to his face. "It's just Molly, word travels fast." His eyes traveled to Cho again. "She wants you to come and stay with us…"
Harry paused again, still looking at Cho. What did she want? He frowned to himself. What did she care if he stayed with her or with the Weasleys. But even now, the feel of her hand on his seemed to be burnt into his memory. He looked back at Mr. Weasley who was smiling at him kindly, awaiting his decision. "Um…can I bring friends?"
Mr. Weasley's eyes traveled to Fleur and Cho. "Of course, if they want to go that is." He added hastily.
"Oh…zee…very sudden…" Fleur began haltingly.
"I'm sure Charlie will be happy to see you…" Mr. Weasley said, a slight smile on his face.
"Oh…yes, of course, I'd be happy too!" Fleur said, a faint smile on her beautiful face.
Cho looked a little distracted as she gazed at Harry. Why had he done that? Did he want to spend more time with her? Or did he only feel guilty about leaving her? She frowned to herself, but the feel of his hand on hers seemed burnt into her mind. It had felt so right, yet so wrong at the same time. Glancing back at Harry who was looking at her plaintively, she gave him a small smile. "Sure."
"Well it's settled then! We'll just wrap up this tour and then…" He trailed off again as a group of black-robed wizards suddenly entered the room with wands out. "What? Moody? What's going on?" Harry started, his eyes coming to rest on the face of a man he knew well.
Mad-Eye Moody as he was called had once been the most proliferate auror in his time, putting more people in Azkaban than anyone else. However, his constant vigilance had made him rather paranoid, and although he had come to teach at Hogwarts, Harry had discovered at the end of the term that the Mad-Eye Moody he knew wasn't really Moody. He blinked now at the skin like wood, the revolving eye, and the wooden leg-piece.
"Trouble, Arthur." Moody growled, his eyes coming to rest on Harry, then going up to the scar. "Potter…" He trailed off.
"What's happened?" Arthur said anxiously.
"Security trolls have been knocked out. We think an intruder's in here…might be trying to get to the…" Moody looked at Harry pointedly. "The light..you know…"
"Oh!" Mr. Weasley looked perturbed and glanced at the three children. "You better stay here…it might be dangerous." With that, Mr. Weasley and the three Aurors left quickly.
The three stood there alone, the area around them suddenly seeming more dangerous than it had before. Cho looked at Harry, who in turned look back at her. Fleur seemed more interested in looking at herself through one of the Muggle mirrors.
"Light? You don't think they mean the Light of Latrinval do you, Fleur?" Cho said eagerly, her eyes twinkling with excitement.
"Zee…certainly' not, dee Ministry of Magic would not dare take the Light of Latrinval…" Fleur said, shaking her head as she examined her face. "Does dee think my hair is ok?"
"It's fine," Cho said crossly, looking at her. "But, what else would they be talking about?"
"What's the Light of Latrinval?" Harry asked. Living with muggles for most of his life, he had found out that what many wizards and witches took for granted as common knowledge he still had to learn. This was yet another case where his lack of knowledge embarassed him slightly.
"Oh!" Cho said, whirling about to look at him. "Sorry, Harry I forgot…" She paused looking a little flustered. "That you didn't know…I mean not that I don't think your smart…I just meant that…"
"Oh!" Harry blinked, turning a little red. "It's ok, really…a lot of people make that mistake…I mean not that it was a mistake…not that you even needed to apologize…I mean…"
They both paused as the dawning realization that Fleur was looking very interested at the both of them came onto them. Pausing slightly, they again avoided each other's gaze, and Fleur shook her head knowingly.
"Dee Light of Latrinval…ees what provides the weezard city with all it's mageecal lights." Fleur said, flourishing delicately. "Eet is rumored to be a very powerful magical artifact…"
"Which is exactly why the Ministry might want to protect it…" Cho began eagerly. "You know…now that you-know-who…"
"Dee elves own the Light of Latrinval Cho…" Fleur said, shaking her head, and tossing her hair back. "And elves have powerful magic of their own. They certainly don't need to depend on dee Ministry of Magic for protection."
"But what else could they be talking about?" Cho said.
Harry felt a sinking sensation as the two of them argued. The Light of Latrinval? The Sorceror's Stone, the Light of Latrinval, it was all the same to a power-hungry Dark Wizard. He glanced around nervously as if expecting Lord Voldermort to descend upon the three of them now, and was relieved to find nothing there.
"Whatever it ees, it is not the Light of Latrinval." Fleur finished with a radiant glower, as if to challenge anyone to dispute her statement. Cho merely sighed at her friend and continued playing with a calculator, while Harry sat at the desk lost in his thoughts.
Mad-Eye Moody was an auror again? The Ministry must be desperate if they were to hire on the paranoid wizard again. He felt a shudder go through his body as his thoughts went over to the previous year's events. Voldermort's most loyal supporter had impersonated Mad-Eye Moody and gotten into Hogwarts in an attempt to end Harry's life. It was during the ensuing struggle that Cedric had died. He felt another shiver run through his spine, and hoped feverently that Cho didn't notice.
Harry looked back at Cho again, and sighed. What was it about her that he liked so much. At first, during his third year, he had put his affection towards Cho as a mere childhood crush, one he would get over soon enough. Than during his fourth year, he had began noticing how pretty Cho was, obsessing over her little mannerisms, wondering if she even noticed him.
When she had refused his invitation to the ball so as not to disappoint Cedric, he had felt as if his heart had been ripped apart and thrown to the far corners of the sea. When Cedric had died, he had immediately of how Cho might react. He had wanted to comfort her. Wanted to tell her he had been sorry. His gaze fell over her face just as she turned to look at them.
They turned away again quickly wearing identical blushes.
"Harry…"
"Cho…"
A moment of silence ensued.
"You go first…" Harry said, his tone betraying his nervousness.
"No why don't you?" Cho said, looking up at him earnestly.
"I…" Harry's eyes widened. What was he going to say? Cho, I love you with all my heart! Even inside his head, the words sounded ridiculous. Out loud, they would have been even worse. The old pain of rejection crept through his mind, and he struggled to find the words to express his heart.
"Yes, Harry?" Cho said, coming closer to him.
"I…" Harry said, licking suddenly dry lips.
Fleur's scream interrupted the tender moment, and Cho spun around, missing Harry's sudden look of disappointment before it turned to concern. A quick look around the room revealed that Fleur was nowhere to be found.
"Where is she?" Cho cried in a panicked voice. "She was just right there…"
Harry looked around, his brow furrowing. His scar didn't hurt, that was a good sign. That didn't mean that there weren't dozens of Death Eaters about who wouldn't have trigged his little warning system, but at least Voldermort wasn't anywhere close. "I don't know…maybe we should get help."
Cho looked at Harry plaintively, before pulling a wand from her robes. She merely nodded at him, and he pulled his own wand. Together, they walked cautiously out of the room, to a stifling darkness that threatened to consume them.
"Where is everyone?" Cho whispered, startling Harry who was in front of her.
"I don't know…what happened to all the lights?" Harry said, straining to see in the darkness.
"Harry…they're usually permanently on. Everything is in Latrinval…" Cho said, her voice frightened.
"Than…than…the light?"
"I think so…"
They both huddled to a corner as two figures in black suddenly appeared around them, conversing darkly with each other.
"Has to be around here somewhere…" One voice growled.
"Be serious now, Moody, where would he have gone?" The other replied.
"Up, down, left, right, it doesn't really matter now does it? The question is, where is he now?"
"What about that scream?"
"Probably just that French girl…he wouldn't have hurt her, she's part-veela isn't she?"
"Well…yes, but still, don't you think we should go check…"
"I think we have more important things to do…"
"Well…you're the auror, you know better than I do, I still think we should check…"
"Potter!" Harry looked up, his eyes wide as Mad-Eye Moody suddenly appeared above him, his face peering down fiercely. "What are you doing here?"
Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, stood next to the infamous auror, his eyes suddenly widening at the sight of Harry and Cho. "Harry? What are you doing here?"
"They're with me, they're with me!" Mr. Weasley's familiar and comforting voice filled the room. "On a tour I daresay, before this business started…"
"What's happening, Sir?" Harry said.
"Slight mishap is all…poor security and all. I do so say, you never can trust trolls." Cornelius Fudge said, his eyes darting nervously to Moody.
"Light of Latrinval." Moody barked. "Stolen."
"Moody! I don't think these kids really need to know-"
"They need to know as much as we choose to tell them, Minister. And they deserve to know the truth. They're in a lot of danger just being here, especially Potter." Moody growled, and Fudge looked slightly shaken.
"You don't think that he would dare…"
"Not while I'm here he wouldn't…" Moody frowned, one eye still looking around.
"Who?" Harry asked, his eyes darting from Mad-Eye Moody's wood-like face, to Cornelius Fudge's anxious one.
"Really!" Mr. Wealsey huffed. "Don't you think they should be taken to safety at once! Arguing here while the two of them are still inside the building."
"Outside, is not going to be much better." Moody growled.
The three looked closely at the two huddled in the corner, and Harry felt for the first time, just how close Cho was to him. In their anxious rush to get to a corner and hide, he had unconsciously put his arms around her protectively. Her face was nestled close to his face, and far from uncomfortable, he felt as if it was the most natural thing in the world for her face to be there. She blushed suddenly as if realizing what he was noticing, and he awkwardly put his hands to his sides.
"Well where can we take them then? What about Jenkins and Perk? Can't they take them?" Fudge said, referring to the two other aurors that had been with Moody.
"Dead." Moody stated bluntly.
"Dead?!" Fudge blinked astonished.
"Avada Kedvara." Moody replied grimly. "Found them as I went up the stairs…both of them."
The gathered wizards all shuddered in unison, the thought of the infamous killing curse sending unconscious fears flying through their minds. Everyone but Moody suddenly started looking around in the darkness, as if doing so would reveal it's secrets.
"Well just have to take them outside ourselves…" Mr. Weasley frowned. "They'll come home with me. It'll be too dangerous in Latrinval now…"
"But Fleur!" Cho blurted out suddenly. "We heard her scream!"
"It's alright little girl…" Moody growled, a sudden smile breaking onto his face. It was not a very pleasant sight. "She's part-veela after all."
Neither Cho nor Harry could see how this had to do with anything, but they were left with no further opportunities to argue. The gathered wizards ushered them away, wands out for any signs of danger. Strolling through the darkened hallways was not nearly as fun as when they had entered. Harry found himself staring closely at every shadow, while Cho was somewhat embarrassed to find that Harry's presence comforted her a great deal.
The two walked outside, startled at the change that had occurred outside. Instead of bright, shiny magical lights, the city was blanketed with darkness. Shouts and screams rang out here and there, and slowly but surely, candles and lighted wands were slowly being lit. The streets were empty of people, a very disturbing image. Harry heard Cho give a startled gasp besides him, and he looked up.
In the sky, a very familiar symbol rang clear into the night. A shiny green serpent lay, glowering down at the entire city, as if intending to strike at any moment. The Dark Mark.
"That…" Moody said, catching Harry's eye. "Would be the work..of Sirius Black."
A/N: I don't really know where I'm going with this…but as always, review if you like it!