A.N. I hope that you enjoyed chapter 22. At least two reviewers had an idea of what might be happening in the next chapter. I'd just like to say that something similar will be happening… anywayz, I hope that you enjoy this chapter! And for the record, this is not the last chapter, the next chapter is not the last one, nor is the one after that… You'll just have to wait and find out!
Malena
Voldemort. He had arrived. He was at Hogwarts. Several of the students gave frightened whimpers, and out of the corners of his eyes Harry saw a few duck under their tables. All of the other agents sprang from their seats and took out their wands. A series of spells shot at the Dark Lord. Before the spells made contact, Harry heard the Dark Lord give a cold laugh. Voldemort raised one of his hands slightly, and the spells froze in midair. He flicked his hand ever so slightly and the spells went shooting backwards at the people who cast them. He started laughing again. In a voice that was so cold that Harry felt goosebumps on his arms, he said, "Did you actually think that those feeble spells would actually work on me?" He removed his hood and Harry saw several students clap their hands over their mouths in horror. Voldemort's pale face was twisted into a cruel smile. His red eyes were glinting maliciously and his arms were crossed against his chest. He gave another cruel laugh.
"Where is the Minister?" He asked.
"That is none of your concern," Harry said softly. He stared at the crimson eyes of his foe. The other Agents, the students, and the teachers all turned to look at him.
"What did you just say to me?" Voldemort snarled, stepping closer to Harry.
"I said that the location of the Minister is none of your concern," Harry said. "Why don't you just leave."
"I don't think that's an option," Voldemort said softly. "What is your name."
"That too, is none of your concern," Harry said, crossing his arms against his chest too. Even though Harry had gotten taller since they had last met, Voldemort was still a good five inches taller than Harry.
"I believe that I asked you a question," Voldemort hissed. "Answer me."
"No," Harry said. He could have danced and sang when he saw the confusion on Voldemort's face. He knew that Voldemort was used to getting his way with everything. Having one person defy him was more than he could handle.
"You, girl," Voldemort snapped at Celeste. "What is his name?" Celeste froze for a moment and then said, "I can't tell you." Voldemort glared at her. Celeste got a scared look on her face and whispered, "Stealth."
Voldemort's mouth twisted back into a smile as he turned and looked back at Harry.
"Stealth," He repeated. "Proceeding by secrecy; accompanied by efforts of concealment."
"What'd you do? Swallow a dictionary?" Harry muttered under his breath. He didn't know if Voldemort heard what he said, but he got another cold look on his face.
"What is your real name?" Voldemort asked. Harry raised an eyebrow, but didn't answer.
Instead of asking for Harry's name again he walked past him.
"Now, where is the Minister?" Voldemort hissed.
"That is for us to know, not you," Sphinx said. Voldemort turned and glared at her. She glared back.
"My, my, my," He said softly while shaking his head. "The Agents at the Order of the Phoenix sure have a lot of bravery. Most people would cower against me." Voldemort gave a short laugh. He turned back to Harry.
"Now, where is the Minister?" Harry slowly shook his head. Voldemort turned again, and started to walk toward one of the force-fields.
"Leave," Harry said suddenly. Voldemort turned to look at him.
"What did you say?"
"I said, leave," Harry repeated. "If you leave now, we won't have to hurt you. But if you don't…"
Voldemort laughed again. "No one at the Order of the Phoenix has so much as half of my power. I think that you should leave before you get hurt, boy." As Voldemort said this, he drew his wand out of his pocket and raised it so it was level with Harry's face. "Now, where is the Minister."
Telekinetically, Harry made the wand fly out of Voldemort's hand. He looked shocked for a moment, before pointing at his wand and making it come back into his hand.
"Who are you?" Voldemort hissed at Harry.
"Agent Stealth Wilson, and Dueling Master at the Order of the Phoenix," Harry said, taking out his badge and holding it out in front of him. Voldemort stared at the badge with dislike.
"So, you're the Dueling Master…" Voldemort said. "I doubt that you could last five minutes in a real duel."
"Wanta bet?" Harry replied. "Come on, do you want to duel?" Voldemort stared at him.
"Pardon?" Voldemort hissed.
"Do… You… Want… To… Duel?" Harry asked slowly, making his voice slightly louder, pretending that he thought Voldemort couldn't hear him.
"I heard what you said!" Voldemort said. "It's just that I didn't think you would be stupid enough to ask me to duel."
"Well, I guess I am," Harry replied scathingly.
"Obviously," Voldemort said. A twisted smile appeared on his face. "You remind me very much of an old foe of mine. Yes… I see many similarities. You're both young, brave, stupid…" Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Ron glare at Voldemort.
"In fact," Voldemort continued. "If he was alive you two would be about the same age, if I'm not mistaken." Harry was fighting hard not to get horribly angry, so instead he just said, "Look, do you want to duel or not?" Voldemort stared at him for several seconds before replying, "One week from today. 9 o'clock in the evening. Quidditch field. Don't bring anyone else. Only you."
"All right," Harry said. "Now. Leave." Harry pointed to the door of the Great Hall. Harry was quite surprised when Voldemort gave him one final glare, turned, and started to walk away. Harry turned too, walking towards the Mission Room.
"Stealth! Look out!" Ivy shouted suddenly. Before Harry could turn around he was hit in the shoulder with the Killing Curse. He struggled to stay standing, for the force of the spell nearly knocked him to the ground. He slowly turned around, and saw that Voldemort was still walking in the other direction. Harry glared at the back of Voldemort's head, then he took out his own wand and flicked it. A sign appeared on the Dark Lord's back, it said, "Kick Me." Ivy covered her mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Voldemort continued to walk out of the room. Harry turned to Professor Dumbledore and said, "We need the students to spend the night in here while some of the Agents search the castle. Just in case," He added. Dumbledore nodded slowly. "Ivy, we can take down the force-fields n-"
"Stealth," Dumbledore said. "You're injured."
Harry sighed. "Yeah, I know." Suddenly he felt someone tap him on his injured shoulder. He turned around and saw Healer there.
"Take of your shirt and sit down," She said. Harry felt his face turn red.
"P-pardon?" He said.
"Take off your shirt," Healer repeated. She waved her wand and a bench appeared next to the Agent's table.
"Why can't you heal me in the Mission room?" Harry asked quietly.
"I can't believe that you'll stand face to face with the Dark Lord, but you won't take off your shirt," Ivy giggled. Harry rolled his eyes.
"You see, if you had taken off your shirt in the first place, we would already be done." Healer raised her eyebrow. Harry reached down, pulled his shirt off, and sat down on the bench. Several of the girls from various tables giggled, even though the Dark Lord had been there only minutes earlier. Harry felt something cold on his back, and then a tingling feeling.
"There, done," Healer said.
"Thanks Healer," Harry said, standing up and putting his shirt back on. She simply nodded, and went back to being silent and mysterious.
"Stealth," Sphinx said from behind him. "You can have tomorrow off, in order to prepare for the duel."
"Okay," Harry said….
About 30 minutes later all of the students were milling around the Great Hall or sitting on the purple sleeping bags that littered the ground. It wasn't that late, so the teachers did not insist that the students go to sleep. Professor McGonnagal and Professor Snape were watching the students while the other teachers assisted the Agents in searching the castle. Everyone was coming up to Stealth, wishing him good luck and stuff. Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil came up to Harry, giggling and smiling.
"May we see your tattoo?" Lavender asked. "We were sort of a ways away when you took off your shirt." Parvati grinned. Harry rolled his eyes slightly, but he lifted the sleeve of his tee shirt anyway.
"Ooh, fire!" Lavender said. "Why'd you get it?"
"It allows me to Molecularize," Harry said simply.
"Right, whatever," Parvati said. "Come here, we have to show Hermione." Hermione was sitting with Ron, Dean, and Seamus. Neville was curled up in his sleeping bag, sleeping.
"Herm, look at this," Parvati said. "Show them." Harry felt himself blushing as he lifted up his sleeve again and showed his tattoo.
"Does everyone in the Order of have tattoos?" Ron asked.
"No," Harry said. He called over Ivy and she showed them the gem that was stuck on her tooth. Ivy called over Max, and she showed them her Rose tattoo that curled around her navel.
"Damn!" Dean said. "I want to go into the Order of the Phoenix now."
"No you don't," Max, Harry and Ivy said together. Dean looked shocked but he didn't ask any more questions.
"So…" Ron said, changing the subject. "You're going to be fighting You-Know-Who…"
"Yep!" Ivy said, throwing her arms around Harry. Harry glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw that Alex was glaring at them out of the corner of his eye. "And he's going to do such a good job of killing that b-"
"Aren't you worried?" Hermione asked. "I mean, this is You-Know-Who that we're talking about. He's killed more people than probably the whole Order of the Phoenix put together."
"Heh, I don't think so," Ivy said softly into Harry's ear.
"I'm not that worried," Harry replied. "I love dueling, and I just think of him as an opponent."
"Stealth is a kick-ass dueler," Max said. "I've never seen anyone duel like him." Harry was starting to blush a lot, and he was most glad when Sphinx called him away…
~*~
"You're actually going to fight him?" Sirius said softly. He was sitting at the table at the Shrieking Shack, staring at his hands. "Are you insane?"
"Sirius, I'm the Dueling Master, it's my job to kill him. I have to protect the world from him," Harry replied.
"But who is going to protect you?" Sirius replied. "Harry, I was so happy when you came back, I don't want to loose you again."
"You won't!" Harry said. "I'm trained to be a First Class dueler, and I haven't lost a match since… I don't know when."
"But still-"
"Sirius, I'm going to be okay," Harry said. "I have to get back to the school, they'll start wondering where I am."
"I thought today was your day off," Sirius said. "Stay and talk a little while longer." Harry continued to get up.
"I'm sorry Sirius, but I need to talk with Jimmy. He's coming to drop off the potions in 20 minutes or so," Harry said.
"Okay," Sirius said reluctantly. He got up and before he transformed he said, "Ask about Lily for me, okay?"
"Sure," Harry said, grinning slightly. Sirius transformed and walked out of the room.
~*~
Ron… Hermione… Sirius… they were all crying. Why? Why were they crying? Ivy… Max… Angelina… they were sitting at the Agent's table, tears rolling down their face too. Harry looked around the room. Harry Molecularized to the Order of the Phoenix. No one looked at him. Just stared through him, like he wasn't even there.
"What's going on?" Harry asked a passerby. He didn't answer.
Harry went to his house, to find Jimmy sitting on the couch. He was reading a comic book, but his eyes were blank.
"Jimmy, what's going on?" No answer.
Suddenly the door behind Harry opened and his mom came in, carrying Olivia in her arms. Lily looked sad, but Olivia was happy and smiling.
"Hello Jimmy," Lily said. "How was your day?" Jimmy shrugged.
"They told about your brother today," Lily said softly. "At Hogwarts." Jimmy nodded. "Did you go?"
"For a little bit," Jimmy said in a strangled voice. "It was too sad, so I left."
"What about me?" Harry asked, looking between his brother and mom. "What was so sad?"
"Where's Hawwy?" Olivia said in her giggly 3-year-old voice.
"You won't be seeing Harry anymore Olivia," Jimmy said, standing up and going up to his room. Harry stared. What was going on?
"Come on Olivia," Lily said. "Let's go get you dressed for the funeral." Funeral? What Funeral? Who's? It suddenly dawned on him. They were going to his funeral. He was dead.
"NO!" Harry yelled out.
Harry woke up in a cold sweat, lying on a bed in the Mission Room. He was breathing hard. He reached over to his bedside table and turned on the light. He was shaking slightly. Still breathing hard he threw his blankets to the side and got out of his bed. He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was six-thirty in the morning. He was supposed to be on duty in 30 minutes. He chose some clothes and pulled them on. He started to brush his short, messy, black and bleached hair, but remembered that he didn't need to if he was going to be wearing a disguise all day. He pulled on his bracelet and walked out into the Great Hall.
He was most surprised to see what was going on. Ivy was being held back by Max and Celeste. Alex and Cedric were helping Professor Snape off of the floor. He had a nasty bruise starting to show on his face.
"Say that again and I swear to god that I'll-" Ivy was yelling.
"Ivy!" Celeste said in a warning voice.
"What is going on in here?" Sphinx was standing at the door of the Great Hall.
"I was just about to ask the same question," Harry said.
"He started it!" Ivy said childishly.
"I don't care!" Sphinx said. "What happened?"
"Snape said something about Stealth fighting Voldemort, and Ivy kicked him in the head," Celeste said, still struggling to hold Ivy back.
"You kicked him in the head?"
"Ivy, report to Sarge," Sphinx said.
"What?"
"NOW!" Sphinx commanded.
"Wait," Harry said. "I mean, she was defending me, so I should come up with her punishment."
Sphinx looked at him for a moment, and said, "All right."
Harry turned to Ivy and said, "You are to monitor Professor Snape's classes for the next week."
"What!?" Ivy shrieked. Harry held up a hand to silence her.
"You are also going to call him, Your Majesty, Your Highness, or whatever other good ones that I can come up with. But, if you hurt him again, or call him something inappropriate, you will be sent to Sarge. Got it?" Harry grinned wickidly.
"Yes," Ivy said through gritted teeth.
"Good," Harry replied. He sat down at the Agents table, with Ivy scowling at him.
"All right, that's it!" Ivy exclaimed suddenly. "Alex! I can't stand it anymore." Alex looked at her with a shocked expression.
"Stealth and I are not going out," She said.
"I knew it!" Alex exclaimed. "I knew you two would never go out in a million years!"
"Yeah, yeah," Ivy said softly. "Shut up or I'll kick you in the head too." Alex's mouth shut quickly.
~*~
"Come on!" Hermione exclaimed. It was Monday evening. Ron and Hermione had dragged Harry and Ivy outside. "You have to have Hagrid give you one of his pep-talks, they always make people feel better and less nervous."
"Besides, we already told him you two were coming," Ron said.
"Explain again why I had to come," Ivy said.
"Because you've been acting down lately," Hermione said.
"Here's a few pointers about Hagrid," Ron said. "Never eat anything he gives you, unless it's tea… but that isn't safe all the time either-"
"Watch out for Fang-" Hermione started.
"Who's Fang?" Ivy asked.
"Hagrid's pet boarhound," Ron said. "He likes to lick people's ears."
"I think that's about all we have to warn you about…" Hermione said. "Ron, can you think of anything else?"
"Nope," Ron said. They had reached Hagrid's small cabin, and knocked on the door.
"C'min!" Hagrid bellowed from inside. Ron pushed open the door and walked inside.
Hagrid's house was just as Harry remembered. Dead animals hung from the ceiling, and a giant patchwork quilt lay on Hagrid's enormous bed in the corner. A fire was crackling merrily in the fireplace.
Ivy was instantly tackled by Fang. She lay screaming on the ground, while Fang licked her face and ears.
"Back Fang! Back!" Hagrid said, grabbing Fang by the collar and pulling Fang off of Ivy.
"Thanks for warning me Ron," Ivy said, pulling herself off of the ground. She was dripping with dog slobber. Fang now bounded up to Harry, and was sniffing his cloak. Then he gave three booming barks, wagged his tail, and jumped on Harry. Harry struggled to stay standing while Fang licked his face. Harry pushed Fang off of him and walked over to the wooden table in the center of the room.
"I see yer've met Fang," Hagrid said, giving a chuckle. "How're yeh doin' Stealth?"
"I'm good Hagrid," Harry said. "How're you?"
"Fine," Hagrid replied. "Would yeh like some tea?" A few minutes later all five of them were holding steaming cups of chamomile tea.
"So Stealth, yeh're goin to be fightin' the Dark Lord, eh?" Hagrid said, looking at Harry from under his bushy eyebrows.
"Yes," Harry said. "On Friday."
"Yeh' nervous?" Hagrid asked, sipping some of his tea and scratching Fang's ears. Harry shrugged.
"Of course you're nervous, who wouldn't be," Hagrid said. "But ever since I saw you stare him down las' Friday, I'm sure you can take him."
"Yeah! Nothing can kill Stealth," Ivy said. "Trust me, I've tried to. It doesn't work." Ron and Hermione gave a chuckle and Hagrid smiled.
"Tha' reminds me," Hagrid said. "How do yeh' expect to kill him? I mean to say, he's a strong being, and I reckon that the Killing Curse won't do the job."
"Um… I'm really not supposed to talk about it," Harry said. "It's confidential…"
"I understand," Hagrid said.
They were silent for a few minutes. Suddenly, Ivy put her finger to her microphone and said, "What?" She listened for a moment and said, "Mmhmm… okay, we'll be right up." She turned to Harry and said, "Sean's here."
"Really?" Harry said.
"Yeah, he wanted to visit Max," Ivy said.
"Um… excuse me," Hermione said. "I thought Sean was dead."
"He is," Ivy said. "His ghost is here. Want to come meet him?"
"Sure!" Ron said. He then turned to Hagrid and said, "Do you want to come to?"
"Nah," Hagrid said. "I've got some work to do here."
"All right, bye Hagrid!" Hermione said.
"We'll meet you up there," Harry said. And he Molecularized to the castle.
~*~
"Sean!" Ivy exclaimed. "How are you doing?" Sean raised a semi-transparent eyebrow and said, "I'm dead. How do you think I'm doing?"
"Good point," she replied.
"Sean was just telling me about a special mission that Sarge sent some ghosts from the Order to," Max said.
"It was a disaster," Sean said. "Right when the Death Eaters started to talk about the thing we needed to know, my head fell off and rolled over near them. The only thing we learned was that Death Eaters scream like girls." Max frowned at Sean, and then blew air at his head, causing it to topple off of his neck.
"Hey!" his head exclaimed as it rolled away.
"And who's head is this?" Professor Dumbledore said as he walked into the Great Hall. The head rolled by him, and the rest of Sean's body floated after it.
"That's Sean," Max said. "You know… the agent who died a few months back." He nodded and said, "Well, it's good to know that you're still friends, even in the after-life."
"Max, stop blowing off my head," said Sean while putting his severed head on his neck. He then turned to Harry, and said, "What's up Stealth?"
"Nothing much," Harry replied.
"I heard that you've got a big duel on Friday."
"Yep," Harry said, turning red.
"I only have one piece of advice for you," Sean said, placing an arm on Harry's shoulder. Harry shivered when the arm went right through him. "Watch out for your neck."
"Yeah, I can see why," Harry said, glancing at Sean's neck. It was covered in silvery blood.
"Good luck," Sean said. He turned back to Max and said, "Well, I better get going now."
"Yeah," she said. "Talk to you later."
"Bye." Sean turned and walked straight through the door of the Mission Room.
"I wish he was still alive," Max sighed.
"Yeah… he had green hair," Ivy said. She sighed too, and then said, "Oh well. Back to work. Or play… or whatever we were doing.
Date: Friday the 18th. Day of duel.
Time: 8:30 p.m.
Harry was pacing. Back and forth… and back again.
"Stop with the backing and forthing," Max said. "You're making me have a headache."
Harry stopped pacing and sat down in a chair at the Agent's table. Sphinx had requested that all of the students would remain in the Great Hall, just in case a few of Voldemort's servants decided to drop by.
"You okay?" Cedric asked. Harry simply nodded. "Nervous?" Nod.
"Do you want something to eat?" Angelina said. He hadn't eaten all day long. He was far too nervous to eat.
"Where's Ivy?" Harry asked.
"Today's her day off. I think she went to her house for something, she said she'd be back before you left," Angelina said. He nodded again.
Sphinx was looking across the table every so often, glancing at Harry. His thoughts turned to the previous day, when he talked to Ivy. He had walked up to her, with two letters in his hands.
"What're those?" Ivy asked. He handed her the letters.
"Ivy, just in case something… happens to me tomorrow, I want you to give these to Ron and Hermione." She stared up at Harry.
"You mean… if you… die?"
"Yes."
She continued to stare.
"But you won't die," Ivy said. "You've trained too hard and you're too good to-"
"Just in case," Harry said. "And only give the letters to them if Voldemort was defeated as well."
"Stealth-"
"Please Ivy." Ivy looked up at him and nodded.
"Thank you," Harry started to turn and leave the Mission Room, but Ivy put her hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"I think it's really nice of you to think of them… even though they don't know it's actually you."
Harry smiled.
Now Harry was so incredibly nervous that he was almost shaking. Finally, to break the silence that was filling the room, he turned to Max and said, "What are you going to do while I'm dueling?"
"We are going to tell ghost stories!" Max said. "And roast marshmallows and hotdogs and other unhealthy stuff like that."
"Really?"
"Probably not, but you never know!"
Harry smiled.
Then his thoughts turned to when he talked with his family earlier that day. His mother and father had wished him good luck, and warned him to be careful. Harry could tell that neither of them were very keen on him going out and fighting Voldemort, but they understood that it was his choice to take the job of Dueling Master, and fulfill the requirements. Jimmy and Victoria kept giving him advice, and Olivia kept babbling on about her cat. Harry appreciated it all the same though.
Fifteen minutes before Harry was supposed to be at the Quidditch pitch, the Mission Room door opened and Sarge walked through.
"Sarge!" Max exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"I will be taking Agent 97's place while he is dueling," Sarge said simply.
"What's going on at the Order?" Alex asked.
"Everyone is crowded around the giant speaker, waiting for me to tell them what is going on here," Sphinx said. She then turned to Harry and said, "Good luck on your duel 97."
"Thank you Sarge," Harry replied.
Ten minutes… 8 minutes… 6… When it was five minutes to nine, Harry got out of his chair and started walking toward the doors of the Great Hall. Before he could reach the doors, he heard someone calling out to him, "Stealth! Wait!" Harry turned, and saw Ivy running up to him, her hair still wet from her shower. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him hard on the lips. Harry was shocked as he stood there lip to lip with Ivy. Her mouth tasted like toothpaste, as though she had just brushed her teeth. When she pulled away, she said, "How was it?"
"Minty Fresh," Harry said hoarsely.
Ivy giggled and said, "Good luck." For the first time Harry noticed that all of the students and teachers were clapping and cheering. Even the Minister struggled to keep from smiling openly.
Harry slowly pulled himself out of Ivy's embrace, and started walking towards the doors again.
As he bounded down the stairs out of the school, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his sunglasses. He put them on and continued to walking toward the Quidditch pitch. Some of the snow had melted off the ground, but it was still cold. At least the Quidditch pitch was clear of snow. It was cloudy and dark outside, and it just made Harry nervous.
When he arrived at the Quidditch pitch, he saw that Voldemort hadn't arrived yet. He glanced at his watch, and saw that it had just turned 9:00. Harry looked up from his watch and saw Voldemort standing there, his wand was already out.
"Hello Stealth…" Voldemort said lazily. "Ready to duel?"