Chapter Sixteen
A/N:
Another big chapter (I have a feeling they all are gonna be long from now on)
but is deprived of events when compared to the previous chapter. Sorry but the
next one will follow soon and will have some good stuff. Any way there are a
lot of follow-ups to the plot in this chapter. Sorry about the crouch thing and
Rona thing. They are fixed.
As
Harry stepped out of Professor Dumbledore's office onto the spiral staircase
realization struck him straight in the gut. It was only now that he understood
the magnitude of the things to come. He had just been told that he is the Heir
of Godric Gryffindor, he was given the Sorting Hat for protection, and learned
that he had neutralized several killing curses hurling towards him
simultaneously, that he had Protectors to guard him, that Professor Dumbledore
was to teach Defense Against The Dark Arts this year and finally that he was to
lead the war against Voldemort.
For
a second he thought he was going to be dwelling in the events that happened
today. But was brought back to reality by a sudden warmth on top of his
shoulder. It seemed as if someone had kept an arm on top of his shoulder from
behind. Startled by this, he turned around and reached for his wand at top
speed that with a sudden 'whoosh' he was facing who ever it was with his
wand out ready to strike.
It
took him only a moment to realize who it was. He could see a rather startled
Mad Eye Moody in front of him, half way reached for his wand. It seemed as if
he had frozen in place since Harry had been much faster and was already ready
to cast a spell while he hadn't even reached his wand. He could see the other
five 'protectors' including rooted and frozen and with a stunned expression on
their faces. Even Harry himself was stunned. Harry had always been very fast in
dueling, mostly due to his excellent Quidditch reflexes, but the reflexes he
just demonstrated were far more remarkable. He had just out paced the greatest
auror to walk the planet. He was now rather worried about what Mad Eye Moody
would do to him. He wasn't reputed for his bad temper and use of nasty hexes
and curses. But nearly sighed in relief when an unusual broad smile appeared on
his face like earlier in professor Dumbledore's office. Mad Eye Moody smiled at
him for a moment and he almost looked as if he was proud of him for drawing his
wand.
"Reflexes! Excellent Reflexes! Faster than any auror! No wonder that
scum of the earth couldn't duel with you!" he said and tapped him on the
shoulder.
Harry
felt him going red with embarrassment whiled the other five protectors let out
their breath which they seemed to have been holding all the while.
"Merlin's ghost Moody! You nearly gave us a heart attack!" Yelled
Professor Snape.
But Mad Eye Moody just laughed out and continued to beam at Harry.
"At least we are there," said the woman who had also been assigned as
one of his protectors.
Only
then did he notice his surroundings. He had been dwelling in his own thoughts
since he got out of Professor Dumbledore's office that he hadn't noticed
walking all the way to the Gryffindor common room. He, they were now in front
of the portrait of the fat lady.
"Okay Mr. Potter, you do remember who we are, don't you?" said the
female protector stepping out to face him face to face.
For
a second there Harry was clueless about what she was talking about. He did know
Mad Eye Moody and Professor Snape but he had no idea who the other four were.
And then realization struck him.
"Of course. You're my bodyguards now that Voldemort has risen to power"
he said calmly.
He wasn't surprised that the others didn't flinch at the sound of the
name 'Voldemort'. The woman smiled pleasantly at him and continued.
"Good, and no talking about the resistance" she said still grinning at
him.
He
nodded and turned towards the portrait only to remember he had no idea what the
password was. Just when he was about tell the others about this professor Snape
jumped to the tiny space between him and the portrait and said,
"Link-Tone!"
The doorway appeared revealing the common room beyond.
Harry
could see the Weasley's including Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Bill and Charley who
he hadn't had the chance to be formally introduced to yet and Percy. Both of
them were tall like Ron and were about 6'5". Next he could see Hermione's bushy
hair and Sirius who seemed to be having a rather serious conversation with her.
Then he saw Professor Lupin in a corner of the room on a big cushy green
armchair reading a book.
It
didn't take them all long to realize that the doorway was open and to gasp when
they saw who was standing there. Professor Snape, head of Slytherin and
Gryffindor's worst enemy. Professor Snape was blocking his direct view but from
either side of him, he could see that everyone had stopped what ever they had
been doing and was staring at Professor Snape frozen still. They didn't seem to
see Harry who was blocked from view by Professor Snape. There were a few tense
seconds of silence before Sirius spoke out.
"Snape?
What do you think your doing here?" he asked hoarsely.
As if
answering to Sirius's questions, Snape moved aside revealing Harry for everyone
to see. Both Ron and Hermione suddenly got up and Sirius who had walked over to
the doorway, smiled broadly at him. Then they spotted the small crowd behind
Harry and gasped most probably seeing Mad eye Moody behind him.
Sirius took
a step towards Harry and his face expression turned from a blissful one to a
concerned one. He bent down slightly and got in eye level with Harry.
"Harry,
what id you do? Are you in trouble?" he asked in a very concerned and parental
voice.
So Sirius didn't know about what was going on
with him as well. He knew that Sirius was heavily involved with Dumbledore's
resistance to Voldemort, but Dumbledore had specifically mentioned that only
the people who must would be told. But the entire population of the common room
was staring at him and the others as if waiting for an explanation. 'Here it
goes' he said to himself. He didn't like lying but Dumbledore had insisted that
the truth not be told to anyone. He cleared his throat getting ready to explain
the whole thing the way Dumbledore had asked him to do so.
"Uh…
Professor Dumbledore thought I might need some… Uh… Security now that Voldemort
was back" he stammered trying his best not to show he was lying even though he
knew they could see right through him. Several people including Ron and the
rest of the Weasley's flinched at the sound of Voldemort's name.
"With him
managing to get his supporters in here in the past four years… he thinks I
should have some security… escorting me everywhere" he finished.
He
blushed. He didn't want people to think he couldn't protect him self and that
he was scared of Voldemort to go around alone but Dumbleodre hadn't given him a
choice. He wasn't even close to proud about it but he knew it was for his best,
especially if he was going to lead the battle against Voldemort, even though in
secret, someone's ought to find out sooner or later.
Nearly the whole common room moved their gaze
from Harry to the small crowd of five behind him and finally to Professor
Snape. They seemed rather stunned but seem to have believed him. It was Harry's
turn to gaze. He quickly looked at Ron and Hermione to see what their reaction
was. They too seemed rather stunned but he knew that they knew he wasn't
telling the whole truth. At least that's the way things will have to be for a
short while. He finally looked at Sirius whom looked not too differently from
Ron and Hermione.
But finally Sirius sighed and nodded. Then he
walked to his side and patted him on the back as if greeting him. Harry turned
towards him but noticed that Mad Eye Moody and Sirius staring at each other. It
was not violent stared but rather than apologetic stares.
"How are
you Moody?" finally asked Sirius in a doubtful tone.
It
was once again common knowledge that Moody rarely considered anyone connected
to any acts of Dark Magic should be forgiven, but something about his look told
that he had another point of view in Sirius's Sake. His Magical eye and normal
eye both were now scanning Sirius violently.
"Fine. I'm
glad to hear your innocent Sirius. It was hard to even think one of my best
aurors could have done anything of that nature" he replied. His voice was firm
and commanding.
"Dumbledore
gave me a rather important mission to protect a VIP who might be in grave
danger" he said glancing towards Harry and moved passed him in to the common
room.
He
was followed by the other unknown four who slightly nodded at Sirius as they
entered the warm common room. Harry too stepped into the room shut the doorway
behind him. But all eyes were still on him. Mad Eye Moody too seemed to notice
this and how uncomfortable Harry was under their stares. He immediately cleared
his throat and there was a sudden rush to resume their work. Mad Eye Moody was
still very much respected and had a lot of authority even though he had retired
from service as an auror long time ago. He was still known through out the land
as the best auror to be in the Ministry's disposal.
Harry
hurriedly walk towards where Ron and Hermione were seated and sat in between
them on one of the large green cushioned arm chairs in the common room. After a
while, Professor Snape, Mad Eye Moody and the four unknown protectors sat in
one corner of the common room along with professor Lupin, Sirius and Mr. &
Mrs. Weasley and got into a conversation. Professor Snape seemed to be not
interested but didn't walk away. Even though they were involved in a
conversation, Harry was aware that at least one of the six had a constant eye
on Harry. It was quite uncomfortable at first but once he started a conversation
with Ron and Hermione, it simply faded away from Harry's mind that he was
constantly being watched.
"Harry? So what did Dumbledore really say? And
why is professor Snape one of those guys who were came in with you? I mean they
ought to protect you from him in the first place!" asked Ron anxiety written
all over his face.
Again
he felt bad lying, especially to Ron and Hermione, but there was no point in
arguing with himself mentally about the matter. Dumbledore had made him self
quite clear that he didn't want anyone other than whom he thought should know
to know about what was really going on. He decided to stick to it until he had
to think otherwise.
"Oh… He just wanted to tell me that… To tell me
about the protectors… And to tell me to be careful" he tried to be as
convincing as possible even though he knew it was no use. But he had to keep
his word to Dumbledore. He just hoped the both of them would understand him
once they got to know the truth.
The
rest of the day went by real fast as Harry, Ron and Hermione chatted, played
exploding snap and chess in the common room. Soon it was dinnertime and Harry,
Ron and Hermione got up. Several things happened at once. The six protectors
who were engaged in a conversation with Sirius, professor Lupin and Mr. And
Mrs. Weasley got up. A sudden blast, a dung bomb, went off several feet away
from Harry, most likely by Fred and George and several purple bright rays went
across the room right in front of Harry's head. Immediately the whole common
room was filled with black smoke.
Harry started coughing being choked by the
smoke and he could hear Ron and Hermione doing the same, but suddenly someone
gripped him from his wrist. Whoever it was, was pulling him. Who could it be? A
death eater perhaps? No! How can they be in here? Then why is the common room
filled with black smoke? It's the perfect getaway. He had to do something.
The first thing that came to him was a binding
charm. If this death eater had managed to grip him by his wrist, which mean
that he/she had identified him. If they wanted to kill him, they would have
done so by now. And going against orders were out of the question since he knew
how would have reacted to something of that sort. And letting a Death Eater in
his reach was out of the question. He quickly pointed his wand at the hand that
was gripping him and muttered "Bindous!" and suddenly a bright yellow
light came out of his wand and hit the death eater's hand. In a fraction of a
second a pair of handcuffs had appear binding his arm to the Death Eaters.
Now that he had the Death Eater contained he
moved his attention towards the black smoke. What could he use to clear it? 'A
cleaning spell!' said a voice in his mind. It some how was familiar but he
couldn't put a finger on it. But it suggestion seemed to be okay. He quickly
lifted his wand up and muttered the best cleaning spell he knew.
"Sparklous!"
Another
yellow light shot out of his wand and disappeared into the thick black smoke.
Nothing seemed to happen. He could hear both Hermione and Ron now coughing
rather violently. Something had to be done. But just when he was about to retry
the spell the thick smoke vanished with a faint pop. Harry was stunned. The
whole common room was a mess. Everything was in a mess and he could see several
people lying on the floor unconscious. Hopefully not dead. He felt him
self-going cold. What if someone was hurt?
He
quickly glanced down to see how Hermione and Ron were, but they too were lying
on the ground unconscious. There didn't seem to be any trace of the black smoke
in the room, most probably due to the strong cleaning spell he used but it had
certainly left its mark. Whatever the spell the death eater, death eaters, had
used. Suddenly he remembered the death eater whom he bonded on to his arm. He
glanced towards his bonded arm and nearly fainted. Mad Eye Moody was standing
there bonded on to him looking rather stunned too. He didn't seem to notice
Harry; he was busy looking at the damage in the common room.
If
he hadn't bonded the death eater who had done this, where was he? It didn't
take Mad Eye Moody to get back him composure and at the same time most of the
people who were unconscious were regaining consciousness. They were still
coughing but overall, everyone seemed to be okay. It seemed as if only Harry
and Mad Eye Moody had not collapsed due to the thick smoke. Even the other five
protectors whom were supposed to protect Harry had collapsed.
Both
Harry and Mad Eye Moody stared bewildered. Both of them watched as the rest of
the room got up rubbing their temples and fixing their clothes and hair.
"Where's the Death Eater?" finally asked Mad
Eye Moody. The question seemed to be directed at Harry since no one was around.
He himself was wondering the same thing.
"I know!" he exclaimed. "I thought you were the
one. That's why I put the binding charm and cleaned out the smoke!"
"You cleaned it our?" asked with a surprised
expression. Mad Eye Moody no longer had the commanding authority he possessed
beforehand.
Had he done something wrong? Me and my stupid
voice in my head.
"Uh… Yes" he said nervously.
By
now the whole common room was up and was staring at the ruined room in
amazement. Everyone was up except for two figures that were still lying on the
other side of the common room. Both Harry and Mad eye Moody had spotted it at
the same time and sprinted towards the two figures. As they reached the spot,
Harry suddenly recognized who the figures were. It was Fred and George. Hit by
a very severe body bind curse.
Harry
quickly took out his wand and performed the counter curse while the rest of the
common room rushed to their side. Mad Eye Moody and the rest of the protectors
were looking at the recovering Fred and George utterly terrified.
"Fred! George! Do you have a explanation for
this?" yelled Mrs. Weasley. Her face was turning red with rage and Fred and
George stared at her with their jaws dropped.
"Mom! It was just a dung bomb!" said Fred
quickly getting back to his feet.
Harry heard a woman gasp from behind and turned
around to find it was the female protector.
"Oh my, I thought it was a death eater," she
stammered. "I'm so sorry. I just performed the body bind curse on instinct,"
she said in an apologetic tone with her head down in embarrassment. All eyes
were on her.
"Uh… I think all six of us did it out of
instinct. We thought a death eater caused the explosion. Sorry son" said mad
Eye Moody.
"It's perfectly all right. It's a good thing
you did so. It'll teach these rabble-rousers a lesson," yelled Mrs. Weasley.
Harry
wished he could melt on the spot. Not a single day had passed and he had caused
a huge racket. It was his 'protectors' that had caused it all. Even though he
had no control over their actions he felt utterly responsible for the whole
commotion.
Every
one in the common room decided to clean it up before heading to dinner all and
sundry. Nearly everyone set to work. Several people including Hermione started
performing repairing charms on the broken objects scattered all over the room.
Harry, Ron and few others, which including Sirius and Professor Lupin started
doing cleaning charms on the stained carpet. From the way Mad Eye Moody had
looked at him when he told him that he cleaned up the whole smoke filled room
with a cleaning charm, Harry assumed he was rather good at it. How right he
was. His cleaning charms were so good that it seemed to wipe out every single
dirt particle since the day it was placed. In the end the places where Harry
had performed the cleaning charms were so clean that he had to perform it on
the whole carpet to make sure there won't be any difference in the color. Ron,
Sirius and Professor Lupin were rather amazed by his ability to perform
cleaning charms.
"I think you should work on Snape's hair,"
whispered Ron to Harry but unfortunately both Sirius and Professor Snape had
over heard him. Sirius started rolling all over the floor with a fit of
laughter while Snape who they expected to take at least five hundred points
from Gryffindor just blushed to their amazement.
But
all in all it had been fun. But the six protectors a very low profiling through
out the cleanings session, mostly since they were embarrassed of the events
that took place earlier, until it was time to head for dinner. The six
protectors quickly rushed to Harry's side when him, Ron and Hermione approached
the doorway. It was hard to have a conversation with Ron and Hermione while six
people were observing your every move with cat eyes. Ron and Hermione
thankfully understood the situation and kept quite. He was thankful for this
matter especially since the six protectors included Mad Eye Moody and Professor
Snape. The others too came along and the small crowd headed towards the Great
hall.
Suddenly
a thought struck Harry. According to Professor Dumbledore the six protectors
were to keep him under watch twenty-four hours a day. Sleep with him in his
dormitory, stay with him in classes and in the common room and escort him in
the corridors. This meant that Professor Snape had no time to fulfill his
teaching duties. So Hogwarts will have a new portions teacher at last. At least
there was something good coming out of this protector business. He was doing
the whole school with the exception of the Slytherins about the good news. But
he'll have to stay till he was out of hearing range of Snape, which he doubted
would happen anytime soon.
When
they arrived at the Great Hall they found the long, bulky house tables replaced
by one very long table at the center of the Great Hall. And seated already were
Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwik, Hagrid and
finally a very worn down crooked man in a long traveling cloak. He seemed to be
either very tired or very sick. But somehow the man was familiar. Several other
too were giving the man curious looks. But both Mad Eye Moody and the four
unknown protectors were looking worried rather than curious. As they approached
the table Mad Eye Moody disbanded from the group and rushed towards the table.
"Minister! What's wrong? Has something
happened?" asked Mad Eye Moody.
There
were a few gasps and Harry too was very surprised. The man who was in front of
them bore no resemblance to the former Minister Fudge. But Harry knew how he
was familiar. By the way he looks something extremely bad has happened.
Suddenly Fudge turned around to see Harry coming towards him with a very
concerned and surprised face. Suddenly Harry knew that what ever it was, it had
something to do with me. Fudge was very pale and shaken. Ron and Hermione along
with the others had noticed this and very looking very concerned from Fudge to
Harry.
"Harry, may I talk with you privately?" asked
Minister Fudge. His voice was trembling at the very words but Harry could see
that he was trying his best to look calm. He was not fooling anyone.
Harry glanced at Professor Dumbledore who too looked rather concerned but not as much as Fudge. He simply nodded giving his approval and gestured Harry to follow him. Harry took one glance back at Ron, Harry and finally Sirius and followed Professor Dumbledore. He instantly knew where Dumbledore was leading him. He was heading towards the room on one side of the Great Hall where the Tri Wizarding Tournament Champions had been taken to after the goblet of fire chose their name