Harry Potter and a Bunch of other People

A/n Sorry this took so long, I've been concentrating on another story I'm writing.

Chapter 4; The First Move



"Hogwarts? Why? Did anything happen? What happened?" wailed Neville. Vera was ignoring him completely, she appeared to be preoccupied with talking to herself.

"Somewhere around here, he said it was somewhere . . . where? The rail! No, no, no, it was. . . Yes, yes the rail, which one? Oh, oh right, I think . . . no, what? Yes this is it." She pulled on a rail with all her might. It gave way and moved, just a click, then it clicked back into place. A long chest popped out of the ground.

"Hey, I didn't know it could do that!" exclaimed Ron in a kind of excitement.

"Of course you wouldn't, if you've never read Hogwarts; a History." Hermione said, glaring at Ron.

"Alright, then tell us, if you're so smart. What's in the box?"

"It's a chest, not a box, and it holds broomsticks, in case the train crashes or something and you get trapped inside!" said Hermione promptly. Vera opened the chest; inside, were ten broomsticks, which looked like they had never been used before.

"There you are." declared Hermione triumphantly, "Ten new broomsticks." Ron might have been angry, but his anger was lost under the sight of the brooms.

"Wow, all this time! Amazing!"

"No time to marvel." said Vera briskly, "We must hurry." She grabbed the brooms and began passing them out.

"It's a Nimbus Two-thousand and One!" said Ron. Hermione just rolled her eyes.

"Can everyone here ride a broom properly?" asked Vera. Everyone except Neville nodded. "Can't you ride?" asked Vera.

"I can ride. Sort of, but Madam Hooch told me if I ever rode again, not even Madam Pomfrey would be able to heal all my broken bones." stammered Neville, Vera gave an understanding smile.

"You can ride in back of me, then." Vera addressed the rest of them "Don't worry about you're stuff, it'll be taken care of." Then they left through the window, all of them still thoroughly bewildered.

The sky was very blue as the seven people on broomsticks flew alongside each other. To be sure, Harry was at the very head, with Rubina Diggory closely following, then came Ron and Vera. Harry thought Vera was flying fairly fast considering Neville was weighing her down. At the tail, flew Hermione and the Hufflepuff.

"Don't follow the railroad tracks." shouted Vera, "There's a shorter way, just follow my directions." They went Vera's way and were at Hogwarts in just 30 minutes. They flew straight down to the ground, and hurried to Professor Dumbledore's office. Professor McGonagall was standing next to the gargoyle.

"There you are," she said gravely, "Professor Dumbledore is waiting." Then she left. The gargoyle was already open. They went quietly inside. Something terrible had happened, this much was obvious.

"Hello" Dumbledore said, he looked ten times older than when Harry had last seen him. "Please, sit." There were seven chairs set out in a line facing him. They all sat down in a row, Vera at the very end. Dumbledore looked each of them in the eye before saying anything. Then he took a deep breath.

"There has been an attack." No one said anything, they still waited for him to explain. "Some of us think it was done by Voldemort, but we can't be sure yet. We don't know how it happened, we hardly even know what happened, we only know this;" the room went silent as a tomb, "that Remus Lupin, Joyce Diggory, Sarah Longbottom, and Oliver Wood are missing, along with many other wizards and witches. Also, today, of portion of about 60 muggles were found to be missing."

"Missing?" whispered the Hufflepuff girl faintly, "are you certain?" Dumbledore nodded his head sadly, "Maybe it wasn't Remus Lupin, he has a cousin you know? Roman Lupin, are you sure it wasn't him? They look very alike."

"Claire, it was Remus."

"But, no! I saw him this morning!" the girl stood up, her voice was rising, "No!" she collapsed in a dead faint. Harry, who was sitting next to her, just barely managed to catch her.

"Vera," said Dumbledore wearily, "take her to the hospital wing and come back, please. Neville, I suggest you go too." Indeed, Neville seemed about to faint himself, he looked so dazedly pale. They watched as Vera led Neville out, carrying the poor girl called Claire. Once the door closed behind them, Dumbledore resumed.

"I have wanted to doubt it myself, it's very hard to believe. I hardly even understand it. It happened right after the train left. Remus, Joyce and Sarah were reported to have disappeared from the platform. Those who saw them thought they had only apparated. Apparently, though, a figure of about ten wizards and witches have just, disappeared. There's no trace left of anything. It's the same with the muggles. They've only been missing a couple hours. We sent a scout the minute we found out." Dumbledore, who had hardly blinked during the whole session, shut his eyes as if to shut everything out. "That girl," he said, his eyes opening again. "Claire. Her name is Claire Lupin, she's the only child of Remus. They were evidently attached."

"Professor Lupin had a. . . ?" asked Ron.

"Rubina Diggory, I have told you all you need to know. A house-elf will take you to the hospital wing. You must attend the banquet tonight, for you need to be sorted. Just rest for now, until then." Dumbledore dismissed her with a nod toward the doorway. Harry could just make out the figure of a nervous house-elf beyond the open doorway. Rubina stood up and walked sadly out. When the door was closed again, Dumbledore told them everything.

"As you three already know so much, and especially you, Harry, who are most undoubtedly the one Voldemort would like to kill most at present, I feel you should know the particulars. I trust that you two, " He gestured at Ron and Hermione, "have been told what happened at the triwizard tournament?" they both nodded "As you must have no doubt, envoys have been sent to both giants and dementors. Hagrid and Olympe have braved the giant's territory and I think, with a little more persuasion, they will be convinced of our side, or at least, convinced not to take part of Voldemort's. However, the envoys to Azkaban were not quite as fortunate. Upon arrival it was perceived that no depression could be felt, nothing. It did not take a long search to find that the whole of the wizarding prison was deserted. Both guards and prisoners alike were absent. There can be no doubt that they have already joined Voldemort's forces." Dumbledore paused as Vera reentered, she wordlessly took her seat, and Dumbledore continued, "There is a theory that the missing people were taken to feed the dementors."

No one said anything, a host of thoughts ran swiftly through Harry's head. He saw Lupin in his shabby old robes and weak smile, he remembered Oliver Wood, his old quidditch captain, Joyce must have been Rubina's mother, or some kind of family, Neville's only family was his grandmother, if Sarah Longbottom were she - which seemed all too likely - it would be dreadful. He couldn't imagine them trapped among the dementors. Sirius' haunted face loomed up in his mind. Suddenly, Harry felt angry,

"Why did he take them?" he said in a strangled voice, "It's so unfair, I mean, why-"

"We don't know, and the only thing we can do right now is hope for the best." said Dumbledore, "I'll inform you if anything else comes up. Now Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger, please go to the Gryffindor common room. I trust you will keep this to yourselves. Harry, There is one more thing I must tell you." Harry watched as Ron and Hermione made their departure, they looked just as stunned as he felt. When the door closed once more, Dumbledore resumed, but with more reluctance than Harry had ever seen in him. He saw Dumbledore glance at Vera, and she, give a barely perceptible nod, before he heard the headmaster speak.

"Harry, this is very hard to say, but it must be said." He paused before going on, "What happened at the triwizard tournament, your meeting with Voldemort, well, I told Vera and she deduced something that, I should have seen before, but . . . well, Harry, do you remember what you said when you told me about it?" Harry thought this question was pointless considering he wasn't likely to forget any of it. Dumbledore went on before Harry could answer, "You said that he could touch you, now that he had your mother's protection. And now that he has your mother's protection, anyone who tries to harm him will surely come to the same end that he did so many years ago." Harry couldn't quite see where Dumbledore was going, "The point is, the both of you have your mother's protection, so no one can harm either of you out of hate. But he can harm you. He, and only he can; if you turn that around, the only person in the world who can harm him is . . . you. Do you realize the enormous weight of that?"





A/n I think that was pretty good. I just realized that a little while ago, now Harry has no choice but to kill Dumbledore.