Harry Potter and the Hogwarts
Express
Part 4
"You," replied Voldemort, "Are going to do what I tell you, or else."
"Oo sez?" snapped the engine.
The Dark Lord smiled grimly; pulling out one of the wands handed in.
"I do," he said softly, muttering something under his breath.
A sharp pain ran through Madam Hortense and she whistled loudly.
"All right, all right!" she puffed. "Wot do you want me to do?"
"Get us out of here," Voldemort hissed. "Take us to Valkeeshriek. Thanks to Wormtail and Crouch's combined efforts, I now have a body again, and I will put it to the best of uses."
Hermione, using a black crystal spying ball, was watching all this, and the others crowded around her eagerly.
"There!" she said triumphantly. "It is You-Know-Who, but who's Crouch, and where's Valkeeshriek?"
"Valkeeshriek is the dark underworld," answered Ron. "A sort of home for Dark wizards, where they used to gather before Harry put paid to You-Know- Who."
"When that happened, Valkeeshriek was supposed to have been destroyed," added Fred. "But obviously they either can't have done it properly, or the Dark Wizards have restored it and built it up again."
"And Bartemius Crouch works at the Ministry for Magic!" squeaked Ginny. "His son was a dark wizard who got caught and died in Azkaban!"
Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged worried looks. They could guess what the next question was going to be.
"But who's Wormtail?" asked Cleo Chang.
"Err... one of You-Know-Who's supporters," said Hermione quickly. This, at least, was true. "He wasn't caught." This was also true.
Cleo seemed to be happy with this, and fell silent, while Harry, Ron and Hermione heaved a collective sigh of relief. They hadn't been sure how to explain about Wormtail, one of Harry's father's best friends before he betrayed James and Lily, Harry's mother. Most people now thought that Wormtail was dead, and very few people knew different, but Harry, Ron and Hermione were one of the few.
To hide the slightly awkward moment, Harry asked Hermione admiringly "Where did you get that spyball thing?"
"From Professor McGonagall," answered Hermione. "She came to me in this really weird mood, and said that I would need it badly, but when I asked her why, she couldn't seem to remember anything she'd said."
"Hang on a minute!" said Harry suddenly. "That old bat, Professor Trelawney, did a similar thing to me, but McGonagall's not like that. With Trelawney, I think she was coming out of a trance or something."
"You're kidding," sniggered Ron. "The old bat's so good at acting she could fool herself, but a real prediction? She makes better tea."
"Dumbledore thought it might have been real though," replied Harry. "And if you think about it, the prediction came true- at least in part."
"What prediction?" asked Seamus curiously.
"Err.... we're not supposed to tell anyone," said Hermione nervously. "But considering the situation, we may as well tell you the lot now, or you might not understand what happens later, and that could be dangerous for all of us. Maybe Dumbledore will use a memory charm on you when we sort all this out."
"Well, if we're not supposed to know, a Memory Charm would probably be a good idea," said Fred. "Ginny has a hard time keeping her mouth shut sometimes, and her friends are even worse!"
Ginny playfully punched him at this, but, at the beginning of Harry's story, all thought of playfulness went out of her mind.
"Anyhow, Harry," said Ron." You start, you know most about it all."
"Well," began Harry, "It all began when, at the end of my Divination exam last year, Trelawney, the teacher, went into a kind of trance- her eyeballs rolled right back into her head and her voice went all kind of deep and weird. She said something like the Dark Lord would rise again, and his servant would set out to meet him at midnight that night. Well, that night, we went to see Hagrid, and Ron got dragged under the Whomping Willow by this enormous black dog as we left. Me and Hermione followed, and we had to go down this little tunnel which led to the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade- you know that place? Anyhow, when we got there, we found that the dog was Sirius Black and that he was an unregistered Animagus. We also found out that he was innocent of all the crimes he had been in Azkaban for, and that it was really Peter Pettigrew, whose nickname is Wormtail, who was guilty. You see, when dad was alive he had three best friends- Remus Lupin, the DADA teacher last year, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. The first two of these have always been loyal to him, but Pettigrew betrayed him and my mother to Voldemort while everyone else thought it was Sirius who had betrayed them. Because of him, Voldemort found and killed my parents. Anyhow, we- meaning Lupin, Sirius, me, Ron and Hermione- caught Pettigrew, who was also an Animagus and was Ron's rat, but he escaped that night- at midnight."
There was a stunned silence as Harry's story came to a close, but eventually Dean found his voice.
"You mean Sirius Black never hurt anyone in his life? He was completely innocent?"
"Yes," responded Ron. "He was completely innocent of all blame. It was Pettigrew who betrayed Lily and James, and Pettigrew who murdered all the people in that street, not Sirius."
"Yes, and to change the subject, which isn't a pleasant one, Harry said Trelawney seemed to be coming out of a trance," said Hermione. "Well, McGonagall was acting the same way. There's a curse -one of the Unforgivable- that controls people, and McGonagall might have been able to break it for long enough to give me the Spying Glass. If she suddenly couldn't fight it any longer, then she probably wouldn't have been able to remember what she had said."
"What's the Unforgivables?" asked Cleo, puzzled. "I've never heard of those."
"The Unforgivables are three curses which, if you use them on another human being, are worth a life's sentence in Azkaban," answered George. "They were used a lot by Dark wizards, to make people do things and to torture them."
"That's right," agreed Hermione. "Some people can fight the Imperius curse, which puts you under the total control of the user." As usual, she sounded exactly like she'd swallowed the textbook, and normally Ron would have laughed, but this was a totally different situation from normal, even by wizarding standards.
"Well, this is a great discussion on The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, but it's not exactly what we're we' re interested in at the moment," said Harry.
"Watch out- someone's coming!" hissed Neville suddenly, from his post at the door on guard duty.
Immediately they all became intensely absorbed in a discussion on Quidditch, Hermione hoping fervently all the while that what she was saying about Wronski Feints was correct, not being as into the sport as the others.
They were all aware of a pair of cold eyes watching them, and Ginny, who had broken her mirror earlier, sat with a piece of it in her hand to tell the others when it was safe to go on with the earlier topic of conversation.
When Ginny gave the all clear, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness for that!" said Cleo. "I can't pretend for that long. So, are we going to carry on working out what exactly we're going to do about You-Know-Who?"
"Call him by his real name, Cleo." answered Harry. "Dumbledore does and, after all, what's good enough for him should be good enough for the rest of us. Besides, Voldemort's easier and causes less confusion. But yes, we'd better get busy because I don't know what on earth's going to happen next."
Though everyone except Harry trembled slightly involuntarily at the mention of the dark lord's real name, they didn't bother to argue. They didn't have the time to argue over trifles such as what to call their enemy, because all they felt they needed to bother with was beating him. Hermione pressed on with the task in hand.
"Harry, you've got Hedwig haven't you?" she asked. "Is she awake?"
"Yes to both of your questions," answered Harry, after checking. "Why?"
"Well, if we can get word to Sirius he'll know what to do much better than better than any of us." she answered.
"No need," called Ron from his position near the window. "He's already here!"
Express
Part 4
"You," replied Voldemort, "Are going to do what I tell you, or else."
"Oo sez?" snapped the engine.
The Dark Lord smiled grimly; pulling out one of the wands handed in.
"I do," he said softly, muttering something under his breath.
A sharp pain ran through Madam Hortense and she whistled loudly.
"All right, all right!" she puffed. "Wot do you want me to do?"
"Get us out of here," Voldemort hissed. "Take us to Valkeeshriek. Thanks to Wormtail and Crouch's combined efforts, I now have a body again, and I will put it to the best of uses."
Hermione, using a black crystal spying ball, was watching all this, and the others crowded around her eagerly.
"There!" she said triumphantly. "It is You-Know-Who, but who's Crouch, and where's Valkeeshriek?"
"Valkeeshriek is the dark underworld," answered Ron. "A sort of home for Dark wizards, where they used to gather before Harry put paid to You-Know- Who."
"When that happened, Valkeeshriek was supposed to have been destroyed," added Fred. "But obviously they either can't have done it properly, or the Dark Wizards have restored it and built it up again."
"And Bartemius Crouch works at the Ministry for Magic!" squeaked Ginny. "His son was a dark wizard who got caught and died in Azkaban!"
Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged worried looks. They could guess what the next question was going to be.
"But who's Wormtail?" asked Cleo Chang.
"Err... one of You-Know-Who's supporters," said Hermione quickly. This, at least, was true. "He wasn't caught." This was also true.
Cleo seemed to be happy with this, and fell silent, while Harry, Ron and Hermione heaved a collective sigh of relief. They hadn't been sure how to explain about Wormtail, one of Harry's father's best friends before he betrayed James and Lily, Harry's mother. Most people now thought that Wormtail was dead, and very few people knew different, but Harry, Ron and Hermione were one of the few.
To hide the slightly awkward moment, Harry asked Hermione admiringly "Where did you get that spyball thing?"
"From Professor McGonagall," answered Hermione. "She came to me in this really weird mood, and said that I would need it badly, but when I asked her why, she couldn't seem to remember anything she'd said."
"Hang on a minute!" said Harry suddenly. "That old bat, Professor Trelawney, did a similar thing to me, but McGonagall's not like that. With Trelawney, I think she was coming out of a trance or something."
"You're kidding," sniggered Ron. "The old bat's so good at acting she could fool herself, but a real prediction? She makes better tea."
"Dumbledore thought it might have been real though," replied Harry. "And if you think about it, the prediction came true- at least in part."
"What prediction?" asked Seamus curiously.
"Err.... we're not supposed to tell anyone," said Hermione nervously. "But considering the situation, we may as well tell you the lot now, or you might not understand what happens later, and that could be dangerous for all of us. Maybe Dumbledore will use a memory charm on you when we sort all this out."
"Well, if we're not supposed to know, a Memory Charm would probably be a good idea," said Fred. "Ginny has a hard time keeping her mouth shut sometimes, and her friends are even worse!"
Ginny playfully punched him at this, but, at the beginning of Harry's story, all thought of playfulness went out of her mind.
"Anyhow, Harry," said Ron." You start, you know most about it all."
"Well," began Harry, "It all began when, at the end of my Divination exam last year, Trelawney, the teacher, went into a kind of trance- her eyeballs rolled right back into her head and her voice went all kind of deep and weird. She said something like the Dark Lord would rise again, and his servant would set out to meet him at midnight that night. Well, that night, we went to see Hagrid, and Ron got dragged under the Whomping Willow by this enormous black dog as we left. Me and Hermione followed, and we had to go down this little tunnel which led to the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade- you know that place? Anyhow, when we got there, we found that the dog was Sirius Black and that he was an unregistered Animagus. We also found out that he was innocent of all the crimes he had been in Azkaban for, and that it was really Peter Pettigrew, whose nickname is Wormtail, who was guilty. You see, when dad was alive he had three best friends- Remus Lupin, the DADA teacher last year, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. The first two of these have always been loyal to him, but Pettigrew betrayed him and my mother to Voldemort while everyone else thought it was Sirius who had betrayed them. Because of him, Voldemort found and killed my parents. Anyhow, we- meaning Lupin, Sirius, me, Ron and Hermione- caught Pettigrew, who was also an Animagus and was Ron's rat, but he escaped that night- at midnight."
There was a stunned silence as Harry's story came to a close, but eventually Dean found his voice.
"You mean Sirius Black never hurt anyone in his life? He was completely innocent?"
"Yes," responded Ron. "He was completely innocent of all blame. It was Pettigrew who betrayed Lily and James, and Pettigrew who murdered all the people in that street, not Sirius."
"Yes, and to change the subject, which isn't a pleasant one, Harry said Trelawney seemed to be coming out of a trance," said Hermione. "Well, McGonagall was acting the same way. There's a curse -one of the Unforgivable- that controls people, and McGonagall might have been able to break it for long enough to give me the Spying Glass. If she suddenly couldn't fight it any longer, then she probably wouldn't have been able to remember what she had said."
"What's the Unforgivables?" asked Cleo, puzzled. "I've never heard of those."
"The Unforgivables are three curses which, if you use them on another human being, are worth a life's sentence in Azkaban," answered George. "They were used a lot by Dark wizards, to make people do things and to torture them."
"That's right," agreed Hermione. "Some people can fight the Imperius curse, which puts you under the total control of the user." As usual, she sounded exactly like she'd swallowed the textbook, and normally Ron would have laughed, but this was a totally different situation from normal, even by wizarding standards.
"Well, this is a great discussion on The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, but it's not exactly what we're we' re interested in at the moment," said Harry.
"Watch out- someone's coming!" hissed Neville suddenly, from his post at the door on guard duty.
Immediately they all became intensely absorbed in a discussion on Quidditch, Hermione hoping fervently all the while that what she was saying about Wronski Feints was correct, not being as into the sport as the others.
They were all aware of a pair of cold eyes watching them, and Ginny, who had broken her mirror earlier, sat with a piece of it in her hand to tell the others when it was safe to go on with the earlier topic of conversation.
When Ginny gave the all clear, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank goodness for that!" said Cleo. "I can't pretend for that long. So, are we going to carry on working out what exactly we're going to do about You-Know-Who?"
"Call him by his real name, Cleo." answered Harry. "Dumbledore does and, after all, what's good enough for him should be good enough for the rest of us. Besides, Voldemort's easier and causes less confusion. But yes, we'd better get busy because I don't know what on earth's going to happen next."
Though everyone except Harry trembled slightly involuntarily at the mention of the dark lord's real name, they didn't bother to argue. They didn't have the time to argue over trifles such as what to call their enemy, because all they felt they needed to bother with was beating him. Hermione pressed on with the task in hand.
"Harry, you've got Hedwig haven't you?" she asked. "Is she awake?"
"Yes to both of your questions," answered Harry, after checking. "Why?"
"Well, if we can get word to Sirius he'll know what to do much better than better than any of us." she answered.
"No need," called Ron from his position near the window. "He's already here!"