Chapter 8 – The Ceremony
Harry could hear an evil laugh coming from a room away.
"You have brought me Harry Potter and Sirius Black with Albus," said the voice. It could only be one person, Voldemort. "You shall be rewarded for your doings, rewarded very well. Now, be gone from my sight."
"Yes, my Lord," said the vaguely familiar voice of Marcus. Harry then heard footsteps from the room he heard the voices in. Snickers could be heard from right beside him.
"Foolish knave," said a voice that sounded like Luke. He then heard laughs go from beside him to down the hallway.
*What's happening? Have I died? * Harry then got a grey-looking image in front of him. He saw bars, a long hallway, and his friends scattered around him in the cell.
*This is all just a dream. I'm dreaming, aren't I? Any minute now I will wake up and see everyone standing over me in my bed. *
"Harry," said Hermione standing over him. "Harry, wake up." Harry just tried to wake up as hard as he could, but he couldn't. "Harry, wake up." Hermione looked like she had been through a washing machine. Her messy hair was tangled and her shirt and pants were full of splotches, hardly the Hermione Harry knew.
*Maybe…no. No, I will not believe it. She does not look that way because she went through a portal. * Harry tried to think of a reason why she looked that way other than the portal, but he couldn't. Harry then was being shaked vigorously.
"Harry, WAKE UP," Hermione said. Harry could now see everything in full color. He was in what looked like a large cell, and he was not alone. As he had seen in his hazy-dream form, his friends lined the edges and middle of the cell. Ron looked like he was comforting Andrea, Hermione hovered over him, and Malfoy was in the farthest corner.
Harry forced himself to get up and stared into the eyes of Hermione. She just stood there, ready to sob all over him, but couldn't bear to. Harry then turned from Hermione and went over to Ron and Andrea. Ron was starting to cry as Andrea did, but he wouldn't want to cry at the foot of Voldemort. Not now, not ever. Andrea looked up and tried to clear away all traces that she cried. Her sniffles were driving Harry closer. He patted her on her shoulder, which she inaudibly thanked. Ron looked up to Harry, who returned the stare. Ron smiled, then turned back to Andrea.
Harry then looked toward Malfoy. Malfoy still sat face-first into the far corner. Harry inched closer to see him biting at one of his fingers. He seemed to be in awe of what happened. He looked on the verge of tears, yet he was not going to. It looked as if he had never cried before, unless provoked to. Half of him was missing, so Harry thought that some of the Invisibility Cloak must be on him. Malfoy's face looked like a zombie, with his face so without emotion.
I can't believe what I have done, Harry thought.
"I can't believe it, either," said a cold voice from outside the cell. Everyone turned to see Voldemort standing outside of the cell. He had a small smirk across his face.
"You can read my thoughts," Harry asked.
"Who knows what I will be able to do when the gem is in my grasp." He said some mumbled spell and the cell opened. Hermione tried to go out since she was the closest, but was zapped back a few feet and was caught by Ron. "You thought it would be that easy to surpass me." Voldemort gave a short cackle.
At least she tried, Harry thought.
Well, the try was for nothing, as your life is and your parents' lives were, Harry heard Voldemort say in his head.
"Take that back!" Harry shouted. All of his friends turned to see Harry's outburst. Voldemort's smile curved a bit as he took a step closer.
"There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that you can do to me. So, I would save your feeble efforts," Voldemort said. Harry's rage was starting to build, but he stopped. Voldemort was right, there was nothing Harry could do. But he couldn't just stand there and watch Voldemort do everything he wanted.
"Now on to business," Voldemort continued, "I know that I will kill you all, yet I want you to see me return to power. It would be most amusing to see the looks on your faces. Of course, I will dispose of you after, but I still think that the amazement on your faces would be the best way to make sure your minds aren't on me."
He then pulled out and little ball of clear light from his pocket and dropped it. The light grew brighter and brighter until the whole room was nothing but clear light. Harry could feel the sensation of the Floo powder, how it pulled him in. When the light disappeared, Harry and his friends were bound to the wall by nothing, yet they could not move from their positions. Harry could now hear voices like his friends with more vigor.
"Sirius!" Harry shouted. Harry then saw Sirius at a round table with Dumbledore and 3 other people. They obviously were the 3 other keepers for the Permandebien Star.
"Harry! What have they done to you? Are you okay? If they laid a single finger on you, I'll kill their fucking asses myself!" Sirius said.
"I'm OK, for the moment."
"Why did you come after myself and Albus?"
"Why wouldn't I?" Sirius noticed that Harry really cared about him.
"But how did you know to come?" Over to the side of the table came a slap. It went to the back of the head of Marcus, one of the Death Eaters that put them in their present position.
"I told you I thought I heard someone behind us," Luke said.
"I am disappointed with you two," Voldemort said, "But I will forgive you because you have also given me Sirius Black with Albus Dumbledore and, especially, Harry Potter. I will finally dispose of the one that has evaded me for so long."
"We are thankful for your forgiveness, our Lord," Marcus and Luke said. They then backed away from Voldemort bowing at every step.
"Now that we have our audience ready, let us start the ceremony!" Voldemort called out. He then sent out something that looked like a long red ribbon out of his hand. It swirled around the round table and the people sitting at it. It went around it about 5 times and then disappeared. All the people at the table then looked as if in a trance.
Harry then looked behind him to find his pack gone. Where did my pack go? Harry thought.
Looking for this, Voldemort said in his head. Harry looked up at him across the room holding up his pack and throwing it behind him. Harry's mouth fell open. He then heard a clanging of chains nearby. He looked around and saw Remus in his wolf form chained do the ground.
"Let the Permandebien Star Ceremony begin," Voldemort said casually.
"Yes, Voldemort," Dumbledore said with no aggression against him. "Saka Dodriano Heypasamio Canidana Jentablo."
All of the sudden, there was a swirling wind. Harry almost couldn't keep his eyes open because the current of the wind was so strong. The wind then seemed to shorten. The wind drew closer and closer into the table, yet it didn't effect the people there. It closed into a small tornado in the middle of the table.
"Let ours spirits open the Permandebien Portal," Sirius said.
Harry then saw something that made his mouth drop open. He saw what looked like ghost rise from each of the people at the table and gather around the little tornado. The ghost played ring-around-the-rosy and chanted the same spell over and over at the tornado. Instead of falling all down when the game of ring-around-the-rosy ended they swirled into the tornado. Harry had never seen anything like it in his life. The tornado then turned into a clear box.
"Let the Permandebien Star be seen," said Thomas.
Then, the box was filled with a greenish-blue color that swirled and bounced around in it. After a few minutes, the color calmed down and formed a shape, which must have been the shape of the gem because Voldemort smiled widely at the form of it. Harry looked over at his friends, who were just as amazed as he was. He then looked back at the ceremony with awe. He also noticed that Voldemort was inching forward.
"Let the Permandebien Portal open," said Claria.
Harry now knew that he only had minutes 'til he, his friends, and the other 3 keepers would be dead and Voldemort, with more power than he could imagine. Harry shook but could not move. He then saw something fall out of his pocket. It was the Finder Malfoy had given him to help out. It was turning over so he whispered, "Find something that will free me and my friends." It turned over and the glitter shimmered down. Meanwhile, the Permandebien Portal had finished opening.
"Let the Permandebien Star rise from the Permandebien Portal," said Ricita.
The Permandebien Star started to rise from the clear box and Voldemort inched closer and closer to the table. Harry looked at the Finder to see it say "Touch Me". Harry couldn't understand what that meant, but he had no time to ask questions. The Permandebien Star was almost all the way out of the box and Voldemort wasn't watching him because of the Permandebien Star's closeness to him. He used his foot and touched the Finder. All of the sudden, he was not bound to the wall anymore. He turned to his friends and saw them all looking for how they got unbound. Even Remus's chains unlocked.
"This Finder is really useful," Harry whispered to Malfoy, who smiled at Harry when he heard it.
The Permandebien Star was now all the way out of it's box. Voldemort stared at it in awe. He and all of the Death Eaters in the large room could not take their eyes off of it.
"In all of my years, this is the happiest day of my life," Voldemort said. Voldemort reached for the gem. Just as he was about to grasp it's glowing color, he heard a call from Harry.
"Stop!" Harry said.
"I should just get you over with right now," Voldemort said. He turned, expecting Harry to be still bound to the ground. What he saw made him more surprised than the Permandebien Star itself. His mouth dropped to see Harry and his friends standing where they had been bound, Remus growling, and Harry with his pack over his shoulder and wand in hand.
"I just made that a little harder for you to do," Harry said.