Chapter Nine
Turn for the Worse
"Professor? Professor? Where are we going?"
Receiving no answer, Poppy continued to trace Dumbledore's steps meekly toward
the Forbidden Forest. The beauty of the mysterious wood was lost to her, as one
thought, and one thought only, plagued her mind. "He knows about me and
Voldemort! He knows!" It echoed continuously in her head.
Walking at a slow and steady pace, the very tallest tower of Hogwarts soon faded
out of sight in a matter of minutes.
"Here we are." Dumbledore spoke, for the first time since meeting her at the
gate. They had arrived at a minute clearing surrounded by imposing, ancient
trees. His words carried no malice or ill will. His voice was dead, and it stung
Poppy's heart to hear them.
Dumbledore took a quick, covert look around and was satisfied to see not a soul
in sight. The forest that cloaked them looked dark and foreboding enough to warn
any nosy person away. "Good," he thought to himself. "No one will disturb us
here." He grasped his wand firmly in his right hand.
Poppy didn't have a chance to observe and analyze this strange behavior on
Dumbledore's part, as her head was downcast in despair and regret. "Why, oh why
did I think I could keep Voldemort a secret for long?" she mused remotely.
"Poppy."
Her head jerked up at the mention of her name. "Now, Dumbledore, if I may speak
frankly..." she began, eager to state her case, but was cut off by his quiet and
sinister reply. "There is nothing you can say. You are a spy, and I will treat
you as such. Crucio!"
Poppy gazed at him in shock. "What? Dumbledore?" she managed to think to herself
confusedly before falling to the floor and spasming in helpless pain.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Harry, now sitting in Snape's dungeon listening to him ramble on, had found it
easy to put the incident with the harpies behind him once he had rationalized
that they were nothing but voices.
"What would Ron and Hermione think," he thought, "if they saw me cower with fear
when invisible things said stuff in my head....what would they think if they
found out I heard voices at all?"
In truth, Harry had begun wondering if he had actually heard voices at all.
"And that revealing spell could've made a mistake," he reminded himself stoutly.
Harry had turned toward the library for an explanation in a very Hermione-ish
manner and had discovered that harpies, though magical, could not be traced in a
witch or wizard by common revealing charms. Only an especially powerful wizard
could do so, and the spell often went awry.
Harry yawned as Snape, once again, demonstrated for him a simple spell he had
somehow muddled up earlier in the day.
"Harry! Pay attention!"
"Maybe if you put on a grass skirt and hula dance..." thought Harry, but,
nevertheless, he looked up at Snape. The torches of the dungeon illuminated
Snape's head so that his perpetually greasy hair shone like Uncle Vernon's
prized car.
"Now! First you take a hair from....Harry!"
Harry, who had begun daydreaming of muggle cars coated in various shiny paints,
all while staring at Snape's hair, snapped to attention instantly.
"Sorry," he mumbled. It was infinitely harder ignore Snape when he was the only
student present.
Snape grumbled something that sounded a lot like "insolent brat" and proceded to
continue with the lesson.
Harry honestly tried to listen, but a voice that sounded oddly familiar began
murmuring in his ear. "Harry..." Confused, Harry pondered about the voice for a
few minutes before the voice began whispering sorrowfully, "I suppose you don't
remember me, it has been so long since I last held you...."
Harry's eyes snapped open as, suddenly, it became crystal clear to him who the
voice belonged to.
"Dad?" Harry whispered to himself.
"This is the last time I'm repeating this!" snapped Snape. "What's wrong with
you, Potter?"
"I, er..." stammered Harry.
A scream sounded faintly from the Forbidden Forest. Harry and Snape
simultaneously turned toward the window in surprise. The scream began anew, and
Snape sprang to life.
"Harry! Go get Dumbledore. Tell him I've already gone to investigate." he cried
and hurried out of the room.
Dumbstruck, Harry turned and, without thought, ran in search of Dumbledore.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Poppy was experiencing excruciating, mind-numbing pain. She twisted in agony,
all while Dumbledore looked coldly on.
He was, despite himself, fascinated by the myriad of expressions flitting
through Poppy's face, and kept the spell on her longer than he had intended.
Unable to stop herself, she let out two, blood-curdling screams in quick
succession. Dumbledore started, and released her from the spell.
Looking down upon her pitiful form, he said in a shrill voice, "Don't ever say a
word to anyone about this," and turned to go.
"Dumbledore!" she cried, and tried to reach for his robes. Poppy herself was
surprisd by this action. She honestly didn't know wether she had wanted to
refrain him from leaving, or kill him.
His eyes remained cooly upon hers as he purposefully stepped away, leaving Poppy
grasping at nothing. "Poor, weak Poppy," he thought to himself amusedly.
The last of her strength had gone into that desperate grab for his robes.
Exhausted, and still holding Dumbledore's gaze, Poppy dazedly thought she saw a
flicker of red transfigure Dumbledore's light blue eyes, but it was gone in an
instant. She heard a swish of fabric and knew Dumbledore had left.
"Voldemort, where are you?" shw whispered. Then darkness engulfed her, and she
knew no more.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Snape crashed through the wilderness at a dead run. The screaming had stopped,
but his wand kept him pointed the right direction. He wondered sickly to himself
if the woman was already dead. Was there still time to save her? Or was he on a
mission to bring back a body?
It only took him a few minutes to pinpoint a small, crumbled body lying in a
small clearing. Snape gave an inaudible gasp as he ran toward it, praying
continuously that, whoever she was, she was alright.
With great trepidation, he turned the still form over, and gazed into the pale
face of Madame Pomfrey.
"Poppy?!"
The woman shivered slightly, but there was no other sign of life.
Quickly, Snape pulled out his wand and faced the darkness. Not a single creature
stirred. Satisfied that the attacker had long since fled, Snape muttered a spell
under his breathe and Madame Pomfrey floated up into the air and began wafting
toward the castle.
He had only gone a few yards when he met Dumbledore.
"What happened?" cried Dumbledore as he hurried toward Snape.
"Headmaster! You got here fast. I've just found Poppy."
"Poppy? But how did she ever.....oh my." Dumbledore looked at Poppy with wide
eyes.
He continued, once he had managed to tear his eyes off the floating body, "We
must know right away who her attacker was. He couldn't have gone far, from what
Mr. Potter told me. Ennervate!"
Poppy's eyes fluttered open.
"Are you sure this is wise?" queried Snape. "She needs rest!"
Dumbledore looked coldly down at Snape. "We can't risk this happening again. The
next victim might not be so lucky!"
"Ahhhh!" screamed Poppy.
Both men looked down at her in a mixture of worry and fear.
"What is it, Poppy? What's wrong?"
She remained mute. She stared up at Dumbledore with an expression that neither
men could determine before resolutely closing her eyes again.
Confused, they proceded with haste toward Hogwarts.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Poppy, dear, you must eat!" Dumbledore coaxed as he tried to spoon feed the
patient in the bed.
She did nothing but look sullenly up at him with a tightly shut mouth.
"As if I would trust that man again," she thought to herself spitefully. "It's
probably poisoned anyway."
However, she desperately wanted to be alone so, despite her hatred toward him,
she managed to bite out the words, "Leave me alone! Please."
Dumbledore shook his head sadly and turned to go. Poppy, since awakening to find
herself in her own infirmary, had talked to no one and had shown unusual anger.
"I wish I knew what was going on in that head of yours," he mused to himself as
he closed the door behind him.
Dumbledore would have usually spent more time and energy into discovering the
reason for Poppy's strange behavior, but he was already on another quest.
"How the devil did Potter find me so quickly, in THERE?" he thought to himself,
before turning to question the boy himself.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Voldemort let loose an especially evil cackle before turning expectantly toward
his crystal spy orb.
Though Voldemort could not still, despite his rising power, traverse the grounds
of Hogwarts for fear of Dumbledore, he had managed to build up the courage to
venture at it's gates and place his orbs about, hidden from Dumbledore's prying
eyes with various, powerful cloaking spells.
"Yesss....." he hissed to himself. "Everything is going as planned."
Voldemort turned back to the woman who had earlier come to see him about the
harpies. She was waiting impatiently for him to stop gloating over his own
handiwork.
"What is it, Minerva?" he said softly.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N(2): For those of you who are now obviously confused, let me just say that
NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS and that all shall soon be revealed in coming chapters.
Please no flames! Also, is anyone else happy that I've managed to fit all this
action and suspense before Harry even starts school at Hogwarts?
Previous Chapter ( 6 ) Chapter 1Chapter 2 : An Unexpected
TwistChapter 3 : Harry's TestChapter 4 : AnswersChapter 5 :
BetrayalChapter 6 : The Spy at HogwartsChapter 7 : Turn for the
WorseChapter 8 : Dumbledore's Son Next Chapter ( 8 )
Review Story ( be a responsible reader and write a review)
Title: Harry Potter and the Legend of the Phoenix
Name:
Email: (optional)
Review:
If you feel that this entry violates any of the guidelines set by FanFiction.Net
please click here to notify the staff.
Home | About Us | Terms of Service | Browser Compatibility
Turn for the Worse
"Professor? Professor? Where are we going?"
Receiving no answer, Poppy continued to trace Dumbledore's steps meekly toward
the Forbidden Forest. The beauty of the mysterious wood was lost to her, as one
thought, and one thought only, plagued her mind. "He knows about me and
Voldemort! He knows!" It echoed continuously in her head.
Walking at a slow and steady pace, the very tallest tower of Hogwarts soon faded
out of sight in a matter of minutes.
"Here we are." Dumbledore spoke, for the first time since meeting her at the
gate. They had arrived at a minute clearing surrounded by imposing, ancient
trees. His words carried no malice or ill will. His voice was dead, and it stung
Poppy's heart to hear them.
Dumbledore took a quick, covert look around and was satisfied to see not a soul
in sight. The forest that cloaked them looked dark and foreboding enough to warn
any nosy person away. "Good," he thought to himself. "No one will disturb us
here." He grasped his wand firmly in his right hand.
Poppy didn't have a chance to observe and analyze this strange behavior on
Dumbledore's part, as her head was downcast in despair and regret. "Why, oh why
did I think I could keep Voldemort a secret for long?" she mused remotely.
"Poppy."
Her head jerked up at the mention of her name. "Now, Dumbledore, if I may speak
frankly..." she began, eager to state her case, but was cut off by his quiet and
sinister reply. "There is nothing you can say. You are a spy, and I will treat
you as such. Crucio!"
Poppy gazed at him in shock. "What? Dumbledore?" she managed to think to herself
confusedly before falling to the floor and spasming in helpless pain.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Harry, now sitting in Snape's dungeon listening to him ramble on, had found it
easy to put the incident with the harpies behind him once he had rationalized
that they were nothing but voices.
"What would Ron and Hermione think," he thought, "if they saw me cower with fear
when invisible things said stuff in my head....what would they think if they
found out I heard voices at all?"
In truth, Harry had begun wondering if he had actually heard voices at all.
"And that revealing spell could've made a mistake," he reminded himself stoutly.
Harry had turned toward the library for an explanation in a very Hermione-ish
manner and had discovered that harpies, though magical, could not be traced in a
witch or wizard by common revealing charms. Only an especially powerful wizard
could do so, and the spell often went awry.
Harry yawned as Snape, once again, demonstrated for him a simple spell he had
somehow muddled up earlier in the day.
"Harry! Pay attention!"
"Maybe if you put on a grass skirt and hula dance..." thought Harry, but,
nevertheless, he looked up at Snape. The torches of the dungeon illuminated
Snape's head so that his perpetually greasy hair shone like Uncle Vernon's
prized car.
"Now! First you take a hair from....Harry!"
Harry, who had begun daydreaming of muggle cars coated in various shiny paints,
all while staring at Snape's hair, snapped to attention instantly.
"Sorry," he mumbled. It was infinitely harder ignore Snape when he was the only
student present.
Snape grumbled something that sounded a lot like "insolent brat" and proceded to
continue with the lesson.
Harry honestly tried to listen, but a voice that sounded oddly familiar began
murmuring in his ear. "Harry..." Confused, Harry pondered about the voice for a
few minutes before the voice began whispering sorrowfully, "I suppose you don't
remember me, it has been so long since I last held you...."
Harry's eyes snapped open as, suddenly, it became crystal clear to him who the
voice belonged to.
"Dad?" Harry whispered to himself.
"This is the last time I'm repeating this!" snapped Snape. "What's wrong with
you, Potter?"
"I, er..." stammered Harry.
A scream sounded faintly from the Forbidden Forest. Harry and Snape
simultaneously turned toward the window in surprise. The scream began anew, and
Snape sprang to life.
"Harry! Go get Dumbledore. Tell him I've already gone to investigate." he cried
and hurried out of the room.
Dumbstruck, Harry turned and, without thought, ran in search of Dumbledore.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Poppy was experiencing excruciating, mind-numbing pain. She twisted in agony,
all while Dumbledore looked coldly on.
He was, despite himself, fascinated by the myriad of expressions flitting
through Poppy's face, and kept the spell on her longer than he had intended.
Unable to stop herself, she let out two, blood-curdling screams in quick
succession. Dumbledore started, and released her from the spell.
Looking down upon her pitiful form, he said in a shrill voice, "Don't ever say a
word to anyone about this," and turned to go.
"Dumbledore!" she cried, and tried to reach for his robes. Poppy herself was
surprisd by this action. She honestly didn't know wether she had wanted to
refrain him from leaving, or kill him.
His eyes remained cooly upon hers as he purposefully stepped away, leaving Poppy
grasping at nothing. "Poor, weak Poppy," he thought to himself amusedly.
The last of her strength had gone into that desperate grab for his robes.
Exhausted, and still holding Dumbledore's gaze, Poppy dazedly thought she saw a
flicker of red transfigure Dumbledore's light blue eyes, but it was gone in an
instant. She heard a swish of fabric and knew Dumbledore had left.
"Voldemort, where are you?" shw whispered. Then darkness engulfed her, and she
knew no more.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Snape crashed through the wilderness at a dead run. The screaming had stopped,
but his wand kept him pointed the right direction. He wondered sickly to himself
if the woman was already dead. Was there still time to save her? Or was he on a
mission to bring back a body?
It only took him a few minutes to pinpoint a small, crumbled body lying in a
small clearing. Snape gave an inaudible gasp as he ran toward it, praying
continuously that, whoever she was, she was alright.
With great trepidation, he turned the still form over, and gazed into the pale
face of Madame Pomfrey.
"Poppy?!"
The woman shivered slightly, but there was no other sign of life.
Quickly, Snape pulled out his wand and faced the darkness. Not a single creature
stirred. Satisfied that the attacker had long since fled, Snape muttered a spell
under his breathe and Madame Pomfrey floated up into the air and began wafting
toward the castle.
He had only gone a few yards when he met Dumbledore.
"What happened?" cried Dumbledore as he hurried toward Snape.
"Headmaster! You got here fast. I've just found Poppy."
"Poppy? But how did she ever.....oh my." Dumbledore looked at Poppy with wide
eyes.
He continued, once he had managed to tear his eyes off the floating body, "We
must know right away who her attacker was. He couldn't have gone far, from what
Mr. Potter told me. Ennervate!"
Poppy's eyes fluttered open.
"Are you sure this is wise?" queried Snape. "She needs rest!"
Dumbledore looked coldly down at Snape. "We can't risk this happening again. The
next victim might not be so lucky!"
"Ahhhh!" screamed Poppy.
Both men looked down at her in a mixture of worry and fear.
"What is it, Poppy? What's wrong?"
She remained mute. She stared up at Dumbledore with an expression that neither
men could determine before resolutely closing her eyes again.
Confused, they proceded with haste toward Hogwarts.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Poppy, dear, you must eat!" Dumbledore coaxed as he tried to spoon feed the
patient in the bed.
She did nothing but look sullenly up at him with a tightly shut mouth.
"As if I would trust that man again," she thought to herself spitefully. "It's
probably poisoned anyway."
However, she desperately wanted to be alone so, despite her hatred toward him,
she managed to bite out the words, "Leave me alone! Please."
Dumbledore shook his head sadly and turned to go. Poppy, since awakening to find
herself in her own infirmary, had talked to no one and had shown unusual anger.
"I wish I knew what was going on in that head of yours," he mused to himself as
he closed the door behind him.
Dumbledore would have usually spent more time and energy into discovering the
reason for Poppy's strange behavior, but he was already on another quest.
"How the devil did Potter find me so quickly, in THERE?" he thought to himself,
before turning to question the boy himself.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Voldemort let loose an especially evil cackle before turning expectantly toward
his crystal spy orb.
Though Voldemort could not still, despite his rising power, traverse the grounds
of Hogwarts for fear of Dumbledore, he had managed to build up the courage to
venture at it's gates and place his orbs about, hidden from Dumbledore's prying
eyes with various, powerful cloaking spells.
"Yesss....." he hissed to himself. "Everything is going as planned."
Voldemort turned back to the woman who had earlier come to see him about the
harpies. She was waiting impatiently for him to stop gloating over his own
handiwork.
"What is it, Minerva?" he said softly.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
A/N(2): For those of you who are now obviously confused, let me just say that
NOTHING IS AS IT SEEMS and that all shall soon be revealed in coming chapters.
Please no flames! Also, is anyone else happy that I've managed to fit all this
action and suspense before Harry even starts school at Hogwarts?
Previous Chapter ( 6 ) Chapter 1Chapter 2 : An Unexpected
TwistChapter 3 : Harry's TestChapter 4 : AnswersChapter 5 :
BetrayalChapter 6 : The Spy at HogwartsChapter 7 : Turn for the
WorseChapter 8 : Dumbledore's Son Next Chapter ( 8 )
Review Story ( be a responsible reader and write a review)
Title: Harry Potter and the Legend of the Phoenix
Name:
Email: (optional)
Review:
If you feel that this entry violates any of the guidelines set by FanFiction.Net
please click here to notify the staff.
Home | About Us | Terms of Service | Browser Compatibility