Harry Warning: Harry may still seem a little pathetic to everybody after this chapter, but I promise - he'll get better. Just not yet.
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The Dark Circle had now scattered itself throughout the woods, and Harry, as was becoming usual for him, was lost in a haze of confusion. Gabrielle had escaped, hadn't she? Then what was that awful screaming noise that had interrupted the meeting? It had sounded like a deranged rhinocerous charging at them... an invisible deranged rhinocerous.
Invisible. So maybe it had been the children, in the cloak? But no - what on earth would possess them to rush out and disturb the Dark Circle, especially at the exact moment when he'd finally got things under control again?
These questions and more were racing around in Harry's brain. He was just standing alone, by the edge of the woods, thinking. Then, suddenly, his head smacked against something hard and leafy. I hit a tree branch? he wondered dimly. But I'm not moving.
Well, that was strange. That was really strange. He looked upwards and sure enough, there was a branch waving right in his face. Where did that come from? he asked himself, and looked downwards. Big mistake - the ground was nearly twenty feet away. Somehow, inexplicably, Harry was up in the air!
That explained the branch - he didn't WALK into a tree, he FLEW into one. Now how the hell did that happen, he wondered, since I don't even know how to levitate! He was fighting down panic.
Within seconds, Harry learned something else about his strange levitation - he didn't know how to reverse it, and consequently he was stuck in midair with no way to get down.
Finally he identified the problem. It must be that awful wit-enhancing potion! I suppose I should have paid more attention to the label, he thought ruefully. Damn these side effects! Now what? Sit and wait, he decided.
He'd been in the air for almost a quarter of an hour before someone came into view on the ground. "Ahem. You. Look at me. Above your head," he growled. It was hard to stay in the character of the evil Black Center while begging pathetically for help. How could he explain his stupidity?
"Center? What's going on?" the wizard asked, and Harry almost shouted with happiness. It was Snape!
"You're just about the most welcome sight in the world, Professor," Harry started quickly, "because I can't get down, so could you please-"
"How far can you see from up there?" Snape called loudly, drowning out Harry's voice. He sounded angry. "Can you see whether there is anyone else nearby?"
Harry shut up immediately, hoping that nobody else had heard him. He looked around and saw that nobody was very close, so he shook his head and whispered back, "Sorry. There's no one else in earshot, though. Could you help me?"
Snape shook his head and hissed, "I don't think I can venture to guess why you levitated yourself. Would you please enlighten me?"
"I didn't do it on purpose," Harry snarled, exasperated. "It was that stupid wit-enhancing potion I took."
"A potion did that to you?" Snape sounded horrified now. "As a side effect? Good lord, Potter, it could be caused by any number of ingredients! What do you expect me to do for you? Do you think I carry around antidotes wherever I go?" His tone became sarcastic as he advised, "If I were you, I would use my newly-enhanced wits to think of an explanation to give the Dark Circle as to why I am stuck in the air with no way down - because they'll be expecting to hear from you very soon, and I certainly don't see any way of reversing whatever you drank."
This was terrible! "Isn't there a spell you could use?" Harry asked desperately.
"To counter that potion? No. Can you move around at all?"
Harry was almost in tears. He tried moving a little, and discovered that he could sort of swim through the air. It was a slow process, but he could at least drag himself among some tree branches where the Circle would be less likely to notice him. "I can go side to side, but not down," he rasped finally.
"Then just stay hidden. The effects will probably wear off eventually," Snape said, before starting to move off into the trees again.
"Wait! Where are you going? D-" Harry stopped himself from pleading, "Don't leave me!"
"I am going to find your children and bring them here - they obviously cannot be trusted to take care of themselves alone. Perhaps you and they can baby-sit one another while I deal with the rest of the Circle."
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Sophie and Julien's hideout had been perfectly quiet for several minutes. Then, a lone Death Eater came into view and began looking around the place expectantly.
Sophie nudged her brother and breathed, "Don't move - the leaves'll rustle. Maybe he'll go away." They stayed absolutely frozen, watching with growing trepidation as the creep carefully searched the area all around where they were sitting. After looking around and behind the nearby trees, he held himself totally motionless and cocked his head, listening for the sounds of nearby people.
Finally, seemingly satisfied that no one was about, he abandoned his search and just stood for a moment. The children exhaled the breaths they'd been holding, and waited for the person to leave. Instead of going away, though, he spoke.
"Are you two still here? Come out," he whispered in a commanding tone.
Julien seized Sophie's arm in terror. "Oh, no," he whispered. "I saw that guy when I was alone before! He talked to me then, too. How does he know we're here? Can he see through the Cloak, do you think?"
She looked at him incredulously. "Julien, really! Before, you didn't recognize Mom's voice through the camera, and now you're saying you can't tell who that is? You're weird," she laughed aloud and rose, tossing off the cloak. "Hey, Professor. We're over here."
Snape debated whether to exhibit relief or annoyance. After all the things that had gone wrong tonight, and all the people who had misplaced themselves and thrown the plans off, how was he to know whether or not the brats would be hidden in the proper place? And then he'd seen that unconscious Death Eater in the forest...knocked out by ordinary Muggle means. And then, he'd gotten here and it had been totally, completely silent. None of the little fidgity noises he would have expected from a pair of frightened children. He had definately, for a few moments, feared that they'd been captured or killed.
And now the girl just stands up and tosses off a chipper "Hey, Professor." I should curse her, I really should. As usual, annoyance won out.
"Sit down and be quiet," he snapped, "before you give us all away."
They sat. "Has something gone wrong, sir?" Sophie asked worriedly.
"Several things have gone wrong, Miss Potter. The first was the unexpected and entirely unwelcome appearance of your mother. We finally brought that sitaution under control, but then someone disturbed everything by making noise and running around invisible." He glared at Julien. "Am I right in assuming that that was you, Potter?"
Julien nodded wordlessly.
Tempting as it was, Snape didn't take the time right away to yell at him. He merely shook his head and said disgustedly, "Idiot. And I suppose it was also you whom I encountered in the woods before? When I asked you to show yourself and you did not answer?"
Julien nodded again, looking miserable. All ready with another mean comment, Snape was interrupted suddenly by Sophie, who spoke up pertly in her brother's defense.
"Don't yell at him for that, okay? If you wanted us to listen to you, then why'd you come after us dressed in that creep suit? We can't even see who it is when you've got a mask on." Then, her eyes widened as she realized how rudely she'd been speaking. "Sorry," she added quietly, "but it's true."
Creep suit? Snape abruptly decided that there was no more time for talking. Of course he wasn't just quitting the conversation because she was right and he was wrong - certainly not. Right. That had nothing to do with it, he told himself. They really did have to get going. Immediately.
"Listen closely, both of you. A problem has arisen-" he broke off. "That was unintentional."
"What was unintentional?" Sophie asked, confused.
"Arisen - it was a poor choice of words. Or rather, a perfect choice. You see, the problem is that your father, with his usual lack of foresight, has levitated himself and gotten stuck that way. He is quite at a loss."
"What?" Sophie exclaimed.
"Dad's in the air?" Julien asked simultaneously. "Cool!"
"Not cool! It's dangerous!" Sophie rounded on her brother and seemed about to slap him. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Snape couldn't help but be amused by the seams in the Potter Patrol (as he'd privately termed the irritating brother-sister team).
He cleared his throat, and the bickering children fell silent immediately. "Exactly. It is dangerous, and in order to deal with it, I will need you to carefully follow my instructions." He paused and looked them over. "Has either of you been hurt?" They shook their heads. "Good. And are you both mentally... prepared? Not on the verge of a breakdown?"
"We're fine, sir," said Sophie gravely. "What do we need to do?"
Good question, thought Snape. If only I knew. "Well... follow me, and I will take you to him. Wear the cloak and make no noise."
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The infamous Black Center was floating aimlessly in the air, helpless and frustrated. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, he heard a voice from the ground. "Center, have any of the others come by?" Snape called up to him.
"Nope. It's all clear," Harry grated in a despondent tone.
Instantly, Snape's voice lost the ingratiating oiliness. "Well, that is one less problem with which we have to contend. Have you thought of anything?"
Harry shook his head no. Before he could say anything, though, he was interrupted by an impatient, "There you are!"
After the split second of startled panic, he felt relieved. "Gabrielle! Where are you, dear? Oh, thank God!"
Gabrielle came forward and waved up at him. "I have been looking everywhere! What's going on? When I Disapparated, I went home for a few minutes to calm down and think, but then I came back in case you needed anything, and now I am finding mass chaos! Qu'est-ce qui se passe?"
He laughed sheepishly. "Well, Gabby, there's a bit of a problem here, as you can see. I took a potion before, and as a side effect it levitated me, and now I can't get down." Now that his wife was here, Harry felt much, much better. He wished fervently that he was down on the ground, so that he could recieve a comforting hug...
"I have an idea," snapped Snape, who seemed less than comforted by Gabrielle's appearance. "Why don't you go back home? With any due respect, Mrs. Potter, you've been nothing but a source of problems all evening."
"Quit it, Snape," Harry snarled right back. He was glad, now, that he was still using the creepy Black Center voice. It sounded so much more impressive when he wanted to be obeyed... "Let me handle things now, OK? I have an idea."
"Silence, everyone!" Snape announced mockingly. "Potter has an idea!" Under his breath he muttered, "this should be interesting."
Harry didn't care that Snape was making fun of him. Everything would work out! His plan made perfect sense. "All right, listen here. Snape and Gabrielle, you guys Apparate to my house and make me an antidote to this potion. In my closet, there's another bottle of the stuff I took, so you can see the ingredients and figure out how to counter it. Sophie and Julien can't Apparate, but they can stay here and -" he broke off all of a sudden and coughed. His voice was cracking. "Hey, guys, do I sound strange to you?" he asked.
"Finish your proposal, Potter, and worry about the rest later," Snape said impatiently. "It might be feasible."
"Right. Well, as I was saying, Sophie and Julien can stay here, or go get the camera, or something. I'll call the Circle together and end the meeting. I'll just pretend to have levitated on purpose...if they've believed me this far, they'll believe anything," Harry wheezed.
Ruthlessly shattering Harry's optimism, Snape scorned, "They will believe nothing, Potter, if you cannot speak it in the distinct and menacing tone you've grown so fond of. If you want to address the Dark Circle, you'll have to recast the voice charm first. Then, I want to hear exactly what you plan on telling them, and if it sounds remotely credible, perhaps I'll gather your disciples here for you."
"OK, sure." Harry drew his wand and pointed it at his voice box. He recited the voice-deepening charms, then said, "There. Now, I'll explain-" he stopped.
"Dad, it didn't work!" Julien exclaimed.
"Yeah, really! Your voice didn't change at all," Sophie confirmed.
A frightening suspicion began to claw at Harry's brain. "Uh-oh. What if the potion was worse than I thought? What if there are more side effects? What if.... Lumos! Oh, no! Avis! Reducto! Point me! No spells are working!"
"Harry? You mean you can't use magic at all?" Gabrielle asked hesitantly.
"No," he whispered, horrified. "Not at all."
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It won't be so long between chapters from here on. I've got everything mostly written now - I just have to code it in HTML. What does everybody think? Gimme feedback! Or I will curse the whole wide world, starting with this story, and make it spontaneously combust...and don't think I can't, either. Harry's not the only one who's been studying Dark Arts on the sly...
:o)
Thanks for reading.