Chapter Eleven
Echoes of the Dark Days
Harry was just about to kiss Cho behind a display of League posters when he heard two people smack the door of the shop open and run in.
"Excuse me!" Harry heard the salesclerk say angrily.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, we need to speak to Harry -"
"There's no Harry here."
"Ron! I'm here!" Harry and Cho appeared from behind the posters.
"C'mon, Harry, Cho -" Ron signaled them to follow him and Hermione, and they followed, Cho being dragged rather unwillingly by Harry.
They barreled out of Haversacker Haven and into the snowy street where Sirius waited. "There's no time to get to the cave, we have to get to the Shrieking Shack!" shouted Hermione, and they struggled through the increasing storm towards the desolate house they knew lay at the end of the street.
"The Shrieking Shack?" yelled Cho, scared. "What's going on?"
"We'll tell you later!" screamed Harry, and the wind seemed now to be trying to turn the village of Hogsmeade into a pile of snowy toothpicks. After what felt like eternity, they began up the hill that led to the Shack. Ron found the break in the fence and helped everyone get through the pileup of snow. They staggered through the last few feet between the gate and the front door. Harry joggled the locked handle for a couple frantic seconds until he remembered "Alohomora" and held open the door for everyone to hurry through the doorway.
Inside the Shrieking Shack, it was only a little warmer than the outside, but the absence of wind made it feel nearly balmy. Sirius shook off the snow on his fur and then Transfigured back to his human form. Cho let out a little scream, and Harry comforted her right away. "It's okay, it's okay," he said reassuringly and put his arms around her shoulders, but Cho still seemed pretty frightened.
"Why are we in the Shrieking Shack, and who is the Animagi?" she asked, boldly and timidly at the same time.
"It's out of the weather, and that's...that's my godfather," said Harry cautiously, looking from Ron to Hermione to Sirius.
"He's from the States," chimed Ron.
"His name is Howard Smith," added Hermione.
"Hi," said Sirius.
This seemed to satisfy Cho. "You three know more about the others than you do yourself," she commented lightly, referring to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Mr. Smith, I've never met an Animagi before, other than Professor McGonagall, of course. Are you Snuffles?"
Sirius laughed heartily, a sound that warmed Harry. "Yes, that is their nickname for me. Sometimes I have to come and see my godson, and well, I'm an unregistered Animagi, so they have to be quiet about it."
There was silence for a moment, where all that could be heard was the wind howling outside. Then, Harry said, "So, why did you come?"
At this, Sirius sighed. "Harry...I don't know how to make this easier to tell you...but You-Know-Who is gathering his followers and thriving in America."
He wisely chose not to use the Dark Lord's real name...after all, he was Howard Smith as long as Cho was there. "That's horrible!" she said loudly. Harry did nothing but raise his eyebrows in amazement.
Sirius quickly told Harry and Cho what he had told Hermione and Ron in the cave earlier. He finished with, "And now, the American girl is back in America, with the son of two Death Eaters."
"I...I don't think Llewellyn would side with the Dark Lord," replied Harry, "but you're right, her family might. I know she doesn't like her family for some reason, I think because they're so traditional and stodgy, and she rarely ever sees them."
"Yes, Harry, you're right...," began Sirius, "but don't forget, the Unforgivable Curses are not seen as such to You-Know-Who. She may fall victim to the Imperius Curse if it is cast by her own flesh-and-blood parents." He took out his wand, which looked rather new, and cast a fire in the old fireplace.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute," interrupted Hermione. "Just because You- Know-Who is in America doesn't mean that every American pureblood family is going to go running to him, pledging eternal allegiance from every family member. I understand we, as everyone here, especially Harry, need to be cautious...but there's no need to become paranoid. And won't the smoke be seen?"
"You sound paranoid yourself, Miss Granger," joked Sirius. "It's a blizzard outside. You couldn't see it if a dragon was flying two inches from your nose." He regained his composure. "Your advice is helpful - be cautious, but not paranoid. When holiday is over, and Llewellyn and the other girl come from America, just be on your guard, and don't do anything stupid, like ask if their families are involved in the Dark Arts.
"I'm going to have to go back to America soon, I'm only here on a three-day Christmas break at the apothecary. I'm sorry I didn't send you a note, Harry, but, as you can tell, I'm trying to keep a low profile -" He suddenly remembered Cho, and abruptly changed the subject. "I think you should be going back to school - the snow will soon be up to Mr. Weasley's waist, and then the rest of you will be in lots of trouble."
Ron laughed hollowly, hoping Cho to be a bit thick-headed, and started towards the door. He pushed on it, and to his surprise, it wouldn't budge.
"Umm...Mr. Smith?"
Sirius strod over to the door, tried it a few times, did a few basic unlocking charms, and then threw all his weight against it. The door moved outwards about two inches, and they saw that the snow had been piled against the door at least higher than Sirius's head. He shut the door and thought for a moment. "I bet you the snow is only two feet deep, but with this wind pushing against the house.... You're going to have to get back to Hogwarts through the Whomping Willow."
"The Whomping Willow?" asked Cho incredulously. "Wait a minute, isn't this the Shrieking Shack, the most haunted dwelling in Britain? What's going on?"
Harry took a little risk. "Do you remember Professor Lupin?" he asked.
"Of course. He was such a great Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. But it turns out he was a werewolf, right?"
"Right. Well...the Shrieking Shack isn't haunted by ghosts. It was haunted by him every full moon he was at Hogwarts many years ago. And to get here, he went through the Whomping Willow, which was placed over an underground tunnel from the Hogwarts grounds to here, the Shrieking Shack," explained Harry. Ron and Hermione kept giving him more and more warning scowls,but Harry knew he was stepping on very fragile territory.
"And how do you know this?" asked Cho, crossing her arms.
"I knew Remus Lupin when he went to Hogwarts," answered Sirius, saving Harry from more death glares. "Let's go before the professors have to go searching through Hogsmeade to find you."
Sirius led the way, followed by Ron, then Hermione, then Harry, with Cho lagging behind. The tunnel was very dark and eerily still and quiet compared to the winds raging outside. The five of them lit up their wands and proceeded through the tunnel in silence for a long time. Finally, the tunnel started going upwards, and they heard and saw the snowstorm through a crack in the Whomping Willow. Sirius opened it for them and pressed the magic knot with a stick on the ground between the trunk and the branches. The tree stopped its slow, labored flailing immediately - it was bogged down with extra snow. Ron began to lead the three other students towards the school while Sirius stayed close to the tree.
"Harry!" he called. "I'm going to be tracking the American newspapers. If anything more shows up that confirms my suspicions, I'll send you a long- distance owl. Tell that to Hedwig so she doesn't get jealous and try to cross the Atlantic herself. And Harry, remember what Hermione said - Be cautious, but not paranoid!"
"Okay, Sir - you soon! Bye...Uncle Howard!"
Harry bit his tongue at his stupidity as the four marched through the snow.
"You have an interesting godfather," commented Cho, as they closed the front doors behind them.
"You don't know the half of it," was all that he said, and then they were dividing to go to their different houses.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm so glad you're back!" was the first thing Rosalind said when she saw Llewellyn walking up the familiar steps to the Columbia courtyard.
"Oh, me too, Roz! It's great to see you again!" replied Llewellyn, and they hugged and laughed.
Skyla Conway, Tim Wyvern, and Ino Kinst (apparently up to snuff with his studying, as he was still at Columbia) were there too, and Llewellyn greeted them all happily.
"What did you enchant this week?" she asked Tim.
"Oh, I made a candy cane that does the Tango - for the Christmas spirit," he replied cheerfully. He dropped his voice. "Did you find out anything about the names I gave you?"
"Not much. One's the last name of a Hogwarts professor, and three are the last names of students at Hogwarts. And one of them is my boyfriend, who's here. Or...I thought so...." She looked behind her. "Draco?"
There was no response. Llewellyn walked over to the staircase and looked down - no sign of him. She called his name again, and this time got a response.
"That's sick. That's absolutely sick!"
"What's the matter?" Llewellyn walked down the steps and saw him crouched on a rock between the walkway and the wall, looking in disgust at a smudge about three inches high and two inches wide on the wall.
"Look at that." He pointed towards the blot on the wall. "What does that look like?"
She examined it. Now that she looked at it, it seemed to form a distinct picture, one that you could only see out of the corner of your eye, or one that you'd have to slowly focus and re-focus until the image popped out at you. She relaxed, and let her gaze slide around the smudge. Suddenly, the picture appeared and seemed to burn into her vision. Letting out a little gasp, she shut her eyes.
"What does it look like?" Draco said again.
"A snake," she answered, eyes still closed. "A snake coming from the mouth of a skull."
"That's the Dark Mark, the sign of the Death Eaters," he explained. She looked at the wall again and saw that he had smeared the design, but it was still burned into her mind. "If it's floating over your house, that means that your house has been ransacked and the occupants more than likely victims of an Unforgivable Curse. When it's been drawn on the wall...I don't know. I think that...maybe a Death Eater is here."
"I still don't understand what you mean by Death Eater," confessed Llewellyn softly.
"I think that maybe Tim, since his brother sounds like one, and Rosalind, since she's going to be at Hogwarts, and you and me should get together and have a discussion about You-Know-Who." Draco stood up and stepped off the rock. "Is there somewhere we could speak in privacy?"
Llewellyn thought for a moment. "Well, there's usually an empty classroom up by the top of the tower." She began up the steps to the courtyard with Draco behind her. "Tim, Roz, can we talk?" she called.
"Sure," said Rosalind, and Tim followed.
"What for?" he asked.
"We need to talk about that list you gave Llewellyn," answered Draco.
"You're on it, right?"
Draco grimaced. "My family name is, I'm not."
Tim shrugged - more pureblood stuff he didn't understand. Both his parents were wizards, but both of them were Muggle-born.
Llewellyn led them through the glass lobby and up the spiraling staircase to the second-highest room in the tower. On the way up, Tim and Draco were silent, but Rosalind and Llewellyn talked nearly non-stop about anything and everything: the latest gossip, the latest discoveries in astronomy (Rosalind's field), and the latest Quodpot 2000 playoffs. Llewellyn, who didn't really have a team to support before, now felt slightly connected to the New York Nogtails, and was glad to know they had a very good record so far.
The classroom was dark and a little chilly, with a dozen desks arranged in rows of three by four. Tim went to light the lamp and start a fire in the grate as the others made a square of four desks and sat down. The enchanter sat down, and Draco rummaged around in his robe pocket to find the list Tim had written down.
"This list," began Draco, "is a list of names of families that got involved with a maniacal European tyrant some twenty-five years ago. Nobody likes to say his name, because of all the fear that came with it...So I'm only going to say it once." He gulped.
"Voldemort.
"There, I said it. From now on you have to say 'You-Know-Who' or 'He-Who- Must-Not-Be-Named' or 'The Dark Lord' when talking about him, because of all the things he's done...it's just...just horrible."
For a quarter of an hour Draco just talked about the dark, horrible times that Voldemort caused for all of Europe. The pale Slytherin was able to describe some of the terrible things in great detail...after all, he had heard the stories being retold from firsthand accounts.
His parents.
His parents had done some of those things! He felt like he would explode with the anger of being forced to appreciate the Death Eater's works of horrors. His mind floated back to when he was younger, when Shirley was only a baby...He was so proud to be a Malfoy, he hero-worshipped his father, he was like a house elf bowing down to his father's every wish. He once thought that Muggles were the dirtiest things in the world, a disgrace, and Muggle-borns little better. He once insulted and spat upon the souls of the wizards and witches who had connection to Muggles. But something had changed inside of him...teenage rebellion, or maybe his conscious had finally kicked in?
The cold of the desk brought him to his senses, and he realized that he had put his head down on the stone surface, now damp with his tears of rage. Llewellyn was patting him on the back...someone else was there in the room...the Death Eater!
His brain wouldn't work correctly, but his muscles were. He sprang from his seat, turning the desk upside down, and ran towards the fifth person in the room in a fit of blind fury. He was held back by a pair of large, built arms, and felt himself collapse limply in their strength, hanging like a wet noodle until his self-control returned. "I'm so sorry," he murmured, and raised his blonde head up to see who he had tried to attack.
"I'm Professor Patursa," said the man to Draco. He looked to be in his mid- twenties, very heavy-boned and stocky, with sandy hair and a smile always playing about his features. Patursa looked to the Columbia students. "And I think you guys are in way over your heads."
Echoes of the Dark Days
Harry was just about to kiss Cho behind a display of League posters when he heard two people smack the door of the shop open and run in.
"Excuse me!" Harry heard the salesclerk say angrily.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, we need to speak to Harry -"
"There's no Harry here."
"Ron! I'm here!" Harry and Cho appeared from behind the posters.
"C'mon, Harry, Cho -" Ron signaled them to follow him and Hermione, and they followed, Cho being dragged rather unwillingly by Harry.
They barreled out of Haversacker Haven and into the snowy street where Sirius waited. "There's no time to get to the cave, we have to get to the Shrieking Shack!" shouted Hermione, and they struggled through the increasing storm towards the desolate house they knew lay at the end of the street.
"The Shrieking Shack?" yelled Cho, scared. "What's going on?"
"We'll tell you later!" screamed Harry, and the wind seemed now to be trying to turn the village of Hogsmeade into a pile of snowy toothpicks. After what felt like eternity, they began up the hill that led to the Shack. Ron found the break in the fence and helped everyone get through the pileup of snow. They staggered through the last few feet between the gate and the front door. Harry joggled the locked handle for a couple frantic seconds until he remembered "Alohomora" and held open the door for everyone to hurry through the doorway.
Inside the Shrieking Shack, it was only a little warmer than the outside, but the absence of wind made it feel nearly balmy. Sirius shook off the snow on his fur and then Transfigured back to his human form. Cho let out a little scream, and Harry comforted her right away. "It's okay, it's okay," he said reassuringly and put his arms around her shoulders, but Cho still seemed pretty frightened.
"Why are we in the Shrieking Shack, and who is the Animagi?" she asked, boldly and timidly at the same time.
"It's out of the weather, and that's...that's my godfather," said Harry cautiously, looking from Ron to Hermione to Sirius.
"He's from the States," chimed Ron.
"His name is Howard Smith," added Hermione.
"Hi," said Sirius.
This seemed to satisfy Cho. "You three know more about the others than you do yourself," she commented lightly, referring to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "Mr. Smith, I've never met an Animagi before, other than Professor McGonagall, of course. Are you Snuffles?"
Sirius laughed heartily, a sound that warmed Harry. "Yes, that is their nickname for me. Sometimes I have to come and see my godson, and well, I'm an unregistered Animagi, so they have to be quiet about it."
There was silence for a moment, where all that could be heard was the wind howling outside. Then, Harry said, "So, why did you come?"
At this, Sirius sighed. "Harry...I don't know how to make this easier to tell you...but You-Know-Who is gathering his followers and thriving in America."
He wisely chose not to use the Dark Lord's real name...after all, he was Howard Smith as long as Cho was there. "That's horrible!" she said loudly. Harry did nothing but raise his eyebrows in amazement.
Sirius quickly told Harry and Cho what he had told Hermione and Ron in the cave earlier. He finished with, "And now, the American girl is back in America, with the son of two Death Eaters."
"I...I don't think Llewellyn would side with the Dark Lord," replied Harry, "but you're right, her family might. I know she doesn't like her family for some reason, I think because they're so traditional and stodgy, and she rarely ever sees them."
"Yes, Harry, you're right...," began Sirius, "but don't forget, the Unforgivable Curses are not seen as such to You-Know-Who. She may fall victim to the Imperius Curse if it is cast by her own flesh-and-blood parents." He took out his wand, which looked rather new, and cast a fire in the old fireplace.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute," interrupted Hermione. "Just because You- Know-Who is in America doesn't mean that every American pureblood family is going to go running to him, pledging eternal allegiance from every family member. I understand we, as everyone here, especially Harry, need to be cautious...but there's no need to become paranoid. And won't the smoke be seen?"
"You sound paranoid yourself, Miss Granger," joked Sirius. "It's a blizzard outside. You couldn't see it if a dragon was flying two inches from your nose." He regained his composure. "Your advice is helpful - be cautious, but not paranoid. When holiday is over, and Llewellyn and the other girl come from America, just be on your guard, and don't do anything stupid, like ask if their families are involved in the Dark Arts.
"I'm going to have to go back to America soon, I'm only here on a three-day Christmas break at the apothecary. I'm sorry I didn't send you a note, Harry, but, as you can tell, I'm trying to keep a low profile -" He suddenly remembered Cho, and abruptly changed the subject. "I think you should be going back to school - the snow will soon be up to Mr. Weasley's waist, and then the rest of you will be in lots of trouble."
Ron laughed hollowly, hoping Cho to be a bit thick-headed, and started towards the door. He pushed on it, and to his surprise, it wouldn't budge.
"Umm...Mr. Smith?"
Sirius strod over to the door, tried it a few times, did a few basic unlocking charms, and then threw all his weight against it. The door moved outwards about two inches, and they saw that the snow had been piled against the door at least higher than Sirius's head. He shut the door and thought for a moment. "I bet you the snow is only two feet deep, but with this wind pushing against the house.... You're going to have to get back to Hogwarts through the Whomping Willow."
"The Whomping Willow?" asked Cho incredulously. "Wait a minute, isn't this the Shrieking Shack, the most haunted dwelling in Britain? What's going on?"
Harry took a little risk. "Do you remember Professor Lupin?" he asked.
"Of course. He was such a great Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. But it turns out he was a werewolf, right?"
"Right. Well...the Shrieking Shack isn't haunted by ghosts. It was haunted by him every full moon he was at Hogwarts many years ago. And to get here, he went through the Whomping Willow, which was placed over an underground tunnel from the Hogwarts grounds to here, the Shrieking Shack," explained Harry. Ron and Hermione kept giving him more and more warning scowls,but Harry knew he was stepping on very fragile territory.
"And how do you know this?" asked Cho, crossing her arms.
"I knew Remus Lupin when he went to Hogwarts," answered Sirius, saving Harry from more death glares. "Let's go before the professors have to go searching through Hogsmeade to find you."
Sirius led the way, followed by Ron, then Hermione, then Harry, with Cho lagging behind. The tunnel was very dark and eerily still and quiet compared to the winds raging outside. The five of them lit up their wands and proceeded through the tunnel in silence for a long time. Finally, the tunnel started going upwards, and they heard and saw the snowstorm through a crack in the Whomping Willow. Sirius opened it for them and pressed the magic knot with a stick on the ground between the trunk and the branches. The tree stopped its slow, labored flailing immediately - it was bogged down with extra snow. Ron began to lead the three other students towards the school while Sirius stayed close to the tree.
"Harry!" he called. "I'm going to be tracking the American newspapers. If anything more shows up that confirms my suspicions, I'll send you a long- distance owl. Tell that to Hedwig so she doesn't get jealous and try to cross the Atlantic herself. And Harry, remember what Hermione said - Be cautious, but not paranoid!"
"Okay, Sir - you soon! Bye...Uncle Howard!"
Harry bit his tongue at his stupidity as the four marched through the snow.
"You have an interesting godfather," commented Cho, as they closed the front doors behind them.
"You don't know the half of it," was all that he said, and then they were dividing to go to their different houses.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I'm so glad you're back!" was the first thing Rosalind said when she saw Llewellyn walking up the familiar steps to the Columbia courtyard.
"Oh, me too, Roz! It's great to see you again!" replied Llewellyn, and they hugged and laughed.
Skyla Conway, Tim Wyvern, and Ino Kinst (apparently up to snuff with his studying, as he was still at Columbia) were there too, and Llewellyn greeted them all happily.
"What did you enchant this week?" she asked Tim.
"Oh, I made a candy cane that does the Tango - for the Christmas spirit," he replied cheerfully. He dropped his voice. "Did you find out anything about the names I gave you?"
"Not much. One's the last name of a Hogwarts professor, and three are the last names of students at Hogwarts. And one of them is my boyfriend, who's here. Or...I thought so...." She looked behind her. "Draco?"
There was no response. Llewellyn walked over to the staircase and looked down - no sign of him. She called his name again, and this time got a response.
"That's sick. That's absolutely sick!"
"What's the matter?" Llewellyn walked down the steps and saw him crouched on a rock between the walkway and the wall, looking in disgust at a smudge about three inches high and two inches wide on the wall.
"Look at that." He pointed towards the blot on the wall. "What does that look like?"
She examined it. Now that she looked at it, it seemed to form a distinct picture, one that you could only see out of the corner of your eye, or one that you'd have to slowly focus and re-focus until the image popped out at you. She relaxed, and let her gaze slide around the smudge. Suddenly, the picture appeared and seemed to burn into her vision. Letting out a little gasp, she shut her eyes.
"What does it look like?" Draco said again.
"A snake," she answered, eyes still closed. "A snake coming from the mouth of a skull."
"That's the Dark Mark, the sign of the Death Eaters," he explained. She looked at the wall again and saw that he had smeared the design, but it was still burned into her mind. "If it's floating over your house, that means that your house has been ransacked and the occupants more than likely victims of an Unforgivable Curse. When it's been drawn on the wall...I don't know. I think that...maybe a Death Eater is here."
"I still don't understand what you mean by Death Eater," confessed Llewellyn softly.
"I think that maybe Tim, since his brother sounds like one, and Rosalind, since she's going to be at Hogwarts, and you and me should get together and have a discussion about You-Know-Who." Draco stood up and stepped off the rock. "Is there somewhere we could speak in privacy?"
Llewellyn thought for a moment. "Well, there's usually an empty classroom up by the top of the tower." She began up the steps to the courtyard with Draco behind her. "Tim, Roz, can we talk?" she called.
"Sure," said Rosalind, and Tim followed.
"What for?" he asked.
"We need to talk about that list you gave Llewellyn," answered Draco.
"You're on it, right?"
Draco grimaced. "My family name is, I'm not."
Tim shrugged - more pureblood stuff he didn't understand. Both his parents were wizards, but both of them were Muggle-born.
Llewellyn led them through the glass lobby and up the spiraling staircase to the second-highest room in the tower. On the way up, Tim and Draco were silent, but Rosalind and Llewellyn talked nearly non-stop about anything and everything: the latest gossip, the latest discoveries in astronomy (Rosalind's field), and the latest Quodpot 2000 playoffs. Llewellyn, who didn't really have a team to support before, now felt slightly connected to the New York Nogtails, and was glad to know they had a very good record so far.
The classroom was dark and a little chilly, with a dozen desks arranged in rows of three by four. Tim went to light the lamp and start a fire in the grate as the others made a square of four desks and sat down. The enchanter sat down, and Draco rummaged around in his robe pocket to find the list Tim had written down.
"This list," began Draco, "is a list of names of families that got involved with a maniacal European tyrant some twenty-five years ago. Nobody likes to say his name, because of all the fear that came with it...So I'm only going to say it once." He gulped.
"Voldemort.
"There, I said it. From now on you have to say 'You-Know-Who' or 'He-Who- Must-Not-Be-Named' or 'The Dark Lord' when talking about him, because of all the things he's done...it's just...just horrible."
For a quarter of an hour Draco just talked about the dark, horrible times that Voldemort caused for all of Europe. The pale Slytherin was able to describe some of the terrible things in great detail...after all, he had heard the stories being retold from firsthand accounts.
His parents.
His parents had done some of those things! He felt like he would explode with the anger of being forced to appreciate the Death Eater's works of horrors. His mind floated back to when he was younger, when Shirley was only a baby...He was so proud to be a Malfoy, he hero-worshipped his father, he was like a house elf bowing down to his father's every wish. He once thought that Muggles were the dirtiest things in the world, a disgrace, and Muggle-borns little better. He once insulted and spat upon the souls of the wizards and witches who had connection to Muggles. But something had changed inside of him...teenage rebellion, or maybe his conscious had finally kicked in?
The cold of the desk brought him to his senses, and he realized that he had put his head down on the stone surface, now damp with his tears of rage. Llewellyn was patting him on the back...someone else was there in the room...the Death Eater!
His brain wouldn't work correctly, but his muscles were. He sprang from his seat, turning the desk upside down, and ran towards the fifth person in the room in a fit of blind fury. He was held back by a pair of large, built arms, and felt himself collapse limply in their strength, hanging like a wet noodle until his self-control returned. "I'm so sorry," he murmured, and raised his blonde head up to see who he had tried to attack.
"I'm Professor Patursa," said the man to Draco. He looked to be in his mid- twenties, very heavy-boned and stocky, with sandy hair and a smile always playing about his features. Patursa looked to the Columbia students. "And I think you guys are in way over your heads."