Nowhere Left to Run
I'm SOOOOOOO sorry this chapter took so long! But I've been really really busy with school and stuff. There's just been no time to write!!!! I'm sorry if I left anyone in suspense… and by the way, does anyone think I should change the title of my fic? And if so, suggestions? Ok, on with the next chappie! ^_^
Disclaimer: Once again, I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER!!!!!!! Do I realy have to say that every time?!?!? Cuz I've seen some fics where they just state it in the beginning and some where they state it every time. AAAAAHHH!! I'm confused!!!!!!
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Chapter 4: An Extinct Race
"He is not dead." It was a simple statement, but one that held volumes of threat.
"He had help," another voice, just as menacing replied.
"The help of the Weasleys? That muggle-loving fool Arthur Weasley should've been completely defenseless and powerless against your skills!"
"There was more than one."
"Who else? His wife? Their children, who are still in school? His best friends?
The dragon-tamer and Gringotts worker?" (A/N: I can't remember what Bill and Charlie do!!! Sorry if I'm giving away who they are, but I think you guessed already)
"I could not stand up to the odds of eight against one. You did not tell me there would be so many," the voice replied, calmly.
"Fool! You were not quick enough; you allowed him to make too much noise, attract too much attention! This job should have been easy for you," the voice was filled with menace, anger radiating in cold waves.
The figure facing him did not even twitch an eyelid. "You cannot threaten me," he replied calmly, unafraid.
The other figure hissed, "I can if I want to. Remember, I hired you to kill him! A quick and clean job! Yet you failed! What happened to the deadly skills of your fabled race? Have you become weak and powerless?"
The other figure, finally with some emotion in his voice, replied angrily, "Do not insult my people. I could kill you within seconds."
"Then kill the boy. Do not try again quickly though, he will be well protected since you failed to kill him the last time. Look for the right opening," the other voice spoke, also unafraid.
"Remember, remember that this is but a job. I can leave anytime I want to," the anger was still there in his voice, every bit as cold as the others'.
"Oh, can you?" was all the other person said, "Leave now, watch for the opportunity."
He strode away, not replying. Cold, shrill laughter broke out.
"You will be mine Harry Potter! You may have escaped this time, but you cannot run forever!" the laughter crescendoed, reaching an almost inhuman pitch. Red, cruel eyes gleamed out of the darkness.
"Harry!" What, was someone shouting his name?
"Harry! Wake up!" What? And then, he was plunging out of darkness, into a light that blinded his eyes, he was spinning forward, falling, falling—
Harry opened his eyes groggily. A dull pain throbbed in his chest, also giving him a headache. The first thing he saw was red. Red? Wait, that can't be right. He opened his eyes wider, and shook his head, trying to clear his mind which seemed to be full of bits of fuzz. Big mistake—instantly, his head throbbed with a vengeance, causing him to groan and see spots of color before his eyes. "He's awake," a voice whispered, sounding extremely relieved and worried.
"Harry? Can you hear me?" Harry, his eyes finally cleared, saw a blur standing in front of him, a few blurs actually, all with flaming red hair.
"Glasses," he mumbled, feeling too tired to grope around for them. His glasses were placed in on his nose, and everything came into focus. A very worried-looking Mrs. Weasley, eyes red, was looking at him as if she wanted to throw her arms around him, but knew better. Next to her, Mr. Weasley was also looking down at him, dark circles under his eyes, looking extremely relieved. Behind her, Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, and Hermione were staring at him too, faces white and drawn.
"Harry! You're finally awake!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, a few tears trickling down her face, "We were so worried about you! You—"
"Not now, Molly," Mr. Weasley said quietly, pulling Mrs. Weasley away. Turning towards Harry he said in a worried voice, "Are you feeling all right Harry? Any unusual feelings? Everything functional?" Harry tested his limbs. Everything felt pretty much all right, well, not counting his piercing headache and the dull ache in his chest.
"Everthing's fine Mr. Weasley," Harry said croakily, his throat extremely dry, "My chest just hurts a bit and I have a headache, but other than that, nothing seems to be out of order," he tried a weak smile, but it ended up as a wince as his headache pounded him relentlessly.
"Your chest still hurts?" Mr. Weasley asked, sounding alarmed.
"Well, only a little bit," Harry replied, lying through his teeth, but not wanting to make Mr. Weasley look any more worried than he did now. Mrs. Weasley looked like she was going to start sobbing anytime.
"That's not right, it should've been healed by now. It should have! I'd better go fetch the healer. Wait here, alright Harry?" Mr. Weasley left the room in a hurry. Harry lay there, trying to make the dull, but relentless ache in his chest go away. What had happened? He remembered there was someone trying to kill him, and then he crashed into the table, and then….what had happened?
"Harry?" Harry glanced up, seeing Mrs. Weasley standing over him again, still looking extremely worried. "I'm going to go get you some water, okay? Just lie still and relax." With that, she left the room.
Hermione and Ron rushed up. "Harry!" Ron said, looking very white. "Are you all right? You've been asleep for seven days! We were afraid that you weren't going to wake up!" Hermione nodded fervently.
"I've been asleep that long?" he asked in surprise, "What happened anyways?"
"Well," Hermione began, "we were all inside, you know, and everyone had gone to their rooms already. Then I remember hearing this crash, and then I heard Mrs. Weasley going out to the yard to see what had happened to you. And then she started yelling for Ron's dad and—"
"And," Ron took up the story, "Dad went rushing down into the yard, and I guess everyone all heard Mum cause everyone came rushing down the stairs. Well, we saw this person all dressed in black and he was standing over you with this great, long sword. Mum was freaking out cause all her spells were being deflected. And then, since none of the spells were working and that guy was about to kill you, Charlie went running down the yard and knocked the guy over."
"Then," Fred continued, both the twins having come over next to Harry's bed as well, "Charlie was kind of trying to wrestle the sword from the guy in black and Mum was screaming at him to go away cause she was afraid he'd get hurt."
"But, of course," George cut in, "Charlie wouldn't listen, and then Bill rushed up there to help him. So then, Ron here and Hermione ran over to you and tried to pull you away, inside the house. Then the assassin, seeing this, jumped out of Bill and Charlie's grasp and began running towards you! Then me n' Fred and Mum and Dad all fired different spells at that guy and they bounced right back! But I guess the force of so many spells must've upset his shield or whatever he had to deflect our spells cause it knocked him backwards a few yards. So then, Mum and Dad began running towards him to try and catch him while he was down, but then he just kind of shimmered once and then disappeared!"
"And then, of course, Mum and Dad rushed over to you and you and this big cut right next to you shoulder and you were unconscious. You were bleeding so much that part of the ground was stained red, so then Dad disapparated in a hurry to go fetch the healer, a witch, of course, it's not like a Muggle doctor would be able to heal you. So the doctor closed up the wound and everything, but you wouldn't wake up! Well, today Mum and Dad were getting really worried, but you finally woke up! Mum wrote to Dumbledore, of course, but she won't tell us what he wrote back in his letter. But I can't believe it Harry! Someone trying to kill you right in the middle of our backyard!" Ron finished.
"Do you think it was—" Hermione left the question unfinished, but everyone knew who she was talking about. Voldemort. Of course it was him, Harry thought to himself, who else could it have been? There was silence. And then—
"Do you know who it was who tried to kill me?" Harry asked. There was another silence.
"Well," Hermione said hesitantly, "we have a hunch, but it's impossible! They don't exist anymore! All the signs show that it had to have been one of them, but it's impossible! It's just impossible!"
"Who are they, Hermione?" Harry asked, confusedly.
"They," Hermione began again, "are the Kasrai."
"The what?"
"Kasrai," Hermione repeated, "an ancient race of trained killers from long ago, in the time of the four founders of Hogwarts. They're trained from childhood in the use of weapons and magic, a very powerful combination. Their skill in weaponry is unmatched by any that inhabited this land, and their magic! They had a shield that each of them was born with, one that will deflect any magical attacks. That shield is natural; they don't have to cast a spell to keep it, it's just there. A long time ago, they were known as Dark Assassins. They were evil, very evil, so evil, in fact, that the founders trapped every single one of their race in the Dark Hole, an inescapable place that eventually killed all who stayed there. Their race was too dangerous to keep in this land. But, they are just a story!" Hermione concluded, "only a fairy tale used to scare children into obedience. They perished a long time ago. There is no way that they could have been resurrected. Not even You-Know-Who could have that kind of power!"
Silence fell over them again. Harry's mind was whirling. Dark Assassins! He had never heard of them, but he would take Hermione's word on them; he was sure that Hermione must have read about them in some book or another. Not even You-Know-Who could have that kind of power…But if it wasn't Voldemort, then who could it be? It has to be him, it has to be! His thoughts were interrupted as Mrs. Weasley bustled into the room, carrying water. Harry was grateful. His thoughts were too confusing to try to figure out right now. Also, he hadn't noticed how thirsty he was! His throat felt raw, dry. So he took the glass of water and gulped it down.
His headache was slowly fading, but not the pain in his chest. Mrs. Weasley rushed out again, mumbling something about finding Mr. Weasley. Harry closed his eyes, trying to go to sleep. Everyone else was silent. Oh, but the stupid ache! It didn't hurt that much, but it was ongoing, bothering him without end. Harry heard the others shuffling out of the room and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley coming closer, arguing. "He can't stay here! Look at this, Arthur! He almost got killed by an assassin! Right in our own backyard! He's not safe here!"
"Molly, Molly. I know what you're thinking, but where would he be safer? Back with his Muggle aunt and uncle? I know he is protected there, but we don't know how strong the protections are. And would they be willing to take him back anyways? We said that we'd take him for the rest of the summer!"
"I know, Arthur," Mrs. Weasley sighed, "I just don't know what to do. We could not kill that creature, couldn't even harm it! We saved Harry by sheer numbers! If there had been less people, I'm willing to bet that that creature could've killed all of us. Besides, what if it really is what Hermione thinks it is? What if the assassin was Kasrai?"
"Oh, come on, Molly. Surely you don't believe that?! Kasrai, or Dark Assassins, are only a myth, a legend! A bedtime story meant to frighten little children."
"Don't be so sure, Arthur. Sometimes things turn out differently than we would expect them to. I don't know how the Kasrai could still exist, but we can't rule out that possibility. What does Dumbledore think we should do?"
"He thinks that we should take him to the Leaky Cauldron and that he should spend the rest of the summer there, us too."
"We don't have the money for that! You know that, Arthur!"
"Dumbledore would supply us with everything that we'd need. You know, maybe it would be a good idea. The Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley are so packed with witches and wizards that no one would try to attack him there!"
"Perhaps you're right, Arthur. Maybe a few of us should go with him to Diagon Alley and stay there for the rest of the summer." Mrs. Weasley sighed deeply. "All this is so complicated. Poor Harry, always the one in danger. And his wound, do you think it will ever heal properly?"
There was a pause, and then, "No, Molly, I don't. Whatever the assassin was using was extremely magical. If the blade itself doesn't kill one, the magic in it will. Harry is lucky to be alive even now! Lucky that the cut was not too deep, that it didn't pierce his heart. Yes, yes… poor Harry." There was silence.
Harry lay there, feeling stunned. So his wound would never heal properly. So he was lucky to be alive. So he wasn't safe here. How could his life have turned upside down in just one night? He just lay there, brooding deep within his mind, his chest pounding with the same dull ache. He barely noticed when Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came in with the healer and began fussing over him. He was alone within his thoughts, wondering when he would feel better again, when he would not have so many safety measures put on him, when people would stop worrying so much over him…when he could have his life back.
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WOW! That was really long! Like four and a half pages!!! I'm so happy I finally finished it! Whew! It didn't turn out as well as I thought it would, and the ending was really messed up, but other than that, I'm pretty pleased with myself! I'm sorry if I made him sound too depressed at the end, but hey! Everyone is allowed to indulge in a bit of self-pity once in a while! And he won't stay miserable and depressed forever. Well, I need reviews! If it really sucked, please tell me GENTLY! GIVE ME AN OPINION PLEASE!!!!!!!! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!!!
P.S. Can someone please tell me exactly what a Mary-Sue is? I've been reading fics with people saying "This is not a Mary-Sue fic!" but I don't know what a Mary-Sue is!!! Someone PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me! It's essential! And REVIEW PEEPULZ!!!!!
~Lady of Dreams~