In The Darkness
Chapter Eight: Padfoot
'Master, I have news.'
'Well?'
'Potter is dead, Malfoy and the others all live.'
'Malfoy is with them?'
'Yes, it appears he was sent ahead to make sure their hole was safe.'
'You proved him wrong…so Potter is dead…'
'Yes Master.'
'Then soon we will begin, gather the others, I would speak to you all.'
'Very well.'
* * *
'Padfoot – he's still alive?' Ron said incredulously a few minutes after Cho had left them all sitting in a stunned silence, Padfoot's mention had dumbstruck Hermione and Ron, Neville was just shocked to hear what had been happening, Draco still couldn't believe Harry was alive.
'Who is Padfoot?' he eventually asked, still sounding confused and holding a hand on his head as if to prevent further bewilderment.
'Sirius Black,' Hermione and Ron replied simultaneously, their combined voices seeming loud in the room.
'Oh,' Draco said, sounding put out, 'um…isn't he dead?'
'No idea,' Hermione replied, 'we haven't heard from him or about him since Harry disappeared.'
'That would be my fault,' Neville interjected with a small voice, as the others turned to face him he stared at the floor guiltily with a faint grin on his face. 'It's good to know I can match Harry and Draco for cunning disappearances, you see, for the last twenty years Sirius and I have been working together in my department. I suppose you should all know it's called the Department of Intricacies now because of the work we do, and also because while you waited here I had a word with Cho and she said that you should all be inducted – not as operatives but…' he paused and looked into three blank pairs of eyes. 'Anyway…Sirius is there right now, he's been living in the building we use because of the whole scandal being revealed – 'he is known to many but revealed to few' – only people in my department know he's still alive, but I think Harry also suspected…'
'So,' Draco said after a few minutes of silence passed by, 'what do we do now?'
'Simple,' Ron said, standing up, 'we get Sirius, we get Harry back, and we get to the bottom of this. Where to Neville?'
'Where else – Diagon Alley.'
* * *
With a flash the group appeared behind the Leaky Cauldron, Ron and Hermione holding their children, Harry's still limp form supported between Neville and Draco who was in the process of refolding the Apparation device and stowing it away. Pulling out her wand Hermione tapped the worn brick above the rubbish bin and the portal leading into Diagon Alley formed itself before them, shuffling through the group moved into the calm spot before the bustle of the alley. 'Great,' Draco muttered, 'it's packed, one look at me and Harry and we'll create a panic.'
'Oh we don't need to go into the alley,' Neville said with a calm and commanding voice, 'just walk through the wall over there – it knows who you are.' Gesturing to the wall that had stood beside the alley entrance for years, Neville gave Draco a little shove forwards and before he knew it he had walked up to, into and beyond the wall where he found himself in a single white room. A pushing behind made him move forwards as Neville and the rest of Harry came through the wall, swiftly followed by Hermione and Ron. As soon as they were in the floor beneath them shuddered and began to move downwards, almost like a Muggle lift except the ceiling did not follow them, by the time they jolted to a halt Draco estimated they had gone down at least five levels.
On the wall opposite to that they had entered there was a single door which Ron walked to and under Neville's instruction he pushed it so that the wall shimmered away, revealing a fluorescent-lit room the length and breadth of the Great Hall in Hogwarts, although only a level tall. The nearest wizard turned and his face split into a grin when he saw Neville and the Weasleys, but it swiftly faded when he saw Draco beside them, reaching into his robes he almost had his wand when Neville spoke quietly, 'Leave it Seamus, he's with us. Clear me a room,' he added and for the first time Seamus focused on Harry in between the two.
'Bloody hell, who is that?' he asked as he began to briskly march down the corridor, 'and what the hell happened to them?'
'That is one of our new operatives,' Neville replied, 'and he, along with this lot, have had an unfortunate run in with some of our friends.'
'When?'
'An hour ago, I would have come sooner but we…we had to clear things up, take two others and sweep the alley, they won't have all gone, and there's already one in custody at the Ministry.' Nodding his head Seamus opened the door at the end of the room revealing a corridor, after they had gone through he shut it behind them and Neville led the way into a room off to the left.
Turning to go he was caught by Draco's hand, 'Why did Finnegan not recognise Harry?'
'Give me credit Draco,' Neville replied, taking the others hand of his robes, 'I put a Glamour Charm on him the second I got to the flat, but seeing as you knew who he was, it didn't affect you. Now wait here, I'll be back in a minute.' Leaving the room he shut the door to leave Harry lying on a table surrounded by anxious faces, a few minutes later he re-emerged bringing with him a figure from the past.
* * *
'You see him,' Seamus muttered to the cloaked figure beside him, pointing across Diagon Alley at the wizard who had just emerged from Flourish and Blotts, 'get in front, I'll cover the rear, just stop him from getting out.' Moving swiftly the other wizard ducked into the crowd and was gone in seconds, easily slipping into the stream of moving figures himself Seamus began to trail the figure, soon he saw the other operative move walking towards him and suddenly the other wizard turned around and began to walk towards him. Smiling now Seamus walked forwards, his smile growing larger when the hooded face 'looked' his way causing the figure to stop and turn round repeatedly, within seconds he and his partner had closed on their target and with arms pinioned by his sides they steered him casually into the wall between two shops, and then they were gone.
* * *
'Sirius…' Hermione whispered, not daring to believe that the old man in front of her was one of the wizards who twenty years ago had saved their world from the threat that had been Voldemort. Beside her she heard Ron breathing quietly, as if anything else would destroy the moment, on the other side of Harry, Draco merely sat in silence, his gaze searching slowly over Sirius's face.
'It's been too long,' the wizard croaked, his throat dry, 'and now I ask for a bit longer, leave me with Harry,' his voice was dry and whispering, but the power it commanded caused them all to rise and leave wordlessly, exiting into the hallway. Using his wand with a shaky hand Sirius pulled a chair to beside Harry and sat down, looking into the pale face of the man before him, wiping back the hair that covered his face, he pointed the wand and uttered the counterspell to the Glamour Charm, slowly the mysterious visage before him metamorphosed into that of his godson, a uncontrolled smile appeared on Sirius's face. 'You won't die before me Harry,' he whispered, then leaning in close he began to whisper the translated sentence in his ear, unaware others were listening.
Outside the glass Hermione, who had the best hearing of the four conspirators muttered words as she heard them; 'Something about the enemy of Dumbledore and Riddle…the two and the three?…Dumbledore's light…vanquish…world…will end,' then with a sudden burst of light made her fall away from the door, the edges around it and the glass in it refracting a pure white light that made all of them shade their eyes. Off the walls it reflected and through the doors into the hall and other offices so that all the wizards in the building were shading their eyes until it abruptly ceased. As soon as this happened Draco immediately moved to open the door and leapt back when he found the handle burning hot, but he was even more surprised when it opened from the other side. A wave of smoke swept out and from the darkness emerged a figure cloaked in jet black robes, his emerald eyes glittering and a smile fixed on his face…Harry Potter had returned.
A/N: Well, as this is kind of a critical point in the story I really want a whole load of constructive reviews here, or just like it as normal? The next instalment is, of course, chapter 9: the return.