Unexpected Encounter : Chapter Four
Disclaimer : as you know I don't own any of the character's or concepts that are in the Harry Potter books. They all belong to J. K. Rowling. No money is being made here. Just me here, writing a story.
Author's notes : This is really out to the readers, in response to their reviews. Read it and it shall answer the problems that have plagued your minds.
but first I have to ask this : DOES SEVI HAVE TO BE A MONSTER? haven't you people watched 'interview with the vampire'. Great movie, if you haven't seem it, go watch it. The vampires there weren't monsters though. They lived in town, walked around Paris and lived in huge mansions. The people that lived around them thought that they were human. They threw high-class parties and ate a few of their guests afterwards. Does that make them monsters? Vampires are after all part human.
Also, only crazy vampires go around attacking everyone. right? do I need to do more research? From what I thought, vampires could learn to control their bloodlust, which would be the only thing that makes them monsters in the first place. If they were really monsters, why in the world would Honeydukes Sweetshop be selling blood-flavored lollipops. People don't make candy for monsters. Plus I did put in a point about Sev being relatively safe after feeding.
to Jaws - haha. the long fingernail thing. Vamps have claws. Go watch a good vampire movie. If they have done it down to the details, their vamps will have very nice long fingernails. (which are usually all white, it's scary. I didn't even put that detail in.) So if Sevi is a vampire he's got to look the part rite?
Ooh and the blood moss. It's just to sustain him for awhile. I put that in because I couldn't imagine all the professors donating blood for a few days. I didn't write too much about the moss, since well, it's not that important. Dumbledore has owl-ordered for blood already anyway, so the moss will be gone soon.
Aie. and although I really like vampire stories, I don't watch Buffy anymore. Haven't watched it in years, so it probably won't influence my writing too much. Can't remember that much from it anyway, but after mentioning interview with the vampire, that probably will have a slight impact since I'm going to dig it out and watch it again.
And if the reflection thing is bugging you that much tell me about it, and I'll do something about it in Chapter Five or Six. If ANYTHING is pissing you off TELL ME about it okay? But as pre- warned, some of the vampire traits are going to just fly out the window on a broomstick.
_______________________________________________
Sirius had been cleared of all his charges a few months before summer started. He had demanded that his family estate be returned to him. Black Castle had been seized by the ministry after his trial. The castle had been put on sale, but had never been sold. No one wanted to buy a place that belonged to a missing Azkaban escapee.
The castle needed to be cleaned and refurnished, so Sirius and Harry and not moved in yet. Sirius had been living with Remus. Harry had joined them for the summer. The Dursleys were more than happy to be finally rid of Harry and all his magical nonsense.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had been shocked to find out that Sirius Black was innocent, and were slightly cautious around him at first. They soon warmed up to him though, and even offered to let him stay at the Burrow during Harry's two week visit a month before the end of the summer. Sirius couldn't stay though, because he had been called away by the ministry to go on a mission. Harry didn't know much about the mission, only that they were searching for a missing ministry personnel who had disappeared along with his whole family. Voldemort was suspected, but the ministry wasn't letting any information out to the public.
Sirius had been offered the ministry job by the minister after his innocence was proven. Fudge felt that it would show the public that he wanted to help right the wrong. Sirius wasn't going to accept the job at first, since he didn't need the money and had wanted to spend more time with Harry, but Dumbledore had convinced him to accept the position. The Headmaster had wanted more people keeping an eye on the ongoings inside the ministry.
The ministry had begun falling apart since the events of Harry's fourth year. Fudge could no longer ignore the fact that Voldemort was still alive and was gaining power and recruits. Harry now understood why Fudge had been reluctant to admit to the wizarding world of Voldemort's second rising. There had been widespread panic immediately after the ministry's official announcement. Even though most of the wizarding world knew that there were still Death Eaters, they had not wanted to believe that Voldemort was still alive. They had been happy living their lives believing that the worst had already past and would not return. It had been much easier for people to believe what they had wanted to believe before someone actually said that Voldemort was back.
_______________________
Harry had had a dream of Voldemort a few days before the ministry had started the search for the missing man. He had not been able to see or remember much from the dream. He knew he had been in a stone room that resembled a cellar or a basement. A drop of blood had fallen from above him and he had looked up. He had then felt like he was floating. It was so warm and comforting, but then the warmth felt like it was being sucked out of him. It was so cold now. Then Harry felt something different. Usually during one of his dreams the presence of Voldemort was so strong that it seemed to over power everything else. He could feel someone else now too. Who was it though and why could he feel them through his link to Voldemort? He knew what he saw when he looked up was important but when he woke up he could remember what he had seen.
Regardless of the dream though, the man and his family had been missing for two weeks now and there was little doubt in Harry's mind that they were already dead. Nothing in the dream though seemed connected with the missing family though. He wasn't even sure if it was a vision due to his magic link with Voldemort or if it was just a nightmare caused by eating one to many Peppermint Toads before bed. Who wouldn't have bad dreams with those things hopping around in their stomach. Although during his dream his scar had burned when he looked up. He had thought that is was strange since people claim that one does not feel pain while dreaming. When he woke up his forehead didn't hurt at all, and the remnants of the dream were already fading.
Ever since the Triwizard Tournament Harry had been writing down his dreams in a journal that Dumbledore had given to him. They had come to use Harry's dreams as a window into Voldemort's plots. Many Death Eater's had been caught, although most were only low ranked trainees. As Harry had gotten older his dreams had become clearer. Harry's most vivid visions were those during which Voldemort was using magic. Before he could only see what was going on, and then he could also hear everything, but now it felt as though he was actually there. This wasn't only the burning sensation that felt though his scar in all his visions though. If he was seeing a cold dark room, he would actually feel the cold creep through his clothes.
Harry became increasingly worried that Voldemort would sense his presence during these dreams. The link between them was getting so strong now. Hermione had said that it may have something to do with the blood Voldemort had used to recreate his new body, but the connection still seemed to remain one-way.
Harry didn't even know how to classify what he saw. They clearly weren't normal dreams, since they could come to him while he was still awake, causing him to faint or sometimes to have a small seizure before slipping into unconsciousness. Harry had no warning as to when these visions would come. In a way he was glad that Voldemort seemed to be most active at night. That way he didn't collapse often during one of his classes or in the Great Hall.
From what he had leaned in Divination, they were not visions either. Visions are of the future, but what Harry saw was always of the present. Also his sight was always centered around Voldemort. Harry referred to them as dreams though, since it sometimes allowed him to have the illusion that what he saw was not real. The thought that maybe the bodies with their backs arched up in an arc, twisting under the pain for the Cruciatus Curse, or the flashes of bright green light could just be a nightmare.
_______________________
The minister was at a complete loss over what to do. For one of his trusted advisers to disappear at a time like this had left Fudge desperate. Lucius Malfoy had disappeared two weeks ago along with his wife and their son Draco. The ministry was in shambles. There were quiet murmurs circulating that the department heads were going to call for the election of a new minister to replace him, since Fudge was not capable of finding a missing ministry personnel and his family. Therefore he definitely couldn't handle the second rising of the Dark Lord.
To think that a Death Eater would be the one holding the ministry together. Perhaps this had been Voldemort's plan all along. With Lucius on the inside, Voldemort could also observe and indirectly influence the ministry's decisions. So not only did Voldemort have a mole inside the ministry, but also the means to weaken the ministry by making the minister dependent on the advice of Mr. Malfoy, and then take it away when his council was most needed.
_______________________
Harry's mind was not on ministry business at all this summer. Harry and Sirius had been staying at Remus' cottage out in the country. It was not a very large house, but still quite a sizable place to be called a cottage. Like most wizarding houses it was much larger from the inside than it seemed to a passing muggle. The cottage currently had four bed rooms, one for Remus, Sirius and Harry with and an extra if they happened to have a guest. If needed though, more rooms could always be added magically. Remus wanted to keep his house small though, since he didn't have a house elf. House cleaning, even with the help of magic, did take some time.
The cottage itself, was quaint and had a touch of home in it that made one feel as though they had lived there for many years. In truth, the cottage had only been bought by Remus last year when Dumbledore had invited him back to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts and he only lived there during the holidays. A family of muggles had been own it before, using the cottage only once a year as a summer home. It wasn't this feeling of home that Harry had liked most about Remus' home though, it was the pictures. Remus had photographs of practically everyone he knew.
They were plastered on all the walls of his sitting room. Numerous pictures of Harry's parents, a younger Sirius and Remus were spread out along the walls. The pictures were mostly wizard pictures, but a few weren't moving. When Harry had ask about them, he had been delighted to learn that they had been taken from Lily's camera. Those pictures had been taken at the end of their seventh year. Harry had been surprised to see a group picture of James, Lily, Remus, Peter and Professor Snape.
When Sirius saw the picture he said that there were still a few things that need had not unpacked and hastily left the room. Harry found out from Remus that James and Remus had befriended Severus after what had happened with Sirius. They had a tentative friendship that had lasted up until Lily and James' death, but Remus wouldn't tell him anymore on the subject.
_______________________
In Harry's latest dream he hadn't even seen anything very significant. He made a note of what he could remember in his book, but not being able to remember any details he didn't think it was necessary to tell Sirius or Dumbledore about it. After a few days he forgot all about the dream since he was looking forward to two carefree weeks with the Weasleys.
Harry used the floo network to floo from Remus' cottage to the Burrow. He tumbled out of the Weasley's fireplace and was immediately pulled up by Ron who was waiting on the other side. Mrs. Weasley was bustling around in the kitchen at the time, making cookies. Harry was soon scooped up in a big welcome hug. When he was released, Mrs. Weasley magically sent up his belongings to Ron's room.
The next few days were filled with good jokes, warm smiles, hearty food and lots of laughs. Hermione even managed to convince her parents to let her come stay a week after Harry got to the Burrow too.
The trio was together. At first glance nothing showed that during the school year these three students had been spending a few hours each night in the restricted section of the library researching for anything that would give the light side an advantage during the war.
Dumbledore had decided to give Harry access to the library a few months into their fifth year. They all knew that Harry was one of Voldemort's main targets. As Dumbledore had been the one to defeat Grindlewald in 1945, Harry was destined to go against Voldemort. Dumbledore thought that it would be best if Harry were prepared for this inevitable encounter. Some of the teacher's had been against the idea at first. Letting students have free access to all the books in the library included all the dark arts books as well.
Dumbledore had made up his mind though, and even had the support of Professor Lupin, Professor Snape and surprisingly Professor Trelawney, who had said that she had seen this was to happen in her tea that morning. They all felt that it was about time that Harry be able to learn how to protect himself. Ron and Hermione had later convinced Dumbledore to let them help Harry with his research. Harry had already been sneaking them into the library with him using his invisibility cloak though so it really didn't matter. He suspected that Dumbledore already knew about that.
_______________________
Each night after dinner Hermione dragged Harry and Ron up to the room that she was staying in. At the foot of her bed lay her open trunk. Half the trunk was filled with books. She had been researching Harry's magical link to Voldemort. She had been rather alarmed when Harry told her that the link had gotten a great deal stronger after Voldemort regained a physical form. Hermione had a few theories as to why, as did Harry. One idea was that Voldemort was now magically stronger. Their second theory was that Harry's blood used in the potion strengthened the link between them like a blood bond. The third theory, was now that Voldemort had a physical body, it allowed his magic to be more focused.
They had no real way of finding out if their theories where valid. There had never been a case where two wizards were linked through a botched killing curse. However there was a resemblance in Harry's link with Voldemort and magical links associated with blood bonds. The main difference was that in Harry's case it only seemed to work one way. So far in their research they hadn't found much but they had definitely learned some old but useful curses that most people had already forgotten about.
_______________________
During the war, the line between light and dark had started to fade. The Death Eaters knew no mercy. The ministry had not allowed their Aurors to use the Unforgivables yet, but some Aurors had already started using them. The ministry didn't do anything against their actions though since they needed the Aurors, who were diminishing in numbers as the number of Death Eaters grew. Hermione had been outraged at the ministry's lack of control, but she soon saw that by limiting their magic and their morals to what was honorable, they would lose more than just the war.
Hermione had thought it would be wrong to use dark curses against Voldemort and his forces. She felt that if they did, then they would be no better that Voldemort himself. Hermione changed her mind though when Dumbledore suggested to her parents to relocate to a magically protected house after Professor Snape reported back that Voldemort planned to attack the Grangers to get to Harry. When faced with the brutality of war, she understood that it wasn't the time for campaigns and protests against the cruelty of certain dark curses. Lives were at stake. Honor and ethics could wait.
_______________________
It was the last night of Harry and Hermione's visit. Hermione was seated on top of her bed with a pile of books. Harry and Ron were sitting on the floor each with a book in front of them. A game of wizards chess lay forgotten next to them.
Ron started to fall asleep, when Harry poked him in the side. "Ouch. Harry what was that for?" "You were falling asleep. We won't have this much time to research when we get back to Hogwarts." answered Harry "If you had told me a few years ago that this would be how we were to spend our summer I wouldn't have believed you for all the gold in Gringott's." said Ron
The trio shared a smile. "The strangest thing is that we have to hide that fact that we are reading. Why if Mum knew that I've been reading half the summer, she'd faint." said Ron. "Yes, but then she would probably faint again after she found out what we were reading." added Hermione. The three of them had agreed that it would be best if Mrs. Weasley didn't know about all the dark arts books that Harry and Hermione had stuffed in their trunks. Harry had put up an spell to alert them if anyone was about to come in, then the boys would toss their books onto Hermione's bed and pretend to play chess. Hermione reading a book wasn't anything out of the ordinary so she didn't need to scramble each time someone entered the room. In case someone happened to ask what she was reading though, she had charmed the outside of the cover to look like an Arithmancy textbook.
They had quite a large selection of books now. Hermione kept most of them which were transfigured into famous muggle books. The books they were reading now, were ones that weren't found in the Hogwarts' library. Professor Snape had been helping them owl order them from Knockturn Alley
The three turned to the sound of a small beep. Books and a few scrolls went flying in the direction of the bed. By the time Ginny popped her head around the door, she saw Hermione studying on her bed and Harry and Ron lying on their stomachs facing each other in a game of chess. 'Those two are always playing wizard chess these days.' thought Ginny "Dad's just come home and Mum says dinner is going to be ready in a few minutes, so come down."
_______________________
Bill and Charlie were away working in other countries. Mr. Weasley looked rather tired. Percy apperated into the room. He had been doing quite well in the ministry, and usually spent most his time there. Harry was glad that he made it back in time for his last night there. Sirius was coming in the morning to take him to Black Castle.
They ate dinner inside in the dining room. The table was piled high with dishes and a cauldron of stew was steaming Ron's mother had made one hell of a farewell feast, but it was dessert that Harry was looking forward to. Mrs. Weasley had made a huge chocolate sponge cake, covered in icing. It was exactly like the one she had made for his birthday half a month ago. Harry loved chocolate. He felt it was probably due to the fact that he never got to eat any during his childhood.
After dinner everyone was so full they felt that they couldn't move even if Voldemort himself marched into the Burrow. Mr. Weasley suggested that they all go outside and sit in the yard and watch the twins newest creation. They were soundless fireworks. They went up into the sky and burst in to all sorts of colors. This was the newest addition to the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes inventory. The twins hadn't even thought of a name yet. Mrs. Weasley hadn't taken them away since they seemed harmless and didn't cause any loud explosions, plus the flashes of bright light seemed to scare away the gnomes. Harry and Ron knew that small, silent fireworks would be anything but harmless when they got back to Hogwarts.
Everyone settled out in the backyard, either in lawn-chairs or on the grass. Harry was lying down in one of the chairs, on his back, looking up at the light show. He turned his head to the right. Ron and Hermione were sitting on the grass, holding hands. Hermione's head was resting against Ron's shoulder.
Ron and Hermione had realized how deep their feelings for each other were. What everyone had found amusing though was that they had both come to the decision of telling each other at the same time. It was in their fifth year, at the Christmas ball. The ball was held before the students went home for the holiday. Dumbledore wanted to start a new tradition and also lighten up the mood. With the war going on there had been an increasing number of students that couldn't go home that year.
Ron and Hermione had certainly created a cheerful atmosphere that night. They had both felt that the perfect time to tell each other was at the end of the last dance. They ended up telling each other at the same time, and missed what the other said since they were so nervous.
Harry smiled in the direction of his two best friends. They had stuck by him through everything. He had once wondered if such a friendship was possible. Why were they friends with him? He had even asked himself once if they were only friends with him since he was the famous Boy Who Lived. Harry didn't try to think about that possibility anymore. A friend can be defined as a person that you trust and that appreciates you for the person that you are. That's exactly what his two best friends were. There had been a few rough spots, but the three of them had always pulled through. Harry worried that Voldemort would try and hurt the people he cared about to get to him. Of course Ron and Hermione were too caught up in it all now though, so there was little point in wasting effort in worrying about such things. His time would be best spent on making sure that he and his friends would be ready if anything were to happen. Voldemort would do anything he could to hurt Harry.
Having everyone close to you targeted by Voldemort was also hard on Harry's love-life. He never stayed with one person too long because he was always worried about the consequences. There was never the problem of finding someone though. He was after all the Boy Who Lived and he had come out last year that he was bisexual. Harry had been a bit worried that people's opinion of him would drastically change due to that fact. He had after all grew up in an environment where anything out of the ordinary was deeply frowned upon. The wizarding world was much more accepting of such things and the press certainly had a great time updating the world with the latest news on the Boy Who Lived. Harry was still a bit worried at first. Nothing much had changed at Hogwarts except that now there were also a few guys trying to catch his eye wherever he went.
Harry felt a stab of jealousy somewhere in his heart. He wanted a relationship like the one Ron and Hermione shared, something that would last. He felt he had come close last year, but it didn't work out in the end because they realized they were in love with other people. They had ended up just being friends, but Harry really didn't want to think about that right now. It wasn't doing anything but feeding his jealousy.
Harry then felt another stab, but this one was much more painful and it was coming from his scar. 'Not again, I haven't had a dream for weeks.' He clasped one hand over his forehead and rolled on to his side and thus off the lawn-chair. Ron leapt over to Harry's side, pulling Hermione along with him. "Oh my, Harry dear, are you alright? Ron what happened?" asked an anxious Mrs. Weasley from somewhere behind them. It was still quite dark and the only light was from the diminishing sparks in the sky.
"Lumos" said Hermione holding out her wand. The rest of the Weasleys were soon at Harry's side. Hermione was sweeping the light over Harry's body to check if he had hurt himself while falling off the chair. She couldn't really tell though since Harry and curled himself into a tight shivering ball. He had been moving from side to side at first, but now Ron was holding down his shoulders. They had gone through this before at school. Dumbledore had told them what they should do if Harry lapsed into one of his visions at school, since they were usually with him. Most of his visions weren't that bad though. They were quite short and were accompanied by the pain of his scar, but he had gotten used to this because of the frequent tingling sensation he had been feeling all year. This vision was different though. This one was much stronger than anything he had ever felt before.
Harry let out a piercing scream. He flung his arms and legs out, knocking Ron off. "Should we tell Sirius or Dumbledore?" asked Mr. Weasley. Hermione nodded. The twins took off to tell Sirius while Mr. Weasley headed to another fireplace to alert the headmaster.
Harry was now hissing in pain between his quick intakes of air. Different feelings flooded his mind. Hate. Lust. Power. Need. Rage. Fear. Then he felt as though his blood was on fire and lashes of pain seared across his body. Ron tried to grab ahold of Harry's arms because he had started scratching at his arms. His nails didn't go penetrate very deeply, but it was certainly deep enough to draw blood. Ron finally had both his arms pinned down, but then Harry made a strange noise and Ron jumped back and let go again. He began to make a gurgling choking noise. Both his hands went up to his throat. Then his body began to jerk. His back arched up and then slammed back down.
"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley and Ginny turned towards the voice and saw Sirius and the twins were running towards them. Ron was still trying to get Harry to calm down. He gave up and took his wand out of his pocket "Petrificus Totalus." Ron looked down at Harry. "Sorry mate, but I couldn't think of any other way to stop you." He lifted up one of Harry's eyelids. His eyes were rolled back but he could still see a rim of green at the top.
"Should we try to move him back into the house?" asked Mrs. Weasley taking out her wand now as well. "No need Molly. I've got him" answered Sirius lifting up Harry's board-like body. Mr. Weasley jogged up to the group. "I couldn't reach Dumbledore. I did get ahold of Professor Vector though. Apparently something has happened at Hogwarts. They'll send word after they know what is going on." Hermione and Ron shared a worried glance, then she stood up. "Alright lets all go inside."
Sirius put Harry's rigid body on a sofa in the Weasley's living room. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny went into the kitchen to make some hot chocolate for everyone. They waited around near the fireplace. Ron walked back over to Harry and lifted up his eyelid again. Harry's eyes had rolled back and he was staring back up at him. "Hey you guys I think he's okay now. I'm going to take the spell off. Finite Incantatum."
Harry sucked in a deep breath and his arm reached out for support as he tried to sit up. Sirius helped him up and Harry sat back leaning slightly into him. He had always been a bit tired after a strong vision, and this one was the strongest yet. Hermione passed him a bar of chocolate. Harry smiled a thank you towards her.
_______________________
There was a flicker of light from the fireplace. "Hello everyone." "Professor Dumbledore! Is everything alright? What happened at the school?" asked Hermione. "Yeah, is everyone alright?" added Ron. "Everything seems to have calmed down a fair amount over here. Now I've heard that there was quite a commotion over at the Burrow." replied the Headmaster. "Who was it I saw in my vision then, Professor? Are they alright? They were in a lot of pain. This vision was different from any of the other one's I've had so far. I could feel all these conflicting emotions. It had something to do with what happened at Hogwarts, right?"
Dumbledore looked rather tired as he was pondering over how to answer Harry's questions. "I'm really not the one that can best explain what occurred. It would be best if you came to Hogwarts a few weeks earlier this year." Harry nodded Ron looked over at Hermione. "We're coming too, Professor."
Dumbledore smiled. "Of course Mr. Weasley, Miss. Granger, but I must also insist that Professor Black accompany you as well. There is something that I need to discuss with him as well."
Sirius looked up from his seat next to Harry. "Professor Black!?"
_______________________________________________
current vote at Sev/Harry - 6 ~ Sev/Remus - 6
~shock, its tied again!! pout. still could be either one, so I'll pick the pairing based on the reviews for Chapter Five. I've already been stalling for four chapters now, suppose its high time to pick one.
_______________________
thanks you to the reviewers of Chapter Three
charzy - aww. you didn't vote, breakthetie!!breakthetie
Liz - yesyes, the many twists that I could look into. not to worrie, this story is far from finished. hey the second main character only just made an appearance. hehe. and for the spelling, thanks for noticing. The first time I posted Chapter One there were so many spelling and grammar mistakes. ~hides head in shame. I know how much nicer it is to read something without all the typos so alert me if you see something wrong
izean - Sorry this chapter took so long. I just couldn't get it flowing right, actually I still think parts of it sound funny. Hope you didn't get used to the speed that the first three chapters came out at. Summer's almost over for me and the chapters are already coming out slower.
Tereth Dragonstar - hehe. I thought it was a nice way to end that chapter too.
Jaws - thanks for the review, gave me a lot to think about. you didn't vote though
MysteryMeat - glad you liked it!
kitty - thx for voting
vamp chick - hehe. about the mirror thing, someone didn't read my author's notes at the bottom of my last chapter, but thanks for telling me because now I know that your bothered by it.
katz_nipp written : September 7, 2002 edited : January 11, 2004
Disclaimer : as you know I don't own any of the character's or concepts that are in the Harry Potter books. They all belong to J. K. Rowling. No money is being made here. Just me here, writing a story.
Author's notes : This is really out to the readers, in response to their reviews. Read it and it shall answer the problems that have plagued your minds.
but first I have to ask this : DOES SEVI HAVE TO BE A MONSTER? haven't you people watched 'interview with the vampire'. Great movie, if you haven't seem it, go watch it. The vampires there weren't monsters though. They lived in town, walked around Paris and lived in huge mansions. The people that lived around them thought that they were human. They threw high-class parties and ate a few of their guests afterwards. Does that make them monsters? Vampires are after all part human.
Also, only crazy vampires go around attacking everyone. right? do I need to do more research? From what I thought, vampires could learn to control their bloodlust, which would be the only thing that makes them monsters in the first place. If they were really monsters, why in the world would Honeydukes Sweetshop be selling blood-flavored lollipops. People don't make candy for monsters. Plus I did put in a point about Sev being relatively safe after feeding.
to Jaws - haha. the long fingernail thing. Vamps have claws. Go watch a good vampire movie. If they have done it down to the details, their vamps will have very nice long fingernails. (which are usually all white, it's scary. I didn't even put that detail in.) So if Sevi is a vampire he's got to look the part rite?
Ooh and the blood moss. It's just to sustain him for awhile. I put that in because I couldn't imagine all the professors donating blood for a few days. I didn't write too much about the moss, since well, it's not that important. Dumbledore has owl-ordered for blood already anyway, so the moss will be gone soon.
Aie. and although I really like vampire stories, I don't watch Buffy anymore. Haven't watched it in years, so it probably won't influence my writing too much. Can't remember that much from it anyway, but after mentioning interview with the vampire, that probably will have a slight impact since I'm going to dig it out and watch it again.
And if the reflection thing is bugging you that much tell me about it, and I'll do something about it in Chapter Five or Six. If ANYTHING is pissing you off TELL ME about it okay? But as pre- warned, some of the vampire traits are going to just fly out the window on a broomstick.
_______________________________________________
Sirius had been cleared of all his charges a few months before summer started. He had demanded that his family estate be returned to him. Black Castle had been seized by the ministry after his trial. The castle had been put on sale, but had never been sold. No one wanted to buy a place that belonged to a missing Azkaban escapee.
The castle needed to be cleaned and refurnished, so Sirius and Harry and not moved in yet. Sirius had been living with Remus. Harry had joined them for the summer. The Dursleys were more than happy to be finally rid of Harry and all his magical nonsense.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had been shocked to find out that Sirius Black was innocent, and were slightly cautious around him at first. They soon warmed up to him though, and even offered to let him stay at the Burrow during Harry's two week visit a month before the end of the summer. Sirius couldn't stay though, because he had been called away by the ministry to go on a mission. Harry didn't know much about the mission, only that they were searching for a missing ministry personnel who had disappeared along with his whole family. Voldemort was suspected, but the ministry wasn't letting any information out to the public.
Sirius had been offered the ministry job by the minister after his innocence was proven. Fudge felt that it would show the public that he wanted to help right the wrong. Sirius wasn't going to accept the job at first, since he didn't need the money and had wanted to spend more time with Harry, but Dumbledore had convinced him to accept the position. The Headmaster had wanted more people keeping an eye on the ongoings inside the ministry.
The ministry had begun falling apart since the events of Harry's fourth year. Fudge could no longer ignore the fact that Voldemort was still alive and was gaining power and recruits. Harry now understood why Fudge had been reluctant to admit to the wizarding world of Voldemort's second rising. There had been widespread panic immediately after the ministry's official announcement. Even though most of the wizarding world knew that there were still Death Eaters, they had not wanted to believe that Voldemort was still alive. They had been happy living their lives believing that the worst had already past and would not return. It had been much easier for people to believe what they had wanted to believe before someone actually said that Voldemort was back.
_______________________
Harry had had a dream of Voldemort a few days before the ministry had started the search for the missing man. He had not been able to see or remember much from the dream. He knew he had been in a stone room that resembled a cellar or a basement. A drop of blood had fallen from above him and he had looked up. He had then felt like he was floating. It was so warm and comforting, but then the warmth felt like it was being sucked out of him. It was so cold now. Then Harry felt something different. Usually during one of his dreams the presence of Voldemort was so strong that it seemed to over power everything else. He could feel someone else now too. Who was it though and why could he feel them through his link to Voldemort? He knew what he saw when he looked up was important but when he woke up he could remember what he had seen.
Regardless of the dream though, the man and his family had been missing for two weeks now and there was little doubt in Harry's mind that they were already dead. Nothing in the dream though seemed connected with the missing family though. He wasn't even sure if it was a vision due to his magic link with Voldemort or if it was just a nightmare caused by eating one to many Peppermint Toads before bed. Who wouldn't have bad dreams with those things hopping around in their stomach. Although during his dream his scar had burned when he looked up. He had thought that is was strange since people claim that one does not feel pain while dreaming. When he woke up his forehead didn't hurt at all, and the remnants of the dream were already fading.
Ever since the Triwizard Tournament Harry had been writing down his dreams in a journal that Dumbledore had given to him. They had come to use Harry's dreams as a window into Voldemort's plots. Many Death Eater's had been caught, although most were only low ranked trainees. As Harry had gotten older his dreams had become clearer. Harry's most vivid visions were those during which Voldemort was using magic. Before he could only see what was going on, and then he could also hear everything, but now it felt as though he was actually there. This wasn't only the burning sensation that felt though his scar in all his visions though. If he was seeing a cold dark room, he would actually feel the cold creep through his clothes.
Harry became increasingly worried that Voldemort would sense his presence during these dreams. The link between them was getting so strong now. Hermione had said that it may have something to do with the blood Voldemort had used to recreate his new body, but the connection still seemed to remain one-way.
Harry didn't even know how to classify what he saw. They clearly weren't normal dreams, since they could come to him while he was still awake, causing him to faint or sometimes to have a small seizure before slipping into unconsciousness. Harry had no warning as to when these visions would come. In a way he was glad that Voldemort seemed to be most active at night. That way he didn't collapse often during one of his classes or in the Great Hall.
From what he had leaned in Divination, they were not visions either. Visions are of the future, but what Harry saw was always of the present. Also his sight was always centered around Voldemort. Harry referred to them as dreams though, since it sometimes allowed him to have the illusion that what he saw was not real. The thought that maybe the bodies with their backs arched up in an arc, twisting under the pain for the Cruciatus Curse, or the flashes of bright green light could just be a nightmare.
_______________________
The minister was at a complete loss over what to do. For one of his trusted advisers to disappear at a time like this had left Fudge desperate. Lucius Malfoy had disappeared two weeks ago along with his wife and their son Draco. The ministry was in shambles. There were quiet murmurs circulating that the department heads were going to call for the election of a new minister to replace him, since Fudge was not capable of finding a missing ministry personnel and his family. Therefore he definitely couldn't handle the second rising of the Dark Lord.
To think that a Death Eater would be the one holding the ministry together. Perhaps this had been Voldemort's plan all along. With Lucius on the inside, Voldemort could also observe and indirectly influence the ministry's decisions. So not only did Voldemort have a mole inside the ministry, but also the means to weaken the ministry by making the minister dependent on the advice of Mr. Malfoy, and then take it away when his council was most needed.
_______________________
Harry's mind was not on ministry business at all this summer. Harry and Sirius had been staying at Remus' cottage out in the country. It was not a very large house, but still quite a sizable place to be called a cottage. Like most wizarding houses it was much larger from the inside than it seemed to a passing muggle. The cottage currently had four bed rooms, one for Remus, Sirius and Harry with and an extra if they happened to have a guest. If needed though, more rooms could always be added magically. Remus wanted to keep his house small though, since he didn't have a house elf. House cleaning, even with the help of magic, did take some time.
The cottage itself, was quaint and had a touch of home in it that made one feel as though they had lived there for many years. In truth, the cottage had only been bought by Remus last year when Dumbledore had invited him back to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts and he only lived there during the holidays. A family of muggles had been own it before, using the cottage only once a year as a summer home. It wasn't this feeling of home that Harry had liked most about Remus' home though, it was the pictures. Remus had photographs of practically everyone he knew.
They were plastered on all the walls of his sitting room. Numerous pictures of Harry's parents, a younger Sirius and Remus were spread out along the walls. The pictures were mostly wizard pictures, but a few weren't moving. When Harry had ask about them, he had been delighted to learn that they had been taken from Lily's camera. Those pictures had been taken at the end of their seventh year. Harry had been surprised to see a group picture of James, Lily, Remus, Peter and Professor Snape.
When Sirius saw the picture he said that there were still a few things that need had not unpacked and hastily left the room. Harry found out from Remus that James and Remus had befriended Severus after what had happened with Sirius. They had a tentative friendship that had lasted up until Lily and James' death, but Remus wouldn't tell him anymore on the subject.
_______________________
In Harry's latest dream he hadn't even seen anything very significant. He made a note of what he could remember in his book, but not being able to remember any details he didn't think it was necessary to tell Sirius or Dumbledore about it. After a few days he forgot all about the dream since he was looking forward to two carefree weeks with the Weasleys.
Harry used the floo network to floo from Remus' cottage to the Burrow. He tumbled out of the Weasley's fireplace and was immediately pulled up by Ron who was waiting on the other side. Mrs. Weasley was bustling around in the kitchen at the time, making cookies. Harry was soon scooped up in a big welcome hug. When he was released, Mrs. Weasley magically sent up his belongings to Ron's room.
The next few days were filled with good jokes, warm smiles, hearty food and lots of laughs. Hermione even managed to convince her parents to let her come stay a week after Harry got to the Burrow too.
The trio was together. At first glance nothing showed that during the school year these three students had been spending a few hours each night in the restricted section of the library researching for anything that would give the light side an advantage during the war.
Dumbledore had decided to give Harry access to the library a few months into their fifth year. They all knew that Harry was one of Voldemort's main targets. As Dumbledore had been the one to defeat Grindlewald in 1945, Harry was destined to go against Voldemort. Dumbledore thought that it would be best if Harry were prepared for this inevitable encounter. Some of the teacher's had been against the idea at first. Letting students have free access to all the books in the library included all the dark arts books as well.
Dumbledore had made up his mind though, and even had the support of Professor Lupin, Professor Snape and surprisingly Professor Trelawney, who had said that she had seen this was to happen in her tea that morning. They all felt that it was about time that Harry be able to learn how to protect himself. Ron and Hermione had later convinced Dumbledore to let them help Harry with his research. Harry had already been sneaking them into the library with him using his invisibility cloak though so it really didn't matter. He suspected that Dumbledore already knew about that.
_______________________
Each night after dinner Hermione dragged Harry and Ron up to the room that she was staying in. At the foot of her bed lay her open trunk. Half the trunk was filled with books. She had been researching Harry's magical link to Voldemort. She had been rather alarmed when Harry told her that the link had gotten a great deal stronger after Voldemort regained a physical form. Hermione had a few theories as to why, as did Harry. One idea was that Voldemort was now magically stronger. Their second theory was that Harry's blood used in the potion strengthened the link between them like a blood bond. The third theory, was now that Voldemort had a physical body, it allowed his magic to be more focused.
They had no real way of finding out if their theories where valid. There had never been a case where two wizards were linked through a botched killing curse. However there was a resemblance in Harry's link with Voldemort and magical links associated with blood bonds. The main difference was that in Harry's case it only seemed to work one way. So far in their research they hadn't found much but they had definitely learned some old but useful curses that most people had already forgotten about.
_______________________
During the war, the line between light and dark had started to fade. The Death Eaters knew no mercy. The ministry had not allowed their Aurors to use the Unforgivables yet, but some Aurors had already started using them. The ministry didn't do anything against their actions though since they needed the Aurors, who were diminishing in numbers as the number of Death Eaters grew. Hermione had been outraged at the ministry's lack of control, but she soon saw that by limiting their magic and their morals to what was honorable, they would lose more than just the war.
Hermione had thought it would be wrong to use dark curses against Voldemort and his forces. She felt that if they did, then they would be no better that Voldemort himself. Hermione changed her mind though when Dumbledore suggested to her parents to relocate to a magically protected house after Professor Snape reported back that Voldemort planned to attack the Grangers to get to Harry. When faced with the brutality of war, she understood that it wasn't the time for campaigns and protests against the cruelty of certain dark curses. Lives were at stake. Honor and ethics could wait.
_______________________
It was the last night of Harry and Hermione's visit. Hermione was seated on top of her bed with a pile of books. Harry and Ron were sitting on the floor each with a book in front of them. A game of wizards chess lay forgotten next to them.
Ron started to fall asleep, when Harry poked him in the side. "Ouch. Harry what was that for?" "You were falling asleep. We won't have this much time to research when we get back to Hogwarts." answered Harry "If you had told me a few years ago that this would be how we were to spend our summer I wouldn't have believed you for all the gold in Gringott's." said Ron
The trio shared a smile. "The strangest thing is that we have to hide that fact that we are reading. Why if Mum knew that I've been reading half the summer, she'd faint." said Ron. "Yes, but then she would probably faint again after she found out what we were reading." added Hermione. The three of them had agreed that it would be best if Mrs. Weasley didn't know about all the dark arts books that Harry and Hermione had stuffed in their trunks. Harry had put up an spell to alert them if anyone was about to come in, then the boys would toss their books onto Hermione's bed and pretend to play chess. Hermione reading a book wasn't anything out of the ordinary so she didn't need to scramble each time someone entered the room. In case someone happened to ask what she was reading though, she had charmed the outside of the cover to look like an Arithmancy textbook.
They had quite a large selection of books now. Hermione kept most of them which were transfigured into famous muggle books. The books they were reading now, were ones that weren't found in the Hogwarts' library. Professor Snape had been helping them owl order them from Knockturn Alley
The three turned to the sound of a small beep. Books and a few scrolls went flying in the direction of the bed. By the time Ginny popped her head around the door, she saw Hermione studying on her bed and Harry and Ron lying on their stomachs facing each other in a game of chess. 'Those two are always playing wizard chess these days.' thought Ginny "Dad's just come home and Mum says dinner is going to be ready in a few minutes, so come down."
_______________________
Bill and Charlie were away working in other countries. Mr. Weasley looked rather tired. Percy apperated into the room. He had been doing quite well in the ministry, and usually spent most his time there. Harry was glad that he made it back in time for his last night there. Sirius was coming in the morning to take him to Black Castle.
They ate dinner inside in the dining room. The table was piled high with dishes and a cauldron of stew was steaming Ron's mother had made one hell of a farewell feast, but it was dessert that Harry was looking forward to. Mrs. Weasley had made a huge chocolate sponge cake, covered in icing. It was exactly like the one she had made for his birthday half a month ago. Harry loved chocolate. He felt it was probably due to the fact that he never got to eat any during his childhood.
After dinner everyone was so full they felt that they couldn't move even if Voldemort himself marched into the Burrow. Mr. Weasley suggested that they all go outside and sit in the yard and watch the twins newest creation. They were soundless fireworks. They went up into the sky and burst in to all sorts of colors. This was the newest addition to the Weasley's Wizard Wheezes inventory. The twins hadn't even thought of a name yet. Mrs. Weasley hadn't taken them away since they seemed harmless and didn't cause any loud explosions, plus the flashes of bright light seemed to scare away the gnomes. Harry and Ron knew that small, silent fireworks would be anything but harmless when they got back to Hogwarts.
Everyone settled out in the backyard, either in lawn-chairs or on the grass. Harry was lying down in one of the chairs, on his back, looking up at the light show. He turned his head to the right. Ron and Hermione were sitting on the grass, holding hands. Hermione's head was resting against Ron's shoulder.
Ron and Hermione had realized how deep their feelings for each other were. What everyone had found amusing though was that they had both come to the decision of telling each other at the same time. It was in their fifth year, at the Christmas ball. The ball was held before the students went home for the holiday. Dumbledore wanted to start a new tradition and also lighten up the mood. With the war going on there had been an increasing number of students that couldn't go home that year.
Ron and Hermione had certainly created a cheerful atmosphere that night. They had both felt that the perfect time to tell each other was at the end of the last dance. They ended up telling each other at the same time, and missed what the other said since they were so nervous.
Harry smiled in the direction of his two best friends. They had stuck by him through everything. He had once wondered if such a friendship was possible. Why were they friends with him? He had even asked himself once if they were only friends with him since he was the famous Boy Who Lived. Harry didn't try to think about that possibility anymore. A friend can be defined as a person that you trust and that appreciates you for the person that you are. That's exactly what his two best friends were. There had been a few rough spots, but the three of them had always pulled through. Harry worried that Voldemort would try and hurt the people he cared about to get to him. Of course Ron and Hermione were too caught up in it all now though, so there was little point in wasting effort in worrying about such things. His time would be best spent on making sure that he and his friends would be ready if anything were to happen. Voldemort would do anything he could to hurt Harry.
Having everyone close to you targeted by Voldemort was also hard on Harry's love-life. He never stayed with one person too long because he was always worried about the consequences. There was never the problem of finding someone though. He was after all the Boy Who Lived and he had come out last year that he was bisexual. Harry had been a bit worried that people's opinion of him would drastically change due to that fact. He had after all grew up in an environment where anything out of the ordinary was deeply frowned upon. The wizarding world was much more accepting of such things and the press certainly had a great time updating the world with the latest news on the Boy Who Lived. Harry was still a bit worried at first. Nothing much had changed at Hogwarts except that now there were also a few guys trying to catch his eye wherever he went.
Harry felt a stab of jealousy somewhere in his heart. He wanted a relationship like the one Ron and Hermione shared, something that would last. He felt he had come close last year, but it didn't work out in the end because they realized they were in love with other people. They had ended up just being friends, but Harry really didn't want to think about that right now. It wasn't doing anything but feeding his jealousy.
Harry then felt another stab, but this one was much more painful and it was coming from his scar. 'Not again, I haven't had a dream for weeks.' He clasped one hand over his forehead and rolled on to his side and thus off the lawn-chair. Ron leapt over to Harry's side, pulling Hermione along with him. "Oh my, Harry dear, are you alright? Ron what happened?" asked an anxious Mrs. Weasley from somewhere behind them. It was still quite dark and the only light was from the diminishing sparks in the sky.
"Lumos" said Hermione holding out her wand. The rest of the Weasleys were soon at Harry's side. Hermione was sweeping the light over Harry's body to check if he had hurt himself while falling off the chair. She couldn't really tell though since Harry and curled himself into a tight shivering ball. He had been moving from side to side at first, but now Ron was holding down his shoulders. They had gone through this before at school. Dumbledore had told them what they should do if Harry lapsed into one of his visions at school, since they were usually with him. Most of his visions weren't that bad though. They were quite short and were accompanied by the pain of his scar, but he had gotten used to this because of the frequent tingling sensation he had been feeling all year. This vision was different though. This one was much stronger than anything he had ever felt before.
Harry let out a piercing scream. He flung his arms and legs out, knocking Ron off. "Should we tell Sirius or Dumbledore?" asked Mr. Weasley. Hermione nodded. The twins took off to tell Sirius while Mr. Weasley headed to another fireplace to alert the headmaster.
Harry was now hissing in pain between his quick intakes of air. Different feelings flooded his mind. Hate. Lust. Power. Need. Rage. Fear. Then he felt as though his blood was on fire and lashes of pain seared across his body. Ron tried to grab ahold of Harry's arms because he had started scratching at his arms. His nails didn't go penetrate very deeply, but it was certainly deep enough to draw blood. Ron finally had both his arms pinned down, but then Harry made a strange noise and Ron jumped back and let go again. He began to make a gurgling choking noise. Both his hands went up to his throat. Then his body began to jerk. His back arched up and then slammed back down.
"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley and Ginny turned towards the voice and saw Sirius and the twins were running towards them. Ron was still trying to get Harry to calm down. He gave up and took his wand out of his pocket "Petrificus Totalus." Ron looked down at Harry. "Sorry mate, but I couldn't think of any other way to stop you." He lifted up one of Harry's eyelids. His eyes were rolled back but he could still see a rim of green at the top.
"Should we try to move him back into the house?" asked Mrs. Weasley taking out her wand now as well. "No need Molly. I've got him" answered Sirius lifting up Harry's board-like body. Mr. Weasley jogged up to the group. "I couldn't reach Dumbledore. I did get ahold of Professor Vector though. Apparently something has happened at Hogwarts. They'll send word after they know what is going on." Hermione and Ron shared a worried glance, then she stood up. "Alright lets all go inside."
Sirius put Harry's rigid body on a sofa in the Weasley's living room. Mrs. Weasley and Ginny went into the kitchen to make some hot chocolate for everyone. They waited around near the fireplace. Ron walked back over to Harry and lifted up his eyelid again. Harry's eyes had rolled back and he was staring back up at him. "Hey you guys I think he's okay now. I'm going to take the spell off. Finite Incantatum."
Harry sucked in a deep breath and his arm reached out for support as he tried to sit up. Sirius helped him up and Harry sat back leaning slightly into him. He had always been a bit tired after a strong vision, and this one was the strongest yet. Hermione passed him a bar of chocolate. Harry smiled a thank you towards her.
_______________________
There was a flicker of light from the fireplace. "Hello everyone." "Professor Dumbledore! Is everything alright? What happened at the school?" asked Hermione. "Yeah, is everyone alright?" added Ron. "Everything seems to have calmed down a fair amount over here. Now I've heard that there was quite a commotion over at the Burrow." replied the Headmaster. "Who was it I saw in my vision then, Professor? Are they alright? They were in a lot of pain. This vision was different from any of the other one's I've had so far. I could feel all these conflicting emotions. It had something to do with what happened at Hogwarts, right?"
Dumbledore looked rather tired as he was pondering over how to answer Harry's questions. "I'm really not the one that can best explain what occurred. It would be best if you came to Hogwarts a few weeks earlier this year." Harry nodded Ron looked over at Hermione. "We're coming too, Professor."
Dumbledore smiled. "Of course Mr. Weasley, Miss. Granger, but I must also insist that Professor Black accompany you as well. There is something that I need to discuss with him as well."
Sirius looked up from his seat next to Harry. "Professor Black!?"
_______________________________________________
current vote at Sev/Harry - 6 ~ Sev/Remus - 6
~shock, its tied again!! pout. still could be either one, so I'll pick the pairing based on the reviews for Chapter Five. I've already been stalling for four chapters now, suppose its high time to pick one.
_______________________
thanks you to the reviewers of Chapter Three
charzy - aww. you didn't vote, breakthetie!!breakthetie
Liz - yesyes, the many twists that I could look into. not to worrie, this story is far from finished. hey the second main character only just made an appearance. hehe. and for the spelling, thanks for noticing. The first time I posted Chapter One there were so many spelling and grammar mistakes. ~hides head in shame. I know how much nicer it is to read something without all the typos so alert me if you see something wrong
izean - Sorry this chapter took so long. I just couldn't get it flowing right, actually I still think parts of it sound funny. Hope you didn't get used to the speed that the first three chapters came out at. Summer's almost over for me and the chapters are already coming out slower.
Tereth Dragonstar - hehe. I thought it was a nice way to end that chapter too.
Jaws - thanks for the review, gave me a lot to think about. you didn't vote though
MysteryMeat - glad you liked it!
kitty - thx for voting
vamp chick - hehe. about the mirror thing, someone didn't read my author's notes at the bottom of my last chapter, but thanks for telling me because now I know that your bothered by it.
katz_nipp written : September 7, 2002 edited : January 11, 2004