Minerva McGonagall was surprised to say the least when
Dumbledore asked her to stand in as headmistress for a while. He would be leaving Hogwarts and he wasn't
sure when he'd be back. She'd been
marking Transfiguration essays and there was still a pile of them left to mark
as the cool breeze of the autumn night made her shiver.
She'd watched in a sort of numb disbelief as Dumbledore had
left her office and his footsteps had hurried away, he hadn't said where he was
going, which was unusual in it's self, and Minerva had never imagined that
Dumbledore would leave Hogwarts at a time like this, with Harry missing and
Voldemort gaining power.
Yet she had unwavering trust in Dumbledore, if he saw fit
to leave her in charge then she'd have to do her best until he returned.
With that resolution in mind she finished her marking
before turning in for the night.
***
Auriellis sat up in bed puzzled by her parents' concern.
"What is it Mum?" She asked as her Mum caught her in a tight hug.
"You were shouting in your sleep, and you kept saying
Voldemort's name. We were really
worried." She replied.
Auriellis thought back over the dream, it was still clear
in her mind, unlike any other dream she'd ever had.
Before she could tell them though her Dad spoke.
"Besides Auri, you've got a visitor. He said he'd wait till tomorrow to speak to
you, but seeing as you're up…"
"Who is it?" Asked
Auriellis suddenly curious.
"It's the man who sent you that letter, your
great-uncle." Said her Mum smiling.
Auriellis wasn't too sure if she really wanted to meet this
man, especially in the middle of the night when everything always seems so much
stranger than usual anyway. But her Mum
had already thrown her a dressing gown and her Dad was walking out of the door.
She heard him speak quietly with someone in the hallway and
then their footsteps went downstairs.
Her Mum smiled encouragingly,
"You'll like him Auri, he's been dying to meet you for so
long, but, well, he will explain."
Auriellis just nodded and the two of them went downstairs
together trying not to make too much noise and wake Jay, which in truth was
quite pointless as Jay was one of those lucky people who could sleep through a
full fanfare.
When she first saw her Great Uncle Auriellis' first
instinct was to laugh, he was wearing a sweeping purple cloak covered with
silver moons covering what looked like dark green robes, his crescent shaped
glasses were perched on a crooked nose and his bright blue eyes sparkled
brightly in his face which was surrounded by wispy silver hair and beard. What with the tall pointed hat perched on
his head he looked like an overgrown trick or treat addict.
She didn't laugh though. Instead she smiled politely and shook his outstretched hand.
"It is my greatest pleasure to meet you my dear." He said bowing courteously.
Auriellis blushed and looked at her parents who just
smiled.
Her Great-uncle then turned to them as well.
"Do you want to explain everything, it might be easier
coming from you." He said.
Her mother and father looked at each other briefly before
her mother nodded.
"Do you want me to wait outside?" He asked,
Auri decided that she liked the sound of his voice. There was a pleasant ring in the way he
talked.
"No, that's alright Albus." Said her dad. "Auri, come
and sit down sweetie, this might be quite a shock."
Auriellis sat opposite her parents and her Great Uncle
remained across the room by the fireplace watching them quietly.
"What is it?" Auri
asked nervously.
"We've already explained that you are a witch, and that the
man over there is your great-Uncle, yes?" Said her Mum.
"Yes, I understand that much." Said Auri leaning forward on her elbows.
"Alright, well, the thing is, we've never told you about
the rest of your family."
Here her Mum glanced worriedly at her husband.
Auri's Dad went on,
"When you were still a tiny baby, your whole family were
killed by the evil wizard Lord Voldemort. You were with your great Uncle at the time, and you and he were the only
survivors. Albus Dumbledore is your
only living relative. He felt that it
would be safest for you if you were brought up outside the wizarding
world. That was when he came to see
us…"
Here Auriellis felt she had to interrupt,
"You mean... you're not my parents?"
They shook their heads,
"Not biologically, but we've always loved you as our
daughter honey." Said her Mum softly.
"M-My parents are dead?" Stuttered Auriellis feeling as though this new information was crushing
her. Surely it was all just another
strange dream…
"T-this is just another of those strange dreams… isn't
it?" She said hopefully.
"I must have eaten something funny last night or
something."
Auriellis hadn't noticed that her great-uncle had come up
beside her so when he spoke she gave a little jump of surprise.
"What other dreams have you been having my dear?" He asked gently.
Auriellis glanced at her parents.
"Tell us Auri, it might be important." Said her Dad.
"Um, well, I had two dreams before this, firstly I saw this
family. There were two parents and a boy. This horrible looking man killed the parents
but the baby boy survived. Then I saw
the boy again, but he was much older, almost grown up. He was in a very small bare room and he
looked terribly lonely, so I said hello, and we had a conversation, he said
that he was called, Harry… I think, that he missed Hogwarts but that Voldemort
was keeping him there. It was a very
strange dream, almost… real, but I doubt it means anything."
Auriellis turned to her great-uncle and to her great
surprise she saw that he was very angry.
She shifted away from him as he spoke.
"I knew that Tom had him. And I guess I should be glad that he's alive, but I don't know what to
do about it."
When she was a bit further away Auri ventured to talk.
"I'm sorry, what do you mean? Did I say something wrong?"
She was even more surprised when the old face wrinkled into
a smile.
"I'm sorry. You
haven't done anything wrong. It's
Voldemort I'm angry with. Harry Potter
is one of my students at Hogwarts who recently disappeared. He's already had such a hard time... But you needn't worry about it Auriellis,
I'm sure he will be fine. Harry has a
knack of avoiding the worst, and I wont let anything happen to you."
Auriellis nodded feeling completely overwhelmed and
confused, but there was something very reassuring about her great-uncle, she
felt safe just being near him.
"So, you'll be staying here with us?" She asked looking towards her parents.
"No deary, you are going to go to Hogwarts." Said her Mum grasping her hands together tightly.
"What?!" Exclaimed
Auriellis standing up.
"Hogwarts? How long
for? Where is it? What will I be doing?"
She looked at her parents but they turned to her
great-uncle.
Smiling he took her by the shoulders gently and sat her
down.
"Hogwarts is a school of magic, it's a boarding school,
there you will learn some basic magic, but seeing as you are only 10 years old
you will be younger than all of your classmates, first years are usually 11
when they start. But I'm sure you'll
have no problems. Trust me Auriellis,
Hogwarts is the safest place you could be, and I would love it if we could get
to know each other better."
Auri noticed the dreamy look that entered her great-uncle's
face when he talked about the school, and although she thought that trusting an
almost complete stranger, even if they were related, was a bit much to ask, she
felt that she could trust him. So she
just nodded, yawning deeply.
"Now, I think it's time you got back to bed." Said her Mum
Auri blinked sleepily and nodded again.
"Goodnight Auri." Said her great uncle.
"G'night Great Uncle Albus." Said Auriellis with a slight smile.
And with that she stumbled her way back to bed and was
exceptionally glad to slip between her sheets.
Auriellis was asleep before her head hit the pillow and she
didn't notice the tears that fell on her face as her Mum kissed her goodnight.
***
Harry was unable to sleep, the voice he had heard had
sounded so real, but who was Auri? It
was very strange, but he almost recognised the voice, there was something about
the way in which she'd spoken that was very familiar.
Harry didn't know what time it was, or even whether it was
night or day, but he assumed that it was morning when Voldemort spoke to him
again.
"So Harry, sleep well?"
Harry frowned but said nothing.
"What? Don't want
to talk to me? Well, that's not very
polite is it Harry?"
Again Harry remained silent.
"Rudeness is one of the things I will not stand for from my
servants Harry, it requires punishment."
Harry couldn't help himself,
"I am not your servant! And I never will be!" He yelled.
"Oh, so you can talk." Said Voldemort mockingly.
"Why don't you just kill me? Why are you keeping me here?" Shouted Harry angrily.
"Do you want to die?" Asked Voldemort sarcastically.
"No, but I know you want me to, so why not just get it over
with, I'm unarmed aren't I?" Said Harry
glaring at the wall.
"I have greater plans for you than a simple death." Snarled Voldemort.
Harry realised that he wasn't getting anywhere so he
changed tack.
"How did you bring me here anyway?" He asked glancing about the seemingly
enclosed room.
"That, is thanks to you Harry. Last year you donated your blood to my re-birth. Correct?"
"Yes." Replied
Harry grudgingly
"Well, we have a blood tie, and when that occurs it is
possible to summon the other with a simple incantation. I wouldn't expect you to understand such
advanced dark magic Harry, but should you wish to learn about the dark arts…"
"Never!" Yelled
Harry, his fists clenched in anger.
"We shall see Harry Potter."
And with that Voldemort's voice vanished once more.
Harry slumped back against the wall, trying to ignore the
empty feeling in his stomach.
He ran a hand through his messy hair and wiped his glasses
on his robes.
There must have been somewhere that let air in, because at
that moment a gust of chilled morning air rushed through the cell and Harry
pulled his thin cloak around him more tightly shivering.
Determined not to appear weak he shakily got to his feet
and paced the cell, which meant going around in a very tight circle as there
was very little room, he thought briefly about his Godfather. Sirius must be
going crazy with worry he thought bitterly, Ron and Hermione too. No doubt Skeeter's having a field day,
probably saying that I've left to join forces with Voldemort!
Harry lifted his face to the cool air that was rushing down
from above.
He felt very isolated, it was hard not to feel as though
everybody had deserted him, but he knew that they were trying to find him…
Weren't they?
A/N – Okies, like I said, reviews are something I can't get enough of, I reckon Dumbledore was a bit OOC, but I'm too lazy to change anything, as any of you who know me realise! I'm doing my best with DoR guys, but I'm not happy with chapter 42 so I don't really want to post 42 & 43 until I've gotten it right! Bear with me!
My humble thanks to all reviewers!
And the riddles – you guys are the best.
Thanks again.
Love
Jona
xxx