When Science Labs Explode

By Kaitlyn Gainstein and Lily Macleod

Disclaimer: you know the drill.  No, we don't own half the stuff we write about.  Or with, come to think of it.

Chapter 15

Needless to say, Harry had his showdown with Voldemort.  Before he could meet up with his archenemy, though, he spent at least a week (maybe three) wandering around the Canadian Rocky Mountains with the other kids chosen for the Order of the Phoenix.  There was a good deal of bickering, and some snide remarks about how the GATE kids fought like old married couples, but in the end they all reached the Death Eaters' camp and crashed the "party".  Then all the students were magically (duh) transported back onto Hogwarts grounds, where they arrived just in time to be crushed by the weight of all the homework in their backpacks (which would have imploded to become black holes had there been one more assignment) and the horrifying thought of final exams.

Meanwhile:

The wind whistled ominously through the trees, tall and black against the cloudy sky.  Below, in a clearing, surrounded by the blasted ruins of the Death Eater camp, stood Lord Voldemort, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, accompanied by a shrinking, sniveling creature that could only be called human because of a lack of hair and/or a tail.  Voldemort coldly eyed the rubble with his slanted, snake-like eyes.  Wormtail (who else would it be?) turned to his lord and master, a miserable expression on his thin, wasted face.

"What do we do now, master?"

Voldemort bent and carefully lifted Nagini, absently stroking the snake's smooth scales.

"What will we do next year?"

"The same thing we do every year Wormtail.  Try to destroy Harry Potter!"

A break in the clouds sent a brief flash of moonlight flickering dramatically over the scene as dark storm clouds began gathering around the Dark Lord.