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A/N: I'm baaaaaaaaccckkk! And going strong!
Chapter 16 ~ Conspiracy
The day was, by all accounts, a very odd one. The air practically crackled with tension and the teachers were jumping at any stray sounds. Professor McGonagall released the class without assigning any homework and, even more unbelievably, Professor Snape let an entire class go by without taking any points from Gryffindor.
"Oh, by the way, Potter," Snape said as they were leaving, "I've verified that Madam Pince gave you permission to be in the library and your detention has been cancelled as well as the twenty points restored to Gryffindor." Then he swept off distractedly, muttering to himself. Harry, Ron, and Hermione watched him with mouths agape.
"Something's up," said Ron quietly, and the other two nodded in agreement.
As the trio exited the Potions dungeon, they found another trio of Slytherins lying in wait for them.
"Well, Potter, lied your way out of another detention, did you?" Draco sneered at Harry. "Or paid, maybe? You won't have much gold left by the time you get out of Hogwarts at this rate." He smirked condescendingly.
"You shouldn't talk about buying things, Malfoy, considering how you got on the Quidditch team," Harry shot back, angry and hurt. What was going on?
"Huh, and he doesn't even bother to refute it," Malfoy said to Crabbe – or possibly Goyle – one was pretty much the same as the other.
"The refutation goes without saying, Malfoy, since you know very well that you're lying."
"I bet," said Malfoy, turning to Goyle – or Crabbe – "that he's not even man enough to challenge me to a wizard's duel. After all," he smirked, "you didn't show up when I challenged you, did you, Potter? Ran away and cowered in the safety of Gryffindor with your little coward friends." Malfoy tossed his silver-blonde hair out of his eyes and looked down his nose at Harry. Harry could feel his face turning red with anger. What was Malfoy playing at?
Just then, one of Malfoy's eyes blinked in an unmistakable wink and Harry's insides settled back into their normal configuration instead of trying to tie themselves into knots. It hadn't been pleasant to think that their ally might have betrayed them…
"Huh, I wasn't the one who didn't show, Malfoy, that was all you. In fact, you were the one who went and got a teacher so that we'd get in trouble for being out of bed, now wasn't it? Fancy that," Harry said, his lips twisting wryly. "Fine then, if you think you can keep your courage up, you're on."
"Good," Draco said, his eyes narrowing in satisfaction. "Tonight then. In the Trophy Room." And he swirled off in a younger imitation of Snape.
The three Gryffindors turned away as well and made their way to their next class. As soon as they were out of earshot of anyone else, Ron muttered, "And what was that about?"
"Draco wants to meet us tonight in the Trophy Room instead of tomorrow. I'm guessing something important has come up," Harry replied grimly. "I just hope its not some new insurmountable obstacle. We've already dealt with too many of those as it is."
~*~
The halls of Hogwarts were echoingly empty as Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way to the trophy room huddled beneath the invisibility cloak. Ginny and Liandra had gone on ahead and were waiting for them.
The door of the Trophy Room squeaked as it swung open and all of them froze, including the three already inside the room.
"Shut the damn door already," hissed Draco impatiently. Even line of his body radiated tension. Ginny and Liandra merely floated impassively. Harry pushed the door closed and swept the invisibility cloak off of them. Draco nodded curtly.
"I'm glad you could make it," he said. "I've caught wind of something you should know about. There's going to be an attack."
"Attack?" Hermione exclaimed. "Here at the school?"
"No," Draco replied, his lips thinning. "The Death Eaters are going to bring the Dementors out of Azkaban and march them across the countryside, killing all the muggles they find. The Dementors will become bloated with souls and even more powerful; nothing will be able to stand in the way of the Dark Lord."
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Ron yelled, jumping up and brandishing his wand.
"Sit down and be quiet, Ron," Harry said softly. "Dumbledore already knows. It's why all the teachers have been so jumpy. He can take care of it. There's more." Ron sat down, deflated.
Draco nodded in agreement. "It's a diversion. It has to be. Voldemort knows that Dumbledore has enough trained and powerful witches and wizards here at Hogwarts to take care of the Dementors as soon as they leave Azkaban. The question is, what's the diversion for?"
They sat in silence for a moment, thinking for all they were worth. Hermione shook her head in frustration.
"It's beyond me to try to fathom a mind that vile," she said in disgust.
"I don't know either," Ginny chimed in. "All the teachers in Hogwarts gone to fight him, and for what?"
They all stared at her, eyes wide. She looked from one to the other in confusion. "What?"
"Ginny," Hermione said slowly. "You're a genius."
"He's trying to empty out Hogwarts. He's coming here," Draco whispered. "Why?"
"Besides the obvious, you mean?" Harry asked sardonically. "He wants what he's always wanted. Me."
"But…he got what he really wanted from you in our fourth year, didn't he?" Ron asked meekly. "He has a new body and he knows – thinks he knows – that he can defeat you now. Why would he be coming after you now? What's different?"
"Revenge?" Hermione asked doubtfully.
"Could be," Draco said. "Or he could've found out that Harry's got the Spirit Blade."
"Let's hope not," Hermione said, shuddering.
"Should we tell Dumbledore?" Ginny asked. "This is too much for us to handle, isn't it?"
The others nodded reluctant agreement.
"I bet he already knows anyway," Draco put in.
"But what if he doesn't?" Ginny asked worriedly.
"He does," Liandra said softly, as if unwilling to participate in the conversation. "Dumbledore knows everything. The walls talk to him."
The all stared at her in consternation.
"Oh, not literally," she said in amusement. "It was just a figure of speech. But I'm sure he knows anyway."
"Well, we should at least make sure," Ginny said stubbornly.
"If it makes you happy, Gin," Harry said. "But it can wait until morning, at least."
Ginny nodded reluctant agreement along with the others and the meeting began to break up.
"Oh, by the way," Draco said to Harry as they moved toward the door. "I'm sorry about what I said to you before."
"No apology needed," Harry said, smiling.
~*~
The next morning dawned cold and cloudy. Harry really didn't feel like climbing out of bed, but there was no other choice. With a tremendous yawn, he pulled himself out of bed and dragged himself down to breakfast.
"'Morning, Harry," Ginny said as she floated up through the floor of the Great Hall and through the table, her head appearing from the center of a pile of pancakes.
"Mmph," he replied, and then swallowed. "'Morning, Gin."
Ron and Hermione wandered in and plopped down beside them and helped themselves to food, Hermione daintily and Ron voraciously. Ginny giggled half-heartedly at her brother.
"Slow down, Ron, you'll choke," she said, sounding only half teasing.
"Ginny," Hermione said slowly, "are you – all right? You've been so odd lately."
"Yeah," Ron said. "I've noticed it too."
Ginny shrugged. She didn't really want to answer. How could she explain her fits of depression, her bouts of meaninglessness, to them? How could she tell them that sometimes she didn't want to live again?
"Ginny," Harry said, "is there something you're not telling us?" His brow crinkled in worry and hurt. "What have you been keeping from us?"
"Nothing!" Ginny cried as his words cut straight to her heart. "I haven't been keeping anything from you! Just leave me alone!" She swooped away through the floor, insubstantial tears thick on her cheeks.
Harry looked as if he'd just been slapped. There was something wrong and Ginny – Ginny had lied to him. He looked up to find Dumbledore staring at him from the staff's table. Dumbledore's twinkling eyes held his gaze for a moment and then the Headmaster suddenly stiffened and his eyes took on an abstracted look. A second later, every other teacher acquired the same look and then, as one, each teacher disapparated, leaving the students alone in the Great Hall with nothing but their questions.
~*~
As the students sat in shocked silence, the walls of the castle reverberated with the voice of Albus Dumbledore, amplified to many times its normal volume.
"A crisis has called for the skills of Hogwarts' professors. Please do not panic and proceed to your House Common Rooms immediately. Prefects will take charge of their Houses. Head Boy and Girl will take over in my stead." The Head Boy and Girl looked shocked.
"That sounded like a recording," Hermione murmured. Harry nodded his agreement. His head was whirling. First Ginny and now this….
The students around him were moving as if in a daze, picking themselves up from half-eaten breakfasts and making their way out of the Hall. The confusion was chokingly thick. Harry, Ron, and Hermione joined the steady flow of bodies out the door. Liandra had inexplicably disappeared.
As they were exiting, Draco sidled up next to Harry and poked him hard in the ribs.
"Watch out for yourself, Potter," he hissed, glaring.
"Thanks, Malfoy," Harry hissed back, trying with all his might to look angry rather than amused.
Draco nodded once and then stalked off with his nose in the air, Crabbe and Goyle on his heels. Ron and Hermione, who hadn't been able to hear the quiet exchange, looked at Harry inquiringly.
"He just wished us good luck," Harry said under his breath. Both of them grinned but then quickly sobered again.
"We'll need it," Ron said.
~*~
The atmosphere in the Common Room was tense, to say the least. Ron had beaten every person in Gryffindor at chess at least once and Hermione was just finishing her second book. Harry had unobtrusively stashed his sword underneath the couch so that if there was a need for it, it would be close at hand. Now he sat motionless, staring at the flames which flickered blood-red before him. They seemed like a premonition.
He wondered again what was the matter with Ginny. Ron and Hermione had told him of her strange behavior two days before, and Harry himself had witnessed her when she had almost joined with the wind and blown away forever. How could he help her when she wouldn't tell him what was the matter – when she lied to him about it? He sighed heavily. He didn't even know where she was now, and if she never wanted to see him again, it would be easy for her to accomplish with the endless halls of Hogwarts at her disposal.
Harry's head jerked up as Liandra swooped through the ceiling, silver-white wings flaring.
"They're coming!" she cried. "They're coming here!"
Harry grabbed his sword from beneath the couch, unsheathing it quickly and moving to stand before the door. He hoped fervently that his adversary would be something against which the Spirit Blade would be some use. Ron and Hermione rushed to stand beside him, pulling out their wands.
The portrait swung open, revealing the Fat Lady sprawled along the bottom of the frame, her skin gray. An imposing masked figure in black robes stepped inside, thin lips sneering. Behind each of his shoulders stood a slim, dusky-skinned figure with spiraling ebony horns protruding from a high, arched forehead. Black claws extended from their spidery fingers and their eyes ate the light around them. There was a kind of dangerous, feral beauty about them.
Liandra came alighted behind him and whispered softly to him, "Demons." He nodded his understanding without ever taking his eyes from his foes.
And then the last of them came into view. There, standing behind the Death Eater, was Ginny, bathed in a flickering green glow, her face contorting from icy calm to fiery rage in time with her flickering aura.
'Fight it, Gin,' Harry thought fiercely. 'You're strong enough to fight it.'
"So, Harry Potter," the masked man said in a smooth and cultured voice, "you are again the one we seek."
"So, Lucius Malfoy," Harry said coldly, "you are the one we seek. You have quite a lot to answer for."
"Oh, do I now?" Lucius Malfoy replied.
"Yes," Ron grated from beside Harry. "And please, do answer in screams."
A/N: I find it amusing that I wrote the last part of this chapter while listening to such appropriate songs and "Haunted", "Taking Over Me", and "Bring Me to Life." Thank you, Evanescence! Anyway, I'm getting back on track. I've got ideas, I've got time to write them, and the school year's almost over. And, truth to tell, so's the story. We're coming to the final climax, everyone! Hoorah! And I actually know how it's going to end! Even bigger hoorah! Now if the stupid site will just let me post – experiencing overload, bah humbug! Thanks to my reviewers!
Zaz: Hopefully more happiness will ensue now! Thanks!
Cariel: Sorry I couldn't finish it sooner, but hopefully from now on I'll be better about my posting.
g-i-n-n-y: Here's more! Hope you enjoyed it.
spunkygabi: I'm glad you like it!
Bessorla: No, silly girl, there's no D/Hr here. Only friends. You'll have to take care of the in CoI which you haven't updated in forever, by the way! Get cracking! Chop, chop! If I can update, then you can, so there. I expect the next chapter in my inbox pronto!
Veldan: Yeah, sorry, you're right, that last chapter went absolutely nowhere. It was a filler/comedic relief/I need to post something right now and I really don't know where this story's going kind of chapter. But I know where the story's going now, so things should be speeding up.
Mike: Heh, you can still have your own world. And you're always welcome to borrow mine. ;-)
