Harry Potter and the Curse of the Gypsy

Author's Note: Yeah! The end is near...only five more chapters to go after this one. I hope you've liked this story as much as I have...I will just be glad to get it done though, I am bogged down with stories and I am about to start a new story on fictionpress.net. If you like this story, you should really check out Tobias Dragonheart with the penname Megx.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series. That sucks, doesn't it?

Twenty-Eight

As a group, they edged closer and closer to the forest, Neville quaking in fear, Cho set with grim determination, and both of the teachers holding out their wands protectively. White had a nervous look about her, and continually had to wipe off her glasses. As for Harry, never had he been more ready. He gripped the hilt of the sword almost convulsively, though he knew compared to the wands of full-grown wizards, it was practically useless. But instinct had told him to bring it--and he didn't know why.

"Quiet now." Figg hissed. As they entered the dark forest she held up her wand and a dim light came from its tip. Slowly they crept along.

"Look!" Cho suddenly cried. Everybody turned to the small clump of bushes she was pointing at. White rushed quickly over. She extracted a long strip of black fabric from the tangle of bushes and held it up.

"It's from somebody's robes." She said quietly. She flipped it over--a number was stitched on the inside.

"My dad." Neville said quietly. "That's part of the robes they use in St. Mungo's."

White nodded and tucked the fabric into her pocket. "They're somewhere here...they won't have left. My guess is she's been hiding here since the last time there was an attack at Hogsmeade. Probably to keep in touch with the Johnson girl."

"There are footsteps leading this way." Figg said quietly. "Perhaps you should take the students and..."

"Absolutely not." White replied. "I will not let you go and face them alone, Arabella. And we can't just let them go...we might never catch them."

Figg waited a moment and finally nodded. "All right. But you stay behind us..." she said, indicating Harry, Cho, and Neville, "and the first sign of any trouble you head right back to the school."

"Ready your wands." White said quietly. "I trust Figg has taught you your defense charms?"

"I'm...pretty good at them." Harry muttered. Neville made a noise and took a small step back, while Cho held her wand out even further, her knuckles white from gripping it. On Figg's command they slowly began making their way into the trees. Harry remembered the doubts he had had about Figg in the beginning, but quickly abolished them. She had been right about Cory, hadn't she? And she had been protecting him for fourteen years.

The moon rose high overhead as the last light of the sun faded from the night sky. Harry felt the tension and worry rise up when he thought of Ron and Hermione back in Hogsmeade, and silently prayed that both they and Remus and Sirius had made it safely through the attack. He took a deep breath and watched intently as he rounded a corner, keeping his eyes intent on any small movement, a practice honed by his intense Quidditch training.

"Over here...I see something." White said after a moment. Harry glanced over and saw a small patch of something gray that quickly moved out of sight. Figg quickly went over quickly.

"Footsteps." She said grimly. "Somebody is watching us."

They moved deeper into the forest, flinching and looking around at every small noise that chanced to move their way. After a long fifteen minutes, they finally came to a small clearing that had only recently been occupied, as indicated by the smoking embers of a fire and the crushed grass across the ground.

"But where..." Figg said suddenly.

"Here." Harry felt a slow dread creep up through his spine as several figures moved at the edge of the darkened area. A man with gray hair and a harsh face stepped out from the edge of the clearing, his eyes gleaming fiercely. Slowly the others came. Another man, shrouded in a cloak so that his face could not be seen. Then came the one figure Harry had never expected...or wanted...to see again. Cory.

"You shouldn't have come." Said the man fiercely, raising his wand and pointing it, to Harry's amazement, straight at White's chest. The others did the same, Cory throwing her head back defiantly. She had obviously only just left Azkaban--she was wearing the ragged gray robes of a prisoner and was stick-thin. Her eyes were overly shadowed--she had been gone from Hogwarts for over two months.

"So...you thought you could defeat us?" Harry jumped when Figg spoke. A dark look had passed over her face. Harry felt his heart sink when she slowly turned, backing away towards the three behind her. She rose her wand also. "I accused Cory when she was on my side all along...things turn out strangely, don't they?"

What? Harry thought wildly. Professor Figg was the spy! He looked quickly from Figg to White, who had paled drastically. Cho and Neville had both moved closer to Harry and were looking at Figg, whose face had suddenly turned darker than Harry had ever seen it.

"What is this, Arabella?" White said quickly, nervously. She was holding her wand up and staring at the figures who had their wands pointed at her chest. "What are they doing here?"

"They have come to see justice served." Said the gray haired man. "We are here to take back what is rightfully ours. You have failed."

"Harry...come here." Cory spoke for the first time. She had turned her eyes to him, hollow eyes faded from silver to dull gray. "You must join us...or you will die."

Harry recovered his senses when he heard her voice. He raised his wand. "And why should I trust you?" he spat. "You've done enough--I saw that night in Hagrid's cabin. I saw the Dark Mark. I don't want to hear your lies any more...you can threaten me all you like."

Figg turned to him. "No, Harry." She said quickly. "Come here. I understand now what I didn't before...I put that card in your deck..."

"You threatened me?" Harry said in irritation. "Of course. But you can't make me join you. Never!"

Figg opened her mouth to speak again but White made a sudden movement forward. "Crucio!" she shouted. Figg shrieked and dropped her wand, falling to the ground. "Come on!" White said loudly. "We have to get away!" They ran from the clearing into the deeper portion of the woods. Harry grimaced when he felt a branch tear open his hand but clutched the sword ever closer, throwing glances over his shoulder.

Cho shouted when they heard a blast from behind. They all turned and saw a bright light as shrubs were blown out of the way...they were coming. Neville cried out and suddenly began running, faster than Harry had ever seen him move. "Neville, wait!" he shouted as he ran after him. Cho and White followed. They ran blindly in the darkness.

White suddenly cried out. "Over here!" she said sharply. "There's a door." The three of them followed White down through the stone door and into a dark area that was revealed to be some sort of underground room.

White pushed the door up and fell back against it, wiping a bead of sweat away from her face. She pulled off her glasses and put them back into her pocket before releasing her hair from its messy bun and letting it down. "Is there any other door out of here?" she said.

"Here." Cho said. She had been feeling along the wall with the faint light of lumos and had found an open archway that led downwards.

"We'll be trapped if we go that way." Neville said hoarsely.

"We'll be trapped if we don't." White sighed. "Come on...perhaps it will lead us out of the castle. I'm sure there's some way."

They four of them entered and found themselves at the mouth of a long hall that led one of two ways. "Where..." Harry started, but White had already started down the left way.

Shrugging, he followed, Cho and Neville at either side of him. Cho made a small noise when a bat flew out in front of them...Neville turned a shade whiter. The passage twisted several ways, but White was firmly sure of which way she intended to go.

After a half-hour she stopped at a large stone door. She raised her wand and the door swung out. "Go in." she said quickly.

Nervously Harry entered. Cho turned to him when they got inside. "Do you think they'll find us here?" she whispered.

"Never." White said. She raised her wand again and the door slammed shut loudly. "It would be impossible...that maze out there would have them lost for years."

"But...how did you get through?" Neville said.

"Practice." She smiled faintly.

"What...do you mean?" Harry said in slight apprehension.

"Turn around." She said suddenly.

As one Harry, Cho, and Neville turned. Cho gasped and covered her mouth...Neville took a slow step back. Harry gulped. Four large statues were there in front of him...the four founders of the school. Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin stood at the center, with Helga Hufflepuff and Rowena Ravenclaw at either side. But something was off about Slytherin- -the statue was leaning over slightly, so that the hollow inside could be seen.

And then Harry realized all of a sudden why it was like that. They weren't statues...they were coffins. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw had swords held in their hands, pointing straight towards the ground. A sapphire was embedded in the hilt of Ravenclaw's sword, an amber stone in Hufflepuff's. Slytherin's hands were empty...and so were Gryffindor's. Harry held the sword that was supposed to go there.

"How did you find this?" he muttered as he took a step forward.

"Research." She whispered. She too walked forward and placed a hand on Slytherin's arm greedily. "So many years I worked to find this place...the fabled crypt of the Order of the Phoenix. The only member I have not found is the founder himself...I know not where to find the resting place of the man this school is named after."

"You've...been here before?" Cho said.

White turned. She smiled quickly. "Of course. I have spent much time here...many years in fact. I have been planning, and waiting. Now it is time to do what I have meant to do...what I have worked for."

"What do you mean?" Harry said. White turned.

"Are you so naïve Harry?" she whispered. "You think that a fifteen-year- old girl could do what Cory Johnson did? That an old, senile hag like Figg could plan such a thing? No, of course not. I had their help, yes...Figg did so unwillingly."

"But...no..." Harry said quickly. White shook her head.

"I see you are in shock, Harry." She whispered. "That is all right...it only lets me know how effective this all was. But I have no need for this ruse any longer..." she whispered.

She reached down for a vial around her neck, staring at the liquid for a moment. "It was so easy." She said. "Even you did it, Harry...just today. I saw you. It is amazing how much you can change appearance using only an aging potion and a simple spell to change color." She sighed and uncapped the vial, downing the potion instantly. "This is the counter-potion." She said as slowly she began to change. "The other way, the potion reduces age...of course, I am sure my dear brother has taught you that."

And there, standing before him, was Isabelle Black. "You...you're her!" Harry shouted. She smiled.

"I know...stunning, isn't it?" she raised her wand and stared at the three of them. "I am pleased to see that you brought you sword, Harry. It is as I wanted it. I cannot tell you how pleased I was that you three came together like you did, I was so sure I would have to find you separately and bring you all down here, one by one."

"But...why do you want to do this to them?" Harry said. "Not just me."

"Because she knows what we are." Cho said quietly. Harry turned--he felt a jolt when he saw the scared look in her eyes. "Harry, you know what you are as well as I do. I tried to tell you all year, but finally I was threatened."

Harry remembered his dream suddenly...and it occurred to him that there was only one thing somebody had tried to keep from him. "The Order." He whispered. "You know about me?"

Cho shook her head. "I know about us." She said quietly. "I figured it out a year ago." She turned to Isabelle. "How did you know that we were the heirs?" she said harshly.

Isabelle smiled grimly. "Why wouldn't I know?" she said darkly. "The Order of the Phoenix is a long line, a tale that stretches back farther, so far that nobody can see the blood where it lays. None knew that Tom Marvelo Riddle was the heir of Slytherin...none saw that the heir of Gryffindor was brave, tragic little Harry Potter. And who would expect the Asian genius to be Ravenclaw's heir? Or blundering, idiotic Neville Longbottom to be the heir of Hufflepuff?"

"What?" Neville had spoken for the first time. Isabelle looked sharply at him.

"I know, it is hard to believe. That is why I have, for the most part, left you out of this. You were so much easier to fool than your parents. Did not you recognize your own father out there tonight? I've kept him in St. Mungo's these many years, Neville. He was no more insane than any of us in this room."

"Is that saying much when you're here?" Harry said darkly. He raised his sword in expectation. "You murdered your own husband. You're a traitor, just like Slytherin and Voldemort, and very other piece of scum that ever walked the earth."

Isabelle let out a harsh laugh. "Funny that you should mention them." She said, lowering her gaze. A cold streak ran through her eyes. "When the blood that brought them to power is in me as well. My mother fell in love with Tom Riddle when he came to her camp in Albania, and bore me, her first child. To protect me...not that foolish woman...he sent us away. And here I am now, completing my father's noble work."

"You're...the fourth heir?" Harry said in astonishment. Cho and Neville had backed away and were standing against the wall.

"No...unfortunately my daughter has turned against me. That is why I have brought you here...you will die in the crypt where you forebearers lie." She quickly raised her wand.

Then, by some force that none of them knew, the door slammed open. Isabelle fell to the floor, her wand skidding away over the stone. Harry quickly picked it up and she stood. Her face was white and filled with a rage Harry had never before seen.

"Get the swords!" Harry shouted to Cho and Neville. Both of them ran and grabbed the swords that were held in the grips of the coffins of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Harry felt a warm sensation go through the hilt of his own sword and raised it pointed towards Isabelle. The others followed suit.

Suddenly somebody came in through the door. Cory skidded to a halt when she saw the three of them pointing the swords at Isabelle. "Help me or I will see that you are killed!" Isabelle hissed.

Cory shook her head. "No." she whispered. "Never again. I'm here to help them...I won't do anything for you ever again. Harry," she said suddenly, "give me her wand. Trust me."

"Trust you?" Harry spat. "And be betrayed again? No thanks."

Sighing, Cory turned to Isabelle. "Please don't do this." She whispered. "You don't have to. You weren't like this, I know. You still aren't."

"I serve him." Isabelle sneered. "As you should, you ungrateful brat. We rescued you, didn't we? Otherwise you would have grown up in Azkaban and died there, being what you were. My daughter."

Cory squeezed her eyes shut. "Stop it." she said quietly. "Don't do this to me."

"But why not?" Isabelle said darkly. "I'm your mother. I gave birth to you...I gave you life, just as your grandfather did for me."

Mother? Harry felt his head scream in protest. Isabelle Black was Cory's mother. She was Voldemort's....

"You did not." Cory said finally. "You trapped me until you had use for me. My father was the one who gave me life, and you never gave me the chance to know him." She said, tears falling down her cheeks.

"Of course." Isabelle said. "He knew what I was doing, he tried to tell the ministry what I was. But it was too late. I killed him. You were born the next day, Cory. I asked your grandfather to mark you, on your first day of life, so you could never stray far from his side. But I did not count on you becoming like the rest of them." She whispered.

"I didn't count on learning the truth." Cory said quietly. "I didn't know how you murdered my own father, how you betrayed my uncle...how you were the one who planned all this. I didn't know you would sell out your own brother for trying to do what was good and right."

"Enough of this." Isabelle sneered. She raised her hand and closed her fist around Cory's throat. Cory gasped and fell to her knees...Harry saw a strange light that seemed to be coming from her face, a glow that seeped from Cory to her mother. He was helpless to do anything when she went limp. Isabelle threw her aside and turned, smiling darkly to Harry. "You still stand, then?" she whispered. "I know you are brave boy, and why shouldn't you be? You defeated my father...yes, indeed he is my father...when both of you had wands, and here we are, and I am defenseless."

Harry shivered. "What are you playing at?" he said quickly.

"I'm not playing at anything." Isabelle said. She turned her glance to Cory. "Don't you understand? If you kill me now, it is nothing. You needed the four founders to defeat the Dark Lord, and your fourth has fallen."

"What...what are you talking about?" Neville said. His voice was tremulous and he was visibly white. For a long moment the room was silent, except for the vague and somehow familiar sound Harry heard coming near--he desperately hoped that one of the others had found them.

"The Order of the Phoenix. It was created when the school was founded...so that the four would remain always, to balance one another. It was that magic that bound them which kept them from doing harm to their others--the one thing that prevented Salazar Slytherin from completing his noble work at this school." She sighed. "No ordinary person may defeat him, you see. To destroy him you must have the balance...and it is impossible to have that balance when the only remaining heir is against you." She smiled darkly, and the noise grew louder.

"Cory isn't dead yet." Harry said.

"She is close enough." Isabelle hissed. "But it does not matter. The sword of Slytherin has long been gone from this school. Without it..."

But they stopped. As one they turned to the door when they realized what the sound was. Fawkes piped his beautiful song as he flew in through the door, magnified by some radiance that was apparent in the essence of his every feather. In his claws dangled a silvery object that was unmistakable.

Isabelle growled. She moved at the same moment that Harry did, but she was quicker. She rose, the sword in her hands. "It's mine." She hissed. "And with it I will see to it that the Order may never prevail." And with that statement, she lunged the bladed into the sensitive and unprotected area between Cory's shoulder blades. As the point sunk into her flesh, Harry shouted out with pain as his scar burned fresh and he sunk to the ground, hand over his forehead.

With apprehension he looked over. He saw only the bright stain of blood on Cory's ragged robes before he fell unconscious...the last thing he saw before darkness enveloped him was the glint of the sword before his eyes.

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Oh, well...*ahem*. That was a twist, now wasn't it? Betcha didn't see that one coming...or maybe you did. Whatever. Anyway, tell me what you think of the new development, love it or hate it. I don't mind if you hate it...actually, I do. I will probably cry. So if you hate it tell me discreetly and I will...still cry. Okay, okay, just tell me the truth and maybe if you are really nice I won't cry. But if you say it's good then I will give you cookies! Or maybe even a cupcake if I REALLY like you!

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