Disclaimer: Harry Potter and associated characters belong to J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Chapter 20: Order 02: Azkaban
Two weeks passed quickly and soon it was the middle of November. During the two weeks preceding their second mission, Harry and Hermione, along with the other six students belonging to the Order, were drilled daily by Professor Sepet and Walter on casting Patronus Charms since it was more than likely they would be going against Dementors. Percy was able to pull a few strings with the Ministry as Fudge's assistant and smuggled a real Dementor into the castle so that they could practise on it. Unfortunately, they ended up with several close calls as some of the students fainted from fright, but with Harry, Walter, and the Count around, one Dementor didn't pose a threat.
At first the other students, with the exception of Harry, had some problems casting their Patronus Charms, but with some help from Remus they were able to cast something resembling silver gas by the time the two weeks were over. To Harry's dismay, Viktor Krum had also joined them in their training sessions since Professor Dumbledore had agreed that he would join the mission with Karkaroff. Ron, wasn't so pleased with the fact that Krum was back and was flirting with Hermione every now and then, so Harry and he had fun taking turns with keeping Krum away from her, which she was grateful for. Fortunately for them, they didn't have to do that as often as Krum, being a popular Quidditch player, was followed around by girls wherever he went and therefore the trio would be alerted to his presence ahead of time and could hide.
As for Harry's position as acting captain, he was becoming more and more exhausted since he had to hold Quidditch practices everyday before his duelling lessons since their first game against Slytherin would be coming up in another week. Despite the fact that Alicia was out of the Hospital wing, she had trouble moving around due to the loss of blood and heavy injury to her neck. Since she could barely hang on to the broom without intense pain, Ron volunteered to act as a replacement chaser for that particular game or until she had fully recovered. Hermione noticed that Quidditch practice and duelling lessons were starting to take a large toll on Harry's endurance and would always fuss over his lack of sleep, though she did go to great lengths to brew some sleeping potion for him so that he could sleep peacefully. Harry didn't mind the attention he was getting from her and he was inwardly pleased that she still cared for him, despite having to hear her complain at times. However he still couldn't make any moves on her since Ron would get jealous and that could ruin their friendship.
The evening before the mission was to take place, Harry and Hermione were outside on the Quidditch pitch, with Professor Sepet and Walter, practising their Patronus Charms and using their weapons with their wands. Sepet had also given Krum a sword, called the 'Dragonfly Cutter' and for this mission, he allowed Malfoy to get his sword back, provided that he didn't abuse the privilege again.
"Alright, everyone line up facing each other, and let's practise using your swords and daggers in pairs," Sepet commanded. "However, this time to make things interesting, you will be allowed to use your wands in conjunction with your sidearm."
Harry was pleased with this arrangement since it gave him an excuse to be close to Hermione since she was his partner whenever they duelled in this manner. They would be duelling as a pair against each of the other pairs of students.
"Mr. Potter and Miss Granger, you will go up against Mr. Malfoy and Miss Zabini," Sepet announced. "Miss Chang and Mr. Boot will go up against Miss Abbot and Mr. Finch-Fletchley."
"Professor?" Krum asked.
"Yes Mr. Krum?" Sepet replied.
"Vhat vill I be doing?"
At the question, Sepet gave Harry a sly smile. "I think we will make things interesting. - Mr. Krum, join Mr. Malfoy and Miss Zabini against Mr. Potter and Miss Granger."
Harry and Hermione groaned.
"This is hardly fair," Hermione whispered to Harry by her side.
"I know, but doesn't look like we'll have much of a choice," Harry whispered back. "At least you'll get to give Krum the beating he deserves."
Hermione smiled at the thought. "I like your thinking Harry."
"Why thank you my dear Hermione," Harry said jokingly before Sepet interrupted their small conversation.
"Alright, now take your places and commence. Walter and I will ensure that nothing goes wrong."
Krum, Malfoy and Blaise took their positions across from Harry and Hermione. Malfoy was smirking while Blaise just glared at them. Krum was smiling at Hermione, who was feeling uncomfortable from his stares but fortunately his attention was diverted by Malfoy's gloating.
"Now we'll be able to give you the beating you two truly deserve," Malfoy sneered.
"In your dreams Malfoy," Harry returned.
Sepet came over to them to observe the duel and they could see that he had an amused look upon his face.
"Face each other and bow," he commanded. "Then you may begin."
Krum bowed respectfully to them before drawing his sword and wand while Blaise and Malfoy bowed slightly before likewise drawing their weapons and their wands. Harry and Hermione bowed with disdain and drew their weapons and wands.
Blaise and Malfoy advanced towards them with their sword and dagger while Krum fired the first curse at them. Hermione cast an air shield to block the curse and it was dispersed into the air when it hit. Malfoy now lunged at Harry with his sword but Harry was able to parry it and counter, only to meet with Blaise's dagger as she stepped in the way. She caught his sword in the guards of her dagger while Malfoy once again attacked with his sword.
Hermione saw this and cast a shield around Harry, blocking Malfoy's attack. However, Krum had also fired a curse at her and she was hit. She fell to the ground, paralysed. Harry was too busy with Malfoy and Blaise to try anything, and now it had become a 3v1 duel. Harry had to even up the odds a bit, so he quickly cast a polymorph spell on Blaise, turning her into a sheep.
Her dagger fell and freed Harry's sword, allowing him to parry Krum's attack as he came running towards him. Krum fell forward from the momentum of his attack and Harry then fired an ice bolt at Krum's back. Ice shards flew from Harry's wand and pierced Krum's back before freezing him solid.
Malfoy then fired two curses with his wand at Harry and attacked him again with his sword. Harry saw this and quickly cast the anti-magic spell on himself so that when Malfoy's curses hit him, they just dissipated. As for Malfoy's sword, Harry barely had enough time to raise his own sword to parry as Malfoy's came down. The force of the attack caused Harry to lose his grip on his sword, knocking it to the ground, and Malfoy's sword cut him in a downward slash on his chest as he was backing up. He winced in pain as Malfoy's sword had cut through his robes and drawn blood.
Since Malfoy was too busy using his sword to try to curse him Harry was finally able to do something about Hermione. He used the 'finite incantatem' spell on her to release her from her paralysis. Hermione came to her senses and saw that Harry no longer had his sword and was busy trying to dodge Malfoy's sword. She picked up her wand and fired a blinding curse at Malfoy, however Malfoy saw this coming and dodged out of the way.
Hermione quickly picked up her dagger and got off the ground. She ran over to where Harry was and into the way of Malfoy's sword, which happened to be coming across from the left. She caught the sword with her dagger while Harry fired another curse at Malfoy. Not wanting to get hit, Malfoy let go of his sword, which fell to the ground, and rolled on the ground to the right, the curse going over his head.
Now with only his wand, Malfoy had no choice but to try to end the duel as quickly as possible.
"Expelliarmus!" he yelled with his wand pointed at Harry.
However, since Harry still had the anti-magic spell cast on himself, the spell didn't do anything and he still retained his wand. Harry smirked at this and ended the duel by disarming Malfoy with the 'Expelliarmus' spell.
Sepet applauded Harry and Hermione at the end of the duel. "Very good duel you two. Excellent teamwork. I award twenty points to Gryffindor for winning and teamwork and five points to Slytherin for attempting."
"Accio Lion's Crest," Harry said and his sword flew to him. He caught it and sheathed it again under his robes as it was before the duel.
Hermione likewise sheathed her dagger and went over to Harry to heal his injury inflicted by Malfoy. Sepet returned Blaise back to normal before going over to Krum. Malfoy however wasn't pleased at all by how the duel turned out.
"You're lucky Potter that your Mudblood girlfriend was diverting my attention," he said, trying to redeem himself.
Harry wanted to counter Malfoy's statement with one of his own but was saved the trouble of doing so as the Count spoke up in his defence.
"Mr. Malfoy, this duel was fought fairly and nothing you say will change the fact that you and your two counterparts were defeated by Mr. Potter and Miss Granger," the Count pointed out, reviving Krum with a wave of his hand. Krum's body slowly thawed and he was able to move, free of his injuries.
"Mr. Potter and Miss Granger," the Count said, now walking so that he could face all five of them. "You performed admirably despite being outnumbered. You covered each other however Miss Granger would do well not to take her eyes off her opponents. But the redeeming aspect of her actions was the fact that she put her partner's safety above her own. In my opinion, that action was the turning point of the duel. Well done Miss Granger, well done."
Harry felt his cheeks turn a tad red at the Count's evaluation and whispered to Hermione a quick 'thank you' for helping him, which she returned with a warm smile.
"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Zabini, and Mr. Krum," the Count continued. "I wish I could say that your performance was also admirable, however, the fact that you three didn't act as a team like Mr. Potter and Miss Granger caused you to lose the duel. The only part in the duel that allowed you three to survive for as long as you did was the fact that Miss Zabini bothered to catch Mr. Potter's sword with her dagger for Mr. Malfoy, otherwise I believe he would have been killed. - Mr. Krum did a good job of attacking Miss Granger while she was trying to protect her counterpart, but did not take full advantage of the fact that Mr. Potter was occupied by Mr. Malfoy and Miss Zabini earlier."
By then, Harry noticed the other students had already finished and were just staring at them as Sepet concluded his evaluation. Then Walter, along with the other four students came to join them.
"Hi Harry," Cho said, coming up to him.
"Hi Cho. How did your duel go?"
"Terry and I won the duel, but we didn't use our weapons at all like you guys did. That was so cool watching you two beat the Slytherins," Cho commented.
"Enough chatter," Sepet's deep voice interrupted and all the mini- conversations that had been going on ceased. "I would like to see all nine of you cast a Patronus Charm before we head off to the Headmaster's office."
Everyone took out their wands and held in front of them before yelling "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" in unison.
One solid blinding form, Harry's Stag Patronus, took form and shot forth from his wand, followed by eight wisps of silvery gas. Harry's Patronus faded and disappeared right before it hit the Count, however the other eight didn't even make it halfway to him.
"I believe that we have prepared all we can for tomorrow's mission. - Now let us head over to the headmaster's office for the briefing," the Count said blandly, not bothering to chastise them for not casting out the charm perfectly as he usually did.
Naturally, Hermione was peeved at not being able to cast a perfect Patronus, but she went along reluctantly as the Count and Walter led the group, back to the castle and up to Dumbledore's office.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Upon arrival at Dumbledore's office, Harry noticed that everyone was present, except for Remus and Sirius.
"Where's Sirius and Lupin?" Hermione whispered as they took their seats.
"I don't know, probably that time where his uniqueness kicks in. I'd think Sirius would want to keep him company."
"Oh, I guess you're right, but that means we're short two people tomorrow."
At that moment, Professor Dumbledore entered the room with Sirius.
"Good evening everyone," Dumbledore greeted. "Tomorrow will be the second mission we carry out, however we will be short six people. - Remus is undergoing his change and Sirius will be keeping him company, just in case something goes wrong despite the wolfsbane potion. Furthermore, since tomorrow classes will be in session, Minerva, Serverus and Professor Flitwick will be unable to join us, as the students will be wondering where they have gone. Finally, to replace Professor Laikov in his DADA class for the day, Percy Weasley has volunteered as Professor Laikov will be needed on our mission."
"- No offence intended Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said to Percy.
"None taken Professor," came the lofty reply. "I will honoured to teach the class."
There was a moment of silence before Moody spoke up. "What about the students? Surely they will be missed tomorrow when they don't show up to class."
"Yes Alastor, you're right," Dumbledore agreed. "The students will be excused from their classes tomorrow on the basis that I will be teaching them personally how to use more advanced levels of magic."
At this, Hermione leaned over to whisper something to Harry. "Harry, what if we used the elemental magic? I think there was a cloning spell we could use on ourselves. - Then we could be in two places at once."
"You're right, we can do that but how do we keep it quiet that we're using that?" Harry asked.
"Just explain to our clones what needs to be done, I mean they're exact copies of us so they should know what to do."
If Dumbledore overheard their conversation, he didn't say anything. He just looked at them thoughtfully and returned to planning. "Tomorrow will be one of the more difficult missions we will have to undertake as we will no doubt be fighting large amounts of Death Eaters and possibly the Dementors or the Dark Lord himself. - Now may I please have Alastor brief us on what our objectives are."
Dumbledore sat down while Moody stood up and walked to the centre of the room, his wooden leg making a clunking sound on the floor as he walked. He once again conjured a map with his wand, only this time it was a map of Azkaban instead of a town.
This was the first time that Harry had seen a map of Azkaban. The north end of the map had two large doors, marked as the entrance. On the other side of the doors were two red dots, which Harry assumed were Dementors standing guard inside the foyer. The foyer itself had three separate doors and a staircase. The staircase led to the second floor, while each of the doors led to a different room. The one to the left led to a kitchen, which meals for the prisoners were prepared. The door located to the right of the staircase led to the cellblocks on the first floor, which were separated by doors about every 100 metres, and the door to the right of the entrance led to the interrogation room, located across from a small office, probably for the prison warden.
"The prison has three floors, each one pretty much identical, with the exception of the kitchen. In each of the other two floors, that door leads to prison cells, much like the ones on the first floor. A Dementor guards each of the cells and there are a total of 300 cells between the three floors, so that makes 300 Dementors guarding the prison. In addition three aurors are set there, one per floor as a prison warden to ensure that all runs smoothly," Moody explained.
"There are house elves which cook the food served to the prisoners, but they aren't allowed to leave the kitchen. - Now that you know the basic layout of the prison and what we will encounter, I will explain the objectives. - Since the Dark Lord wishes to free his followers from the prison, we must ensure that anyone he rescues is useless to him."
At that point, Walter decided to add to the briefing. "That is where I come in. I will have a group of about twenty skeletons with me to help since we will be short a few people. As much as I would prefer to kill them and save us the trouble of having to deal with the Death Eaters, the headmaster doesn't wish us to do so. Therefore we will be taking the prisoners here to Hogwarts so that we can keep an eye on them and not worry about the Dementors turning on us."
"Thank you for honouring my wishes Professor Laikov," Dumbledore said gratefully. "- Please continue Alastor."
"The only way in or out of the prison is through the front doors so we have no choice but to enter through there but with our numbers, we should be able to clear the first floor since there are only corridors and won't need to worry about being attacked from the sides," Moody growled. " - I believe the agreed time for the mission tomorrow was 8:00 AM. We will be travelling by Portkey since apparating isn't possible and Azkaban is cut off from the floo network. You will all have an early breakfast in the Great Hall. That's all I have to say."
Moody sat down and Dumbledore stood up once again to speak, though one could only wonder how he manage to say what he was about to say so calmly. "As we will probably be vastly outnumbered tomorrow and the possibility of not returning is great as there aren't any quick ways out of the prison, I just would like to say that it has been a pleasure to have been headmaster at this school and to have known and worked with all of you. - That is all, you are dismissed."
As everyone got up to leave, their moods dropping because of Dumbledore's speech, Harry noticed that Karkaroff and Krum went to Dumbledore to request something, but he never got to figure out what it was as Hermione was urging him to follow her back to the Gryffindor tower.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Along the way, Harry and Hermione were talking about their next mission and what they should do about their clones.
"We should wake up early tomorrow before anyone else is awake, then we can go down to the common room and create the clones," Hermione suggested. "That way no one will notice the switch and we can go down to the Great Hall for breakfast with the others."
"Sounds good. - But I'm more worried about what will happen when we actually go on our mission tomorrow," Harry replied. "I can't shake the feeling that it might be a trap like the first one."
"I know what you mean, but I believe we'll come out alive," Hermione said, giving him a reassuring smile.
"You really think so?"
"Yes, I don't think that Dumbledore will let us come along if there was a high chance of getting killed."
"But what about that speech he made? It's like he thinks he's going to die tomorrow or something," Harry pointed out.
"Somehow he'll find a way to get us out if something goes wrong. He's always made sure that we had a fair chance if nothing else."
"I hope you're right Hermione, I hope you're right," said Harry, shaking his head as if he didn't want to believe that something could go wrong.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They arrived at the Gryffindor tower and said the password (Hippogriff). The portrait swung open and they walked into the common room, which was deserted by that time.
"It's late, I think we should go to bed," Harry said, looking around the common room.
"You're right. I'll see you tomorrow morning, Good night," Hermione agreed and she walked up to her.
"Good night Hermione." Harry walked up to his dorm and lay down on his four poster bed. Sleep came to him quickly since he was extremely exhausted from Quidditch practices and his duelling classes with Sepet, however his nightmares returned making his night miserable.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Five figures were walking along the street in Hogsmeade at night. All five of them were dressed in black robes, but three of them carried swords under their robes. Snow was falling silently on the ground and on their robes.
"We're almost to the Three Broomsticks; its over here Professor," said Percy, leading the group down the street and to the Three Broomsticks.
"Could we hurry up?" asked an impatient Draco. "I don't want to be out here in the cold forever. - I don't know why I bothered to volunteer to do this."
"Professor, are you sure you vish to come here? Ve have an important mission tomorrow, or have you forgotten?" said Krum, attempting to talk him out of going to the pub.
"I agree with Mr. Krum, Professor Karkaroff," said Sepet, looking around. "You are still a target are under our protection. Just because you have Mr. Weasley and myself around doesn't mean that the Death Eaters won't attack."
"I don't care Professor," snapped Karkaroff. "I'm here to enjoy myself and I will do as I please."
"I believe it was wrong for the headmaster to allow you to come here, much less accept your assistance," Sepet said with a hint of annoyance. "If it were up to me, I would leave your fate to Voldemort's (at which Percy, Karkaroff, and Krum flinched) Death Eaters."
"Shut up Professor," Karkaroff said, spitting out each word. "You're here as my escort, that means that you do as I say."
"My, my Mr. Karkaroff, such manners," the Count said sarcastically. "I didn't expect someone of your high status would insult members of the International Ministry, much less one of the nobility."
"I don't care what you say Professor. Who you work for doesn't concern me and I can care less what your rank is."
"That's enough Professors," Percy said, breaking up the argument. "We're here."
Krum held open the door while Percy, Sepet and Karkaroff entered. He followed behind and they found a quiet table in the corner.
"Viktor, would you please get us four mugs of red currant rum?" Karkaroff requested.
"Of course professor."
"And one Butterbeer for me," Malfoy called after him.
While Krum went away to get the rum and butterbeer, Percy sat in between the Count and a very irritated Karkaroff just in case either of them tried to kill each other, though he was pretty much confident that if it came to blows, Karkaroff wouldn't last a second. He had seen the Count in combat during their first mission and someone of his calibre wasn't someone anyone in their right mind would want to mess with.
"So Professor Sepet, what is it like living in Romania?" Percy asked, trying to start up a conversation.
"The country itself is full of problems. The muggles don't seem to know how to run a country properly, but I suppose I'm content just living in my castle and doing my job for the International Ministry."
"How did you get that job?"
"One of my father's friends was a member of the International Ministry. His job was to hunt down vampires and I became intrigued by it. He saw that I had some magical abilities so he trained me so that I could help him kill them off. After a few years, he saw that I was starting to become very efficient in getting rid of them, so he offered me a position in the Ministry as part of their department of Regulation and Control of Dark Creatures. Soon after however, he was killed by a vampire on one of his excursions. Wanting revenge, I hunted down the vampire and killed him. I spent quite a few years of my life before I accomplished that. Then Voldemort (Malfoy, Percy and Karkaroff winced) came to power and I was transferred to the auror division."
"You fought vampires?" Draco asked, amazed. "That sounds easy."
"It's a lot harder than it sounds Mr. Malfoy," Sepet replied.
"How hard could it be? I mean you just take a wooden stake to them right?"
"Yes, that works, but that's assuming that you can get close to them," the Count replied with a look of amusement as Malfoy had a dumbfounded expression on his face.
By then Krum returned with four mugs full of red currant rum and one full of butterbeer and handed them out. He sat down and started talking with Karkaroff while Percy continued his conversation with Sepet.
"So how did you meet that other Professor - Laikov is it?" Percy asked the Count.
"Yes, that's right. - During World War II, the Nazis had overrun Romania and some of the aurors in our ministry joined them. Walter happened to be working as a spy for the ministry, though I didn't figure that out until I captured him on one of my missions and spared his life. From there, we worked together to wipe out the traitors and once the war was over, the ministry had me return to my father's castle to watch over the dragon roosts that your brother takes care of. Walter decided to join me there and he's been serving me loyally ever since."
The conversations continued on for two more hours and as the night went on, Krum kept ordering more rum, much to the distaste of the other four, but they didn't bother commenting. Karkaroff eventually lightened up after a few drinks and joined the conversation that had been going on between Sepet and Percy. However in the middle of listening to Percy talk about his time at Hogwarts, which he was constantly rambling on about his achievements, Sepet suddenly got up and left the 'Three Broomsticks.'
"That was odd - But stay here, I'm going to see where he's going," Percy told Karkaroff and he too went out leaving Karkaroff with a very drunk Krum and Malfoy.
"Viktor," Karkaroff said, suddenly panicked. "We need to get out of here and hide, there might be Death Eaters around."
"But Professor *hiccup * I vant another drink," Krum said drunkenly.
"You're useless to me. - I'm getting out of here. Give me your sword," commanded Karkaroff and he drew Krum's sword from its sheath with his right hand while pulling out his wand from his robes with his left.
Karkaroff ran out of the pub, but a few moments after he exited the 'Three Broomsticks', something hit him hard on the neck and he fell forward into the snow-covered ground, Krum's sword and his wand landing softly a few feet in front of him, out of reach.
"So we have the traitor Karkaroff attempting to run," said a voice from behind. "I was wondering when you would show yourself. Looks like your escorts can't protect you now."
"Wh-What are you talking about?" Karkaroff said, shaking in fear as he stared at the ground. He tried to get up, but his arms and legs weren't responding even though he could feel them. "I'm not Karkaroff."
"Shut up old man," the voice continued irritably. "You are Karkaroff; my father told me about you. He said the Dark Lord (Karkaroff was shaking in fear even more) has explicit orders not to let you live when we found you."
"I believe slow and painful will be sufficient enough for a traitor. - But I can't let you live too long can I?"
Two hands turned Karkaroff's body around so that he was looking up at the dark sky. He could make out a figure with white-blonde hair and grey eyes, clothed entirely in a black robe with a sword in a black leather sheath at his side.
Malfoy drew his sword and thrust it into Karkaroff's right leg causing blood to flow onto the snow. Karkaroff screamed in pain, but he was still unable to move.
"Did that hurt?" Malfoy taunted. "Maybe I should try your other leg."
Malfoy then thrust the sword into his other leg and more blood seeped from the new cut in his left leg. Malfoy left the sword there and started twisting it, causing Karkaroff to scream in pain even more.
"I'm sure you liked that," Malfoy laughed. "But I think I've overdone it - Time for you to die like the lowly vermin you are Karkaroff."
With that said, the Malfoy pulled the sword from Karkaroff's leg, and walked around to where Karkaroff's head was. He stared down at him and raised the sword with two hands, one hand above the other on the hilt. Karkaroff barely had time to let out a scream before he swung it like a golf club, cutting Karkaroff's head off cleanly, warm blood gushing out onto the snow from the beheaded body while Karkaroff's head rolled to the right, spreading rivulets of blood as it rolled on the snow covered ground.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry didn't have a problem waking up early the next morning as his scar was burning. He sat up in bed clutching his scar. It stopped burning soon but it was a while before he realised what his nightmare told him. - Karkaroff was dead.
This also meant that they were short another person on their mission today and that was one less person to help them, regardless if they were a former Death Eater or not. Harry got up to change into his robes and he quickly went downstairs. Hermione wasn't there yet so he sat down on the couch and waited for her.
It was about a half-hour before she came down, but when she came down, she saw him sitting on the couch and went over to him.
"Good morning Harry," she said cheerfully, but her face dropped when she noticed Harry's worried expression. "What's wrong?"
"Karkaroff is dead," Harry replied unemotionally.
"How do you know?"
"I had a nightmare and Karkaroff was killed by Malfoy."
"Are you sure it was Malfoy?"
"White-blonde hair and wielding a sword? It's unmistakably Malfoy. He tortured Karkaroff before killing him," Harry stated.
"Oh great, that makes two Death Eaters to keep track of. But what do we do about - " Hermione began.
"Hermione - We should create our clones," Harry interrupted, not wanting to dwell on the subject of his nightmares for too long. "Then we need to get down to the Great Hall before anyone else notices."
"Oh alright," Hermione conceded reluctantly and made a mental note to ask Harry about it later.
They faced each other and drew out their wands. Hermione went first and pointed her wand at Harry before quietly saying 'effingo Harry.' A faint figure that looked exactly like Harry separated from his body and solidified next to him.
"Hello Hermione," Harry's clone said, but when he turned to look at the real Harry, the clone let out a small yelp. "Why is there another one of me?"
"Nevermind that," Hermione cut in. "You're a clone and he's the real thing. We need you to fill in for us in classes today because we need to go with Professor Dumbledore on a mission."
"Hey, what about me?" the clone asked. "I want to go too."
"Well, let's put it this way," Hermione said irritably. "If you don't stay, then we both get in trouble, you don't want that now do you? Ron will definitely suspect something if we don't show up to class, so go back upstairs and go to sleep or something. Don't worry, you'll have a clone of me to keep you company."
"Alright I'll do it. But only because I don't want you to get into trouble and I don't want to lose Ron's friendship either," the clone replied.
"Thank you," Hermione squealed happily and gave the clone a hug, causing him to blush.
*If the clone is an exact copy of me, then do I do that when Hermione's around? * Harry thought to himself looking at his clone's reaction.
"Now your turn to make a clone of me," Hermione told Harry.
Harry pointed his wand at Hermione and said, "Effingo Hermione." Just like before with Harry, a faint figure looking exactly like Hermione separated from her body and solidified next to her.
"Hi Harry, uh, Harrys," the clone of Hermione said, noticing Harry's clone. "Why are there two of you and why am I standing next to myself? Is this a dream?"
Harry and Hermione sighed. "No it isn't a dream. You're a clone of Hermione and we need you to fill in for her during classes while we go on a mission for Dumbledore," Harry explained. "Just don't do anything we wouldn't do."
"You don't need to worry about that because well - we're you - but please be careful Harry," Hermione's clone said, giving him a look of concern. "I'll just stay here with your other self."
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief that they didn't have to explain the situation anymore and their clones were content to stay behind at the school.
"Come on Harry, let's go," Hermione said. "Bye you two."
"Bye," replied their clones as the real Harry and Hermione walked out of the common room and towards the Great Hall for their early breakfast.
"Well, that was weird," Harry commented.
"Yeah it was," Hermione agreed. " - How long do they last?"
"I think a day, why?"
"Just wondering. We don't need our clones to disappear while we're still away."
Harry grinned, it would be very bad if that did happen since Ron would be wondering why they disappeared into thin air.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When they arrived at the Great Hall, Harry and Hermione noticed that they were the first ones there, but the places for everyone were laid out. So they sat down and ate breakfast while they waited for the rest of the Order members.
A few moments after they finished eating breakfast, the other phoenix members, with the exception of the six who were remaining behind during the mission, entered.
"Hi Harry," said Cho, sitting across from him with Terry.
"This is the first time I've been on a mission, but I heard the first one was hell," Terry commented.
"It was," Hermione stated. "We were drenched in blood, thanks to Sepet and Walter killing every Death Eater in sight. Honestly, haven't they heard of taking prisoners?"
"Of course we have," Walter answered from behind, causing Hermione to jump in surprise. "Those five Death Eaters we captured wouldn't be alive if we didn't want to take prisoners Miss Granger. We just don't do it often."
"Where's Sepet?" Harry asked turning around and noticing that Sepet hadn't arrived yet. "Isn't he coming on this mission?"
"Lord Sepet is away on some business so he won't be joining us. The international ministry needs him to deal with something."
"What do you mean he's away on some business?" Hermione said exasperated. "And right before a mission no less."
"My apologies Miss Granger but I will make sure that no harm come to you or anyone else, at the cost of my own life if necessary."
Just then, Percy Weasley came bursting through the doors of the Great Hall with Viktor Krum, who was carrying a bloody sword in one hand and dragging Malfoy behind him, who was tied up with ropes.
"Professors!" Percy exclaimed shakily. "Krum and I found Karkaroff dead on the street in Hogsmeade. Malfoy beheaded him with his sword."
"Calm down Mr. Weasley. Now tell us where Professor Sepet is and why you haven't returned with him," Dumbledore asked calmly.
"He ran off while we were having a drink at the 'Three Broomsticks' and I went to look for him," Percy explained. "A few moments later I heard someone screaming and so I turned around to see what the problem was. When I came back, I saw that Malfoy was standing over Karkaroff's body with his sword drawn."
"It's true," a now sober Krum confirmed. "Mr. Veasley left to go after Professor Sepet and once he left, Professor Karkaroff panicked and he took my svord. He vent out, but Malfoy got up and followed him. He hit him in the back very hard vhen he exited the pub then he tortured and killed him."
"I cast a full body bind on him and Krum and I tied him up before bringing him here," Percy added.
"There isn't much we can do at this time about Igor or Professor Sepet and I won't bother asking why you weren't able to do anything about Mr. Malfoy - Mr. Krum," Dumbledore said. " - I will have Minerva and the rest of the teachers quietly look into it. - Did you clear the body?"
"Yes ve did Professor," Krum answered. "It's lying in an alley and the blood in the snow has been removed."
"Good. Now people living in Hogsmeade won't be asking questions. - Percy I want you and Mr. Krum to join Professor McGonagall with investigating his death after classes finish. Take Mr. Malfoy to the dungeons and put him where he won't cause anymore trouble."
"Alright," Percy acknowledged and he and Krum walked out of the Great Hall, dragging Malfoy behind them.
"Now, we have wasted too much time delaying here. - I will bring the portkeys and we can go over to the Quidditch pitch so that we can use them," said Dumbledore and he led the group out of the Hall and towards the Quidditch pitch.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When they arrived at the Quidditch pitch, Dumbledore brought out two old shoes that Harry assumed were the portkeys.
"These are the portkeys," Dumbledore explained. "Walter, Moody, Arthur, Bill, Arabella, Mundungus, and myself will go first and the students will follow. "
With that, the first group grabbed the portkey and with the sound of the howling wind, they disappeared and now it was Harry's turn to go.
Harry grabbed the second portkey with the rest of the students and with usual swirling of colour and howling wind accompanied by the pull behind the navel, they were transported away from the Quidditch Pitch and to Azkaban.
~*~*~*~*~*~
When everything stopped spinning and came into view, Harry, Hermione and the other students were at the entrance to Azkaban and the rest of the Order members were waiting to enter quickly. Walter's twenty skeletons were there already and Harry wondered how he had managed to transport them. Dumbledore picked up the portkeys and tucked them into his robe before leading the group up the hill to the entrance.
Oddly there weren't any dementors outside, but that was probably because they preferred the darkness of the dungeon to the brightness of the sunlight.
Walter motioned to his skeletons and they prepared to enter. Since the front gates were very large, the skeletons would have to open the door while Dumbledore and Moody took care of the dementors inside.
On Dumbledore's signal, six skeletons opened the doors, allowing Dumbledore and Moody to enter. They both cast a Patronus charm, Dumbledore's being a phoenix and Moody's being an owl, to ward off the Dementors inside.
The skeletons left the doors open just in case they needed to make a hasty retreat and the group entered cautiously, leaving four skeletons were left to guard the entrance.
"Professor Laikov, let's get started," Dumbledore ordered.
"Yes sir," Walter answered and he started towards the door, but when he opened it he saw a group of dementors waiting on the opposite side. Walter was taken by surprise and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Dumbledore was quick to react and cast another Patronus charm to force the dementors to withdraw to a safe distance while Arthur closed the door and revived Walter.
"I was wondering when you would show up Albus," said a voice off to the left.
When Harry looked over to see who it was, he found himself looking at Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, flanked by two Dementors and nine aurors. Soon more Dementors entered and Harry felt Hermione and Cho fall next to him. The other students fell down as well and soon they were completely surrounded by a circle of Dementors and aurors.
"How did you find out about this?" Dumbledore asked Fudge.
"Come now Albus, surely you had better sense in picking your members of this 'Order of the Phoenix' that you've formed," Fudge replied mockingly. "Lucius Malfoy was quite informative about your little mission to free the Death Eaters."
"Free the Death Eaters? Fudge have you lost your mind? I am only going to take them back to Hogwarts so that Voldemort (Everyone but Walter and Harry flinch) wouldn't be able to get more followers."
"A likely story. Lucius also told me that you would try that. The dark lord is dead Albus, he was destroyed by - " Fudge had stopped talking because he noticed Harry in the group, who unlike the rest of the students could control his fear and therefore didn't pass out due to the Dementors. "Harry Potter - If I didn't think the treachery didn't go down further, I was mistaken. - I can't believe that Albus would have turned the boy who defeated the Dark Lord fifteen years ago against us."
"Why would you think that we have turned against our world?" "You associated yourself with people like this - necromancer," Fudge continued disdainfully, pointing his finger at Walter. "People who use the Dark Arts for their own benefit. Why would you be associating with them if you weren't planning on betraying us."
"Fudge," said Dumbledore, trying to reason with him. "Lucius fed you with those ideas. Listen to yourself - Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?"
"Of course he doesn't," A second voice hissed from the entrance. "He's my little puppet."
Harry didn't have to think twice to know whose voice that belonged to since his scar was now burning. When he looked over at Voldemort, the scar burned even more and he staggered under the pain. Walter's skeletons were destroyed, though from the two bodies that were lying in pools of blood on the entrance floor, the skeletons had managed to kill a few of the Death Eaters.
The nine aurors around Fudge were now drawing out their wands at the sight of Voldemort, however they never got the chance to use them as the Dementors removed their hoods to reveal their grey scabbed skin and shapeless mouths. They picked up each of the aurors and bit into them, sucking out their life and soon nine aurors were lying on the floor with a fate worse than death as the Order members watched in horror.
Voldemort let out an evil laugh. "This is very good. Fudge is my puppet and I have you all trapped in the very place that you had condemned many of my followers to live in. - I should think it very amusing to have you all imprisoned in here with my Dementors for the rest of your miserable lives."
"Lucius' son was very helpful in informing us about this little mission of yours to take my followers and imprison them at Hogwarts. He may turn out to be more loyal than his father," Voldemort continued.
*So that's how they knew when to ambush us this time. * Harry thought angrily despite the pain he was in.
"As much as I would like to play around with you," Voldemort said triumphantly. "I must free my loyal Death Eaters imprisoned in here. - Capture them but do not kill them."
The Dementors advanced and Harry could hear the screams of his mother as she made an effort to protect him from Voldemort. But he quickly thought of something happy and fired off a Patronus Charm from his wand. The stag took shape and some of the Dementors coming from behind fell back to avoid it. Dumbledore also cast another Patronus and chased the remaining Dementors away.
"FOOLS," Voldemort screamed. "ENOUGH OF THIS - KILL THEM!"
As Harry saw the Death Eaters raise their wands to attack, several vials of some type of potion that he didn't recognise were thrown in their direction, shattering on the floor. Green smoke started filling the room, apparently from the shattered vials and soon the Death Eaters weren't able to see anything.
"GET THEM! DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!" Voldemort commanded.
The Death Eaters tried to comply but when they tried to go through the smoke, it stung their eyes and choked them. Some that hadn't been affected fired curses through the screen in an attempt to hit them before they escaped but none of them came close to hitting them as Walter raised a wall made of bone, similar to the one he used to keep Malfoy in the dungeons to form a barrier and shield them from the curses.
Harry heard Walter call from behind him. "We need to gather the unconscious students and try to get out of here but we need to hurry. My poison screen will only keep the Death Eaters busy for a while."
"Follow me - I have an idea," Harry shouted over the painful screams of some of the Death Eaters as they tried to get past the screen. Surprisingly it only affected the Death Eaters as none of the Order members were affected by the toxic gas that had quickly filled the room.
"Do as he says," Dumbledore said, backing Harry up.
Walter's remaining skeletons picked up the bodies of the unconscious students and lined up, ready to follow Harry.
Harry painfully made his way over to the door leading to the kitchen with the rest of the Order members following. Along the way, they had to cast some Patronus charms to ward away any of the Dementors that had come too close despite the smoke screen Walter provided.
When Harry got to the door, he pointed his wand at the door and cast the portal spell. A blue light shot out of his wand and hit the door, forming a swirling blue portal for them to pass through. Walter's skeletons entered first carrying the unconscious students followed by Moody, Arthur, Bill, Arabella, and Mundungus. Walter and Dumbledore waited outside for Harry to enter, probably to cover their retreat.
"YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE ME HARRY! - AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort screeched, firing the killing curse into the smoke screen. Unlike the other Death Eaters, he seemed more aware of where they were going, but it didn't travel any further than Walter's bone wall.
"We must make haste," Walter stated and Dumbledore stepped through the portal followed by Harry.
Walter finally stepped through moments later and Harry closed the portal. In order to prevent the Death Eaters from entering as well, Walter raised a second wall made entirely of bone, just like he had done earlier.
They were now in the kitchens and everywhere Harry looked, he saw house elves working happily.
*Hermione wouldn't be too happy about this, but maybe they can help us * Harry thought.
"Where to now?" Harry asked Dumbledore.
Dumbledore went up to one of the elves and asked if there was an exit.
"There is no exit sir," the house elf squeaked. "The only exit it through the way you came."
"Then which wall will lead outside?'
"All the walls lead outside. Cliff on the other side of that wall," the house elf said, pointing to the wall across from the door. "Long drop down, no exit that way."
"What is you doing here sir?" the house elf asked.
"We are trying to find a way out. Death Eaters are on the other side of that door and if you don't show us an exit, they will kill us all," Dumbledore explained.
If Dumbledore had expected the house elf to be horrified, he would be disappointed because the house elf looked unconcerned. "Death Eaters? Of course there is Death Eaters here sir. This is Azkaban, the wizarding prison. They is all locked up."
"Perhaps you misunderstood. Voldemort (the house elf's eyes grew bigger) has returned and is attacking this place. - Now which wall is facing the steps leading out?"
"He-who-must-not-be-named is back?"
Dumbledore nodded. "You can come with us."
"That wall," said the house elf, pointing to the wall to the right of the door they just entered. "faces the steps sir but we is unable to follow. We is forbidden by minister to leave this place."
"I see - Thank you," Dumbledore said, causing the house elf to jump in surprise, and motioned for Harry to create a portal again.
Harry went up to the wall and created another portal. This time the adults went first followed by the skeletons bearing the unconscious students. Harry would have liked to bring the house elves along, as they didn't deserve to be left to the mercy of Voldemort, however they would only slow the group down and put them in danger. If they didn't survive then the wizarding world would be lost to Voldemort since the Phoenix Order was the only group actively trying to stop him from gaining complete control at the moment.
Once outside, Harry closed the portal and saw that Dumbledore was leading the group through the wasteland that surrounded the prison and down to a small cave that had been naturally formed in a rock formation located below them. When he looked up, he could see that the toxic gas that Walter used earlier was coming out of the front entrance, which was visible from where he was, but there was no sign of any Death Eaters or Voldemort; probably too busy trying to deal with Walter's potion to be able to do anything else.
Harry followed behind the skeletons and soon he joined the other members in the safety of the cave. Dumbledore, Bill, Arthur, and Moody immediately started reviving each of the students who were carried by Walter's skeletons.
After each of the students came to, Dumbledore immediately explained the situation to them and Hermione immediately started looking around for Harry with a worried look on her face, but she found him near Walter's skeletons, staring at her with concern. She breathed a sigh of relief and went over to join him.
"Harry, I'm so glad you made it," she said, giving him a hug, which he returned happily, even though his scar hadn't quite stopped burning yet.
"I'm happy that you made it back too Hermione."
Dumbledore brought out the portkeys once again and placed them on the ground. "We must return quickly before anyone pursues us. - The students will go first and we will follow."
The students made a circle around the portkey and touched it together. Harry felt the pull behind his navel as before and with a swirling of colour accompanied with a howling wind, he and the rest of the students found themselves back at the Quidditch pitch of Hogwarts.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The adult members of the Order arrived soon after them and they headed back to the school and to the Hospital wing. Much to Harry's relief, unlike the first mission, they weren't covered in the blood of the Death Eaters and didn't have to worry about leaving a trail of blood on the ground nor was his scar burning now that Voldemort was out of range.
The students were still feeling weak from having passed out due to the Dementors and Madam Pomfrey immediately gave them each a bar of Honeydukes' best chocolate and had them sit down on the bed. She also insisted that Walter eat a bar of chocolate as well, which he accepted with a look of irritation at his failure to carry out the mission perfectly. His skeletons weren't present as they were sent out to patrol the halls in case any Death Eaters decided to show up at the school.
All of the Order members that had gone on the mission were likewise present since Dumbledore wanted to have a word with all of them. After a quick talk with Madam Pomfrey, Dumbledore strode to the centre of the room while she went to lock the door.
"This mission has revealed to us the extent of the plans of the Dark Lord," Dumbledore said heavily. "He now has control over our Ministry and we may come under heavy attack for our failure this time."
"What should we do now?" asked Arthur. "The ministry will no longer be safe for Bill, Percy, or myself."
"You three will not return to the ministry," Dumbledore replied. "It will not be safe for you - and 'The Burrow' will not be safe for your family; therefore your entire family must come here Arthur."
"What about Malfoy?" Hermione chipped in. "He betrayed us and we paid dearly for it."
"I'm afraid Mr. Malfoy will have to be removed from this Order and from this school."
"But won't it look like we've expelled him for nothing?" Cho asked.
"That will be taken care of Miss Chang. I am well aware of Mr. Malfoy's attempts to provoke Harry and Miss Granger. Professor Laikov came to me with information that Mr. Malfoy threatened Mr. Weasley in Professor Snape's classroom with his sword. In addition, he killed a person in Hogsmeade. I believe that is enough grounds for him to be expelled," Dumbledore explained.
Madam Pomfrey came back in from her office carrying more chocolate and some potions for everyone to drink.
"I believe Poppy would like to check up on all of you, therefore I will be leaving. However I trust you should be released back to your towers later this evening," Dumbledore said to the students. "You will have lunch and dinner here since all of the students are under the impression that you are taking classes with me for today. Your homework will be sent to you by owl later."
With that, Dumbledore left the Hospital Wing, leaving them there in the care of Madam Pomfrey who made them eat more chocolate and drink some potions to put them all to sleep until the evening.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When Harry and Hermione arrived back at the Gryffindor tower in the evening, they found that the common room was empty since it was dinnertime and all the students would be in the Great Hall. Since they had already eaten dinner in the Hospital Wing, they didn't feel hungry and so they decided to take a walk.
"I wonder how our clones held up," Hermione said curiously.
"I'm sure they're convincing enough to keep Ron busy," Harry replied.
"What do you want to do? We have another hour - then we need to switch places with our clones somehow."
"Oh that'll be fun," Harry said sarcastically. "We just walk up to them and tell them to switch with us and everything will be alright."
"I didn't mean it like that," said Hermione, though when she thought of what he had just said, she found it very funny.
"So what did you mean?"
"We get one of the professors to help us. Just say that they would like a word with them and we switch then."
"Yeah, but who would be willing to help us?"
"Walter of course."
"Alright, let's go see him."
So they made their way down to the dungeons where Walter's office was located. When they arrived, they knocked on the door and a rather enraged Walter opened the door.
"What is it?" Walter asked annoyed at being bothered with his work.
"Uh," Hermione spoke up timidly. "We were just wondering if you could help us with a problem."
"Ah, Miss Granger - Mr. Potter," Walter said, his face expression softening. "My apologies for my rudeness - Please come in."
They entered Walter's office, which looked pretty much the same as it did the first time they came to see him, and took a seat at his desk.
"What can I do for you? - Though I must apologise for my failure this morning. I should have kept a closer eye on Mr. Malfoy," Walter mused angrily.
"It's not your fault Walter," Hermione said encouragingly. "You're starting to sound like Harry when something bad happens that's out of his control."
Harry blushed slightly at that remark and Walter continued. "Thank you Miss Granger. Your words are certainly relieving for me to hear. I was thinking of resigning my position for my failure."
"DON'T RESIGN!" they both exclaimed in unison, causing both of them to burst into a fit of laughter.
"I meant, don't resign," Hermione said, calming down. "You're the best Dark Arts teacher that we've had other than Professor Lupin."
"She's right Walter," Harry added. "You've been very helpful to us and we don't want you to leave."
"Thank you both. - Now what was that problem that you wanted to discuss with me?"
"Well, you see we didn't leave the school while we were on our mission," Harry explained. "We used magic to create some clones of ourselves to keep our friend Ron from suspecting anything."
"We just want you to tell us, er our other selves, to come to your office. Then we can switch places with them and go back to see Ron," Hermione said.
"Very well, I shall fulfil your request. It's the best I can do to make up for my failure," Walter said, getting up. "Please wait here."
Walter left his office, leaving Harry and Hermione alone, free to do as they pleased for now.
"I wonder what books he has," said Hermione, getting up to look at the bookshelves lining the right wall of Walter's office.
"Hermione - Only you would be interested in books that our Professors read."
"Well, if it helps us understand some of his magic, then why not?"
"I thought that you didn't like using the Dark Arts."
"I don't - I'm just curious. Maybe we can understand Walter a bit more - or even Sepet."
"I guess - but you'll probably want to get away from those books before Walter suspects anything."
Eventually Walter returned with the clones and they could get on with switching places.
"Hi Harry," Hermione's clone greeted.
"Hey you two. How was your day?" Harry asked.
"Oh - it was alright. All the professors looked surprised to see us though," Hermione's clone replied.
"That because we weren't supposed to be there," Hermione stated. " - We should get back to Ron before he suspects something. Thanks for filling in for us though."
"No problem. We like doing this. It's actually kinda fun," said Harry's clone, grinning. "Imagine the number of pranks we could pull on everyone and they wouldn't know who we were."
"You mean the number of people that would get mad at us because you two look like us," Hermione said disapprovingly. "You will not do anything of that sort."
Harry's clone smiled. "Well, we'll see you two the next time you need us. "
Harry and Hermione took out their wands and pointed them at their clones before using the 'dispel magic' spell. Both clones faded and melted back into Harry and Hermione, leaving an empty space where they had stood before.
"That was very impressive magic you two," Walter commented. " - But I think I've kept you from Mr. Weasley. He should be waiting just outside of your common room."
"Thanks Walter," they called as they left his office to go find Ron.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They found Ron waiting where Walter said he would be, just outside of their common room.
"What did Walter want?" Ron asked.
"Oh he just wanted to tell us something about our Defence Class with Sepet," Hermione lied.
"Yeah, he thinks it's too much for us to handle in the evening in addition to our classes," Harry added, hoping Ron wouldn't ask anymore questions.
"I guess. - Hey let's go in - We need to do our homework for tomorrow's class," Ron groaned. "You think you can help me with my homework Hermione?"
"Why not - I need to do my homework too," Hermione replied before saying the password (sceptrum) to their common room and the portrait swung open allowing the trio to enter.
A/N: Well that's their second mission. Hope you liked it. I believe this is the longest chapter I've done so far (basically the length of two chapters put together) hence why it took me way too long, not to mention the editing time. The next chapter will be Quidditch game vs. Slytherin, so it probably won't advance the plot by much, with a few exceptions.
Special Thanks to Juna-Mae for beta reading and for helping me with the plot. You're THE BEST beta reader I have. - Actually, you're the only beta reader I have, hehe, can't thank you enough.
Angelis: Thank you for reviewing, but I don't know if I'll be able to hook Harry & Hermione up anytime soon. As for pleasing everyone, you're right, I can't do that since someone's going to be disappointed in one way or another, but if my what I do doesn't appeal much to the readers, then no one is going to read the story and my time will have been wasted; so that's why I do make some attempt to incorporate everyone's ideas into my fic.
"Heather": Don't worry, Krum won't get Hermione.
"Panther": Thanks for the note. Yes, you're right, the physics doesn't work w/ the way the amulets were set up. So I changed it accordingly.
The Game: Sorry, but I can't have Hermione's role diminish for several reasons that you'll find out later.
Promy: Thanks for reviewing, sorry you're disappointed with Hermione's form but it'll be useful later.
Phoenix of Light: Thank you for the review but you don't need to worry about the updates, I've been trying to update fairly fast. The only exception would be this chapter.
Weird-n-nextdoor: Thanks for reviewing glad you like the story. Yes, I did put a lot of thought into this fic.
Mikala: As much as I'd like to answer that question "what's up with cho?" I can't do that just yet, otherwise I'd ruin the romance plot to the story. You will find out later whether or not she's faking, just keep reading. As for Krum, I don't know what I'll do with him, just yet. Though thank you for the suggestion.
Quis: Thank you for telling me about the technical error. You're right, the Claymore is a two-handed sword so I changed it to a Ruby Eye Serpent Sword, which is a one-handed sword.
Marba50: yes, you're right, becoming an animagus is supposed to take a long time. That's why Hermione can only transform her hands. Though the explanation for Harry is that he's really powerful (he just doesn't know the full extent of his powers yet) so he was able to do more the first time but it still took him a month to get it down. Thank you for reviewing.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Chapter 20: Order 02: Azkaban
Two weeks passed quickly and soon it was the middle of November. During the two weeks preceding their second mission, Harry and Hermione, along with the other six students belonging to the Order, were drilled daily by Professor Sepet and Walter on casting Patronus Charms since it was more than likely they would be going against Dementors. Percy was able to pull a few strings with the Ministry as Fudge's assistant and smuggled a real Dementor into the castle so that they could practise on it. Unfortunately, they ended up with several close calls as some of the students fainted from fright, but with Harry, Walter, and the Count around, one Dementor didn't pose a threat.
At first the other students, with the exception of Harry, had some problems casting their Patronus Charms, but with some help from Remus they were able to cast something resembling silver gas by the time the two weeks were over. To Harry's dismay, Viktor Krum had also joined them in their training sessions since Professor Dumbledore had agreed that he would join the mission with Karkaroff. Ron, wasn't so pleased with the fact that Krum was back and was flirting with Hermione every now and then, so Harry and he had fun taking turns with keeping Krum away from her, which she was grateful for. Fortunately for them, they didn't have to do that as often as Krum, being a popular Quidditch player, was followed around by girls wherever he went and therefore the trio would be alerted to his presence ahead of time and could hide.
As for Harry's position as acting captain, he was becoming more and more exhausted since he had to hold Quidditch practices everyday before his duelling lessons since their first game against Slytherin would be coming up in another week. Despite the fact that Alicia was out of the Hospital wing, she had trouble moving around due to the loss of blood and heavy injury to her neck. Since she could barely hang on to the broom without intense pain, Ron volunteered to act as a replacement chaser for that particular game or until she had fully recovered. Hermione noticed that Quidditch practice and duelling lessons were starting to take a large toll on Harry's endurance and would always fuss over his lack of sleep, though she did go to great lengths to brew some sleeping potion for him so that he could sleep peacefully. Harry didn't mind the attention he was getting from her and he was inwardly pleased that she still cared for him, despite having to hear her complain at times. However he still couldn't make any moves on her since Ron would get jealous and that could ruin their friendship.
The evening before the mission was to take place, Harry and Hermione were outside on the Quidditch pitch, with Professor Sepet and Walter, practising their Patronus Charms and using their weapons with their wands. Sepet had also given Krum a sword, called the 'Dragonfly Cutter' and for this mission, he allowed Malfoy to get his sword back, provided that he didn't abuse the privilege again.
"Alright, everyone line up facing each other, and let's practise using your swords and daggers in pairs," Sepet commanded. "However, this time to make things interesting, you will be allowed to use your wands in conjunction with your sidearm."
Harry was pleased with this arrangement since it gave him an excuse to be close to Hermione since she was his partner whenever they duelled in this manner. They would be duelling as a pair against each of the other pairs of students.
"Mr. Potter and Miss Granger, you will go up against Mr. Malfoy and Miss Zabini," Sepet announced. "Miss Chang and Mr. Boot will go up against Miss Abbot and Mr. Finch-Fletchley."
"Professor?" Krum asked.
"Yes Mr. Krum?" Sepet replied.
"Vhat vill I be doing?"
At the question, Sepet gave Harry a sly smile. "I think we will make things interesting. - Mr. Krum, join Mr. Malfoy and Miss Zabini against Mr. Potter and Miss Granger."
Harry and Hermione groaned.
"This is hardly fair," Hermione whispered to Harry by her side.
"I know, but doesn't look like we'll have much of a choice," Harry whispered back. "At least you'll get to give Krum the beating he deserves."
Hermione smiled at the thought. "I like your thinking Harry."
"Why thank you my dear Hermione," Harry said jokingly before Sepet interrupted their small conversation.
"Alright, now take your places and commence. Walter and I will ensure that nothing goes wrong."
Krum, Malfoy and Blaise took their positions across from Harry and Hermione. Malfoy was smirking while Blaise just glared at them. Krum was smiling at Hermione, who was feeling uncomfortable from his stares but fortunately his attention was diverted by Malfoy's gloating.
"Now we'll be able to give you the beating you two truly deserve," Malfoy sneered.
"In your dreams Malfoy," Harry returned.
Sepet came over to them to observe the duel and they could see that he had an amused look upon his face.
"Face each other and bow," he commanded. "Then you may begin."
Krum bowed respectfully to them before drawing his sword and wand while Blaise and Malfoy bowed slightly before likewise drawing their weapons and their wands. Harry and Hermione bowed with disdain and drew their weapons and wands.
Blaise and Malfoy advanced towards them with their sword and dagger while Krum fired the first curse at them. Hermione cast an air shield to block the curse and it was dispersed into the air when it hit. Malfoy now lunged at Harry with his sword but Harry was able to parry it and counter, only to meet with Blaise's dagger as she stepped in the way. She caught his sword in the guards of her dagger while Malfoy once again attacked with his sword.
Hermione saw this and cast a shield around Harry, blocking Malfoy's attack. However, Krum had also fired a curse at her and she was hit. She fell to the ground, paralysed. Harry was too busy with Malfoy and Blaise to try anything, and now it had become a 3v1 duel. Harry had to even up the odds a bit, so he quickly cast a polymorph spell on Blaise, turning her into a sheep.
Her dagger fell and freed Harry's sword, allowing him to parry Krum's attack as he came running towards him. Krum fell forward from the momentum of his attack and Harry then fired an ice bolt at Krum's back. Ice shards flew from Harry's wand and pierced Krum's back before freezing him solid.
Malfoy then fired two curses with his wand at Harry and attacked him again with his sword. Harry saw this and quickly cast the anti-magic spell on himself so that when Malfoy's curses hit him, they just dissipated. As for Malfoy's sword, Harry barely had enough time to raise his own sword to parry as Malfoy's came down. The force of the attack caused Harry to lose his grip on his sword, knocking it to the ground, and Malfoy's sword cut him in a downward slash on his chest as he was backing up. He winced in pain as Malfoy's sword had cut through his robes and drawn blood.
Since Malfoy was too busy using his sword to try to curse him Harry was finally able to do something about Hermione. He used the 'finite incantatem' spell on her to release her from her paralysis. Hermione came to her senses and saw that Harry no longer had his sword and was busy trying to dodge Malfoy's sword. She picked up her wand and fired a blinding curse at Malfoy, however Malfoy saw this coming and dodged out of the way.
Hermione quickly picked up her dagger and got off the ground. She ran over to where Harry was and into the way of Malfoy's sword, which happened to be coming across from the left. She caught the sword with her dagger while Harry fired another curse at Malfoy. Not wanting to get hit, Malfoy let go of his sword, which fell to the ground, and rolled on the ground to the right, the curse going over his head.
Now with only his wand, Malfoy had no choice but to try to end the duel as quickly as possible.
"Expelliarmus!" he yelled with his wand pointed at Harry.
However, since Harry still had the anti-magic spell cast on himself, the spell didn't do anything and he still retained his wand. Harry smirked at this and ended the duel by disarming Malfoy with the 'Expelliarmus' spell.
Sepet applauded Harry and Hermione at the end of the duel. "Very good duel you two. Excellent teamwork. I award twenty points to Gryffindor for winning and teamwork and five points to Slytherin for attempting."
"Accio Lion's Crest," Harry said and his sword flew to him. He caught it and sheathed it again under his robes as it was before the duel.
Hermione likewise sheathed her dagger and went over to Harry to heal his injury inflicted by Malfoy. Sepet returned Blaise back to normal before going over to Krum. Malfoy however wasn't pleased at all by how the duel turned out.
"You're lucky Potter that your Mudblood girlfriend was diverting my attention," he said, trying to redeem himself.
Harry wanted to counter Malfoy's statement with one of his own but was saved the trouble of doing so as the Count spoke up in his defence.
"Mr. Malfoy, this duel was fought fairly and nothing you say will change the fact that you and your two counterparts were defeated by Mr. Potter and Miss Granger," the Count pointed out, reviving Krum with a wave of his hand. Krum's body slowly thawed and he was able to move, free of his injuries.
"Mr. Potter and Miss Granger," the Count said, now walking so that he could face all five of them. "You performed admirably despite being outnumbered. You covered each other however Miss Granger would do well not to take her eyes off her opponents. But the redeeming aspect of her actions was the fact that she put her partner's safety above her own. In my opinion, that action was the turning point of the duel. Well done Miss Granger, well done."
Harry felt his cheeks turn a tad red at the Count's evaluation and whispered to Hermione a quick 'thank you' for helping him, which she returned with a warm smile.
"Mr. Malfoy, Miss Zabini, and Mr. Krum," the Count continued. "I wish I could say that your performance was also admirable, however, the fact that you three didn't act as a team like Mr. Potter and Miss Granger caused you to lose the duel. The only part in the duel that allowed you three to survive for as long as you did was the fact that Miss Zabini bothered to catch Mr. Potter's sword with her dagger for Mr. Malfoy, otherwise I believe he would have been killed. - Mr. Krum did a good job of attacking Miss Granger while she was trying to protect her counterpart, but did not take full advantage of the fact that Mr. Potter was occupied by Mr. Malfoy and Miss Zabini earlier."
By then, Harry noticed the other students had already finished and were just staring at them as Sepet concluded his evaluation. Then Walter, along with the other four students came to join them.
"Hi Harry," Cho said, coming up to him.
"Hi Cho. How did your duel go?"
"Terry and I won the duel, but we didn't use our weapons at all like you guys did. That was so cool watching you two beat the Slytherins," Cho commented.
"Enough chatter," Sepet's deep voice interrupted and all the mini- conversations that had been going on ceased. "I would like to see all nine of you cast a Patronus Charm before we head off to the Headmaster's office."
Everyone took out their wands and held in front of them before yelling "EXPECTO PATRONUM!" in unison.
One solid blinding form, Harry's Stag Patronus, took form and shot forth from his wand, followed by eight wisps of silvery gas. Harry's Patronus faded and disappeared right before it hit the Count, however the other eight didn't even make it halfway to him.
"I believe that we have prepared all we can for tomorrow's mission. - Now let us head over to the headmaster's office for the briefing," the Count said blandly, not bothering to chastise them for not casting out the charm perfectly as he usually did.
Naturally, Hermione was peeved at not being able to cast a perfect Patronus, but she went along reluctantly as the Count and Walter led the group, back to the castle and up to Dumbledore's office.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Upon arrival at Dumbledore's office, Harry noticed that everyone was present, except for Remus and Sirius.
"Where's Sirius and Lupin?" Hermione whispered as they took their seats.
"I don't know, probably that time where his uniqueness kicks in. I'd think Sirius would want to keep him company."
"Oh, I guess you're right, but that means we're short two people tomorrow."
At that moment, Professor Dumbledore entered the room with Sirius.
"Good evening everyone," Dumbledore greeted. "Tomorrow will be the second mission we carry out, however we will be short six people. - Remus is undergoing his change and Sirius will be keeping him company, just in case something goes wrong despite the wolfsbane potion. Furthermore, since tomorrow classes will be in session, Minerva, Serverus and Professor Flitwick will be unable to join us, as the students will be wondering where they have gone. Finally, to replace Professor Laikov in his DADA class for the day, Percy Weasley has volunteered as Professor Laikov will be needed on our mission."
"- No offence intended Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore said to Percy.
"None taken Professor," came the lofty reply. "I will honoured to teach the class."
There was a moment of silence before Moody spoke up. "What about the students? Surely they will be missed tomorrow when they don't show up to class."
"Yes Alastor, you're right," Dumbledore agreed. "The students will be excused from their classes tomorrow on the basis that I will be teaching them personally how to use more advanced levels of magic."
At this, Hermione leaned over to whisper something to Harry. "Harry, what if we used the elemental magic? I think there was a cloning spell we could use on ourselves. - Then we could be in two places at once."
"You're right, we can do that but how do we keep it quiet that we're using that?" Harry asked.
"Just explain to our clones what needs to be done, I mean they're exact copies of us so they should know what to do."
If Dumbledore overheard their conversation, he didn't say anything. He just looked at them thoughtfully and returned to planning. "Tomorrow will be one of the more difficult missions we will have to undertake as we will no doubt be fighting large amounts of Death Eaters and possibly the Dementors or the Dark Lord himself. - Now may I please have Alastor brief us on what our objectives are."
Dumbledore sat down while Moody stood up and walked to the centre of the room, his wooden leg making a clunking sound on the floor as he walked. He once again conjured a map with his wand, only this time it was a map of Azkaban instead of a town.
This was the first time that Harry had seen a map of Azkaban. The north end of the map had two large doors, marked as the entrance. On the other side of the doors were two red dots, which Harry assumed were Dementors standing guard inside the foyer. The foyer itself had three separate doors and a staircase. The staircase led to the second floor, while each of the doors led to a different room. The one to the left led to a kitchen, which meals for the prisoners were prepared. The door located to the right of the staircase led to the cellblocks on the first floor, which were separated by doors about every 100 metres, and the door to the right of the entrance led to the interrogation room, located across from a small office, probably for the prison warden.
"The prison has three floors, each one pretty much identical, with the exception of the kitchen. In each of the other two floors, that door leads to prison cells, much like the ones on the first floor. A Dementor guards each of the cells and there are a total of 300 cells between the three floors, so that makes 300 Dementors guarding the prison. In addition three aurors are set there, one per floor as a prison warden to ensure that all runs smoothly," Moody explained.
"There are house elves which cook the food served to the prisoners, but they aren't allowed to leave the kitchen. - Now that you know the basic layout of the prison and what we will encounter, I will explain the objectives. - Since the Dark Lord wishes to free his followers from the prison, we must ensure that anyone he rescues is useless to him."
At that point, Walter decided to add to the briefing. "That is where I come in. I will have a group of about twenty skeletons with me to help since we will be short a few people. As much as I would prefer to kill them and save us the trouble of having to deal with the Death Eaters, the headmaster doesn't wish us to do so. Therefore we will be taking the prisoners here to Hogwarts so that we can keep an eye on them and not worry about the Dementors turning on us."
"Thank you for honouring my wishes Professor Laikov," Dumbledore said gratefully. "- Please continue Alastor."
"The only way in or out of the prison is through the front doors so we have no choice but to enter through there but with our numbers, we should be able to clear the first floor since there are only corridors and won't need to worry about being attacked from the sides," Moody growled. " - I believe the agreed time for the mission tomorrow was 8:00 AM. We will be travelling by Portkey since apparating isn't possible and Azkaban is cut off from the floo network. You will all have an early breakfast in the Great Hall. That's all I have to say."
Moody sat down and Dumbledore stood up once again to speak, though one could only wonder how he manage to say what he was about to say so calmly. "As we will probably be vastly outnumbered tomorrow and the possibility of not returning is great as there aren't any quick ways out of the prison, I just would like to say that it has been a pleasure to have been headmaster at this school and to have known and worked with all of you. - That is all, you are dismissed."
As everyone got up to leave, their moods dropping because of Dumbledore's speech, Harry noticed that Karkaroff and Krum went to Dumbledore to request something, but he never got to figure out what it was as Hermione was urging him to follow her back to the Gryffindor tower.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Along the way, Harry and Hermione were talking about their next mission and what they should do about their clones.
"We should wake up early tomorrow before anyone else is awake, then we can go down to the common room and create the clones," Hermione suggested. "That way no one will notice the switch and we can go down to the Great Hall for breakfast with the others."
"Sounds good. - But I'm more worried about what will happen when we actually go on our mission tomorrow," Harry replied. "I can't shake the feeling that it might be a trap like the first one."
"I know what you mean, but I believe we'll come out alive," Hermione said, giving him a reassuring smile.
"You really think so?"
"Yes, I don't think that Dumbledore will let us come along if there was a high chance of getting killed."
"But what about that speech he made? It's like he thinks he's going to die tomorrow or something," Harry pointed out.
"Somehow he'll find a way to get us out if something goes wrong. He's always made sure that we had a fair chance if nothing else."
"I hope you're right Hermione, I hope you're right," said Harry, shaking his head as if he didn't want to believe that something could go wrong.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They arrived at the Gryffindor tower and said the password (Hippogriff). The portrait swung open and they walked into the common room, which was deserted by that time.
"It's late, I think we should go to bed," Harry said, looking around the common room.
"You're right. I'll see you tomorrow morning, Good night," Hermione agreed and she walked up to her.
"Good night Hermione." Harry walked up to his dorm and lay down on his four poster bed. Sleep came to him quickly since he was extremely exhausted from Quidditch practices and his duelling classes with Sepet, however his nightmares returned making his night miserable.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Five figures were walking along the street in Hogsmeade at night. All five of them were dressed in black robes, but three of them carried swords under their robes. Snow was falling silently on the ground and on their robes.
"We're almost to the Three Broomsticks; its over here Professor," said Percy, leading the group down the street and to the Three Broomsticks.
"Could we hurry up?" asked an impatient Draco. "I don't want to be out here in the cold forever. - I don't know why I bothered to volunteer to do this."
"Professor, are you sure you vish to come here? Ve have an important mission tomorrow, or have you forgotten?" said Krum, attempting to talk him out of going to the pub.
"I agree with Mr. Krum, Professor Karkaroff," said Sepet, looking around. "You are still a target are under our protection. Just because you have Mr. Weasley and myself around doesn't mean that the Death Eaters won't attack."
"I don't care Professor," snapped Karkaroff. "I'm here to enjoy myself and I will do as I please."
"I believe it was wrong for the headmaster to allow you to come here, much less accept your assistance," Sepet said with a hint of annoyance. "If it were up to me, I would leave your fate to Voldemort's (at which Percy, Karkaroff, and Krum flinched) Death Eaters."
"Shut up Professor," Karkaroff said, spitting out each word. "You're here as my escort, that means that you do as I say."
"My, my Mr. Karkaroff, such manners," the Count said sarcastically. "I didn't expect someone of your high status would insult members of the International Ministry, much less one of the nobility."
"I don't care what you say Professor. Who you work for doesn't concern me and I can care less what your rank is."
"That's enough Professors," Percy said, breaking up the argument. "We're here."
Krum held open the door while Percy, Sepet and Karkaroff entered. He followed behind and they found a quiet table in the corner.
"Viktor, would you please get us four mugs of red currant rum?" Karkaroff requested.
"Of course professor."
"And one Butterbeer for me," Malfoy called after him.
While Krum went away to get the rum and butterbeer, Percy sat in between the Count and a very irritated Karkaroff just in case either of them tried to kill each other, though he was pretty much confident that if it came to blows, Karkaroff wouldn't last a second. He had seen the Count in combat during their first mission and someone of his calibre wasn't someone anyone in their right mind would want to mess with.
"So Professor Sepet, what is it like living in Romania?" Percy asked, trying to start up a conversation.
"The country itself is full of problems. The muggles don't seem to know how to run a country properly, but I suppose I'm content just living in my castle and doing my job for the International Ministry."
"How did you get that job?"
"One of my father's friends was a member of the International Ministry. His job was to hunt down vampires and I became intrigued by it. He saw that I had some magical abilities so he trained me so that I could help him kill them off. After a few years, he saw that I was starting to become very efficient in getting rid of them, so he offered me a position in the Ministry as part of their department of Regulation and Control of Dark Creatures. Soon after however, he was killed by a vampire on one of his excursions. Wanting revenge, I hunted down the vampire and killed him. I spent quite a few years of my life before I accomplished that. Then Voldemort (Malfoy, Percy and Karkaroff winced) came to power and I was transferred to the auror division."
"You fought vampires?" Draco asked, amazed. "That sounds easy."
"It's a lot harder than it sounds Mr. Malfoy," Sepet replied.
"How hard could it be? I mean you just take a wooden stake to them right?"
"Yes, that works, but that's assuming that you can get close to them," the Count replied with a look of amusement as Malfoy had a dumbfounded expression on his face.
By then Krum returned with four mugs full of red currant rum and one full of butterbeer and handed them out. He sat down and started talking with Karkaroff while Percy continued his conversation with Sepet.
"So how did you meet that other Professor - Laikov is it?" Percy asked the Count.
"Yes, that's right. - During World War II, the Nazis had overrun Romania and some of the aurors in our ministry joined them. Walter happened to be working as a spy for the ministry, though I didn't figure that out until I captured him on one of my missions and spared his life. From there, we worked together to wipe out the traitors and once the war was over, the ministry had me return to my father's castle to watch over the dragon roosts that your brother takes care of. Walter decided to join me there and he's been serving me loyally ever since."
The conversations continued on for two more hours and as the night went on, Krum kept ordering more rum, much to the distaste of the other four, but they didn't bother commenting. Karkaroff eventually lightened up after a few drinks and joined the conversation that had been going on between Sepet and Percy. However in the middle of listening to Percy talk about his time at Hogwarts, which he was constantly rambling on about his achievements, Sepet suddenly got up and left the 'Three Broomsticks.'
"That was odd - But stay here, I'm going to see where he's going," Percy told Karkaroff and he too went out leaving Karkaroff with a very drunk Krum and Malfoy.
"Viktor," Karkaroff said, suddenly panicked. "We need to get out of here and hide, there might be Death Eaters around."
"But Professor *hiccup * I vant another drink," Krum said drunkenly.
"You're useless to me. - I'm getting out of here. Give me your sword," commanded Karkaroff and he drew Krum's sword from its sheath with his right hand while pulling out his wand from his robes with his left.
Karkaroff ran out of the pub, but a few moments after he exited the 'Three Broomsticks', something hit him hard on the neck and he fell forward into the snow-covered ground, Krum's sword and his wand landing softly a few feet in front of him, out of reach.
"So we have the traitor Karkaroff attempting to run," said a voice from behind. "I was wondering when you would show yourself. Looks like your escorts can't protect you now."
"Wh-What are you talking about?" Karkaroff said, shaking in fear as he stared at the ground. He tried to get up, but his arms and legs weren't responding even though he could feel them. "I'm not Karkaroff."
"Shut up old man," the voice continued irritably. "You are Karkaroff; my father told me about you. He said the Dark Lord (Karkaroff was shaking in fear even more) has explicit orders not to let you live when we found you."
"I believe slow and painful will be sufficient enough for a traitor. - But I can't let you live too long can I?"
Two hands turned Karkaroff's body around so that he was looking up at the dark sky. He could make out a figure with white-blonde hair and grey eyes, clothed entirely in a black robe with a sword in a black leather sheath at his side.
Malfoy drew his sword and thrust it into Karkaroff's right leg causing blood to flow onto the snow. Karkaroff screamed in pain, but he was still unable to move.
"Did that hurt?" Malfoy taunted. "Maybe I should try your other leg."
Malfoy then thrust the sword into his other leg and more blood seeped from the new cut in his left leg. Malfoy left the sword there and started twisting it, causing Karkaroff to scream in pain even more.
"I'm sure you liked that," Malfoy laughed. "But I think I've overdone it - Time for you to die like the lowly vermin you are Karkaroff."
With that said, the Malfoy pulled the sword from Karkaroff's leg, and walked around to where Karkaroff's head was. He stared down at him and raised the sword with two hands, one hand above the other on the hilt. Karkaroff barely had time to let out a scream before he swung it like a golf club, cutting Karkaroff's head off cleanly, warm blood gushing out onto the snow from the beheaded body while Karkaroff's head rolled to the right, spreading rivulets of blood as it rolled on the snow covered ground.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry didn't have a problem waking up early the next morning as his scar was burning. He sat up in bed clutching his scar. It stopped burning soon but it was a while before he realised what his nightmare told him. - Karkaroff was dead.
This also meant that they were short another person on their mission today and that was one less person to help them, regardless if they were a former Death Eater or not. Harry got up to change into his robes and he quickly went downstairs. Hermione wasn't there yet so he sat down on the couch and waited for her.
It was about a half-hour before she came down, but when she came down, she saw him sitting on the couch and went over to him.
"Good morning Harry," she said cheerfully, but her face dropped when she noticed Harry's worried expression. "What's wrong?"
"Karkaroff is dead," Harry replied unemotionally.
"How do you know?"
"I had a nightmare and Karkaroff was killed by Malfoy."
"Are you sure it was Malfoy?"
"White-blonde hair and wielding a sword? It's unmistakably Malfoy. He tortured Karkaroff before killing him," Harry stated.
"Oh great, that makes two Death Eaters to keep track of. But what do we do about - " Hermione began.
"Hermione - We should create our clones," Harry interrupted, not wanting to dwell on the subject of his nightmares for too long. "Then we need to get down to the Great Hall before anyone else notices."
"Oh alright," Hermione conceded reluctantly and made a mental note to ask Harry about it later.
They faced each other and drew out their wands. Hermione went first and pointed her wand at Harry before quietly saying 'effingo Harry.' A faint figure that looked exactly like Harry separated from his body and solidified next to him.
"Hello Hermione," Harry's clone said, but when he turned to look at the real Harry, the clone let out a small yelp. "Why is there another one of me?"
"Nevermind that," Hermione cut in. "You're a clone and he's the real thing. We need you to fill in for us in classes today because we need to go with Professor Dumbledore on a mission."
"Hey, what about me?" the clone asked. "I want to go too."
"Well, let's put it this way," Hermione said irritably. "If you don't stay, then we both get in trouble, you don't want that now do you? Ron will definitely suspect something if we don't show up to class, so go back upstairs and go to sleep or something. Don't worry, you'll have a clone of me to keep you company."
"Alright I'll do it. But only because I don't want you to get into trouble and I don't want to lose Ron's friendship either," the clone replied.
"Thank you," Hermione squealed happily and gave the clone a hug, causing him to blush.
*If the clone is an exact copy of me, then do I do that when Hermione's around? * Harry thought to himself looking at his clone's reaction.
"Now your turn to make a clone of me," Hermione told Harry.
Harry pointed his wand at Hermione and said, "Effingo Hermione." Just like before with Harry, a faint figure looking exactly like Hermione separated from her body and solidified next to her.
"Hi Harry, uh, Harrys," the clone of Hermione said, noticing Harry's clone. "Why are there two of you and why am I standing next to myself? Is this a dream?"
Harry and Hermione sighed. "No it isn't a dream. You're a clone of Hermione and we need you to fill in for her during classes while we go on a mission for Dumbledore," Harry explained. "Just don't do anything we wouldn't do."
"You don't need to worry about that because well - we're you - but please be careful Harry," Hermione's clone said, giving him a look of concern. "I'll just stay here with your other self."
Hermione breathed a sigh of relief that they didn't have to explain the situation anymore and their clones were content to stay behind at the school.
"Come on Harry, let's go," Hermione said. "Bye you two."
"Bye," replied their clones as the real Harry and Hermione walked out of the common room and towards the Great Hall for their early breakfast.
"Well, that was weird," Harry commented.
"Yeah it was," Hermione agreed. " - How long do they last?"
"I think a day, why?"
"Just wondering. We don't need our clones to disappear while we're still away."
Harry grinned, it would be very bad if that did happen since Ron would be wondering why they disappeared into thin air.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When they arrived at the Great Hall, Harry and Hermione noticed that they were the first ones there, but the places for everyone were laid out. So they sat down and ate breakfast while they waited for the rest of the Order members.
A few moments after they finished eating breakfast, the other phoenix members, with the exception of the six who were remaining behind during the mission, entered.
"Hi Harry," said Cho, sitting across from him with Terry.
"This is the first time I've been on a mission, but I heard the first one was hell," Terry commented.
"It was," Hermione stated. "We were drenched in blood, thanks to Sepet and Walter killing every Death Eater in sight. Honestly, haven't they heard of taking prisoners?"
"Of course we have," Walter answered from behind, causing Hermione to jump in surprise. "Those five Death Eaters we captured wouldn't be alive if we didn't want to take prisoners Miss Granger. We just don't do it often."
"Where's Sepet?" Harry asked turning around and noticing that Sepet hadn't arrived yet. "Isn't he coming on this mission?"
"Lord Sepet is away on some business so he won't be joining us. The international ministry needs him to deal with something."
"What do you mean he's away on some business?" Hermione said exasperated. "And right before a mission no less."
"My apologies Miss Granger but I will make sure that no harm come to you or anyone else, at the cost of my own life if necessary."
Just then, Percy Weasley came bursting through the doors of the Great Hall with Viktor Krum, who was carrying a bloody sword in one hand and dragging Malfoy behind him, who was tied up with ropes.
"Professors!" Percy exclaimed shakily. "Krum and I found Karkaroff dead on the street in Hogsmeade. Malfoy beheaded him with his sword."
"Calm down Mr. Weasley. Now tell us where Professor Sepet is and why you haven't returned with him," Dumbledore asked calmly.
"He ran off while we were having a drink at the 'Three Broomsticks' and I went to look for him," Percy explained. "A few moments later I heard someone screaming and so I turned around to see what the problem was. When I came back, I saw that Malfoy was standing over Karkaroff's body with his sword drawn."
"It's true," a now sober Krum confirmed. "Mr. Veasley left to go after Professor Sepet and once he left, Professor Karkaroff panicked and he took my svord. He vent out, but Malfoy got up and followed him. He hit him in the back very hard vhen he exited the pub then he tortured and killed him."
"I cast a full body bind on him and Krum and I tied him up before bringing him here," Percy added.
"There isn't much we can do at this time about Igor or Professor Sepet and I won't bother asking why you weren't able to do anything about Mr. Malfoy - Mr. Krum," Dumbledore said. " - I will have Minerva and the rest of the teachers quietly look into it. - Did you clear the body?"
"Yes ve did Professor," Krum answered. "It's lying in an alley and the blood in the snow has been removed."
"Good. Now people living in Hogsmeade won't be asking questions. - Percy I want you and Mr. Krum to join Professor McGonagall with investigating his death after classes finish. Take Mr. Malfoy to the dungeons and put him where he won't cause anymore trouble."
"Alright," Percy acknowledged and he and Krum walked out of the Great Hall, dragging Malfoy behind them.
"Now, we have wasted too much time delaying here. - I will bring the portkeys and we can go over to the Quidditch pitch so that we can use them," said Dumbledore and he led the group out of the Hall and towards the Quidditch pitch.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When they arrived at the Quidditch pitch, Dumbledore brought out two old shoes that Harry assumed were the portkeys.
"These are the portkeys," Dumbledore explained. "Walter, Moody, Arthur, Bill, Arabella, Mundungus, and myself will go first and the students will follow. "
With that, the first group grabbed the portkey and with the sound of the howling wind, they disappeared and now it was Harry's turn to go.
Harry grabbed the second portkey with the rest of the students and with usual swirling of colour and howling wind accompanied by the pull behind the navel, they were transported away from the Quidditch Pitch and to Azkaban.
~*~*~*~*~*~
When everything stopped spinning and came into view, Harry, Hermione and the other students were at the entrance to Azkaban and the rest of the Order members were waiting to enter quickly. Walter's twenty skeletons were there already and Harry wondered how he had managed to transport them. Dumbledore picked up the portkeys and tucked them into his robe before leading the group up the hill to the entrance.
Oddly there weren't any dementors outside, but that was probably because they preferred the darkness of the dungeon to the brightness of the sunlight.
Walter motioned to his skeletons and they prepared to enter. Since the front gates were very large, the skeletons would have to open the door while Dumbledore and Moody took care of the dementors inside.
On Dumbledore's signal, six skeletons opened the doors, allowing Dumbledore and Moody to enter. They both cast a Patronus charm, Dumbledore's being a phoenix and Moody's being an owl, to ward off the Dementors inside.
The skeletons left the doors open just in case they needed to make a hasty retreat and the group entered cautiously, leaving four skeletons were left to guard the entrance.
"Professor Laikov, let's get started," Dumbledore ordered.
"Yes sir," Walter answered and he started towards the door, but when he opened it he saw a group of dementors waiting on the opposite side. Walter was taken by surprise and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Dumbledore was quick to react and cast another Patronus charm to force the dementors to withdraw to a safe distance while Arthur closed the door and revived Walter.
"I was wondering when you would show up Albus," said a voice off to the left.
When Harry looked over to see who it was, he found himself looking at Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, flanked by two Dementors and nine aurors. Soon more Dementors entered and Harry felt Hermione and Cho fall next to him. The other students fell down as well and soon they were completely surrounded by a circle of Dementors and aurors.
"How did you find out about this?" Dumbledore asked Fudge.
"Come now Albus, surely you had better sense in picking your members of this 'Order of the Phoenix' that you've formed," Fudge replied mockingly. "Lucius Malfoy was quite informative about your little mission to free the Death Eaters."
"Free the Death Eaters? Fudge have you lost your mind? I am only going to take them back to Hogwarts so that Voldemort (Everyone but Walter and Harry flinch) wouldn't be able to get more followers."
"A likely story. Lucius also told me that you would try that. The dark lord is dead Albus, he was destroyed by - " Fudge had stopped talking because he noticed Harry in the group, who unlike the rest of the students could control his fear and therefore didn't pass out due to the Dementors. "Harry Potter - If I didn't think the treachery didn't go down further, I was mistaken. - I can't believe that Albus would have turned the boy who defeated the Dark Lord fifteen years ago against us."
"Why would you think that we have turned against our world?" "You associated yourself with people like this - necromancer," Fudge continued disdainfully, pointing his finger at Walter. "People who use the Dark Arts for their own benefit. Why would you be associating with them if you weren't planning on betraying us."
"Fudge," said Dumbledore, trying to reason with him. "Lucius fed you with those ideas. Listen to yourself - Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?"
"Of course he doesn't," A second voice hissed from the entrance. "He's my little puppet."
Harry didn't have to think twice to know whose voice that belonged to since his scar was now burning. When he looked over at Voldemort, the scar burned even more and he staggered under the pain. Walter's skeletons were destroyed, though from the two bodies that were lying in pools of blood on the entrance floor, the skeletons had managed to kill a few of the Death Eaters.
The nine aurors around Fudge were now drawing out their wands at the sight of Voldemort, however they never got the chance to use them as the Dementors removed their hoods to reveal their grey scabbed skin and shapeless mouths. They picked up each of the aurors and bit into them, sucking out their life and soon nine aurors were lying on the floor with a fate worse than death as the Order members watched in horror.
Voldemort let out an evil laugh. "This is very good. Fudge is my puppet and I have you all trapped in the very place that you had condemned many of my followers to live in. - I should think it very amusing to have you all imprisoned in here with my Dementors for the rest of your miserable lives."
"Lucius' son was very helpful in informing us about this little mission of yours to take my followers and imprison them at Hogwarts. He may turn out to be more loyal than his father," Voldemort continued.
*So that's how they knew when to ambush us this time. * Harry thought angrily despite the pain he was in.
"As much as I would like to play around with you," Voldemort said triumphantly. "I must free my loyal Death Eaters imprisoned in here. - Capture them but do not kill them."
The Dementors advanced and Harry could hear the screams of his mother as she made an effort to protect him from Voldemort. But he quickly thought of something happy and fired off a Patronus Charm from his wand. The stag took shape and some of the Dementors coming from behind fell back to avoid it. Dumbledore also cast another Patronus and chased the remaining Dementors away.
"FOOLS," Voldemort screamed. "ENOUGH OF THIS - KILL THEM!"
As Harry saw the Death Eaters raise their wands to attack, several vials of some type of potion that he didn't recognise were thrown in their direction, shattering on the floor. Green smoke started filling the room, apparently from the shattered vials and soon the Death Eaters weren't able to see anything.
"GET THEM! DON'T LET THEM ESCAPE!" Voldemort commanded.
The Death Eaters tried to comply but when they tried to go through the smoke, it stung their eyes and choked them. Some that hadn't been affected fired curses through the screen in an attempt to hit them before they escaped but none of them came close to hitting them as Walter raised a wall made of bone, similar to the one he used to keep Malfoy in the dungeons to form a barrier and shield them from the curses.
Harry heard Walter call from behind him. "We need to gather the unconscious students and try to get out of here but we need to hurry. My poison screen will only keep the Death Eaters busy for a while."
"Follow me - I have an idea," Harry shouted over the painful screams of some of the Death Eaters as they tried to get past the screen. Surprisingly it only affected the Death Eaters as none of the Order members were affected by the toxic gas that had quickly filled the room.
"Do as he says," Dumbledore said, backing Harry up.
Walter's remaining skeletons picked up the bodies of the unconscious students and lined up, ready to follow Harry.
Harry painfully made his way over to the door leading to the kitchen with the rest of the Order members following. Along the way, they had to cast some Patronus charms to ward away any of the Dementors that had come too close despite the smoke screen Walter provided.
When Harry got to the door, he pointed his wand at the door and cast the portal spell. A blue light shot out of his wand and hit the door, forming a swirling blue portal for them to pass through. Walter's skeletons entered first carrying the unconscious students followed by Moody, Arthur, Bill, Arabella, and Mundungus. Walter and Dumbledore waited outside for Harry to enter, probably to cover their retreat.
"YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE ME HARRY! - AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort screeched, firing the killing curse into the smoke screen. Unlike the other Death Eaters, he seemed more aware of where they were going, but it didn't travel any further than Walter's bone wall.
"We must make haste," Walter stated and Dumbledore stepped through the portal followed by Harry.
Walter finally stepped through moments later and Harry closed the portal. In order to prevent the Death Eaters from entering as well, Walter raised a second wall made entirely of bone, just like he had done earlier.
They were now in the kitchens and everywhere Harry looked, he saw house elves working happily.
*Hermione wouldn't be too happy about this, but maybe they can help us * Harry thought.
"Where to now?" Harry asked Dumbledore.
Dumbledore went up to one of the elves and asked if there was an exit.
"There is no exit sir," the house elf squeaked. "The only exit it through the way you came."
"Then which wall will lead outside?'
"All the walls lead outside. Cliff on the other side of that wall," the house elf said, pointing to the wall across from the door. "Long drop down, no exit that way."
"What is you doing here sir?" the house elf asked.
"We are trying to find a way out. Death Eaters are on the other side of that door and if you don't show us an exit, they will kill us all," Dumbledore explained.
If Dumbledore had expected the house elf to be horrified, he would be disappointed because the house elf looked unconcerned. "Death Eaters? Of course there is Death Eaters here sir. This is Azkaban, the wizarding prison. They is all locked up."
"Perhaps you misunderstood. Voldemort (the house elf's eyes grew bigger) has returned and is attacking this place. - Now which wall is facing the steps leading out?"
"He-who-must-not-be-named is back?"
Dumbledore nodded. "You can come with us."
"That wall," said the house elf, pointing to the wall to the right of the door they just entered. "faces the steps sir but we is unable to follow. We is forbidden by minister to leave this place."
"I see - Thank you," Dumbledore said, causing the house elf to jump in surprise, and motioned for Harry to create a portal again.
Harry went up to the wall and created another portal. This time the adults went first followed by the skeletons bearing the unconscious students. Harry would have liked to bring the house elves along, as they didn't deserve to be left to the mercy of Voldemort, however they would only slow the group down and put them in danger. If they didn't survive then the wizarding world would be lost to Voldemort since the Phoenix Order was the only group actively trying to stop him from gaining complete control at the moment.
Once outside, Harry closed the portal and saw that Dumbledore was leading the group through the wasteland that surrounded the prison and down to a small cave that had been naturally formed in a rock formation located below them. When he looked up, he could see that the toxic gas that Walter used earlier was coming out of the front entrance, which was visible from where he was, but there was no sign of any Death Eaters or Voldemort; probably too busy trying to deal with Walter's potion to be able to do anything else.
Harry followed behind the skeletons and soon he joined the other members in the safety of the cave. Dumbledore, Bill, Arthur, and Moody immediately started reviving each of the students who were carried by Walter's skeletons.
After each of the students came to, Dumbledore immediately explained the situation to them and Hermione immediately started looking around for Harry with a worried look on her face, but she found him near Walter's skeletons, staring at her with concern. She breathed a sigh of relief and went over to join him.
"Harry, I'm so glad you made it," she said, giving him a hug, which he returned happily, even though his scar hadn't quite stopped burning yet.
"I'm happy that you made it back too Hermione."
Dumbledore brought out the portkeys once again and placed them on the ground. "We must return quickly before anyone pursues us. - The students will go first and we will follow."
The students made a circle around the portkey and touched it together. Harry felt the pull behind his navel as before and with a swirling of colour accompanied with a howling wind, he and the rest of the students found themselves back at the Quidditch pitch of Hogwarts.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The adult members of the Order arrived soon after them and they headed back to the school and to the Hospital wing. Much to Harry's relief, unlike the first mission, they weren't covered in the blood of the Death Eaters and didn't have to worry about leaving a trail of blood on the ground nor was his scar burning now that Voldemort was out of range.
The students were still feeling weak from having passed out due to the Dementors and Madam Pomfrey immediately gave them each a bar of Honeydukes' best chocolate and had them sit down on the bed. She also insisted that Walter eat a bar of chocolate as well, which he accepted with a look of irritation at his failure to carry out the mission perfectly. His skeletons weren't present as they were sent out to patrol the halls in case any Death Eaters decided to show up at the school.
All of the Order members that had gone on the mission were likewise present since Dumbledore wanted to have a word with all of them. After a quick talk with Madam Pomfrey, Dumbledore strode to the centre of the room while she went to lock the door.
"This mission has revealed to us the extent of the plans of the Dark Lord," Dumbledore said heavily. "He now has control over our Ministry and we may come under heavy attack for our failure this time."
"What should we do now?" asked Arthur. "The ministry will no longer be safe for Bill, Percy, or myself."
"You three will not return to the ministry," Dumbledore replied. "It will not be safe for you - and 'The Burrow' will not be safe for your family; therefore your entire family must come here Arthur."
"What about Malfoy?" Hermione chipped in. "He betrayed us and we paid dearly for it."
"I'm afraid Mr. Malfoy will have to be removed from this Order and from this school."
"But won't it look like we've expelled him for nothing?" Cho asked.
"That will be taken care of Miss Chang. I am well aware of Mr. Malfoy's attempts to provoke Harry and Miss Granger. Professor Laikov came to me with information that Mr. Malfoy threatened Mr. Weasley in Professor Snape's classroom with his sword. In addition, he killed a person in Hogsmeade. I believe that is enough grounds for him to be expelled," Dumbledore explained.
Madam Pomfrey came back in from her office carrying more chocolate and some potions for everyone to drink.
"I believe Poppy would like to check up on all of you, therefore I will be leaving. However I trust you should be released back to your towers later this evening," Dumbledore said to the students. "You will have lunch and dinner here since all of the students are under the impression that you are taking classes with me for today. Your homework will be sent to you by owl later."
With that, Dumbledore left the Hospital Wing, leaving them there in the care of Madam Pomfrey who made them eat more chocolate and drink some potions to put them all to sleep until the evening.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
When Harry and Hermione arrived back at the Gryffindor tower in the evening, they found that the common room was empty since it was dinnertime and all the students would be in the Great Hall. Since they had already eaten dinner in the Hospital Wing, they didn't feel hungry and so they decided to take a walk.
"I wonder how our clones held up," Hermione said curiously.
"I'm sure they're convincing enough to keep Ron busy," Harry replied.
"What do you want to do? We have another hour - then we need to switch places with our clones somehow."
"Oh that'll be fun," Harry said sarcastically. "We just walk up to them and tell them to switch with us and everything will be alright."
"I didn't mean it like that," said Hermione, though when she thought of what he had just said, she found it very funny.
"So what did you mean?"
"We get one of the professors to help us. Just say that they would like a word with them and we switch then."
"Yeah, but who would be willing to help us?"
"Walter of course."
"Alright, let's go see him."
So they made their way down to the dungeons where Walter's office was located. When they arrived, they knocked on the door and a rather enraged Walter opened the door.
"What is it?" Walter asked annoyed at being bothered with his work.
"Uh," Hermione spoke up timidly. "We were just wondering if you could help us with a problem."
"Ah, Miss Granger - Mr. Potter," Walter said, his face expression softening. "My apologies for my rudeness - Please come in."
They entered Walter's office, which looked pretty much the same as it did the first time they came to see him, and took a seat at his desk.
"What can I do for you? - Though I must apologise for my failure this morning. I should have kept a closer eye on Mr. Malfoy," Walter mused angrily.
"It's not your fault Walter," Hermione said encouragingly. "You're starting to sound like Harry when something bad happens that's out of his control."
Harry blushed slightly at that remark and Walter continued. "Thank you Miss Granger. Your words are certainly relieving for me to hear. I was thinking of resigning my position for my failure."
"DON'T RESIGN!" they both exclaimed in unison, causing both of them to burst into a fit of laughter.
"I meant, don't resign," Hermione said, calming down. "You're the best Dark Arts teacher that we've had other than Professor Lupin."
"She's right Walter," Harry added. "You've been very helpful to us and we don't want you to leave."
"Thank you both. - Now what was that problem that you wanted to discuss with me?"
"Well, you see we didn't leave the school while we were on our mission," Harry explained. "We used magic to create some clones of ourselves to keep our friend Ron from suspecting anything."
"We just want you to tell us, er our other selves, to come to your office. Then we can switch places with them and go back to see Ron," Hermione said.
"Very well, I shall fulfil your request. It's the best I can do to make up for my failure," Walter said, getting up. "Please wait here."
Walter left his office, leaving Harry and Hermione alone, free to do as they pleased for now.
"I wonder what books he has," said Hermione, getting up to look at the bookshelves lining the right wall of Walter's office.
"Hermione - Only you would be interested in books that our Professors read."
"Well, if it helps us understand some of his magic, then why not?"
"I thought that you didn't like using the Dark Arts."
"I don't - I'm just curious. Maybe we can understand Walter a bit more - or even Sepet."
"I guess - but you'll probably want to get away from those books before Walter suspects anything."
Eventually Walter returned with the clones and they could get on with switching places.
"Hi Harry," Hermione's clone greeted.
"Hey you two. How was your day?" Harry asked.
"Oh - it was alright. All the professors looked surprised to see us though," Hermione's clone replied.
"That because we weren't supposed to be there," Hermione stated. " - We should get back to Ron before he suspects something. Thanks for filling in for us though."
"No problem. We like doing this. It's actually kinda fun," said Harry's clone, grinning. "Imagine the number of pranks we could pull on everyone and they wouldn't know who we were."
"You mean the number of people that would get mad at us because you two look like us," Hermione said disapprovingly. "You will not do anything of that sort."
Harry's clone smiled. "Well, we'll see you two the next time you need us. "
Harry and Hermione took out their wands and pointed them at their clones before using the 'dispel magic' spell. Both clones faded and melted back into Harry and Hermione, leaving an empty space where they had stood before.
"That was very impressive magic you two," Walter commented. " - But I think I've kept you from Mr. Weasley. He should be waiting just outside of your common room."
"Thanks Walter," they called as they left his office to go find Ron.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They found Ron waiting where Walter said he would be, just outside of their common room.
"What did Walter want?" Ron asked.
"Oh he just wanted to tell us something about our Defence Class with Sepet," Hermione lied.
"Yeah, he thinks it's too much for us to handle in the evening in addition to our classes," Harry added, hoping Ron wouldn't ask anymore questions.
"I guess. - Hey let's go in - We need to do our homework for tomorrow's class," Ron groaned. "You think you can help me with my homework Hermione?"
"Why not - I need to do my homework too," Hermione replied before saying the password (sceptrum) to their common room and the portrait swung open allowing the trio to enter.
A/N: Well that's their second mission. Hope you liked it. I believe this is the longest chapter I've done so far (basically the length of two chapters put together) hence why it took me way too long, not to mention the editing time. The next chapter will be Quidditch game vs. Slytherin, so it probably won't advance the plot by much, with a few exceptions.
Special Thanks to Juna-Mae for beta reading and for helping me with the plot. You're THE BEST beta reader I have. - Actually, you're the only beta reader I have, hehe, can't thank you enough.
Angelis: Thank you for reviewing, but I don't know if I'll be able to hook Harry & Hermione up anytime soon. As for pleasing everyone, you're right, I can't do that since someone's going to be disappointed in one way or another, but if my what I do doesn't appeal much to the readers, then no one is going to read the story and my time will have been wasted; so that's why I do make some attempt to incorporate everyone's ideas into my fic.
"Heather": Don't worry, Krum won't get Hermione.
"Panther": Thanks for the note. Yes, you're right, the physics doesn't work w/ the way the amulets were set up. So I changed it accordingly.
The Game: Sorry, but I can't have Hermione's role diminish for several reasons that you'll find out later.
Promy: Thanks for reviewing, sorry you're disappointed with Hermione's form but it'll be useful later.
Phoenix of Light: Thank you for the review but you don't need to worry about the updates, I've been trying to update fairly fast. The only exception would be this chapter.
Weird-n-nextdoor: Thanks for reviewing glad you like the story. Yes, I did put a lot of thought into this fic.
Mikala: As much as I'd like to answer that question "what's up with cho?" I can't do that just yet, otherwise I'd ruin the romance plot to the story. You will find out later whether or not she's faking, just keep reading. As for Krum, I don't know what I'll do with him, just yet. Though thank you for the suggestion.
Quis: Thank you for telling me about the technical error. You're right, the Claymore is a two-handed sword so I changed it to a Ruby Eye Serpent Sword, which is a one-handed sword.
Marba50: yes, you're right, becoming an animagus is supposed to take a long time. That's why Hermione can only transform her hands. Though the explanation for Harry is that he's really powerful (he just doesn't know the full extent of his powers yet) so he was able to do more the first time but it still took him a month to get it down. Thank you for reviewing.