Disclaimer: Harry Potter and associated characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Chapter 31: Order 05: Escape
In a cold dark room, three hooded figures stood before a thin man with a deathly white face and slits for nostrils; the very definition of a human serpent. Wormtail was also cowering behind Voldemort, watching his lord with a fearful eye and two dementors were also positioned at the entrance to the chamber.
The door opened and a fourth man entered escorted by two more hooded figures, each one carrying a sword underneath his cloak.
All three newcomers bowed before Voldemort and waited until he acknowledged their presence.
"What is it Lucius?" Voldemort hissed. "I hope that the news is good this time. I failed to understand how you could possibly let one of our own, Avery get captured and remain that way. "
"My lord," Lucius replied. "We have captured Potter and the rest of the members of Dumbledore's silly Order."
"You two may leave now, go forth and secure our future," Voldemort said to the two hooded figures escorting Lucius.
Both silently got up and left the room, leaving Lucius alone with the three Death Eaters and Voldemort.
"Now tell me Lucius, how is it that you managed to do something right for once?"
"Severus introduced me to someone who was part of Dumbledore's order who he thought might be useful to our cause. I've met him personally and he certainly has a flair for brutality and efficiency."
"Are the prisoners being guarded?"
"Yes my lord," Lucius said, not daring to look up. "We've taken away their wands and other weapons so they are all defenceless."
"Who did you leave in charge?"
"In charge my lord?" Lucius asked, looking up slightly in confusion.
"You mean to tell me that you did not leave anyone in charge of the guards?" Voldemort said as he slowly approached Lucius.
"No my lord, I assumed that - " Lucius started to say but he didn't have the chance to finish for Voldemort raised his wand and used the Cruciatus curse on Lucius.
"AHHHHHHHHH!!" Lucius screamed as he collapsed to the ground in pain.
Eventually Voldemort released Lucius from his torture and walked back to where Wormtail was cowering. Lucius was on the ground, still cringing in pain and much too exhausted to get up.
Voldemort turned to two of the three Death Eaters surrounding him. "Vidar and Helga Lestrange, go quickly to Lucius' house and make sure that the prisoners do not escape, bring the other two loyal servants with you if you can catch up with them. However it is my impression that they will be saddened to find that one of their number is missing and delay if they escape at all."
Two of the three Death Eaters standing before Voldemort bowed and left the room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry awoke with his scar burning to find himself in a cell in a cold, dark dungeon. There were two Death Eaters standing at the doorway, one of them probably had the keys but seeing as the cell was quite a way from the door, getting the keys seemed out of the question. There was also a table with various wands and weapons placed on them sitting up against the wall to the right of the two Death Eaters.
His head was still throbbing from having been knocked on the head however, after his dream, his primary worry was that of Cho since Voldemort mentioned that one of the Order members were missing.
"Cho," Harry called out softly. "Cho, where are you?"
A calming yet familiar hand was placed upon Harry's shoulder and upon turning around, Harry found himself face to face with the headmaster of Hogwarts.
"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed in happiness. "You're here too."
The headmaster's eyes twinkled behind his glasses as the old man's mouth turned up into a smile. "Yes Harry, I am here. From your calls, I can only imaging that you are looking for Miss Chang. She is here as well, but if you take a good look around you will find that most people are asleep."
"You had quite a knock on the head there," Dumbledore continued as he examined the back of Harry's head, checking for further injury.
"Is everyone here?"
"Alas no, they took Percy Weasley away earlier and I haven't seen him since," Dumbledore informed him. "Everyone else here is untouched and still alive - I've checked them all myself."
Harry was a disturbed at how accurate his dream was but the next thing that came to his mind were the two Death Eaters that were on the way. When he was in the graveyard near the end of the Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts last year, he remembered that Voldemort mentioned the name Lestrange. If memory also served him well, the Lestranges were the couple that were responsible for Neville's parents going insane.
"Who are the Lestranges?" Harry asked the headmaster.
Dumbledore regarded Harry for a moment before replying. "They are two of the most dangerous Death Eaters in Voldemort's service. We had sent them to Azkaban but now that Voldemort has made that his headquarters, we can safely assume that they are free and that we will be seeing more of them. They are also responsible for the insanity of Neville Longbottom's parents."
"They're on the way," Harry stated.
"In that case," Dumbledore said slowly, "we had better find a way to escape quickly. If the Lestranges are on their way, I assume that they will torture us to the point where we will be driven insane like the Longbottoms."
"How do we get out when we're in here?"
"I trust that Minerva had a backup plan just in case something like this happened," Dumbledore said calmly.
Dumbledore got up silently and walked around the cell waking everyone up.
Harry got up and followed Dumbledore, waking everyone up. However when he got to Cho, he kneeled down beside her and watched as she slept.
She looked very peaceful and none of her beauty had seemed to diminish during the time they had spent in the cell though one day hardly constituted as much, Harry thought.
"Cho," he finally said, nudging her gently. "Cho, wake up."
"Mmm?" she responded sleepily but she didn't wake up.
"Cho, it's time to get up," Harry said, nudging her yet again.
"J-ust a little - more..." Cho said as she brushed his hand away.
"Cho, this isn't the time to be sleeping, the Death Eaters are on the way," Harry said, trying to reason with her.
Cho didn't respond this time so Harry thought it was useless to try to reason with someone who was half asleep but time was of the essence since, with the two loyal Death Eaters on the way, their time to escape was slowly dwindling.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The door to the dungeon opened and Harry thought that their time was up but upon seeing who was entering, he noticed that it was none other than Snape with his wand drawn.
The two Death Eaters at the door looked at him but suddenly found themselves on the floor, stunned.
"Albus," Snape said with some minor hint of emotion that Harry thought resembled happiness but that was quickly suppressed if it was there at all. "It's good to see that you're safe and that everyone else is here as well. Minerva also allowed these two also insisted on coming along despite my protests."
Snape stepped aside to reveal two students in Hogwarts uniforms. One was a girl with bushy brown hair and the other was a boy with fiery red hair that was an indication that he was a Weasley.
"HARRY!" Hermione and Ron exclaimed, happy to see their friend alive.
Harry couldn't help but grin at them. "Ron - Hermione, how did you manage to find us?"
"Come now Harry, you expect me not to worry about you when you haven't come back in 24 hours?" Hermione said with a look of relief. "I'm just happy that you're safe."
"She's right mate," Ron agreed. "The Daily Prophet said that the Phoenix Order was captured by Fudge and Hermione nearly went hysterical. She kept saying that you were in trouble and after calming her down; she finally told me that you two were part of it. Now I know why you two have been gone for long periods of time - I must say though that you should have said something."
"It's good to see you again Severus," Dumbledore said, standing up slowly. "They took Percy away but I must say that your timing couldn't be better. My old legs were starting to ache from sitting in this cell for months."
The entire Weasley family looked saddened by the news that Percy was gone but they still trusted Dumbledore so they listened intently for any instructions on how to go about their escape first.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't come sooner but they would suspect something. The Daily Prophet article told me that everyone had been captured with the help of an unorthodox wizard who I assume to be that necromancer. I knew that both of them were trouble when I saw them," Snape said disgustedly as he went over to take the keys from one of the Death Eaters and opened the cell.
Snape handed the keys to Dumbledore and pointed to the table with all of the wands on it. "Your wands are over there but you'll have to stun me so they won't suspect that I let you out but first.."
Snape then drew out a large pouch from his robe. ".This is a bag of floo powder. It should be enough to take everyone back to Hogwarts. The fireplace leading to the floo network is on the floor above. You'll have to go to the front of the Malfoy's mansion and once you reach the entrance, head to the room on the immediate left under the stairway, you'll find the fireplace in there. However to get to the entrance, you'll have to first go through a circular room which has three doors which open to a different location every 15 minutes so I can't help you there."
Dumbledore nodded and took both the bag and Snape's wand from him. "Sorry about this Severus - STUPEFY!"
The stunning bolt hit Snape and he immediately fell to the ground, unconscious. Dumbledore placed the wand next to Snape and turned to Harry.
"Would you do us the honours of creating some food for us so that the Death Eaters will only think that Snape was trying to give us food?"
Harry was a little surprised that Dumbledore even knew of his elemental magic but seeing as Dumbledore had known about his adventures with Ron and Hermione in the past, he must assume that Dumbledore somehow knew about this as well.
Harry nodded and walked to the table to grab his wand and sword while Sirius and Remus grabbed the remaining wands and handed them out to their respective owners but since Cho was still asleep, Harry also retained her wand.
After fastening the sword around his belt, Harry walked into the cell and pointed his wand at the ground near Snape.
"cibus bread," Harry said and a piece of bread was created in the middle of the floor much to everyone's surprise.
"There is one more thing we need to do," Dumbledore said, taking his wand from the table. "We must wipe the memories of the two guards."
With that, Dumbledore walked over to the two unconscious Death Eaters and used a memory charm on both of them to wipe any memory of what had happened. Then he opened the door and led the way, exiting to the left.
As everyone followed, Harry carefully picked up Cho's body and followed them out with Hermione and Ron behind him, their wands drawn and ready.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They found themselves in a long corridor lit by torches and lined with doors on both sides.
"Which way Albus?" Moody growled.
Dumbledore put a hand to his beard and stroked it for a bit in thought. After a while, his face lit up and he lifted a finger in the other direction.
"That way I believe, lead the way Harry," Dumbledore said.
"Let me carry her," Sirius told Harry who was carrying Cho. "Then you can lead."
Harry transferred Cho to Sirius and that freed up both of his hands to draw his wand and his sword.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
As they walked along the corridor, Hermione started telling Harry all that happened while he was gone.
"Sepet was acting strangely again when you left," Hermione said, "but he didn't hurt anyone which was good. Also, I never took off your ring, do you want it back?"
"No, that's ok," Harry said. "I don't think it would help much anyway."
"It works Harry, we just need to figure out who it is warning us against," Hermione told him. "During one of my rounds at night, I heard some strange noises coming from the dungeons so I went down there to check it out with Ron. The noises appeared to be coming from Walter's office and we went to see if he was in there."
"We didn't find anything but a giant bat followed by lots of smaller bats flew out of the room when we opened the door," Ron explained.
Harry stopped dead in his tracks when he heard the words 'giant bat' and everyone else also stopped behind him.
"A what?" he asked.
"A giant bat and lots of little bats," Ron repeated. "Isn't that -"
Hermione quickly put a hand over his mouth and gave Harry a look of understanding. "We'll discuss this with you later Ron - we need to get out of here first."
"All right," Ron said as they continued walking.
"Was something wrong Harry?" asked Terry Boot as he ran up to the front of the group. "You stopped for a moment."
"Nothing, let's get out of here as fast as we can," Harry said, quickening his pace a little.
~*~*~*~*~*~
They continued along their way unhindered by any guards until they got to a stairway leading up.
There was a door that probably led to either another hallway or another room but it was guarded by two of Walter's skeletons. Harry's ring on Hermione's finger was glowing faintly to show that danger was near.
"Hermione," Harry said. "You and I will fire ice bolts at each of the skeletons and you, Terry, will attack them."
"Sure thing Harry," Terry Boot acknowledged as he drew his sword.
"Ready?"
"Ready."
Both Harry and Hermione fired an ice bolt at each of the skeletons freezing them solid. Then Terry and Harry ran up the stairs to smash both of the skeletons with one blow from their swords.
"Good job Harry," Remus Lupin said as he walked ahead of Sirius and opened the door carefully so that he could take a look around.
"There doesn't seem to be anyone around," Remus announced opening the door. "Go ahead Harry."
Harry ran out first followed by Hermione and Ron only to find themselves in a large circular room.
As the other members exited the dungeons, Harry slowly looked around and realized that the dungeon entrance was nothing more than a door disguised as a wall. There were large pillars that held up a walkway on the 2nd floor above them and a large green carpet on the floor that bore the family crest of the Malfoys. Finally, the three doors which Snape had told them about earlier were arrayed around the room, one on the right, one to the left and one directly in front of Harry.
"Quickly," Dumbledore said as he exited the dungeons. "Open up all the doors, if they lead to the entrance then we can escape but otherwise we'll just remain in here until they change to the door we want."
Remus, Dumbledore and Bill Weasley ran to each of the doors and opened them. None of them appeared to be the correct one so the Order members deployed in even numbers at the doors so that no one could enter and so that they could watch for the correct exit.
Harry, Ron and Hermione joined Bill Weasley at his door along with Moody and Molly.
"Are you all right dears?" Molly Weasley asked, looking them over with a critical eye.
"Yes Mrs. Weasley," Harry replied. "We're perfectly fine."
"This place must get frustrating," Ron commented. "What happens if we never get the right one?"
"Then we're stuck here forever or we'll have to just try finding our way through," Bill Weasley said.
"Great.."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
An hour or so passed in waiting when Remus Lupin suddenly jumped up in excitement. "It's here - the front entrance of the Malfoy mansion! Quickly everyone we have 15 minutes to get out."
Harry, Ron and Hermione got up and ran as quickly as they could to where Remus and his group were while Dumbledore's group likewise followed.
"Harry!" Cho, who had now woken up, exclaimed as she ran headlong into Harry and enveloped him in a tight hug.
Harry smiled at her. "Good to see you awake Cho, how did you sleep?"
"I slept well, thanks to your godfather for carrying me up," Cho replied as she pulled away.
"Enough you two," Hermione scolded. "You can do that when you get back - we need to get out now."
Both Harry and Cho blushed in embarrassment but followed Hermione and Ron through the exit.
Once everyone had gone through the doorway, Harry looked back to find that the room was not what they had been in previously. Instead there was only an open doorway leading to another unfamiliar room.
However their troubles were far from over for they were confronted by four hooded Death Eaters, one with a sword and a wand, another with only a sword, and two Death Eaters with only wands.
"It's about time you showed yourselves," said one of the Death Eaters in a scratchy voice. "Pity you all won't be able to make it back to Hogwarts. My wife and I will show you the same hospitality that you had shown us in Azkaban."
Within two seconds, every order member had their wand pointed at the Lestranges but the two sword wielding Death Eaters stood silent.
"Harry, the adults will deal with the Lestranges," Dumbledore said. "The rest of you, deal with the other two Death Eaters."
Harry nodded and signalled to everyone else. Justin drew his sword and all the females drew their daggers.
The Lestranges made the first move, firing a Cruciatus curse at Sirius and Remus but they quickly dodged out of the way and returned fire with a disarming spell. The other adults spread out so that they could fire and the chances of getting hit were reduced.
Meanwhile, the other two Death Eaters drew their swords and charged at the students.
"Everyone fire a spell at them," Harry commanded.
The students complied and each person fired a disarming spell at them but both Death Eaters dropped to the floor and rolled aside before getting up and continuing.
Harry fired an ice bolt at the nearest Death Eater with both a wand and sword but missed and the Death Eater returned fire with the Imperius curse.
Harry found himself hit with it and he could not move.
The Death Eater who cast it stopped and held his position.
"Good," he said in a muffled voice. "Now turn around and attack your classmates."
"No," Harry said in defiance.
"I said attack them," the Death Eater said more forcefully.
Harry found himself turning slowly but in his mind he forced himself to resist the spell.
*I will not attack them, I will not attack them * he thought.
"Harry, what are you doing?" Hermione said.
"I - I'm not in control of myself," Harry replied.
"Good, good my puppet," the Death Eater said maliciously. "Kill them and then come before the dark lord and receive your punishment."
Harry had almost turned around and the other Death Eater had now engaged Terry and Justin.
Hermione, seeing that Harry might not be able to break out of the spell, fired blinding spells at the Death Eater while Ron approached Harry slowly.
"Harry, common mate, resist it," Ron encouraged him. "We've see you do it last year."
"Yes Harry," Cho said, approaching him as well. "Resist it."
"Why don't you kill the girl?" the Death Eater told him. "Yes, that's a good idea."
Hermione, in frustration, fired a disarming spell and the Death Eater's wand flew to her, releasing Harry from the Imperius curse.
The wand fell at Hermione's feet and angered, the Death Eater attacked her with his sword but she managed to block it with her dagger.
Harry attacked the Death Eater who again dropped to the ground, grabbed his wand and rolled out of the way.
At the same time, the Lestranges weren't doing much to the adults since they had been pushed back into the room basically and were firing through cracks in the doorway.
"Pull back," Mrs. Lestrange told the two other Death Eaters.
The one with the wand complied and pulled back to the doorway while the Lestranges provided cover. However the other one was stubborn and continued to engage Justin and Terry with his sword.
Seeing this, Harry ran in their direction, jumping to avoid a Cruciatus curse aimed at his legs. He fired an ice bolt at the Death Eater but the Death Eater stepped aside at the last minute to avoid it.
The Death Eater was currently attacking Justin while Terry had pulled back to rest a bit but the battle was short since Justin was injured within a few seconds for the Death Eater feinted high and changed the direction of his sword at the last minute, cutting into Justin's leg, splashing blood onto the floor.
Justin dropped his sword and screamed in pain as he fell to the ground, clutching his leg with both hands.
Terry quickly took over and attacked the Death Eater but the Death Eater was surprisingly quick. Hannah Abbot ran over to Justin and dragged him away from the battle while Blaise grabbed Justin's sword.
As the duel with Terry continued, the Death Eater allowed himself to be pushed back into a wall by Terry but he did something that neither Harry nor Terry expected. The Death Eater jumped backwards, rebounded off the wall and landed behind Terry while spinning in a complete circle, cutting into both of Terry's legs deeply and splattering blood onto the floor and the wall. He then brought his sword up in time to deflect the blow that Harry aimed at his head.
Terry also collapsed in pain and Ron and Hermione went to his aid, dragging his body away from the battle, leaving a trail of blood as they did so.
"Common," Mr. Lestrange ordered the sword wielding Death Eater. "This is no time to be playing around. We can't defeat them all - retreat."
After trading a few more blows with Harry, the other Death Eater grudgingly complied.
"I'll see you again Mr. Potter," he hissed as he ran towards the door where the Lestranges were.
Dumbledore, seeing that they were wasting time, fired one last spell at the Lestranges who shut the doors just as the Death Eater with the sword entered the room but unlike the previous spells, it blew the double doors to bits, creating a large cloud of dust and smoke.
The Lestranges and the other two Death Eaters were blown back and were covered with wooden particles but they quickly got up and ran towards the fireplace. Mr. Lestrange threw some floo powder into the fireplace and all four of them disappeared into it.
Now that the battle was over, Harry sheathed his sword and looked around. Hermione was tending to Terry's injuries, using the healing spell from the elemental book while Dumbledore was doing something similar with Justin.
"Good job Harry," Sirius said, "You did well against both Death Eaters."
"Thanks," Harry replied and turned to Dumbledore who was now finished tending to Justin and helping him up.
"I think that does it," Dumbledore said, looking to see if Hermione was done healing Terry. "However we're not out of danger just yet, quickly everyone; to the fireplace."
Everyone ran towards the fireplace and Dumbledore took out the pouch of floo powder.
"We'll start with the students and then everyone else will follow," Dumbledore said. "You first Mr. Weasley just say 'Hogwarts' and you'll get there."
Ron took a pinch of floo powder and threw it into the fireplace, said 'Hogwarts' and disappeared into it.
"You're next Miss Chang."
Cho followed likewise and each of the students after her until it was time for Hermione to come. She took a pinch of floo powder and walked towards the fireplace but she stopped when she got to Harry who was standing next to the fireplace.
Hermione looked at him and smiled. "I'm glad you're safe Harry; see you on the other side."
With that, Hermione gave him a quick hug and threw the floo powder into the fireplace and disappeared just as the others did.
Harry then took a pinch of floo powder and walked over to the fireplace.
"Hogwarts!" Harry yelled and stepped in.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The trip was very much like every other one in the floo network but he eventually reached the correct fireplace and was thrown out onto the ground in Dumbledore's office.
"Welcome back Mr. Potter," said a voice that he recognized as Professor McGonagall's. "We were so worried about you and I'm glad that Professor Snape was able to get all of you out.
Hermione, Ron and Cho were waiting for him at the door and McGonagall gave him a rare smile. "I think your friends are waiting for you, go to them. Madam Pomfrey took Justin Finch-Fletchley and Terry Boot to the Hospital Wing."
Harry got up and followed Hermione, Ron and Cho out of Dumbledore's office just as the adults came in.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Let's go back to the Gryffindor common room, then we can figure out what to do," Hermione said.
"What time is it?" Ron asked. "I'm hungry, let's go eat something."
"I have no idea," Cho replied. "We've been in there for I don't know how long."
"We can safely assume that it's night time since the torches are lit but since you're hungry Ron, let's go to the kitchen to get something to eat," Hermione suggested.
~*~*~*~*~*~
When they got to the portrait leading to the kitchen, Hermione tickled the pear and the portrait swung open allowing them to enter.
The four of them entered the kitchen to find that the house elves were busy preparing food for the next day at breakfast.
Dobby, as expected, came up to Harry and greeted him enthusiastically.
"Harry Potter, sir," Dobby said bowing. "He has come to visit Dobby with his friends, he has. What can I do for Harry Potter?"
"Good to see you too Dobby," Harry said with a smile. "I don't suppose it would be too much trouble to ask you for some food at this hour."
"Of course not Harry Potter sir. Dobby is happy to get food for Harry Potter and his friends," Dobby said as he ran off to grab some tray.
Hermione, Ron, Cho and Harry sat down at a small table off to the side and minutes later, Dobby returned with a large platter of food.
"Here is what was served for dinner today," Dobby announced. "Enjoy yourselves but Dobby is happy to see Harry Potter safe again."
Harry was about to reach for a drumstick when he heard Dobby's statement. "What was that?"
"Dobby is glad to see Harry Potter safe again," Dobby repeated. "Dobby heard that Harry Potter was missing for a day and Dobby was worried that evil wizard got Harry Potter."
Harry smiled at Dobby. "No Dobby, he didn't get me."
"Dobby is glad but now Dobby has to go back to work," Dobby said as he retreated still facing Harry.
"That is one enthusiastic house elf," Cho commented.
"Yes but now Harry we need to talk about what has been going on at school," Hermione interrupted.
"Oh yes," Harry agreed. "You said that you found a large bat and lots of smaller bats coming out of Walter's office?"
"Yes, that's right," said Ron. "Sepet was in there and we thought that he might have been up to something but when we inspected the room, it was a complete mess."
"Was anything taken?" Cho asked.
"Not that we know of, but why would he want to raid his own bodyguard's office?"
"Maybe there was something in there that he wanted to get to Voldemort," Harry suggested.
"But what could he possibly want in there that Walter couldn't have gotten himself?"
"I'm not sure but we should watch Sepet carefully again. I don't think there will be anymore missions anytime soon."
"Don't forget," said Ron. "You have Quidditch against Ravenclaw soon."
Harry turned to face Cho who was looking at him as well. "Looks like we'll be playing against each other Cho."
Cho nodded. "So we will - I want to let you know that no matter what the outcome, I will still be your friend."
"As will I," Harry agreed. "No hard feelings even if you beat me."
Cho smiled. "I don't think that will happen, you're the youngest seeker anyone has seen in a century so I'm sure you won't be easy, besides I doubt that you'd let me win."
Harry blushed. "You're right, I wouldn't."
Hermione, seeing the exchange between the two teenagers, cleared her throat. "Do you mind? We have other matters to worry about."
"Oh, sorry, right, go on Hermione," Cho stuttered.
For the next minute or so, Hermione began to lay down the facts. "We know that Sepet is still a threat to us, Walter has betrayed the Order, Ron's brother Percy is still captured and that Sepet needs to deliver something to You-Know-Who."
"That still doesn't make sense," Harry stated. "Sepet wouldn't go through Walter's office and leave in a hurry? Walter could have easily brought it to You-Know-Who at anytime."
"Maybe there was something that Walter had acquired recently and couldn't bring with him when he betrayed us and so it's up to Sepet to get it," Hermione reasoned. "We just happened to get there when he was trying to get whatever it was."
"Whatever it is, it probably will help You-Know-Who so we need to make sure Sepet doesn't get it but we'll need to search Walter's office first to find out what it is."
"I agree - how about you go around with us on our rounds Harry," suggested Ron. "You can go with Cho then we can cover more ground that way."
"Another thing," Hermione said thoughtfully. "What about that Death Eater with a wand and sword that we fought in Malfoy's mansion?"
"Could it be Draco?"
"No, he was as tall as that other Death Eater with a sword," Hermione reasoned. "Which raises an interesting question, who are they?"
"I couldn't tell" said Harry, "They had their hoods up and when I fired an ice bolt at the one with the sword, he dodged it but Sepet has a shield. The other one must be one of the students or someone else who Sepet has taught how to use a sword."
"Except that it never really worked against elemental magic," Hermione pointed out. "Remember we actually hurt him with our ice bolts that one time?"
"Oh, so that's what you two have been using," Cho said. "You should teach Ron and me how to do that sometime."
"Sure, no problem," Harry said as he continued eating. "But now it looks like our problems have increased. We not only need to keep an eye on Sepet but also everyone else at school."
"Only 6th or 7th year students fit the profile of that other Death Eater but none of them are students in the duelling class."
"You forget, Cho, that our class isn't the only one which means that we will have to observe the older students during Sepet's classes."
"All right, but wouldn't it be easier to just observe Sepet and worry about that other Death Eater later?" Hermione speculated.
"Good idea Hermione, then it wouldn't be so hard because Sepet will just lead us to whoever it is," Harry agreed.
"So it's settled, we keep an eye on Sepet?" said Ron.
"Yes."
For the rest of the evening the four of them sat and talked about various subjects ranging from Quidditch to exploding snap until it was time to go to bed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: Yay, done! The next chapter will take a little longer because I actually have to think about the subplot for that one. It'll probably be another Quidditch match and a pleasant surprise after all of this morbid treachery. I also may not write all of it since it has a fluff scene and I can't write a fluff scene but thankfully Quis has volunteered to finish it for me. Thanks Quis!
Katy999: Hehe, trying to look for evidence to the contrary hmm? Sorry I had to do that to everyone who liked Walter but he is a Necromancer and they do have dark tendencies.
Phoenix of Light: I love plot twists, don't you? =) There'll be more to come so please keep reading, the story is almost finished. 5 more chapters to go after this and we're done.
Eddie: As I've said before, H/Hr will come later but not in this fanfic. After reading some of Rowling's interviews and reading certain parts of the HP books, I've come to a little theory that Hermione has a crush on Ron but loves Harry, or at least that's how I perceive it and that's how I'm doing the couples.
Smegul: If you want to review, go ahead. If not, that's fine too but it's always good to know what my readers think of the story. You've also been added to the mailing list.
Sabrina: next chapter, hopefully 2-3 days.
Merlins-Apprentice: All right, I'll send you an e-mail when it's updated again. H/Hr will always be my favourite but I can't just ditch the plot in favour of that.
ALPHA WOLFE: Sorry about Walter, I know he was a favourite of a lot of people but plot twists make it interesting no?
hyper-harry-JC: glad you like the story. I tried my best to make it similar to the other four books and it appears that I'm doing a good job so far.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Chapter 31: Order 05: Escape
In a cold dark room, three hooded figures stood before a thin man with a deathly white face and slits for nostrils; the very definition of a human serpent. Wormtail was also cowering behind Voldemort, watching his lord with a fearful eye and two dementors were also positioned at the entrance to the chamber.
The door opened and a fourth man entered escorted by two more hooded figures, each one carrying a sword underneath his cloak.
All three newcomers bowed before Voldemort and waited until he acknowledged their presence.
"What is it Lucius?" Voldemort hissed. "I hope that the news is good this time. I failed to understand how you could possibly let one of our own, Avery get captured and remain that way. "
"My lord," Lucius replied. "We have captured Potter and the rest of the members of Dumbledore's silly Order."
"You two may leave now, go forth and secure our future," Voldemort said to the two hooded figures escorting Lucius.
Both silently got up and left the room, leaving Lucius alone with the three Death Eaters and Voldemort.
"Now tell me Lucius, how is it that you managed to do something right for once?"
"Severus introduced me to someone who was part of Dumbledore's order who he thought might be useful to our cause. I've met him personally and he certainly has a flair for brutality and efficiency."
"Are the prisoners being guarded?"
"Yes my lord," Lucius said, not daring to look up. "We've taken away their wands and other weapons so they are all defenceless."
"Who did you leave in charge?"
"In charge my lord?" Lucius asked, looking up slightly in confusion.
"You mean to tell me that you did not leave anyone in charge of the guards?" Voldemort said as he slowly approached Lucius.
"No my lord, I assumed that - " Lucius started to say but he didn't have the chance to finish for Voldemort raised his wand and used the Cruciatus curse on Lucius.
"AHHHHHHHHH!!" Lucius screamed as he collapsed to the ground in pain.
Eventually Voldemort released Lucius from his torture and walked back to where Wormtail was cowering. Lucius was on the ground, still cringing in pain and much too exhausted to get up.
Voldemort turned to two of the three Death Eaters surrounding him. "Vidar and Helga Lestrange, go quickly to Lucius' house and make sure that the prisoners do not escape, bring the other two loyal servants with you if you can catch up with them. However it is my impression that they will be saddened to find that one of their number is missing and delay if they escape at all."
Two of the three Death Eaters standing before Voldemort bowed and left the room.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry awoke with his scar burning to find himself in a cell in a cold, dark dungeon. There were two Death Eaters standing at the doorway, one of them probably had the keys but seeing as the cell was quite a way from the door, getting the keys seemed out of the question. There was also a table with various wands and weapons placed on them sitting up against the wall to the right of the two Death Eaters.
His head was still throbbing from having been knocked on the head however, after his dream, his primary worry was that of Cho since Voldemort mentioned that one of the Order members were missing.
"Cho," Harry called out softly. "Cho, where are you?"
A calming yet familiar hand was placed upon Harry's shoulder and upon turning around, Harry found himself face to face with the headmaster of Hogwarts.
"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed in happiness. "You're here too."
The headmaster's eyes twinkled behind his glasses as the old man's mouth turned up into a smile. "Yes Harry, I am here. From your calls, I can only imaging that you are looking for Miss Chang. She is here as well, but if you take a good look around you will find that most people are asleep."
"You had quite a knock on the head there," Dumbledore continued as he examined the back of Harry's head, checking for further injury.
"Is everyone here?"
"Alas no, they took Percy Weasley away earlier and I haven't seen him since," Dumbledore informed him. "Everyone else here is untouched and still alive - I've checked them all myself."
Harry was a disturbed at how accurate his dream was but the next thing that came to his mind were the two Death Eaters that were on the way. When he was in the graveyard near the end of the Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts last year, he remembered that Voldemort mentioned the name Lestrange. If memory also served him well, the Lestranges were the couple that were responsible for Neville's parents going insane.
"Who are the Lestranges?" Harry asked the headmaster.
Dumbledore regarded Harry for a moment before replying. "They are two of the most dangerous Death Eaters in Voldemort's service. We had sent them to Azkaban but now that Voldemort has made that his headquarters, we can safely assume that they are free and that we will be seeing more of them. They are also responsible for the insanity of Neville Longbottom's parents."
"They're on the way," Harry stated.
"In that case," Dumbledore said slowly, "we had better find a way to escape quickly. If the Lestranges are on their way, I assume that they will torture us to the point where we will be driven insane like the Longbottoms."
"How do we get out when we're in here?"
"I trust that Minerva had a backup plan just in case something like this happened," Dumbledore said calmly.
Dumbledore got up silently and walked around the cell waking everyone up.
Harry got up and followed Dumbledore, waking everyone up. However when he got to Cho, he kneeled down beside her and watched as she slept.
She looked very peaceful and none of her beauty had seemed to diminish during the time they had spent in the cell though one day hardly constituted as much, Harry thought.
"Cho," he finally said, nudging her gently. "Cho, wake up."
"Mmm?" she responded sleepily but she didn't wake up.
"Cho, it's time to get up," Harry said, nudging her yet again.
"J-ust a little - more..." Cho said as she brushed his hand away.
"Cho, this isn't the time to be sleeping, the Death Eaters are on the way," Harry said, trying to reason with her.
Cho didn't respond this time so Harry thought it was useless to try to reason with someone who was half asleep but time was of the essence since, with the two loyal Death Eaters on the way, their time to escape was slowly dwindling.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The door to the dungeon opened and Harry thought that their time was up but upon seeing who was entering, he noticed that it was none other than Snape with his wand drawn.
The two Death Eaters at the door looked at him but suddenly found themselves on the floor, stunned.
"Albus," Snape said with some minor hint of emotion that Harry thought resembled happiness but that was quickly suppressed if it was there at all. "It's good to see that you're safe and that everyone else is here as well. Minerva also allowed these two also insisted on coming along despite my protests."
Snape stepped aside to reveal two students in Hogwarts uniforms. One was a girl with bushy brown hair and the other was a boy with fiery red hair that was an indication that he was a Weasley.
"HARRY!" Hermione and Ron exclaimed, happy to see their friend alive.
Harry couldn't help but grin at them. "Ron - Hermione, how did you manage to find us?"
"Come now Harry, you expect me not to worry about you when you haven't come back in 24 hours?" Hermione said with a look of relief. "I'm just happy that you're safe."
"She's right mate," Ron agreed. "The Daily Prophet said that the Phoenix Order was captured by Fudge and Hermione nearly went hysterical. She kept saying that you were in trouble and after calming her down; she finally told me that you two were part of it. Now I know why you two have been gone for long periods of time - I must say though that you should have said something."
"It's good to see you again Severus," Dumbledore said, standing up slowly. "They took Percy away but I must say that your timing couldn't be better. My old legs were starting to ache from sitting in this cell for months."
The entire Weasley family looked saddened by the news that Percy was gone but they still trusted Dumbledore so they listened intently for any instructions on how to go about their escape first.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't come sooner but they would suspect something. The Daily Prophet article told me that everyone had been captured with the help of an unorthodox wizard who I assume to be that necromancer. I knew that both of them were trouble when I saw them," Snape said disgustedly as he went over to take the keys from one of the Death Eaters and opened the cell.
Snape handed the keys to Dumbledore and pointed to the table with all of the wands on it. "Your wands are over there but you'll have to stun me so they won't suspect that I let you out but first.."
Snape then drew out a large pouch from his robe. ".This is a bag of floo powder. It should be enough to take everyone back to Hogwarts. The fireplace leading to the floo network is on the floor above. You'll have to go to the front of the Malfoy's mansion and once you reach the entrance, head to the room on the immediate left under the stairway, you'll find the fireplace in there. However to get to the entrance, you'll have to first go through a circular room which has three doors which open to a different location every 15 minutes so I can't help you there."
Dumbledore nodded and took both the bag and Snape's wand from him. "Sorry about this Severus - STUPEFY!"
The stunning bolt hit Snape and he immediately fell to the ground, unconscious. Dumbledore placed the wand next to Snape and turned to Harry.
"Would you do us the honours of creating some food for us so that the Death Eaters will only think that Snape was trying to give us food?"
Harry was a little surprised that Dumbledore even knew of his elemental magic but seeing as Dumbledore had known about his adventures with Ron and Hermione in the past, he must assume that Dumbledore somehow knew about this as well.
Harry nodded and walked to the table to grab his wand and sword while Sirius and Remus grabbed the remaining wands and handed them out to their respective owners but since Cho was still asleep, Harry also retained her wand.
After fastening the sword around his belt, Harry walked into the cell and pointed his wand at the ground near Snape.
"cibus bread," Harry said and a piece of bread was created in the middle of the floor much to everyone's surprise.
"There is one more thing we need to do," Dumbledore said, taking his wand from the table. "We must wipe the memories of the two guards."
With that, Dumbledore walked over to the two unconscious Death Eaters and used a memory charm on both of them to wipe any memory of what had happened. Then he opened the door and led the way, exiting to the left.
As everyone followed, Harry carefully picked up Cho's body and followed them out with Hermione and Ron behind him, their wands drawn and ready.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They found themselves in a long corridor lit by torches and lined with doors on both sides.
"Which way Albus?" Moody growled.
Dumbledore put a hand to his beard and stroked it for a bit in thought. After a while, his face lit up and he lifted a finger in the other direction.
"That way I believe, lead the way Harry," Dumbledore said.
"Let me carry her," Sirius told Harry who was carrying Cho. "Then you can lead."
Harry transferred Cho to Sirius and that freed up both of his hands to draw his wand and his sword.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
As they walked along the corridor, Hermione started telling Harry all that happened while he was gone.
"Sepet was acting strangely again when you left," Hermione said, "but he didn't hurt anyone which was good. Also, I never took off your ring, do you want it back?"
"No, that's ok," Harry said. "I don't think it would help much anyway."
"It works Harry, we just need to figure out who it is warning us against," Hermione told him. "During one of my rounds at night, I heard some strange noises coming from the dungeons so I went down there to check it out with Ron. The noises appeared to be coming from Walter's office and we went to see if he was in there."
"We didn't find anything but a giant bat followed by lots of smaller bats flew out of the room when we opened the door," Ron explained.
Harry stopped dead in his tracks when he heard the words 'giant bat' and everyone else also stopped behind him.
"A what?" he asked.
"A giant bat and lots of little bats," Ron repeated. "Isn't that -"
Hermione quickly put a hand over his mouth and gave Harry a look of understanding. "We'll discuss this with you later Ron - we need to get out of here first."
"All right," Ron said as they continued walking.
"Was something wrong Harry?" asked Terry Boot as he ran up to the front of the group. "You stopped for a moment."
"Nothing, let's get out of here as fast as we can," Harry said, quickening his pace a little.
~*~*~*~*~*~
They continued along their way unhindered by any guards until they got to a stairway leading up.
There was a door that probably led to either another hallway or another room but it was guarded by two of Walter's skeletons. Harry's ring on Hermione's finger was glowing faintly to show that danger was near.
"Hermione," Harry said. "You and I will fire ice bolts at each of the skeletons and you, Terry, will attack them."
"Sure thing Harry," Terry Boot acknowledged as he drew his sword.
"Ready?"
"Ready."
Both Harry and Hermione fired an ice bolt at each of the skeletons freezing them solid. Then Terry and Harry ran up the stairs to smash both of the skeletons with one blow from their swords.
"Good job Harry," Remus Lupin said as he walked ahead of Sirius and opened the door carefully so that he could take a look around.
"There doesn't seem to be anyone around," Remus announced opening the door. "Go ahead Harry."
Harry ran out first followed by Hermione and Ron only to find themselves in a large circular room.
As the other members exited the dungeons, Harry slowly looked around and realized that the dungeon entrance was nothing more than a door disguised as a wall. There were large pillars that held up a walkway on the 2nd floor above them and a large green carpet on the floor that bore the family crest of the Malfoys. Finally, the three doors which Snape had told them about earlier were arrayed around the room, one on the right, one to the left and one directly in front of Harry.
"Quickly," Dumbledore said as he exited the dungeons. "Open up all the doors, if they lead to the entrance then we can escape but otherwise we'll just remain in here until they change to the door we want."
Remus, Dumbledore and Bill Weasley ran to each of the doors and opened them. None of them appeared to be the correct one so the Order members deployed in even numbers at the doors so that no one could enter and so that they could watch for the correct exit.
Harry, Ron and Hermione joined Bill Weasley at his door along with Moody and Molly.
"Are you all right dears?" Molly Weasley asked, looking them over with a critical eye.
"Yes Mrs. Weasley," Harry replied. "We're perfectly fine."
"This place must get frustrating," Ron commented. "What happens if we never get the right one?"
"Then we're stuck here forever or we'll have to just try finding our way through," Bill Weasley said.
"Great.."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
An hour or so passed in waiting when Remus Lupin suddenly jumped up in excitement. "It's here - the front entrance of the Malfoy mansion! Quickly everyone we have 15 minutes to get out."
Harry, Ron and Hermione got up and ran as quickly as they could to where Remus and his group were while Dumbledore's group likewise followed.
"Harry!" Cho, who had now woken up, exclaimed as she ran headlong into Harry and enveloped him in a tight hug.
Harry smiled at her. "Good to see you awake Cho, how did you sleep?"
"I slept well, thanks to your godfather for carrying me up," Cho replied as she pulled away.
"Enough you two," Hermione scolded. "You can do that when you get back - we need to get out now."
Both Harry and Cho blushed in embarrassment but followed Hermione and Ron through the exit.
Once everyone had gone through the doorway, Harry looked back to find that the room was not what they had been in previously. Instead there was only an open doorway leading to another unfamiliar room.
However their troubles were far from over for they were confronted by four hooded Death Eaters, one with a sword and a wand, another with only a sword, and two Death Eaters with only wands.
"It's about time you showed yourselves," said one of the Death Eaters in a scratchy voice. "Pity you all won't be able to make it back to Hogwarts. My wife and I will show you the same hospitality that you had shown us in Azkaban."
Within two seconds, every order member had their wand pointed at the Lestranges but the two sword wielding Death Eaters stood silent.
"Harry, the adults will deal with the Lestranges," Dumbledore said. "The rest of you, deal with the other two Death Eaters."
Harry nodded and signalled to everyone else. Justin drew his sword and all the females drew their daggers.
The Lestranges made the first move, firing a Cruciatus curse at Sirius and Remus but they quickly dodged out of the way and returned fire with a disarming spell. The other adults spread out so that they could fire and the chances of getting hit were reduced.
Meanwhile, the other two Death Eaters drew their swords and charged at the students.
"Everyone fire a spell at them," Harry commanded.
The students complied and each person fired a disarming spell at them but both Death Eaters dropped to the floor and rolled aside before getting up and continuing.
Harry fired an ice bolt at the nearest Death Eater with both a wand and sword but missed and the Death Eater returned fire with the Imperius curse.
Harry found himself hit with it and he could not move.
The Death Eater who cast it stopped and held his position.
"Good," he said in a muffled voice. "Now turn around and attack your classmates."
"No," Harry said in defiance.
"I said attack them," the Death Eater said more forcefully.
Harry found himself turning slowly but in his mind he forced himself to resist the spell.
*I will not attack them, I will not attack them * he thought.
"Harry, what are you doing?" Hermione said.
"I - I'm not in control of myself," Harry replied.
"Good, good my puppet," the Death Eater said maliciously. "Kill them and then come before the dark lord and receive your punishment."
Harry had almost turned around and the other Death Eater had now engaged Terry and Justin.
Hermione, seeing that Harry might not be able to break out of the spell, fired blinding spells at the Death Eater while Ron approached Harry slowly.
"Harry, common mate, resist it," Ron encouraged him. "We've see you do it last year."
"Yes Harry," Cho said, approaching him as well. "Resist it."
"Why don't you kill the girl?" the Death Eater told him. "Yes, that's a good idea."
Hermione, in frustration, fired a disarming spell and the Death Eater's wand flew to her, releasing Harry from the Imperius curse.
The wand fell at Hermione's feet and angered, the Death Eater attacked her with his sword but she managed to block it with her dagger.
Harry attacked the Death Eater who again dropped to the ground, grabbed his wand and rolled out of the way.
At the same time, the Lestranges weren't doing much to the adults since they had been pushed back into the room basically and were firing through cracks in the doorway.
"Pull back," Mrs. Lestrange told the two other Death Eaters.
The one with the wand complied and pulled back to the doorway while the Lestranges provided cover. However the other one was stubborn and continued to engage Justin and Terry with his sword.
Seeing this, Harry ran in their direction, jumping to avoid a Cruciatus curse aimed at his legs. He fired an ice bolt at the Death Eater but the Death Eater stepped aside at the last minute to avoid it.
The Death Eater was currently attacking Justin while Terry had pulled back to rest a bit but the battle was short since Justin was injured within a few seconds for the Death Eater feinted high and changed the direction of his sword at the last minute, cutting into Justin's leg, splashing blood onto the floor.
Justin dropped his sword and screamed in pain as he fell to the ground, clutching his leg with both hands.
Terry quickly took over and attacked the Death Eater but the Death Eater was surprisingly quick. Hannah Abbot ran over to Justin and dragged him away from the battle while Blaise grabbed Justin's sword.
As the duel with Terry continued, the Death Eater allowed himself to be pushed back into a wall by Terry but he did something that neither Harry nor Terry expected. The Death Eater jumped backwards, rebounded off the wall and landed behind Terry while spinning in a complete circle, cutting into both of Terry's legs deeply and splattering blood onto the floor and the wall. He then brought his sword up in time to deflect the blow that Harry aimed at his head.
Terry also collapsed in pain and Ron and Hermione went to his aid, dragging his body away from the battle, leaving a trail of blood as they did so.
"Common," Mr. Lestrange ordered the sword wielding Death Eater. "This is no time to be playing around. We can't defeat them all - retreat."
After trading a few more blows with Harry, the other Death Eater grudgingly complied.
"I'll see you again Mr. Potter," he hissed as he ran towards the door where the Lestranges were.
Dumbledore, seeing that they were wasting time, fired one last spell at the Lestranges who shut the doors just as the Death Eater with the sword entered the room but unlike the previous spells, it blew the double doors to bits, creating a large cloud of dust and smoke.
The Lestranges and the other two Death Eaters were blown back and were covered with wooden particles but they quickly got up and ran towards the fireplace. Mr. Lestrange threw some floo powder into the fireplace and all four of them disappeared into it.
Now that the battle was over, Harry sheathed his sword and looked around. Hermione was tending to Terry's injuries, using the healing spell from the elemental book while Dumbledore was doing something similar with Justin.
"Good job Harry," Sirius said, "You did well against both Death Eaters."
"Thanks," Harry replied and turned to Dumbledore who was now finished tending to Justin and helping him up.
"I think that does it," Dumbledore said, looking to see if Hermione was done healing Terry. "However we're not out of danger just yet, quickly everyone; to the fireplace."
Everyone ran towards the fireplace and Dumbledore took out the pouch of floo powder.
"We'll start with the students and then everyone else will follow," Dumbledore said. "You first Mr. Weasley just say 'Hogwarts' and you'll get there."
Ron took a pinch of floo powder and threw it into the fireplace, said 'Hogwarts' and disappeared into it.
"You're next Miss Chang."
Cho followed likewise and each of the students after her until it was time for Hermione to come. She took a pinch of floo powder and walked towards the fireplace but she stopped when she got to Harry who was standing next to the fireplace.
Hermione looked at him and smiled. "I'm glad you're safe Harry; see you on the other side."
With that, Hermione gave him a quick hug and threw the floo powder into the fireplace and disappeared just as the others did.
Harry then took a pinch of floo powder and walked over to the fireplace.
"Hogwarts!" Harry yelled and stepped in.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The trip was very much like every other one in the floo network but he eventually reached the correct fireplace and was thrown out onto the ground in Dumbledore's office.
"Welcome back Mr. Potter," said a voice that he recognized as Professor McGonagall's. "We were so worried about you and I'm glad that Professor Snape was able to get all of you out.
Hermione, Ron and Cho were waiting for him at the door and McGonagall gave him a rare smile. "I think your friends are waiting for you, go to them. Madam Pomfrey took Justin Finch-Fletchley and Terry Boot to the Hospital Wing."
Harry got up and followed Hermione, Ron and Cho out of Dumbledore's office just as the adults came in.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Let's go back to the Gryffindor common room, then we can figure out what to do," Hermione said.
"What time is it?" Ron asked. "I'm hungry, let's go eat something."
"I have no idea," Cho replied. "We've been in there for I don't know how long."
"We can safely assume that it's night time since the torches are lit but since you're hungry Ron, let's go to the kitchen to get something to eat," Hermione suggested.
~*~*~*~*~*~
When they got to the portrait leading to the kitchen, Hermione tickled the pear and the portrait swung open allowing them to enter.
The four of them entered the kitchen to find that the house elves were busy preparing food for the next day at breakfast.
Dobby, as expected, came up to Harry and greeted him enthusiastically.
"Harry Potter, sir," Dobby said bowing. "He has come to visit Dobby with his friends, he has. What can I do for Harry Potter?"
"Good to see you too Dobby," Harry said with a smile. "I don't suppose it would be too much trouble to ask you for some food at this hour."
"Of course not Harry Potter sir. Dobby is happy to get food for Harry Potter and his friends," Dobby said as he ran off to grab some tray.
Hermione, Ron, Cho and Harry sat down at a small table off to the side and minutes later, Dobby returned with a large platter of food.
"Here is what was served for dinner today," Dobby announced. "Enjoy yourselves but Dobby is happy to see Harry Potter safe again."
Harry was about to reach for a drumstick when he heard Dobby's statement. "What was that?"
"Dobby is glad to see Harry Potter safe again," Dobby repeated. "Dobby heard that Harry Potter was missing for a day and Dobby was worried that evil wizard got Harry Potter."
Harry smiled at Dobby. "No Dobby, he didn't get me."
"Dobby is glad but now Dobby has to go back to work," Dobby said as he retreated still facing Harry.
"That is one enthusiastic house elf," Cho commented.
"Yes but now Harry we need to talk about what has been going on at school," Hermione interrupted.
"Oh yes," Harry agreed. "You said that you found a large bat and lots of smaller bats coming out of Walter's office?"
"Yes, that's right," said Ron. "Sepet was in there and we thought that he might have been up to something but when we inspected the room, it was a complete mess."
"Was anything taken?" Cho asked.
"Not that we know of, but why would he want to raid his own bodyguard's office?"
"Maybe there was something in there that he wanted to get to Voldemort," Harry suggested.
"But what could he possibly want in there that Walter couldn't have gotten himself?"
"I'm not sure but we should watch Sepet carefully again. I don't think there will be anymore missions anytime soon."
"Don't forget," said Ron. "You have Quidditch against Ravenclaw soon."
Harry turned to face Cho who was looking at him as well. "Looks like we'll be playing against each other Cho."
Cho nodded. "So we will - I want to let you know that no matter what the outcome, I will still be your friend."
"As will I," Harry agreed. "No hard feelings even if you beat me."
Cho smiled. "I don't think that will happen, you're the youngest seeker anyone has seen in a century so I'm sure you won't be easy, besides I doubt that you'd let me win."
Harry blushed. "You're right, I wouldn't."
Hermione, seeing the exchange between the two teenagers, cleared her throat. "Do you mind? We have other matters to worry about."
"Oh, sorry, right, go on Hermione," Cho stuttered.
For the next minute or so, Hermione began to lay down the facts. "We know that Sepet is still a threat to us, Walter has betrayed the Order, Ron's brother Percy is still captured and that Sepet needs to deliver something to You-Know-Who."
"That still doesn't make sense," Harry stated. "Sepet wouldn't go through Walter's office and leave in a hurry? Walter could have easily brought it to You-Know-Who at anytime."
"Maybe there was something that Walter had acquired recently and couldn't bring with him when he betrayed us and so it's up to Sepet to get it," Hermione reasoned. "We just happened to get there when he was trying to get whatever it was."
"Whatever it is, it probably will help You-Know-Who so we need to make sure Sepet doesn't get it but we'll need to search Walter's office first to find out what it is."
"I agree - how about you go around with us on our rounds Harry," suggested Ron. "You can go with Cho then we can cover more ground that way."
"Another thing," Hermione said thoughtfully. "What about that Death Eater with a wand and sword that we fought in Malfoy's mansion?"
"Could it be Draco?"
"No, he was as tall as that other Death Eater with a sword," Hermione reasoned. "Which raises an interesting question, who are they?"
"I couldn't tell" said Harry, "They had their hoods up and when I fired an ice bolt at the one with the sword, he dodged it but Sepet has a shield. The other one must be one of the students or someone else who Sepet has taught how to use a sword."
"Except that it never really worked against elemental magic," Hermione pointed out. "Remember we actually hurt him with our ice bolts that one time?"
"Oh, so that's what you two have been using," Cho said. "You should teach Ron and me how to do that sometime."
"Sure, no problem," Harry said as he continued eating. "But now it looks like our problems have increased. We not only need to keep an eye on Sepet but also everyone else at school."
"Only 6th or 7th year students fit the profile of that other Death Eater but none of them are students in the duelling class."
"You forget, Cho, that our class isn't the only one which means that we will have to observe the older students during Sepet's classes."
"All right, but wouldn't it be easier to just observe Sepet and worry about that other Death Eater later?" Hermione speculated.
"Good idea Hermione, then it wouldn't be so hard because Sepet will just lead us to whoever it is," Harry agreed.
"So it's settled, we keep an eye on Sepet?" said Ron.
"Yes."
For the rest of the evening the four of them sat and talked about various subjects ranging from Quidditch to exploding snap until it was time to go to bed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: Yay, done! The next chapter will take a little longer because I actually have to think about the subplot for that one. It'll probably be another Quidditch match and a pleasant surprise after all of this morbid treachery. I also may not write all of it since it has a fluff scene and I can't write a fluff scene but thankfully Quis has volunteered to finish it for me. Thanks Quis!
Katy999: Hehe, trying to look for evidence to the contrary hmm? Sorry I had to do that to everyone who liked Walter but he is a Necromancer and they do have dark tendencies.
Phoenix of Light: I love plot twists, don't you? =) There'll be more to come so please keep reading, the story is almost finished. 5 more chapters to go after this and we're done.
Eddie: As I've said before, H/Hr will come later but not in this fanfic. After reading some of Rowling's interviews and reading certain parts of the HP books, I've come to a little theory that Hermione has a crush on Ron but loves Harry, or at least that's how I perceive it and that's how I'm doing the couples.
Smegul: If you want to review, go ahead. If not, that's fine too but it's always good to know what my readers think of the story. You've also been added to the mailing list.
Sabrina: next chapter, hopefully 2-3 days.
Merlins-Apprentice: All right, I'll send you an e-mail when it's updated again. H/Hr will always be my favourite but I can't just ditch the plot in favour of that.
ALPHA WOLFE: Sorry about Walter, I know he was a favourite of a lot of people but plot twists make it interesting no?
hyper-harry-JC: glad you like the story. I tried my best to make it similar to the other four books and it appears that I'm doing a good job so far.