Chapter 30 –
Mind Games?
Minerva
McGonagall rushed into the room closely behind Professor Flitwick.
"Albus! I just heard! What on Earth are we going to do?" She exclaimed.
"Calm
down Minerva my dear. We have to think
clearly. Said Dumbledore calmly.
"Firstly
I want you to bring Dawn Inigma here.
Also please bring Sirius and Remus.
The Order must act now."
"Yes,
of course." Agreed Minerva trying to
catch her breath and getting ready to go again.
"Sit
for a minute Minerva. Arabella, would
you mind?"
"Of
course I'll go Albus, I'll be back soon."
Minerva
sat down gratefully.
"I've
been talking to Ginny Weasley, and Arabella and I believe that Harry is her
guardian." Said Dumbledore pensively.
"Her
guardian! But he's only a boy!"
"Yes,
but this is Harry Potter we're talking about…
He's always been unusually self-sufficient and mature for his age. No doubt from the circumstances of his
upbringing, it's a shame really, I doubt he's ever really felt like a
child." Dumbledore caught Minerva's eye
and realised that he was rambling… "But
I agree, he is young for this sort of responsibility." he added frowning
slightly.
"But
wouldn't he know it? If he really is
her guardian…"
"Probably
not. Or if he does, he doesn't
understand it."
"Well
that wouldn't surprise me! I don't
understand it." Said Minerva with a
slight smile.
~~~*~~~*~~~
Snape
saw Lucius Malfoy's look of fear as they returned to the dungeons, they had
failed their mission, what ever it was, and the dark lord would not be pleased.
There
was a hushed silence as the trembling Death Eaters skulked into the throne
room.
"So…
You've all returned. Congratulations
Lucius. I cannot pretend that I
expected more from you. You've always
been better at grovelling than pleasing me.
Crucio!"
Snape
turned his head away as Lucius Malfoy writhed in agony, but he couldn't block
out the screams that echoed around the hall.
"But
all is not lost. One of my faithful
Death Eaters had the sense to follow the snivelling idiot into hiding. And now we not only have the minister's
presence, but a few other very valuable hostages. Come forward Fletcher."
Snape's
head snapped back round in time to see the death eater emerge from the
ranks. He felt his stomach clench.
"Mundungus
Fletcher. You have pleased me, you will
be given much more responsibility now that you have proven your loyalty."
He
could barely believe his ears, Mundungus Fletcher! The goody-two-shoes Gryffindor.
A death eater! He watched in
astonishment as the former Auror and member of the Order of the Phoenix dropped
to his knees in front of Voldemort and pledged his undying allegiance.
Was
this all an elaborate hoax? Was he
working for Dumbledore? Snape doubted
it. And who were the hostages?
"Bring
in the Potter boy Wormtail!" Shrieked
Voldemort.
The
Death Eaters around him all turned to watch Wormtail bring Harry in, but
Snape's eyes were still fixed on Mundungus Fletcher. He only turned to look when he was surrounded by gasps of shock
and surprised whispers from the death eaters around him. And when he saw Harry, he almost
fainted. The sight that met his eyes
was not a confused, but defiant teenage boy with scruffy black hair and
piercing green eyes surrounded by the black rims of glasses that he'd been expecting.
Wormtail
was instead dragging behind him a magnificent looking pure white dragon, which
was snorting angrily issuing bursts of bright flame. Harry was an animagus!!!
Snape blinked in surprise before looking more closely and noticing that
the golden scar was gleaming on the dragon's forehead and the dragon's eyes
were rolling around madly, and were not the expected emerald green, but sore
and white with red rims around them.
Harry
was obviously in pain, and kept trying to bring his bound hands up to his face.
The
Death Eaters uniformly retreated from the fearsome creature.
Voldemort
just laughed.
"Fletcher. Go and bring your hostages, I'm sure Harry
would be very grateful to hear a friendly voice, even if he can't see them."
~~~*~~~*~~~
Harry
wondered whether or not he was awake.
He couldn't see anything but blackness, he tried to reach for his eyes
to rub them, they felt terribly sore, but as he lifted his arms he realised
with a jolt that he was still a dragon!
And that he was tightly bound.
He
relaxed back down onto the floor feeling weak and shaky, what was going
on? He felt a strange sensation
gathering in his chest, he didn't have any of the usual feelings of fear,
apprehension or anger, that he expected to feel, he felt, empty, almost, resigned. He didn't have the energy to struggle
against his binds, so he remained lying still, conserving what little strength
he had and closed his sore eyes noticing no difference… Just blackness.
He
tried to think about anything. He tried
to call to mind an image of his friends, or of Professor Snape, or Professor
Dumbledore. But he realised with a
sickening wrench that he couldn't do it.
He couldn't remember what they looked like! He could barely recall his friends' names! Harmony and Don? Or was it John? No! That wasn't right… was it even Harmony? He felt panic cloud his mind, but soon even
that disappeared.
Harry
felt empty again. He was confused,
then, slowly two people started to form in his mind, he recognised them
instantly but was puzzled, they were two people he didn't know very well, and
yet he could recall them in fairly intricate detail! There before him he pictured the worried faces of Ginny Weasley
and Professor Figg. It was a comforting
picture, although their concern confused Harry, why were they worried. Then, to his surprise he heard the faint
whisper of a voice.
"Oh
Harry! I do hope you're okay!"
It
was Ginny's voice!
"Ginny?" He called out to her, it was a second before he realised that
he'd instinctively used his telepathy.
"Ginny?" He repeated using every ounce of strength.
There
was a long silence and Harry suddenly felt extremely foolish. It was far too far to attempt telepathy...
he was surely miles from Hogwarts! And
besides, only telepaths could communicate this way.
Then
a pulse of excitement ran through him when he heard the smallest whisper reply
him
"Harry?"
~~~*~~~*~~~
Sirius
put a comforting hand on Remus' shoulder.
He'd taken the news about Harry very badly. It pained Sirius to see his friend so uncharacteristically down.
"It'll
be alright Moony. I just know it." But Sirius knew that the tightness in his
chest that was constricting his breathing meant that he didn't really believe
it.
"Padfoot…
I just can't… It's just so…"
Sirius
was shocked when Remus burst into tears, but managed to pull him into a tight
hug.
"And
now Arthur and Molly, and Percy too!"
Wailed Remus shaking violently.
"I
take it you don't give a stuff about Fudge then!" Said Sirius trying to grin.
He
felt the shaking increase and thought for a second he'd made things worse but
then Remus pulled away and he saw the mirth playing in Moony's tired grey eyes.
"Padfoot! You're just too much." Said Moony with a small sad smile.
The
two friends were getting ready for a meeting with Dumbledore, Sirius had to
transform as they walked down the corridor, they made swift progress towards
the headmaster's office, but soon they stumbled across something to slow them
down.
Ginny
Weasley was sitting in the middle of the corridor a look of intense bemusement
and concentration on her face.
"Ginny?" Asked Remus leaning down to her.
She
jumped almost a foot,
"Professor! Oh no!
Hang on!"
She
squeezed her eyes shut in concentration and soon a broad smile came over her
face and she relaxed letting out a long breath.
After
a few moments she opened her eyes again and noticing the bemused look on Remus'
face she blushed with excitement.
"Professor! I just talked to Harry! Apparently I'm a telepath!"
Ginny
suddenly noticed the large black dog which had suddenly started jumping up and
down getting very excited.
After
a moment's stunned silence Lupin spoke.
"Come
with me to Professor Dumbledore's office!
He needs to know about this right away.
He wanted to see you anyway I believe, we have some bad news." He said leading Ginny off down the corridor
briskly.
~~~*~~~*~~~
"Ginny! You must be a telepath, either that or I'm
imagining voices in my head, perhaps I'm going mad."
"Harry! Oh God!
This is so strange. A
telepath? Me?"
"Yes,
it means you can communicate this way with other telepaths… Like me.
You do know I'm alive don't you?"
"Yes,
luckily, or else I might have been even more shocked than I am! But, Harry, are you sure you're
alright?" Asked Ginny nervously.
"I
guess, I'm not mortally wounded or anything, but it's not nice here, and,
well…"
"What
is it?"
"I
can't remember stuff, my memory seems to be getting hazier every minute."
"Harry…
that's… terrible."
"Maybe
it would help if you told me some things I should remember… Like who my friends are…"
"Well,
of course there's Hermione and Ron, you can't have forgotten them, and then
there's Neville, and Seamus, and Dean…"
Harry
listened hungrily as Ginny recited the names of most of the Gryffindors. But he realised with a pang that as soon as
he recognised each name, it's significance seemed to fade away again almost
straight away.
"Harmonica
and Don, they're my best friends?"
"Harry! You're joking right. You do remember Hermione and Ron, surely…"
"Ginny!
This is awful, I don't know what I'm
going to do."
"It's
alright Harry. You're not alone any…."
But
then suddenly Ginny's voice was snatched away for a second.
"Ginny?!" Cried Harry panicking,
After
a few moments she returned.
"Sorry
Harry! I just got surprised by
Professor Lupin. I'll have to tell him
about this right away…"
"Yes! And tell Dumbledore too. Maybe it will help." Suggested Harry.
"Okay,
but I can't talk to Lupin and you at the same time, so…"
"It's
okay, go ahead. I'll be fine." Said Harry his dragon mouth curling into a
grin.
But
then Harry was interrupted himself… by one of the last people he wanted to
see. Peter Pettigrew… And he was taken to Voldemort…eH
Harry's
dragon senses were very acute, he could sense the presence of a great
evil. But he wasn't afraid, his animal
instincts made him feel wreckless and although he couldn't see, he could almost
feel where people were around him. He
could sense their magic. Voldemort's
magic was the blackest, and the strongest.
It seemed to radiate evil. And
it came from across the room.
Hope
u guys liked it… Sorry it's still a really short chapter… But ummm, nope
sorry! No excuse, just bear with me
guys!
Okay,
I thought I'd better just clarify this stuff….
Ginny
IS a telepath,
Harry
IS her guardian and that is why he can remember her and Arabella at the moment
when everyone else is fading from his memory.
BUT
Harry
is finding it hard to remember stuff about himself, and his life, and I'm
afraid when you're an animagus that's a pretty dire state to be in.
Also,
he is blinded still thanks to the conjunctiva curse, but there is more to this
than you might think… more nxt chapter…
Umm, also Mundungus Fletcher will be very important in my
plot, so I think we may be delving into his mind soon, seeing as we don't know
hardly anything about him… I dunno, tell me what you think! Writer's block is something I usually manage
to avoid somehow, but it's really killing me at the moment… Maybe it's the
exams giving me brain freeze… Never mind eh?
Wow! Long A/N, Sorry! Thanks for reading it! I
just seem to ramble randomly a lot at the moment! Anyways, I think you guys deserve a thanks section for your
patience! So here it is…
Thanks
to…
Kelzery,
Ady, Jeanne/Jess, abbey, Jess P, Shadow, am, Lena, Tinabedina, Elsebeth Fishnips, Kitty c, Sappire Dreamer,
Nagh, Pheonixx, Emerald, Lily Grul, Pumpkin Hatching, herm, sweets, Bandy,
Beeva, Tschubi – Chan and Michelle Potter
You
are all wonderful people
J *grins*
Love,
Jona
xxx
