Author's note: Really long drawn out chapter with a lot of .er..
interesting facts that could totally change the way you view this story
so..beware! BTW, thanks to reviewers like Hagin, Slytherin's Snake and
caution for urging me to continue in emails and in the review section.you
have me actually considering a follow-up to this tale.
Scipio-
There is a pivotal point in every person's life where all sense of caution flies out of the window and all heeded warnings go through one ear and out the other; where the ends justify the means and sacrifices are meaningless. It is when a person reaches this pivotal point that life is taken for granted for a single moment of curiosity or a whim.and usually taken for a joyride by their own fate until they realize that their conscious mind is no longer steering the vehicle, but rather their drive and sheer determinism.
Scipio had reached his pivotal point.
And there was no turning back.
I must save my father.I must save my father.I must save my father.Scipio chanted repeatedly in the back of his mind.
Scipio rose to his feet and threw on a pair of black slacks and a ragged black t-shirt. He looked at his watch and seeing that it said 8:00, he started towards his bedroom door. Tonight, he was going to the Ministry of Magic. Though he'd not even a single clue of how to get there, his sheer extremism drove him on in a powerful state of passion, drive and motivation. Not even Voldemort himself could stop Scipio.nobody could. Still in his bedroom slippers, he walked out of his room and had just begun to descend down the great stairway's steps when he heard a faint whisper from down the corridor. It was a masculine voice, but far too deep to be that of Draco's. Out of curiosity, Scipio slowly walked down the corridor; despite the awkward glares he was receiving from the portraits and finally eased his way to the end of the hall.
I must see him, must meet him.must know my father.Scipio muttered aloud now, as if trying to drown out the doubt that had now so subtly set into his mind.
Scipio noticed that the voices were louder now, harsher and more rash than the prior whispers he had heard before, yet the sounds weren't coming from the bedroom doors, which surrounded him, as he had previously thought.
They were coming from the portraits.
Portraits from all about the Malfoy Manor were slowly inching closer and closer to Scipio, heeding warnings and omens. One such portrait was that of his great-great-great grandfather, Phineas Nigellus.
"Are you a complete idiot or just half of one? Do you not realize that you will meet your doom trying to save your low-life father?"
Startled, Scipio spun upon his heels and faced Phineas' portrait, a glimmer of fear welling up into his eyes and gradually rolling down his cheek and onto the marble floor. "How did you know that's where I'm going?"
"Oh please, as if Lucius' son's voice doesn't carry a mile for all to hear it. But that is beside the point, what I asked you is do you realize what great peril you are putting yourself in? Not only might you not save your father's life, but you may also waste your own!"
"It is a risk, I must take."
"You are a fool, boy! A true Gryffindor at heart! We Slytherin are brave, but sensible enough to save our own skin when the time comes!"
"Oh do shut-up, sir. You're beginning to irk me."
Scipio continued walking towards the end of the hall, but he heard Phineas' last call to him before he turned the corner.
"Should you ever reach your moment of peril, put your wand across your heart and say "In the name of Merlin, I pardon my soul!"."
Scipio paused for a moment and etched that phrase to heart as he continued to the end of the hall.
Harry-
I know where to go. Let me pray that I am not caught.Harry thought as he walked into the Ministry of Magic. He'd gotten there by way of a favor that Stan; driver of the Knight Bus had owed him from nearly three years ago. Ernie had been making Christmas rounds this year and had stopped to visit an old friend, Professor Trelawny (whom one would like to add, was blushing like a schoolgirl during their entire conversation). Harry later caught up with Stan, and to the pain of his own ears, took the Knight Bus to the Ministry of Magic and departed into the building.
Harry pulled his wand from his cloak and began venturing up the main steps until he reached the corridor of the Department of Mysteries. Walking stealthily and without too many sudden movements or sounds, he found himself facing the circling room he'd only known so well. He closed the doors and the torches lit, sending a neon-blue glow all about Harry's face, sending his mind into a spiraling dizziness unlike anything else he'd ever experienced. Soon enough, the doors were slowing down and Harry found himself confused. Looking around for a clue of some sort, he spotted a red X on one door and remembered: Hermione had etched it there the last time he came.so the door standing directly in front of his face should be.Harry opened the door and walked through it with a grave sense of uncertainty.
Scipio- Looking around for a trap door of some sort, he felt his hand along the wall, as if trying to tap in some secret code. He didn't notice at the time that the portraits were beginning to whisper in addition to the sounds through the wall. Scipio continued to run his fingers up and down the wall into every nook and cranny and suddenly he was given the strangest notion: tap the wall with your wand. Scipio reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand, gave the wall a light, but meaningful tap and waited.
The walls were parting and in front of him stood Draco, eyes lidded from the heavy darkness about him.
"YOU!" Scipio bellowed, mouth being soon covered by Draco's hand that pushed his body against the wall and whispered into his ear.
"Come, you only have one hour left."
Scipio, seeing no other alternative followed Draco into the dark wall and followed. The doors were immediately closed and Draco's wand was lit. The room in which they were standing in was surrounded by what seemed to be mirrors, yet in each mirror, a different background showed. Draco turned to face Scipio and smiled wryly. "These are mirrors of destination, given to our family from various wizarding establishments. All you have to do is look into the mirror you want and walk through it, and you will be instantly transported to that room."
"Which one do I need to look into?"
"The one farthest to the left. It will take you directly to the room where the veil lies."
Still feeling a bit of uneasiness and unreliability about the whole situation, Scipio stared Draco in the eyes. "You swear to me that this is the room."
"Upon my father's soul."
"Don't give me that cock-and-bull. How can I trust you?"
"You can't really, I suppose. But this you can trust, your father is on the opposite side of the veil and you have," Draco glanced at his watch "less than an hour to find his soul and bring him back."
Feeling a sense of dread for what could soon come, Scipio walked in front of the mirror and took a deep breath and walked through towards his destination. At first, he stuck in a finger and felt a cold rush of a sensation throughout his entire body, a longing for more. Then a hand, an arm, a leg and very soon the rest of his body, until the background he'd seen before was as real as Malfoy Manor had been.
Scipio glanced around the room. It was a cavernous room, much like that of an amphitheatre and was completely made of stone. The steps descended until they, at last, reached a stone dais with a stone archway in the center. Hanging from this ancient archway was what seemed to be a black veil that lightly billowed as if catching some invisible breeze, or as though something had just walked through it? Descending the steps, he walked towards the archway and lifted a hand to put his hand through.
"Hello Scipio Black," an oddly cold and high-pitched voice announced from behind him. Scipio turned around and gazed into the face of unadulterated hatred and fear.
Harry-
Harry's forehead began throbbing uncontrollably now, as he lifted his hands to push open the great doors of the room. Putting his wand at the ready, he lightly moved the door so that it stood barely ajar and heard an unmistakable voice.
Harry peered through the gap and saw Voldemort and Lucius Malfoy tying up some covered figure. He craned his neck to get a better view, but Lucius stood directly in his line of view. Harry stood completely still and listened closely.
"Now boy, I don't have the time for any foolish games. Where is Potter?"
"I don't know!" an oddly familiar voice responded, though gagged and muffled it might have been.
"Do not lie to the Dark Lord, boy, for he knows all!" Lucius demanded, voice full of malice.
"I'm not lying! Draco took me here-"
"You tell the truth boy, I can see the truth seeping from your worthless mind like a book. Tell me, Lucius, it was you who said that this boy was a close one to Potter?"
"Yes Dark Lord. My son tells me all the time."
"I see. You do realize that if Potter does not come here tonight, I will take your son's life.don't you?"
"I do, Dark Lord, but there is nothing more I can do unless Potter, by some odd chance of fate has decided to show up on his own."
"I have," Harry announced pushing open the great doors with fury, his long black cape trailing behind him like a breeze. His eyes stabbed like darts and his hand stayed upon his long wand. "And I demand that you let Scipio Black go free."
Scipio-
Scipio let out a light sigh of relief; though panic still pounded through his chest. Seeing Harry so volatile and serene at the same time was quite an event. His pose, his long cloak flowing behind him, his hair madly placed all about his face and into his piercing green eyes. He was, as Scipio thought, at his height. His moment. And yet, Scipio found himself muttering over and over again the saying Phineas had repeated to him not even fifteen minutes ago.
Scipio saw Voldemort whip out a wand of his own and tried to yell to Harry a warning.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort bellowed and a flash of green light headed straight towards Harry, who dodged the strike by mere seconds to spare.
"STUPEFY!" Harry roared, sending a blast of red light back to Voldemort, which deflected off of the same shield he'd used last year against Dumbledore.
Harry ducked to get level with the ground. Peering over the sides of a stone bench, he jumped up and screamed "IMPEDIMENTA!" as Voldemort sent back a hiss of "CRUCIO!" Both jets of light met half way with an explosion.
"Potter, why do you continue to play the hero every time we meet? Could it be that one dead person is better than two?"
"Not when you're on a mission to save the one person who means everything to you!"
Voldemort let out a vigorous laugh and smiled in Harry's direction. "You have always been a fool who loves to act."
"And you, have simply just been a fool."
Voldemort laughed and pointed his wand at Harry, sending a green blast of light surging into his heart.
Harry fell to the floor and lie motionless.
Scipio let out a scream.
The silence after this reverberated throughout the hall and finally died as Voldemort let out a laugh of victory.
A/N: I won't say a goddamn word. *Silence*
Scipio-
There is a pivotal point in every person's life where all sense of caution flies out of the window and all heeded warnings go through one ear and out the other; where the ends justify the means and sacrifices are meaningless. It is when a person reaches this pivotal point that life is taken for granted for a single moment of curiosity or a whim.and usually taken for a joyride by their own fate until they realize that their conscious mind is no longer steering the vehicle, but rather their drive and sheer determinism.
Scipio had reached his pivotal point.
And there was no turning back.
I must save my father.I must save my father.I must save my father.Scipio chanted repeatedly in the back of his mind.
Scipio rose to his feet and threw on a pair of black slacks and a ragged black t-shirt. He looked at his watch and seeing that it said 8:00, he started towards his bedroom door. Tonight, he was going to the Ministry of Magic. Though he'd not even a single clue of how to get there, his sheer extremism drove him on in a powerful state of passion, drive and motivation. Not even Voldemort himself could stop Scipio.nobody could. Still in his bedroom slippers, he walked out of his room and had just begun to descend down the great stairway's steps when he heard a faint whisper from down the corridor. It was a masculine voice, but far too deep to be that of Draco's. Out of curiosity, Scipio slowly walked down the corridor; despite the awkward glares he was receiving from the portraits and finally eased his way to the end of the hall.
I must see him, must meet him.must know my father.Scipio muttered aloud now, as if trying to drown out the doubt that had now so subtly set into his mind.
Scipio noticed that the voices were louder now, harsher and more rash than the prior whispers he had heard before, yet the sounds weren't coming from the bedroom doors, which surrounded him, as he had previously thought.
They were coming from the portraits.
Portraits from all about the Malfoy Manor were slowly inching closer and closer to Scipio, heeding warnings and omens. One such portrait was that of his great-great-great grandfather, Phineas Nigellus.
"Are you a complete idiot or just half of one? Do you not realize that you will meet your doom trying to save your low-life father?"
Startled, Scipio spun upon his heels and faced Phineas' portrait, a glimmer of fear welling up into his eyes and gradually rolling down his cheek and onto the marble floor. "How did you know that's where I'm going?"
"Oh please, as if Lucius' son's voice doesn't carry a mile for all to hear it. But that is beside the point, what I asked you is do you realize what great peril you are putting yourself in? Not only might you not save your father's life, but you may also waste your own!"
"It is a risk, I must take."
"You are a fool, boy! A true Gryffindor at heart! We Slytherin are brave, but sensible enough to save our own skin when the time comes!"
"Oh do shut-up, sir. You're beginning to irk me."
Scipio continued walking towards the end of the hall, but he heard Phineas' last call to him before he turned the corner.
"Should you ever reach your moment of peril, put your wand across your heart and say "In the name of Merlin, I pardon my soul!"."
Scipio paused for a moment and etched that phrase to heart as he continued to the end of the hall.
Harry-
I know where to go. Let me pray that I am not caught.Harry thought as he walked into the Ministry of Magic. He'd gotten there by way of a favor that Stan; driver of the Knight Bus had owed him from nearly three years ago. Ernie had been making Christmas rounds this year and had stopped to visit an old friend, Professor Trelawny (whom one would like to add, was blushing like a schoolgirl during their entire conversation). Harry later caught up with Stan, and to the pain of his own ears, took the Knight Bus to the Ministry of Magic and departed into the building.
Harry pulled his wand from his cloak and began venturing up the main steps until he reached the corridor of the Department of Mysteries. Walking stealthily and without too many sudden movements or sounds, he found himself facing the circling room he'd only known so well. He closed the doors and the torches lit, sending a neon-blue glow all about Harry's face, sending his mind into a spiraling dizziness unlike anything else he'd ever experienced. Soon enough, the doors were slowing down and Harry found himself confused. Looking around for a clue of some sort, he spotted a red X on one door and remembered: Hermione had etched it there the last time he came.so the door standing directly in front of his face should be.Harry opened the door and walked through it with a grave sense of uncertainty.
Scipio- Looking around for a trap door of some sort, he felt his hand along the wall, as if trying to tap in some secret code. He didn't notice at the time that the portraits were beginning to whisper in addition to the sounds through the wall. Scipio continued to run his fingers up and down the wall into every nook and cranny and suddenly he was given the strangest notion: tap the wall with your wand. Scipio reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand, gave the wall a light, but meaningful tap and waited.
The walls were parting and in front of him stood Draco, eyes lidded from the heavy darkness about him.
"YOU!" Scipio bellowed, mouth being soon covered by Draco's hand that pushed his body against the wall and whispered into his ear.
"Come, you only have one hour left."
Scipio, seeing no other alternative followed Draco into the dark wall and followed. The doors were immediately closed and Draco's wand was lit. The room in which they were standing in was surrounded by what seemed to be mirrors, yet in each mirror, a different background showed. Draco turned to face Scipio and smiled wryly. "These are mirrors of destination, given to our family from various wizarding establishments. All you have to do is look into the mirror you want and walk through it, and you will be instantly transported to that room."
"Which one do I need to look into?"
"The one farthest to the left. It will take you directly to the room where the veil lies."
Still feeling a bit of uneasiness and unreliability about the whole situation, Scipio stared Draco in the eyes. "You swear to me that this is the room."
"Upon my father's soul."
"Don't give me that cock-and-bull. How can I trust you?"
"You can't really, I suppose. But this you can trust, your father is on the opposite side of the veil and you have," Draco glanced at his watch "less than an hour to find his soul and bring him back."
Feeling a sense of dread for what could soon come, Scipio walked in front of the mirror and took a deep breath and walked through towards his destination. At first, he stuck in a finger and felt a cold rush of a sensation throughout his entire body, a longing for more. Then a hand, an arm, a leg and very soon the rest of his body, until the background he'd seen before was as real as Malfoy Manor had been.
Scipio glanced around the room. It was a cavernous room, much like that of an amphitheatre and was completely made of stone. The steps descended until they, at last, reached a stone dais with a stone archway in the center. Hanging from this ancient archway was what seemed to be a black veil that lightly billowed as if catching some invisible breeze, or as though something had just walked through it? Descending the steps, he walked towards the archway and lifted a hand to put his hand through.
"Hello Scipio Black," an oddly cold and high-pitched voice announced from behind him. Scipio turned around and gazed into the face of unadulterated hatred and fear.
Harry-
Harry's forehead began throbbing uncontrollably now, as he lifted his hands to push open the great doors of the room. Putting his wand at the ready, he lightly moved the door so that it stood barely ajar and heard an unmistakable voice.
Harry peered through the gap and saw Voldemort and Lucius Malfoy tying up some covered figure. He craned his neck to get a better view, but Lucius stood directly in his line of view. Harry stood completely still and listened closely.
"Now boy, I don't have the time for any foolish games. Where is Potter?"
"I don't know!" an oddly familiar voice responded, though gagged and muffled it might have been.
"Do not lie to the Dark Lord, boy, for he knows all!" Lucius demanded, voice full of malice.
"I'm not lying! Draco took me here-"
"You tell the truth boy, I can see the truth seeping from your worthless mind like a book. Tell me, Lucius, it was you who said that this boy was a close one to Potter?"
"Yes Dark Lord. My son tells me all the time."
"I see. You do realize that if Potter does not come here tonight, I will take your son's life.don't you?"
"I do, Dark Lord, but there is nothing more I can do unless Potter, by some odd chance of fate has decided to show up on his own."
"I have," Harry announced pushing open the great doors with fury, his long black cape trailing behind him like a breeze. His eyes stabbed like darts and his hand stayed upon his long wand. "And I demand that you let Scipio Black go free."
Scipio-
Scipio let out a light sigh of relief; though panic still pounded through his chest. Seeing Harry so volatile and serene at the same time was quite an event. His pose, his long cloak flowing behind him, his hair madly placed all about his face and into his piercing green eyes. He was, as Scipio thought, at his height. His moment. And yet, Scipio found himself muttering over and over again the saying Phineas had repeated to him not even fifteen minutes ago.
Scipio saw Voldemort whip out a wand of his own and tried to yell to Harry a warning.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Voldemort bellowed and a flash of green light headed straight towards Harry, who dodged the strike by mere seconds to spare.
"STUPEFY!" Harry roared, sending a blast of red light back to Voldemort, which deflected off of the same shield he'd used last year against Dumbledore.
Harry ducked to get level with the ground. Peering over the sides of a stone bench, he jumped up and screamed "IMPEDIMENTA!" as Voldemort sent back a hiss of "CRUCIO!" Both jets of light met half way with an explosion.
"Potter, why do you continue to play the hero every time we meet? Could it be that one dead person is better than two?"
"Not when you're on a mission to save the one person who means everything to you!"
Voldemort let out a vigorous laugh and smiled in Harry's direction. "You have always been a fool who loves to act."
"And you, have simply just been a fool."
Voldemort laughed and pointed his wand at Harry, sending a green blast of light surging into his heart.
Harry fell to the floor and lie motionless.
Scipio let out a scream.
The silence after this reverberated throughout the hall and finally died as Voldemort let out a laugh of victory.
A/N: I won't say a goddamn word. *Silence*