leggylover03, SheWolfe7, CrystalFalls, lali(), athenakitty, saxistwriterchick, Numba1, Ash Knight, SacHigh05(),chaser1, jbfritz, jekl, Rocky235, Nphipps Thank you all for reviewing!
The idea of the Statue Port keys was suggested by Prank Idea Master so I decided it would be fun to adapt it a little, and I always wondered why some bright student never actually found a way to get around the school without having to walk up and down all those stairs!
Jim, thank you!
Chapter 25 Counter Strike
March passed quickly and quietly at Hogwarts and April began with showers. The seventh years were all immersed in their studies; NEWT's would take place at the beginning of June. Voldemort stayed quiet and this worried Harry, usually if they didn't hear from him, it meant he was planning something big.
One Wednesday morning, Hermione received her Daily Prophet, the headlines made the friends sick to their stomachs.
Brave Ministry Aurors Lose Their Lives
Tuesday evening saw the biggest counter strike in
the war against You-Know-Who. In a statement late
last night, temporary Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones,
honoured the brave men and women who were involved
in a raid at the last known Headquarters of Him.
Twenty-six Death-eaters were apprehended, but He was
not present at the time.
After heavy losses during the attack on the Ministry, many
have voiced the opinion that the Ministry were not ready
for such a bold attack. Seven Aurors lost their lives and
have been posthumously awarded The Order of Merlin,
First Class. Six others are in St Mungo's Hospital in
reportedly critical condition.
"Does it give you a list?" Harry asked Hermione as she read it out to them. "What about Tonks and Mad-eye?"
"Tonks is among the injured and Mad-eye's not mentioned," Hermione replied.
"Did Dumbledore know about this do you think?" Ron said. "I mean before."
"He must have done, Tonks would have told him," Harry replied.
"Oh God, you don't think any of the order went with them do you?" Ron paled considerably.
Harry could only shake his head and glance up at the head table. Dumbledore was not there but the rest of the teachers looked very pale, even Snape was paler than usual, if that was possible. "I hope he didn't know, how could he have let them do that, there could have been hundreds of death-eater there," Harry muttered.
After the others went to class, Harry debated waiting for Dumbledore to come to his lesson, and then decided that the Headmaster would probably be busy in his office, so Harry made his way there instead. He could hear Dumbledore talking to someone as he knocked on the door.
"Come."
Harry entered and sat opposite Dumbledore waiting for him to finish his conversation.
"She's still alive, but she's not responding so far. I don't know what hit her, but her internal injuries are pretty extensive, we can only hope." A voice told Dumbledore. Harry closed his eyes and hoped they weren't talking about Tonks.
"What about Greyson?" Dumbledore asked.
"He's lost a leg, but they have said he should survive," The voice replied.
"Alright, thank you, I appreciate your taking the time to contact me." Dumbledore moved the photo frame and looked at Harry questioningly. "Do you think I should have stopped the raid on The Riddle House?"
"Could you have?" Harry countered.
"I don't honestly know. The Ministry is under great pressure, they must been seen to be acting against Voldemort," Dumbledore said quietly.
"Was the Order there? Any of the Weasley's," Harry held his breath, waiting for the answer.
"No, I was only informed about it by Tonks yesterday, apparently they received a tip about the location and didn't want to risk waiting to contact all the various groups," Dumbledore closed his eyes, "They were afraid he would find out and move somewhere else. But it seems that he did that anyway."
"How's Tonks?" Harry asked.
"You heard what her doctor said now, when you came in," Dumbledore replied, opening his eyes again. The mischievous twinkle, Harry always associated with Dumbledore, was not in evidence today; he looked like a tired old man.
"But they did catch some of the death eaters," Harry said.
"Twenty –six were captured and another eight were killed."
"Was Bellatrix Lestrange among them?"
"No, nor was Pettigrew," Dumbledore replied. "We are sure he was warned in time to flee, leaving some behind to prevent anyone following him."
"You think there are still spies at the Ministry?"
"Possibly," Dumbledore said. "I think I am too old for this."
Harry was surprised to hear the Headmaster sound so defeated, it scared him to see such a strong man look so frail and disheartened.
"And I am too young," Harry replied, "But we didn't choose this, it chose us."
"You have grown up Harry Potter and your parents would be proud of the young man you have become," Dumbledore smiled slightly.
Harry blushed, but felt his chest fill with pride; it seemed like the first time Dumbledore had ever looked at him as a young man and not a boy or a student. "Thank you, Sir," Harry chocked out, "It means a lot to me that you said that."
"We will not have time for your lesson this morning I'm afraid, I have been called to the Ministry for a meeting," Dumbledore told him.
Harry left the headmasters office and went to wait in the common room with the other sixth and seventh years that had a free period. Most of the talk was of the raid and which aurors had been injured or killed. The students were afraid, Harry could see it in their Auras but even if he couldn't, he heard it in their voices. The general opinion was that Voldemort was gaining strength and that the magical world could not stop him.
Annoyed by their defeatist attitudes, yet unsure of how to change their opinions, Harry walked to his next lesson early. He was joined eventually by Ron and Hermione, he immediately reassured them that none of the Order had been present so the Weasley's had not been involved. Ron visibly relaxed and Hermione smiled a little.
The rest of the day was quiet, most of their Professors seemed preoccupied, but unfortunately not enough that they forgot to give out homework. By dinner time Dumbledore had still not returned and the trio went to the common room, worried about the way the war seemed to be going.
Ron had prefect duties, with one of the sixth years and Hermione and Harry stayed in the common room to work. They were still sitting when Ron returned, looking annoyed.
"What happened?" Hermione asked.
"We came across two Slytherins going to the Owlery. But when we reported them to Snape, for trying to hex us, he told us to go and do something useful, instead of picking on the younger students for writing to their parents!" Ron said. "If it had been two Gryffindors, he would have given them a week's detention!"
"They're probably children of death eaters, wanting to know if their parents were caught up in the ministry raid," Harry said.
"Well, all the more reason for punishing them if you ask me!" Ron exclaimed.
"Ron, remember how worried you were when you thought some of your family might have been hurt," Hermione reproached, "Well even if their parents are on the wrong side, they still care about them."
"Hermione, don't tell me you feel sorry for the death eaters now," Ron complained.
"No, but I'm just saying, those children don't necessarily have to agree with their parents, but they would still love them," Hermione replied quietly.
"How can you love someone whose hobby is killing innocent people?" Ron asked.
"I'm just saying, it's not always as cut and dried as that," Hermione finished.
Ron threw up his hands in disbelief, "I really don't get you sometimes, haven't we seen enough of how their children support them?" Ron was glaring at her now, "Or have you forgotten Malfoy, Nott or maybe Crabbe and Goyle?"
"No I haven't forgotten them, but that doesn't mean they're all like that," Hermione replied sadly.
"Who were they anyway?" Harry asked.
"Don't know mate, two third years I think, didn't catch their names."
"So they may just have been sending a letter to a friend, they weren't necessarily death eater's children then," Harry concluded, not because he believed it, but because he didn't want to listen to his friends bickering.
Dean interrupted them saying, "Are we still doing this pranks competition?"
"Sure, we're going to beat you, you know," Ron replied.
"That's what you think, ours will be ready tomorrow! How about yours?" Seamus said.
"Oh well, we will be ready soon," Harry lied, he had completely forgotten all about the pranks.
"Okay, you'll see it tomorrow," Dean said proudly. And he, Seamus and Neville snuck out of the Portrait hole.
"You know we should really give them a warning for being out of bounds," Hermione commented, "We are after all, a prefect, head boy and head girl."
"Don't worry about that now," Ron said, "We haven't even come up with an idea yet!"
"Well actually, I thought of something," Hermione said. "You know we were talking about the statues? How about making them into portkeys that could transport you about the school?"
"Well it would sure beat walking up and down the stairs so much," Harry said.
"How is that a prank though?" Ron asked, "That's a helpful idea, people would love it."
"Not if we made one of them take you places you shouldn't go," Harry thought aloud, "Like one of them could transport you into Snape's chambers or something."
"Now wait a minute, I was thinking more like making them take you to your next class," Hermione said.
"I know," Ron added, "We could make them change, so that some of the time they took you where you wanted to go and others they took you somewhere embarrassing."
"I knew you two would think of a way to get people into trouble," Hermione sighed. "Anyway it's not as simple as that, I mean we couldn't actually use portkeys because then the Statues would be in the wrong places."
"What if we make them time returned port keys, so they take you and after you let go, they return," Harry said. "Come up stairs, I think I might have just the charm for that."
The trio raced up to Harry's room and waited for him to find the right book. They spent an hour perfecting the portkey spells and then checked on the marauders map, deciding which statue should lead where. List in hand; each one of them had their appointed statues.
"This is going to take all night," Hermione complained. "And I'm not sure it's a good idea to make one take you to the staff room, I mean that could get you into big trouble."
"Come on Hermione it was your idea," Ron said. "Beside, that's only if you take hold of its left hand, if you take the right it will take you to Potions."
They had decided to make most of the statues have double destinations, beside the main class corridors, some also went to Dumbledore's office, the staff room, the quidditch pitch, and moaning Myrtle's bathroom. When they were sure they all knew the right spells, Harry performed a disillusionment spell on each of them and they set off.
Harry passed the other three boys near the potions corridor and poked Dean hard in the ribs causing him to yelp in surprise. Neville swung around searching for the culprit and Seamus tried to quieten them before they were discovered. For some reason Seamus was coated in white feathers and looked like an overgrown chicken. Harry could hardly contain his laughter when Mrs Norris turned up and the boys fled in terror.
Argus Filch appeared at the bottom of the steps, when he had reached the fourth step it suddenly turned the stair case into a water slide and he was sent sliding backwards and landed in a bag of feathers. Harry couldn't help it, he burst out laughing and Filch yelled at the top of his voice.
"Stop where you are, you will pay for this," struggling to his feet he raced up the restored staircase, jumping over the fourth step, and went in search of the culprits. Harry finished his spell on the statue and fled the area.
At one o'clock Harry had completed all his statues and was returning to the common room. Once he was inside, he removed the disillusionment spell and sat waiting for Ron and Hermione. Half an hour later the door opened, and Harry removed the spell from Hermione, by two o'clock, Ron had returned and Harry laughingly told them about Neville, Dean and Seamus' prank.
The next moring at breakfast, they discovered that Seamus had been caught by Filch, being covered in feathers, he was unable to deny involvement. Dean and Neville had surrendered themselves and all three had been given two weeks detention, helping Filch. Dumbledore had been informed and the trick step was allowed to remain.
Harry and Hermione had a good laugh on the way to Potions when Snape had been caught by it and appeared at the bottom of the steps covered in feathers, and very angry. He accused Harry and sent him to McGonagall, but the deputy head had already arranged the detentions for the other three and sent Harry back to tell Snape this.
After potions had finished Harry and Hermione used the statue to transport them to the Entrance Hall. Half an hour later, a red faced Justin Finch-Fletchley had appeared for lunch and muttered dangerously at Harry and Hermione, he had landed in the staff room. The trio looked at each other and burst out laughing.
Over the next few days, Harry, Ron and Hermione and made great use of their port keys, it was very nice not to have to walk up and down the many stair cases between classes. But several of their fellow students had been caught out. The funniest was when Neville had mistakenly transported outside Dumbledore's office; Dumbledore had immediately opened the door and invited him in for tea. Neville had been so surprised that he had blurted out about the competition of pranks and how the statues had been Harry, Ron and Hermione.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dean and Seamus had been summoned to the headmaster's office. They entered nervously and took the seats offered.
Dumbledore smiled, "I thought that this year I might not have anything to add to my book, I was most disappointed.
The six students looked at each other in confusion. As Dumbledore rose and pulled a book down form one of the shelves. It was a beautiful bound red leather book titled, Hogwarts: an unofficial history. Dumbledore sat down and drew out his wand. After glancing at the teens he pointed his wand at the book and with a colourful spray from the end of his wand, two blank pages were filled with diagrams and writing. Blowing on the book Dumbledore laid it open on the table in font of them.
"What is it, Sir," Hermione asked, leaning forward on her chair.
"It is a record of the special additions made to the castle by a few select students," Dumbledore answered. "I began it when I was a student here, and later as a teacher, now as headmaster."
"You mean that this book lists the various pranks set around the school," Harry asked.
"Useful for a headmaster, wouldn't you say?"
"That's brilliant, can we look at it?" Ron exclaimed.
"That is your prize, every student who has been entered in this book, has been allowed to read through some of the previous achievements. With the exception of your brothers Mr Weasley, they left before I could show them."
"I'll tell them," Ron smiled, "I'm sure they'll be proud."
The six students moved forward a little and Hermione carefully turned the pages, sure enough Fred and Georges' swamp was marked down, with a short explanation and diagram showing its location.
Several trick steps were accredited to previous students that most of them could still remember. Harry reached over Hermione to turn a large chunk of pages, taking him back to the seventies. He found what he was looking for and pointed it out to the others, The Marauders were listed and the tapestry they had transfigured.
"One of my personal favourites," Dumbledore smiled at them.
Then Seamus flicked back a few pages and looked to see if his mother was listed. He didn't find her but Neville found his father had made the trick step he frequently forgot about on the way to Gryffindor common room.
Harry suddenly had an inspiration and turned to the beginning of the book, on the second page he found what he was looking for; Dumbledore had originally charmed the giant Squid in the lake, from an ordinary squid. They all found this amusing. They were stunned to find Professor McGonagall was actually there, she had created one of the secret passages that led from the entrance hall up near to Gryffindor tower. Professor Flitwick was responsible for the, now collapsed, secret passage behind the mirror on the fourth floor, which led out of Hogwarts.
They never found any entries about Snape or any of the other teachers, and Dumbledore sent them down to dinner after awarding them each a chocolate frog for being put in the book.
"That was so cool, I wish we could have gotten a copy of it," Ron announced, "wait until I tell Fred and George, they'll be dead jealous that they never got to see it."
"But why swear us to secrecy?" Neville said. "In case we tell everyone that the Professor got caught when they were students?"
"Naw, I think it's like a tradition, if you can work out how to do something cool enough, then you get let in on the secret," Harry answered.
"Not to mention the uproar, if all the students started trying to get in the book, the school would fall down," Hermione said.
The next morning The Daily Prophet carried another frightening headline, an aircraft had crashed over Romania, completely destroying a wizarding village there. Muggle news had announced the possibility of a terrorist attack; the Ministry had confirmed suspicions that You-know-who had arranged the bombing. Hundreds of Romanian Wizards had been killed.
Ron and Ginny received a letter from their mother; Charlie Weasley was missing. He had been visiting friends, in the village the aircraft destroyed. Hermione led away her distraught boyfriend and Harry was left to follow with the equally tearful Ginny. They ushered the brother and sister to the empty Gryffindor tower and sat with them by the fire.
"Can you hear him Harry, like you could hear Moony?" Ron begged.
"I don't know, I can try," Harry replied doubtfully. He withdrew to his room and sat on the floor, trying with all his might to hear Charlie's voice. Exhaustion eventually took over and Harry collapsed on the floor, he still had not heard anything. Disheartened he returned to his friends, surprised to see it was already lunch time.
Ron looked up as he watched Harry come down the stairs, but Harry shook his head and replied, "I think it's just too far, I couldn't, I'm sorry."
This brought fresh tears from Ginny and Ron stood abruptly and turned his back on them, staring out of the window. The silence was broken when he said quietly, "I don't think Mum could take it if Charlie's gone too."
"Why don't we go down, maybe Dumbledore has heard something by now," Hermione suggested.
So the unhappy group returned to the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall corned them as they entered. But instead of reprimanding them for missing lessons, she placed a hand on Ginny's shoulder and said, "If you would like to speak to your parents, Dumbledore is going to contact them after lunch. You may go to his office then, though I don't think he has learned anything new yet."
Ginny sniffed and Ron nodded, it was Hermione who said, "Thank you Professor, we will take them up after lunch."
Professor McGonagall nodded sharply once and went to take her seat at the top table. Ron and Ginny allowed themselves to be led to Gryffindor table and they sat quietly picking at the food. Harry conjured two cups of sweet tea and ordered them to drink.
In Dumbledore's office an hour later, they sat nervously on the edge of their seats, waiting for Ron parents to make contact. Arthur and Molly Weasley appeared out of the fireplace and were immediately engulfed in hugs, by their children. Molly was crying and Aurthur's one eye was very red. Dumbledore conjured two more chairs and the Weasley's sat down. Ginny chose to sit on the floor between them, holding one of their hands in each of hers.
"As yet we have little news, but Constantine has returned home, he promises to contact me this evening," Dumbledore told them.
Ron frowned, trying to remember who Constantine was; Harry leaned over and whispered, "Romanov."
"Does he have family there?" Molly asked.
Dumbledore nodded, "His son and daughter-in-law, and his three Grandchildren. They live in the village that was destroyed."
"Oh Merlin, the poor man, does he know if they were home at the time?" Arthur asked.
"It seems likely that the children my have been at school, but he doesn't know about his son or his son's wife yet," Dumbledore replied sadly.
"I have something else I want…" Molly began, but was interrupted when a whistling noise sounded.
Dumbledore opened a drawer in his desk and withdrew a mirror. Harry thought it looked like Sirius' mirror. "Constantine, what news of your family?" Dumbledore was saying.
"The little ones were at school, but my…." The entire room held their breathe, "But my son and his wife were at home, they were ….killed," Romanov's heavily accented voice replied haltingly.
"May they move on to a brighter place, Constantine. You have my deepest sympathies," Dumbledore replied gravely.
"Thank you, I will not be able to return," Romanov said. "But I will try to find out about the Weasley boy, Charlie."
"Thank you Constantine, we appreciate anything you can find out," Dumbledore replied. "And of course you must stay with your Grandchildren; I would not expect you to return. Let me know if I can help you in any way."
"I will be in touch," Romanov replied, then obviously broke the connection, because Dumbledore replaced the mirror and looked gravely at the group in his office.
"I am sure he will find out something soon," Dumbledore offered Molly and Arthur.
They nodded, and then Molly said quietly, "I need to ask you to do one more thing for us."
"Anything I can to help," Dumbledore replied.
"Take Bill," Molly said, "Let him come and work in the school, I need him to be safe, I don't think I can take anymore worry. But you have to let him believe it was your idea, he would be so angry with me for interfering."
"Well it seems I need a new Defence teacher, so I think that I could offer him the job," Dumbledore said. "And what of the twins?"
"They are still not active members of the order; they work at home, helping with their inventions. I don't worry so much about them," Molly replied. "With the wards you placed around the burrow."
"Very well, I will contact Bill once you have returned home. I will leave you with your children for a while. I have to go and arrange replacement classes for Constantine's lessons today," Dumbledore left his office.
Harry was sure Dumbledore could have made the arrangements from his office but thought it kind of him to offer the Weasleys a few moments privacy with their children. Harry heard Ron break down, knowing he had been holding it in because Dumbledore had been in the room. Harry felt like an intruder, watching the Weasley's cling to one another, afraid they had lost another of their number. But Molly seemed to sense his feelings and drew him into a tight embrace, along with Ginny.
Arthur held Ron, who held Hermione. Harry's eyes stung, as he felt the sobs rack through the group. Eventually they quietened and Arthur said, "Now we don't know anything for sure, you're Mother and I have to go back to the Burrow, we left the twins there. And I want the rest of you to try your best to continue with your school lessons; it will help the time pass until Dumbledore can speak to Charlie." His quaver in his voice belayed the confidence of his words. But they all tried to ignore the shaking in his voice and nodded.
"We will Dad, and I'm sure Romanov will be in touch before we know it," Ron relied.
The Weasleys departed and the students returned to the common room, there was only one lesson left for the afternoon, so they decided to wait for the next day's classes, before keeping their promise to the Weasleys.