Chapter
16: Betrayed
The months following the completion of the house
seemed to pass by in a whirl for Harry. He spent most of his time with
Dumbledore in his apprentice studies, or researching. The time that he
didn't spend learning, he spent teaching. The reply that he had received
via Tronza turned out to be not from Ron, but from Hermione. She had
apparently spent some time researching the laptops and enchantments Harry had
used, and then had come up with a combination of spells that would allow for
easier communications between the four of them. Harry immediately
followed the steps Hermione had laid out on how to add himself to the
'Magicnet,' as she called it. So now they all spent every evening logged
on and learning from Harry, who even went so far as to create a (very) mediocre
variation on a website, to help them visualise some of the concepts that he was
explaining. They didn't just spend all of their online time learning,
however. Due to Fudge's restrictions on contact with Harry, they would
also spend a good amount of time talking. Or rather, Hermione and Harry
would type, while Ron and Ginny would narrate what they wanted Hermione to type
for them, as they were from a pureblood wizarding family, and weren't as
familiar with the layout of the keyboard as Hermione was.
Lessons with Dumbledore were upped a notch, as Dumbledore had worded it, once
they got back into their routine following the completion of the house –
especially now that Harry had a new (and more powerful) magical focus at his
disposal. They now followed this schedule: in the mornings before
breakfast, Harry would get all of his physical exercises out of the way, while
Dumbledore prepared the duelling arena to simulate different situations, from a
forest to a full-scale battlefield. After the exercise, Harry would clean
up while Dumbledore cooked or prepared breakfast; and then they would both have
a mock duel in which Harry would hone his skills, using both wandless (or
rather focusless) magic and focus magic. After
the duel, the two would sit down and watch a replay of it, thanks to a
magically-improved camera on Harry's laptop that would follow the targets and
always keep them in its sight. During the replay of the duel, Dumbledore
would comment on certain areas that Harry needed to improve upon,
or that he had already shown improvement in; and then they would discuss what
Harry could have done differently, especially regarding "thinking outside the
box."
After their duel and discussion session, they would both have a light lunch,
and then turn their attention to one of Harry's many research projects; but
they usually ended up going back to the Multimagus form, as it was nearing
completion. Already they had added another ability to Harry's growing
list. It was Dumbledore's idea, actually. He had thought of it one
night after reading Harry's research into wandless magic, and he broached the
subject during one of their research sessions. The ability and procedure
to attain it were remarkably simple, and even
Dumbledore was able to achieve it. It was simply the creation of a magic
channel-pool in the left hand and halfway up the arm, but not attached to their
core – save for the tiniest of strands that allowed only small spurts of magic
to pass. This technique let them draw free magic from the environment
into the channel-pool, and either mould it or release it harmlessly – meaning
that any curse that was fired at them, whether from a weak, medium or
moderately powerful wizard, could be absorbed, moulded with a small burst of
magic, and then either thrown back or released.
After the research session, Dumbledore tutored Harry, drawing on his vast
knowledge of the wizarding world. These lessons included spells, and
similar magical knowledge. Some of this effort was redundant, because
Harry already knew a vast amount of spells, and had gained great proficiency in
spell creation and modification to deal with the escalating war. However,
Dumbledore impressed upon Harry the importance of such knowledge for later on
after the war, when the wizarding world would need to rebuild itself.
(Dumbledore insisted that he would be the one that they would look to, to lead
that effort.) So they spent a few hours each evening before dinner discussing
different magic, laws, social standings, etc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Why the long face?" Dumbledore asked on Sunday at dinner. (Sunday
was a day off for Harry, so he spent much time talking to his friends.)
"I've been talking to the others a lot lately, particularly Ginny; and she has
been saying that Dean Thomas seems a little off, not acting like himself. So I was wondering if he could have been put
under the Imperius Curse by a Death Eater. Maybe they're hoping that his
involvement with Ginny would make him privy to our whereabouts,
and the situation at Hogwarts. What do you think?" Harry asked the
ex-headmaster of Hogwarts.
"Hmmm, this is a difficult question. Indeed, your suspicions might prove
correct; though I am hesitant to assume it, since your close friends were
recently discovered to be acting under the same curse," Dumbledore said in his
"researcher mode," as Harry called it.
"So what do you think?" Harry asked the aged sorcerer.
"Perhaps it is merely a case of jealousy?" Dumbledore ventured.
"I don't know; why would he change his whole personality if he was only
jealous?" Harry said, asking himself as much as the ex-headmaster.
"Hormones motivate teens to do many strange things; it is the one subject that
I don't even attempt to understand," Dumbledore said, as he switched back to
senile mode.
"Well I still don't trust him. I think I'll tell the others to keep the
whole laptop thing a secret, at least for the time being," Harry said.
Later that evening, when he had logged on at the pre-arranged time with the
others, he recounted his conversation with Dumbledore to them, and asked them
if they could keep everything they discussed to themselves.
Harry: Hey guys, I was just talking to Dumbledore about something that has
bothered me for a few days.
Hermione: What is it, Harry?
Harry: Well, you know what Ginny has said about Dean. I got to thinking that maybe he could have been placed under the
Imperius Curse, like you and Ron were. But Dumbledore seems to think that
the Death Eaters wouldn't try something like that again, so soon after their
last attempt. He just puts Dean's behaviour down to jealousy over
something or other, but I don't agree. So could you guys keep what goes
on here a secret, at least for a while?
The response was a long time in coming after Harry had sent his last message,
and he was getting a bad feeling about it.
Hermione: Sorry, Harry, but Ginny says that they had a big argument last night,
and it ended in her telling him what's been taking up her time, about talking
to you and all of the spells and such. But I don't think he knows where
you are.
Harry: Well, that complicates the situation, but it could be worse.
At least only you four know where we are.
Hermione: Actually, Seamus found out. Ron accidentally let it slip, but
we swore him to secrecy.
Harry: Okay, but please, please, no more slip-ups.
After that, the conversation turned to a lighter note, as it usually did; and
by bedtime, the fact that his location had been leaked was firmly out of his mind,
and he got some restful slumber.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Harry bellowed, lifting a large rock over
Dumbledore's head, who was recovering from a blinding spell Harry had cast, in
retaliation for the summoning and banishing Dumbledore had repeatedly subjected
him to for ten minutes.
"Reducto!" Dumbledore shouted, pointing his wand at
the rock.
"Accio!" Harry shouted at the debris, and then
banished it towards Dumbledore. He held his left hand away from his body
and drew some of the magic from the spell, as he had been doing for the last
few spells that had been exchanged. The residual magic from the summoning
spell seemed to have provided enough power for Harry. Dumbledore banished
the debris away himself, but he wasn't prepared for the magic bomb Harry had
created being hurled at his head. There was no way to block such magic in
time, so Dumbledore had no choice but to dodge, effectively running into a
stunning spell. Harry finished it with a summoning spell to catch his
wand, and then a full body bind and freezing charm just for extra measure.
Harry tensely walked over to the prone form of his mentor to inspect him.
The last time he had seemingly won, he had let his victory distract him, and
failed to notice that Dumbledore had managed to overcome the stunning spell,
thus losing the duel himself.
Doing a quick scan with his wand, he found that Dumbledore was indeed out for
the count; and then he spent the next five minutes basking in his victory
before remembering to revive the ex- headmaster.
"Very well done, Harry! You performed admirably;
I must say I wasn't expecting the magic bomb."
"I was counting on that, sir," Harry said with a large grin plastered on his
face.
"It seems that you are almost ready, my boy," Dumbledore said with grim
satisfaction.
"It doesn't feel like it, though. I mean, how can I kill him, when he is
probably immortal by now?" Harry asked, showing his doubt for the first time.
"There will be a way, Harry. The prophecy says that he will be killed by
your hand. And when that happens, or heaven forbid he kills you, then he
will either be as mortal and dead as can be, or he then truly will be immortal
– unless another seer prophesizes another champion," Dumbledore said.
"I'm glad you have faith in my abilities; but I really don't see how we are
going to get through this. We still have no way to find out how far along
he or Malfoy are with their immortal aspirations," Harry said grimly.
"I very much doubt that Malfoy will become immortal; Tom would reserve the
right only for himself," Dumbledore corrected, and then added, "Harry you have
a lot going for you: Elemental, wandless, mind-reading, a crystilite focus, two
animagus forms," Dumbledore listed, before he was cut off by Harry.
"I only have one at the moment, we have yet to test the other; and until we get
some more magic replenishing potions, I'm not trying it. And I still feel
like I'm at a disadvantage," Harry said.
"Not to worry; you will have the greater advantage of surprise. There are
more ways than the killing curse to kill someone in the wizard and muggle
world, you know," said Dumbledore.
Harry sighed in resignation. No matter how much he tried to fight it, he
had a destiny laid out for him, and a path to follow.
"I …" Harry was just about to say something to Dumbledore when there was an
enormous explosion coming from the outskirts on the other side of the
village. Harry glanced quickly at Dumbledore, who nodded his head, and
they both disappeared with two small 'pops.'
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As they arrived at the scene of the explosion, they found the inn they had
earlier been staying at aflame, with the Dark Mark hovering over it, and Death
Eaters chasing after the panicking villagers. Beyond the Death Eaters,
Harry could see a small contingent of Voldemort's Dead Army, surrounding a
cloaked figure that was undoubtedly Malfoy.
"Where do you think Riddle is?" Harry asked over the noise, as he and
Dumbledore made their way over to a large group of Death Eaters attacking a
small group of villagers.
"He should be here; the only excuse for him not being here would be…"
Dumbledore trailed off.
"Another attack!" Harry exclaimed. Seeing
Dumbledore's confirmation of his theory, Harry joined the battle with
vigour. He blasted the group of Death Eaters away, after summoning the
power of their loose curses, and then cast a group stunning spell on
them. Meanwhile Dumbledore had decided to make a start on the Dead Army,
who were now marching towards the village, with Malfoy
remaining where he was.
"Reducto!" Dumbledore shouted, as he pointed his wand
at the army; and then he threw a severing charm at another group with his left
hand, after summoning some free magic.
"Accio!" Harry shouted at a Death Eater that was
approaching a child. As the spell hit, the Death Eater was pulled back
down the alley he had been cornering the child in, and was impaled on a lost
bit of wood from the inn.
"So, wittle baby Potter has come out to pway!" a whiney, sickening voice said from behind him:
Bellatrix Lestrange.
Turning himself around as quick as lightning, Harry hurled a Dark Arts spell at
her; it burned the skin away from the area of her forearm it touched. She
screamed in agony for only a few seconds before she began laughing. It
all reminded Harry of that night at the ministry: he had
cast the Cruciatus curse at her; she had started screaming for only a
few seconds; then she had begun laughing. The trip down memory lane
caused Harry to temporarily block out the events that were taking place before
him. He let down his mental shield enough for his mind-reading ability to
work again. It was this that saved Harry's life.
"Now's my chance," he heard Lestrange think; and just as he brought himself
back to reality, he saw a green light only inches from himself. Doing the
only thing that he could think of, Harry thrust his left hand into the path of
the curse, and hoped against hope that she wasn't one of the most powerful
witches.
Bellatrix's eyes widened in shock and horror as she saw Potter thrust his left
hand into the path of the killing curse she had just fired, absorb it, and then
throw it back at her. The last thing she ever saw was the grim
satisfaction on Potter's face: he had finally got revenge for his godfather.
Once Harry had dealt with Lestrange, he turned his attention once again to the
battlefield to see many of the Death Eaters retreating. Deciding it was
better to let them go and deal with them later, Harry sought out Dumbledore,
and after quickly scanning for his magical signature with his magical eyesight,
he apparated over to him.
"Professor, how many have you taken out?" Harry asked Dumbledore.
"About 250, but they keep on coming! It seems everything they touch
withers and dies; I've had a few close calls myself," Dumbledore said.
"Then Malfoy must be controlling them; I'll go deal with him," Harry said; and
before Dumbledore even opened his mouth to protest, Harry had apparated away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This was easier than I thought, Draco smiled to himself. The Death Eaters
would destroy the inn and force Potter and Dumbledore into the open, where his
master's Dead Army would take care of them. Dumbledore would be a
problem, but by the time he reached Draco he would be too exhausted to put up
much of a fight. His master would be pleased with him.
Just as he thought that, he noticed a large explosion in the front ranks of the
Dead Army, and then a large explosion of blood. Moments later, he heard
an ear-splitting shriek, followed by laughter that could only come from his
aunt.
'Looks like Potter and Dumbledore are here, but they should at least be injured
from the inn explosion! Unless..." Draco thought to himself, until he was
cut off by the loud sound of multiple apparation 'pops.' Meanwhile several
more explosions had taken place in the army, and the numbers were beginning to
thin.
"What is going on?" he asked himself out loud.
"You're losing," a voice answered. Draco spun around, and was confronted
with none other than the Boy-Who-Lived himself.
"So, Potter, you managed to escape the inn unharmed! No matter, you won't
last long against me," he said with his usual smirk on his substantially
disfigured face.
"Escape? I was never there to begin with.
Though I am curious where you got your information about where I was staying,"
Harry answered smoothly, putting to use his more Slytherin qualities.
"That does not concern you, Potter! Now, know your place, and bow to me
or die!" Malfoy sneered.
"You think you can kill me where your half-blood master has failed so many
times?" Harry asked, now trying to sound cocky and over-confident.
"You liar! My master is of the most noble line of Slytherin!" Malfoy almost screamed,
making Harry smirk to himself. He was getting on Malfoy's nerves and
making him angry; angry people don't always think straight.
"Be that as it may, his father was not; he was but a mere muggle named Tom
Riddle," Harry said in that same silky smooth voice.
"You shut your mouth and don't speak such rubbish, you muggle lover!" Draco
replied, trying to regain his composure.
"Or what?" Harry asked, knowing the answer.
"Crucio!" Malfoy screamed. Again Harry stuck his
left hand out – but this time not in front of the curse, only discreetly by his
side, to absorb as much of it as he could. In not even a second Harry was
flooded with pain; but this pain was bearable, if very irritating.
Keeping his smirk in place, Harry said, "Is that it?"
"But h-how?" Malfoy stammered.
"Do you really think that you are untouchable? That you and your master
are the only sorcerers alive? How arrogant of you! Though I suppose
that's all we could have expected from a snotty pureblood like you," Harry
said, now lowering his voice to a dangerous level.
"Impossible! You're bluffing! Our spy hasn't reported anything
about that!" Draco said in a smooth voice; though his eyes, however unnatural
they had become, betrayed him.
"Well, shall we find out if I am?" Harry asked; and not waiting for a response,
shot a ball of fire at Malfoy – who, to his credit, kept his head in the
situation. With a deep breath, he swallowed the fire before shooting it
back at Harry, who banished it easily.
"Stupefy!"
"Protego!"
"Expelliarmus!"
"Accio!"
"Imperio!"
"Reducto!"
"Ignituis savren!" Draco shouted, finally lifting the bar. Harry
easily countered it, and shot back with a laceration spell that had been
altered by the Dark Arts to lacerate multiple sections of a body part
simultaneously.
"Potter what are you doing? That's Dark Arts!" Draco exclaimed in shock,
after he had dispelled the attack (suffering the loss of the tips of his
fingers – nothing serious to the apprentice of a necromancer).
"I would think that's obvious: you are a dark wizard, yet you do not limit
yourself to Dark Arts; I am a light wizard, and I do not limit myself to the
Light Arts," Harry replied, and again began firing off curses. But this
time he was doing so at such a pace that Malfoy had little time to actually
defend or fire off any spells of his own. From a distance he looked as though
he were dancing instead of dodging curses.
Harry was beginning to get frustrated with not being able to hit Malfoy with a
single spell, so he decided to pre-empt Malfoy's next move by reading his
mind. As a result, Malfoy was hit with a disarming spell. But
before Harry could do anything more, he was hit from behind by something
heavy. It was then that he realised he had underestimated Malfoy's
skill. It appeared he had some control over wandless magic, and the
disarming spell succeeded in opening a window, as it were, for him to
concentrate long enough to attack Harry.
"Not so great after all, Potter!" Malfoy sneered, as blood dripped to the
ground from his fingers.
"Don't underestimate me, Malfoy," Harry said; and a split second later he was in
the air, levitating himself, to the shock of Malfoy. He began
transfiguring rocks into stags, which immediately charged for Malfoy who had
summoned his wand and was blowing them up, looking around all the while with
wild, feral eyes for an escape route. After a few seconds of random
blasting, he finally noticed a clear path into his lord's army, and began
heading towards it. But as he approached he stopped in shock: one of the
stags was dancing! And another was… laughing… and another was… wobbling
around on unsteady legs.
As Harry watched from the sky, he saw Malfoy searching for a way out and
finally finding one; so using his knowledge of 'thinking outside the box,'
Harry began casting harmless jinxes on the stags – jelly-legs and the like –
which appeared to have the desired effect, because Malfoy was stunned with
shock. So Harry took advantage of Malfoy's lapse, and stunned him
himself; and was just about to tie him up for the aurors, when a large group of
the undead army landed from seemingly nowhere onto Malfoy, killing him
instantly, causing his body to rot and turn to ash.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
DUMBLEDORE'S POINT OF VIEW
He watched as Harry appeared behind a shocked Malfoy, and the two began their
pre-duel monologues. Dumbledore's lapse in concentration almost cost him
and the villagers who were trying to help their lives, as a huge swarm of the
dead soldiers began heading for him. One of them even came close enough
that Dumbledore could smell its unique stench, besides the collective smell the
"decayed brigade" gave off. He was saved, however, by one of the town
folk, who fired off a reductor curse just in time. Returning to the
battle, Dumbledore continued to blast the unnatural army away, until he could
see that he and the others were beginning to make a definite difference to the
size of it – though he knew that it was far from over if the aurors did not
arrive soon. As Dumbledore glanced up again at the duel between Malfoy
and Harry, he saw that Malfoy had levitated something behind Harry, who was
seemingly unaware of the situation.
'I have to get there now!' Dumbledore thought to himself, and then he got an
idea. Screwing up his face in concentration, Dumbledore extended his aura
around himself, and then out further and further. The effect that it had
on the army was rather surprising: one touch of it, and it appeared that they
were just as insubstantial as water as they seemingly melted in on
themselves. With this new method, Dumbledore now made faster progress
toward Harry. Within only a minute, Dumbledore was nearing the ends of
the ranks; but unfortunately he got careless in his excitement about getting to
Harry in time, and didn't see the root that was sticking out of the ground; and
so he tripped, making him lose concentration and the control of his aura.
"Aarrgghh!" Dumbledore cried
out as he fell. 'Get up, you old fool!' he thought to himself
furiously. Summoning all of the will power he possessed, he rose to his
feet again, only to find that the ranks had closed in on him considerably, and
showed no sign of stopping. So Dumbledore decided to do the only thing he
could think of in this situation: panic!
Closing his eyes and waiting for the inevitable, Dumbledore felt his emotions
rush through him: love, sadness, regret; and then he felt determination.
He was determined not to let Harry down, his prodigal grandson. With this
new resolution, Albus Dumbledore, greatest magic user of modern times, Supreme
Mugwump, Chief Warlock, ex-headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and
Wizardry, and defeater of the dark wizard Grindelwald, did accidental magic,
spurred by his emotions. Dumbledore's aura exploded around him,
incinerating any of the nearby army, melting others, and blasting the rest
away. When Dumbledore looked to Harry again he saw a group of stags, a
pile of ash, and Harry floating above the whole mess.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HARRY'S POINT OF VIEW
As he looked over to where he thought the dead
soldiers had come from, he saw Dumbledore, his aura flaring, staring at him
with shock and relief on his aged face.
"What happened, Harry?" Dumbledore asked him, once he had made his way over to
Harry.
"After he hit me over the head and said his piece, I levitated myself into the
air and conjured a group of stags to surround and attack him. But he
found a way out, so I jinxed the stags with jelly legs, and tarantallegra,
and others to shock him still. Then I stunned him, and was about to rope
him up, when one of those bodies landed on him," Harry explained as he landed
on the ground.
"Oh dear, I am afraid that is my fault! I…" Dumbledore was saying, but
was cut off as the aurors arrived. (Late again, Harry noted.)
"What is this…" the lead auror began, but was cut
off.
"Voldemort's apprentice attacked the village; we managed to defend it. I
am certain that Hogwarts is being attacked by Voldemort's full forces as we
speak," Dumbledore said urgently. "Gather as many of your men as you can,
and get there now!" he commanded.
"Yes sir," the auror said, and then left to brief the
others that had shown up with him.
"I think we had best get to the school; there is no telling what could be
happening now," Dumbledore said to Harry as he picked up part of the rock that
had hit Harry. With a quick "Portus," they were both gone to Hogwarts.
A/N: And that's it! Another chapter done, and my
motivation back and better than ever. We're coming to the end of this fic soon; but fear not: there will be a sequel, plus 3
other fics I'm working on. This chapter was edited by
David305, excellent beta!
Thanks to all who have reviewed and spurred me on. I doubt I would have
got this chapter done now if it hadn't been for you people.
Until next time!
GG
