Chapter 14
The Abyss of the Enemy
"You are now approximately a quarter of the way done with your N.E.W.T. courses," Professor McGonagall's quick, sharp voice penetrated the classroom as she entered one January morning. She looked around at the exhausted teenage faces in front of her. "I can see, judged by your faces, that you have all felt the strain and rigor of these classes. I remind you that you only have one and a half years left in your Hogwarts education, and it will be a brutal path. Your final exams in the N.E.W.T. courses this year will be a review of what you have learned at a halfway point.
"The actual N.E.W.T. tests will take place three weeks before the end of your last term next year. You will view your scores before you leave this school. The staff at Hogwarts will be the ones who initially receive these scores. We will go over them with you individually, that is, the heads of the Houses, Professor Dumbledore, and you. Each of us will have our say about whether or not you will go directly into the workforce, or if we have to teach you separately, during the summer holidays. Rarely do we have to hold someone back for not achieving an academic goal.
"As each of you have chosen your career paths individually, you have each set your own academic expectations. I, for one, expect all of you to reach beyond your potential, as you have known from the beginning of your career here. I am aware of the tension these courses stimulate in teenagers, but I still expect your enthusiasm and acceptable grades.
"I strongly suggest you all start to glance through the N.E.W.T. workbook. From what I know, Miss Granger is the only one who has gone through it thoroughly. You will find excellent review pages for your halfway point, the exams in June. Hogwarts teachers follow the book strictly when it comes to N.E.W.T. courses, and you will find review for all of your classes in it.
"Now, are there any questions?" To no one's surprise, Hermione's hand immediately shot up. "Yes, Miss Granger?"
"Professor, is there any possibility you may switch careers?"
"If you would like to switch occupations you may, except that if you did not achieve enough N.E.W.T.s, you must take them through the Ministry of Magic. They will either send you a packet for the course through the mail or you could go to the Ministry itself once a week for two years. Any other questions?" A buzz had overcome the classroom. Harry and Ron looked at each other with a mixed look of excitement and horror on their faces. "Then you are dismissed," Professor McGonagall said as the bell rang.
* * *
"To think, we only have a year and a half before we graduate from Hogwarts," Ron said the next morning as the trio walked down to breakfast.
"It seems like only yesterday when Hagrid told me that I was a wizard," Harry replied. They walked towards the Gryffindor table and sat down, diving right into the pancakes and bacon. Harry had just picked up his fork when a familiar flutter of wings greeted his ears. Immediately he looked up for his edition of the Daily Prophet.
Sure enough, a screech owl dropped the Wizarding newspaper right next to him. He glanced at the front cover and hastily put his money in the small leather pouch attached to the owl's leg. "Not another breakout!" he muttered as the scowling pictures of at least a dozen witches and wizards looked up at him with penetrating eyes.
Harry unfolded the paper, his breakfast forgotten. Something caught his eye.
Interrogation of Death Eater Leads to Clues The Auror Department of the Ministry of Magic in London has announced the capture of an undisclosed follower of You-Know-Who ("Death Eater"). After interrogation, Aurors have discovered significant evidence of the You-Know- Who's current location. "This is an excellent achievement," Alastor "Mad- Eye" Moody told the Prophet. "We had not precisely pinpointed Voldemort's whereabouts for around two years. The Death Eater explained to us a chasm in where the Dark Lord and his followers have been meeting for the last six months. It will be a dangerous task, but we must send Aurors there to investigate soon. This could be our chance to finally vanquish Voldemort." Moody has dubbed the chasm "The Abyss of the Enemy". He would not say where it is located, only that it is out of the way of the general public. "For now, the public is safe, so we beg the Wizarding world to avoid panic as much as possible. You have the brightest and most brilliant witches and wizards of your time on the case. Please, don't panic." The Aurors will gain a force within the next six months and hope to attack before You-Know- Who gains too much power.
"Hermione, did you see this?" Harry asked excitedly, pointing at the article. Ron leaned over to read it over Harry's shoulder. Hermione flipped her paper to that page and started to read.
"Some good news for once!" Ron exclaimed after finishing the article.
Hermione had a scowl on her face. "I'm not sure if this is necessarily good news, Ron."
"Why do you say that?" Harry asked, cutting into his now cold pancakes.
"Do you know how many Aurors have been killed in the last year? Some of the best in the world have perished. The Ministry can't afford to send in a whole group of the finest Aurors in the world just to conquer Voldemort and his followers."
"Why?"
"The prophecy. The prophecy stated that Harry is the only one who can kill Voldemort."
"But what about Voldemort's supporters? The prophecy didn't mention anything about me being the only one who can kill his followers."
"Yes, but it would be pointless for the Ministry to act now of all times. You aren't ready to face Voldemort and he isn't ready to face you. It would be smarter of them to wait until next year in order to battle it out, the Aurors against the Death Eaters and you against Voldemort."
"But Hermione, it says that Moody was the one doing the interrogating. This must have something to do with the Order of the Phoenix."
"The Order can't afford to lose any more people either, though," Harry said, thinking of Emmeline Vance.
"Exactly," Hermione chimed in again. "The Auror Department needs time to regroup. We need to focus more on a defensive stance rather than offensive. Tonks would know more on the subject." They scanned the front table to find one person missing: Tonks herself.
"She's not up at the Head Table. You don't think she would leave, do you?"
"No," Harry said. "She wouldn't leave Hogwarts. I'll bet she's in her office right now."
"We'll go after breakfast," Hermione decided, taking a bite out of her own pancakes while still reading the Prophet.
"At least it's a Saturday and we don't have to go sneaking around skiving off classes," Ron muttered, sounding much like a disgruntled Hermione.
* * *
The trio knocked on Tonks' office door. She opened it with a combined look of grief, excitement, and sadness on her face. "Oh, hello, Hermione, Ron, Harry. How are you doing today?"
"Tonks, we saw the Daily Prophet today," Hermione told her professor bluntly. "We would like to know more about the progress on the Abyss of the Enemy,"
Tonks smiled weakly. "I knew you three would be up here some time today. You never seem to miss a beat." She stepped back to let them into her office.
"So how has it been going?" Ron asked.
"Not well, I'm afraid," Tonks said, heaving a great sigh. "Moody told the reporters about the Abyss of the Enemy only to get them off our backs. Frankly, we are no closer to capturing Voldemort's Death Eaters than we were three months ago."
"But don't you know where the Abyss of the Enemy is located?" Harry asked.
"Yes, but that just isn't enough. There will be much more suffering before victory. We have lost a fourth of the Aurors in our department at the Ministry. Any more and the work for one Auror will have to be tripled. We're losing power at a rapid pace. Aside from that, I don't know much more on the subject than you do. I haven't been to Grimmauld Place to catch up on information in ages." She slammed her fist on the desk. "If only Fudge had taken the dementors from power over Azkaban!"
Harry, Hermione, and Ron looked at each other. They had never heard Tonks explode with such a frustration before.
"If we had released those hideous creatures and placed human guards at the entrances of Azkaban instead, we would not have lost so many Aurors in the past months. You three are aware that Fudge refused to take heed of Dumbledore's advice to take the dementors away from the prison, aren't you?"
They nodded.
"I'm afraid Fudge won't last much longer," Tonks said. While looking closer at her, Harry could tell that she had not had a decent night's sleep in weeks.
"Will you be leaving to help with the Abyss of the Enemy?" Hermione asked Tonks.
"No. I can't abandon my teaching position. Besides that, I still have to finish Harry's Auror training. As much as we try to help, Harry, in the end it will all be up to you."
"So everyone keeps on reminding me," came Harry's irritable reply. Tonks' faint smile reappeared and the four became silent.
Ron wittily broke the silence. "So in other words, no pressure, right, Harry?"
The Abyss of the Enemy
"You are now approximately a quarter of the way done with your N.E.W.T. courses," Professor McGonagall's quick, sharp voice penetrated the classroom as she entered one January morning. She looked around at the exhausted teenage faces in front of her. "I can see, judged by your faces, that you have all felt the strain and rigor of these classes. I remind you that you only have one and a half years left in your Hogwarts education, and it will be a brutal path. Your final exams in the N.E.W.T. courses this year will be a review of what you have learned at a halfway point.
"The actual N.E.W.T. tests will take place three weeks before the end of your last term next year. You will view your scores before you leave this school. The staff at Hogwarts will be the ones who initially receive these scores. We will go over them with you individually, that is, the heads of the Houses, Professor Dumbledore, and you. Each of us will have our say about whether or not you will go directly into the workforce, or if we have to teach you separately, during the summer holidays. Rarely do we have to hold someone back for not achieving an academic goal.
"As each of you have chosen your career paths individually, you have each set your own academic expectations. I, for one, expect all of you to reach beyond your potential, as you have known from the beginning of your career here. I am aware of the tension these courses stimulate in teenagers, but I still expect your enthusiasm and acceptable grades.
"I strongly suggest you all start to glance through the N.E.W.T. workbook. From what I know, Miss Granger is the only one who has gone through it thoroughly. You will find excellent review pages for your halfway point, the exams in June. Hogwarts teachers follow the book strictly when it comes to N.E.W.T. courses, and you will find review for all of your classes in it.
"Now, are there any questions?" To no one's surprise, Hermione's hand immediately shot up. "Yes, Miss Granger?"
"Professor, is there any possibility you may switch careers?"
"If you would like to switch occupations you may, except that if you did not achieve enough N.E.W.T.s, you must take them through the Ministry of Magic. They will either send you a packet for the course through the mail or you could go to the Ministry itself once a week for two years. Any other questions?" A buzz had overcome the classroom. Harry and Ron looked at each other with a mixed look of excitement and horror on their faces. "Then you are dismissed," Professor McGonagall said as the bell rang.
* * *
"To think, we only have a year and a half before we graduate from Hogwarts," Ron said the next morning as the trio walked down to breakfast.
"It seems like only yesterday when Hagrid told me that I was a wizard," Harry replied. They walked towards the Gryffindor table and sat down, diving right into the pancakes and bacon. Harry had just picked up his fork when a familiar flutter of wings greeted his ears. Immediately he looked up for his edition of the Daily Prophet.
Sure enough, a screech owl dropped the Wizarding newspaper right next to him. He glanced at the front cover and hastily put his money in the small leather pouch attached to the owl's leg. "Not another breakout!" he muttered as the scowling pictures of at least a dozen witches and wizards looked up at him with penetrating eyes.
Harry unfolded the paper, his breakfast forgotten. Something caught his eye.
Interrogation of Death Eater Leads to Clues The Auror Department of the Ministry of Magic in London has announced the capture of an undisclosed follower of You-Know-Who ("Death Eater"). After interrogation, Aurors have discovered significant evidence of the You-Know- Who's current location. "This is an excellent achievement," Alastor "Mad- Eye" Moody told the Prophet. "We had not precisely pinpointed Voldemort's whereabouts for around two years. The Death Eater explained to us a chasm in where the Dark Lord and his followers have been meeting for the last six months. It will be a dangerous task, but we must send Aurors there to investigate soon. This could be our chance to finally vanquish Voldemort." Moody has dubbed the chasm "The Abyss of the Enemy". He would not say where it is located, only that it is out of the way of the general public. "For now, the public is safe, so we beg the Wizarding world to avoid panic as much as possible. You have the brightest and most brilliant witches and wizards of your time on the case. Please, don't panic." The Aurors will gain a force within the next six months and hope to attack before You-Know- Who gains too much power.
"Hermione, did you see this?" Harry asked excitedly, pointing at the article. Ron leaned over to read it over Harry's shoulder. Hermione flipped her paper to that page and started to read.
"Some good news for once!" Ron exclaimed after finishing the article.
Hermione had a scowl on her face. "I'm not sure if this is necessarily good news, Ron."
"Why do you say that?" Harry asked, cutting into his now cold pancakes.
"Do you know how many Aurors have been killed in the last year? Some of the best in the world have perished. The Ministry can't afford to send in a whole group of the finest Aurors in the world just to conquer Voldemort and his followers."
"Why?"
"The prophecy. The prophecy stated that Harry is the only one who can kill Voldemort."
"But what about Voldemort's supporters? The prophecy didn't mention anything about me being the only one who can kill his followers."
"Yes, but it would be pointless for the Ministry to act now of all times. You aren't ready to face Voldemort and he isn't ready to face you. It would be smarter of them to wait until next year in order to battle it out, the Aurors against the Death Eaters and you against Voldemort."
"But Hermione, it says that Moody was the one doing the interrogating. This must have something to do with the Order of the Phoenix."
"The Order can't afford to lose any more people either, though," Harry said, thinking of Emmeline Vance.
"Exactly," Hermione chimed in again. "The Auror Department needs time to regroup. We need to focus more on a defensive stance rather than offensive. Tonks would know more on the subject." They scanned the front table to find one person missing: Tonks herself.
"She's not up at the Head Table. You don't think she would leave, do you?"
"No," Harry said. "She wouldn't leave Hogwarts. I'll bet she's in her office right now."
"We'll go after breakfast," Hermione decided, taking a bite out of her own pancakes while still reading the Prophet.
"At least it's a Saturday and we don't have to go sneaking around skiving off classes," Ron muttered, sounding much like a disgruntled Hermione.
* * *
The trio knocked on Tonks' office door. She opened it with a combined look of grief, excitement, and sadness on her face. "Oh, hello, Hermione, Ron, Harry. How are you doing today?"
"Tonks, we saw the Daily Prophet today," Hermione told her professor bluntly. "We would like to know more about the progress on the Abyss of the Enemy,"
Tonks smiled weakly. "I knew you three would be up here some time today. You never seem to miss a beat." She stepped back to let them into her office.
"So how has it been going?" Ron asked.
"Not well, I'm afraid," Tonks said, heaving a great sigh. "Moody told the reporters about the Abyss of the Enemy only to get them off our backs. Frankly, we are no closer to capturing Voldemort's Death Eaters than we were three months ago."
"But don't you know where the Abyss of the Enemy is located?" Harry asked.
"Yes, but that just isn't enough. There will be much more suffering before victory. We have lost a fourth of the Aurors in our department at the Ministry. Any more and the work for one Auror will have to be tripled. We're losing power at a rapid pace. Aside from that, I don't know much more on the subject than you do. I haven't been to Grimmauld Place to catch up on information in ages." She slammed her fist on the desk. "If only Fudge had taken the dementors from power over Azkaban!"
Harry, Hermione, and Ron looked at each other. They had never heard Tonks explode with such a frustration before.
"If we had released those hideous creatures and placed human guards at the entrances of Azkaban instead, we would not have lost so many Aurors in the past months. You three are aware that Fudge refused to take heed of Dumbledore's advice to take the dementors away from the prison, aren't you?"
They nodded.
"I'm afraid Fudge won't last much longer," Tonks said. While looking closer at her, Harry could tell that she had not had a decent night's sleep in weeks.
"Will you be leaving to help with the Abyss of the Enemy?" Hermione asked Tonks.
"No. I can't abandon my teaching position. Besides that, I still have to finish Harry's Auror training. As much as we try to help, Harry, in the end it will all be up to you."
"So everyone keeps on reminding me," came Harry's irritable reply. Tonks' faint smile reappeared and the four became silent.
Ron wittily broke the silence. "So in other words, no pressure, right, Harry?"
