Chapter 13: Fall of Power
"Harry is right." spoke Dumbledore. "I never wanted it to come to this. In every war the highest price of human lives is paid. That is why all my life I have tried to prevent confrontation within our kind. Unfortunately there is a time for peace and there is a time to attack. Alert the Order, we will not prepare to defend against Voldemort's attacks. We will attack first."
"Noble sentiments Dumbledore, but that will not happen while I am in charge." everyone turned around in shock to see the minister of magic Cornelius Fudge at the door.
"Listen Cornelius, Lord Voldemort has threatened to attack Hogwarts. He must be stopped." spoke Dumbledore.
"Don't tell me what should be done old man. We have seen what you are capable of doing. For so long a time I had listened to you allowed your crazy ideas because of your fame of dealing with dark wizards. But after what happened here, I have to take actions. Firstly I am sending every muggleborn students back to their home. I always thought we were better off without them. Secondly I am hereby ordering the two greatest threats to Hogwarts to be removed from this school. I Cornelius Fudge hereby rusticate Harry Potter from Hogwarts School and suspend Albus Dumbledore from the position of headmaster."
"Fudge you neither have the authority nor the power to do that." Again to everyone's surprise it was Harry who spoke.
"You puny little boy! You want to see my authority? Aurors arrest him."
But the aurors did not move.
"I said arrest him." barked Fudge savagely.
"No." said the head auror Kingsley Shacklebolt. "When we learnt what you were about to do earlier today, we the head aurors submitted a no confidence motion against you to the wizengamot. Since Professor Dumbledore was not available the second in charge to him gave us direct order that we are to restrain you from performing any act that is unbecoming of the minister of magic."
"You work for me. You are to follow my orders."
"The Aurors do not work for you Fudge. You do not rule over them. Besides the Aurors duty is to take orders from the wizengamot not from you."
Suddenly a face appeared on the fireplace of the office. It was that of a very old witch.
"Good evening Dumbledore. We have been notified of the ghastly events of the night. We were also notified that Cornelius is about to do some things very stupid at Hogwarts. So Dumbledore before matters become much worse, we the wizengamots seek your approval in suspending Cornelius Oswald Fudge from the position of minister of magic."
Dumbledore simply nodded. He then turned to Fudge and said "Well Cornelius seeing that you are no longer my 'boss', I guess I can stay here and so can Mr. Potter. But I hereby forbid you from coming anywhere near my students in the future otherwise the consequences are going to be severe."
"You fool. If you two stay here people will die. Voldemort can not be killed. You saw his powers tonight."
"A wise man does not flaunt his abilities Cornelius. When the time comes Voldemort is going to immensely regret the challenge he made tonight. Now Aurors please escort Mr. Fudge out, others may take leave for the night as well. I would however like to have a word with Harry."
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"Harry what you said today was one of the bravest things I have heard. But you must understand that it is not as easy as sounds. You have so far only encountered a fraction of Voldemort's forces, we have to be really prepared to survive an attack let alone launch a counter attack." said Dumbledore.
"I know sir. But as he so proudly announced, he will attack on Halloween. It is clear that he has enough strength to think that he can do it. So we have to think about stopping him. Everyone has been afraid of Voldemort and has hidden from him and even then he has been able to kill them. Hiding for safety is no longer an option. I think we must take preparations for counter offense."
"I am glad to hear that from you Harry. It just shows that the announcement I was about to make was very much justified. I have something for you Harry. As you know, last year I personally intervened in you becoming a prefect. So taking into consideration your owl marks and your teaching ability as shown to the 'Dumbledore's Army' I am hereby appointing you as the assistant to the headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardy. As I had mentioned earlier, all the teachers will be picking their apprentices this year. I would like you to be my apprentice. But you will not just be an apprentice. I want you to continue the club you had started last year. You can have any assistance you want. Being my assistant, your authority would supercede that of any prefect of any house. In fact you will have as much authority as the Head Boy. Also you will have unhindered access to the library, even the restricted sections. So Harry do you accept?"
"Of course I accept sir. This is such an honor. I don't know what to say."
"I know I am putting a lot of responsibility on you. So Harry before you go to bed do you have any thing else to ask me?"
"Well yes a couple of questions sir? Firstly who was with Enemar when he left? I have seen him somewhere."
"I do not think you have met him before but he does look a lot like Enemar himself. He is Enemar's friend and another ally of our side. His name is Reet. Actually you will be seeing a lot of him. He is going to give you some lessons on ancient magic."
"Also sir, how did Voldemort carry so many attacks at such a short time? That too one of them being at Hogwarts?"
"Voldemort has gained an incredible source of power. You remember your meeting with Enemar at the Shrieking Shack. He mentioned how he was forced to kill his one time mentor Aradha. Well as it turns out that in death Aradha some how turned into an even more powerful creature which pledged allegiance to its actual murderer, Voldemort. What you saw here at Hogwarts was a display of Voldemort's own powers combined with the pure evil power of this undead creature. But that is not all. As you know Voldemort was able to free his captured minions a few days ago. He also stole that strange object we spoke about that night. I still don't know how he came to know about it. But somehow considering that events that have followed I think Voldemort has already started to harness the powers of that object." He paused. "I know this is not good news. But trust me Harry we still have several resources on our side. We will fight hard and we will win. So as I bid you good night I ask you to keep your courage and be prepared for the upcoming battle."
"Wow I have never come this far before. I did not even know this path existed."
"This leads to Merlin's tomb. But I don't think they can enter it. I think we will find them in the chamber of death." said Enemar.
"Speaking of death how are you coping with what you saw back there?"
"Reet, I just saw the corpses of almost all the people I spent the last five years of my life with. How do you expect me to cope with it?"
"I still don't understand why he did this though. I am sure he could have just restrained them."
"I had told you before Reet. Aradha is not the one who is doing this. Voldemort is pulling his strings. That maniac takes pleasure in killing. Now be careful we are almost there.'
"How can a man, who was like a father to me, do this?"
"As easily as you did what you did to me?"
Every light in the dark chamber lit up one by one. The two men had to shield their eyes from the sudden illumination. They looked up and saw, sitting at white marble throne was a black creature. It seemed to be made of shadows. The only resemblance of light it displayed was in its ruby red eyes.
The two men bowed before him.
"It is good to see that the two of you still remember the tradition of this place." spoke the creature.
"Where is Voldemort?" asked Reet.
"My dear Reet, you were like a son to me. Unlike this ingrate dog you would have had this throne after me. Still you joined him. Why?"
"It was the right thing to do. You allied with the darkest soul of our time. I chose the side of light."
"This common mongrel is the side of light. Or is it that puny little child? Power Reet, power is all that matters. Look at this place. Look at where I am. This is where the human race was born. You have been to Hogwarts. You must have felt the power of that place. Imagine power infinitely greater than that. That is what the king of the dead will hold."
"So Aradha," spoke Enemar, "You think you are the heir to the king's throne. Do you not know that there has never been a true king to this throne? What makes you think you are the heir to this throne?"
"Silence you dog. You are not to speak my name. You are not the only one who has seen Merlin's Chronicles. It is true that there never has been a true king but I am like none other. I will rule over this throne. Because I possess the key, to the power of the immortals."
"The Green Flame Torch?" whispered Reet.
"Yes. Voldemort acquired it during his raid on the ministry; I was able to use its power to gain the strength I needed to attain the form you see. Then I have shown Voldemort how to use the Torch to gain enough power to crush the forces of Dumbledore and bring Hogwarts down to its knees. When Voldemort takes over Hogwarts, the magical core of Hogwarts will be combined with the raw ancient magic that lies in this dead city and I will finally be able to seek out every magus's ultimate destination for the ultimate power."
"The Temple of the King?"
"Yes Enemar. The Temple of the King. That is from where the dark lord and I shall rule over this world. But don't worry, you will assist me. You remember Enemar how you hoodwinked the Dark Lord into 'killing' me. Well I will use the same trick on you two. You will be my slaves like my young pet at Hogwarts."
But Aradha stopped to see Enemar laughing.
"Is impending death so funny Enemar?"
"No but you are a stupid little ghost. You actually think that that was the Green Flame Torch you stole. You have no idea what the power of the immortals is. A petty little ghost like you would not have survived its powers and neither could Voldemort. All you have done is given Voldemort a very dangerous toy."
"No one speaks to the King of the Dead that way." yelled Aradha.
"You are not the King of the Dead. Our king has not yet come of age. His identity is yet to be revealed. You are right. This shall be the age of the King and he will make the Temple of the King come back but you are not him."
"How dare you? Let me show you the meaning of defying the king."
Aradha jumped in the air and his black shadowy mass engulfed Enemar.
"Your powers are useless against me Enemar. Watch Reet as I turn your brother into my minion of darkness."
But Reet was gone. He all of a sudden found himself teleported right in front of Indus gate.
"Run brother." came the voice of Enemar in his head. It was the voice of a man in extreme pain. "Go to Dumbledore. Tell him all you saw. Do not worry about me. I have already explained to you Aradha can not kill me. Run to Hogwarts. Harry is our only hope. Train him to be ready. He must be ready before the time comes. I will find a way to get out of this, have faith in me. Go NOW."
Reet let out a large sigh. Once again that man put his own life at risk to save another's. He kept thinking how easily he himself could have had escaped, but he knew then Aradha would have certainly killed him.
"Well at least Aradha can't kill either of us now. Good luck my friend. Hope to see you again."
"I don't believe we have him first thing in the morning." complained Ron.
"Come on, he can not be much worse than Umbridge." said Neville.
"Actually I am looking forward to his class," said Harry, "There is definitely something weird about him. I need to find out who all are truly in Dumbledore's side when we go into war."
Neville paled. "You just had to s-say that during breakfast." he said in a shaky voice.
"It will come Neville, whether you like it or not. We have to be prepared." said Harry. "Speaking of being prepared where is Ginny and Hermione?"
"They are still in the common room. Ginny is really upset over something and she won't tell me about it. So I asked Hermione if she could find out what was troubling her."
"She has six brothers, three of whom are in this school and you send her sister-in-law to console her." piped in Fred and George as Ron's face turned the color of his hair.
"Come brother," announced Fred "let us see what trouble our young sibling."
"And try to aggravate It." added George.
As they ran out of the hall Ron said in a disgusted tone, "Those two have no sense, she is obviously upset over last night. So I thought Hermione would be the person she would want to talk to."
"Err.. let me go talk to her. She might be more comfortable talking to me."
"Why would she want to talk to you? Wait a minute? Mione said something like this might happen? Is there something going on between the two of you? POTTER, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO UPSET MY SISTER?"
The entire hall turned toward the animated discussion but before Harry could come up with a good explanation a huge thing appeared out of thin air and thumped down on Harry's breakfast table. Harry cleared the smeared scrambled eggs of his glasses and looked at the object. It was something he had seen before it was the Mirror of Magi. But on it was a truly gruesome face; Harry took a real close look at the blood streaked face on the mirror to realize that it was the face of his ally and teacher Enemar. He had several deep cuts of his face through which blood was pouring out.
"It's that guy." said Ron dumbfounded. "He is in a mess."
"Harry." Enemar spoke in a croaking voice, "I don't have much strength. Take the mirror to Dumbledore. Hurry before I loose control.. hurry please."
Harry who had been used to seeing the ever calm a composed self of Enemar was shocked to see him in such distress. He picked up the mirror and ran for the headmaster's office. To his surprise he saw Dumbledore at the gargoyle statue.
"I heard what happened at the breakfast table. Mr. Weasley I am afraid this does not concern you. But I have a job for you. Find Professor McGonagall and ask her to meet me as soon as possible at my office."
They took the mirror in the office. As soon as the door was locked Enemar spoke again.
"Sir, our danger is greater than we imagined. I am being held captive by Aradha at the city of the dead."
"I will send help immediately." said Dumbledore.
"NO! You must not send any one out here. Concentrate on protecting your grounds. Know this, I may be very badly hurt but Aradha will not kill me. That is enough for me for now. I will escape from here. My powers may not be enough to confront Aradha but I think I know a way to escape the city of the dead. I can not explain how, but any one you sent hear will be as good as sent to the gallows."
"What do you want me to do?" asked Dumbledore.
"I want you to save my last friend on earth. I helped Reet escape the city. But two death eaters, one of whom is what you call an animagus are after him. Reet does not have as much knowledge of your world as I do. Being a muggle he won't be able to reach Hogwarts or Hogsmede by himself. He is too far away to contact you using his powers which are also quite weak at this moment. Dumbledore, sir, please help him. I dragged him into this war protect him from it. Give him refuge at Hogwarts. He will teach Harry what he knows. With his knowledge Harry will be ready. Promise me Dumbledore, no matter what happens you will protect Reet."
"I give you my word Enemar. I will bring him to Hogwarts. He will be safe here. But I must ask you again. Are you sure about no one going to Indus, I myself am willing to go.."
"Sir I have the greatest respect for you and your abilities. You are no doubt the greatest wizard of your time. But you sir with all due respect are a mortal, and a very valuable asset to our side. This place is right now under Aradha's rule and will be so until the true king comes of age. I can not explain it to you. Reet might be able to. We can not defeat him here, at least not now. Rest assures Aradha will not kill me. But he has considerably weakened me. As soon as I gain some of my 'special abilities' back I will implement my plan to escape. Before that if I gain enough strength I will contact you through the mirror. I hope to join you before Halloween. Oh and Dumbledore there is a traitor among your midst. He poses great harm to Harry. I might know who he is."
"Who?" asked Harry and Dumbledore together?
But they did not get an answer. Enemar's eyes started to close down. Soon his image was fading. The mirror turned black.
"Sir, we have to save him. You saw the wounds on his face. Aradha will kill him."
"Excuse me Headmaster; Mr. Weasley said you asked for Me." came the voice of Professor McGonagall.
"Yes Minerva. You have to take charge for a while now. Call Remus, and Umor tell them meet me at the castle gate. Harry please come with me."
"Sir you are going to Indus?" asked Harry.
"No I believe in Enemar. Going to Indus will not help him, but might worsen the situation here."
As they reached the gate they found both Remus Lupin and Professor Quirrell at the gate.
"What is the meaning of this Sir? I have a class in two minutes and he," said Professor Quirrell pointing at Harry "Should be in that class."
"I am afraid your class is cancelled. A friend if ours needs help. The four of us are going to help him."
Then to Harry's surprise the twinkle in Harry's eyes were replaced by a cold flash of anger.
"And" continued Dumbledore, "We are going to hunt down one of the lowest creatures on earth. A filthy rodent with a silver paw."
End Of Chapter 13
Authors Notes:
Well folks another chapter down. Nothing much to say other than the fact though some of you might think I am concentrating too much on action but next chapter onward the theme will change a bit. How? you will have to read and find out. This is my longest chapter till date. This was specially difficult since I still don't have a beta reader. Any one interested in beta reading this story, please mail me. Next chapter, I must warn people, is going to be scary as there will be another death.
"Harry is right." spoke Dumbledore. "I never wanted it to come to this. In every war the highest price of human lives is paid. That is why all my life I have tried to prevent confrontation within our kind. Unfortunately there is a time for peace and there is a time to attack. Alert the Order, we will not prepare to defend against Voldemort's attacks. We will attack first."
"Noble sentiments Dumbledore, but that will not happen while I am in charge." everyone turned around in shock to see the minister of magic Cornelius Fudge at the door.
"Listen Cornelius, Lord Voldemort has threatened to attack Hogwarts. He must be stopped." spoke Dumbledore.
"Don't tell me what should be done old man. We have seen what you are capable of doing. For so long a time I had listened to you allowed your crazy ideas because of your fame of dealing with dark wizards. But after what happened here, I have to take actions. Firstly I am sending every muggleborn students back to their home. I always thought we were better off without them. Secondly I am hereby ordering the two greatest threats to Hogwarts to be removed from this school. I Cornelius Fudge hereby rusticate Harry Potter from Hogwarts School and suspend Albus Dumbledore from the position of headmaster."
"Fudge you neither have the authority nor the power to do that." Again to everyone's surprise it was Harry who spoke.
"You puny little boy! You want to see my authority? Aurors arrest him."
But the aurors did not move.
"I said arrest him." barked Fudge savagely.
"No." said the head auror Kingsley Shacklebolt. "When we learnt what you were about to do earlier today, we the head aurors submitted a no confidence motion against you to the wizengamot. Since Professor Dumbledore was not available the second in charge to him gave us direct order that we are to restrain you from performing any act that is unbecoming of the minister of magic."
"You work for me. You are to follow my orders."
"The Aurors do not work for you Fudge. You do not rule over them. Besides the Aurors duty is to take orders from the wizengamot not from you."
Suddenly a face appeared on the fireplace of the office. It was that of a very old witch.
"Good evening Dumbledore. We have been notified of the ghastly events of the night. We were also notified that Cornelius is about to do some things very stupid at Hogwarts. So Dumbledore before matters become much worse, we the wizengamots seek your approval in suspending Cornelius Oswald Fudge from the position of minister of magic."
Dumbledore simply nodded. He then turned to Fudge and said "Well Cornelius seeing that you are no longer my 'boss', I guess I can stay here and so can Mr. Potter. But I hereby forbid you from coming anywhere near my students in the future otherwise the consequences are going to be severe."
"You fool. If you two stay here people will die. Voldemort can not be killed. You saw his powers tonight."
"A wise man does not flaunt his abilities Cornelius. When the time comes Voldemort is going to immensely regret the challenge he made tonight. Now Aurors please escort Mr. Fudge out, others may take leave for the night as well. I would however like to have a word with Harry."
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"Harry what you said today was one of the bravest things I have heard. But you must understand that it is not as easy as sounds. You have so far only encountered a fraction of Voldemort's forces, we have to be really prepared to survive an attack let alone launch a counter attack." said Dumbledore.
"I know sir. But as he so proudly announced, he will attack on Halloween. It is clear that he has enough strength to think that he can do it. So we have to think about stopping him. Everyone has been afraid of Voldemort and has hidden from him and even then he has been able to kill them. Hiding for safety is no longer an option. I think we must take preparations for counter offense."
"I am glad to hear that from you Harry. It just shows that the announcement I was about to make was very much justified. I have something for you Harry. As you know, last year I personally intervened in you becoming a prefect. So taking into consideration your owl marks and your teaching ability as shown to the 'Dumbledore's Army' I am hereby appointing you as the assistant to the headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardy. As I had mentioned earlier, all the teachers will be picking their apprentices this year. I would like you to be my apprentice. But you will not just be an apprentice. I want you to continue the club you had started last year. You can have any assistance you want. Being my assistant, your authority would supercede that of any prefect of any house. In fact you will have as much authority as the Head Boy. Also you will have unhindered access to the library, even the restricted sections. So Harry do you accept?"
"Of course I accept sir. This is such an honor. I don't know what to say."
"I know I am putting a lot of responsibility on you. So Harry before you go to bed do you have any thing else to ask me?"
"Well yes a couple of questions sir? Firstly who was with Enemar when he left? I have seen him somewhere."
"I do not think you have met him before but he does look a lot like Enemar himself. He is Enemar's friend and another ally of our side. His name is Reet. Actually you will be seeing a lot of him. He is going to give you some lessons on ancient magic."
"Also sir, how did Voldemort carry so many attacks at such a short time? That too one of them being at Hogwarts?"
"Voldemort has gained an incredible source of power. You remember your meeting with Enemar at the Shrieking Shack. He mentioned how he was forced to kill his one time mentor Aradha. Well as it turns out that in death Aradha some how turned into an even more powerful creature which pledged allegiance to its actual murderer, Voldemort. What you saw here at Hogwarts was a display of Voldemort's own powers combined with the pure evil power of this undead creature. But that is not all. As you know Voldemort was able to free his captured minions a few days ago. He also stole that strange object we spoke about that night. I still don't know how he came to know about it. But somehow considering that events that have followed I think Voldemort has already started to harness the powers of that object." He paused. "I know this is not good news. But trust me Harry we still have several resources on our side. We will fight hard and we will win. So as I bid you good night I ask you to keep your courage and be prepared for the upcoming battle."
"Wow I have never come this far before. I did not even know this path existed."
"This leads to Merlin's tomb. But I don't think they can enter it. I think we will find them in the chamber of death." said Enemar.
"Speaking of death how are you coping with what you saw back there?"
"Reet, I just saw the corpses of almost all the people I spent the last five years of my life with. How do you expect me to cope with it?"
"I still don't understand why he did this though. I am sure he could have just restrained them."
"I had told you before Reet. Aradha is not the one who is doing this. Voldemort is pulling his strings. That maniac takes pleasure in killing. Now be careful we are almost there.'
"How can a man, who was like a father to me, do this?"
"As easily as you did what you did to me?"
Every light in the dark chamber lit up one by one. The two men had to shield their eyes from the sudden illumination. They looked up and saw, sitting at white marble throne was a black creature. It seemed to be made of shadows. The only resemblance of light it displayed was in its ruby red eyes.
The two men bowed before him.
"It is good to see that the two of you still remember the tradition of this place." spoke the creature.
"Where is Voldemort?" asked Reet.
"My dear Reet, you were like a son to me. Unlike this ingrate dog you would have had this throne after me. Still you joined him. Why?"
"It was the right thing to do. You allied with the darkest soul of our time. I chose the side of light."
"This common mongrel is the side of light. Or is it that puny little child? Power Reet, power is all that matters. Look at this place. Look at where I am. This is where the human race was born. You have been to Hogwarts. You must have felt the power of that place. Imagine power infinitely greater than that. That is what the king of the dead will hold."
"So Aradha," spoke Enemar, "You think you are the heir to the king's throne. Do you not know that there has never been a true king to this throne? What makes you think you are the heir to this throne?"
"Silence you dog. You are not to speak my name. You are not the only one who has seen Merlin's Chronicles. It is true that there never has been a true king but I am like none other. I will rule over this throne. Because I possess the key, to the power of the immortals."
"The Green Flame Torch?" whispered Reet.
"Yes. Voldemort acquired it during his raid on the ministry; I was able to use its power to gain the strength I needed to attain the form you see. Then I have shown Voldemort how to use the Torch to gain enough power to crush the forces of Dumbledore and bring Hogwarts down to its knees. When Voldemort takes over Hogwarts, the magical core of Hogwarts will be combined with the raw ancient magic that lies in this dead city and I will finally be able to seek out every magus's ultimate destination for the ultimate power."
"The Temple of the King?"
"Yes Enemar. The Temple of the King. That is from where the dark lord and I shall rule over this world. But don't worry, you will assist me. You remember Enemar how you hoodwinked the Dark Lord into 'killing' me. Well I will use the same trick on you two. You will be my slaves like my young pet at Hogwarts."
But Aradha stopped to see Enemar laughing.
"Is impending death so funny Enemar?"
"No but you are a stupid little ghost. You actually think that that was the Green Flame Torch you stole. You have no idea what the power of the immortals is. A petty little ghost like you would not have survived its powers and neither could Voldemort. All you have done is given Voldemort a very dangerous toy."
"No one speaks to the King of the Dead that way." yelled Aradha.
"You are not the King of the Dead. Our king has not yet come of age. His identity is yet to be revealed. You are right. This shall be the age of the King and he will make the Temple of the King come back but you are not him."
"How dare you? Let me show you the meaning of defying the king."
Aradha jumped in the air and his black shadowy mass engulfed Enemar.
"Your powers are useless against me Enemar. Watch Reet as I turn your brother into my minion of darkness."
But Reet was gone. He all of a sudden found himself teleported right in front of Indus gate.
"Run brother." came the voice of Enemar in his head. It was the voice of a man in extreme pain. "Go to Dumbledore. Tell him all you saw. Do not worry about me. I have already explained to you Aradha can not kill me. Run to Hogwarts. Harry is our only hope. Train him to be ready. He must be ready before the time comes. I will find a way to get out of this, have faith in me. Go NOW."
Reet let out a large sigh. Once again that man put his own life at risk to save another's. He kept thinking how easily he himself could have had escaped, but he knew then Aradha would have certainly killed him.
"Well at least Aradha can't kill either of us now. Good luck my friend. Hope to see you again."
"I don't believe we have him first thing in the morning." complained Ron.
"Come on, he can not be much worse than Umbridge." said Neville.
"Actually I am looking forward to his class," said Harry, "There is definitely something weird about him. I need to find out who all are truly in Dumbledore's side when we go into war."
Neville paled. "You just had to s-say that during breakfast." he said in a shaky voice.
"It will come Neville, whether you like it or not. We have to be prepared." said Harry. "Speaking of being prepared where is Ginny and Hermione?"
"They are still in the common room. Ginny is really upset over something and she won't tell me about it. So I asked Hermione if she could find out what was troubling her."
"She has six brothers, three of whom are in this school and you send her sister-in-law to console her." piped in Fred and George as Ron's face turned the color of his hair.
"Come brother," announced Fred "let us see what trouble our young sibling."
"And try to aggravate It." added George.
As they ran out of the hall Ron said in a disgusted tone, "Those two have no sense, she is obviously upset over last night. So I thought Hermione would be the person she would want to talk to."
"Err.. let me go talk to her. She might be more comfortable talking to me."
"Why would she want to talk to you? Wait a minute? Mione said something like this might happen? Is there something going on between the two of you? POTTER, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO UPSET MY SISTER?"
The entire hall turned toward the animated discussion but before Harry could come up with a good explanation a huge thing appeared out of thin air and thumped down on Harry's breakfast table. Harry cleared the smeared scrambled eggs of his glasses and looked at the object. It was something he had seen before it was the Mirror of Magi. But on it was a truly gruesome face; Harry took a real close look at the blood streaked face on the mirror to realize that it was the face of his ally and teacher Enemar. He had several deep cuts of his face through which blood was pouring out.
"It's that guy." said Ron dumbfounded. "He is in a mess."
"Harry." Enemar spoke in a croaking voice, "I don't have much strength. Take the mirror to Dumbledore. Hurry before I loose control.. hurry please."
Harry who had been used to seeing the ever calm a composed self of Enemar was shocked to see him in such distress. He picked up the mirror and ran for the headmaster's office. To his surprise he saw Dumbledore at the gargoyle statue.
"I heard what happened at the breakfast table. Mr. Weasley I am afraid this does not concern you. But I have a job for you. Find Professor McGonagall and ask her to meet me as soon as possible at my office."
They took the mirror in the office. As soon as the door was locked Enemar spoke again.
"Sir, our danger is greater than we imagined. I am being held captive by Aradha at the city of the dead."
"I will send help immediately." said Dumbledore.
"NO! You must not send any one out here. Concentrate on protecting your grounds. Know this, I may be very badly hurt but Aradha will not kill me. That is enough for me for now. I will escape from here. My powers may not be enough to confront Aradha but I think I know a way to escape the city of the dead. I can not explain how, but any one you sent hear will be as good as sent to the gallows."
"What do you want me to do?" asked Dumbledore.
"I want you to save my last friend on earth. I helped Reet escape the city. But two death eaters, one of whom is what you call an animagus are after him. Reet does not have as much knowledge of your world as I do. Being a muggle he won't be able to reach Hogwarts or Hogsmede by himself. He is too far away to contact you using his powers which are also quite weak at this moment. Dumbledore, sir, please help him. I dragged him into this war protect him from it. Give him refuge at Hogwarts. He will teach Harry what he knows. With his knowledge Harry will be ready. Promise me Dumbledore, no matter what happens you will protect Reet."
"I give you my word Enemar. I will bring him to Hogwarts. He will be safe here. But I must ask you again. Are you sure about no one going to Indus, I myself am willing to go.."
"Sir I have the greatest respect for you and your abilities. You are no doubt the greatest wizard of your time. But you sir with all due respect are a mortal, and a very valuable asset to our side. This place is right now under Aradha's rule and will be so until the true king comes of age. I can not explain it to you. Reet might be able to. We can not defeat him here, at least not now. Rest assures Aradha will not kill me. But he has considerably weakened me. As soon as I gain some of my 'special abilities' back I will implement my plan to escape. Before that if I gain enough strength I will contact you through the mirror. I hope to join you before Halloween. Oh and Dumbledore there is a traitor among your midst. He poses great harm to Harry. I might know who he is."
"Who?" asked Harry and Dumbledore together?
But they did not get an answer. Enemar's eyes started to close down. Soon his image was fading. The mirror turned black.
"Sir, we have to save him. You saw the wounds on his face. Aradha will kill him."
"Excuse me Headmaster; Mr. Weasley said you asked for Me." came the voice of Professor McGonagall.
"Yes Minerva. You have to take charge for a while now. Call Remus, and Umor tell them meet me at the castle gate. Harry please come with me."
"Sir you are going to Indus?" asked Harry.
"No I believe in Enemar. Going to Indus will not help him, but might worsen the situation here."
As they reached the gate they found both Remus Lupin and Professor Quirrell at the gate.
"What is the meaning of this Sir? I have a class in two minutes and he," said Professor Quirrell pointing at Harry "Should be in that class."
"I am afraid your class is cancelled. A friend if ours needs help. The four of us are going to help him."
Then to Harry's surprise the twinkle in Harry's eyes were replaced by a cold flash of anger.
"And" continued Dumbledore, "We are going to hunt down one of the lowest creatures on earth. A filthy rodent with a silver paw."
End Of Chapter 13
Authors Notes:
Well folks another chapter down. Nothing much to say other than the fact though some of you might think I am concentrating too much on action but next chapter onward the theme will change a bit. How? you will have to read and find out. This is my longest chapter till date. This was specially difficult since I still don't have a beta reader. Any one interested in beta reading this story, please mail me. Next chapter, I must warn people, is going to be scary as there will be another death.