Chapter 19:- Trouble among Malfoys
He sat in the open field just outside castle almost buried in his thought. His eyes generally a clear indicator of his emotions were closed. He seemed to be immersed in some deep dream. But above all Harry Potter looked at peace with himself.
It had been more than two weeks since the night Ginny, Neville were attacked and poor Colin Creevey had been brutally murdered. Ginny still had nightmares of Colin's body in flames. In the days she was at the infirmary she had heard about how Dumbledore had become the new Minister of Magic. The grand council of Wizengamot had moved to Hogwarts. But where this council resided inside the castle not many knew. It had taken some time for Ginny to recover completely. But to her delight Harry had been by her side all through. She had heard about Cho Chang, kissing Harry in the Great Hall. She had become madder at Harry, than at the Asian girl. But Harry explained to her that Cho did not give him any chance. Even Hermione agreed that the senior Ravenclaw had pounced on Harry. Harry had, had a talk with Cho the following day. He had made it quite clear that his heart belongs to one girl only and hence he basically had asked Cho to keep her hands off him. But that had not stopped her. To Ginny's greatest annoyance she kept finding excuses to talk to Harry and discretely flirted with him.
After the turmoil at the start of September classes had picked up pace. In spite of the mystery that surrounded Umor Quirrell he was as competent a defense teacher as Remus Lupin was. Although he did not take anymore classes involving Dementors but he taught them some very advanced spell to protect against the dark curses. She had heard that Harry's classes were even tougher. Besides that, every weekend Harry spent two hours with Reet and two hours with Snape taking special tutoring. Ginny was genuinely surprised when the hated potion's master himself volunteered to teach Harry advanced healing, a subject no longer offered at Hogwarts. Hermione had repeatedly requested to let her be included as well, but unfortunately Snape's offer was extended to Harry only. She was pretty worried that this will be a repeat of Harry's Occulomency experience. But the only complain Harry voiced about the Professor was that he drove Harry mad with his demand for excellence. She also noticed that Harry was really getting along with Reet. He had helped him almost perfect his psychic blows. Ginny was present in one of Harry's classes in which she saw Harry throw off Reet right from one end of the room to another. But still Reet insisted that Harry is in very much a nascent stage. This also bothered Ginny. Just how powerful was Harry Potter going to become?
Neville had woken up about three days after he was attacked. He had no recollection of what happened but he was very very shaken up. Luna Lovegood, who seemed to have developed a soft corner for Neville accompanied him in almost all of her free time. But the weirdest thing Ginny had observed in the last few days was Draco Malfoy.
============================================================================ ============================
About two weeks ago,
"Father I can't." pleaded Draco.
"You can and you will. This order comes from the Dark Lord himself, and he wants it done now."
"Father, I can't kill a man. Even if I could how am I supposed to get past Dumbledore? He is the minister now. He will hang me."
"No one will know. You are a Malfoy. I trust your resourcefulness. As far as killing is concerned you seemed to be pretty eager to get your hands on Potter. Consider this a stepping stone."
"Potter is different. He has stolen the limelight that I deserved. Everyone thinks he is so great."
"Between you and me let me tell you something Draco, what Harry Potter does is great. He is the only nemesis of our master. You are still nothing compared to him, but this is your one chance. Kill Reet and our Lord will consider you a worthy follower."
"All right father. I will do as my Lord wishes."
"He will be happy with your loyalty. Now, have you found out where that muggle loving fool is hiding him?"
"Yes."
"Then go. Finish it tonight. Don't worry if anything happens I will help you."
Draco walked down the empty stairs. He knew his father's last promise was as false as his own loyalty towards Voldemort. The truth is that, as much as he hated to accept it, he was a coward. He was scared of his father. Scared of the brutal beatings he took every time he failed to live up to his father's evil expectations. He hated Potter because everyone thought he was such a hero and all, just because how tough he has had risen as an orphan.
"Try being the puppet of a maniac." he thought.
But now he knew what to do. Fate has given him an opportunity to change all this. And he would be damned if he let this chance go. He was about to prove himself. Standing outside the door he knew this was it. He softly knocked on the door.
"Come in." came Reet's voice.
He stepped in and saw Reet seated relaxed in a chair in front of the fire. He was apparently going through 'Hogwart's a History.'
Draco raised his wand and pointed it at Reet. So easy he thought.
"I would not do that Mr. Malfoy. I could have disarmed you the moment you got your father's message. Hell, I could had sent you to Azkaban a long time ago. The reason you are here is because you are of some value to us, and I am sure that a smart you man like you will listen to reasons."
"I will listen to everything you say. I am not doing this of my own free will; I know I have no choice. But before that I have a few questions."
"Shoot."
"Just how long has this been going on?"
============================================================================ ============================
Harry's eyes opened to see Ginny's brown eyes gazing at him. It was a look he could comprehend. In fact there were a lot of things he could not understand about girls. It is so difficult to understand who they like and who you like. He was sure he was truly in love with Ginny. Yet he was still attracted to Cho Chang. In short he was utterly confused. The past two weeks have been hell for him. Ever since Snape decided to teach him advanced healing, his workload had doubled. Then there were his classes with Reet. Harry liked Enemar's way of teaching better. Reet delved too much on theory. But the biggest surprise of the past two weeks had been Umor Quirrell. There was no denying one fact. The man was a great teacher. His classes seemed to be tailor made for Harry. He could also make out that almost everything taught to the sixth years was with one purpose only. The clock was ticking. The war would begin in a few days. But Umor managed to surprise Harry the most just last week. He had asked Harry to stay back in his class. When alone, he offered to give Harry training for becoming Animagus. He however made Harry swear that he would not tell anyone, not even Ginny. All in all the past two weeks have been busy and interesting with the only consolation that no one got hurt.
Well that was also not entirely true. Hogwarts was under attack. But it was not the work of Voldemort. Someone had launched a prank war on the Weasleys about two weeks ago and now the Weasley were in an all out war path against their invisible nemesis but unfortunate due to the concealed identity of their enemy they decided to pounce on any and all. It had all began with someone managing to replace Fred and George's shampoo with hair removing cream. The twins were barely recognizable with their bare scalps. Their hair has still not grown back. But the twins were not the only one. Someone managed to sneak into Slytherine dormitory and bewitch every single cupboard to explode and throw out its contents after specific intervals of time. It took Professor Flitwick almost three days to find out how to reverse the Charm. The following day, someone managed to slip something into the food of Slytherine which turned his hair electric blue. The Slytherines seemed to be particularly out of favor with the new prankster. Only Gryffindors who suffered were the Weasley twins. In spite of the ongoing reign of terror, Harry was glad as it took everyones minds of upcoming days of Horror.
"Have a good nap." asked Ginny.
"Yeah, it is quite nice out here. Sit next to me Ginny."
Ginny snuggled next to Harry. She could make out something was bothering Harry.
"I know you will ask Ginny. I know that you can read my mind even better than Dumbledore."
"I don't read your mind silly." said Ginny softly, "It is my feelings for you and the similar feelings that you have in your heart for me that has created this connection between us that I can tell when something bothers you. But it's ok if you don't want to discuss it."
"It's no big deal. Tonight Enemar will be returning."
"But that is good news right. After all he is your ally?"
"Yes he is supposed to be. But there is something about that man that you just can't trust. He always seems to know everything that goes on."
"But so does Dumbledore. You still trust him."
"Dumbledore did not attack me on my birthday and use you as bait."
"But Harry..."
"Yes I remember what he said. He was trying to teach me my powers. But still his methods are so crude. Then there was this news of his escape. He seemed to be stuck for his life at Indus and yet he escaped this Aradha so easily. Know something Ginny, this new confidence with which Tom has challenged Dumbledore is only because of his allegiance with Aradha. Yet Enemar was able to defeat Aradha easily."
"It was not an easy victory Mr. Potter. I think this scar on my face is proof enough."
Harry and Ginny looked around in shock only to see none other than Enemar standing right behind him. Harry could had sworn that he had appeared there out of thin air but that very notion would kill Hermione as she was still convinced that no one can apparate within Hogwarts grounds. He observed Enemar. He was right. The last time he had seen him his face was drenched in blood from that cut that run right across the left side of his face. Although the wound had sealed, the mark still remained.
"Good to know how much confidence you have in me Mr. Potter. Oh, nice to see you Miss Weasley."
"Good to see you too Mr. Itra. But please do not take Harry wrongly."
"No need to explain Virginia. I know that in spite of everything Harry still trusts me. I also know why. Because he has no choice. But enough chit chat, I am tired from my journey. I need rest. Harry, do not forget to come see me tonight at eight. Tell you what. Why don't you bring Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley and young Virginia too?" with that Enemar walked towards the castle.
"How does he do it?" said Harry.
"Do what?" asked Ginny.
"What he just did. He may be a magus but he still is not a wizard, he is a muggle. Yet the spells of Hogwarts do not affect him at all."
============================================================================ ============================
It had been a good week for a man with a bounty on his head. When he first learnt that Voldemort had ordered him to be killed Reet was really scared. But then the stroke of luck came. Draco was chosen as his assailant. Things became quite simple from then on. One thing made him feel good though. At least finally he got some share of the action. Dumbledore's orders forbade him from using his powers within Hogwarts. Although he did not follow the order to its entirety he still was quite eager to try out his powers to its full. Now with Enemar arriving in a few moments he would be at ease to test himself again.
"Draco." he called.
"Yes."
"As you know Enemar is returning to Hogwarts tonight. You are not to give any one the slightest impression that you know him or have ever met him."
"Do I have a choice?"
"Of course, you do. The worse thing that will happen to you is that you will die."
Draco flinched but kept quiet.
"Have you heard from your father?"
"No. He said he would contact me but he did not."
"I knew he would not. The information I got from you was very useful. I am afraid your father will not be in touch with you for some time."
"Did you kill him?"
"You would like that wouldn't you. But I have better ways of dealing with people as Lucius Malfoy."
"So I am safe."
"Yes. But only as long as you listen to us."
As soon as Draco left, a man appeared in the room. He had a broad smile on his face, as he said, "You seem to have everything under control."
Reet leaped out of his chair and embraced the man in a brotherly hug.
"Welcome back Enemar." he said.
End of Chapter 19
============================================================================ ============================
Coming up next:
HALLOWEEN.
He sat in the open field just outside castle almost buried in his thought. His eyes generally a clear indicator of his emotions were closed. He seemed to be immersed in some deep dream. But above all Harry Potter looked at peace with himself.
It had been more than two weeks since the night Ginny, Neville were attacked and poor Colin Creevey had been brutally murdered. Ginny still had nightmares of Colin's body in flames. In the days she was at the infirmary she had heard about how Dumbledore had become the new Minister of Magic. The grand council of Wizengamot had moved to Hogwarts. But where this council resided inside the castle not many knew. It had taken some time for Ginny to recover completely. But to her delight Harry had been by her side all through. She had heard about Cho Chang, kissing Harry in the Great Hall. She had become madder at Harry, than at the Asian girl. But Harry explained to her that Cho did not give him any chance. Even Hermione agreed that the senior Ravenclaw had pounced on Harry. Harry had, had a talk with Cho the following day. He had made it quite clear that his heart belongs to one girl only and hence he basically had asked Cho to keep her hands off him. But that had not stopped her. To Ginny's greatest annoyance she kept finding excuses to talk to Harry and discretely flirted with him.
After the turmoil at the start of September classes had picked up pace. In spite of the mystery that surrounded Umor Quirrell he was as competent a defense teacher as Remus Lupin was. Although he did not take anymore classes involving Dementors but he taught them some very advanced spell to protect against the dark curses. She had heard that Harry's classes were even tougher. Besides that, every weekend Harry spent two hours with Reet and two hours with Snape taking special tutoring. Ginny was genuinely surprised when the hated potion's master himself volunteered to teach Harry advanced healing, a subject no longer offered at Hogwarts. Hermione had repeatedly requested to let her be included as well, but unfortunately Snape's offer was extended to Harry only. She was pretty worried that this will be a repeat of Harry's Occulomency experience. But the only complain Harry voiced about the Professor was that he drove Harry mad with his demand for excellence. She also noticed that Harry was really getting along with Reet. He had helped him almost perfect his psychic blows. Ginny was present in one of Harry's classes in which she saw Harry throw off Reet right from one end of the room to another. But still Reet insisted that Harry is in very much a nascent stage. This also bothered Ginny. Just how powerful was Harry Potter going to become?
Neville had woken up about three days after he was attacked. He had no recollection of what happened but he was very very shaken up. Luna Lovegood, who seemed to have developed a soft corner for Neville accompanied him in almost all of her free time. But the weirdest thing Ginny had observed in the last few days was Draco Malfoy.
============================================================================ ============================
About two weeks ago,
"Father I can't." pleaded Draco.
"You can and you will. This order comes from the Dark Lord himself, and he wants it done now."
"Father, I can't kill a man. Even if I could how am I supposed to get past Dumbledore? He is the minister now. He will hang me."
"No one will know. You are a Malfoy. I trust your resourcefulness. As far as killing is concerned you seemed to be pretty eager to get your hands on Potter. Consider this a stepping stone."
"Potter is different. He has stolen the limelight that I deserved. Everyone thinks he is so great."
"Between you and me let me tell you something Draco, what Harry Potter does is great. He is the only nemesis of our master. You are still nothing compared to him, but this is your one chance. Kill Reet and our Lord will consider you a worthy follower."
"All right father. I will do as my Lord wishes."
"He will be happy with your loyalty. Now, have you found out where that muggle loving fool is hiding him?"
"Yes."
"Then go. Finish it tonight. Don't worry if anything happens I will help you."
Draco walked down the empty stairs. He knew his father's last promise was as false as his own loyalty towards Voldemort. The truth is that, as much as he hated to accept it, he was a coward. He was scared of his father. Scared of the brutal beatings he took every time he failed to live up to his father's evil expectations. He hated Potter because everyone thought he was such a hero and all, just because how tough he has had risen as an orphan.
"Try being the puppet of a maniac." he thought.
But now he knew what to do. Fate has given him an opportunity to change all this. And he would be damned if he let this chance go. He was about to prove himself. Standing outside the door he knew this was it. He softly knocked on the door.
"Come in." came Reet's voice.
He stepped in and saw Reet seated relaxed in a chair in front of the fire. He was apparently going through 'Hogwart's a History.'
Draco raised his wand and pointed it at Reet. So easy he thought.
"I would not do that Mr. Malfoy. I could have disarmed you the moment you got your father's message. Hell, I could had sent you to Azkaban a long time ago. The reason you are here is because you are of some value to us, and I am sure that a smart you man like you will listen to reasons."
"I will listen to everything you say. I am not doing this of my own free will; I know I have no choice. But before that I have a few questions."
"Shoot."
"Just how long has this been going on?"
============================================================================ ============================
Harry's eyes opened to see Ginny's brown eyes gazing at him. It was a look he could comprehend. In fact there were a lot of things he could not understand about girls. It is so difficult to understand who they like and who you like. He was sure he was truly in love with Ginny. Yet he was still attracted to Cho Chang. In short he was utterly confused. The past two weeks have been hell for him. Ever since Snape decided to teach him advanced healing, his workload had doubled. Then there were his classes with Reet. Harry liked Enemar's way of teaching better. Reet delved too much on theory. But the biggest surprise of the past two weeks had been Umor Quirrell. There was no denying one fact. The man was a great teacher. His classes seemed to be tailor made for Harry. He could also make out that almost everything taught to the sixth years was with one purpose only. The clock was ticking. The war would begin in a few days. But Umor managed to surprise Harry the most just last week. He had asked Harry to stay back in his class. When alone, he offered to give Harry training for becoming Animagus. He however made Harry swear that he would not tell anyone, not even Ginny. All in all the past two weeks have been busy and interesting with the only consolation that no one got hurt.
Well that was also not entirely true. Hogwarts was under attack. But it was not the work of Voldemort. Someone had launched a prank war on the Weasleys about two weeks ago and now the Weasley were in an all out war path against their invisible nemesis but unfortunate due to the concealed identity of their enemy they decided to pounce on any and all. It had all began with someone managing to replace Fred and George's shampoo with hair removing cream. The twins were barely recognizable with their bare scalps. Their hair has still not grown back. But the twins were not the only one. Someone managed to sneak into Slytherine dormitory and bewitch every single cupboard to explode and throw out its contents after specific intervals of time. It took Professor Flitwick almost three days to find out how to reverse the Charm. The following day, someone managed to slip something into the food of Slytherine which turned his hair electric blue. The Slytherines seemed to be particularly out of favor with the new prankster. Only Gryffindors who suffered were the Weasley twins. In spite of the ongoing reign of terror, Harry was glad as it took everyones minds of upcoming days of Horror.
"Have a good nap." asked Ginny.
"Yeah, it is quite nice out here. Sit next to me Ginny."
Ginny snuggled next to Harry. She could make out something was bothering Harry.
"I know you will ask Ginny. I know that you can read my mind even better than Dumbledore."
"I don't read your mind silly." said Ginny softly, "It is my feelings for you and the similar feelings that you have in your heart for me that has created this connection between us that I can tell when something bothers you. But it's ok if you don't want to discuss it."
"It's no big deal. Tonight Enemar will be returning."
"But that is good news right. After all he is your ally?"
"Yes he is supposed to be. But there is something about that man that you just can't trust. He always seems to know everything that goes on."
"But so does Dumbledore. You still trust him."
"Dumbledore did not attack me on my birthday and use you as bait."
"But Harry..."
"Yes I remember what he said. He was trying to teach me my powers. But still his methods are so crude. Then there was this news of his escape. He seemed to be stuck for his life at Indus and yet he escaped this Aradha so easily. Know something Ginny, this new confidence with which Tom has challenged Dumbledore is only because of his allegiance with Aradha. Yet Enemar was able to defeat Aradha easily."
"It was not an easy victory Mr. Potter. I think this scar on my face is proof enough."
Harry and Ginny looked around in shock only to see none other than Enemar standing right behind him. Harry could had sworn that he had appeared there out of thin air but that very notion would kill Hermione as she was still convinced that no one can apparate within Hogwarts grounds. He observed Enemar. He was right. The last time he had seen him his face was drenched in blood from that cut that run right across the left side of his face. Although the wound had sealed, the mark still remained.
"Good to know how much confidence you have in me Mr. Potter. Oh, nice to see you Miss Weasley."
"Good to see you too Mr. Itra. But please do not take Harry wrongly."
"No need to explain Virginia. I know that in spite of everything Harry still trusts me. I also know why. Because he has no choice. But enough chit chat, I am tired from my journey. I need rest. Harry, do not forget to come see me tonight at eight. Tell you what. Why don't you bring Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley and young Virginia too?" with that Enemar walked towards the castle.
"How does he do it?" said Harry.
"Do what?" asked Ginny.
"What he just did. He may be a magus but he still is not a wizard, he is a muggle. Yet the spells of Hogwarts do not affect him at all."
============================================================================ ============================
It had been a good week for a man with a bounty on his head. When he first learnt that Voldemort had ordered him to be killed Reet was really scared. But then the stroke of luck came. Draco was chosen as his assailant. Things became quite simple from then on. One thing made him feel good though. At least finally he got some share of the action. Dumbledore's orders forbade him from using his powers within Hogwarts. Although he did not follow the order to its entirety he still was quite eager to try out his powers to its full. Now with Enemar arriving in a few moments he would be at ease to test himself again.
"Draco." he called.
"Yes."
"As you know Enemar is returning to Hogwarts tonight. You are not to give any one the slightest impression that you know him or have ever met him."
"Do I have a choice?"
"Of course, you do. The worse thing that will happen to you is that you will die."
Draco flinched but kept quiet.
"Have you heard from your father?"
"No. He said he would contact me but he did not."
"I knew he would not. The information I got from you was very useful. I am afraid your father will not be in touch with you for some time."
"Did you kill him?"
"You would like that wouldn't you. But I have better ways of dealing with people as Lucius Malfoy."
"So I am safe."
"Yes. But only as long as you listen to us."
As soon as Draco left, a man appeared in the room. He had a broad smile on his face, as he said, "You seem to have everything under control."
Reet leaped out of his chair and embraced the man in a brotherly hug.
"Welcome back Enemar." he said.
End of Chapter 19
============================================================================ ============================
Coming up next:
HALLOWEEN.