Disclaimer: Don't own a thing besides Amala, Jack Towers, his Master, Iris
Rose and a few characters nobody heard about before. Oh, and add the plot
to that. The song parts belong to Luca Turilli, except for 'Dust in the
Wind', which belongs to Kansas. I think. I'm speaking of this story, of
course; otherwise I own a few other things, too. Like my clothes, my music,
my CDs, my cell phone, my sweets, my.
Dedication: To the Red Dragons Order, one great writer from ff.net. The best one, in my opinion.
Author's Note: I have two stories written in cooperation with other writers: 'Key to Triumph' under the pen name Red Rys -co-written with the Red Dragons Order and Rachel A. Prongs- and The Prank Wars, formerly known as the Wars of Fiction -co-written with King Akvar, under who's pen name we posted this.-
Onwards with our story, my dearest friends!
Chapter 20: A Perfectly 'Normal' Christmas
"He just had to pick Christmas Eve, didn't he?!" Sirius asked for the millionth time.
"Yes, we know." Remus said. "Where is Jack?"
"I have no idea" Arthur Weasley replied.
On the shore closest to Azkaban stood a few members of the Order of the Phoenix, which were starting to freeze to death. Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Iris Rose, Arthur Weasley, Mundungus Fletcher, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Percy Weasley were eagerly awaiting the arrival of other Order members. Of course it had to be an 'in' operation, no Ministry involved! They weren't supposed to let the Ministry -and therefore Voldemort- know their exact schemes. But there were a few Aurors in Azkaban too, just in case.
"Black dragon, fly high, spit your red flame" they heard a waaay too jolly song for their mood from behind some trees, closing in on them.
"Are you out of your mind?!" came another voice, the unmistakable voice of an angry Severus Snape. "Dragons?!"
"Bringing death where he met life! And right there holy blood will flow"
Two people came next to the Order members: one of them was of course Severus Snape, looking quite murderous and the second was Jack Towers, looking careless and happy.
"Severus, what's going on?" asked Tonks, seeing him nearly ready to kill Towers.
"The idiot has brought two dragons with him! The beasts are untamable, and yet he brings them here!"
"Now, now, Severus, they are untamable, but they are good friends. And helpers" the. 'idiot' replied.
"What are you talking about?!" asked Arthur.
Towers smiled and whistled. Two dragons flew out of the trees and near the Order members. They were quite small, compared to many of their relatives. One of them was a seven meter long brown lizard-like dragon and the other was a five meter long red dragon.
"What the-"said Tonks.
"Beloved magic princess, they now have to pay and then we'll fly together!" Towers sang cheerfully. "They're here to help. And, no, Sev, it was not I who tamed them and brought them here."
"Call me Sev one more time and I swear you will end up rotten, cremated and buried six feet underground in three seconds" Snape warned, glaring at him.
"That's what you said last time" Towers commented, without sounding the least bit concerned.
"What do you mean it wasn't you who brought them here?" asked Sirius. "Then who-"
He was cut off by Towers.
"The brown one is a friend of mine, he came from his own free will. The red one is a great friend of a Lady to whom I owe a lot. She has asked him to come and he has agreed. These dragons are old types of dragons, my friends. They come from old times and I'm sure you've all heard the legends with dragons as intelligent as human beings. Well, here they are!"
Percy shook his head and Snape made a disapproving noise. Most of the others were thrilled.
"And how did you get to be friend with a dragon?" asked Snape.
Two pops! could be heard and they all looked in the direction of the sound. The Weasley twins were there, looking mischievous.
"What's the discussion topic?" Fred asked.
"How I befriended dragons" Jack answered, jollily. "Severus asked"
"The same way you became friends with your cauldrons, I expect" George said, looking thoughtful.
"He spent a lot of time listening to them, caring about them." Fred continued.
"Talking to them, calling them names and lovingly petting them." George said.
The twins never got to finish as they were chased around by the angry Cauldron Master. Kingsley asked himself how on Earth they still managed to be happy, although they were going to repel an attack on Azkaban. Towers was smiling. They'd be winning this battle, that was sure. But first... He turned towards Rose.
"Cheering Charm?"
She smiled sheepishly and nodded.
"Me and Tonks were first here" she said. "And it is Christmas after all. We thought a good charm on this area would be a perfect gift."
He chuckled.
"Yes. So, what do we do about the Dung Eaters?"
It was her turn to chuckle.
"Well, we've got it all planned, as you know. So, all we have to do is wait for our friends to come and then wait for our enemies. Oh, wait!"
"There's a lot of waiting involved, I see" he said, smiling, while she started to say something.
"The dragons we haven't thought of. How can we communicate with them tell them what we want quickly?"
Towers at the two dragons.
"They understand us. The wizards' main problem with dragon breeding is that they don't consider them intelligent beings, well not as intelligent as humans. Most of them are just as intelligent as owls, for example. Just very uncooperative. But there are some with human or higher than human intelligence and those make wise choices. The two of them are in this last category and they understand human speech. Therefore, it won't be a problem to pass them instructions and they can easily tell between friends and enemies."
"Aha" she said. "Hey, look, Severus stopped chasing them around!"
It was true. The Weasley twins were smiling deviously at each other while Severus was catching his breath. There was a pop! and Minerva McGonagall Apparated.
"Dragons!" she cried, surprised.
"Yes, our own two helping dragons" Towers replied. "When are Dumbledore and Hagrid coming?"
"Soon" she answered. "Funny, I feel less stressed about the battle now that I'm here"
Rose and Tonks exchanged a knowing look. There was a pop! and Albus Dumbledore Apparated. He looked over his glasses at the two dragons.
"Has Hagrid arrived?" he asked.
"No, these fine dragons are my date for today" Towers answered.
The dragons looked at him as if he'd grown another head, then at each other. The red one let itself lie on the snow and a hiss was heard as some snow melted under him because of the heat radiating from him.
"I consider them quite hot" the man added upon seeing this. The dragon just got its head up and blew some fire in his direction, making him laugh. "Very hot"
"Has anybody cast a Cheering Charm around here, by any chance?" Dumbledore asked. Rose and Tonks exchanged a sheepish look and then turned to the Headmaster.
"That would be us"
"It explains a lot" Dumbledore said, looking around at the others who were starting to joke. Snape was the only one not joking or smiling. The twins were laughing their hearts out.
/*-/*-/*-/*-
By nightfall, however, the charm's effect wore off and they all sat together, near a fire -"If we have two dragons, why freeze to death?" as the twins had put it-. The dragons in question were waiting patiently for the signal that they should go as fast as possible to the prison.
"How much more will it take?" asked Tonks.
"Patience" Towers said.
"And constant vigilance" said Mad Eye Moody.
Kingsley lifted a small ball up in the air and looked through it.
"Nothing wrong yet"
"Shouldn't we go to Azkaban and wait there?" asked Minerva. "Albus?"
"Not yet" the man answered. "Could one of you dragons fly up and see what's going on?" The brown one nodded and flew up in the air. "And Apparating in Azkaban is impossible, due to all the protection charms. They would have to come from land or sea. Remus and Sirius are guarding the sea, as you know and on land we have Iris and Severus now"
Minerva nodded and they all sat in silence when they heard a small noise from the trees. They all turned and got ready to strike when they saw it was Snape.
"They are coming from the land. They will be here in about ten minutes. Iris knows, she's watching them."
The dragon also returned.
"Go get Sirius and Remus, please" Dumbledore said towards it and it flew quietly over the sea.
"We're too few, we're too few, what do we do?" Tonks started saying, sounding maybe a bit panicked.
"Whoa, it'll be alright" Towers said, watching her despair. "Dedalus and Mundungus are used to wreaking havoc on their own, you know"
"I heard that!" Dedalus said. "I hope you meant it in a good way!"
"Of course" Towers said, smiling and put off the fire.
Tonks looked towards the forest and saw -just for a moment- something there. But nah, it couldn't be anything. She must have imagined it. In less than a minute, however, Iris came from the forest.
"They're coming this way" she said. "I followed them as much as I could, but they heard me. I had to come back."
"It is not a problem. They will be here soon, anyway" Dumbledore said.
Sirius and Remus returned with the dragon and they all hid behind stones and trees for protection, not forgetting to cast a few last-minute shields. They all waited, the sounds of the nearby sea and the occasional cry of sea birds being the only things that could be heard. Otherwise, no human voice, no sound of footsteps could be heard. The wind was blowing lightly through the trees, making the snow easily fall down from them, one flake at a time. So quiet, so peaceful. And then all hell broke loose.
Apparently, the 20 Death Eaters knew about their plans and didn't waste any time in being surprised by the attacks that came from nowhere. Spells were shooting in all directions, reflecting upon shields. But what the Death Eaters did not know was that the Order of the Phoenix had two dragons! Their mouths hanged open when they saw the two beasts flying in the air and some of them were shot down with stupefying spells. And the fact that the Order had Dumbledore didn't make matters worse, either.
It was over soon, despite the way it had begun and all 20 Death Eaters were tied up.
"It was too easy!" Fred said jollily.
"Where are the Lestranges?" Sirius asked, confused. "And Voldemort? Where is he? He was bound to come."
Dumbledore looked thoughtful.
"Maybe this was the first wave?" Tonks suggested.
"No." Towers said.
Suddenly, Moody jumped up.
"Azkaban!"
They all stared at the prison and saw lights shooting everywhere on the small island.
"It was a trap!" Rose cried.
"SHIT!" Towers cried. "On brooms!"
They all got on their brooms, the dragons shooting fast in front of them. The prison was lighted as it was during daytime. Maybe if it wouldn't have been such a desperate situation, they would have been surprised by Towers' cry. It was not often the man lost his temper or swore loud enough for the whole world to hear.
The Order of the Phoenix got in record time to the prison and jumped off the brooms. There, they had to face what they had feared: Death Eaters and various magical creatures. They stated fighting, the dragons blowing fire on everything until it looked like a picture from hell.
From a trap door came Voldemort himself, looking like a king over darkness, a real Dark Lord, tall and pale, red eyes shining in the darkness. He directed his servants with only movements of the arm, cool and calm, easily avoiding curses and shooting back a few, mostly Avada Kedavra's. Luckily, nobody was hit the killing curse, although some had to suffer because of the Cruciatus. Dumbledore managed to get to him and they started dueling, away from all others.
"I thought I killed you!" cried Belatrix when she got face to face with Sirius.
"Yes, you did" he answered and shot a stupefying curse which she easily ducked.
"Crucio!" She cried, but he got out of the way.
"Expalliarmus!" he cried in reply, before she could open her mouth to say a new curse. She was hit fully and he smiled. "Stupefy!"
She fell on the floor with a thump! And he grinned. There went his killer.
"Back, Black?" asked a voice and he lifted his eyes.
"Why, Malfoy, I had no idea you were a poet" he said. "Stupefy!" Lucius jumped out of the way.
"Have you no creativity? Impedimenta!"
Sirius ducked.
"Tarantalegra!"
Lucius Malfoy got hit fully and Sirius asked himself, like many others before him probably did, why couldn't he have used a different curse on him, like a petrifying one or a stupefying one or something which would affect him more. But, it was fate. Meanwhile, Lucius was dancing around, trying to get himself to stop. Sirius was just about to stupefy him when something growled at him from behind. He turned around only to see a nundu.
"Oh, boy." he said, color draining from his face. "Stupefy?"
The nundu ducked the curse and attacked.
"HELP!" Sirius cried, the animal too quick for him. His wand shot some green stars that hit the nundu, making it draw back a little. "I can do that?" the Animagus asked nobody in particular. "Petrificus Totalus!"
Surprisingly it worked. He was just about to turn and see what had happened to Malfoy senior when he was hit by a curse and blacked out.
/*-/*-/*-/*-
"You ok, Sirius?" a voice asked.
"No" he truthfully answered. "Where am I?"
"On top of Azkaban" the female voice answered. "It's over now."
"Who won?" he asked.
"Nobody" she answered and he got up and looked at her. Iris.
"What do you mean?"
"They fled soon after you were down, many of the ex-prisoners escaping. It was their plan."
"How many losses do we have?" he asked and she let her head down.
"Three of the Aurors are dead and the rest of them badly injured. One of the dragons died, too. The brown one. You and I are ones of the very few who don't have any wounds."
He felt his heart sink.
"And who did we capture?"
"Not many. And the ones we caught in the battle at the forest were freed, our guards-"
'We left guards?' Sirius asked himself, surprised.
"-were overwhelmed by the Death Eaters. Luckily they weren't killed"
"Who were the guards?" Sirius asked.
"Emmeline, Sturgis and Hestia" she answered and Sirius recalled that they had never left. "Dumbledore told them to stay."
"Sneaky bastards" Sirius muttered.
"Yes, they are."
She went close to him and sat down.
"But it's over now. It'll be alright" she said and then muttered:"I hope".
Around them, people were recovering from the battle, inversing curses, healing each other as well as they could. Dumbledore had his hands full helping everybody. The bodies of the three dead Aurors were lying somewhere around.
"It will be alright" Sirius reassured her and got up and went to help others. She nodded and got up herself.
/*-/*-/*-/*-
It had been one lousy Christmas at Hogwarts. First, nearly all the Professors were missing -apparently some were going home and some were called at the Ministry- and Flitwick had to hold the speech. The kids were asking themselves what had happened to Dumbledore, McGonagall, Towers and Snape, the four most impressive wizards -and witch- in Hogwarts. Hagrid was missing, too. And so was Sinistra. And Sprout. The feast ended in a feeling of awkwardness.
"How do you think it'll end?" Hermione asked.
"Not good" came the reply from Ron. "And where are the teachers?"
"The ones in the Order are probably at Azkaban" Amala said.
"But what about Sprout? And Sinistra?"
"Sprout has a nephew and Sinistra is off to spend a while in Norway" Hermione answered. "Flitwick told me."
The others nodded. They were in the Gryffindor common room, at about midnight. The fire was burning merrily in the fireplace.
"I wish I knew what was going on there" Harry said.
"That makes two of us, mate" Ron said.
"Actually, four" Hermione said. "You think we're not curious?"
"Not just curious" Amala said.
They spent a few moments in silence.
"Hey, why the sad faces?" asked somebody from another part of the room.
"Nothing, Jane" Hermione answered the first year Gryffindor.
"No, tell me!" she pleaded.
Hermione was about to say something when Amala answered quickly:
"My grandmother is very sick and will probably die soon."
"Oh, my!" the girl said. "I'm sorry"
"Don't worry" Amala said and tried to smile. "I'm glad I got to know her well. She was a great Seer. She Saw the future and things around her. She even taught me a few things."
"You sound as if you were close to her" Jane said, her brown eyes looking into Amala's. "I'm sorry"
"She said she wasn't afraid of death. I'm not either, but I'm going to miss her. I really am, she was a wonderful woman."
Jane nodded.
"You should go to bed, Jane" Hermione said. "It's late"
"Yes" the girl said. "Goodnight"
"You can cook up a story fast!" Ron said admiringly.
"Thanks, but it wasn't totally cooked up. My grandma was a Seer, we were close, but she died this summer."
"Oh, I'm sorry" Ron said.
"Don't be" Amala said and smiled. "I'm over it and I know she's moved on"
"How?" asked Harry.
"I have been in Death myself, remember?"
"Oh, right" Harry answered.
Suddenly there was a cough and they all turned to the fireplace.
"Hi!" said a coughing Sirius. "I hate ash" he mumbled.
"How did it go?" Ron asked.
"Quite bad, but it could've been worse. We lost three Aurors and. You know about the attack?!"
"Long story, don't ask" Ron answered while the others glared at him.
"Riiiiight." Sirius said. "So, we lost three Aurors, most of the Death Eaters escaped, including Lucius Malfoy, and Towers brought two small dragons one of which was killed. The guy's really depressed because of it, won't accept any comfort."
"You had dragons?!" Hermione said. "But they're hard to tame and how did you."
"Special type of dragons"
"And what did you mean by 'lost' three Aurors? You don't mean."
"Unfortunately, I do, Hermione. They died."
They all looked sad at Sirius.
"The bastard wanted to take away the joy of the holidays by attacking now. He did it" the man in the fireplace said. "I'll go now, I have some guests to take care of. Goodnight"
"Goodnight, Sirius" they replied.
They looked at each other sadly before they went to bed. What a happy Christmas it was.
/*-/*-/*-/*-
The next day the news was found out. The 'Daily Prophet's front page had the title 'Attack on Azkaban, three dead Aurors, escaped prisoners'. At the teachers' table, Dumbledore looked sad, McGonagall was looking tired and sad, Snape was his usual dark self, with the exception of being quiet. Towers looked distraught. However, at a time during the meal, he pulled himself together and then went to Harry, Ron, Hermione and Amala to tell them they should meet for a training session. The four nodded.
After lunch, they went to his classroom, where they found him sitting on the chair.
"Hello" they said and he replied with a nod.
"I assume that you know most details about last night, right?"
"Yes, sir" Harry answered.
"Good. Has Sirius contacted you, Harry? He said he wanted to, but he also had to take care of Mundungus, Dedalus and Iris who will spend a while at the headquarters."
"Yes, he did. He told me about the Aurors and about a dragon."
Towers looked at them.
"Really? He told you about him? Terrible death, he had. Terrible"
The four looked at each other.
"How did he die?" Harry asked.
"Take a seat" the Professor responded. "Do you know in which way you can kill a dragon so you cannot hurt any other living being, even if you miss your target?"
"No" they answered, including Hermione.
"Not many do. It is an old spell that can only affect dragons. An ancient spell which was nearly lost in time, a spell not even half of the dragon caretakers have ever heard exist and less than a quarter know something about it. It was used a lot once, but then it fell into disgrace. Can one of you tell me what a dragon's body is composed of?"
Hermione nodded.
"It has a reptilian body heated by an inner fire situated close to the heart and therefore it can survive the coldest days."
"Correct" Towers said. "The fire is not situated there, however, like people think. It barely comes out through that place. Otherwise it is an inner fire, which is in their soul, if you could say that. Its physical manifestation is that ball of fire that never goes out and that is constantly renewed by the soul fire. If you wish, imagine a dragon with its entire body of fire and that way you will see his fiery image, the one that keeps it alive, and which is only a different body. Do you understand?"
"No" Harry answered truthfully and Towers sighed.
"Very well, then, I'll explain again, differently. You have seen ghosts, right?"
"Of course" they answered.
"Well, the ghosts are other bodies, immaterial bodies of their owners. So, you have physical bodies and ghost-like bodies yourselves. Right now, you are only conscious of your physical, material bodies, because your other bodies follow your physical one."
"What do you mean 'other bodies'? I thought you said one body" Ron said.
"You have other bodies too, but that is not the case here. So, as you have ghost bodies, the dragons have a fire body. The dragons are special creatures and have the power of using the fire in that body to heat themselves up and blow it out physically. Do you understand?"
"Yes" Harry answered.
"So, if you want to kill a dragon, you have to freeze his inner fire. It can be done with a spell. A cursed spell, dark magic, I tell you. It is 'dragonivaria', the most feared one of all dragons. Hit by the spell, a dragon's fire starts to freeze and it loses its fire-based life."
"Oh, my" Hermione said.
"It is a known fact that it is the worst way a dragon could die. It goes through great torture freezing like that. It feels its life going away and can do nothing. Nothing at all. "
"Nothing can be done against the spell?" Harry asked.
"It's blood needs to be mixed with another species, preferably a warm- blooded one, the more powerful the better, the more blood, the better. Then, it can rely for life on something else, not just itself. It is a long theory why it can, so I won't say it all here. But otherwise it freezes. And such a fate my dragon friend had. I tried to reach him, but the spell's effect was fact, it was cast by Voldemort himself. I never got in time and he died."
The four looked at the sad man.
"I wanted to burn his body, but I don't think I will. I will probably take his blood and skin and teeth and use them for things I need. He doesn't care anymore and I know that once I'm out of this body I don't care if I get buried, cremated or studied for scientific purposes"
They watched him as he leaned against his chair and a few words escaped his mouth, in a slow mutter, sounding a bit as if he was singing.
"Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind. Nothing lasts forever but the Earth and sky. It slips away."
A few words were lost, him speaking too low, lost in his trail of thoughts.
"Professor?" Hermione asked after a while.
"Oh, right, right." he said, got up and started telling them about the things they would learn that day.
/*-/*-/*-/*-
"My Lord, thank you for rescuing us" Lucius Malfoy said.
"I didn't do it for you!" the man said. "And next time don't dare get into such trouble, or I will kill you myself"
"No sir."
"And our next problem. What do we do with the thorn in our backs? What do we do with Towers?"
"Kill him" Lucius said.
"But how? Barty? Do you know?"
"No, Master"
"Master, I think I have a suggestion" Belatrix said.
"Well?!"
"We should really meddle with everything. Change memories, put clues that lead to him as the enemy of the Light side. Then he will be an outlaw and therefore easier to get."
"We tried that"
"But then we weren't here and this time we can all work together"
"Then do it"
/*-/*-/*-/*-
It was the 25th of December and it was a pretty dark dinner at Hogwarts. The attack on Azkaban with the three dead was enough to bring everybody down, especially since many Death Eaters had escaped. Well, everybody except the Slytherins who seemed pretty jolly, including Draco Malfoy of course.
Towers suddenly entered the Hall, looking very jolly.
"Merry Christmas!" he cried to the Hall and everybody just gaped. Was this the man that looked so down that very same morning?! "I don't know about you, but I'm not going to let an idiot ruin my holidays!"
The Slytherins didn't seem too pleased with the use of 'idiot' in that sentence -referring, most likely, to Voldemort- and were still shocked by the weird behaviour of the man, who just went at the teachers' table and sat down, merrily putting food into his plate, everybody watching his every move.
"Is this the same man who seemed destroyed only, oh, two hours ago?" Ron asked.
"Maybe he's cracking?" suggested Harry.
Amala looked at him thoughtful.
"Maybe, but I think he was crazy from before, so."
"Point there" Ron agreed.
"Think he's over his problems?" asked Neville who had surprisingly remained there over the holidays.
The four looked at the merry Professor who was stuffing himself.
"If you ask me, he just cracked" Ron said.
Dumbledore seemed to think something over and then started chatting with Towers, gradually becoming more and more jolly himself. Some other teachers started talking themselves and soon the whole teachers' table was "towerized" as Ron had put it. Gradually, the students started talking themselves and the atmosphere got warmer and warmer.
Harry and Amala were chatting about past Christmases when they heard somebody hitting a glass with a spoon, sign that the certain somebody wanted to make a speech. He looked around and saw Towers standing up. When he saw that he got the attention, he put the spoon out and waved his wand, saying "Quietus".
"My dear colleagues and students" he said. "I will tell you one of my secrets: why I'm so cheerful, when such dreadful things have just happened."
The room waited to see what he would say.
"I know I have not said much about myself, even if I might have let the impression that I have. I like war, my friends. I was born under the sign of war, under the star of battle. I know every trick and every secret and if by any chance there are some things I don't know, then I learn quick. And I'll share some of my knowledge with you: there is no war without a purpose. There is no battle without a crazy wish behind it. And now we face a madman who wants to take over the world because we don't want it to happen."
Some of the Slytherins glared at Towers when he said 'madman'.
"And I'll tell you another thing: a war has victims, chosen by ways I've no idea about. There is nobody safe. Anybody can die, nobody's safe, nobody's immortal. Oh, well, almost nobody's immortal. I would like to propose a toast: to Death! To Death, the one who is there to receive victims when they are defeated and to help them move on! To Death!"
He raised his glass towards the Hall, everybody glaring at him. To Death? Who on Earth would toast to Death? And who would drink for Death? They were soon answered. Except for Dumbledore, of course who had already raised his glass.
"To Death!" they heard one lonely reply from the Gryffindor table. Amala had raised her glass too and toasted to Death.
Towers smiled at her.
"And I'd also like to propose a toast to Life, for she has the good sense to be always present everywhere, including in Death! To Life!"
This time there were more raised glasses, including Amala's.
"Remember, my friends, because I consider you all my friends, that you can never be defeated. Not even in death, not for real. Death means change, nothing more. It is a change of your life, not the end of it, although many see it as an end. It is an end of your lives in these bodies and the beginning of new adventures. Fear not anything in the world, for you are undefeatable. To you, my friends, to us!"
"To us!" many replied. How the man had managed to make all these things sound good and jolly, it was beyond them.
Towers bowed and sat down and then turned to McGonagall.
"Minerva, do you think I drank maybe a bit too much?" he mischievously asked and she laughed.
Soon after, Dumbledore shooed them all to bed and turned to Towers.
"You have a gift with words"
"No, I don't. I just manage to sound convinced and optimistic enough to convince others" the Professor answered.
/*-/*-/*-
Author's Note: A toast to Death, my friends! For she is only a change. At least that's how I see her. A change in life and lost memory.
Thank you:
Babyjayy: Thank you.
The Red Dragons Order: the bloody bastard is acting exactly as expected. And I don't think he can go even more crazy, since he did make himself a combination between human and a snake. Heard a good joke about that, too: Harry and Tom Riddle are in the Chamber of Secrets ad Harry says: "You're Lord Voldemort?! But the last time I saw you, you were a horrible thing, a snake." and Tom sighs and stops him. "Yes, well, when you go to Michael Jackson's surgeon, what else can you expect?". And about Towers: there are a few huge differences between him and Rex. One of them is that he's not Harry (lol). Others will be revealed.
Naomie: Thank you
Other reviewed chapters:
Well, I had no idea where to put these, so I'll just have to place them here.
Mrs. Longbottom & Mrs. Malfoy: Thank you.
Dedication: To the Red Dragons Order, one great writer from ff.net. The best one, in my opinion.
Author's Note: I have two stories written in cooperation with other writers: 'Key to Triumph' under the pen name Red Rys -co-written with the Red Dragons Order and Rachel A. Prongs- and The Prank Wars, formerly known as the Wars of Fiction -co-written with King Akvar, under who's pen name we posted this.-
Onwards with our story, my dearest friends!
Chapter 20: A Perfectly 'Normal' Christmas
"He just had to pick Christmas Eve, didn't he?!" Sirius asked for the millionth time.
"Yes, we know." Remus said. "Where is Jack?"
"I have no idea" Arthur Weasley replied.
On the shore closest to Azkaban stood a few members of the Order of the Phoenix, which were starting to freeze to death. Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Iris Rose, Arthur Weasley, Mundungus Fletcher, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Percy Weasley were eagerly awaiting the arrival of other Order members. Of course it had to be an 'in' operation, no Ministry involved! They weren't supposed to let the Ministry -and therefore Voldemort- know their exact schemes. But there were a few Aurors in Azkaban too, just in case.
"Black dragon, fly high, spit your red flame" they heard a waaay too jolly song for their mood from behind some trees, closing in on them.
"Are you out of your mind?!" came another voice, the unmistakable voice of an angry Severus Snape. "Dragons?!"
"Bringing death where he met life! And right there holy blood will flow"
Two people came next to the Order members: one of them was of course Severus Snape, looking quite murderous and the second was Jack Towers, looking careless and happy.
"Severus, what's going on?" asked Tonks, seeing him nearly ready to kill Towers.
"The idiot has brought two dragons with him! The beasts are untamable, and yet he brings them here!"
"Now, now, Severus, they are untamable, but they are good friends. And helpers" the. 'idiot' replied.
"What are you talking about?!" asked Arthur.
Towers smiled and whistled. Two dragons flew out of the trees and near the Order members. They were quite small, compared to many of their relatives. One of them was a seven meter long brown lizard-like dragon and the other was a five meter long red dragon.
"What the-"said Tonks.
"Beloved magic princess, they now have to pay and then we'll fly together!" Towers sang cheerfully. "They're here to help. And, no, Sev, it was not I who tamed them and brought them here."
"Call me Sev one more time and I swear you will end up rotten, cremated and buried six feet underground in three seconds" Snape warned, glaring at him.
"That's what you said last time" Towers commented, without sounding the least bit concerned.
"What do you mean it wasn't you who brought them here?" asked Sirius. "Then who-"
He was cut off by Towers.
"The brown one is a friend of mine, he came from his own free will. The red one is a great friend of a Lady to whom I owe a lot. She has asked him to come and he has agreed. These dragons are old types of dragons, my friends. They come from old times and I'm sure you've all heard the legends with dragons as intelligent as human beings. Well, here they are!"
Percy shook his head and Snape made a disapproving noise. Most of the others were thrilled.
"And how did you get to be friend with a dragon?" asked Snape.
Two pops! could be heard and they all looked in the direction of the sound. The Weasley twins were there, looking mischievous.
"What's the discussion topic?" Fred asked.
"How I befriended dragons" Jack answered, jollily. "Severus asked"
"The same way you became friends with your cauldrons, I expect" George said, looking thoughtful.
"He spent a lot of time listening to them, caring about them." Fred continued.
"Talking to them, calling them names and lovingly petting them." George said.
The twins never got to finish as they were chased around by the angry Cauldron Master. Kingsley asked himself how on Earth they still managed to be happy, although they were going to repel an attack on Azkaban. Towers was smiling. They'd be winning this battle, that was sure. But first... He turned towards Rose.
"Cheering Charm?"
She smiled sheepishly and nodded.
"Me and Tonks were first here" she said. "And it is Christmas after all. We thought a good charm on this area would be a perfect gift."
He chuckled.
"Yes. So, what do we do about the Dung Eaters?"
It was her turn to chuckle.
"Well, we've got it all planned, as you know. So, all we have to do is wait for our friends to come and then wait for our enemies. Oh, wait!"
"There's a lot of waiting involved, I see" he said, smiling, while she started to say something.
"The dragons we haven't thought of. How can we communicate with them tell them what we want quickly?"
Towers at the two dragons.
"They understand us. The wizards' main problem with dragon breeding is that they don't consider them intelligent beings, well not as intelligent as humans. Most of them are just as intelligent as owls, for example. Just very uncooperative. But there are some with human or higher than human intelligence and those make wise choices. The two of them are in this last category and they understand human speech. Therefore, it won't be a problem to pass them instructions and they can easily tell between friends and enemies."
"Aha" she said. "Hey, look, Severus stopped chasing them around!"
It was true. The Weasley twins were smiling deviously at each other while Severus was catching his breath. There was a pop! and Minerva McGonagall Apparated.
"Dragons!" she cried, surprised.
"Yes, our own two helping dragons" Towers replied. "When are Dumbledore and Hagrid coming?"
"Soon" she answered. "Funny, I feel less stressed about the battle now that I'm here"
Rose and Tonks exchanged a knowing look. There was a pop! and Albus Dumbledore Apparated. He looked over his glasses at the two dragons.
"Has Hagrid arrived?" he asked.
"No, these fine dragons are my date for today" Towers answered.
The dragons looked at him as if he'd grown another head, then at each other. The red one let itself lie on the snow and a hiss was heard as some snow melted under him because of the heat radiating from him.
"I consider them quite hot" the man added upon seeing this. The dragon just got its head up and blew some fire in his direction, making him laugh. "Very hot"
"Has anybody cast a Cheering Charm around here, by any chance?" Dumbledore asked. Rose and Tonks exchanged a sheepish look and then turned to the Headmaster.
"That would be us"
"It explains a lot" Dumbledore said, looking around at the others who were starting to joke. Snape was the only one not joking or smiling. The twins were laughing their hearts out.
/*-/*-/*-/*-
By nightfall, however, the charm's effect wore off and they all sat together, near a fire -"If we have two dragons, why freeze to death?" as the twins had put it-. The dragons in question were waiting patiently for the signal that they should go as fast as possible to the prison.
"How much more will it take?" asked Tonks.
"Patience" Towers said.
"And constant vigilance" said Mad Eye Moody.
Kingsley lifted a small ball up in the air and looked through it.
"Nothing wrong yet"
"Shouldn't we go to Azkaban and wait there?" asked Minerva. "Albus?"
"Not yet" the man answered. "Could one of you dragons fly up and see what's going on?" The brown one nodded and flew up in the air. "And Apparating in Azkaban is impossible, due to all the protection charms. They would have to come from land or sea. Remus and Sirius are guarding the sea, as you know and on land we have Iris and Severus now"
Minerva nodded and they all sat in silence when they heard a small noise from the trees. They all turned and got ready to strike when they saw it was Snape.
"They are coming from the land. They will be here in about ten minutes. Iris knows, she's watching them."
The dragon also returned.
"Go get Sirius and Remus, please" Dumbledore said towards it and it flew quietly over the sea.
"We're too few, we're too few, what do we do?" Tonks started saying, sounding maybe a bit panicked.
"Whoa, it'll be alright" Towers said, watching her despair. "Dedalus and Mundungus are used to wreaking havoc on their own, you know"
"I heard that!" Dedalus said. "I hope you meant it in a good way!"
"Of course" Towers said, smiling and put off the fire.
Tonks looked towards the forest and saw -just for a moment- something there. But nah, it couldn't be anything. She must have imagined it. In less than a minute, however, Iris came from the forest.
"They're coming this way" she said. "I followed them as much as I could, but they heard me. I had to come back."
"It is not a problem. They will be here soon, anyway" Dumbledore said.
Sirius and Remus returned with the dragon and they all hid behind stones and trees for protection, not forgetting to cast a few last-minute shields. They all waited, the sounds of the nearby sea and the occasional cry of sea birds being the only things that could be heard. Otherwise, no human voice, no sound of footsteps could be heard. The wind was blowing lightly through the trees, making the snow easily fall down from them, one flake at a time. So quiet, so peaceful. And then all hell broke loose.
Apparently, the 20 Death Eaters knew about their plans and didn't waste any time in being surprised by the attacks that came from nowhere. Spells were shooting in all directions, reflecting upon shields. But what the Death Eaters did not know was that the Order of the Phoenix had two dragons! Their mouths hanged open when they saw the two beasts flying in the air and some of them were shot down with stupefying spells. And the fact that the Order had Dumbledore didn't make matters worse, either.
It was over soon, despite the way it had begun and all 20 Death Eaters were tied up.
"It was too easy!" Fred said jollily.
"Where are the Lestranges?" Sirius asked, confused. "And Voldemort? Where is he? He was bound to come."
Dumbledore looked thoughtful.
"Maybe this was the first wave?" Tonks suggested.
"No." Towers said.
Suddenly, Moody jumped up.
"Azkaban!"
They all stared at the prison and saw lights shooting everywhere on the small island.
"It was a trap!" Rose cried.
"SHIT!" Towers cried. "On brooms!"
They all got on their brooms, the dragons shooting fast in front of them. The prison was lighted as it was during daytime. Maybe if it wouldn't have been such a desperate situation, they would have been surprised by Towers' cry. It was not often the man lost his temper or swore loud enough for the whole world to hear.
The Order of the Phoenix got in record time to the prison and jumped off the brooms. There, they had to face what they had feared: Death Eaters and various magical creatures. They stated fighting, the dragons blowing fire on everything until it looked like a picture from hell.
From a trap door came Voldemort himself, looking like a king over darkness, a real Dark Lord, tall and pale, red eyes shining in the darkness. He directed his servants with only movements of the arm, cool and calm, easily avoiding curses and shooting back a few, mostly Avada Kedavra's. Luckily, nobody was hit the killing curse, although some had to suffer because of the Cruciatus. Dumbledore managed to get to him and they started dueling, away from all others.
"I thought I killed you!" cried Belatrix when she got face to face with Sirius.
"Yes, you did" he answered and shot a stupefying curse which she easily ducked.
"Crucio!" She cried, but he got out of the way.
"Expalliarmus!" he cried in reply, before she could open her mouth to say a new curse. She was hit fully and he smiled. "Stupefy!"
She fell on the floor with a thump! And he grinned. There went his killer.
"Back, Black?" asked a voice and he lifted his eyes.
"Why, Malfoy, I had no idea you were a poet" he said. "Stupefy!" Lucius jumped out of the way.
"Have you no creativity? Impedimenta!"
Sirius ducked.
"Tarantalegra!"
Lucius Malfoy got hit fully and Sirius asked himself, like many others before him probably did, why couldn't he have used a different curse on him, like a petrifying one or a stupefying one or something which would affect him more. But, it was fate. Meanwhile, Lucius was dancing around, trying to get himself to stop. Sirius was just about to stupefy him when something growled at him from behind. He turned around only to see a nundu.
"Oh, boy." he said, color draining from his face. "Stupefy?"
The nundu ducked the curse and attacked.
"HELP!" Sirius cried, the animal too quick for him. His wand shot some green stars that hit the nundu, making it draw back a little. "I can do that?" the Animagus asked nobody in particular. "Petrificus Totalus!"
Surprisingly it worked. He was just about to turn and see what had happened to Malfoy senior when he was hit by a curse and blacked out.
/*-/*-/*-/*-
"You ok, Sirius?" a voice asked.
"No" he truthfully answered. "Where am I?"
"On top of Azkaban" the female voice answered. "It's over now."
"Who won?" he asked.
"Nobody" she answered and he got up and looked at her. Iris.
"What do you mean?"
"They fled soon after you were down, many of the ex-prisoners escaping. It was their plan."
"How many losses do we have?" he asked and she let her head down.
"Three of the Aurors are dead and the rest of them badly injured. One of the dragons died, too. The brown one. You and I are ones of the very few who don't have any wounds."
He felt his heart sink.
"And who did we capture?"
"Not many. And the ones we caught in the battle at the forest were freed, our guards-"
'We left guards?' Sirius asked himself, surprised.
"-were overwhelmed by the Death Eaters. Luckily they weren't killed"
"Who were the guards?" Sirius asked.
"Emmeline, Sturgis and Hestia" she answered and Sirius recalled that they had never left. "Dumbledore told them to stay."
"Sneaky bastards" Sirius muttered.
"Yes, they are."
She went close to him and sat down.
"But it's over now. It'll be alright" she said and then muttered:"I hope".
Around them, people were recovering from the battle, inversing curses, healing each other as well as they could. Dumbledore had his hands full helping everybody. The bodies of the three dead Aurors were lying somewhere around.
"It will be alright" Sirius reassured her and got up and went to help others. She nodded and got up herself.
/*-/*-/*-/*-
It had been one lousy Christmas at Hogwarts. First, nearly all the Professors were missing -apparently some were going home and some were called at the Ministry- and Flitwick had to hold the speech. The kids were asking themselves what had happened to Dumbledore, McGonagall, Towers and Snape, the four most impressive wizards -and witch- in Hogwarts. Hagrid was missing, too. And so was Sinistra. And Sprout. The feast ended in a feeling of awkwardness.
"How do you think it'll end?" Hermione asked.
"Not good" came the reply from Ron. "And where are the teachers?"
"The ones in the Order are probably at Azkaban" Amala said.
"But what about Sprout? And Sinistra?"
"Sprout has a nephew and Sinistra is off to spend a while in Norway" Hermione answered. "Flitwick told me."
The others nodded. They were in the Gryffindor common room, at about midnight. The fire was burning merrily in the fireplace.
"I wish I knew what was going on there" Harry said.
"That makes two of us, mate" Ron said.
"Actually, four" Hermione said. "You think we're not curious?"
"Not just curious" Amala said.
They spent a few moments in silence.
"Hey, why the sad faces?" asked somebody from another part of the room.
"Nothing, Jane" Hermione answered the first year Gryffindor.
"No, tell me!" she pleaded.
Hermione was about to say something when Amala answered quickly:
"My grandmother is very sick and will probably die soon."
"Oh, my!" the girl said. "I'm sorry"
"Don't worry" Amala said and tried to smile. "I'm glad I got to know her well. She was a great Seer. She Saw the future and things around her. She even taught me a few things."
"You sound as if you were close to her" Jane said, her brown eyes looking into Amala's. "I'm sorry"
"She said she wasn't afraid of death. I'm not either, but I'm going to miss her. I really am, she was a wonderful woman."
Jane nodded.
"You should go to bed, Jane" Hermione said. "It's late"
"Yes" the girl said. "Goodnight"
"You can cook up a story fast!" Ron said admiringly.
"Thanks, but it wasn't totally cooked up. My grandma was a Seer, we were close, but she died this summer."
"Oh, I'm sorry" Ron said.
"Don't be" Amala said and smiled. "I'm over it and I know she's moved on"
"How?" asked Harry.
"I have been in Death myself, remember?"
"Oh, right" Harry answered.
Suddenly there was a cough and they all turned to the fireplace.
"Hi!" said a coughing Sirius. "I hate ash" he mumbled.
"How did it go?" Ron asked.
"Quite bad, but it could've been worse. We lost three Aurors and. You know about the attack?!"
"Long story, don't ask" Ron answered while the others glared at him.
"Riiiiight." Sirius said. "So, we lost three Aurors, most of the Death Eaters escaped, including Lucius Malfoy, and Towers brought two small dragons one of which was killed. The guy's really depressed because of it, won't accept any comfort."
"You had dragons?!" Hermione said. "But they're hard to tame and how did you."
"Special type of dragons"
"And what did you mean by 'lost' three Aurors? You don't mean."
"Unfortunately, I do, Hermione. They died."
They all looked sad at Sirius.
"The bastard wanted to take away the joy of the holidays by attacking now. He did it" the man in the fireplace said. "I'll go now, I have some guests to take care of. Goodnight"
"Goodnight, Sirius" they replied.
They looked at each other sadly before they went to bed. What a happy Christmas it was.
/*-/*-/*-/*-
The next day the news was found out. The 'Daily Prophet's front page had the title 'Attack on Azkaban, three dead Aurors, escaped prisoners'. At the teachers' table, Dumbledore looked sad, McGonagall was looking tired and sad, Snape was his usual dark self, with the exception of being quiet. Towers looked distraught. However, at a time during the meal, he pulled himself together and then went to Harry, Ron, Hermione and Amala to tell them they should meet for a training session. The four nodded.
After lunch, they went to his classroom, where they found him sitting on the chair.
"Hello" they said and he replied with a nod.
"I assume that you know most details about last night, right?"
"Yes, sir" Harry answered.
"Good. Has Sirius contacted you, Harry? He said he wanted to, but he also had to take care of Mundungus, Dedalus and Iris who will spend a while at the headquarters."
"Yes, he did. He told me about the Aurors and about a dragon."
Towers looked at them.
"Really? He told you about him? Terrible death, he had. Terrible"
The four looked at each other.
"How did he die?" Harry asked.
"Take a seat" the Professor responded. "Do you know in which way you can kill a dragon so you cannot hurt any other living being, even if you miss your target?"
"No" they answered, including Hermione.
"Not many do. It is an old spell that can only affect dragons. An ancient spell which was nearly lost in time, a spell not even half of the dragon caretakers have ever heard exist and less than a quarter know something about it. It was used a lot once, but then it fell into disgrace. Can one of you tell me what a dragon's body is composed of?"
Hermione nodded.
"It has a reptilian body heated by an inner fire situated close to the heart and therefore it can survive the coldest days."
"Correct" Towers said. "The fire is not situated there, however, like people think. It barely comes out through that place. Otherwise it is an inner fire, which is in their soul, if you could say that. Its physical manifestation is that ball of fire that never goes out and that is constantly renewed by the soul fire. If you wish, imagine a dragon with its entire body of fire and that way you will see his fiery image, the one that keeps it alive, and which is only a different body. Do you understand?"
"No" Harry answered truthfully and Towers sighed.
"Very well, then, I'll explain again, differently. You have seen ghosts, right?"
"Of course" they answered.
"Well, the ghosts are other bodies, immaterial bodies of their owners. So, you have physical bodies and ghost-like bodies yourselves. Right now, you are only conscious of your physical, material bodies, because your other bodies follow your physical one."
"What do you mean 'other bodies'? I thought you said one body" Ron said.
"You have other bodies too, but that is not the case here. So, as you have ghost bodies, the dragons have a fire body. The dragons are special creatures and have the power of using the fire in that body to heat themselves up and blow it out physically. Do you understand?"
"Yes" Harry answered.
"So, if you want to kill a dragon, you have to freeze his inner fire. It can be done with a spell. A cursed spell, dark magic, I tell you. It is 'dragonivaria', the most feared one of all dragons. Hit by the spell, a dragon's fire starts to freeze and it loses its fire-based life."
"Oh, my" Hermione said.
"It is a known fact that it is the worst way a dragon could die. It goes through great torture freezing like that. It feels its life going away and can do nothing. Nothing at all. "
"Nothing can be done against the spell?" Harry asked.
"It's blood needs to be mixed with another species, preferably a warm- blooded one, the more powerful the better, the more blood, the better. Then, it can rely for life on something else, not just itself. It is a long theory why it can, so I won't say it all here. But otherwise it freezes. And such a fate my dragon friend had. I tried to reach him, but the spell's effect was fact, it was cast by Voldemort himself. I never got in time and he died."
The four looked at the sad man.
"I wanted to burn his body, but I don't think I will. I will probably take his blood and skin and teeth and use them for things I need. He doesn't care anymore and I know that once I'm out of this body I don't care if I get buried, cremated or studied for scientific purposes"
They watched him as he leaned against his chair and a few words escaped his mouth, in a slow mutter, sounding a bit as if he was singing.
"Dust in the wind, all we are is dust in the wind. Nothing lasts forever but the Earth and sky. It slips away."
A few words were lost, him speaking too low, lost in his trail of thoughts.
"Professor?" Hermione asked after a while.
"Oh, right, right." he said, got up and started telling them about the things they would learn that day.
/*-/*-/*-/*-
"My Lord, thank you for rescuing us" Lucius Malfoy said.
"I didn't do it for you!" the man said. "And next time don't dare get into such trouble, or I will kill you myself"
"No sir."
"And our next problem. What do we do with the thorn in our backs? What do we do with Towers?"
"Kill him" Lucius said.
"But how? Barty? Do you know?"
"No, Master"
"Master, I think I have a suggestion" Belatrix said.
"Well?!"
"We should really meddle with everything. Change memories, put clues that lead to him as the enemy of the Light side. Then he will be an outlaw and therefore easier to get."
"We tried that"
"But then we weren't here and this time we can all work together"
"Then do it"
/*-/*-/*-/*-
It was the 25th of December and it was a pretty dark dinner at Hogwarts. The attack on Azkaban with the three dead was enough to bring everybody down, especially since many Death Eaters had escaped. Well, everybody except the Slytherins who seemed pretty jolly, including Draco Malfoy of course.
Towers suddenly entered the Hall, looking very jolly.
"Merry Christmas!" he cried to the Hall and everybody just gaped. Was this the man that looked so down that very same morning?! "I don't know about you, but I'm not going to let an idiot ruin my holidays!"
The Slytherins didn't seem too pleased with the use of 'idiot' in that sentence -referring, most likely, to Voldemort- and were still shocked by the weird behaviour of the man, who just went at the teachers' table and sat down, merrily putting food into his plate, everybody watching his every move.
"Is this the same man who seemed destroyed only, oh, two hours ago?" Ron asked.
"Maybe he's cracking?" suggested Harry.
Amala looked at him thoughtful.
"Maybe, but I think he was crazy from before, so."
"Point there" Ron agreed.
"Think he's over his problems?" asked Neville who had surprisingly remained there over the holidays.
The four looked at the merry Professor who was stuffing himself.
"If you ask me, he just cracked" Ron said.
Dumbledore seemed to think something over and then started chatting with Towers, gradually becoming more and more jolly himself. Some other teachers started talking themselves and soon the whole teachers' table was "towerized" as Ron had put it. Gradually, the students started talking themselves and the atmosphere got warmer and warmer.
Harry and Amala were chatting about past Christmases when they heard somebody hitting a glass with a spoon, sign that the certain somebody wanted to make a speech. He looked around and saw Towers standing up. When he saw that he got the attention, he put the spoon out and waved his wand, saying "Quietus".
"My dear colleagues and students" he said. "I will tell you one of my secrets: why I'm so cheerful, when such dreadful things have just happened."
The room waited to see what he would say.
"I know I have not said much about myself, even if I might have let the impression that I have. I like war, my friends. I was born under the sign of war, under the star of battle. I know every trick and every secret and if by any chance there are some things I don't know, then I learn quick. And I'll share some of my knowledge with you: there is no war without a purpose. There is no battle without a crazy wish behind it. And now we face a madman who wants to take over the world because we don't want it to happen."
Some of the Slytherins glared at Towers when he said 'madman'.
"And I'll tell you another thing: a war has victims, chosen by ways I've no idea about. There is nobody safe. Anybody can die, nobody's safe, nobody's immortal. Oh, well, almost nobody's immortal. I would like to propose a toast: to Death! To Death, the one who is there to receive victims when they are defeated and to help them move on! To Death!"
He raised his glass towards the Hall, everybody glaring at him. To Death? Who on Earth would toast to Death? And who would drink for Death? They were soon answered. Except for Dumbledore, of course who had already raised his glass.
"To Death!" they heard one lonely reply from the Gryffindor table. Amala had raised her glass too and toasted to Death.
Towers smiled at her.
"And I'd also like to propose a toast to Life, for she has the good sense to be always present everywhere, including in Death! To Life!"
This time there were more raised glasses, including Amala's.
"Remember, my friends, because I consider you all my friends, that you can never be defeated. Not even in death, not for real. Death means change, nothing more. It is a change of your life, not the end of it, although many see it as an end. It is an end of your lives in these bodies and the beginning of new adventures. Fear not anything in the world, for you are undefeatable. To you, my friends, to us!"
"To us!" many replied. How the man had managed to make all these things sound good and jolly, it was beyond them.
Towers bowed and sat down and then turned to McGonagall.
"Minerva, do you think I drank maybe a bit too much?" he mischievously asked and she laughed.
Soon after, Dumbledore shooed them all to bed and turned to Towers.
"You have a gift with words"
"No, I don't. I just manage to sound convinced and optimistic enough to convince others" the Professor answered.
/*-/*-/*-
Author's Note: A toast to Death, my friends! For she is only a change. At least that's how I see her. A change in life and lost memory.
Thank you:
Babyjayy: Thank you.
The Red Dragons Order: the bloody bastard is acting exactly as expected. And I don't think he can go even more crazy, since he did make himself a combination between human and a snake. Heard a good joke about that, too: Harry and Tom Riddle are in the Chamber of Secrets ad Harry says: "You're Lord Voldemort?! But the last time I saw you, you were a horrible thing, a snake." and Tom sighs and stops him. "Yes, well, when you go to Michael Jackson's surgeon, what else can you expect?". And about Towers: there are a few huge differences between him and Rex. One of them is that he's not Harry (lol). Others will be revealed.
Naomie: Thank you
Other reviewed chapters:
Well, I had no idea where to put these, so I'll just have to place them here.
Mrs. Longbottom & Mrs. Malfoy: Thank you.