A/N: HEY GUYZZ! Sorry that I (*ahem*. "We" ,says Twingirl #2 behind me) haven't updated for awhile, disappointing some of you people. We apologize again. School wouldn't be called school if the teachers didn't give us poor students a mountain of homework each day. Ok, now on to the main point here.
I'm...("we're" Sherry, yup that's her name, growls in the background)...ok, ok. We're going to put in a few more main characters into the plot. Now don't worry, you all know them perfectly well so relax. First character will be your fun redhead Weasly girl...and yes, it's Ginny! Second character is your famous greasy, hooked nose, Potions Master! Sorry to all those who don't like him. But don't worry, this will not turn into a Severus/Harry story , because unfortunately, Miss Twingirl #2 here is not a big fan of Severus Snape. But if you guys insist on a Severitus Challenge I'll promise she would happily give in. How do you guys think of adding a Malfoy in here? Don't panic, he's not going to turn up just yet. Actually, he won't turn up at all (save the few conflicts with Harry. What's Harry's school life without Malfoy causing a few problems?), if you guys don't want him to. Just say the magic words *wink wink*.
Have you all read "The Velvet Ghost's" Harry Potter and the Phoenix's Flight? Really good story. Snape fans should take a look. Oops, I'm blabbering here.
Oh, and if you find the style of writing different from the previous chapter, it's because the last chapter was written by Miss Sherry, so the tone and style will differ from mine.
And many thanks to Tyler, Queen Cari, Gabriyalle Kylie Burman, GryffindorOfTheSouth, jessie81589 and linky2, who have reviewed so far into the story. ^_^ *hugging all and each of you*. You guys are the best! It's only these few reviews that's encouraging me to keep on writing.
Some of the scenes here a bit wierd. You will see Harry arguing with his own head. But I'm sure a lot of you people also do that sometimes don't you? *smirk* , though it's not the Angel vs. Devil arguing on your shoulder scene. Anyway, I'm trying to portray a Harry making a decision, a choice scene, as picturesque as possible. Please tell me if I had succeeded or not. If not, give me the reason, and I'll try to improve.
Oh and one more thing. This chapter is rated PG for the mild cursing.
**=================--------------=====================---------------------==============
A Deatheater's Meeting
In a dark round vacant area surrounded by trees, in the very heart of a forest, stood a ring of wizards cloaked in black. Everything was black, save their pearly white masks which shone occasionally under the feeble moonlight. Shifting slightly, the wizards whispered and murmured with each other, waiting for the arrival of their Master. Their whispers, though, barely penetrated the deadly silence in the air.
Only one remained silent, standing straight as a statue, his eyes narrowing. Severus Snape observed the clearing silently, though he was actually wondering the reason they were being summoned. It was the first summoning after two months, since the Dark Lord fled from the Atrium in the Ministrly of Magic. He knew the meeting today would not be good, though the mere not good was an understatement. Severus glanced at the few gaps in their circle, which usually stood Lucius Malfoy, Rookwood, Nott, Avery, Macnair and those who got caught in the Department of Mysteries.
Bless them. Severus thought sarcastically. At least he hadn't been summoned to do the dirty work that day. Though as much as his hands itched to give the Potter boy and his thick headed friends a few good cursings or two, he knew very well that the headmaster would not be pleased, and if they got caught, which they really did, the headmaster would be forced to place him into Azkaban along with the others, in order not to blow his cover. As long as the Dark Lord is not dead, he would have to remain a spy for the Order. He didn't like the job, always having to keep a mask on his face, showing as little expression and emotions as possible. No. He'd rather be in his dungeons at Hogwarts, enjoying himself by mixing up a challenging potion no other has been able to brew for a decade or reading through long complex potions books passed on from his grandparents. However, ill fate does not allow him that freedom. He will have to except it, though it was getting harder and harder on every summoning.
A silent *pop* interrupted him from his thoughts. Dark and mysterious and evil as night itself, Lord Voldemort appeared in side the circle, red eyes blaring, his skin as white as ever.
This is going to be one hell of a night. Severus thought, his mind grimacing.
"Ahhh. My dear Deatheaters, how are you?" Voldemort asked in menacingly sweet voice, smiling falsely.
"Fine, My Lord." came the low mumurs from the crowd around him.
"Yes, yes. I can see all of you in excellent health. But some of us are not. Some of us are still in Azkaban. And I am not fine, either. I had fled the country with dear Bella and Wormtail, getting away from Dumbledore and the Ministry's Aurors. Yes, all of you are doing well and having fun. Yet, none of you came to my aid." Voldemort hissed.
"M-My Lord, w-we are terribly sorry. We..." a deatheater stuttered, crawling foreward.
"SILENCE! No. You are not sorry. You are not sorry at all. I will make each and every one of you pay. Tonight!" The Dark Lord cried.
"Crucio."
Agonizing cries broke the silence and darkness apart. Severus grimaced inwardly, knowing that any moment now it would be his turn. Luckily, he had enough sense to down some Pain-soothing Potion before leaving for the summoning. Being the ultimate Potions Master as he is, the potion he made could reduce half the pains he felt.
The curse ended after a full three minutes. Silence once again dawned upon them. The deatheater cowarded on the ground panting and weeping slightly. He rose on his knees, crawled foreward and kissed the hem of the Dark Lord's robes, all the while mumuring, "thank you, my Lord."
One by one, the deatheaters were being held under the Cruciatus Curse. Each time the curse ended, the deatheater would crawl ceremonially to kiss the hems of the Dark Lords robes. Slowly, Severus' turn came steadily closer.
"Ah, Severus. Good to see you again. Looking quite healthy, I see. Yes, yes. A curse on you wouldn't hurt you at the least, wouldn't it?" Voldemort said, smirking, while twirling his wand around his bony, long and sharp fingers. "Crucio."
Severus screamed. It was pain beyond pain. Yet it was much better than it really would have been, due to the numbing effect of his potion. However, he still screamed as if his very bones were on fire, yelling until his voice became hoarse.
It was a whole five minutes before Voldemort lifted his wand, breaking the curse, still smirking. " Now that you have been punished the way you should have been. Let us get on to business." he said, glancing around the circle of bodies around him. Severus did the same ritual of kissing and giving thanks to the Dark Lord, and resumed his position in the circle.
"We shall free my captured deatheaters in Azkaban. They are my most loyal deatheaters, and without them, I am at a great loss of force and power. They shall be rewarded heavily by me after succeeding the raid." Voldemort said. "Be prepared to attack an hour later. Wait here silently. I shall return when it is time." and with that, he disappeared with another faint *pop*.
Damned! How am I going to alert Albus of the attack? Has the Dark Lord suspect of a traitor in this group? Oh god damned, what am I going to do? Severus thought, worried.
¡¡
~~~~~~~~~~~~~======================~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=====================
¡¡
"Crucio" Harry said, wand lifting into the air.
Severus screamed, and he smirked even wider. Very pleased with himself. Seeing his followers in great pain is really calming. Arms flailing about, back arching, bucking, withering on the ground and yet his voice seemed to be the most satisfying to hear. It was the very cry of utmost agony. The cry of pain beyond pain. Yet it felt soothing to his ears. Calming him from his frustrations. He had too much on his mind now. A little torturing is just what he needed.
Harry lifted the wand once again, breaking the curse.
"Now. On to business......we shall free my deatheaters from Azkaban." Harry said. "Prepare to attack...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~======================~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~===============
¡¡
Harry awoke with a start, his scar twinging lightly. Sitting up weakly, he laid his back on the wall, letting the coldness of the wall soak into his back, calming him slightly. Glancing around, he spot Ron beside him, chest rising and falling rhythmatically, muttering something that sounded like, "take that you cheating scum!", while his arms convulsed occasionally. At least someone is having a pleasant dream. Harry thought.
He goaned, sinking his face into his clammy, cold yet sweaty hands, trying to register his dream. Something about Snape. He was screaming. I was torturing him. No, wait. Hold that. It was Voldemort torturing him. Then, then...Oh god damned what then? Think, Harry. Think. It could be something important...Oh what WAS it? Harry frustrated knacked his knuckles on his forehead, eyes squinting, trying to bring back the dream scene back into his head. However, the dream, as if not wanting Harry to find it out, was leaking from his brains like a water scooped into a straw basket. Hurry, before the dream slips away completely. Voldemort laughed and then announced something. That something was...it was...
Then it hit him. Like a freight train coursing in full speed, it his mind with a hard blow. "Oh my God! Voldemort is going to raid Azakaban to free his deatheaters." Harry barely croaked. But when? He vaguely remembered his dream ended just before he got to "say", no, "hear" the time. I have to tell Dumbledore!
He started from his bed, struggling with his blanket for a minute before landing both feet on the cool floor, and creeping across the dark bedroom. How should I contact him? Owl? No, too slow. Floo? Possible, though it brings back painful memories...all right. Floo it is.
His hands gripped the brass door knob, just about to fling it open when he stopped dead in his tracks. Don't be so rash Harry. What if it was just another Dream again? What if it was another false scene implanted into his head, to lure the Order members out to Azkaban with a full field of Dementors and Deatheaters awaiting them, bringing the Order ultimate destruction? Or what if it was just Voldemort's plan of a joke, trying to get the Order members all worked-up? No, keep calm Harry. Didn't you see Snape? Snape is an Order member. He would alert Dumbledore if there were a real real attack. Don't get overworked.
Resigned from his own thoughts, Harry tiptoed back into bed, settling down and trying to pack in a few more hours of sleep. He laid down, staring at the ceiling, his head resting on his arms. He forced his mind to sleep, to shut down. Yet Sleep never came to him. A blanket of uneasiness swept over him, covering him, smothering him, chocking him. This is stupid! He thought angrily. He tried to calm down, to push away the uneasiness by a few well taken deep breaths. It didn't work. Something in the back of his head was trying to tell him something important, something he shouldn't ignore.
He sighed, knowing very well sleep would not come to him unless the matter at hand was settled. For the next ten minutes, which felt like eternity, Harry just laid there, debating whether or not to tell Dumbledore about his dream. One part of him was telling him that it would be ridiculous to imform Dumbledore, because he doesn't even know when the raid was supposed to happen. But then, another part of him kept nudging him on, telling him that something dreadful was going to happen, and it was going to be all his fault for not telling Dumbledore.
Soon, the paranoid side of his mind got the better of him.
¡¡
~~~~~~~~================~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~=============~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
¡¡
Snape leaned against a tree, eyes downcast, deep in troubled thought. What was he going to do? Should he just blow his cover by disapparating to Hogsmeade, run up to Hogwarts, and warn the Headmaster? No. Not only will the Order lose a valuable source for information in the Dark Lord's ranks, he would have to face his dire consequences later. And it defintely wouldn't be pretty. he thought grimly.
Oh, for Gods sake! He cursed in his head for the ten thousandsth time, while kicking at the loosed dirt under his feet. He leaned heavily against the tree again, sighing softly, for he knew his every actions could be watched by someone. So right he was.
"Bad mood, Severus?" asked a deatheater, which he registered to be Parkinson by the man's voice.
"None of your business." he growled.
"Ohh. It seems our old Potions Master here is extremely touchy."
If it were not for the mask covering Snape's face, the man by the name of Parkingon would have seen a heavy scowl scribbled on top of Severus' face. Mustering as much patience possible, Severus replied in a collective tone, "Well if you want to know Parkinson, I have spent the whole entire day arranging a syllabus for thick headed students that never manage to get anything right. You would not be in your best spirit doing such dull yet useless work for a whole day. Also, I'm quite tired at the moment, if you want to know."
Of course he had not been working on the syllabus for Potions lesson. He had finished that dull work a month ago. But it was the only productive thing to say on the spur of the moment, in order to shut that Parkinson up.
¡¡
~~~~~~===================~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~==============~~~~~~~~~~~~~=======
¡¡
The cackling flames turned bright emerald as Harry threw in a handful of Floo powder. Stating clearly yet trying to keep his voice down in order not to wake up the other residence sleeping in the house, "Hogwarts school, Headmaster's Office." Then he took a deep breath, and stuck his head into the fire.
Just in those few seconds, he recalled again when he last stuck his head into a fireplace, seeing a room bare of people, except of the ugly house elf, Kreacher. The mad elf stood there telling him that Sirius had left for the Ministry, and...
Stop. Don't think about that now. That was about two months ago, the situation at hand now is more pressing. His mind cutted into his memories. Harry was grateful for that. A circular room with many portraits, a room all too familiar to him swam into view.
"Professor Dumbledore?" he called out.
The old wizard, writing by his desk, startled, glanced into the fireplace.
"Harry?" he asked, "what brings your head to my humble office?" blue eyes twinkling madly.
"I, uh...well umm. Why aren't you in bed, sir?" Harry stuttered.
"Ah well, when you come to my age, Harry, you will see that sleeping comes by harder than during the age of youth. Now, what did you really want to ask? I'm sure you didn't get out of bed just to ask me why I haven't retired yet." the esteemed Headmaster asked.
"Um...you see, sir. Err, has Snape, I mean Professor Snape come back from his deatheater meetings?" Harry finally blurted out.
Dumbledore frowned. "Why, I don't know how you knew he was at a meeting, but yes indeed, he was summoned an hour ago. And no, he has not yet returned. What is the matter?"
"I had another dream, sir. I was Voldemort again. I, or should I say, Voldemort was torturing Professor Snape with the Cruciatus Curse, and then he said something about raiding Azkaban to free the deatheaters you captured. I didn't hear when though. I awoke just when he was about to say it." Harry, head hung down, disappointed with himself.
"An attack on Azkaban you say." Dumbledore stroked his posh long beard thoughtfully, "and about when did your dream occur?"
"About fifteen minutes ago. I wasn't sure whether the dream was irrelevant or not, but I decided to tell you anyways." Harry replied. Then he hastely added, "do you think it was a real or was it some false information just like last time?"
"Well, I certainly cannot say. Severus has not yet returned nor contacted me. I'm afraid he is in a state where he cannot do anything without being suspicious."
"Then, are you going to do anything about this, sir?"
"Before we get to a full conclusion on whether the dream was real or not, I do not feel sending the whole Order and Ministry Aurors out rational. Therefore, I will post a few guards near Azkaban. If there is any movement, we will attack. Now why don't you call Remeus down here. I believe a chat to be in order."
"Alright, I will. Thank you, sir." and with that, he drew his head out of the fire with a faint *pop*.
¡¡
~~~~~===============~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~==================~~~~~~~~~~~~~======
A/N: I know. This chapter is longer than the previous ones. But DON'T GET USED TO IT! It's not going to happen often, and be happy that it did this time. ^_^\/