Title: Vinculum
Date: July 18, 2004
By: NinjaBubble (L. King)
Warnings: SPOILERS (for #5 – Order of the Phoenix)
Note: I was trying to wait to hear from a friend to know if this was still in character, but it's been way too long, so I'm posting it anyway.
-
Meeting
Harry stared at the man in shock for a moment before raising his wand. Lucius was already there though, not suffering from shock himself. "Expeliarmus!" He declared loudly. Harry was knocked to his back and his wand flew from his hand. The teen stared up at Lucius, definitely not feeling good about the situation as a whole. His fingers scrambled as far as they could, searching for his wand and the Death Eater just laughed. "I pride myself on my mind Potter. This whole thing was my idea in fact." He wove his wand hand up in the air as he spoke, and eight legs grew out of his back. They remained for a few seconds, long enough for realization to dawn on Harry's face, before waving them away.
"That's not possible, there's no way you could know about Aragog!" Harry protested, hoping to distract the man as his fingers searched frantically for his wand.
Lucius chuckled. "The Dark Lord has his ways of getting information, you should know that by now, don't you think?" He wondered, raising an eyebrow at the teen on the ground. It showed on his face obviously how amused he was, how much he was enjoying what was happening.
Of course. Tom Riddle, Voldermort, had been the one to catch Hagrid with Aragog. He would have known that Hagrid could never let harm come to any of the creatures he took care of, that he would simply let Aragog go free instead of keep him and have to give him up to the professors to deal with. But, how he would have known that Harry knew or even knew about Aragog, he didn't know. Perhaps he had simply assumed, or guessed. Painfully, Harry remembered how Voldermort had played on how much he cared for Sirius. Basically he had done the same thing. Harry could have hit himself for being so naïve, if he hadn't been so worried about finding his wand.
There was a rustling from behind the teen as another Death Eater came out. Harry didn't even bother trying to look, he was still concentrating on Lucius and finding his wand. The new intruder sniffed arrogantly. "He doesn't look that impressive," she said, and Harry recognized the voice as Sirius's murderer, Bellatrix. Anger boiled in the teen and he felt his body temperature rise slightly, as though he were going to perform a spell.
The feeling was slashed when ropes lashed out from seemingly nowhere and wrapped around him. Lucius cross over and picked up Harry's wand from the ground. He inspected it for a moment before sliding it away into his own robes and turning back to Harry. "The Dark Lord is quite eager to be meeting you Harry, he believes my suggestion will fill the expectations that he's had for quite awhile. And to think," he mused, walking forward, "it was all inspired by that little detention of yours over the holidays."
Cold dread filled Harry as he was lifted to his feet by a will other than is own, and Lucius slapped his hand on his shoulder, still smirking sickly. "Shall we go then?" He wondered, eyes flickering over Harry for a moment to glance at the woman standing there. He did not seemed pleased that she was there. Apparently she had been spared harsh punishment from Voldermort. Harry turned, under Lucius' direction, and blinked in surprise. She had not gone unpunished. Though there were no outward sign of injury or torture, she was pale, waxen and thin; her cheeks were sunken in the area around her eyes looked as though they were bruised, hollow sockets.
Tearing his eyes away from Bellatrix, Harry turned his attention to Lucius. How were they expecting to leave the grounds without being seen? Of course...they had gotten on without being detected, so they had a plan of some sorts obviously. Not waiting for a sign that they woman had heard him, Lucius wove his wand and a dark objected landed on the ground with a heavy thud. Harry couldn't tell what it was, but it didn't matter, it only took a few seconds for him to smell the blood. It was a stronger stench than he could imagine and in moments he moved his hands up to cover his nose and mouth with his robes, trying to block out the smell. He was confused, not knowing what they were trying to do until he saw white eyes in the darkness. They were doing exactly what he had considered doing, luring thestrals out to grab a free and fast ride.
It didn't take long for them to come, the scent of blood apparently being strong enough to draw out at least a dozen thestrals from the surrounding forest. Lucius walked toward one of the creatures, Harry floated after him, his feet only an inch or so above the ground. He turned to Bellatrix, who had already mounted her own thestral, Harry turned his head as well, wanting to know what was happening. She took out he wand and gave a flick of her wrist. "Vinculum," she stated demandingly.
Harry felt the same chill go through his body as had happened when Dumbledore had use the spell on him and Malfoy. If it was possible the stone in his stomach became even heavier as he glanced at Lucius again, the man was smirking down at him. "You have Dumbledore's detention to thank for this," he said coolly. The whole thing seemed to put him in a wonderful mood. Harry was lifted and put over the back of the thestral like a sack of grain before Lucius mounted behind him.
They took off with a fast, jerking motion that nearly made him fall off the animal. The ride was uncomfortable when you were sitting on the thestral, Harry knew that; but laying over it on your stomach was close to agony. The jerks of the animal and movements of the wings caused him to lift up slightly and then fall back. Harry's mind worked furiously, trying to come up with a plan to get out of the mess he had put himself in. There was nobody he could rely on finding and helping him this time. Dumbledore was gone from school. Ron and Hermione were angry with him and likely went straight up to bed, with no second thoughts, as soon as he had left. There had been little threat that year and the teachers were not on alert. He hadn't been wandering the halls for some time so Flich and Ms. Norris would not think it strange that no odd creeping noises were being made. Hagrid was away, there would be nobody to possibly have seen or heard Aragog or the thestrals. He was alone, surely allowed to go no further than a meter from Lucius, his wand was in the man's robes, they were on thestrals far above the ground.
However, he would not give up. He refused to have such a meeting with Voldermort to be as close to completely powerless as he could come. From how he lay, Harry could see straight down to the scenery they were flying over. They had left Hogwarts's grounds and were flying over trees. Closing his eyes tightly Harry thought over it one last time. Really, Lucius couldn't let himself or Harry die; and most definitely not Bellatrix, she would fear her punishment too much. Keeping his eyes closed, not wanting to think about how high up they were; he took another moment to picture Hogwarts in his mind, Ron, Hermione, and Professor McGonagall. Maybe they would find him. He could only hope. With that he quickly rolled over to his side and brought his knees up sharply as the thestral jerked. Lucius gave a shout of confusion and a moment later they had both slid from the animal and were hurtling toward the ground.
They separated from each other in the air, Harry having initially fallen off the thestral first after pushing from Lucius, fell slightly faster. A tingle of shook ran through his body and with every inch that grew between them the feeling intensified. He refused to close his eyes, wanting to know how far the ground was, but he had to force himself to clench his jaw shut to keep from letting out any sound of pain.
Luckily Harry had thought right. He and Lucius were soon slowed in their progressed downward, brought closer together during their fall, and eventually set on the pavement bellow with a gentle thud. The ropes had fallen off during the fall and without a second's hesitation Harry smashed his fist into Lucius's face. The Death Eater gave a startled roar and threw out his own punch. Thanking his Seeker reflexes, Harry dodged the blow and tackled the man to the ground fiercely. He only had a few moments before Bellatrix would realize what was going one bellow her and put a quick stop to it. Pounding another fist against Lucius's jaw, Harry slid his hands under the man's robes, frantically searching.
Lucius's hand reached up, the heal of his hand against Harry's chin. He pushed up, knocking Harry's head back and tossing the teen off of him, but Harry had already found what he wanted. The two scrambled to their feet, Lucius's furious eyes glaring death at Harry as he reached for his own wand. Not allowing the man any time, Harry rose his own wand. "Petrificus Totalus!" Lucius's arms suddenly snapped to his sides, his legs came together and he teetered for a moment before starting to fall back. Again Harry didn't loose any time, with another wave of his wand Lucius was floating, much as Harry had been not long before. Not waiting for Bellatrix, he ran from the scene, Lucius close behind him. That fact that he was under the Vinculum spell had yet to leave his mind.
A shot what almost looked to be blue lightening shot no more than thirty centimeters from Harry and he dodged to the other side. If he could just make it around the corner of the street he would be able to get out of the way of Bellatrix's fired hexes. He reached the corner just as silvery sparks splashed behind him, the jinx having hit Lucius instead of him, before a loud 'Pop' sounded from where the woman was. She appeared in front of him around the corner, wand raised and pointed straight at his head, while Lucious grabbed Harry by the neck from behind and shoved him into the wall of a building, wrenching his wand from his hand and handing it over to Bellatrix who slid it away and stepped back another foot, wand still raised. So that would be the plan, to keep his wand out of the Vinculum distance.
"Poor show Potter," Lucius hissed in Harry's ear, crushing him against the wall roughly. "It would have been better for you to not fight back." He stepped away and Harry heard the familiar shuffle of fabric as the man rose his own wand and pressed the tip against Harry's back. It dug into his spine uncomfortably. "You've made us loose time and a thestral Potter. Luckily," he continued, "we don't need those blundering creatures now that we're off of Hogwarts's grounds."
Harry mentally sighed heavily. That was right. They could Apparate or use a Portkey. Lucius kept him shoved against thew all, unable to se what was going on behind his back, but Bellatrix was shuffling around and eventually muttered a spell. Finally Harry was spun around, ropes once again lashing out to render him immobile. The woman Death Eater was holding a dirty newspaper that she must have found on the ground. Lucius put his hand on it and they pressed it to Harry's chest. The teen blinked, and then felt the familiar sensation of a hook suddenly pulling him forward through darkness. He felt sick, not knowing what to expect, not knowing what Voldermort would be trying to do this time. Would the man finally just kill him? Or was he not over his ego and would he give Harry another fighting chance?
One moment they were flying and the next they were standing in a dark room. In a flash of grey flames the newspaper disappeared from Bellatrix's hand and Harry was able to settle his attention on the room that they were in. It was lit by flaming torches that floated by the walls, their flames an eerie crimson color, giving off a red glow. The room was sparse but not large. The walls were book shelves that went all the way to the ceiling and did not have an inch of scrap space to fit another volume in, half a dozen fabric chairs were fit into the room, the largest of which was turned with its back to Harry, facing what appeared to be a table.
Harry's heartbeat echoed in his ears, his scar burned fiercely and he pressed the heal of his hand to it in effort to dull the pain at least slightly. A low chuckle eminated from the chair and a tall figure of a man stood from it, moving around slowly before facing Harry and Lucius. Voldermort looked no different than he had when Harry had last seen him fighting Dumbledore. Except now there was no Dumbledore, he wasn't even at the school to possibly get the mess from Ron and Hermione that Harry had walked out and had yet to return. Harry had left no clues behind for anyone to follow. He was stuck there, alone, with no back up, with his wand shoved in Lucius's robes, unable to move, facing bother Lucius and Voldermort.
Apparently, having summed up the same knowledge, Voldermort let out another chuckle. The action twisted his face even more grotesquely. "Harry Potter, we meet again I see. I feel good about this meeting," he said, walking forward slowly. "Which means you should be worried."
tbc...
Date: July 18, 2004
By: NinjaBubble (L. King)
Warnings: SPOILERS (for #5 – Order of the Phoenix)
Note: I was trying to wait to hear from a friend to know if this was still in character, but it's been way too long, so I'm posting it anyway.
-
Meeting
Harry stared at the man in shock for a moment before raising his wand. Lucius was already there though, not suffering from shock himself. "Expeliarmus!" He declared loudly. Harry was knocked to his back and his wand flew from his hand. The teen stared up at Lucius, definitely not feeling good about the situation as a whole. His fingers scrambled as far as they could, searching for his wand and the Death Eater just laughed. "I pride myself on my mind Potter. This whole thing was my idea in fact." He wove his wand hand up in the air as he spoke, and eight legs grew out of his back. They remained for a few seconds, long enough for realization to dawn on Harry's face, before waving them away.
"That's not possible, there's no way you could know about Aragog!" Harry protested, hoping to distract the man as his fingers searched frantically for his wand.
Lucius chuckled. "The Dark Lord has his ways of getting information, you should know that by now, don't you think?" He wondered, raising an eyebrow at the teen on the ground. It showed on his face obviously how amused he was, how much he was enjoying what was happening.
Of course. Tom Riddle, Voldermort, had been the one to catch Hagrid with Aragog. He would have known that Hagrid could never let harm come to any of the creatures he took care of, that he would simply let Aragog go free instead of keep him and have to give him up to the professors to deal with. But, how he would have known that Harry knew or even knew about Aragog, he didn't know. Perhaps he had simply assumed, or guessed. Painfully, Harry remembered how Voldermort had played on how much he cared for Sirius. Basically he had done the same thing. Harry could have hit himself for being so naïve, if he hadn't been so worried about finding his wand.
There was a rustling from behind the teen as another Death Eater came out. Harry didn't even bother trying to look, he was still concentrating on Lucius and finding his wand. The new intruder sniffed arrogantly. "He doesn't look that impressive," she said, and Harry recognized the voice as Sirius's murderer, Bellatrix. Anger boiled in the teen and he felt his body temperature rise slightly, as though he were going to perform a spell.
The feeling was slashed when ropes lashed out from seemingly nowhere and wrapped around him. Lucius cross over and picked up Harry's wand from the ground. He inspected it for a moment before sliding it away into his own robes and turning back to Harry. "The Dark Lord is quite eager to be meeting you Harry, he believes my suggestion will fill the expectations that he's had for quite awhile. And to think," he mused, walking forward, "it was all inspired by that little detention of yours over the holidays."
Cold dread filled Harry as he was lifted to his feet by a will other than is own, and Lucius slapped his hand on his shoulder, still smirking sickly. "Shall we go then?" He wondered, eyes flickering over Harry for a moment to glance at the woman standing there. He did not seemed pleased that she was there. Apparently she had been spared harsh punishment from Voldermort. Harry turned, under Lucius' direction, and blinked in surprise. She had not gone unpunished. Though there were no outward sign of injury or torture, she was pale, waxen and thin; her cheeks were sunken in the area around her eyes looked as though they were bruised, hollow sockets.
Tearing his eyes away from Bellatrix, Harry turned his attention to Lucius. How were they expecting to leave the grounds without being seen? Of course...they had gotten on without being detected, so they had a plan of some sorts obviously. Not waiting for a sign that they woman had heard him, Lucius wove his wand and a dark objected landed on the ground with a heavy thud. Harry couldn't tell what it was, but it didn't matter, it only took a few seconds for him to smell the blood. It was a stronger stench than he could imagine and in moments he moved his hands up to cover his nose and mouth with his robes, trying to block out the smell. He was confused, not knowing what they were trying to do until he saw white eyes in the darkness. They were doing exactly what he had considered doing, luring thestrals out to grab a free and fast ride.
It didn't take long for them to come, the scent of blood apparently being strong enough to draw out at least a dozen thestrals from the surrounding forest. Lucius walked toward one of the creatures, Harry floated after him, his feet only an inch or so above the ground. He turned to Bellatrix, who had already mounted her own thestral, Harry turned his head as well, wanting to know what was happening. She took out he wand and gave a flick of her wrist. "Vinculum," she stated demandingly.
Harry felt the same chill go through his body as had happened when Dumbledore had use the spell on him and Malfoy. If it was possible the stone in his stomach became even heavier as he glanced at Lucius again, the man was smirking down at him. "You have Dumbledore's detention to thank for this," he said coolly. The whole thing seemed to put him in a wonderful mood. Harry was lifted and put over the back of the thestral like a sack of grain before Lucius mounted behind him.
They took off with a fast, jerking motion that nearly made him fall off the animal. The ride was uncomfortable when you were sitting on the thestral, Harry knew that; but laying over it on your stomach was close to agony. The jerks of the animal and movements of the wings caused him to lift up slightly and then fall back. Harry's mind worked furiously, trying to come up with a plan to get out of the mess he had put himself in. There was nobody he could rely on finding and helping him this time. Dumbledore was gone from school. Ron and Hermione were angry with him and likely went straight up to bed, with no second thoughts, as soon as he had left. There had been little threat that year and the teachers were not on alert. He hadn't been wandering the halls for some time so Flich and Ms. Norris would not think it strange that no odd creeping noises were being made. Hagrid was away, there would be nobody to possibly have seen or heard Aragog or the thestrals. He was alone, surely allowed to go no further than a meter from Lucius, his wand was in the man's robes, they were on thestrals far above the ground.
However, he would not give up. He refused to have such a meeting with Voldermort to be as close to completely powerless as he could come. From how he lay, Harry could see straight down to the scenery they were flying over. They had left Hogwarts's grounds and were flying over trees. Closing his eyes tightly Harry thought over it one last time. Really, Lucius couldn't let himself or Harry die; and most definitely not Bellatrix, she would fear her punishment too much. Keeping his eyes closed, not wanting to think about how high up they were; he took another moment to picture Hogwarts in his mind, Ron, Hermione, and Professor McGonagall. Maybe they would find him. He could only hope. With that he quickly rolled over to his side and brought his knees up sharply as the thestral jerked. Lucius gave a shout of confusion and a moment later they had both slid from the animal and were hurtling toward the ground.
They separated from each other in the air, Harry having initially fallen off the thestral first after pushing from Lucius, fell slightly faster. A tingle of shook ran through his body and with every inch that grew between them the feeling intensified. He refused to close his eyes, wanting to know how far the ground was, but he had to force himself to clench his jaw shut to keep from letting out any sound of pain.
Luckily Harry had thought right. He and Lucius were soon slowed in their progressed downward, brought closer together during their fall, and eventually set on the pavement bellow with a gentle thud. The ropes had fallen off during the fall and without a second's hesitation Harry smashed his fist into Lucius's face. The Death Eater gave a startled roar and threw out his own punch. Thanking his Seeker reflexes, Harry dodged the blow and tackled the man to the ground fiercely. He only had a few moments before Bellatrix would realize what was going one bellow her and put a quick stop to it. Pounding another fist against Lucius's jaw, Harry slid his hands under the man's robes, frantically searching.
Lucius's hand reached up, the heal of his hand against Harry's chin. He pushed up, knocking Harry's head back and tossing the teen off of him, but Harry had already found what he wanted. The two scrambled to their feet, Lucius's furious eyes glaring death at Harry as he reached for his own wand. Not allowing the man any time, Harry rose his own wand. "Petrificus Totalus!" Lucius's arms suddenly snapped to his sides, his legs came together and he teetered for a moment before starting to fall back. Again Harry didn't loose any time, with another wave of his wand Lucius was floating, much as Harry had been not long before. Not waiting for Bellatrix, he ran from the scene, Lucius close behind him. That fact that he was under the Vinculum spell had yet to leave his mind.
A shot what almost looked to be blue lightening shot no more than thirty centimeters from Harry and he dodged to the other side. If he could just make it around the corner of the street he would be able to get out of the way of Bellatrix's fired hexes. He reached the corner just as silvery sparks splashed behind him, the jinx having hit Lucius instead of him, before a loud 'Pop' sounded from where the woman was. She appeared in front of him around the corner, wand raised and pointed straight at his head, while Lucious grabbed Harry by the neck from behind and shoved him into the wall of a building, wrenching his wand from his hand and handing it over to Bellatrix who slid it away and stepped back another foot, wand still raised. So that would be the plan, to keep his wand out of the Vinculum distance.
"Poor show Potter," Lucius hissed in Harry's ear, crushing him against the wall roughly. "It would have been better for you to not fight back." He stepped away and Harry heard the familiar shuffle of fabric as the man rose his own wand and pressed the tip against Harry's back. It dug into his spine uncomfortably. "You've made us loose time and a thestral Potter. Luckily," he continued, "we don't need those blundering creatures now that we're off of Hogwarts's grounds."
Harry mentally sighed heavily. That was right. They could Apparate or use a Portkey. Lucius kept him shoved against thew all, unable to se what was going on behind his back, but Bellatrix was shuffling around and eventually muttered a spell. Finally Harry was spun around, ropes once again lashing out to render him immobile. The woman Death Eater was holding a dirty newspaper that she must have found on the ground. Lucius put his hand on it and they pressed it to Harry's chest. The teen blinked, and then felt the familiar sensation of a hook suddenly pulling him forward through darkness. He felt sick, not knowing what to expect, not knowing what Voldermort would be trying to do this time. Would the man finally just kill him? Or was he not over his ego and would he give Harry another fighting chance?
One moment they were flying and the next they were standing in a dark room. In a flash of grey flames the newspaper disappeared from Bellatrix's hand and Harry was able to settle his attention on the room that they were in. It was lit by flaming torches that floated by the walls, their flames an eerie crimson color, giving off a red glow. The room was sparse but not large. The walls were book shelves that went all the way to the ceiling and did not have an inch of scrap space to fit another volume in, half a dozen fabric chairs were fit into the room, the largest of which was turned with its back to Harry, facing what appeared to be a table.
Harry's heartbeat echoed in his ears, his scar burned fiercely and he pressed the heal of his hand to it in effort to dull the pain at least slightly. A low chuckle eminated from the chair and a tall figure of a man stood from it, moving around slowly before facing Harry and Lucius. Voldermort looked no different than he had when Harry had last seen him fighting Dumbledore. Except now there was no Dumbledore, he wasn't even at the school to possibly get the mess from Ron and Hermione that Harry had walked out and had yet to return. Harry had left no clues behind for anyone to follow. He was stuck there, alone, with no back up, with his wand shoved in Lucius's robes, unable to move, facing bother Lucius and Voldermort.
Apparently, having summed up the same knowledge, Voldermort let out another chuckle. The action twisted his face even more grotesquely. "Harry Potter, we meet again I see. I feel good about this meeting," he said, walking forward slowly. "Which means you should be worried."
tbc...