/

Chapter seventeen

Moony in danger

/

To the displeasure of four Hogwarts students, September was progressing forward at incredible speed. Both young Slytherins walked around more and more gloomily as the date of their final exam as well as of their initiation drew closer. Meanwhile, Harry and Daria, knowing what was awaiting their beloved ones, grew more and more worried, even if they tried hard not to talk about it in front Angela or Draco, not to make it even harder for those two.

All the seventh years soon realized that their last year at Hogwarts was going to be no fun. All the professors made the highest demands on their students and none of them made it easy for them. Night after night, they all sat through assignments and essays, and Hermione spurred them to practice magic as well.

As a result, Harry and Angela had much less time for their lovely dates, which both took more or less hard. Nevertheless, they saw each other much more often than Draco and Daria, who did not even have any lessons together thanks to the fact that the Gryffindor witch was only in her sixth year. Only Hermione and Ron had enough time to strengthen their relationship by working on the school tasks together, although calculating Weasley tried to copy from his girlfriend most of the time, getting quite a few snaps from her for that.

It had also been a month of Angela's seventeenth birthday, about which she would have preferred to forget completely. Yet, Harry still threw her a small party in the Room of Requirement, where he gifted her a plush red heart that hid an almost endless supply of chocolate candies in its innards.

In the third week of September, additional exams for Apparition took place in the closely guarded Hogwarts, in which Harry and Angela, among others, took part. As could be expected, they had no problem with passing them...

/

It was the last morning of the ninth month of the year. Angela woke up with an awful feeling. She actually felt like throwing up. The last Voldemort´s test was about to take place at night, and she and Draco were barely twenty-four hours away from initiation to his ranks.

No. Draco is going to be initiated, Angela immediately corrected herself in her mind. I won't do it even if they paid me in galleons… Or should I try to ask him not to go there? Would he consider joining me? Bullshit, what am I thinking? Draco would have not betrayed his parents…

Resisting the urge to pull the blanket over her head and not get out of bed at all, she reluctantly sat up. She could only hope that Voldemort would not make her mother or even Draco pay for her desertion…

Angela bit her lip anxiously, suddenly regretting that she ever got into this mess. That critical moment seemed to be so far in the future when she had made a deal with Dumbledore. And now, there was nothing she could do to protect others from the consequences of her decision. It was too late to change anything about it and she could not even warn them. She swore allegiance to the Order of the Phoenix, and she was not about to break that promise. She was fighting for what she believed in, and for Harry. She was just terribly afraid of the price she – or anyone else – would have to pay for it…

/

Draco awoke with eerily similar thoughts, staring glumly at the ceiling, even though he heard the rest of his classmates in the bedroom getting up, talking and joking.

So… Today I will probably finally find out what´s behind that Angela's strange behaviour, he thought.

He did not have a very good feeling about it. He still wondered if his companion would go through all this with him or not. Angela never admitted anything outright, but when he remembered how she…

No, she won't do it! he denied to himself. She wouldn't betray me, her mother, and the Dark Lord after all this time. She's not crazy! Or is she…?

He should rather put those thoughts to rest quickly. However, when he stopped thinking about Angela, Daria entered his mind. His dear girl… He was damn worried how she would react when she found out what had become of him.

What if Angela already told her? he wondered a bit horrified. No, no... She would definitely behave differently, right?

However, all these doubts continued to annoy him persistently.

/

Harry knew what was in store for Angela that night and he did not agree with it, but he also trusted her that she would not go to the final initiation the next evening. She swore it to him. He was well aware, as was she, what this action of hers would most likely cause, but Angela was willing to go through with it.

He did not want to admit it, but he was terribly worried about her. He was afraid of losing her. That he would end up alone again. He would do anything for her if only she let him…

/

Daria had been staring into space since dawn. She woke up too soon and could not go back to sleep. Although Draco had never mentioned what awaited him in the next two days, she knew from Angela what was about to happen and the horror of what her love would have to undergo sprouted in her soul.

Even though they had not been together for too long, she recognized that he was not just an arrogant brat from a rich family, but a sensitive young man who had been through a lot.

She never told him that she knew he was supposed to become a Death Eater. She did not blame him for not fighting against it as Angela did. In his place, she would be damn afraid to go against that evil dark wizard as well.

However, she herself had no idea how she would react if she saw the Dark Mark on him. She found it almost laughable. A Death Eater, his father, killed her parents, and she herself was now in love with a future one.

What a cruel irony of fate...

/

In the evening, the four of them just poked in their food glumly, even though it was Friday and they had a free weekend ahead of them. Harry and Daria cast concerned glances over to the Slytherin table where Draco and Angela, sat staring blankly at their full plates.

Hermione had noticed that something had been eating Harry up for quite some time now and this time, he looked gloomier than ever. Ron was enjoying his dinner contentedly and probably did not care for anything else than that.

"Harry?" she called out loudly to get his attention.

"What?" Harry turned to her.

"Is something wrong with Angela?" she asked quietly.

"How did you figure that out?" scowled Harry.

"From your expression," Hermione replied. "You always look like that when it comes to her."

"Well, you're right again," he admitted, finally putting down his fork. He knew he would not get anything more inside his stomach anyway.

Ron finally raised his head. "What happened again?" he asked after swallowing hard.

"I probably shouldn't tell you this, but… Ow," Harry hissed in surprise.

"What is it?" Hermione wondered just before she could already feel it too.

The gilded bracelet on her hand began to burn. Ron apparently as well, since he jerked with his hand and began to rub his wrist. She looked around the table and found Neville. He also looked surprised, hiding his right hand under the table.

A little further away from them, Angela just took a sharp breath. Otherwise, she controlled herself enough not to show on her expression that the stupid bracelet under her sleeve would probably burn her skin out. She found Harry with her eyes, not noticing that Draco eyed her suspiciously.

Are your bracelets burning too? she sent him a question.

Yeah, confirmed Harry.

What could have happened?

I don't know, he replied and focused on the professors´ table. Dumbledore and McGonagall were not there, and neither was Snape.

You go first, Angela urged him. I´ll follow you in a moment.

Harry turned to his friends. Ron gave a subtle signal to Neville and the four of them quickly disappeared from the Gryffindor table.

/

Angela impatiently waited for two minutes and then got up.

"Aren't you hungry anymore?" Draco stopped her sharply.

"Not really," she grumbled with her throat tight, avoiding his look.

"Don't oversleep again today," he reminded her sarcastically.

"I know. I'll try…" she reacted unusually tamely and walked out of the Great Hall in a brisk pace.

Draco watched her back nervously, until she disappeared from his sight. Then he caught Daria's concerned and sad gaze. He gulped down. It was as if she knew…

He gave her an encouraging smile, though he knew it could not seem very sincere, so he rather preferred to lean back to his dinner.

/

Angela headed up the stairs to the Transfiguration professor's office as was agreed in advance. Ron was just disappearing engulfed in green flames when she knocked and entered. Only Professor McGonagall and Harry were in the room.

"What happened, Professor?" Angela blurted out, closing the door.

"You'll be informed about everything at the headquarters, Rosier," McGonagall replied calmly, handing her a bowl of Floo powder.

Angela frowned, when she noticed that the professor´s hand was shaking a little. Harry was already heading for the fireplace. Disgusted, she scooped up some powder and followed him. Considering this quite inconvenient way to move in and out of Hogwarts, she thought that they could arrange an Apparition room in somewhere already.

Harry caught her arm to keep her steady as she stumbled out of the fireplace on Grimmauld Place and they headed hand in hand behind Ron, Hermione and Neville. When they finally arrived at the Order's meeting room, to their surprise there were not many members there. Those present stood in a cluster at the front near the chairs belonging to the Dumbledore brothers, talking excitedly among themselves.

Once they made their way forward, the conversation died down.

"What's going on, Professor?" Harry addressed Albus Dumbledore bluntly.

He first glanced over them and then turned to the adult wizards: "You all know what to do."

All the members, except for Dumbledore's brother and the Hogwarts students who had just arrived, immediately disappeared.

"Have a seat," Albus Dumbledore motioned to the nearest available seats at the table. "I'll explain what happened right away."

Harry and the others reluctantly settled down and focused on wizard brothers.

"About three hours ago, Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters attacked Merlin's school for children from wizarding families who have not yet reached the age of eleven and whose parents do not want them to attend Muggle primary schools. You may have heard of it before," began Aberforth Dumbledore.

Ron and Neville nodded their heads in agreement. They were both going there in the past. Angela paled somewhat and Hermione listened intently.

"It's a huge school; it has more than a hundred pupils, because it's the only one in England. However, no purposeful magic is performed inside, since the little magicians are not old enough for that. Only their teachers had wands there… And they were all killed by the Death Eaters. To the last one," Aberforth paused for a moment.

"What's with the kids?" Harry asked quietly.

The Headmaster of Hogwarts replied: "It looks like they used a poisonous potion in gaseous form in small bottles. They placed them in all classrooms, locked down the entire school, and then released them remotely. It didn't kill the children, in the beginning they didn't even feel anything at all, but then gradually the youngest ones started getting high fevers, hallucinations and falling into unconsciousness. That's what our first members found out when they finally got there. They began to carry them out of the building and the Death Eaters ambushed them. They knew the rescue team would show up sooner or later and they were waiting for them."

A stifling silence settled in the hall for a short moment. Then Aberforth continued.

"By the time the reinforcements from the Ministry arrived, all the Death Eaters were gone. Nymphadora Tonks and Mad-Eye Moody are in serious condition at St Mungo's, as are all the children from Merlin's school. Fortunately, other ten members have only minor injuries. We received a word a few minutes ago, that the situation is getting out of hand. The hospital is upside down and they don't even have room for all the little patients."

"We need you to go help with the potions preparations," Albus Dumbledore announced. "You're not fully trained in anything like that, but they really need every hand out there right now."

There was silence again.

"But that's not all that happened, is it?" Harry spoke quietly.

The Dumbledore brothers looked at each other.

"No, Harry. It's not all," the Headmaster nodded grimly. "Remus Lupin was among the first to arrive at that school. As I'm sure you know, the full moon ended yesterday, so he was significantly weakened and…"

"And?" Harry prompted.

"Nymphadora tried to help him, but it wasn't enough. She told us before she passed out that he was dragged away by Death Eaters," Dumbledore finished the bad news.

Hermione gripped Ron's hand tightly and Angela lowered her head. Harry sat rigidly in his seat, not a single muscle in his face moving, staring straight ahead. Neville was the first to move. He stood up, walked up behind Harry and put a hand on his classmate´s shoulder. Harry still did not move.

"Harry, most of all, you should stay calm right now," Albus Dumbledore spoke up again. "It's quite likely that Voldemort wants to use him against you."

A hint of reaction finally appeared on Harry's face. "More obvious than likely," he reacted through stiff lips.

Dumbledore sighed heavily and his brother went to sit in his chair. Angela stared thoughtfully at her hands and the others looked sideways at Harry.

"Harry, I understand that…" the Hogwarts headmaster started but the young wizard cut him off.

"You understand? What can you understand? How can you ask me to stay calm when one of the last people I love and care about is in the hands of that bastard and his henchmen!?" Harry was slowly but surely starting to raise his voice.

"There's nothing you can do for him, Mr Potter," Dumbledore´s brother emphasized.

"That I can't do anything?" snapped Harry, standing up. After a long time, his rash side began to show up again. "You are mistaken in that! I will find him wherever he is and bring him back! And I'm going now!"

Harry turned to leave.

"Harry, you don't know where to look for him," Hermione said softly, but it stopped him more reliably than if they tried to stop him by force.

"But I do," Angela spoke for the first time.

Everyone looked at her in surprise and Harry turned back sharply.

Young Rosier was still looking at her hands with two rings – one with the tiny silver stone, the other in the shape of a snake. Ron, Hermione, and Neville were looking at her shocked.

"What do you mean, Angela?" Hermione asked breathlessly.

She stood up and turned to face them.

"Can I ask you to leave us alone? You too, Neville."

Aggrieved, the students turned to Dumbledore but he just nodded and motioned for them to leave.

"Aberforth, could you wait outside, too?" the headmaster added, kind of rising in Angela's eyes. She thought he had told his brother everything about her. As soon as the door shut behind them, Albus Dumbledore was about to protest immediately, but Angela beat him to it.

"I don't need to hear any objections, Professor. You know very well the situation I´m in. It doesn't matter if I reveal myself today or tomorrow."

Harry was just watching her intently.

"But Angela, apart from other things, it is not wise. If you just didn't come tomorrow, it's not as bad as if you tried to free Remus Lupin," Dumbledore objected.

"It's a betrayal anyway," she shook her head. "I'm the only one who knows where Voldemort´s castle is, how to get inside and hopefully also out without losing any limbs, and you know it."

"That's true, but I can't let you take that risk," the headmaster kept arguing.

"It's my decision and you can't stop me. It´s worth that risk. I know what Remus means to Harry," Angela looked at his boyfriend with a weak smile. "Besides, they won't expect it so soon. Everything in me squeezes when I realize what they can do with him in there…" she added quietly.

Dumbledore sat down heavily. "All right… But you can't go alone. That would be a suicide."

"Correct. I'll go with her," Harry stated uncompromisingly.

"But Harry…" Angela began, already preparing for a mountain of objections, but he did not let her talk.

"I don't want to hear anything! I´m going with you and that's it! End of discussion!"

Angela returned his fiery gaze, realizing she would not talk him out of it.

"Fine," she agreed unwillingly. "But you'll do as I say, promise?"

Harry grimaced: "Why do you want me…"

"You promise?" she interrupted him urgently.

"Yeah, I promise," he hummed then.

"Harry, it´s foolish, risky and I cannot allow you to…" Dumbledore tried to involve himself in the conversation from which they easily omitted him.

The young wizard interrupted him: "You haven´t done anything foolish for those you loved in your life, sir?"

Dumbledore sighed, unable to deny it: "Apparently, I cannot convince you otherwise either."

Harry just shook his head vigorously.

"All right then. But someone else will accompany you. Someone from the senior members of the Order."

"I agree, but it must be completely voluntary," Angela responded. "We will be risking a lot and I don't want anyone going to the Dark Lord´s nest out of compulsion or a sense of obligation."

Dumbledore nodded seriously: "Don't worry, Angela. I will make it very clear to anyone interested."

"Well," the brunette looked at her watch. "First, I must get back to Hogwarts. It's too early anyway... So, at ten thirty here in the kitchen?" she looked at Harry.

"Ten thirty?" Harry asked in disbelief. "Angie, it's a quarter to eight!"

"Yes, it is," she nodded slowly.

"But that… The longer he's there, they…" he could not even finish the sentence from anxiety.

"I know," she replied with a sigh. "There is no other way, believe me. We can't burst in there so soon; we have to wait until… until they close him up somewhere."

"Until they close him up…" Harry repeated quietly.

Angela's heart sank when she saw him with such an expression. She approached him and kissed his cheek tenderly as if Dumbledore was not even there.

"We'll get him out of there alive," she stated firmly, looking in his eyes. "I´ll do anything I can to make it happen."

"Alright then," Harry nodded his head heavily.

"Please, check whoever the professor brings us for help," Angela said half seriously, half-jokingly. "And you should get something black to wear, too. I'll be back at ten thirty."

"Angela, can I ask why you´re going away?" Dumbledore spoke, who had those mischievous sparks in his eyes again.

"I have to get some energy stimulation for Lupin, after we free him, and I'm also going to check on the situation," she explained to them shortly, on the way to the door.

That made Harry suspicious: "What do you mean by checking on the situation?" he called after her, but Angela was already rushing up the stairs.

When her footsteps died away, Harry shoved his hands into his pockets to fight the urge to pull out his wand and follow her, frowning at the stone pavement.

Dumbledore tapped his fingers on the rest of his chair and watched him carefully. Behaviour of young Rosier today only confirmed what he had suspected for a long time. In his heart, however, he had a great concern about this young couple.

/

An hour and half later, Harry was sitting at the kitchen table with Bill Weasley, who had arrived with news from the Ministry and overheard him discussing a potential candidate for the dangerous assignment with Dumbledore. When they explained to him what it was all about, he immediately volunteered.

Aberforth Dumbledore had taken Hermione, Ron and Neville to St Mungo's hospital some time ago. Although they did not have any special knowledge about magical healing, their help really came in handy there. There were too many patients and not enough people to care for them. The members of the Order had other concerns, and likewise the Ministry. Some were trying to track down the Death Eaters, others were cleaning up the infested school, and others were guarding the entire hospital.

Although the oldest of Weasleys siblings joined Harry without hesitation, he preferred not to let his mother know about it. Bill was already in black robes and Harry had returned from Hogwarts twenty minutes ago wearing dark clothes and the Cloak of Invisibility stuffed in his pocket as he always did. To his disappointment, he did not meet Angela there yet.

There was stifling silence in the kitchen. He absentmindedly reached for one of the apples in the bowl on the table. As the minutes ticked by, he felt worse and worse. It was like Angela had been gone forever.

He slowly turned the green apple in his hand, unable to stop thinking about Remus. His stomach turned at the thought of what he must be going through right now because of him. Why did everyone always have to suffer because of him?

Harry kept staring at the apple and did not even realize that he was no longer holding it in his hand, but that it was floating in the air.

Bill noticed that though and watched thoughtfully as the apple spun in the air above Harry's hand.

Harry more than well remembered Voldemort's sinister laugh and the cruelty in his eyes when he was torturing someone. Not to mention Bellatrix Lestrange with her absolute lack of empathy and eagerness to cause pain to others. No Death Eater mask could hide their owners´ heartless smiles…

It was just too much! Almost everyone was scared shitless about what would happen next. And today they even attacked children. Innocent children!

The apple spun faster and faster in the air.

"Err, Harry?" Bill said cautiously, but Harry could not hear him.

No longer! No one should pay for someone else's desire for blood and death anymore. Too many people have already died because of Voldemort. Not only his loved ones, but also many innocents!

Harry lost control and the apple, which had been whirling above his palm until now, flew away from him at the speed of a cannonball, just past Bill's face and smashed into pieces against the opposite wall.

The two of them stared at the blurry stain for a moment. Then Harry finally regained his composure a bit.

"I'm sorry. I lost my nerve."

"It´s okay. Things like that happen to me, too," Bill responded soberly.

Harry was still staring at the wall when green flames lit up in the fireplace and to his relief, Angela crawled out of it, covered in ash and coughing hard.

"Damn Floo!" she swore annoyed.

"Angela!" Harry jumped out of his chair. "Where have you been for so long?"

"I said at ten thirty, didn't I?" she protested, glancing at the clock on the wall that showed twenty past ten. At the same time, she also noticed the strange mess on the wall. "Did you play pear war here or something?"

"It's an apple," Bill noted.

"Ah, well, all right," Angela preferred not to poke into it and turned to Bill. "You're one of the older Weasleys, aren't you?"

Bill nodded solemnly.

"So, you're back, Angela," came a voice from the door where tired Dumbledore appeared.

"Yes… How's the hospital, Professor?" Angela asked.

Dumbledore´s expression was everything else but calming.

"Is it really that bad?" Bill asked with concern.

"Unfortunately, yes," Hogwarts Headmaster nodded. "Three children have already passed away. Your mother is there to help, too, if you'll be looking for her."

"Okay, thanks."

Dumbledore looked at them all seriously: "I hate to let just the three of you go in there, but it's true that you'll be less noticeable that way. Take care of yourself. You´re voluntarily entering the viper's nest," he stated quietly.

"Thank you, Professor," Harry nodded determined.

Yet, Dumbledore approached the young Slytherin hesitantly. "You really want to do this, Angela?"

The one in question took a breath and then looked into her boyfriend´s eyes. "Yes," she nodded firmly, with her right hand clenched in a shaking fist.

"All right. I will send someone to wait for you at the end of the street. You will definitely be apparating after…"

Angela nodded.

"Good luck then," said Dumbledore and walked away.

The anxious young witch sat down at the table with a sigh: "So, listen up…"

/

It was quiet outside the Dark Castle. It was almost ten o'clock. A few moments ago, the last Death Eaters, who were sent to investigate the situation at Merlin's school and the hospital, returned. Lord Voldemort was quite pleased. At the school for little wizards, the members of the Order of the Phoenix and specially trained personnel from the Ministry still could not completely clear the air of the greenish smoke, there was chaos at St Mungo's, and in the editorial office of the Daily Prophet, they were definitely already preparing articles for the morning edition. And their little students weren't supposed to arrive for their last exam until around midnight.

Goyle and Nott, who had just replaced their colleagues on patrol at the Apparition field, were contentedly discussing the interrogation they had just witnessed.

"He's got decent stamina for a werewolf though," Nott chuckled.

"Yes, our Lord wasn't too pleased," Goyle responded.

"It just takes time. But he will break him in the end."

Suddenly, there were two loud pops, covering a third much quieter one as two figures appeared near them. The longhaired girl just barely let go of her companions´ hands when the Death Eaters immediately raised their wands and in their light, they recognized the young Rosier who had been here once before today. In her shadow stood a young man with wild blonde hair.

"Behold, our future colleagues!" exclaimed Goyle.

"Aren't you here early?" Nott asked suspiciously.

"Yes, we are. We must arrange something," Angela answered calmly.

"Like what?" Goyle chuckled under his mask.

"This," said a male voice behind them.

The Death Eaters turned surprised, but Goyle was already falling unconscious to the ground. Nott was wielding his wand at the intruder when a red light hit him from behind and he collapsed next to the first Death Eater. The young man who had put Nott to sleep now moved the end of his wand to his hair and mumbled something. It immediately started to black out and while doing so he put on the glasses that he had hidden in his pocket. Angela took the Cloak of Invisibility from Bill who had suddenly appeared and stuffed it into her coat pocket. Then she went to extinguish two of the four torches that lit up the entrance gate to the Castle.

Meanwhile, Harry and Bill cast Petrificus Totalus on the Death Eaters and combined their powers to set them up as statues against the outer wall. Angela signalled them to wait and headed across the courtyard to the other gate.

It was simple there. A man and a woman in Death Eater masks were napping there while standing up. She flashed her wand for a brief moment and Harry and Bill were by her side in no time. They treated the second patrol in the same way as the first, threw black hoods over their heads and faces and entered the interior of the Castle without being seen.

With Angela in the lead and with wands ready in their hands, they proceeded cautiously down the long corridor. They turned down the narrow staircase and, even as they passed the exits to other corridors, they moved deeper and deeper. The Death Eater at the lowest door just raised his head to them and collapsed at their feet. Angela took the set of keys from him, Bill leaned him back against the wall and they entered an icy and musty curved corridor that had barred dungeons on either side.

Angela threw off her hood. The four Death Eaters turned to her.

"Hey, what the hell are you doing here?" snapped one of them. She recognized Crabbe by the voice.

"I'm going for a visit," Angela replied with a smile, holding out her wand as red beams were already heading toward the two Death Eaters. They got rid of two, but the other two dodged the spell and sent their own disarming curses at them. Angela created a protective shield and turned it against them. Harry and Bill tried the Stunning spell again and this time they succeeded.

They left the Death Eaters lying down and Angela peeked around the corner, but she immediately pulled her head back and the curse the last Death Eater sent at her hit the wall of the corridor and a piece of masonry fell out.

"What do you think you're doing, Rosier?" the Death Eater called out loudly.

She made a wordless gesture to Harry and threw his cloak over her. He and Bill waited ten seconds after she was out of sight before they both charged at once. Harry had to duck to the ground to avoid the curse the cloaked and masked figure sent at him and Bill tried it himself. Fortunately, the Death Eater suddenly froze and hit the ground with a thud.

Angela threw off the Cloak of Invisibility and tossed it into Harry's arms, rummaging through the jingling bunch of keys. She kept quickly tapping one after another with her wand, until one lit up with red colour.

"This one was used the most recently," she said. "Now, we must find him…"

They ran down the corridor, peering intently into each dungeon through the bars with their wands lit. With his throat tight, Harry finally found something near the end. In its corner, someone sat slumped with a limp head. He turned up the light and made out the hair that fell over the prisoner's face. He was suddenly short of breath.

What if Remus was dead? No, no, Voldemort definitely wanted him alive.

He recovered a bit and summoned Bill and Angela, who inserted the glowing key into the lock and the grate opened. She ran inside with Harry while Bill stayed in the corridor to keep watch.

They knelt down next to a bloodied figure in torn robes and Angela brushed his hair away. Harry let out a sharp exhale. Albeit with a broken face and wheezing hard, but it was really Lupin.