Harry Potter and the Staff of Slytherin
Chapter Thirteen – Meanwhile
~~~~~~~~~~
I don't own Harry Potter; I also didn't write the song lyric below, that would be Mick Jagger and Keith Richards (All Hail Mick Jagger)
~~~~~~~~~~
If anyone wishes to join the Mailing list, leave your email address in a review and I'll email you whenever I put up a chapter.
~~~~~~~~~~
When I'm watchin' my TV
And that man comes on to tell me
how white my shirts can be.
Well he can't be a man 'cause he doesn't smoke
the same cigarettes as me.
~ Rolling Stones - Satisfaction
~~~~~~~~~~
Ron yawned and stretched his arms out, his body exhausted and achy after tiring games of Quidditch that he had played in lately.
He rolled over with a sigh and asked his clock the time.
"6:30 in the morning on a bright and sunny day, better get up so you can play."
Ron sighed, the clock that told him the time and sang annoying poems when he asked it the time had been given to him by an auntie of his. The only reason he hadn't cursed it or thrown it out of the window was because he didn't want to offend the kind old lady when she came to stay.
He looked out of the window and saw that the clock had been lying – it wasn't a bright and sunny day and he thought it would be best if he didn't get up and play.
He rolled back over towards Harry's bed to make sure he was there but saw he wasn't. He briefly wondered where he could have gone but his thoughts trailed off and were left unanswered as he drifted off to sleep.
The peaceful dreamless sleep was not to last for more than a few hours, however, as Mrs. Weasley also noticed Harry's disappearance.
"RON, GET UP." She shouted frantically, thoughts running through her head.
"Whasinginclock?" He mumbled.
"HARRY IS MISSING AND THE DARK MARK IS LURKING AROUND DOWNSTAIRS," she screamed hysterically, tears screaming down her face over her freckles.
"What?" He whispered, his throat dry from a night of loud snoring.
"Do you know where Harry is, Ron?"
"No, of course not."
A shout from downstairs cut off their frantic conversation, "Arthur, Molly?"
Ron recognised the voice to be that of his Headmaster.
His parents ran from the room, leaving Ron to get up and changed before running downstairs to see what had happened.
"There appear to be traces of Portkey usage around there," a small lady said, pointing towards the corner of the room. "And I can tell that the Dark Mark was preset on the Portkey and activated at the time of the Boy's disappearance."
Ron assumed that she detected magical traces. His Father had told him of these people. He looked around the dim room and could see traces of smoke where the Dark Mark had been. He assumed that Professor Dumbledore or one of his companions had removed it.
"Over here," the small female magical trace detector continued, "we can see that the Boy's Portkey was charmed by a very powerful wizard, possibly He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or one of his more powerful Death Eaters."
"He has a name."
"Who does, little boy?" She smirked.
"Harry. His name is Harry, not 'Boy'."
"Of course, little boy. Why don't you run along and play now."
"Now, Harriet, Ronald has as much right to be here as you and I," Professor Dumbledore smiled. "Do you know what kind of wand it was?"
"Thirteen-and-a-half inches. Yew. Powerful wand, very powerful," frowned Harriet.
"That is, indeed, Lord Voldemort's wand. Can you trace where the Portkey took Harry."
"No, I am afraid not. It seems that You-Know-Who placed some sort of undetectable charm on the Portkey. It would seem he has thought of everything."
As the day turned to evening, Ron grew nervous about the ambush planned for the night. The Order of the Phoenix did not know when the Death Eaters were planning on attacking. They thought it would most likely be around Midnight. They had contacted the Auror division, appealing for some troops to help.
They were meeting at Grimmauld Place at 10pm before apparating to the Auror Headquarters in Basingstoke before flying, with the Aurors, to Azkaban.
Apparation to Azkaban was out of the question, due to the anti-apparation fields in place.
They would arrive at Azkaban at around 11pm at which point they would organise the troops. The Order of the Phoenix troops were to be led by Albus Dumbledore and the Auror division was to be led by Jim Morrison, head of the Aurors. He had been a musician living as a muggle at one point but had faked his death, pretending to overdose on heroin, and joined the Auror. He had quickly risen through the ranks due to his amazing battle plans and quick duelling.
They had orders to capture Death Eaters instead of killing. This way, they could interrogate the prisoners under Veritaserum for future attack plans and also the location of Harry Potter.
The moon was full as Albus Dumbledore put his wand in his holster and apparated to Grimmauld Place. The Order had continued using this place as their Headquarters since Sirius' death.
He sat down on the sofa that he had apparated next to and waited for his troops to arrive.
One-by-one they arrived until the four Weasley brothers, Fred, George, Bill and Charlie, emerged from thin air, at which point they collectively apparated to Basingstoke and walked up the road to the Auror Headquarters.
'Marshall Amps, Basingstoke Branch' loomed over them, casting a shadow that went as far as the shop across the road, due to the low moon. They pressed the buzzer and waited momentarily until a voice came from the electrical speaker.
"Identification?"
"Albus Dumbledore. Headmaster of Hogwarts."
"Wand please."
Albus slotted his wand through the hole in the wall. Wands were very useful, as they held a wizard's identification inside before they even chose the wizard.
A minute or so later, the door opened, granting Albus access. This process continued until the entire Order of the Phoenix had entered the Headquarters, at which point, they were met by Jim Morrison. He was 5'11" with brown hair shoulder length curly hair and blue-grey eyes.
"Are you ready for this?" He asked in his deep clear voice.
"As we'll ever be," replied Mad-Eye Moody.
"This way then."
They followed Jim as he walked through the corridors. They could feel themselves getting lower. They knew the Headquarters were underground but they did not know how far down the actually went.
At last they reached their destination, the Auror Troop Room.
The room was slightly dark, despite the many lights around the room. The room smelt of blood and, in general, battle.
The Aurors were stationed up against a wall near the back of the room. Their nerves had nearly overtaken their senses and they looked terrified. Not only were they going into a battle with Death Eaters, they were going to Azkaban, the most feared place in the entire magical community. For some, it was their first battle too.
The few dozen Aurors that the Ministry would allow Morrison to take were weak and pitiful. Albus could tell that most of the fighting was to be done by The Order of the Phoenix.
They drew up their cloaks to a close and picked up their broomsticks, making their way up the stairs and onto the Departure roof, flying off towards the bright moon and Azkaban.
Voldemort was at least as bewildered about Potter's whereabouts as the rest of the magical community. The rest of the magical world assumed that he had sent him somewhere or killed him but he knew that this was not true. He had wanted to kill the party responsible for the accident but he did not know what happened. Plus, Potter was missing, presumed dead, so it had not turned out entirely misfortunate – at least the little brat was no longer present.
He did not waste time or Death Eaters trying to find out what had happened to Potter. Instead, he concentrated on recruiting new wizards and witches and creating chaos.
He had recruited many new Death Eaters recently. Most of the new ones had seemed to realise that the Ministry could not fight this evil so they had decided to join instead of die.
Because of the lack of capable wizards in his Inner Circle since several had been captured, he had added four to his collection of his most trusted Death Eaters – Storn Zastin, who had graduated from Durmstrang three years ago and had quickly risen through the ranks due to his quick duelling and potion making skills. He was, since Snape had left, the resident Potion Master.
Franco Jones was the second to be added. He had been in the outer circle of Death Eaters shortly before Voldemort's temporary defeat.
The third to be added was Colin Snape. He was Severus Snape's second cousin and closely resembled the dirty traitor.
The fourth was Lucius' son, Draco. He was proving to be a valuable asset so far and looked set to take his father's place as his right-hand man as soon as he graduated.
He was concentrating much more on recruiting than attacks. He had decided that he might as well get as many Death Eaters as possible instead of losing many to attacks. The more he had, the less he would lose, as the team would fight better in battle.
He had an attack planned for a few hours. The idea was to break out all of his Death Eater prisoners.
He was taking with him only his inner circle, plus several of his senior outer circle commanders. He did not expect any sort of opposition but needed precaution just in case the Ministry or that damn Dumbledore and his Order of the Phoenix somehow discovered his plans.
He summoned Wormtail from his chambers and lifted up his sleeve. Wormtail whimpered as Voldemort's index finger neared his Dark Mark and his bloodcurdling scream seemed to silence the outside world.
His servants began drifting in. They had known about this attack and so had already prepared. They, too, were flying to Azkaban due to the anti-apparation wards. The few that did not know how to ride or did not own a broom rode on a 'family broom', which held half a dozen wizards. Draco Malfoy was riding this, the others clasping on for their lives with their eyes shut, terrified to look down. Malfoy rolled his eyes as he looked at his watch.
The time was 11:26.
Fred Weasley looked away from watch and up at Dumbledore who was flying shortly ahead of him. He could smell the fear and desperation coming from Azkaban and there was a resident chill in the air.
They landed on Azkaban island, the tower looming in the short distance. He could see several dementors by the drawbridge. He had memorized the plan. They were to wait, invisible, for the Death Eaters to land here. They did not want to take on the Dementors as well, their chances already short. They were, however, to eliminate the few dementors on the outside of the castle. If they left them and the Death Eaters came, the dementors would join in the attack. If they were eliminated before the Death Eaters arrived, this occurrence would not take place and it would just be Death Eaters against Aurors and Order of the Phoenix agents.
They took out the dementors as quietly as possible, not wanting to alert the dementors guarding the inside or the prisoners.
The time was 11:54 as the Death Eaters caught sight of the castle. There was fog in the air and they were not too far away. As they approached, Voldemort noticed Aurors and Dumbledore's clan near the edge. He growled with anger before calling back his Death Eaters.
They landed on a nearby island to take alternative orders. Voldemort decided to go to the other side of the castle instead. He cast a concealment charm on himself and his troops and they flew quietly to the other side of the castle.
They landed and dismounted their brooms, shrinking them and putting them in their pockets. They approached the dementors guarding the back door and the dementors walked out of the way, allowing Voldemort and his troops access.
Inside, the Head Dementor greeted them using telepathy.
"Good evening, Lord. How can we be of service?"
"I would like for you to release the following prisoners." Voldemort started before reeling off the list of his captured Death Eaters. "You might also like to know that there are a few dozen humans outside the front door. They have murdered your guards and now they are weak and vulnerable for attack. Maybe you and your servants would like a meal?"
"Yes, we have not had the delight of feeding on humans for a long time."
Voldemort broke the link with the dementor, his temples aching from the tiring exercise. He cast a quick charm on his head to stop it from aching and waited for his lost Death Eaters to return.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Albert Steptoe sat on the rock that he had been either been sitting on or slowly pacing around for, he looked at his watch, one hour and forty-seven minutes.
"What do you think is happening?" His friend and partner asked him.
"I think there is no Death Eater attack. I think Professor Dumbledore may have imagined this attack." He frowned. Albus Dumbledore had been his role model ever since he first heard of him shortly before his first year at Hogwarts. The idea that the old man was actually an old man saddened and worried him.
The unease of the rest of everybody else present also worried him. A light grew from the door. It was opening. He opened his mouth to scream but no noise emerged as several hundred dementors glided towards him.
"Retreat, retreat," Morrison and Dumbledore called in unison as the dementors drew closer rapidly.
Everybody jumped on their brooms and followed the simple orders but there were some exceptions.
Some of the Aurors and Kingsley Shacklebolt were lying on the floor, writhing in agony. It was a cruel heartless thing to do, leaving them behind to be kissed by the dementors, but they did not have a lot of choice. They all knew they would feel guilty for the rest of their lives but they turned and fled from the terror, not looking back.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quite a dark chapter, but not a lot of pain and misery in this story until he gets back to his own time.
If anyone wishes to join the Mailing list, leave your email address in a review and I'll email you whenever I put up a chapter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks to the reviewers:
Ironic-humour
Slimpun
TuxedoMac
Prd2bAmerican18
Linky2
CoolPadfoot
Cr1Ms0n^D3v1L
The Mystical Elf – "how'd the blood get there" – Banged his head when he was knocked out.
LadyFortune
HiddenCamera – "Best story on the site" – Thanks! I have to disagree though; there are so many good ones out there.
Melissa45
Jade – Thanks for the long and strange review. I am new to FF writing but after a decade of essay writing I've had practise, also I've read just about every 100,000+ word HP fic that isn't slash on FF.Net so I know what most people like. A Pot Noodle Tub Tower is a Tower made of Pot Noodle tubs. You know what a Pot Noodle is right? And I agree with the stupid random killing of Sirius. It was kind of pointless I think but I suppose if it was part of the plot then he had to go.
~~~~~~~~~~