Thank you to jess moony and shniz for reviewing my story! They are truly
appreciated!
And to shniz, I've been starting to make my chapters longer, starting with this one! I also think that my next chapter may possibly take longer, because for the next two weeks, I have lifeguard training! But I'll still try my best to update soon!
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Chapter 6 "Headline News"
The next morning, Harry was awakened by the delicious smell of sizzling bacon and sausage being cooked in the kitchen. Ron was already awake, because his bed was made and tidy. So he quickly dressed and headed down to the kitchen. He was welcomed by the Weasleys', Lupin, and Tonks.
"Good morning, Harry!" greeted Tonks, who today had shoulder-length curls, which were blond with electric blue highlights the color of Moody's eye.
"Morning!" said Harry, who seemed to be in a very cheerful mood.
"Harry, dear, would you like something to eat? Sausage, bacon, toast, eggs?" asked Mrs. Weasley, who seemed to be pretending that last night never happened.
"Sure, I'll have a little bit of everything, thanks."
Harry sat down at the kitchen table, between Hermione and Ron. Across from him was Mr. Weasley and Remus, who both, as usual, were reading two editions of the Daily Prophet and drinking some freshly, brewed coffee. Lupin was looking peaky, but delighted all the same. Harry stopped to wonder why, but then realized that later this week was the full moon.
Since everyone was already downing his or her breakfasts', Harry waited by reading the headline in the Daily Prophet which was facing towards him as Lupin read the inside. He was so startled at what he saw, that since he was in mid-drink, he spit out his pumpkin juice right on his empty plate and his cheerful feeling was gone.
"Alright, there, Harry?" asked Ron, patting his back because Harry was still choking on the juice.
"Yeah...yeah...fine, thanks," spluttered Harry, who seemed to be anxious on reading the headline which read:
AZKABAN ESCAPE: LUCIUS MALFOY ESCAPES THE DEPTHS OF THE AURORS
Azkaban Prison: Late last night, a known Death Eater, Lucius Malfoy succeeded to escape the Azkaban premises. While Aurors were on duty, they were rendered unconscious as no less than five unimprisoned Death Eaters broke into the prison. None of them have any idea of how they got to be unconscious, nor how the Death Eaters broke in without the knowledge of the guards. After they were awakened, they searched the premises for escaped prisoners and found that Lucius' cell, was empty, with a note on the wall bearing the words, 'I thank you, on my behalf, for allowing me to so easily escape from these walls with my fellow acquaintances'. There is no sign of the escapee any where, nor is there a sign of forced entry. The Aurors are still on the lookout for this man, among the many other Death Eaters, who have escaped the confinement in these walls. We caution all of you to keep a lookout for anything suspicious, and warn you not to act on this, but to inform the Aurors at the Ministry of Magic.
After finishing the article, he was brought back down to earth by the sound of Ron's voice.
"Harry! Harry! Finally, I get a response. What did I do to become ignored all of a sudden?" asked Ron, somewhat offended by Harry's actions.
But as Harry glanced over to Hermione, he noticed that she too, was reading the article on Lucius Malfoy, and was finished soon after Harry.
"Hermione...what? Have you decided to ignore me too now? What the bloody hell did I do to you both?" asked Ron, who was beginning to sound impatient.
"No, Ron! You did nothing. But if you were paying attention, you would've realized the reason Harry wasn't responding, he was reading," whispered Hermione, who had an anxious tone from reading the newspaper.
Since Ron still had a look of utter confusion upon his face, Harry jabbed his finger in the direction of the Daily Prophet.
"That, is why I didn't hear you Ron," said Harry, a little annoyed by the fact Ron hadn't taken note of the newspaper.
They both waited and watched Ron as he finished the article, his eyes widening with every sentence.
"What—How...how did this happen?" cried Ron, who seemed to be completely in shock that Lucius Malfoy was no longer imprisoned.
Everyone in the room had now taken note of the three's odd behavior, all staring at them as if they'd gone completely mad. But both Remus and Mr. Weasley got the picture, and explained before the three of them had a chance to speak.
"I see you've read the headline news in the Daily Prophet," said Remus with a very grim smile. "In case you were all wondering, last night, Lucius Malfoy, helped by others, of course, managed to escape from Azkaban. Why he needed to be personally escaped by himself is beyond our knowledge."
"Five Death Eaters broke in to accompany him on his departure from the prison," said Mr. Weasley darkly.
"But how is that possible, with all the Aurors and guards, how could they have even gotten into the grounds without being caught?" asked Ginny, who still seemed to be unconvinced of last night's events.
"We have no idea," Tonks chimed in. "There were Aurors everywhere, but somehow, the Death Eaters managed to knock them all unconscious before they could even make the slightest reaction, let alone sound the alarm of a possible escape. We assume that they were all hit with an extremely powerful Stupefy curse. Why they weren't even killed is beyond our knowledge as well."
"So, that's just one more of Voldemort's loyal servants back in his inner circle, back to join his master once again," said Harry, with a gloomy smile. "Why would they just seize Malfoy, though, why not an all out jailbreak?" questioned Harry, as he absentmindedly picked at his breakfast, which was completely cold on his plate.
"We aren't even sure of that. We have an Order meeting tonight, and plan to hear Dumbledore's outlook on all of this. I'm anxious to see what he has in mind," said Mr. Weasley, folding up his morning paper and taking a sip of his black coffee.
After his statement, everyone sat in silent disbelief, that a man that had been dueling in the Department of Mysteries was free once again, to join the group that killed so many and tore families apart.
After judging that this conversation was over, Mrs. Weasley took this as an opportunity to send the children away from the kitchen. "Alright kids, since it seems that you are all finished, would you please kindly go into the sitting room while I clear off the table?" she said, which sounded more as an order than really a simple question.
Without an argument, Harry, the Weasley children, and Hermione hulled out of the kitchen and headed for the sitting room to discuss their latest knowledge learned at breakfast. They all took seats, while Ginny sat by the fire, becoming hypnotized by its flames licking the firewood .
"I would just like to know how in the world they managed to get past so many Aurors and guards, I mean, that has to be near impossible to get through undetected!" asked Hermione, who seemed to believe that the Death Eaters' escape plan seemed to be unachievable.
"Maybe they didn't need to escape! Maybe they were the guards and Aurors, maybe they were the Death Eaters and were on the inside, spying and getting information for You-Know-Who!" said Ron.
"Ron, would you just say the name already. I mean, come on, Hermione does! Just say it, Voldemort," said Harry in severity. He was growing tired of hearing 'You-Know-Who' instead of the real name.
Ron just flinched at the sound of his name and said nothing. The group sat in grim silence letting their ideas and thoughts of how the escape happened to rack their brains. Finally, they were startled by Ginny breaking the uneasy silence, speaking, but still staring at the red-hot flames.
"What do you say we have a game of Exploding Snap, it's boring in here just sitting and thinking. Me, Fred, and George on a team while Harry, Ron, and Hermione on the other," she announced.
So they all gathered round and played quite a painful game of Exploding Snap. At the end Hermione and Ron were sporting six singed fingers each, Harry with some sizzling hair on his brow and a hole in his sleeve, while Ginny, Fred, and George had holes burnt in their clothes. By the time their game had ended, it was time for lunch, which were turkey sandwiches, cut into halves. They spent their time eating discussing Quidditch moves and tricks, while Hermione, who was uninterested, stroked Crookshanks on the fire hearth rug.
By the time dinnertime arrived, the Order meeting was about to begin. Mrs. Weasley hurried around the kitchen making some last-minute appetizers, and served the children.
"Now, I expect all of you to help tidy up the kitchen after eating, and to just go on upstairs for the rest of the night, because none of you will be needed in the meeting," she said, as she eyed Fred and George, "that means you both as well!" And with no further look, she turned and shut the door behind her, her footsteps fading further away till they heard a final door click shut.
"Wow, from the sound of her, it would seem as though she didn't want us to overhear the Order meeting!" said George, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Too right you are George, it would seem as though she suspected us of eavesdropping in on the meeting! What a mad idea!" said Fred, joking, but still as much disdain in his voice as his twin brother's.
They all laughed and thought back to the Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes Extendable Ears. But while they were all laughing Fred and George whispered hurriedly.
"Do you think we could risk it? Mum might be at the door, just in case we would pull something like this off," whispered George.
"When are we ever going to have a greater chance than this? It's a once in a lifetime opportunity! We already know it will carry through, and the reception is clearer than ever!" cried George.
They all looked at them questioningly. They knew the twins were up to something, planning their next scheme, but there was a trace of anxious excitement in their voices. Noticing the curious glances, the twins smiled at each other, nodded, and pulled something that looked similar to string from their pockets.
"A whole new line! New and improved Extendable Ears!" said Fred proudly.
"They've been tweaked a bit to get past mum's obstacles. We really must thank her, because she was the reason we did this to begin with!" added George, informing the rest of the group.
"They're still in testing, no one knows about these little buggers yet but us, Lee, and now you four. We trust you'll keep quiet," said Fred.
"Get on with it already! What did you do to them?" yelled Ron, growing as impatient as the rest of them.
"They have a Disillusion Charm on them, so they can pass through under the door undetected and unnoticed! We've tested them already, on mum and dad, actually. They also have been charmed to get passed the Imperturbable charm. Quite the project. And they work quite well. Mum hasn't the slightest clue about these babies!" said George throwing them all a string.
"That's brilliant!" cried Harry, astonished at what they had done to improve them. "It must have been difficult to get the strings to get passed Imperturbable," he added.
"They bloody hell were! It took us nearly 4 months to come up with a way to do it on something as small and fragile as the Extendable Ears. And now is the time to finally have our work paid off!" said Fred, glowing.
"I don't know about this. What if your mum is standing at the door in case something like this happens, or what if an Order member notices, or Dumbledore! We'll all be in enormous trouble," said Hermione, trying to hide the admiration from the twins charm work behind her harsh voice.
"Oh, come on, Hermione, you know you want to, if not, just go upstairs and remain clueless of the events of the Order meeting! It's your loss, not oursm" said Ron, teasing her, annoyed all the same.
She glared, and stubbornly took the string. The twins smiled at her, and beckoned for the rest to follow them. Leaving their untouched dinner, Ginny quietly closed the door behind them. Before anything else, George whipped a spoon at the door, checking to see if it was Imperturbed. He beamed at the sight of the spoon bouncing right off the unharmed door.
"That means they can't hear us either! That's perfect!" whispered Fred.
They all took the strings and stuck them underneath the miniature crack in the old wooden door and shoved the other end into their ears for superior hearing. They were right, thought Harry, these have wicked reception!
The meeting had obviously just begun, because Dumbledore was speaking to the rest of them.
"Welcome to tonight's Order Meeting. As you all know, Lucius Malfoy has escaped the watch of the Aurors to join Voldemort and his inner circle of Death Eaters once again. I have my own theories on the reason he was taken away without any other prisoners at his side. We also must discuss the fact that neither guard nor Auror was aware of this sudden turn of events or how in the world they entered unseen.
"In my own opinion, I have a feeling that was just a practice drill. Voldemort, I'm sure, probably did need Malfoy back among them, as he was a main man in Muggle-torture, and a leader, and feared by other members below him. But I have reason to believe that Malfoy's escape was a test to see what difficulties they faced if a full-fledged jailbreak occurs. It was also a way of showing us how easy it is to fool a number of Aurors and guards, and that if he wanted, Voldemort could very well have a jailbreak, and a very dangerous event that could be. That is my reason to believe that no one was killed. They were left unharmed, but just this once, because next time, they will be killed if they cross the paths of a Death Eater on an assignment. It is now time for me to turn over this discussion over to Severus Snape, who will now give a description of the events and his theories on what will happen next."
The group sat outside the door drinking in every word they heard. They sat in anticipation, glancing at each other nervously, waiting to hear about Snape's report on Voldemort's next plans of action.
And to shniz, I've been starting to make my chapters longer, starting with this one! I also think that my next chapter may possibly take longer, because for the next two weeks, I have lifeguard training! But I'll still try my best to update soon!
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Chapter 6 "Headline News"
The next morning, Harry was awakened by the delicious smell of sizzling bacon and sausage being cooked in the kitchen. Ron was already awake, because his bed was made and tidy. So he quickly dressed and headed down to the kitchen. He was welcomed by the Weasleys', Lupin, and Tonks.
"Good morning, Harry!" greeted Tonks, who today had shoulder-length curls, which were blond with electric blue highlights the color of Moody's eye.
"Morning!" said Harry, who seemed to be in a very cheerful mood.
"Harry, dear, would you like something to eat? Sausage, bacon, toast, eggs?" asked Mrs. Weasley, who seemed to be pretending that last night never happened.
"Sure, I'll have a little bit of everything, thanks."
Harry sat down at the kitchen table, between Hermione and Ron. Across from him was Mr. Weasley and Remus, who both, as usual, were reading two editions of the Daily Prophet and drinking some freshly, brewed coffee. Lupin was looking peaky, but delighted all the same. Harry stopped to wonder why, but then realized that later this week was the full moon.
Since everyone was already downing his or her breakfasts', Harry waited by reading the headline in the Daily Prophet which was facing towards him as Lupin read the inside. He was so startled at what he saw, that since he was in mid-drink, he spit out his pumpkin juice right on his empty plate and his cheerful feeling was gone.
"Alright, there, Harry?" asked Ron, patting his back because Harry was still choking on the juice.
"Yeah...yeah...fine, thanks," spluttered Harry, who seemed to be anxious on reading the headline which read:
AZKABAN ESCAPE: LUCIUS MALFOY ESCAPES THE DEPTHS OF THE AURORS
Azkaban Prison: Late last night, a known Death Eater, Lucius Malfoy succeeded to escape the Azkaban premises. While Aurors were on duty, they were rendered unconscious as no less than five unimprisoned Death Eaters broke into the prison. None of them have any idea of how they got to be unconscious, nor how the Death Eaters broke in without the knowledge of the guards. After they were awakened, they searched the premises for escaped prisoners and found that Lucius' cell, was empty, with a note on the wall bearing the words, 'I thank you, on my behalf, for allowing me to so easily escape from these walls with my fellow acquaintances'. There is no sign of the escapee any where, nor is there a sign of forced entry. The Aurors are still on the lookout for this man, among the many other Death Eaters, who have escaped the confinement in these walls. We caution all of you to keep a lookout for anything suspicious, and warn you not to act on this, but to inform the Aurors at the Ministry of Magic.
After finishing the article, he was brought back down to earth by the sound of Ron's voice.
"Harry! Harry! Finally, I get a response. What did I do to become ignored all of a sudden?" asked Ron, somewhat offended by Harry's actions.
But as Harry glanced over to Hermione, he noticed that she too, was reading the article on Lucius Malfoy, and was finished soon after Harry.
"Hermione...what? Have you decided to ignore me too now? What the bloody hell did I do to you both?" asked Ron, who was beginning to sound impatient.
"No, Ron! You did nothing. But if you were paying attention, you would've realized the reason Harry wasn't responding, he was reading," whispered Hermione, who had an anxious tone from reading the newspaper.
Since Ron still had a look of utter confusion upon his face, Harry jabbed his finger in the direction of the Daily Prophet.
"That, is why I didn't hear you Ron," said Harry, a little annoyed by the fact Ron hadn't taken note of the newspaper.
They both waited and watched Ron as he finished the article, his eyes widening with every sentence.
"What—How...how did this happen?" cried Ron, who seemed to be completely in shock that Lucius Malfoy was no longer imprisoned.
Everyone in the room had now taken note of the three's odd behavior, all staring at them as if they'd gone completely mad. But both Remus and Mr. Weasley got the picture, and explained before the three of them had a chance to speak.
"I see you've read the headline news in the Daily Prophet," said Remus with a very grim smile. "In case you were all wondering, last night, Lucius Malfoy, helped by others, of course, managed to escape from Azkaban. Why he needed to be personally escaped by himself is beyond our knowledge."
"Five Death Eaters broke in to accompany him on his departure from the prison," said Mr. Weasley darkly.
"But how is that possible, with all the Aurors and guards, how could they have even gotten into the grounds without being caught?" asked Ginny, who still seemed to be unconvinced of last night's events.
"We have no idea," Tonks chimed in. "There were Aurors everywhere, but somehow, the Death Eaters managed to knock them all unconscious before they could even make the slightest reaction, let alone sound the alarm of a possible escape. We assume that they were all hit with an extremely powerful Stupefy curse. Why they weren't even killed is beyond our knowledge as well."
"So, that's just one more of Voldemort's loyal servants back in his inner circle, back to join his master once again," said Harry, with a gloomy smile. "Why would they just seize Malfoy, though, why not an all out jailbreak?" questioned Harry, as he absentmindedly picked at his breakfast, which was completely cold on his plate.
"We aren't even sure of that. We have an Order meeting tonight, and plan to hear Dumbledore's outlook on all of this. I'm anxious to see what he has in mind," said Mr. Weasley, folding up his morning paper and taking a sip of his black coffee.
After his statement, everyone sat in silent disbelief, that a man that had been dueling in the Department of Mysteries was free once again, to join the group that killed so many and tore families apart.
After judging that this conversation was over, Mrs. Weasley took this as an opportunity to send the children away from the kitchen. "Alright kids, since it seems that you are all finished, would you please kindly go into the sitting room while I clear off the table?" she said, which sounded more as an order than really a simple question.
Without an argument, Harry, the Weasley children, and Hermione hulled out of the kitchen and headed for the sitting room to discuss their latest knowledge learned at breakfast. They all took seats, while Ginny sat by the fire, becoming hypnotized by its flames licking the firewood .
"I would just like to know how in the world they managed to get past so many Aurors and guards, I mean, that has to be near impossible to get through undetected!" asked Hermione, who seemed to believe that the Death Eaters' escape plan seemed to be unachievable.
"Maybe they didn't need to escape! Maybe they were the guards and Aurors, maybe they were the Death Eaters and were on the inside, spying and getting information for You-Know-Who!" said Ron.
"Ron, would you just say the name already. I mean, come on, Hermione does! Just say it, Voldemort," said Harry in severity. He was growing tired of hearing 'You-Know-Who' instead of the real name.
Ron just flinched at the sound of his name and said nothing. The group sat in grim silence letting their ideas and thoughts of how the escape happened to rack their brains. Finally, they were startled by Ginny breaking the uneasy silence, speaking, but still staring at the red-hot flames.
"What do you say we have a game of Exploding Snap, it's boring in here just sitting and thinking. Me, Fred, and George on a team while Harry, Ron, and Hermione on the other," she announced.
So they all gathered round and played quite a painful game of Exploding Snap. At the end Hermione and Ron were sporting six singed fingers each, Harry with some sizzling hair on his brow and a hole in his sleeve, while Ginny, Fred, and George had holes burnt in their clothes. By the time their game had ended, it was time for lunch, which were turkey sandwiches, cut into halves. They spent their time eating discussing Quidditch moves and tricks, while Hermione, who was uninterested, stroked Crookshanks on the fire hearth rug.
By the time dinnertime arrived, the Order meeting was about to begin. Mrs. Weasley hurried around the kitchen making some last-minute appetizers, and served the children.
"Now, I expect all of you to help tidy up the kitchen after eating, and to just go on upstairs for the rest of the night, because none of you will be needed in the meeting," she said, as she eyed Fred and George, "that means you both as well!" And with no further look, she turned and shut the door behind her, her footsteps fading further away till they heard a final door click shut.
"Wow, from the sound of her, it would seem as though she didn't want us to overhear the Order meeting!" said George, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Too right you are George, it would seem as though she suspected us of eavesdropping in on the meeting! What a mad idea!" said Fred, joking, but still as much disdain in his voice as his twin brother's.
They all laughed and thought back to the Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes Extendable Ears. But while they were all laughing Fred and George whispered hurriedly.
"Do you think we could risk it? Mum might be at the door, just in case we would pull something like this off," whispered George.
"When are we ever going to have a greater chance than this? It's a once in a lifetime opportunity! We already know it will carry through, and the reception is clearer than ever!" cried George.
They all looked at them questioningly. They knew the twins were up to something, planning their next scheme, but there was a trace of anxious excitement in their voices. Noticing the curious glances, the twins smiled at each other, nodded, and pulled something that looked similar to string from their pockets.
"A whole new line! New and improved Extendable Ears!" said Fred proudly.
"They've been tweaked a bit to get past mum's obstacles. We really must thank her, because she was the reason we did this to begin with!" added George, informing the rest of the group.
"They're still in testing, no one knows about these little buggers yet but us, Lee, and now you four. We trust you'll keep quiet," said Fred.
"Get on with it already! What did you do to them?" yelled Ron, growing as impatient as the rest of them.
"They have a Disillusion Charm on them, so they can pass through under the door undetected and unnoticed! We've tested them already, on mum and dad, actually. They also have been charmed to get passed the Imperturbable charm. Quite the project. And they work quite well. Mum hasn't the slightest clue about these babies!" said George throwing them all a string.
"That's brilliant!" cried Harry, astonished at what they had done to improve them. "It must have been difficult to get the strings to get passed Imperturbable," he added.
"They bloody hell were! It took us nearly 4 months to come up with a way to do it on something as small and fragile as the Extendable Ears. And now is the time to finally have our work paid off!" said Fred, glowing.
"I don't know about this. What if your mum is standing at the door in case something like this happens, or what if an Order member notices, or Dumbledore! We'll all be in enormous trouble," said Hermione, trying to hide the admiration from the twins charm work behind her harsh voice.
"Oh, come on, Hermione, you know you want to, if not, just go upstairs and remain clueless of the events of the Order meeting! It's your loss, not oursm" said Ron, teasing her, annoyed all the same.
She glared, and stubbornly took the string. The twins smiled at her, and beckoned for the rest to follow them. Leaving their untouched dinner, Ginny quietly closed the door behind them. Before anything else, George whipped a spoon at the door, checking to see if it was Imperturbed. He beamed at the sight of the spoon bouncing right off the unharmed door.
"That means they can't hear us either! That's perfect!" whispered Fred.
They all took the strings and stuck them underneath the miniature crack in the old wooden door and shoved the other end into their ears for superior hearing. They were right, thought Harry, these have wicked reception!
The meeting had obviously just begun, because Dumbledore was speaking to the rest of them.
"Welcome to tonight's Order Meeting. As you all know, Lucius Malfoy has escaped the watch of the Aurors to join Voldemort and his inner circle of Death Eaters once again. I have my own theories on the reason he was taken away without any other prisoners at his side. We also must discuss the fact that neither guard nor Auror was aware of this sudden turn of events or how in the world they entered unseen.
"In my own opinion, I have a feeling that was just a practice drill. Voldemort, I'm sure, probably did need Malfoy back among them, as he was a main man in Muggle-torture, and a leader, and feared by other members below him. But I have reason to believe that Malfoy's escape was a test to see what difficulties they faced if a full-fledged jailbreak occurs. It was also a way of showing us how easy it is to fool a number of Aurors and guards, and that if he wanted, Voldemort could very well have a jailbreak, and a very dangerous event that could be. That is my reason to believe that no one was killed. They were left unharmed, but just this once, because next time, they will be killed if they cross the paths of a Death Eater on an assignment. It is now time for me to turn over this discussion over to Severus Snape, who will now give a description of the events and his theories on what will happen next."
The group sat outside the door drinking in every word they heard. They sat in anticipation, glancing at each other nervously, waiting to hear about Snape's report on Voldemort's next plans of action.
