Party In The Dungeons
Chapter 10 – The Letter
Disclaimer – I do not own Harry Potter or any other characters metioned in this story.
"Oh my god-" Ginny screamed and ran in the opposite direction as fast as she could. Hermione and Harry looked at each other, eyebrows raised.
"Pathetic," Hermione spat. She dug into her robes and pulled out her wand.
"Stupef-" Harry stopped her suddenly.
"What are you doing?" Hermione shrieked at him.
"Come on, lets have a little fun," Harry winked. Hermione smiled evilly, briefly aimed and,
"Crucio!" Hermione cried. Ginny screamed in agony as the curse hit her, and fell to the ground in a heap. Harry winced, but hid it as Hermione turned and looked at him.
"Not bad," Hermione credited herself, eyes fixed on Ginny as she advanced towards her. Ginny tried to pull herself up, but it was too hard. Her arms wouldn't support her. She was too weak. She slowly turned her head towards Hermione.
"Well, well, well," Hermioned smirked. "Look what we've got here." Ginny glared at her, breathing heavily and trying to regain her strength. She tried to push herself up again, but she failed.
"I told you it would come to this," Hermione said in a deep voice. She seemed to be in some kind of trance. Her eyes, now only slits, burning red with truimph.
"Voldemort," Ginny breathed. She used all the strength she could to pull herself up off the ground. She grabbed on to the wall quickly to keep herself from falling.
"Good, good. You always were a bright one," Voldemort hissed through Hermione. "However, I never thought you were foolish enough to leave the Dark Side."
"I was foolish to ever go to the Dark Side!" Ginny screamed. "I'm glad I left!"
"You can never truly leave the Dark Side!" Voldemort hissed. "My mark is burned on your skin." Ginny absentmindedly touched her forearm. "As long as I am living, you are my slave."
Ginny tore her eyes away from Hermione. She couldn't stand to look into those horrible eyes any longer.
"What did you do to them?" Ginny demanded, turning around to look at Harry, then back at Hermione, only to return her gaze back to the ground.
"Tortured them for days, starved them. By then, even Harry Potter couldn't fight off the Imperius Curse," Voldemort explained with a smirk. On cue, Harry walked up from behind Hermione. He looked a little dazed.
"Thank you, Potter, good job. But I'd watch my back if I were you," Voldemort warned him pointing behind Harry's shoulder. Harry span around suddenly, ducking as Draco threw a punch at him. Draco looked a little startled, but quickly pulled his wand out of his pocket, holding it out steadily in front of him. Harry's was already raised and pointed directly at Draco's heart. Hermione had hers pointed at Ginny, who was trembling on the ground.
"Put your wands down Potter, Granger," Draco demanded, his eyes flashing dangerously.
"Kill him, Harry," Voldemort commanded. "I have no further use for him." Harry pointed his wand at Draco. But for some reason, Draco did not attack him. There was something different about him. Something about Harry... Then it clicked. Harry nodded at Draco. That was all Draco needed.
"What are you waiting for?" Voldemort rasped impatiently, Hermione's wand still pointing at Ginny.
"The opportune moment," Harry muttered softly, giving one last look at Draco before he span around and pointed his wand at Hermione.
"Stupefy!" Harry cried and before Hermione had time to react, the red beam of light shot out of his wand and hit her in the chest. Voldemort's scream echoed through the hall as Hermione collapsed unconcious on the floor. Everyone stared at Hermione's now unconcious figure, all breathing heavily. Ginny was the first to speak.
"Wh-What? H-How...?" Ginny murmered. She felt a sudden wave of dizzyness wash over her, and her knees buckled. The world around her instantly dissolved into black, with only one thought it her head as she sank into unconciousness; how?
"She'll have to have some testing and you'll have to keep a close eye on her for the next few months." Ginny groaned inwardly and rolled over, covering her face with her pillow. She blearily opened an eye and peeked out from under the pillow. There were five people crowded around a bed a few down from Ginny's. She moved the pillow, squinting as the sunlight hit her eyes for the first time, and had a closer look.
The two people facing in Ginny's direction were Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge. Snape was at the end of the bed, wearing a frown on his face. His arms were crossed over his chest. And next to him on the other side with their backs to Ginny were McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey.
"Yes, I can assure you, Minister, that we will do so. It was quite a shock to find two of our top students under the influence of the Imperius Curse. I must admit, even I did not notice anything different," Dumbledore was telling Fudge. "It was quite an unusual curse."
"Well it does seem that Potter managed to break off from it at the end, or so Mr Malfoy tells me," McGonagall added.
"Yes, we are all very lucky that no one was killed. I expect your nurse should be able to tend to those injured?" Fudge said carelessly to Dumbledore, inclining his head towards Madam Pomfrey.
"Yes, of course. She's one of the best," Dumbledore smiled. Madam Pomfrey held her head up proudly and smiled at Dumbledore.
"Thank you, Headmaster," Madam Pomfrey said professionally, standing tall, trying to ignore the red tinge slowly creeping up on her cheeks. Fudge nodded his head to show he accepted the matter but his eyes told that he disapproved of the school nurse.
"Be sure nothing like this happens again, Dumbledore. Today could have come out a lot worse than it did," Fudge told him sternly.
"Voldemort is a very strong man, Cornelius, and getting stronger by the day," Dumbledore warned. "Even I cannot predict his every move. But I can assure you I will try my best to make sure this school and its students and staff are safe." Fudge nodded curtly.
"You'd better, Albus. Our side cannot afford to lose anymore people to the Dark Lord." With a warning glance Fudge turned on his heel and left the Hospital Wing.
"How dare he threaten you?!" McGonagall hissed as soon as the door had closed shut. "You are doing more than he is to save our side, and he's the Minister of Magic!" Dumbledore rested his hand on McGonagall's shoulder and she visibly relaxed.
"Now, now, Minerva. He is obviously under a lot of pressure. Can you imagine how many owls he gets sent to him every morning?" Dumbledore asked. McGonagall shook her head. "People want to know what happened, Minerva. People want to know what is happening. The world is changing. Cornelius is right, we cannot afford to lose anymore of our side to Voldemort." Dumbledore paused.
"The Final Battle is nearing, Minerva." McGonagall couldn't suppress a gasp of horror. Snape, though, didn't seem as though it surprised him. "I can sense it. The battle will decide the winner out of light and dark. If Harry loses, Minerva, we all lose. Harry is our only hope."
"But he's just a boy, Albus! He is just a boy! No single boy should be put under that amount of pressure. The Dark Lord ... of all people he has to kill or be killed by ... Oh Dumbledore, why should such a burden be placed on him? Surely there is another wizard somewhere in this world who-"
"But there isn't, Minerva. There isn't another wizard anywhere in this world who can defeat him. The prophecy has been made-"
"That's a whole load of rubbish!"
"The prophecy," Dumbledore continued loudly, "is very accurate, Minerva, as you well know. Every single part of that prophecy has come true, save for the last bit. I know you do not approve of Divination as a proper form of magic, Minerva, and there are only a few True Seers in the world. And whether you like her or not, you are going to have to accept the fact that Sybill Trewlawny was correct on this prediction."
McGonagall narrowed her eyes, but kept silent.
"We are all going to have to accept the fact that the prophecy is indeed true," Dumbledore said, now turning to Snape as well, "and that Harry will have to kill or be killed by Lord Voldemort. That decision will be made soon. I am sure of it, Minerva. How it will come about, no one knows. But I am sure Voldemort has plans, many plans infact. We're all going to have to keep a close eye ..."
As soon as Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall left the Hospital Wing, Ginny stopped pretending to be asleep and snapped her eyes open. Her heart was beating at a very fast rate and her forehead was quite hot.
Ginny knew of the prophecy. She had heard Harry talking to Ron and Hermione about it earlier in the year. She knew what Harry would be faced with. She just didn't know it would be so soon.
The Final Battle. Ginny couldn't believe it. How could it be? Who will win?
Dark couldn't possibly prevail over light ... could it?
Ginny felt a sudden wave of dizziness wash over her. She suddenly remembered why she was here. All thoughts of it had previously left her mind whilst she was listening to McGonagall's and Dumbeldore's conversation.
So Harry and Hermione had both been put under the Imperius Curse. Ginny could not believe she did not notice. She knew something was up ... she should have picked it.
A sudden thought hit her.
The Imperius Curse. Harry could fight that off ... couldn't he? In his fourth year he was able to resist it when Moody put it on him, wasn't he?
Ginny suddenly felt sick. Voldemort must have been really horrible to Harry and Hermione. What would he have done to them? Torture them, obviously. Ginny groaned and put a hand to her stomach.
It was all her fault. If she had have done something at the party in the dungeons that night, maybe she could have saved them ... maybe she could have saved Ron ...
Ginny shook her head violently. Why was she thinking these horrible, horrible thoughts? Tears ran down her cheeks. She wished things would go back to how they were. That Voldemort would just die, disappear and the world would be rid of him at last.
But what would that take?
Ginny knew exactly what it would take.
Harry. And there was only a fifty-fifty chance he would win.
"But he's just a boy, Albus! He is just a boy!" The words rang in her head.
McGonagall was right. And Voldemort was a grown man. Much stronger than Harry, both mentally and physically.
Would his mothers love save Harry this time?
Ginny sure hoped so.
Ginny had soon fallen asleep after the teachers had left the Hospital Wing. She felt so drained of energy.
She had shuddered when she thought about the Cruciatus Curse Hermione had put on her. The pain was so excruciating she had thought if it had been on for only a few moments longer, she would have wished for her own death.
Ginny did not wake again until later that night. She would have slept longer but something awoke her.
There was a soft tapping at the window just above her bed. Ginny rolled over and stuffed the pillow over her head, groaning. It had to be quite late, for it was quite dark in the hospital wing. Only two candles were lit in lanterns hanging off the wall but that did nothing to rid the darkness.
Ginny sat up slowly and looked up at the window through blurred eyes. A large black eagle owl was perched on the sill, an envelope tied to its leg. It was Draco's owl. She carefully stood up on her bed and reached for the latch on the window. It unlocked with a soft click. Ginny pushed it open and the owl quietly soared into the Hospital wing. It flew around once before landing on her bedside table and stuck its leg out.
Ginny looked at it, confused, and sat down crosslegged on her bed. She reached forward and undid the tie and released the letter. The owl took off as soon as she did so, soaring through the open window into the night.
Ginny looked back down at the letter. It was addressed to her, her name in neat, fancy writing on the front of the envelope. The slowly turned it over. It was sealed with the Malfoy crest. She trailed a finger around it before ripping open the envelope. She pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper and unfolded it.
Dear Ginny,
Sorry if sending this wakes you, but I feel that you should know before everyone else does tomorrow. It will be all over the papers tomorrow even though my family has tried to prohibit the article from being published.
My father has been captured and imprisoned in Azkaban for being caught torturing Muggles under the orders of Lord Voldemort. My mother is distraught and a mess and I have had to return home.
I know this is a difficult time for all this. I hope you a feeling well. I will try to visit you as soon as I can but I fear it wont be for a while.
With much love,
Draco Malfoy.
