A/N: My dear friend, Sarah, and I have written this chapter together. I
can't really tell you what she wrote, and what I wrote, because everything
is melded together. You might read a paragraph she wrote, or one that I
wrote, or one that we wrote together.
DISCLAIMER: (see previous chapters)
Chapter 11 Abuse and Capture
Ginny was lying in the bed where Madame Pomfrey had left her the night before after giving her a pain-killing potion. She could think of nothing else except Snape uttering those two horrible words. Avada Kadavra. He was one of the most loyal teachers to Dumbledore and she still trusted him. Professor Snape had known that the curse would not kill her; maybe it was in Dumbledore's best interest to prepare her for the worst. This may have been a test just to see how the killing curse would affect her immortality. She had worked with Snape for years, why should he want to hurt her now? The name Voldemort surfaced in her thoughts, but she shoved it away. Snape was on their side, but she could never forget the fake Mad-Eye Moody using the Imperious Curse for teaching purposes. With that final thought she another potion and slept.
Harry had been restless and slept fitfully. Several times the boys in his dorm had woken him up wondering if it might be the Dark Lord getting into his mind again. So he decided to dress and move out to the common room and at least allow them some sleep. He kept thinking about Ginny. Is she all right? Did something attack her down in the dungeons? The name Tom Riddle kept coming to mind. The diary and the Basilisk were both dead and gone, but with Voldemort's return more things seemed possible. And surprisingly enough he worried about Snape. Had something happened to the Potions Master? Or had something possessed both him and Ginny?
As the hours passed, other students started waking up and soon Ron and Hermione were there as well. "Good Morning Ron. Harry," said a bright and ready Hermione while Ron just mumbled a "Hello" to them both. Then Hermione winked impishly at Harry and walked over to the sleepy Ron, and kissed him full on the lips. It lasted about two minutes, but it certainly gave Ron a jump-start to the day.
As soon as class let out that day, Harry, Ron, and Hermione rushed to the hospital wing without bothering to stop by the Gryffindor Common Room. Harry silently led them towards Ginny's bed, where they found her currently sleeping.
"What do you think happened to her last night?" asked Ron, looking at his sister concernedly.
"I don't know, but she doesn't seemed to be hurt, at least physically," answered Hermione. "What did Madam Pomfrey say when you brought her in, Harry?"
"Nothing, really," he replied. "She just sent me back to the dormitories."
They stood silently by Ginny's bedside, watching her sleep. Her red hair was spread on the pillow, and her skin looked unusually pale. She was sleeping fitfully, and every so often frowned in her slumber.
Harry sighed. This was dangerous. Too dangerous. Ginny had to stop going to classes with Snape if this was how she was going to be reacting. But he didn't understand. She seemed to be fine taking the classes before, and they had reenergized her. Without the weight of unused dark, powerful magic on her own magic, she had been more lively and animated. She always was, of course, Ginny was a very outgoing person, but sometimes she had to force herself to act normally, which wreaked havoc on her health. This didn't make sense.
And Ron and Hermione. Harry was feeling guilty lying to them, especially Ron. It was his little sister that got hurt, and, if Dumbledore's plan failed, then- well, he would no longer have a little sister. Ginny would die. There was now no question about it. Besides, Ron and Hermione both would rather die than betray them. They could trust them to keep Ginny's secret.
So, Harry conjured up chairs for them to sit by Ginny's bedside, and started to whisper to them the entire story: how Ginny was immortal, how she had accidentally killed Lucius Malfoy, how they had both been taking lessons and training with Tonks and Lupin, and about Ginny's lessons with Snape. Hermione looked positively terrified, Ron was livid.
"So Snape did something to my sister?" he asked furiously. "Snape was teaching her some Dark Arts spell and Ginny got hurt?"
"I don't know if that was what happened last night, Ron," said Harry. "Although if it was, I say we kill the old black bat." He turned his eyes back to Ginny and was surprised to see her brown eyes looking at him, tears streaking her face.
"Ginny?" Harry asked tentatively. Ginny squeezed her eyes closed and got into a sitting position.
"Oh, Ginny, are you all right?" asked Hermione. "Do you remember what happened?"
At her words, Ginny allowed herself to cry. The other three exchanged a worried glance before Ron hugged his sister and tried fruitlessly to clam her down. "He cast the killing curse on me," she managed to sob out.
Hermione gasped, tears welling up in her own eyes as she saw her friend's anguish. "Snape did what to you?" asked Harry, his anger rising.
"It was horrible!" she exclaimed. "I've never felt so much pain in my life. It was like someone was trying to squeeze my heart, and the blood in my veins froze. It lasted less than a minute, but I never want to feel that much pain ever again!"
"I'll kill him," declared Ron calmly and determinedly. "I'm going to tear that bastard apart."
"Ron, no," Ginny said weakly. "There's no point, just let it go."
"What do you mean, there's no point?!?"
"Gin, that imbecile hurt you, he could've killed you!" exclaimed Harry.
"It won't do any good," she said. "It'll just get you in trouble."
"But, Ginny-"
"Dumbledore. I'll tell Dumbledore."
Things seemed to return almost to the normal way of things. Ginny was let out of the hospital wing on Wednesday, and although she hadn't talked much to anyone and only left the dorms for regular and training classes, she kept her promise to Ron to tell Dumbledore immediately.
"He was absolutely enraged," she said to the others. "I've never seen him that angry. He even scared McGonagall when she came in to talk to him."
She seemed to be more and more tired over the last week. Ron didn't know what to make of it and Hermione had tried to talk with her, but all she got were shrugs and uhuh's.
At exactly seven that night, Harry entered the Shrieking Shack. Jenny arrived shortly after him.
"All right then, let's get started. We have a lot to do today." She clapped her hands together, and Harry looked around, expecting something to happen. Nothing did. Instead, Jenny waved her hand again, and all the curtains closed.
"Now, I'm sure you've casted a Shield Charm before," she said. Harry nodded slightly, and she continued. "Well, what we're going to be doing is a bit similar, but also extremely different. We're going to set up wards around the Shack so that no one can detect the magic we're doing here. I've just removed the old charms that were set up when Remus used this old place, so we're starting fresh.
"Now, magic has colors. I know that doesn't sound too believable, but it's true. The shade depends on what kind of magic you're using."
"Yours is blue," said Harry, recalling the blue light that had enveloped the room on their previous lesson. "My magic is green."
"That was Lily's favorite color," she smiled. Harry looked down at the floor sadly. "Don't be depressed, Harry. You should be happy to know that your mother is here with you, helping you, aiding your magic to help others. You are very much like your parents."
Harry smiled gratefully at her. Jenny took a deep breath. "Okay, now the first thing that you have to do is set a boundary for your protection wards. I want you to mentally draw boundaries in this room with the color green. Can you do that?"
Harry nodded and looked at the wall across from him. In his mind, he drew a green line right in front of the wall. The line glowed brightly, and he smiled. He turned and did the same thing to every wall in the room.
Jenny beamed at him. "Very good. I got say I've never taught anyone who learned so quickly. Although I have to say I'm not surprised. Wandless magic is done mentally, and I believe that you've already had some training in visualization and concentration from Dumbledore. He had you doing meditations and such, didn't he?"
"Yeah, he was teaching me Occlumency."
"Okay. So now that we have our boundaries," Jenny said, getting back onto the task at hand. "We have to set up the shields around these walls. I want you to focus all of your power on that wall right across from you," she explained, pointing to the wall. "Take the green line and expand it, make it longer, wider, until it covers the entire wall."
Harry furrowed his eyebrows in concentration. It was hard, but slowly and carefully, he had expanded the line to cover the wall. It glowed an emerald green. He turned and did the same to the other walls before Jenny even told him to.
"Well done, Harry!" Jenny applauded. "That was excellent. That shield is a very simple one, though. It only protects from mundane things, like a thief, or an unwanted guest. It's easy to take down from the outside, so we'll have to add some more shields. Now, you want to layer the shields, not combine them. When you combine them, you take things away from one shield to make way for another function."
Leading him step by step, Jenny helped him cast three more shields: one to hide magic, one to make it impossible to Apparate, but not Disapparate, from the Shack, and one that made it virtually impossible for anyone to enter the Shack unless they had Harry or Jenny's explicit permission.
"Excellent, Harry," Jenny said, looking proudly at him. "That was awesome. I think that we've done enough work for today. Next lesson we'll expand the shields so that cover the entire house. We would have done it tonight, but it still takes you a while to expand the shields, but with practice, you'll be able to do that in seconds soon."
"Cool," said Harry. "Hey, Jenny?"
"Yeah?"
"I was wondering when would I be able have a proper initiation. I was reading about them in your mom's book and it sounds really interesting, and- "
Jenny put her hands up to stop him. "Harry, right now, it will be close to impossible to have you have an initiation. We need to keep your powers a secret; they might just be the last surprise Voldemort ever gets. Besides, it's illegal in the wizarding world. You'd have to leave Hogwarts, and I don't think you want to do that right now, or do you?" Harry shook his head no. "Maybe after you leave Hogwarts." Harry nodded, thanked her, and waved goodbye, leaving the Shrieking Shack. 'Damn Voldemort,' he thought, walking back up to the castle. 'He manages to take anything that makes me happy even without knowing it.'
Professor Lupin arrived at Hogwarts on Monday, and entered his classroom amid cheers and applauses from the Gryffindor sixth years. He bowed and smiled gratefully at the class, then held his hands up. "Settle down everyone. Thank you for that welcome."
A loud whoop, which came from Dean Thomas, was heard through the room and all the students and their teacher laughed. "Thank you, Dean," Lupin said. "Now let's get down to business, shall we?"
Lupin's lessons seemed to be even more exciting and educative than when the kids were in their third year. Although his teaching style was the same, the lessons were much more exciting. The professor had managed to get his hands on another boggart, but instead of destroying it with the 'Riddikulus' spell, he made it transform into phlegrons, terrible beasts that lived in volcanoes and destroying everything in their paths. The phlegrons tended to incinerate humans when angered, and Professor Lupin taught the class to freeze the beasts when they were in close contact.
The year had started on a good note (despite Ginny's accident) and everything seemed to be going well. Harry had, with the help Ron and Katie Bell, who had been persuaded by Ginny to stay on the team as a reserve chaser, chosen Quidditch players for the remaining spots on the team. They held their very first practice the day before the Hogsmeade visit, and Harry had been particularly pleased with the way the team functioned and how everyone had gotten along.
He, Ron, and Ginny entered the Common Room to find it buzzing with excitement. "What's going on?" asked Ron to Hermione as they sat in front of the fire.
"The new rules for Hogsmeade visits were posted this afternoon," she answered. "Third years are no longer allowed to visit the village."
"What? Why?"
"Recent events have made the teachers post a lot of rules," Hermione shook her head. "Students are not longer permitted to leave the main street, unless they go with a teacher and have permission from their Head of House. The professors will be patrolling the village, along with Aurors, and I'm pretty certain that Order members are going to be there as well."
"That's to be expected," whispered Ginny. "They can't really let students out without supervision."
"True, but everyone seems to be upset with the rules. Dumbledore is even reinforcing the ones that were usually ignored before," the older girl replied. "We have a new curfew- 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM. And as soon as you return to the castle, you won't be allowed to go back for the rest of the day if it's before curfew. And I heard Lupin and McGonagall talking in the hallway just now. They are going to block every passage leading out of Hogwarts that Lupin knows about. So there'll be no way of sneaking in or out of the castle."
"If Fred and George had been here, they would have had a fit," said Ginny.
As the line of kids came down the stairs, Harry motioned to Ron and Hermione to wait. After a few moments at the end of the line came Ginny. She fell into step with the trio and they slowly followed the others.
The new restrictions meant they had a more limited choice of were to go. Ginny insisted on stopping by Honeydukes, while Hermione made them stop at the bookstore for almost an hour, and Ron went into Zonko's for another. Ginny's spirits seemed lifted, and she smiled more than she had in the previous weeks. Harry invited them all to butterbeers and they encountered Professor Lupin patrolling the Three Broomsticks. After an hour of conversation with their favorite teacher, Ron and Hermione left Harry and Ginny to wonder on their on.
They had been walking along Main street when they saw Professor Snape walking in the opposite direction. Ginny immediately blanched and her grip on Harry's hand increased. She pushed herself closer to him and he noted that she was shivering slightly.
"Are you okay, Gin?" he asked concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she looked over her shoulder to make sure the potions master was really gone.
"No Ginny, you're not okay," Harry argued. "Lately you've been quiet, and withdrawn. You seem scared of your shadow! I've never seen you like this. It's like you're suddenly terrified that something is about to happen, and it seems to intensify when you see Snape. Has he done something to you during classes?"
"No, he hasn't. He's been teaching me to defend myself Harry, you know that."
"I don't trust him," he stated simply.
"Well, I do."
"Then why were you trying to hide from him? Why were you shivering and go pale when you saw him?"
"I-"But Ginny never got the chance to explain. A sudden breeze picked up around them, and the street became suddenly dark. The people around them had gone quiet. Harry stilled and listened to every single noisy that was around them. Like everyone else, he felt them before seeing them. "Gin, can you cast a Patronus?" he asked softly.
"Yes," she whispered. That was when she saw them. A large group of Dementors, maybe about sixty of them, approaching the village, followed by an army of Death Eaters. She immediately drew out her wand, and ignoring Tom Riddle's voice and her own screams in her head, cast the Patronus charm. It didn't work the first time, but on the second try, a panther shot from her wand and ran towards the Dementors.
Harry cast the Patronus and Prongs immediately ran towards the Dark Lord's army. But his attention soon wavered as he recognized one of the hooded figures. His scar burned and he winced in pain. Voldemort.
Ron and Hermione ran up towards them. They had cast the Patronus as well. "Harry, what do we do now?" asked Ron. If he was afraid, he was hiding it very well. Ginny and Hermione looked at him anxiously.
"You three, get back up to the castle. Now." Harry ordered them.
"What?" Hermione shook her head.
"Get back to the castle," he repeated. "Voldemort. He's here."
"What?" the other three said at once.
"He's here, and you shouldn't stick around. Get back up to the castle."
"Like hell we will," Ron retorted angrily. "You think we're going to leave you alone to face him then you're insane!"
"Ron-"
"Don't you dare argue with us on this!" warned Hermione. She met his eyes, silently challenging him to order them to the castle again. Harry looked away first.
"Fine," he said. "But don't go too far away from the Order members." They ran towards the battle, where the Dementors were administering the Kiss to people and the Death Eaters were torturing others. Ginny and Hermione cast their Patronuses again, while Ron became involved in an intense duel with a Death Eater threatening a fourth year.
Harry stood were he was, knowing Voldemort had seen him, and that he would go to him. His scar felt like it was splitting apart. He thought he would collapse from the pain of it. But he stood firmly, every so often helping Hermione, Ginny, and Ron in their duels, but silently waiting for him.
Voldemort stopped only a few feet away from Harry. He pulled his hood down, and a new wave of pandemonium struck. The villagers ran in fear, and even some of the Aurors backed away from Harry and the Dark Lord. Even though he couldn't see her, Harry swore he heard Hermione gasp somewhere behind him.
"And we meet again, Potter," said the Dark Lord in a hiss. "But you're not the one I'm after. Not today." The streets went completely quiet; it was so dark that had Harry put his hand in front of his face, he wouldn't have been able to see it. And then, in a second, everything was light again. The Dementors, the Death Eaters, and Voldemort were gone, leaving only destruction in the small village of Hogsmeade.
Students had been instructed to go back to the castle immediately. Harry turned, the pain in his scar reduced to a slight annoyance, and walked back with everyone else.
It was later that night that the final number of casualties had been announced to the school: ten people from the village had been given the Kiss, four Hogwarts students had met with the same fate. Thirty people died that day as well, fourteen of them being from Hogwarts. Harry later learned that Katie Bell's body had been found near the Three Broomsticks. Five people had disappeared, their bodies neither found, the person not being accounted for: Professor Snape, Madam Pince, Colin Creevy, Draco Malfoy, and Ginny Weasley.
A/N: Well, what do you think? Be nice to Sarah, she's a great writer, and hopefully she'll be writing fics of her own pretty soon. Let's show our support by leaving a review.
Love, Amalia
DISCLAIMER: (see previous chapters)
Chapter 11 Abuse and Capture
Ginny was lying in the bed where Madame Pomfrey had left her the night before after giving her a pain-killing potion. She could think of nothing else except Snape uttering those two horrible words. Avada Kadavra. He was one of the most loyal teachers to Dumbledore and she still trusted him. Professor Snape had known that the curse would not kill her; maybe it was in Dumbledore's best interest to prepare her for the worst. This may have been a test just to see how the killing curse would affect her immortality. She had worked with Snape for years, why should he want to hurt her now? The name Voldemort surfaced in her thoughts, but she shoved it away. Snape was on their side, but she could never forget the fake Mad-Eye Moody using the Imperious Curse for teaching purposes. With that final thought she another potion and slept.
Harry had been restless and slept fitfully. Several times the boys in his dorm had woken him up wondering if it might be the Dark Lord getting into his mind again. So he decided to dress and move out to the common room and at least allow them some sleep. He kept thinking about Ginny. Is she all right? Did something attack her down in the dungeons? The name Tom Riddle kept coming to mind. The diary and the Basilisk were both dead and gone, but with Voldemort's return more things seemed possible. And surprisingly enough he worried about Snape. Had something happened to the Potions Master? Or had something possessed both him and Ginny?
As the hours passed, other students started waking up and soon Ron and Hermione were there as well. "Good Morning Ron. Harry," said a bright and ready Hermione while Ron just mumbled a "Hello" to them both. Then Hermione winked impishly at Harry and walked over to the sleepy Ron, and kissed him full on the lips. It lasted about two minutes, but it certainly gave Ron a jump-start to the day.
As soon as class let out that day, Harry, Ron, and Hermione rushed to the hospital wing without bothering to stop by the Gryffindor Common Room. Harry silently led them towards Ginny's bed, where they found her currently sleeping.
"What do you think happened to her last night?" asked Ron, looking at his sister concernedly.
"I don't know, but she doesn't seemed to be hurt, at least physically," answered Hermione. "What did Madam Pomfrey say when you brought her in, Harry?"
"Nothing, really," he replied. "She just sent me back to the dormitories."
They stood silently by Ginny's bedside, watching her sleep. Her red hair was spread on the pillow, and her skin looked unusually pale. She was sleeping fitfully, and every so often frowned in her slumber.
Harry sighed. This was dangerous. Too dangerous. Ginny had to stop going to classes with Snape if this was how she was going to be reacting. But he didn't understand. She seemed to be fine taking the classes before, and they had reenergized her. Without the weight of unused dark, powerful magic on her own magic, she had been more lively and animated. She always was, of course, Ginny was a very outgoing person, but sometimes she had to force herself to act normally, which wreaked havoc on her health. This didn't make sense.
And Ron and Hermione. Harry was feeling guilty lying to them, especially Ron. It was his little sister that got hurt, and, if Dumbledore's plan failed, then- well, he would no longer have a little sister. Ginny would die. There was now no question about it. Besides, Ron and Hermione both would rather die than betray them. They could trust them to keep Ginny's secret.
So, Harry conjured up chairs for them to sit by Ginny's bedside, and started to whisper to them the entire story: how Ginny was immortal, how she had accidentally killed Lucius Malfoy, how they had both been taking lessons and training with Tonks and Lupin, and about Ginny's lessons with Snape. Hermione looked positively terrified, Ron was livid.
"So Snape did something to my sister?" he asked furiously. "Snape was teaching her some Dark Arts spell and Ginny got hurt?"
"I don't know if that was what happened last night, Ron," said Harry. "Although if it was, I say we kill the old black bat." He turned his eyes back to Ginny and was surprised to see her brown eyes looking at him, tears streaking her face.
"Ginny?" Harry asked tentatively. Ginny squeezed her eyes closed and got into a sitting position.
"Oh, Ginny, are you all right?" asked Hermione. "Do you remember what happened?"
At her words, Ginny allowed herself to cry. The other three exchanged a worried glance before Ron hugged his sister and tried fruitlessly to clam her down. "He cast the killing curse on me," she managed to sob out.
Hermione gasped, tears welling up in her own eyes as she saw her friend's anguish. "Snape did what to you?" asked Harry, his anger rising.
"It was horrible!" she exclaimed. "I've never felt so much pain in my life. It was like someone was trying to squeeze my heart, and the blood in my veins froze. It lasted less than a minute, but I never want to feel that much pain ever again!"
"I'll kill him," declared Ron calmly and determinedly. "I'm going to tear that bastard apart."
"Ron, no," Ginny said weakly. "There's no point, just let it go."
"What do you mean, there's no point?!?"
"Gin, that imbecile hurt you, he could've killed you!" exclaimed Harry.
"It won't do any good," she said. "It'll just get you in trouble."
"But, Ginny-"
"Dumbledore. I'll tell Dumbledore."
Things seemed to return almost to the normal way of things. Ginny was let out of the hospital wing on Wednesday, and although she hadn't talked much to anyone and only left the dorms for regular and training classes, she kept her promise to Ron to tell Dumbledore immediately.
"He was absolutely enraged," she said to the others. "I've never seen him that angry. He even scared McGonagall when she came in to talk to him."
She seemed to be more and more tired over the last week. Ron didn't know what to make of it and Hermione had tried to talk with her, but all she got were shrugs and uhuh's.
At exactly seven that night, Harry entered the Shrieking Shack. Jenny arrived shortly after him.
"All right then, let's get started. We have a lot to do today." She clapped her hands together, and Harry looked around, expecting something to happen. Nothing did. Instead, Jenny waved her hand again, and all the curtains closed.
"Now, I'm sure you've casted a Shield Charm before," she said. Harry nodded slightly, and she continued. "Well, what we're going to be doing is a bit similar, but also extremely different. We're going to set up wards around the Shack so that no one can detect the magic we're doing here. I've just removed the old charms that were set up when Remus used this old place, so we're starting fresh.
"Now, magic has colors. I know that doesn't sound too believable, but it's true. The shade depends on what kind of magic you're using."
"Yours is blue," said Harry, recalling the blue light that had enveloped the room on their previous lesson. "My magic is green."
"That was Lily's favorite color," she smiled. Harry looked down at the floor sadly. "Don't be depressed, Harry. You should be happy to know that your mother is here with you, helping you, aiding your magic to help others. You are very much like your parents."
Harry smiled gratefully at her. Jenny took a deep breath. "Okay, now the first thing that you have to do is set a boundary for your protection wards. I want you to mentally draw boundaries in this room with the color green. Can you do that?"
Harry nodded and looked at the wall across from him. In his mind, he drew a green line right in front of the wall. The line glowed brightly, and he smiled. He turned and did the same thing to every wall in the room.
Jenny beamed at him. "Very good. I got say I've never taught anyone who learned so quickly. Although I have to say I'm not surprised. Wandless magic is done mentally, and I believe that you've already had some training in visualization and concentration from Dumbledore. He had you doing meditations and such, didn't he?"
"Yeah, he was teaching me Occlumency."
"Okay. So now that we have our boundaries," Jenny said, getting back onto the task at hand. "We have to set up the shields around these walls. I want you to focus all of your power on that wall right across from you," she explained, pointing to the wall. "Take the green line and expand it, make it longer, wider, until it covers the entire wall."
Harry furrowed his eyebrows in concentration. It was hard, but slowly and carefully, he had expanded the line to cover the wall. It glowed an emerald green. He turned and did the same to the other walls before Jenny even told him to.
"Well done, Harry!" Jenny applauded. "That was excellent. That shield is a very simple one, though. It only protects from mundane things, like a thief, or an unwanted guest. It's easy to take down from the outside, so we'll have to add some more shields. Now, you want to layer the shields, not combine them. When you combine them, you take things away from one shield to make way for another function."
Leading him step by step, Jenny helped him cast three more shields: one to hide magic, one to make it impossible to Apparate, but not Disapparate, from the Shack, and one that made it virtually impossible for anyone to enter the Shack unless they had Harry or Jenny's explicit permission.
"Excellent, Harry," Jenny said, looking proudly at him. "That was awesome. I think that we've done enough work for today. Next lesson we'll expand the shields so that cover the entire house. We would have done it tonight, but it still takes you a while to expand the shields, but with practice, you'll be able to do that in seconds soon."
"Cool," said Harry. "Hey, Jenny?"
"Yeah?"
"I was wondering when would I be able have a proper initiation. I was reading about them in your mom's book and it sounds really interesting, and- "
Jenny put her hands up to stop him. "Harry, right now, it will be close to impossible to have you have an initiation. We need to keep your powers a secret; they might just be the last surprise Voldemort ever gets. Besides, it's illegal in the wizarding world. You'd have to leave Hogwarts, and I don't think you want to do that right now, or do you?" Harry shook his head no. "Maybe after you leave Hogwarts." Harry nodded, thanked her, and waved goodbye, leaving the Shrieking Shack. 'Damn Voldemort,' he thought, walking back up to the castle. 'He manages to take anything that makes me happy even without knowing it.'
Professor Lupin arrived at Hogwarts on Monday, and entered his classroom amid cheers and applauses from the Gryffindor sixth years. He bowed and smiled gratefully at the class, then held his hands up. "Settle down everyone. Thank you for that welcome."
A loud whoop, which came from Dean Thomas, was heard through the room and all the students and their teacher laughed. "Thank you, Dean," Lupin said. "Now let's get down to business, shall we?"
Lupin's lessons seemed to be even more exciting and educative than when the kids were in their third year. Although his teaching style was the same, the lessons were much more exciting. The professor had managed to get his hands on another boggart, but instead of destroying it with the 'Riddikulus' spell, he made it transform into phlegrons, terrible beasts that lived in volcanoes and destroying everything in their paths. The phlegrons tended to incinerate humans when angered, and Professor Lupin taught the class to freeze the beasts when they were in close contact.
The year had started on a good note (despite Ginny's accident) and everything seemed to be going well. Harry had, with the help Ron and Katie Bell, who had been persuaded by Ginny to stay on the team as a reserve chaser, chosen Quidditch players for the remaining spots on the team. They held their very first practice the day before the Hogsmeade visit, and Harry had been particularly pleased with the way the team functioned and how everyone had gotten along.
He, Ron, and Ginny entered the Common Room to find it buzzing with excitement. "What's going on?" asked Ron to Hermione as they sat in front of the fire.
"The new rules for Hogsmeade visits were posted this afternoon," she answered. "Third years are no longer allowed to visit the village."
"What? Why?"
"Recent events have made the teachers post a lot of rules," Hermione shook her head. "Students are not longer permitted to leave the main street, unless they go with a teacher and have permission from their Head of House. The professors will be patrolling the village, along with Aurors, and I'm pretty certain that Order members are going to be there as well."
"That's to be expected," whispered Ginny. "They can't really let students out without supervision."
"True, but everyone seems to be upset with the rules. Dumbledore is even reinforcing the ones that were usually ignored before," the older girl replied. "We have a new curfew- 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM. And as soon as you return to the castle, you won't be allowed to go back for the rest of the day if it's before curfew. And I heard Lupin and McGonagall talking in the hallway just now. They are going to block every passage leading out of Hogwarts that Lupin knows about. So there'll be no way of sneaking in or out of the castle."
"If Fred and George had been here, they would have had a fit," said Ginny.
As the line of kids came down the stairs, Harry motioned to Ron and Hermione to wait. After a few moments at the end of the line came Ginny. She fell into step with the trio and they slowly followed the others.
The new restrictions meant they had a more limited choice of were to go. Ginny insisted on stopping by Honeydukes, while Hermione made them stop at the bookstore for almost an hour, and Ron went into Zonko's for another. Ginny's spirits seemed lifted, and she smiled more than she had in the previous weeks. Harry invited them all to butterbeers and they encountered Professor Lupin patrolling the Three Broomsticks. After an hour of conversation with their favorite teacher, Ron and Hermione left Harry and Ginny to wonder on their on.
They had been walking along Main street when they saw Professor Snape walking in the opposite direction. Ginny immediately blanched and her grip on Harry's hand increased. She pushed herself closer to him and he noted that she was shivering slightly.
"Are you okay, Gin?" he asked concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she looked over her shoulder to make sure the potions master was really gone.
"No Ginny, you're not okay," Harry argued. "Lately you've been quiet, and withdrawn. You seem scared of your shadow! I've never seen you like this. It's like you're suddenly terrified that something is about to happen, and it seems to intensify when you see Snape. Has he done something to you during classes?"
"No, he hasn't. He's been teaching me to defend myself Harry, you know that."
"I don't trust him," he stated simply.
"Well, I do."
"Then why were you trying to hide from him? Why were you shivering and go pale when you saw him?"
"I-"But Ginny never got the chance to explain. A sudden breeze picked up around them, and the street became suddenly dark. The people around them had gone quiet. Harry stilled and listened to every single noisy that was around them. Like everyone else, he felt them before seeing them. "Gin, can you cast a Patronus?" he asked softly.
"Yes," she whispered. That was when she saw them. A large group of Dementors, maybe about sixty of them, approaching the village, followed by an army of Death Eaters. She immediately drew out her wand, and ignoring Tom Riddle's voice and her own screams in her head, cast the Patronus charm. It didn't work the first time, but on the second try, a panther shot from her wand and ran towards the Dementors.
Harry cast the Patronus and Prongs immediately ran towards the Dark Lord's army. But his attention soon wavered as he recognized one of the hooded figures. His scar burned and he winced in pain. Voldemort.
Ron and Hermione ran up towards them. They had cast the Patronus as well. "Harry, what do we do now?" asked Ron. If he was afraid, he was hiding it very well. Ginny and Hermione looked at him anxiously.
"You three, get back up to the castle. Now." Harry ordered them.
"What?" Hermione shook her head.
"Get back to the castle," he repeated. "Voldemort. He's here."
"What?" the other three said at once.
"He's here, and you shouldn't stick around. Get back up to the castle."
"Like hell we will," Ron retorted angrily. "You think we're going to leave you alone to face him then you're insane!"
"Ron-"
"Don't you dare argue with us on this!" warned Hermione. She met his eyes, silently challenging him to order them to the castle again. Harry looked away first.
"Fine," he said. "But don't go too far away from the Order members." They ran towards the battle, where the Dementors were administering the Kiss to people and the Death Eaters were torturing others. Ginny and Hermione cast their Patronuses again, while Ron became involved in an intense duel with a Death Eater threatening a fourth year.
Harry stood were he was, knowing Voldemort had seen him, and that he would go to him. His scar felt like it was splitting apart. He thought he would collapse from the pain of it. But he stood firmly, every so often helping Hermione, Ginny, and Ron in their duels, but silently waiting for him.
Voldemort stopped only a few feet away from Harry. He pulled his hood down, and a new wave of pandemonium struck. The villagers ran in fear, and even some of the Aurors backed away from Harry and the Dark Lord. Even though he couldn't see her, Harry swore he heard Hermione gasp somewhere behind him.
"And we meet again, Potter," said the Dark Lord in a hiss. "But you're not the one I'm after. Not today." The streets went completely quiet; it was so dark that had Harry put his hand in front of his face, he wouldn't have been able to see it. And then, in a second, everything was light again. The Dementors, the Death Eaters, and Voldemort were gone, leaving only destruction in the small village of Hogsmeade.
Students had been instructed to go back to the castle immediately. Harry turned, the pain in his scar reduced to a slight annoyance, and walked back with everyone else.
It was later that night that the final number of casualties had been announced to the school: ten people from the village had been given the Kiss, four Hogwarts students had met with the same fate. Thirty people died that day as well, fourteen of them being from Hogwarts. Harry later learned that Katie Bell's body had been found near the Three Broomsticks. Five people had disappeared, their bodies neither found, the person not being accounted for: Professor Snape, Madam Pince, Colin Creevy, Draco Malfoy, and Ginny Weasley.
A/N: Well, what do you think? Be nice to Sarah, she's a great writer, and hopefully she'll be writing fics of her own pretty soon. Let's show our support by leaving a review.
Love, Amalia