Laughing Fountain: Thanks! I'll do my best :)
Miss Piratess: Yeah... but don't worry. They already know.
Timra: Not really. But you can say so :( no worries though. I won't leave her like that :)
Chapter 22 - You Can't Stop Me.
Harry followed Snape into a separate room and closed the door after him as he entered.
"What is it Professor?" Harry asked.
Snape turned around to face Harry as he spoke. "As much as I hate to admit it Potter, but we have to use Occlumency to read your mind. Professor Dumbledore thinks that you might have had a vision that you can't remember. Or… I'd say, you do not want to tell."
"But I didn't have any vision!" Harry said with his eyes wide opened. He remembered his last Occlumency lessons with Snape where he found out about how his father treated Snape when they were younger. "I only felt that Voldemort has done something to Lia, but I didn't see anything!"
"We shall see about that Potter." Snape said coldly. "Now, do not try to resist as I want to check your memory about the last event." He added as he took out his wand.
"But Professor…"
"Do not resist the spell Potter." Snape said and pointed his wand at Harry. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah, whatever." Harry muttered and closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. He knew that he couldn't do anything to make Snape change his mind.
"Legilimens!" Snape said and Harry felt the room spin around him.
Snape saw himself dragging Lia into a basement where there was an old coffin in the middle, covered with dust and cobwebs. A skeleton was lying in it and it came to life as Voldemort spoke to it. Snape couldn't hear the conversation. He only saw himself pulling Lia's hand and putting it on the skeleton's hand. After a moment, Voldemort joined them by putting his wand on their hands and he muttered something that Snape couldn't hear. A green light shot out of the hands and Snape could hear Lia calling Harry's name. The green light became stronger and it filled the room.
Snape opened his eyes to see himself lying on the ground. He got up and straightened his robes and saw Harry lying on the ground unconscious. He went closer to Harry and picked him up and carried him to a couch.
Harry opened his eyes and felt himself sweating and shaking. He looked around and saw Snape standing next to him.
"Did… did you see it?" Harry asked with a shaky voice. Snape nodded coldly without saying anything.
At that moment Sirius came into the room.
"We must leave now, we are not going to wait for the council meeting. Snow White has just appeared and told us to go to the Swamp."
"But how are we going to find our way?" Harry asked as he sat up.
"Wolf and Virginia are coming with us." Sirius said. "Wendell and Tony are going to stay along with Professor McGonagall and Cinderella."
"We can apparate to the Swamp." Snape said. "There would be no need for anyone to come with us."
"We who?" Harry asked.
"Me and Lupin, Potter." Snape said.
"I'm not going to stay here while my cousin is in Voldemort's hands!" Harry said. "And you can't stop me."
"I admit Potter, that you are as stubborn as your father." Snape said and shot a look at Sirius, who was turning red with anger. "But I'm afraid that you must accept the fact that Voldemort is expecting you, and Professor Dumbledore would like to see you alive after all this is over." He continued calmly.
"Be ready in fifteen minutes." Sirius said, trying to control himself. If he could just punch Snape in the face! "No one is going to apparate and the trip might take us a few days." He said and left the room.
"Pathetic." Snape muttered after Sirius.
Harry got up and left the room. He went back to the room, where everyone else was waiting, Snape followed him shortly.
"How did it go Severus?" Professor McGonagall asked.
Snape told them what he saw in Harry's mind. Professor McGonagall gasped and put her hand on her mouth. Remus and Sirius looked at each other with shock. Ron, Harry, Virginia and Tony didn't know what all that meant, but Wolf, Wendell and Cinderella looked at each other with obvious horror in their eyes.
"What is it?" Harry asked.
Wolf scratched his temple nervously and muttered "Huff-puff!" while he paced the room.
"This is bad. This is so bad." He kept repeating. "Cripes! What are we going to do?"
"CAN SOMEONE TELL ME WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS WRONG?!" Harry asked angrily.
Wolf looked at Harry and whimpered. Wendell looked at Cinderella as to ask her if he should tell them or not. Cinderella nodded and Wendell took a deep breath.
"The Swamp Witch is back." He said.
"WHAT?!" Tony and Virginia shouted together.
"And… what's that supposed to mean?" Ron asked.
"The Swamp Witch is Snow White's evil stepmother. She has been dead for more than two hundred years. She has been the most powerful evil witch the nine kingdoms have ever known." Wendell said.
"It seems that she has used an old kind of magic to bring her back to life." Cinderella said. "Professor Snape, I believe you said Lia's hand has touched her and then Voldemort added his wand?"
"Yes." Snape replied.
Cinderella sighed. "That kind of magic hasn't been used for more than a thousand years."
"What should we do now?" Virginia asked.
"You heard Snow White, she said we must leave now." Wolf said.
"Wait a minute!" Harry said. "What about Lia? What happened to her?"
"I'm afraid we lost her." Cinderella said.
Harry's face went pale and he took a few steps back shaking his head. "Y-you're kidding, right? She can't be dead. I don't believe you!"
"Harry calm down." Remus said as he walked to Harry's side.
"How can you tell me to calm down?" Harry said with tears in his eyes. "First, I lost Sirius, and now Lia! And you tell me to calm down?"
Sirius felt his heart being torn as he saw how Harry felt. He wanted to tell him that he was there and he will never leave him anymore, but a sound in him told him to keep his mouth shut. Wolf stared at Sirius with pity. He wanted to help, but he knew he couldn't.
"What is this magic anyway?" Tony asked. "What does it do?"
"The dead person possesses the body of the living person. No one knows what happens to the soul." Wendell said.
"They say that it is trapped in something that the dead person worships, but if that object is harmed or broken the soul will be gone forever." Wolf added.
"Like they would die?" Tony asked.
"Yes." Wendell said.
"So I guess we need to find that object to set Lia's soul free?" Sirius asked.
"Somehow, yes." Wendell said. "But we have to be careful not to break it. The legend says that there is a way to bring back the soul into the body, but I don't know where to find that information."
"If only Hermione was here." Ron whispered. "She would've known."
"But the dead person, who took the body can easily break that object so he or she would get rid of the soul." Remus said.
"They can't. That's why the soul is put into a precious object of the 'evil' person. He can't break it because it's so precious to him, and no one can break it because they wouldn't want to lose their close ones." Wendell said. "Did I make sense?"
"Guess so." Tony said.
"I will ask professor Dumbledore about this. I'm sure he would know something." Professor McGonagall said.
"What about the spell that hit the kingdoms?" Virginia asked.
"It can be finished only by destroying the caster of the spell." McGonagall replied.
"That means Voldemort must be killed?" Wolf asked.
"Exactly." Remus said.
"Are we going to stand here and talk?" Sirius said. "We better leave now!"
"Who's coming?" Wolf asked.
"Me, Severus, Si… William," Remus said and Harry looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Virginia and you Wolf." Remus continued, ignoring Harry's stern look.
"I'm coming too." Harry said.
"Yeah, and me too." Ron joined him.
"You're not going anywhere." Sirius said.
"You can't stop me." Harry snapped at Sirius.
"Oh yeah?" Sirius said and walked forward to Harry. He was about to say something when Remus stepped in between them.
"I think that no one can convince Harry to change his mind now Prince William." Remus said and looked at Sirius. "The last time we tried to do such thing… well, you don't want to know what happened." Remus was trying to tell Sirius that making Harry stay at the palace might result in another disaster like the one that happened at the Department of Mysteries a couple of months ago.
Sirius shrugged and turned away. "Whatever you say Moony." He muttered.
Harry's mind was busy thinking about his cousin and he didn't notice Ron's strange look when William called Remus "Moony". Remus has never told his nickname to anyone other than the Marauders. Why did he tell William about it? Ron couldn't find an answer.
O o O o O
Voldemort escorted Isabel out of the basement. She looked around and smiled.
"It's good to see my little house again." She said.
"You'll live in a palace soon my dear friend." Voldemort said. "We've waited so long and now the nine kingdoms will be ours to rule."
Isabel turned to look at Voldemort. "Yes. If Christine hasn't failed in accomplishing my plans we would've been ruling the kingdoms sooner than this. But that Virginia came and ruined everything." her smile faded as she remembered her encounter with Virginia.
Virginia was lost in the Swamp after three little pixies separated her from her father and she came across the cottage accidentally. Acorn the dwarf has been living at the cottage at that time and he told her that the Swamp Witch was buried in the basement of the cottage. Virginia went down to the basement and took a poisoned comb out of the hands of the dead witch. Then at Wendell's Coronation Ball she has used it to kill the Evil Queen, who happened to be her own mother.
"I'll make sure that you get your revenge." Voldemort hissed.
"I will be delighted to make her suffer." Isabel said. "I'll make her dance in iron slippers just like Snow White made me dance at her wedding. She will learn how it is to be humiliated in front of hundreds of people. She will have her feet burned and I'll make sure that she lives to see her beloved ones get killed in front of her eyes." Isabel laughed and Voldemort joined her.
"What a wonderful way to die." He said.
Bellatrix and Wormtail were watching the two powerful wizard and witch, and they smiled.
"Isabel, let me introduce you to my faithful Death Eaters." Voldemort said. "This is Bellatrix Lestrange. You can trust her in any thing." He said pointing at Bellatrix.
"How interesting." Isabel said. "Nice to meet you Bellatrix."
"It's an honor to meet you my lady." Bellatrix bowed.
"And this is Peter Pettigrew, known as Wormtail." Voldemort said and pointed to Wormtail, who bowed instantly. "He is a coward, but faithful nonetheless."
"I hope that he'll have enough courage to do as he is told." Isabel said.
"I'll always be at your service my lady." Wormtail said.
"Master," Bellatrix spoke. "I hope that I'm not intruding, but I am curious about what happened to the girl."
"I'm glad that you asked Bella." Voldemort said. "As you can see, my dearest friend Isabel is back to life. She has possessed the body of the girl and the soul is being kept in a secret place."
"My Master never stops to amaze me." Bellatrix said. "What a wonderful work." She smiled proudly.
"Thank you Bella." Voldemort replied.
"Voldemort, I think that you need a change too." Isabel said. "You look so pale in this form."
"Harry Potter has caused me to lose my human form long time ago and since then I couldn't return." Voldemort said. "But this time, I'll make him pay. He has no place in this world."
"I agree. But until that day, let me help you." Isabel said and waved her hand at Voldemort.
She smiled at her achievement. Bellatrix and Wormtail stared at Voldemort with opened mouths. Voldemort walked to a mirror and looked at his reflection. There he was Tom Marvolo Riddle, in the flesh. He smiled at himself and turned to look at Isabel.
"I'm glad to have a loyal friend as you. Although you were also a Slytherin, but you could've made a good Hufflepuff too." He said.
"Do not remind me of that house please. It was full of filthy Mudbloods." Isabel said.
"Yes of course, how could I forget? But your loyalty never stops to amaze me."
"Slytherins were loyal to each other nonetheless." Isabel said.
"At our time it was. However, time has changed and the Slytherin house has lost its prestige. We shall bring the good name of the Slytherin back."
Isabel laughed. "Oh I can't wait to see Dumbledore's face when he loses control over the school."
"But first, we must rule the kingdoms. We will have our army and then we'll plan our next move." Voldemort hissed.
O o O o O
Everyone was ready to leave the palace. Harry felt nervous about the trip and Ron kept staring at Sirius. He was suspecting something, but he couldn't figure out what it was.
"Everyone ready?" Remus asked and they all nodded. "Alright then, Wolf, Virginia lead the road please."
They started to walk toward the forest. Wolf leading the way, while Virginia and the others followed him.
"I really wish Hermione was here." Ron said.
"Why?" Harry asked.
"She would've known what to do. I bet that she would know where to find Lia and how to save her."
"I guess you're right." Harry said. "But now that we're here, there's no way we can contact her."
"If we could get in touch with Professor Dumbledore." Ron said. "But looks like only Professor McGonagall has a mirror to talk to him. And we should've thought about this when we were still at the palace." Ron said.
"How far is the Swamp?" Remus asked.
"A day and half of non stop walk." Wolf replied.
"Non stop?" Sirius complained. "You don't expect me to walk for a day and a half without a stop!"
"As a matter of fact, we do." Remus said.
"Thank you very much." Sirius muttered and continued walking.
Ron and Harry looked at each other and managed to keep their laugh to themselves.
"This guy reminds me of Sirius." Harry said.
"Yeah, he acts like him sometimes." Ron replied.
"Too bad Sirius isn't with us now."
Sirius heard Harry's last sentence and he stopped. He wanted to say it. He couldn't keep this a secret anymore. Every time Harry mentioned his name, Sirius felt like the world was crashing upon him. He felt sorry for causing such pain to Harry and he couldn't take it anymore.
Everyone turned to look at Sirius who stopped suddenly. Remus looked at him and knew instantly what was on his mind. He walked toward Sirius and grabbed his arm.
"Don't even think of it!" Remus whispered.