Harry Potter and the Golden Bell
Chapter 10
Who, What, Why, and How
A/N: I know, I know...my italics didn't work in the last chapter. I know how to work them, now. I have a mac and I have to email my story to my dad's windows in order to post. When i make it italics in the Microsoft Word document, it doesn't work. I think I'm right when I say that I can add italics in the Quick Edit/Preview thing on I really hope I'm right. Arg. READ, DARN YOU.
Harry sat in his last class of the day, Transfiguration, with Ron. They were supposed to be turning a baby duck into a daffodil. They looked similar, so it couldn't turn out all bad. Ron snorted. Harry looked at him and saw that his baby duck had a snout like the yellow cylinder on a white and yellow daffodil.
"What are we supposed to be doing this for? When are we possibly going to need to turn a duck into a bunch of flowers? Hmm...I'm sorry Mr. Weasley, you cannot become an Auror because you didn't turn your blasted duck into a flower. Psh. Hermione could do it. She'd do it in one try." Ron waved his wand again, and its small, feathery wings turned into two white petals. He grimaced at the new creature and set his wand down in front of him.
"I'm going to the bathroom. Not because I have to go, but because this is just really boring." Ron stood up, and Harry shook his head smiling. He was right, Hermione could do it, even if Harry and Ron couldn't. And, if that was the case, she would transfigure their ducks for them to get them a passing grade. Harry waved his wand and his duck turned into a perfect daffodil. He smiled at it, picked it up, and caressed its stem with his fingertips. He missed Hermione. She and Ron were his best friends...his first friends, come to think of it. He met both of them in first year, and they had been friends ever since. He never had any, really, while he was with the Dursleys, before Hogwarts. Save for one of Dudley's friends that thought he was 'cool.' He'd hang out with Harry sometimes, but he stopped coming to the house. Harry sighed and put down the daffodil. He waved his wand and it turned back into a duck with two green legs. He tried again, and its webbed feet were replaced. Professor McGonagall came over to Harry and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you allright, Potter?" McGonagall was there for him as well. She had been there when he was given to the Dursleys, almost sixteen years ago. Harry nodded and looked up at her face. She looked worried as well. She had never seemed so old to Harry before, but now, her wrinkles seemed deeper, and she held a look of anguish on her face. She knew that Hermione was very close to him, and she knew that the absence of her would impress Harry greatly.
"I'm sorry, Potter. I truly am," she said, rubbing his shoulder. Then, she left for the next table. Harry sighed and began thinking about Sirius. What if she did end up dead? He shook off the thought and went back to transfiguring his duck.
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The bell rang, followed by a "Thank God" from Ron. They both began gathering up their things.
"Hey, listen, I have to go talk to Professor Snape," said Harry.
"Since when do you talk to Snape? And since when do you call him Professor?"
"Since he asked me to and since McGonagall's in the room. See you at dinner," he added, and headed out the door. He saw Malfoy there, talking to a few friends, with Pansy Parkinson hanging on his every word...and his right arm.
"I'm quite glad she's gone," he was saying, "Stupid git interrupting the class. Now we're free of that. You know, if I was Headmaster, I'd eliminate Gryffindors. Who needs them, anyway? Especially that great mudblood."
"I hope you're not talking about Hermione."
"Who else would I be talking about? It's all over school, her mysterious disappearance. Bloody thing probably got lost in the Forbidden Forest."
"She wouldn't go into the Forbidden Forest...what with Voldemort back at Hogwarts." A few of the Slytherins looked at Harry.
"How would you know?" asked Malfoy, sneering. Harry pointed to his scar.
"I can tell when he's near. And right now I wager hes wandering about the halls...in the Ravenclaw Common Room possibly." Harry shrugged and began walking again. He new Malfoy didn't care, what with his dad being a Death Eater.
"Potter." Harry stopped and turned around. "Where is the golden bell?" Harry shook his head.
"Hermione had it," he said, "the night she was kidnapped." Malfoy was quiet for a while and just glared after Harry.
"See you at dinner," he said politely, and continued on his way once again. Once he reached the Potions Room, he knocked at the closed door.
"Professor Snape?" he called. He opened the door and went inside. "Professor Snape," he called again. The Potions master came out of his office and eyed Harry.
"Close the door," he said. Harry did so. "Sit down." Harry sat down. Snape sat across from him and stared at him for a while. He took out his wand, touched it to Harry's forehead, and moved his hair out of his way to see his scar. He moved it over his scar and it twinged a bit. Harry winced, but otherwise didn't move. Snape then put his wand back into his robes and covered his chest with them, crossing his arms.
"What do you know about the golden bell, Harry?" Harry thought a moment.
"Voldemort wants it," he said. Snape nodded.
"That's right," he said.
"And I know its story...and it tried to kill me."
"What else do you know?" Harry thought that if Snape really wanted to get everything out of him, he would think to use Veritaserum, but no, he opt not to.
"He's in the school. Voldemort is. He kidnapped Hermione Granger." Snape nodded again.
"But you do not know what it does, what it's for, why Voldemort wants it."
"Correct," said Harry. "I just know that he kidnapped Hermione because she had it." Snape again nodded, and stood up. He began walking around the room, not looking at Harry much.
"The other day, Mr. Potter, when you were with Miss Ginnesbrook, I stopped you purposely. Not only because it's against school rules to be kissing another student in the hallways, but because she is Voldemort. She just doesn't know it. If you would have continued, about 2 more seconds would have been all he would have needed to suck out your soul and kill you. If it wouldn't have been for me preventing you from taking part in such an act, you would not be here right now." Harry was stunned. Shocked beyond all belief. Snape had saved his life. Again. Why, though? Why did he keep doing this? He knew for a fact that Snape did not like his father, and that he and the rest of the Marauders called him Snivellus in school. They also picked on him, pranked him, and fought with him. Why would he be saving the life of the son of someone he despised?
"Why...why did you do that?"
"Your father and I were very close, Mr. Potter. So...close, that we would be rolling on each other punching each other's brains out. (A/N: I'm so glad I'm the one writing this so I can keep Snape from confessing his true love for James Potter, as others would, I'm sure) But, I still knew him and knew he would die. And cared that he would die. When he did, I thought about where you would go. Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Hagrid took you to your aunt and uncle's, and...the rest you shall not know for a few years, at the very least.
"Now, I told you to come here to tell you about the golden bell." Harry nodded, and Snape leaned against a wall.
"If you know the story about the little boy who was given the bell, you wouldn't know that there are a few pieces missing from the puzzle. You're probably wondering where the boy's parents, Frederick, his name was, got the bell. Here's the answer. One night a man came to the family's house. He was dressed entirely in black, and his face wasn't at all visible. But he did present to the father, whom that night had answered the door, the golden bell. The man didn't explain why, but ran away and vanished into the dark of the night.
The next day, however, the man returned to the house, completely unable to be seen, as he had an Invisibility Cloak in his possession. He put the mother and father under the Imperius Curse and were told to give the bell to the little boy. Here's how the bell works. It is given only to people who Lord Voldemort is looking for to kill. It acts as a location detector. Voldemort knows, by the bell, where the person that he's sent it to is. Once he knows that, he sends out a Death Eater to capture that person, and take them back to Voldemort to kill them. How does Voldemort know where to send the bell? He doesn't, really. He just sends it to whoever he's wanting to kill, using a very complicated spell. Now, Harry," Snape walked in front of Harry's desk, and fastened his hands onto it, his fingers curled around the edges of it, gripping it tightly, as though he was attempting to prevent it from moving somewhere. "Where is the golden bell?" he said slowly. Harry stared at Snape for a while, then confessed.
"It was sent to me. After I woke up from a nightmare, I found the bell on my nightstand. It wasn't there when I went to bed."
"Do you still have it?"
"No. I had given it to Hermione to take to the library to do research on it." It was Snape's turn to stare at Harry.
"Miss Granger has been kidnapped."
"By Anna-Nicole, who is Voldemort."
"He must have sent it to you, to kill you. He got signals from it saying that it was in the Gryffindor Common Room and was heading near the entrance to it."
"He didn't send a Death Eater, though. He wanted to kidnap me himself, he wanted to kill me himself. But...that doesn't explain one thing."
"What?" asked Snape anxiously. His knuckles were turning white from holding onto the desk.
"Draco Malfoy asked me for the bell...he knew I had it, because he overheard me talking to Hermione and Ron about it during Care of Magical Creatures. He wanted it for his father, right? Lucius Malfoy? He's a Death Eater, isn't he? He wants the bell. But why would he want it?" Snape's face grew colder than it had already been, it was now frozen in its expressionless state. His face looked like stone. Cold stone. And the more Harry looked at it, the more he was convinced that Snape had somehow been turned into a hard marble. He straightened up, his hands unclenched the desk finally.
"How do you know that Lucius Malfoy is a Death Eater?" he asked, coldly.
"I've known for a few years now," replied Harry, his voice quaking ever so slightly, as the result of the new fear that had been placed inside him, "Why does it matter?" Snape watched Harry again.
"I'm not answering that question," he said plainly.
"Fine...then answer me this," said Harry, "Why do you care where the golden bell is?" Snape's eyes flickered.
"I'm not answering that, either," he said, forcing himself to remain calm.
"Then how do you know all this? How do you know the missing parts of the story? How the golden bell works? How do you know?" Harry of course knew the answer to this question. He just wanted to hear Snape say it: 'I was a Death Eater.' He also knew, however, that he wouldn't.
"Mr. Potter, that is beside the point," said Snape, his eyes widening, and the volume of his voice increasing.
"It's not beside the point!" retorted Harry, the level of his voice now matching Snape's, "You told me to come here to talk about the golden bell! I want to know why you're asking where it is!"
"Mister Potter," Snape said slowly, "Take your seat and listen, or leave the room." Harry stood there for a while, and then realized that he had indeed risen out of his seat. Then, he thought of something. A plan. A plan to get Anna-Nicole free of who was possessing her.
"I think you've gotten all of the information you need, and I've gotten all I need." Harry turned around, and began heading for the door.
"Allright, have it your way, Potter! Don't expect this again from me! Next time you're on the brink of death, don't expect me to save your bloody life!" Harry tried hard to act nonplussed by this, but it had really hurt. It also got him wondering. What if it just so happened, that something like that took place? Harry pictured himself being suspended in the air by a beam of light coming from Lord Voldemort's wand. He pictured himself screaming. And, Snape stood there under a hood next to the rest of the Death Eaters in a line with his eyebrows raised and smirking. Harry reached for Snape...
He blasted through the door and stormed down the hallway, listening to the door of the Potions classroom slam behind him. It was a half hour until dinner, and if Harry hurried, he could catch Ron on his way out of the Common Room and tell him what he planned to do. When he reached the Fat Lady's portrait, he opened his mouth to say the password, when it swung open, revealing a read-headed boy. Harry grabbed his robes and tugged him back into the Common Room.
"Harry! Wha - " He proceeded up the stairs to the dormitories, and opened the door to his and Ron's. He planted Ron onto a bed and closed the door.
"Listen, I've got an idea," he said, sitting on a bed opposite the one that his friend was sitting on. "I thought of it while I was in Snape's office."
"How did that go, anyway?" asked Ron.
"I'll tell you at dinner," said Harry. "But listen. Tomorrow is Hogsmeade. I'll go out with Anna-Nicole as planned, and I'll play up the whole thing...I'll act like I like her and everything...but then Sunday, before the Quidditch game, I'll take her to the Forbidden Forest and dump her." Ron stared at Harry with an almost pained look on his face.
"And the purpose of this is...what?"
"To get rid of Voldemort. She'll bust up into tears and probably never get near me again. When I break up with her, Voldemort can't get near enough to kill me again...he'll have to do it right then and there."
"Are you sure you want to do this Sunday? Before the Quidditch game? He might hurt you, Harry. Then you can't play. Why don't you do it Monday? Then there's Tuesday to rest up, and then Wednesday...exams..." Ron's voice trailed off there and he looked down. Harry sighed.
"Hermione's fine, Ron." He shook his head and said, "I'll do it Monday, fine." Ron nodded and the two headed down to dinner.
A/N: yay! I finished this on the 13th...posting it tomorrow...14th...so yea. I hope this keeps you reading...only 4 chapters left to write!!! Keep lookin' back and as always LEAVE GOOD REVIEWS!
Oh, hey...I got news. I got a letter back from Kenneth Branagh!! a.k.a. Gilderoy Lockhart in Chamber of Secrets. he sent a picture...with a REAL signature. It says: Meredith - Best Wishes Kenneth Branagh. I am SSSOOOO excited!
UPDATE - I found errors in chapters 8 and 9 having to do with exam years. I said N.E.W.T.s are taken in 6th year. I was wrong. lol. I fixed both though. I have a few more things to fix...I'm too lazy, really, to fix them. They will come and I will say when I do. Thank you!
EXTRAS
okay a few extras below here....read through them. They're pretty funny.
This is an actual conversation that I had on mugglenet. I was in the chat room all night last night and must have left it on. I had a few private messages, so I looked through them and responded to them all to see who was still available and who wasn't. I re-typed this whole thing...because I can't do copy and paste in the private messages. I'm MrsDanJRadcliffe (that's also my AIM screenname if anyone wants to IM me sometime..I'm on all the time...so is DAnFeTisH. If i don't answer on MrsDan, or have my away message up, try DAnFeTisH.)
missMalfoy: Hi. Interesting SN. May I please talk to you?
missMalfoy: ok bye.
missMalfoy: hi. Interesting SN. May I please talk to you?
MrsDanJRadcliffe: hi
missMalfoy: hello finally!
MrsDanJRadcliffe: er...I was sleeping
missMalfoy: ok. sleeping yes.
missMalfoy: I like your SN. very either literal or inventive?
MrsDanJRadcliffe: well er
MrsDanJRadcliffe: dans 15
MrsDanJRadcliffe: I don't think he could actually be married.
missMalfoy: Dan! I love Dan!
MrsDanJRadcliffe: um
missMalfoy: Dan Dan Dan
MrsDanJRadcliffe: ..
missMalfoy: it's like a prayer.
MrsDanJRadcliffe: uh huuuhh....
missMalfoy: do you like dan?
MrsDanJRadcliffe: no
MrsDanJRadcliffe: that's why my sn is mrsdanjradcliffe
missMalfoy: ok.
MrsDanJRadcliffe: ..................
MrsDanJRadcliffe: I was being sarcastic.
missMalfoy: ok
missMalfoy: I'm gonna stalk dan when i'm older
MrsDanJRadcliffe: ...why?
missMalfoy: swipe knifes at his feet from under the car and stuff.
MrsDanJRadcliffe: ...why?
missMalfoy: because i love him and i must have him
MrsDanJRadcliffe: hes not going to like you if you knife him
MrsDanJRadcliffe: and if you want dan, then why is your sn missMALFOY??
missMalfoy: listen i have to go. perhaps we can talk again sometime.
MrsDanJRadcliffe: um..whatever
missMalfoy: ok thanks bye
MrsDanJRadcliffe: ok...bye
hahaha. Okay now I have another story. This is really funny...but it sort of wasn't at the time. Last night, I was on the computer writing chapter 2 of Diamond Studded Compass and talking to people on AIM. My friend Kelly was watching the Rascal Flatts (country singer...) concert and said she would tell me the songs that were on so I didn't miss my favorites. So, I reach for my bottle of pop, and my hand bumps it, making it fling pop all over my stuff. (i have my notebooks, pen holder, cds etc. on top of two stacked bins) I went to clean it up, and my hand knocked a box of thumbtacks. The plastic box fell and broke, and the thumbtacks scattered all over the floor underneath my desk. I got a paper towel and started picking everything up because if the sugar hardened in the pop, if would get sticky, and my parents would get mad...I'm in the living room after all. I looked at Kelly's IM and she said that one of my favorite songs, "Love You Out Loud" was on.
That's it for the extras!! Thanks for reading!! I'll have 11 out soon. I'm slowing down because I'm working on 9 other stories and I really need to do those as well. If you don't see 10 stories on my profile, it's because some are on my site. Go to my profile and go to my site. IT'S NOT THE ONE WITH THE LINK AT THE TOP UNDER HOMEPAGE. that site is dead and I'm only leaving it there because I need to pay for it.
....Thank yoouu!