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Harry Potter and the Rise of the Dark Lord
By: LogicalRaven
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Well, I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Years. I wasn't sure where I wanted to take this chapter at first, but I choose Pavarti because I do have big plans for her later.
I hope you guys are still enjoying the story line thus far. I'm almost halfway through it, I think. I'm still struggling with the ending, but I'm sure it will all work its way out by the end. Thanks again for all the support guys.
This site did it again. The previous chapter was not published in it's entirety. So please go back a re-read the last part of the previous chapter.
Read and Review… Nothing is My Own
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Bill's Announcement
"Harry, please don't leave me," Cho Chang was battered and beaten as she fell to her knees reaching out to Harry, "Just join him Harry, it's the only way we can be together."
"I will not join YOU!" Harry hissed at the air around him, spinning madly as if he were searching.
"I'll kill them, each and everyone," laughed a voice, barely louder than a whisper.
Cho's form was now spread across the floor in a puddle of blood, her eyes blankly staring up at the sky. Harry felt his heart sink, but he closed his eyes, willing the scene to disappear.
Voldemort's cackles sounded in his ears, "It's such as easy solution, join my ranks. It's the only way to save them, to save her."
"NO!" Harry shrilled. "I'LL DEFEAT THAT'S THE ONLY WAY!"
"Then you choose death for them. Which one should die next young Potter, I'll let it be your decision. Maybe I should take the Ambassador's daughter? Is she you're next victim?"
"Leave her alone, she doesn't have anything to do with this," Harry warned, opening his eyes to catch a glimpse of Cho's lifeless corpse.
"Perhaps someone older than? One of the Weasleys? Maybe the muggle loving fool Arthur Weasley?" Voldemort teased.
Harry cliched his fist, fighting back the urge to scream.
"I would ask you if you'd like me to kill Albus Dumbledore, but we already know what fate has in store for him, don't we?" Voldemort murmured quietly, making Harry's blood run cold.
Harry flung himself out of his bed. He was dripping with a cold sweat, and his heart was racing. The dreams would not subside. This one made the third this week. It was always the same, with Voldemort bartering lives for Harry's loyalty. He slowly tried to catch his breath as he stared out his window into the tranquil night.
Voldemort's last statement rattled in Harry's head, did he know about Dumbledore? Was his mentor even still alive? Four weeks had passed since his first dream, and the onset of October had already come and gone. The nights grew shorter, and the air in the castle grew cooler.
It was odd, there was nothing but loathing to look forward to. Each day that passed brought a deeper sense of sorrow and forewarning to the halls and bodies of Hogwarts. Classes came and went with a since of urgency, and not even Professor Snape was up to assigning his normal abundance of out of class work.
Harry sighed as he began to fumble around his chest for his invisibility cloak. It was Friday, so Odin Blackfoot would be the one guarding the portrait entrance. He was known to fall asleep on his overnight post. December O'Riley had yet to succeed at reducing Harry's sentence from Fudge. Due the high number of attacks, Fudge had delayed the hearing twice already. It would be the end of November before O'Riley would get the opportunity to argue her case now.
"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," Harry muttered over his map. He studied the dots on his parchment. Most were tucked into the beds in their dormitories. Professor Flitwick was patrolling near the Owlery. It looked like Professor Lupin was in his office near his desk and it caught Harry slightly off guard when he noticed a dot labeled D. O'Riley also in Lupin's office.
Harry smirked as he let his eyes scan over the rest of his map. S. Snape was near the third floor boys' lavatory. Professor Sprout and McGongall were in the Great Hall. From the looks of the map, Harry thought he should be able to make it to his destination without any resistance.
"Mischief managed," Harry said quickly, waving his wand over the old map.
He quickly rolled up the Marauder map and flung his invisibility cloak over his shoulders. "Dye Berry Fig," he muttered in a whisper to the Fat Lady, who paused in a search for the source of the password. She slowly started opening her entrance.
"Where are you going?"
Harry froze, and the portrait entrance closed.
Pavarti Patil stood staring in Harry's direction as he revealed himself from underneath the invisibility cloak.
"What are you doing awake?" Harry asked quickly.
"I could ask you the same thing?" Pavarti said with a grin.
Harry sighed, "I couldn't sleep, I was going to take a quick bath in the Prefects bathroom."
"Oh, what about the curfew?" Pavarti asked with a giggle.
Harry held up the cloak, "That's way I was under this."
"I thought the Prefects' bathroom was closed off since none of us are allowed outside the common room except to be fed or taught," Pavarti said bitterly.
Harry shrugged, "Even if it is closed, I could use a stroll to clear my head."
Pavarti jumped off the couch, "I want to go to, I'm going stir crazy in here."
"I'm going to take a bath," Harry clarified.
"I don't want to take a bath with you. I just want to get out of this blasted common room. I've always wanted to see the Prefects bathroom anyways. Padma is always telling about how amazing it is," Pavarti responded, approaching Harry with a smile.
"Pavarti, I really don't think it's a good idea for you to be sneaking out, you could get into serious trouble," Harry said trying to sound discouraging.
"Oh please, it's okay for you to go sneaking around the school, but not for me to?" Pavarti retorted. "Dye Berry Fig."
Harry didn't have a choice, he threw the cloak over Pavarti and himself and the two quietly snuck past a snoozing Odin Blackfoot.
"He's an Auror?" Pavarti asked amazed.
"He's close to retirement," Harry said with a smile, it was rather pitiful.
It didn't take long to get to the prefects' bathroom on the fifth floor.
"Pine Fresh," Harry said just slightly over a whisper.
Pavarti dropped the cloak off her head and looked around the room in amazement.
"Great Merlin, this place is beautiful!" Pavarti exclaimed, running her fingers over the porcelain decorations.
"The girls side is over there," Harry said quickly, feeling a sense of nervousness.
"Oh Harry, quite being such yellow bloke, I'm not going to attack you," Pavarti jeered as she ignored Harry's information and pushed her way though the divider clearly labeled boys.
"Wow! You could probably do laps in this tub!" Pavarti said, her eyes wide as she examined all the different knobs.
"You can," Harry said as he remembered his swim during his forth year.
Pavarti turned on several of the faucets letting foaming waters pour from each one. Occasionally she'd giggle as the steam and bubbled filled the exceptional large tub.
"This is amazing, I knew I should've worked harder to become a Prefect. Just think, this is the boys side, I bet the girls side is even more impressive," Pavarti said, ideas apparent on her face.
"Come on Harry, lets go check it out!"
"No, I'm quite content on not knowing what's over there," Harry said quickly, feeling his face becoming slightly red.
"Are you afraid Cho is going to mad at you for being in a girls lavatory?" Pavarti teased pulling Harry against his will.
She was right, the girls side was even more decorative, and the tub was at least twice the size of the boys. Pavarti wasted no time on testing the different faucets to see which lathers and foams would pour. Harry had to admit he was impressed at how quickly the extremely large tub filled itself.
"No sense in letting this perfectly good bath go to waste," Pavarti announced taking off her night robe.
"You're not going to take a bath with me in here," Harry stated.
Pavarti crinkled her nose, "No, I'm going to leave my cloths on Harry."
She chuckled at him one last time before dipping her toe into the multi-colored water. Pavarti smiled one last time at Harry before diving into the steamy bath head first.
After a few seconds her head popped up on the opposite side of the tub.
"Oh come in and take a swim with me Harry," she pleaded, sticking her bottom lip out at him.
"I think I'll pass," Harry said instantly, wondering why he just didn't leave the girls side and head back to his own.
"But Harry, I can't swim," Pavarti cried pretending to drown. She splashed her arms around in a dramatic acting display.
Harry has to let out a laugh as her head bobbed under the water, "Pavarti, that isn't funny."
He watched for her to come up out of the water, and when she didn't he felt fear creeping into his mind.
"Pavarti?" Harry said quickly, searching the water waiting for her to resurface.
Suddenly he felt a quick tug on the collar of his robe as the warm water engulfed him.
"I didn't want to get in," Harry snapped wiping the water from his face as he resurfaced.
Pavarti frowned, "You can be so uptight sometimes."
"My robes are soaked," Harry continued removing his outer robe and throwing it out onto the floor.
"They'll dry," Pavarti giggled, turning to do a quick lap towards the opposite side of the tub. "So, tell me what's been on your mind?"
"I'd rather not talk about it," Harry said pulling himself onto the ledge of the tub.
"You can't hold it in forever, I can tell something has been bothering you lately. It doesn't have anything to do with Ginny Weasley does it?" Pavarti said with a sly smile.
"No," Harry said suddenly, a confused expression on his face.
Pavarti shrugged dipping her head back into the water, "Just a question, I catch you staring at her sometimes."
"I don't stare at Ginny, she's like my sister," Harry said offensively, "Plus, I'm dating Cho, remember?"
"How can I forget?" Pavarti said flirtatiously. "I'm not accusing you of liking Ginny Weasley or anything like that, I just thought you might be worried about her since her brother died."
"I'm worried about all the Weasleys. Percy's death wasn't easy for any of them to digest," Harry said flatly.
"Lighten up Potter, you act like you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders. You know, I don't think I like you much anymore," Pavarti said frankly, turning her nose up into the air and then giggling.
"Break my heart," Harry added, finally smiling.
Pavarti narrowed her eyes and splashed some water up at Harry who was ringing the water out of his robe.
"You are such a pest!" Harry laughed, splashing some water back at her.
"Why Harry, I think that is the sweetest thing you've ever said to me. I knew you fancied me," Pavarti said in a mock serious voice, while batting her eyes.
"The hell with it," Harry finally conceded diving into the warm scented water.
"That's the ticket, a swim always makes you feel cheeky," Pavarti stated.
Harry felt the water relax his weary mind, as the memory of his most recent dream fade. He was glad he had decided to sneak out, he need this. Pavarti seemed to be enjoying herself as she continued to dunk the back of her head into the swirling liquid, her blue tee-shirt clinging tightly to her body.
"Do you realize your hair stands up even when it's wet?" Pavarti said suddenly looking at him with a bemused expression.
"I know, thanks for pointing it out though," Harry laughed.
"Oh my," Pavarti suddenly shrieked, jumping out onto the edge of the tub.
"What?" Harry asked swimming over the edge.
There was at least four feet of water on the bathroom floor. Harry felt his heart constrict as he jumped out of the tub and rushed out of the girls section in to the main section. Pavarti followed him, scooping their robes up in her arms as she passed.
"I must have left a faucet on," Pavarti said as the two trugged through the water.
The two rushed over to turn the knob of the purple water on the boys tub off as they heard the creak of the main door opening. Without wasting a second Harry threw the invisibility cloak over himself and Pavarti.
"What in world is this?" they heard McGonagall said puzzled from the main room.
"We are in so much trouble," Pavarti whispered, her body trembling from the cool air.
"It looks like we've had a student take a midnight bath," Professor Sprout answered Professor McGonagall.
Harry nudged Pavarti, "When they open the door, we sneak passed them."
They slowly slipped into the main section of the bathroom, as the two professors went to check out he girls patrician. Harry slowly opened the door keeping his eyes out for the two professors.
Harry and Pavarti both crashed onto the floor of the Gryffindor common room in laughter. Neither of them could believe they made it back without getting caught.
"Did you hear McGonagall's voice?" Pavarti said as she dropped her sopping robe onto the floor.
"I can't believe we got out there," Harry added.
Pavarti grinned, "We have got to do that again, but next time I won't leave the faucet on."
The over flown water had flooded the entire fifth floor, and was overflowing down the stair into the floor below. Pavarti pulled out her wand and preformed a quick drying charm on the two, which had indeed been a brilliant idea.
"Dye Berry Fig."
Harry and Pavarti quickly rounded their head towards the portrait entrance as flustered looking Professor Remus Lupin came in.
"Good evening Professor," Pavarti said with an innocent smile.
"Need I ask what you two are doing up at this late hour?" Remus questioned, scanning the room with his eyes.
"Couldn't sleep," Harry said quickly.
"Have you two been in the Prefects' bathroom this evening?" Remus Lupin obviously knew the answer to that question already.
"No, we've been in here all night. How could we? Mr. Blackfoot had been keeping guard all evening hasn't he?" Pavarti said sweetly.
Lupin paused as the sight of Harry's invisibility cloak caught the corner of his eyes, "Nice Cloak, needing to disappear tonight?"
"Err, I just was showing Pavarti the material," Harry lied pitifully.
"I see, it's lovely," Lupin sighed, "Well, whoever did use the prefects bathroom this evening has left quite a mess. The Slytherins are having to be evacuated from their now flooded house and dormitories as we speak."
Pavarti almost busted with laughter, "That's terrible."
"Indeed, if you two hear anything, please let me know," Lupin said with a smile as he left.
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Harry couldn't help but smile as he caught sight of all the angrily looking Slytherins at breakfast. The whole school was talking about the flooded lavatory, but Harry and Pavarti had decided to keep the truth about the incident to themselves.
"Whoever did it is brilliant, I heard it took the Professors nearly two hours to clean the Slytherin house rooms," Ron said happily.
Hermione frowned, "Well, it had to be a Prefect, nobody else knows the password. I'm sure when they find out who it was their badge will be stripped."
"It would be worth it, I'd give my badge to flood the Slytherins out of their beds," Ron commented.
"Ron, you can be so juvenile sometimes," Hermione said with a sigh.
"Mr. Weasley, Miss Weasley," Professor Flitwick called out, handing Ron and Ginny a pink tinted letter each.
"Who's that from?" Harry asked, leaning over Ginny's shoulder.
"He's gone mental!" Ron exclaimed.
Harry nearly choked on his pumpkin juice as he read the words on the pink paper.
Dear Family,
I wanted to share the happy news with all of you. I have asked Fleur Delacour to marry, and she has excepted. The celebration is to take place over the Christmas holiday. I hope this joyous news bring all of us some happiness during these recent times of glum.
Always,
William Weasley
"Bill is getting married!" Ginny shrilled.
"He's gone nutters I tell you, he's marrying a veela," Ron continued.
Hermione sighed, "Stop being so negative."
"How can he get married right now? I mean our world is falling apart and he decides he wants to run off and get hitched," Ron continued.
"Maybe he decided that there wasn't enough of you Weasleys running around," Seamus joked.
Ron narrowed his eyes, "Mum is going to kill him, I don't even think she likes Fleur."
"Yes she does," Ginny snapped, "Has it ever occurred to you that not all of my brothers are afraid to show their feelings?"
"What is that suppose to mean?" Ron asked.
"If you can't figure it out, then I'm sure not going to spell it out for you," Ginny responded flatly.
