Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own mind, and even that I loose fairly often.
Warning: Spoilers and a bit of angst
Authors note: Thank you LifesLikeThat and gool for your review. More reviews are always welcome.
In Fire Lies Redemption
By Marz
Chapter 6:
Arrival in Darkness
"Yes and then you arrived after all the work was done." said the boy as he shifted in his seat.
"Son, Its not that we don't believe you…" said officer Winston.
"It's just that you don't, and you never will, because you'll never find any proof and you'll never catch any Death Eaters hiding behind your desk!" the boy said. He was nearly writhing in his chair.
"Son, you need to calm down…"
"You need to stop calling me son." said the boy. His face was growing red again, which Winston had learned to be the forewarning of an out burst of temper.
"There are just a few more details we have to go over." Winston said, adjusting the parchment on the desk he had conjured up in the middle of platform 9 and ¾. He looked at the gray walls of the privacy screen surrounding them, and wondered if any of the other agents were having better luck. A train platform was not the proper setting to take statements in, especially with that train right next to them. Its presence made the witnesses impatient.
"NO, YOU NEED TO LET ME SEE MRS. WEASLEY!" shouted a shaking voice a few desks over.
Apparently not, he thought. The same voice shouted again.
"I WILL NOT BE QUIET, AND I AM NOT GOING ANY WHERE WITH YOU!"
The boy in front of him sprang from his chair and shouted "HANG ON HARRY WE'RE COMING!"
Before Winston could get a word out the boy darted away. Fortunately his height made him easy to spot as he weaved among the rows of screened desks. The rest of the witnesses ran from their desks as well. They surrounded the two agents who were attempting to escort the hysterical boy some where private. Though celebrities should be afforded a little extra leeway, this was going too far.
"If you will all return to your desks we will finish this up and you can be on your way." Winston said in his most soothing voice.
"No." said the werewolf as it limped towards him. Winston drew back a bit.
"The children are going to see a healer and then they will get on the school train. The rest of us are going to St. Mungo's to see how Molly Weasley is fairing. We have all given you statements and you have had more then ample time to question us," it continued in a surprisingly cultured voice.
"You aren't going anywhere but to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures." said agent Scrimgeour; the poor fellow who had been stuck interviewing the creature.
The muggle born girl with the frizzy hair walked primly up to him.
"What is your name?" she asked, "And what are the names of your supervisors?"
"What's it to you?" Scrimgeour said in a threatening voice.
"I am not required to tell you, but under the Wizengamot decree of 1567 you are required to present the detained with your name, rank, department, and the names of your three most direct superiors. You are required to provide parchment and ink if the detained wish to write down the above mentioned information. You are also required to make available a healer, and provide a meal should the interview process exceed three hours, and a second meal if it should exceed twelve." The girl rattled off in a very knowledgeable manner.
"No one cares about a decree from…"
The girl bowled right over him. "As it is now 3:15pm you own us, and everyone on the train, parchment, quills and lunch. I have special dietary needs, so you'll have to find me something without meat, dairy products or starch in it. Did I mention the decree also stated that the interviewer was required to pay for the meals out of pocket? There are ten of you, and let's see…" she began counting up on her fingers, "There are twelve of us out here, and you haven't let any one on the train leave, and there are five hundred students on board, a quill cost about ten knuts and an average meal costs about seven sickles, They do pay rather well in your department I hope?"
Scrimgeour glared at her, but the other interviewers looked rather nervous. Winston had heard enough though. Never being a genius with numbers he was not sure the total cost of such a demand, but he had seen people like this girl before. The law was full of loop holes, and the ministry would never reimburse him if he ended up tripping in one.
"I think our interview is done. All of you, except the werewolf, are free to go."
Harry Potter stepped up then. The boy really was as crazy as the Prophet made him out to be. He grabbed hold of the werewolf's arm with his bare hand and glared.
"He's coming with us. You've got no reason to arrest him." The boy said.
"Any werewolf found at the scene of a crime can be held up to a full moon cycle, whether it is charged or not. That's the law." said Scrimgeour. "Get on your train boy."
The muggle born cleared her throat again. "I think perhaps I wasn't being explicit enough. Even if you ended the interview you still held us over three hours, which means you still owe. You see I was trying to hint, but you're being very thick headed so I'll put it this way: either we all go or you pay."
The other witnesses all nodded in solemn agreement.
*****
"Hermione I love you! You are absolutely the most amazing, beautiful, clever…" Ron rambled on as the tired students walked down the rocking corridor of the train.
Hermione and Ginny led the way, followed closely by Ron who dragged along their trunks. Harry walked silently after him, his head hanging. Neville trudged along behind the group still feeling like an outsider. He had woken up on his own a few minutes after the Ministry officials arrived, but his head ached horribly. None of the conscious adults on the platform were competent healers, and the Ministry had not bothered to provide any. Harry had offered to drag his trunk for him, but he had declined. Neville thought Harry was in worse shape. His face was swollen and he walked stiffly as if every part of him hurt. They had been unable to find his glasses, though thank fully Harry's wand had turned up.
He saved my life. I owe him a wizard's dept I suppose, Neville thought looking at Harry's hunched back. That close to a killing curse; I'm amazed I didn't piss on myself. His mind kept going back to that moment, when he stood frozen and the green light blasted towards him. His life had flashed before his eyes, and he was fairly disappointed in it. No great victories at sports or in school, no smiling parents congratulating him on his fine potions, defense, and herbology O.W.L.s. The only really brave thing he ever did was stand up to a room full of Death Eaters, and he had been easily disarmed and tortured. Even then he had messed up, destroying the prophesy that likely told how to defeat he who must not be named. It makes me wonder why I was even born.
He bumped into Harry.
"Why've we stopped?" he asked.
Hermione, Ginny, and Ron were all trying to look into a compartment. Its windows had been boarded up.
"We've run out of train. Every where else is full of slack mouth morons." Ron answered.
"Do you think there's something broken in this one?" asked Ginny. She rattled the handle on the door but it would not open.
"We'll all sit in the prefect's compartment." said Hermione. "Any one who gives us trouble, we'll hex."
They all turned around and started back down the train. Neville paused for a second to let a wave of dizziness pass. A soft scratching noise sounded. He looked at the door of the locked compartment. The handle was slowly turning.
"Hey! Everyone wait…"
The door swung inward. Neville carefully approached and he heard the others coming up behind him. It was completely dark inside; the outer windows had been boarded up as well. Someone moved in the farthest seat. He saw thick dark hair and a pale face. He drew his wand. How could she be here? They searched the train!
"It's Lestrange!" he shouted as he stepped back. "One more step and I'll kill you!" he bellowed.
The figure froze. Even then she seemed to loom over him.
"What's strange?" she asked an unfamiliar voice.
"Lumos!" said Harry, who had silently creped up next to him.
Light washed over her and she threw her hands over her eyes. "Hey, was' your problem?" she said loudly.
Unless Lestrange had grown a foot taller, permed her hair and put half a hundred rings through all her projecting facial features it was not her. The woman uncovered her face, which despite a similar lack of tan, was in no way else like Bellatrix. She stared at Neville. Her eyes were black with white flecks in them and they sat in oddly square sockets that did not seem meant to contain them.
"Well? Was' your problem then, spi yit out already!"
"Sorry." Harry said, alternately squinting and widening his eyes to a comical extent in an attempt to see. "We thought you were somebody else." He put his wand away.
"Not popular is she?"
"Mass murderer, tortures for fun, nope can't say she is." said Ron. "I don't suppose we could share your compartment?"
"You could have it even." She said in a very friendly way. "Didn't happen to see a short guy in black robes, looking ready to rip his own hair out, wand' ren about did ya?"
"No, it's clear all the way to the front." said Ron.
"See ya around then!" she strode away past Ron.
Neville stood silently watching her go. There was a question forming in his mind but Harry called for him to come along and it disappeared. He shuffled in after him and sat down. They were unable to pull the boards off the windows so Hermione set a heatless fire in the luggage rack. One by one they dropped off to sleep in the soft flickering light and rhythmic rumble on the tracks. Neville watched his friends. Hermione looked calm resting against Ron's shoulder. Ginny dozed, curled up across two seats, beautiful as always. She's dating Dean now. Harry was facing away from them, and Neville adjusted himself in the seat to see him better. Harry was still awake and blinking rapidly. Light reflected off his face in two meandering lines. Neville sat back awkwardly. He thought maybe he should say something helpful, but could think of nothing.
*****
"Ron." said a quite voice. He jumped up right reaching for his wand. He accidentally hit Hermione's arm and she shouted.
"Sorry, Sorry." Neville apologized. He was standing before Ron looking very worried.
"What's wrong Neville?" he asked.
"Well its Harry."
Ron's eyes darted to his friend's seat, only to find it empty.
"Where did he go?" Ron demanded.
"He went to the bathroom, but…"
Ron continued to stare at him.
"Well he seemed very upset, and I didn't know what to say to him. I don't know him that well and I thought maybe you should, well… you should go check on him."
"Because he went to the bathroom?"
"I really think you should check."
Ron sighed and climbed to his feet. "I'll be back in a minute."
The bathroom was in the middle of the train, so it took him a while to get there. He pushed open the door. A second year was standing at the urinals, but he kept looking over his shoulder at a closed stall door, from which a retching sound emitted. Ron looked under the gap beneath the door, and saw Harry's familiar worn trainers. He was kneeling. Ron knocked.
"You alright?"
"I'm fine, just not feeling too well." He answered. There was a slight hitch in his breath.
"Are you sure? Neville was really worried."
"I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute. Go tell him I'm fine."
"I will. Are you sure you're alright?" Ron asked again. He stood on his toes and peaked over the top of the door. Harry, huddling on the floor, was wracked with silent sobs.
Ron stepped back. He noticed the second starring at him.
"You're finished, get out." he ordered and the boy ran.
Ron walked toward the door, then stopped. He started to walk back to the stall, but stopped again. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. What should I do? If I were him what would I want; to be left alone so I could get it over with, but he's not me. What would mum do? The answer occurred to him. But that would be awkward. He went to the door and back again. What would Hermione do? He slapped himself in the forehead. Of course!
"I'll be right back." He called to Harry and sprinted back up the train.
He threw open the door of the compartment.
"Hermione come on." he said, waving at her.
"What? Is Harry alright?"
"No, that's why you have to come."
They went back up the train. A crowd had formed outside the bathroom. The second year he had kicked out was at the front of it, talking.
"…and he was crying, then he started throwing up." The other students listened intently.
"All of you have got detention!" bellowed Ron, scattering them. He dragged Hermione protesting, into the men's bathroom.
"What am I supposed to do?" she hissed in his ear.
"You have to give him a hug."
"What?"
"You have to give him a hug. It's what my mum would do."
"Why didn't you do it then?"
Ron goggled at her. "I can't do that, I'm a guy. Hugging is a girl's job. You're built for it."
They began to argue in hissing whispers, but were interrupted by a gagging sound from the stall. With a final hiss and some emphatic pointing Ron directed her to the stall. Giving him a last glare she went over and knocked. Ron walked outside again. He waited several minutes before poking his head in again. Hermione had gotten Harry out of the stall. They stood in the middle of the floor. Her arms were wrapped around him and he leaned limply into her, with his head on her shoulder. Ron ducked back out. He sent away some fourth years. Five more minutes passed and he checked again. Harry was still leaning on her. He ducked out. It doesn't mean anything. He's upset. It isn't like that. He told himself. She'd hug Neville if he was crying. She's just being nice. Another five minutes. This time she was handing him a paper towel. He wiped his nose and threw it away. He hugged her.
"Everything alright now?!" Ron asked loudly.
They jumped apart and Hermione glared at him. Harry blushed and looked embarrassed.
"Yeah it's fine." Harry said. "Anybody want to play chess?"
They went back to the compartment. Hermione stepped on the heel of his shoe several times as he walked and he was fairly certain it was on purpose.
The Hogwarts house elves appeared in the halls of the train a few minutes after they arrived their compartment, carrying trays covered in food. They served the welcoming feast, explaining that it would be almost midnight before they reached their destination. They ate a very quiet meal. And everyone but Ron drifted back into a stupor. It didn't mean anything, he thought.
****
The air felt incredibly cold as he climbed off the train. Even with his sweater on beneath his robes, the cold sank into his bones and made his hands numb. Harry walked toward the school carriages. I could have saved him. He shouldn't have fallen through the veil. Accio Sirius! I could have saved him. He tried not to look at the thestrals, but then Lavender Brown's shrill voice forced his attention to one.
"What on earth is she doing?" she said pointing.
The strange woman who had given them the last compartment was holding out a piece of bread to one of the half horse half pterodactyl creatures. Its white eye's rolled in its head as she waved the bread under its nose. It was starting to look annoyed.
"It won't eat that." called Harry as he walked over to her.
"Horses like bread." she argued.
"That isn't a horse. It's a thestral. They're carnivores and if you keep doing that it's likely to bite you."
She gave him an appraising look. "Right then." She threw the bread away casually and wandered off. With a sigh Harry went back over to his friends' carriage. Though they had already eaten the students filed into the hall for the sorting ceremony. As he walked in he noticed the seat for the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was empty.
Harry sat down at the Gryffindor table, next to Ron and watched the first years file in behind professor McGonagall. They're really small this year… he thought but cut himself off as the strange woman from the train came last through the door. She was at least six feet tall and stood out like a giant among the eleven year olds around her. For a moment Harry though she might be part giant, but she was not nearly bulky enough. His thoughts were interrupted by the sorting hat. The worn black hat ripped itself open and began to sing.
I'll tell you now, as told before,
The tale of Slytherin and Gryffindor.
Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw true,
Are very important to me and you,
But the tale I tell is not their fault,
For this tragedy they tried to halt.
Upon the shores of a placid lake,
The founders did a castle make.
And in this place they planned to teach
The children of magic within their reach.
But magic you see, it does not care
About the ancestry that you bare,
But many men do and this I fear,
Is why great tragedy visits here.
Between Slytherin and all the others
Raged a battle over fathers and mothers.
Only the pure will learn from me,
From mixed blood we should be free.
No! said Hufflepuff, all may come,
For a terrible world is a divided one.
The wise we must choose with out haste,
Said Ravenclaw, or all our work will go to waste.
Last of all spoke Gryffindor,
The most stubborn of the four,
Character is the deciding thing,
We'll take no cravens under wing!
And so on and on they argued thus,
Destroying all their hard earned trust.
And great sins did two men commit,
To see that only those they saw fit,
Could come with in these walls of stone,
Separately and on their own,
They made cruel plans that at their start,
broke this poor stone castle's heart.
Slytherin, he meant to harm,
All those with out a purebloods charm,
But Gryffindor, his treachery worse,
Laid upon these halls a curse.
Those who eat from Slytherin's plate
Are there fore doomed to share his fate.
So all you student's gather up,
Your courage and your smarts,
For I'm to read what's written by
The darkness of your hearts.
The silence in the hall was deafening. Professor Dumbledore looked more then a little shocked, when Harry glanced at him from the corner of his eye. He was his normal smiling self a moment later and led the room in applauding the song. Professor McGonagall took up her list and called the first years forward.
"Altor, Jonathan."
"SLYTHERIN!" cried the hat.
It continued to call out the students and Harry's mind wandered. He only clapped when other Gryffindors did. His mind rolled the song over and over. How could Gryffindor place a curse on children? A sudden gasp recaptured his attention. Lavender Brown was whispering and giggling loudly, pointing at the first year approaching the stool. Harry had missed the name. He could not tell the child's gender. His or her hair looked as if it were made from a huge collection of miss matched wigs. Thin blond wisps and heavy dark curls popped up between short strands of gray and bristles of red. As the first year turned and sat on the stool most of the room gasped. One side of the face had high cheek bones and tanned skin, the other side was rounded and pale. The eyebrows did not match, one was thin and light, the other beetling and blue black. The nose was horribly crooked, and the eyes, one gray and one brown were different shapes. The child looked ready to cry as the hat came down. I hope that poor kids not in Slytherin was all Harry could think. The hat took several minutes to decide.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" it shouted.
The table clapped extra hard for its new member. Harry looked at the remaining students. The tall woman was still standing with them. He thought at first she may have been the new defense teacher, but that idea faded as the last first year scurried off to a table. The woman stood alone in the center of the hall.
"Verdad!" called Professor McGonagall. There was no first name.
The hall erupted in chatter as the woman walked up to the stool and sat down. She looked very amused as McGonagall stretched upwards to put the hat on her.
"SLYTHERIN!" shouted the hat immediately.
Harry watched her walk calmly to the Slytherin table. It was full at the near end, so she strode back towards the door, passing many stunned faces. As she passed a white blond head its owner turned to look at her and Harry saw his face.
"It can't be!" he said, half out of his seat.
Draco Malfoy turned toward Harry and smiled.