Chapter 52
After several endless minutes the Dark Lord turned around and sneered.
"You always knew how to 'butter me up', Severus"
Snape had the urge to shudder in disgust. If he would survive this he would have to take a shower for at least 3 hours and drink until he passes out. Being called an asskisser was almost too much for him to bare right now. But he was too professional and too much a Slytherin to get his pride in the way when he was about to save his skin.
"I know Lucius is not as brilliant as you are and his strategic skills are ludicrous. He could never advance to be my right hand as long as you are alive and he knows it, but still..."
Severus felt sweat-drops forming on his forehead. He was quite sure what was about to follow.
"You have to prove me that you are not a traitor, Severus. And this time I will see to drastic measures. When you are as loyal as you say you are, you will have to ..."
The Dark Lord turned around and walked up to Severus. The potion master felt the cold gaze on him and forced himself to appear as relaxed as possible.
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Zara walked into the library where Hermione was reading. Several scrolls of parchment covered the little table and the perfect seemed to be deep in thoughts.
"Hermione, have you seen Kelsey this morning? I have slept so long that I totally missed breakfast."
The unexpected approach startled Hermione so that she almost knocked over the table.
"Goodness Zara, you just scared the living daylight out of me. I was already wondering what happened to you."
"I have no idea; normally I don't sleep long at all. My nights normally are not very restful, due to nightmares that seem to haunt me. All this stress yesterday must have been the reason."
Then Hermione's eyes grew big, when she remembered that Zara had no idea what happened to the Hogwarts Express.
"Zara, Voldemort attacked the train this morning" she informed her friend.
Zara grabbed the backrest of the chair in front of her.
"You're kidding!"
"No unfortunately not. Professor Lupin said that nobody was seriously injured, so there's nothing to worry about right now. I know that Ron, Harry and Ginny are in the study and Kayla and Kelsey wanted to explore the house."
"Maybe I go and have a look for them" Zara said. "Do you want to come with me?"
"Yes, why not? I spent enough time reading and I would like to see how Professor Dumbledore lives"
The two girls were just about to leave the study, when they heard a crashing noise.
They looked at each other in shock when heavy footsteps came closer.
Hermione grabbed Zara's arm and dragged her to the back of the library.
"We need to get to the others. This is not a good sign." the perfect whispered.
Zara quietly followed Hermione through the door that led to the study.
As soon as they entered, Hermione felt something colliding with her head and she pushed her hands over her mouth to stifle a scream.
When she looked up, she saw a guilty-looking Ron standing next to her, holding a marble sculpture of the Roman goddess Artemis in his hands like a bat.
"Sorry Mione; I had no idea it was you" he said quietly, while he watched his girlfriend rubbing her head.
Hermione glared at him. "You could have killed me with that thing, you know that?" she hissed.
Ron's face was flaming red as he slowly walked back and placed the statue on a chest of drawers.
"Have you heard that noise?" Ginny whispered, grabbing Hermione's arm.
"Yes we heard it. Someone must have broken into the house" Zara stated.
At this moment they heard quiet steps coming closer. Harry grabbed Ginny and Hermione and dragged them behind the huge leather couch. Ron kneeled right next to them and peeked over the armrest.
"Harry?"
Harry darted forward and pushed the person who had spoken on the floor.
"Sirius, someone is in the house"
"I know Harry; Dumbledore's secret alarm was set off and I came here to check on you. We need to leave immediately. Where are the others?"
"Ron, Ginny, Zara and Hermione are behind the couch, but we have no idea where the others are." Harry replied.
"We need to leave now" Sirius urged.
Harry heard the loud footsteps of several men coming closer.
"But Sirius... what about the others? They must be somewhere upstairs....what when they run into them?"
Ron and the others joined Harry and Sirius, when they heard the Weasley twins joking and laughing in the entrance hall.
Hermione didn't wait any longer. She ran past Harry and Sirius and out of the study. In the hallway she spotted Fred and George, who were waving at her. When Fred opened his mouth to speak, Hermione pointed her wand at them and casted a silencing charm.
The twins looked at each other and tried to giggle, but their mouths were covered by a little piece of metal.
Hermione beckoned them to follow her as she retreated to the study.
As soon as the twins were inside, Hermione slowly closed the door and said "You need to be extremely quiet when I take the spell off. There's somebody in the house and we have no clue where they are. They might be deatheaters."
The twins nodded and Hermione took the silencing charm off.
"We have no time to wait for the others. I will bring you to Dumbledore and then I'm coming right back to get them" Sirius urged and seized a little bag from his pocket.
They all gasped when he retrieved a phoenix feather from the bag and beckoned them to touch it. Then he touched the feather with his wand and they were gone.
"Sirius, where are we?" Harry whispered when they landed on a floor. It seemed as they were in a closet because it was pitch-black around them.
"We're wherever Dumbledore is. He should be at headquarters now."
Harry felt Sirius moving next to him and soon he heard door hinges creaking.
They left the little room and then Sirius suddenly stopped.
"We're not at headquarters.... this is the ministry" he said hoarsely.
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Kelsey and Kayla had told James everything that had happened since Kelsey had been released from the hospital.About an hour after they had administered the potion, there was still no reaction. Lily still looked more dead than alive and her eyes remained closed.
James sat down next to her and stroked her cheek "You HAVE to wake up Lily. Come on... don't let me hanging"
Kelsey sighed and Kayla was trying hard not to sob.
"What did we do wrong?" she said. "We were so careful"
"I'm not ready to give up... not yet. She's been in this condition for almost one and a half decades. I doubt that this can be changed in several minutes. As long as the transformation is complete until midnight everything should be alright" James explained.
They settled down in the sitting room ready for a long day.
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"Sirius, you can't stay here. What when somebody sees you? They will send you right back to Azkaban!" Harry called, when he looked around the huge entrance hall in shock. They had stepped out of a broom closet right across an enormous fountain of a wizard, a witch, a goblin and a centaur.
"I know that Harry, but I will be careful and make sure they won't see me"
"Too late, Mr Black. What a wonderful surprise that you honor us with your presence" a female voice said.
They all turned around and looked at a small woman in a pink cardigan. Her face was definitely toad like and she looked very pleased with herself.
Sirius seemed a little confused. It seemed that he was trying to remember hard where he knew the woman in front of them from.
"I see you don't remember me Sirius" she sneered. "How would you."
"Dolores? Dolores Umbridge?"
"Exactly! Now what I'm going to do with you." she mused.
Harry watched Sirius shifting from one foot on the other.
"I think we should take that in my office and have a little chat before I call the dementors"
"You can't do that!" Harry shouted. "HE'S INNOCENT!!!"
"I think this is none of your business what I'm going to do with Mr. Black here. He's a convicted murderer and he escaped from Azkaban prison." she spat.
At this moment she flicked her wand at Sirius and magical handcuffs closed around his wrists.
Ron and Hermione did their best to hold back Harry, who seemed to be determined to beat Umbridge into a pulp.
Without another glance, Umbridge walked towards a flight of stairs. Sirius was dragged behind her like on invisible strings.
Before she went out of sight she called "If I see anyone of you near my office, I will make sure you will all be expelled and get a comfortable cell in Azkaban for helping a convict."
Harry was now screaming at the top of his lungs profanities at the woman, who he didn't even know who she was.
"Harry, please calm down" Hermione said sternly. "We need to find Dumbledore right away and tell him what happened. If anybody can do something, it's him"
Ron and Ginny nodded while they were still holding on to the furious boy.
"But where can he be?" Harry said finally.
"Let's check my dad's office" Ron suggested. "He might know why Dumbledore is here at all"
They followed the Weasleys along the corridors and finally they reached the office of Arthur Weasley.
Ron knocked carefully at the door and they entered.
"Merlin's beard! Ron...Ginny... Hermione...HARRY! What are you all doing here?" Arthur called and dropped his quill.
"MR UMBRIDGE! A WEASLEY WOMAN GOT SIRIUS!" Harry shouted totally confused.
Ron had to stifle a giggle, while Hermione stepped forward and explained "Mr Weasley, Sirius came to rescue us from Dumbledore's house. Someone broke in and Sirius was about to bring us to Professor Dumbledore. Unfortunately he seems to be at the ministry and Sirius didn't know it. Just when we arrived here, a woman appeared. Sirius called her Dolores Umbridge. She took him to her office and wants to call the dementors"
"Dolores Umbridge? She is Senior Undersecretary and Fudge's most devoted bootlicker. When she has Sirius, I have no idea who could save him" Mr Weasley said hopelessly.
Ginny was sobbing quietly while Harry's face started to get the same color as Ron's hair.
"No... NO!...I'm not going to lose him again. WHERE'S DUMBLEDORE?"
Mr Weasley answered "I think Fudge called him in his office. The minister was quite upset that Albus went back to the school although he had been sacked"
Harry was already on his way out of the door, when Mr Weasley called him back.
"I will go and get Albus. You lot wait here until I come back" he said sternly.
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James showed his two visitors old photo albums from the time while they were all still in Hogwarts, when suddenly they heard a scream from the bedroom.
The black-haired wizard dashed through the door and found his wife staring at him, her emerald eyes wide open.
"Where's the crib? HARRY!! Where's my baby? James did he get him?" she shouted.
James cursed himself for not foreseeing this.
"Lily, calm down! Everything is ok now. Harry is fine. Nothing happened to him"
Kelsey and Kayla stood at the door, not sure what to do. They recognized that Lily was very upset about something.
"Then why is he not here? Where are we anyways? This is not Godric's Hollow" Lily insisted.
"Lily, this is a long story and I need you to calm down. We are at St Mungo's."
His wife looked at him totally flabbergasted. "What are we doing in a hospital?"
"Do you remember the night the deatheaters attacked us?" he asked her.
She nodded mutely, her face that always had been so pale was now flushed with emotions.
James was overjoyed that his wife was finally awake, but he knew that her condition was still delicate and that every shock could do permanent damage. He had to be very careful when he told her about what happened in the past 14 years.
"Ok let me start like this. Voldemort has cursed you and you slept very long, my dear."
"How long?" Lily questioned.
"Almost 15 years."
Lily's eyes grew even wider and she started shaking furiously.
James moved closer to her on the bed and slowly put his arms around her. Soon Lily was sobbing against his chest and despite of the fact that his wife was feeling so bad, James was smiling broadly. It felt so wonderful to finally feel Lily responding to his touch and to know that everything would be fine from now on.
"Where is Harry?" Lily mumbled after a few minutes.
"Harry is going to Hogwarts and right now he's staying with Albus until school starts again."
"I want to see him, James! I missed so much! When I fell asleep he was still my baby Harry who just started to walk and now he is a teenager and already at Hogwarts!"
Then all of a sudden she jumped off the bed in one smooth move and screamed "Curse you Voldemort! Curse you! I will make you pay for stealing 14 years of my life and the chance to raise my child."
Just before her weak body hit the floor, James managed to catch her and put her back on the bed.
"Lily, you still need rest." he said sternly.
"James, please tell me he was well taken care of the past 14 years" she said anxiously.
"Petunia was taking care of him" James said quietly, already knowing how the reaction would be.
"PETUNIA! WHO IN THE NAME OF MERLIN DID THAT TO HIM?" Lily raged.
"I wouldn't even give my budgie to that old wench, let alone my only son. You know that she always considered me a freak and I doubt that she treated our Harry better"
Lily jumped up from the bed once more and started to pace in front of the little desk.
"How could you allow this James?"
"Lily, there's nothing I could do about it. Albus couldn't keep Harry in the wizarding world. You know why Voldemort attacked us in the first place. It was not only because of this stupid prophecy. Voldemort knows that Harry is the last descendant of Godric Gryffindor. He will never gain the complete power as long as Harry is alive or I can have children."
At this moment Kayla gasped and Lily spun around. "Who are you?" she asked the girl.
James moved forward and beckoned Kayla and Kelsey to enter.
"These are Kelsey and Kayla. They are Nicole's children and friends of Harry at Hogwarts" he explained.
Lily looked curiously at the two teenagers.
"Oh my god, you look exactly like my cousin" she said, as she gazed at Kelsey.
The young Gryffindor shifted uncomfortably from one foot at the other.
Lily hugged her little cousins and stated "Ok then, let's sit down and you can update me on everything that happened while I was forced to play sleeping beauty"