Erised's Bane

Author's Note: For all of you who've been wondering at all the dang romance, and needing a little action in their HP dose, have I got the chapter for you! Lol I won't say too much more, except a general WOWZA at how many reviews I got last chapter! Thanks to all of you!

Disclaimer: There are many things I don't own. Among them is Harry Potter, and a katana. Dang, I wish I had a katana.

The Unspeakables

Harry, Neville, and Ron all walked out of the castle hunched together and squatting rather awkwardly, considering the fact that the cloak was a bit too small to completely cover three sixteen-year-old boys. When they made it to the tree at the edge of the lake, they pulled it off.

"So what now?" Ron said.

Harry looked towards Hogsmeade. "We're going to have to apparate. Ron, Neville, do you think you can make it all the way to the Ministry?"

The two of them looked at one another. "I…can try," said Neville.

"You will," Harry urged. "Just remember how good you've gotten this year."

Neville nodded absently, although he and Ron were both obviously pale. The three of them walked slowly towards the village, each one looking in a different direction to be certain that nobody saw where they were going.

They finally made it to the small house where apparation practice had been held all year. "We can go from here," Harry said, "but we've got to do it all at the same time, otherwise, there'll be even more noise. We can't let anybody know what we're doing."

"Are you sure about this? Isn't there a way we could floo?"

"I don't think we should take that sort of risk." Surprisingly, it was Ron who said this. He turned to Neville. "Volde…V….you-know-who's got men all over the place now, you never know if one of them might be watching the floo network like old Umbridge did last year," Ron said, though there was more than mild regret in the tone of his voice.

Harry nodded. "On three then?" he said, although he was just as nervous as the others…though they had been practicing apparition all year, and none were the worst in their classes, it was still the longest distance any of them had ever attempted.

Harry counted, focusing as much as possible, and when he got to zero three identical cracks resounded through the air. For a wild moment Harry was certain he had injured himself, until he realized he had just landed on the hard floor. He picked himself up, brushed himself off, and stretched his back before calling out. "Hey, guys, where do you think…"

But then he realized that his friends weren't there. Harry himself was standing in the large atrium, where he had last seen Voldemort, but Neville and Ron were nowhere to be seen. He inwardly groaned, remembering that they had only said they were apparating to the ministry…they had never said where it was in the ministry they would be apparating to. And then there was the possibility that Ron and Neville had made a mistake and gone somewhere completely different….

"I guess I'm alone then," he muttered, not exactly thrilled at the prospect. Since he still had his invisibility cloak with him he slipped in on. To his luck, not a moment later a guard ran into the room, looking around wildly—it was Kingsley Shacklebolt. Feeling a mixture of anxiety that he had been heard entering, and relief that it was at least somebody he knew who was here, Harry slowly slid towards the wall. Kingsley was still searching, although it seemed as if he had already decided whoever it was must have been leaving instead of coming.

When he had disappeared, Harry sighed. Slowly he made his way towards the hall through which he would access the Department of Mysteries. He knew that this was the place where he had lost Sirius, and yet he found himself coming into a strange peace as he came closer and closer to the infamous doorway of his dreams the earlier year. Finally he stood before it, now fully aware of the fact that he was on the verge of discovering something incredibly important.

His hand gripped the doorway and he pulled. To his surprise, somebody whipped around to face him, wand outstretched towards the doorway. "Who's there?"

"It's only me, Neville." Harry threw the cloak off, closing the door behind him. Neville sighed in relief. He looked very jumpy, and Harry wasn't surprised by this in the least. Their last encounter in this area had been neither fruitful, nor was it something that anybody wanted on their minds.

"Do you know where Ron is?"

"Right here." The door of one of the rooms had opened as Harry and Neville were talking. Ron slid out of it, slamming it shut behind him. "Ugh…those brains. I still have marks from those damned things." Harry marked the door with an X, remembering Hermione's idea from the year before.

Slowly, they tried all of them, Harry feeling a small lurch when he saw the one which led to the dais upon which he had last seen his godfather. And finally the door Harry's hand touched would not budge.

"This is it," he said, a knot forming in his stomach.

"Well…best try it, and see what happens," said Ron, his voice slightly shaky.

Harry nodded, slipping the small key from his pocket. Then he stopped to notice that there was no keyhole…or was there? The moment the thought entered his mind the golden handle began to change shape, a keyhole forming in it's center. Shaking his head, Harry slid the key in, and with a faint click felt the knob loosen under his grip. Steeling himself, he wrenched the door open.

A golden light bathed a rather simple room, a room which was filled with tinkling scientific instruments that gently swayed with some sort of natural rhythm, though Harry didn't know what that was. There was a simple table in there which was scattered with various bits of paper.

Slowly he stepped inside. "It's a laboratory or something," Harry said musingly, wondering for the first time just what his parents had done for a living. He had wondered before of course, but since they had been in the order he had assumed they were Aurors, or something of the sort. But now a new thought struck him….

"They were Unspeakables." He saw a portrait grinning at him from the table, one that he knew only too well. The familiar woman with her bright red hair, the tall, tousle-haired man with glasses, and the small baby, who had not yet been marked with the tell-tale scar that would later be his greatest burden.

"This is where your parents worked?" said Ron. "Both of them, you think?"

Harry looked down at the table, smiling slightly when he saw the two names which were scrawled on all of the documents atop it. "Yeah. Both of them."

"So, what is it that you think they wanted you to find in here?" Neville asked.

Harry shrugged. The truth was, he was now beginning to think that there was nothing in there for him to find. He continued searching, running across a small stone that he was going to leave in place. However, he got a certain feeling from it. Certain that it was something his parents had cared for, and also certain that nobody else had used this room in a long time nor had studied it's contents, he placed it carefully in the empty space in the locket he had been given at Christmas.

"Find anything of value?"

The ominous voice sent chills down his spine. Immediately he gripped his wand, turning around to face this new opposition face to face.

"What do you want, Malfoy?"

"That's no way to refer to your elders, boy." Lucius Malfoy was staring at him, a sneer on his face. "I can't believe that little mudblood gave you back your wand, I was fairly certain the master had her under control. At any rate, she isn't much use to us anymore." A strange smile then came over his face.

"Megan?" Harry stared at him. "You were controlling her?"

"The master has been doing so for awhile now, how else do you think he was able to send you his little…messages…this year? Of course, you were too stupid to realize that the master would be unable to return to your mind after what happened the last time…no, of course you wouldn't realize it, and most certainly you would never realize that Megan has been working for us for a very long time now…"

"You mean she was possessed!" Ron said.

"Silence!" Two of the hooded figures standing behind Lucius grabbed Ron and Neville. Both used expelliarmus on their targets at the same time, sending their wands flying through the air.

Chaos began shortly after.

Since only a small group of Death Eaters were in attendance, Harry, Neville and Ron were only slightly outnumbered, but then again one had to consider the fact that they were outnumbered, and by fully grown wizards at that. It was a remarkable thing then that soon, out of the six who had began, only three Death Eaters (including Malfoy) remained conscious, while the three others were on the floor, either unconscious or writhing with some sort of disgusting ailment.

Then one of the Death Eaters slowly removed her mask. "There you are again, boy. Same time, same place I suppose? I can't believe it's only been a year…"

Harry felt all the anger he had ever felt towards this woman envelop him completely. Bellatrix smiled a dark smile, looking healthy and sinister at the same time. "I've been wondering just how well you've been dealing with the loss of my dear cousin, Potter. My consolations to the poor baby…I hope I haven't given you too many sleepness nights…"

"I just wonder how many tears you've shed, watching Voldemort run away from the itty bitty baby like he did."

Bellatrix's face fell. "The Dark Lord did not run from you," she said loudly, "he would never run from a mere child." Then she smiled. "But…at any rate…I'll bet your wondering where we've taken your little friend…she's missing you something dreadful, and she's in so much pain…it would certainly be an honor for the child to see you before she died…"

"How can you do such horrible things?" said Neville fiercely. He was glaring at Bellatrix. "I know who you are, I know what you did to my parents!"

The woman turned, piercing Neville with her dark eyes. Then slowly she began to laugh, a rising sound that got louder and louder, more maniacal with every second. "So, you're the Longbottom boy?" she said. "I can't begin to tell you how entertaining it was to watch your parents suffer…I hear they're still insane, locked up in St. Mungo's. It makes me pity them enough that I might actually pay them a visit and finish the job."

"You bitch!" Neville shoved his wand in one pocket and launched himself at her. She sneered, casting him away with a single flick of the wand. He landed on his side with a groan.

"As for you, Harry, we have something special planned…." Malfoy said. He reached out and grabbed Harry by the robes, shoving a piece of stone into his hand. Harry felt the familiar pull, stumbling forwards through space, and was suddenly aware of the fact that he was standing in the middle of a graveyard, though not the one Voldemort had been reborn in. Harry wasn't certain where he was, though he didn't want to take any chances. He pulled out his wand and looked warily around.

The first thing he saw was a young girl seated between two headstones, hands bound and crying. He rushed to her side. She looked up as he approached, screaming. "No! Go away Harry!"

"What?"

But it was too late. He was suddenly surrounded by a swarm of Death Eaters who gathered around him in a circle. It looked as if things had come full circle.

"What is this?" he said aloud, extending his wand.

"You've joined our little party…well of course, you're the main guest seeing as how this spell is just for you..."

Voldemort stepped into the circle, smiling horribly. Harry saw the glint of his snake slithering at the outskirts of the group.

"Spell? What are you doing?" Harry said.

"Well, it seems as if my problems with you involve this little matter of your mother's protection. I may be able to touch you on a physical level, but beyond that…ahh, well, let's just say that the connection to your dearly departed mam was greater than I thought. No matter, though, we're ending that all…tonight."