The Love I Live For - Chapter 12 - The Truth
"Sir?"
"You heard me, Ewan. Are you a Death Eater?" prompted Harry.
"But Sir.. Why - why?' Ewan was trembling, but there was something in his voice that showed that he wasn't as scared as he made himself sound.
"You swore that you would tell the truth. Now tell me!" exclaimed Harry. Ewan remained silent, but lowered his head towards the floor, almost like it had become more interesting.
"No, sir." Replied Ewan in a quiet voice.
Harry, who was now very angry, threw himself into the nearest armchair. No one spoke, there was only silence. Harry tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair, trying to think. Ewan moved from his spot behind Harry's chair to the chair facing his. When he spoke, the tone in Ewan's voice had changed drastically.
"Harry, listen. I had to lie to you."
"Oh, so now I'm 'Harry'?" replied Harry angrily.
"What do you want me to do, still call you my Lord?" said Ewan, sarcastically. Harry didn't reply, he just continued tapping his fingers. There was that silence again.
"Why did you 'have to lie to me'?" asked Harry in a frustrated voice, "And who are you if you aren't a Death Eater?"
"I can't tell you that." Replied Ewan.
"Why not? It's not like I'm a Death Eater or anything." spat Harry angrily, "Or do you not trust me enough?"
"It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I ca-"
"I don't want to hear any of your excuses." Harry interrupted, "I just want to know the truth."
"Fine. I'll tell you the truth." Said Ewan, "What do you want to know?"
Harry sat up at the chance to get all his questions answered. He thought for a moment before saying, "What's your real name?"
"My real name is Ewan Alexander Varulv." Replied Ewan
"Okay, so at least you haven't lied to me about that." he thought again, "Well, who do you work for?"
"What are my choices?"
"Well duh, Voldemort or Dumbledore?" said Harry, rolling his eyes. Ewan had shivered again at Voldemort's name, but Harry hadn't noticed.
"Dumbledore." Said Ewan, after recovering from his shudder.
"Well now that I know that you aren't a Death Eater. Can you tell me why you are here?" said Harry.
"I shouldn't really be telling you but. but I can tell that you would seriously hurt me if I didn't tell you, so I will." Ewan said. Harry liked it much better when he wasn't cowering in fear, or trembling.
"Alright then, let's hear it." He said.
"I work for the Order." Ewan said quietly, after looking around to make sure no one was listening.
"The Order of the Phoe-!" Harry practically yelled. Ewan interrupted him by shushing.
"Yes, yes. That's it."
"Well how come I've never seen you at Headquarters? How come you've never been at Grimmauld Place?" Harry started, but cut himself off when he mentioned Grimmauld Place. He couldn't believe he himself had mentioned it. Ewan however, didn't notice his pause.
"You've never seen me at Grimmauld Place because I wasn't one to sit around talking about something. I wanted to be out there and get it done with before more innocent people were hurt or killed." Continued Ewan. Harry mentally shook his head to get rid of thoughts of Sirius, and listened.
"How long have you been working for Dumbledore?" asked Harry, suspiciously. He seemed to doubt Ewan's reliability.
"For a long time, I don't know exactly how long. And I know what your thinking, but I really do work for the Order." Said Ewan, eyeing Harry.
"So.. Wait a second." said Harry as realization dawned on him. This was an Order of the Phoenix member. THE Order of the Phoenix. He was saved. He was free. He could get out of the dreadful place and go back to Hermione. Hermione.
"Can I get out of here then?" he said before his brain was able to stop him, "I want to go see all my friends, I want to see Hermione."
"I can't do that."
"Oh great, more of your secrets. Fine, I'll play along. How come you can't do that?" said Harry.
"I can't because I haven't gotten signal from Dumbledore that it's okay." Said Ewan, sighing slightly, as though frustrated that he even had to go through this with Harry.
"Signal? For what? There should be a bunch of Aurors outside right now, waiting to help us once we escape." Said Harry, pointing out the window.
"All the Aurors that are still alive are too busy." Replied Ewan sadly.
"Too bus- hold on, Still alive? There are Aurors that are dead? How did this happen?" asked Harry worriedly. Some of his friends were Aurors.
"Harry, I don't think you know what is going on out there. There is a major war going on. It's probably the biggest one yet. Dumbledore gets sheets of parchment sent to him each day telling him of another casualty." Replied Ewan, with an even more depressed tone.
"Why doesn't the Ministry handle it?" asked Harry
"The Ministry has no one to lead them. Yep, that's right," he said, cutting Harry off before he began, "Fudge left the Ministry. Took his Highest Officials with him. Turned to the Dark Side. Dumbledore heads this war, using Auror's and all of his supporters and followers."
"I can't believe Cornelius Fudge went to the Dark Side." said Harry in disbelief.
"Well believe it." Said Ewan, "Cornelius Fudge is the kind of man that will grab any bit of power if he can. You-Know-Who offered him power on a platter and so obviously he took it."
Harry sat for a moment, with his eyes closed. He was picturing the world outside. What might it look like? Was it full of rubble and destruction? How many people, exactly, were dead? Were his friends a part of that number?
"Can you tell me about Hermione?" asked Harry finally.
"What do you want to know about her?" replied Ewan simply.
"Well I want to know how she is!" said Harry, "How is she? What is she doing? Where is she staying?"
"She's just fine, Harry. Dumbledore has been having someone stay with her all the time. Apparently losing you has hit her very hard. Last I heard, she was in hiding, but don't worry, Dumbledore is hiding with her this time." Replied Ewan, answering all of Harry's questions.
"Wait a moment. Losing me? What's that supposed to mean?" asked Harry, "It almost makes it sound like she thinks I'm d-"
"Dead." Ewan finished his sentence and turned his eyes towards the ground.
"But I'm not dead!" said Harry furiously, "Why does she think I am?"
"No one has actually told her that you are dead, but no one has told her otherwise, even the people that know you are alive." Answered Ewan.
"Why doesn't someone tell her that I am alive?" asked Harry, who was trying to hold back tears.
"I don't know. Dumbledore just wants to make sure that she doesn't know that you are alive. And it's working."
"She needs to know. If she's taking it that hard, then she needs to know!" yelled Harry.
"Shhh, Harry. You wouldn't want Death Eaters to come in and kill both of us, not after all we've discussed, would you?" said Ewan quietly, trying to shush Harry.
"Why not? Might as well die, since Hermione thinks I'm dead." Said Harry in a grumpy way.
"Don't talk like that. Hermione wants you alive, even if she thinks you are dead," said Ewan, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder, "I know she loves you. Just know that."
"Can you give her a message for me?" asked Harry. Ewan laughed, Harry felt a surge of anger at Ewan for laughing when they were discussing a serious - and to Harry - touchy subject.
"I can't do that Harry," said Ewan between his laughs, "How would it look to Hermione if she received a message from her thought-to-be-dead husband? That wouldn't make our task much easier."
"So if I can't contact her and she can't contact me, what do we do now?" said Harry.
"Well. I suppose we just wait for Dumbledore's signal." Replied Ewan, shrugging.
"What's his signal?" asked Harry, looking over Ewan's shoulder toward the small window, as if hoping to see some type of signal.
"He just said that I'd know it when I saw it. You would have thought he would give me some better instructions, seems how I am over here just waiting." Replied Ewan.
"Yeah." said Harry, whose mind was clearly on things other than Ewan. He was too busy focusing on seeing Hermione, maybe sometime in the near future. He just hated the fact that she thought he was dead, but what was he going to do about it. He was locked in Hogwarts surrounded by idiotic Death Eaters... and Voldemort.