Harry Potter and the Heir's Staff
Chapter 3
He found himself at his own bed with Hermione lying next to him when suddenly the memories from his vision came back like a flood and he panicked. "Hermione wake up, please this is important!" he said as he pushed her with one hand while he waved his other hand and packed everything in his trunk but his broom and Invisibility Cloak. "Harry… what?" she said with her eyes still shut.
"Hermione there is no time we must go now!"
"Hermione come on, wake up we have got to go from here…please," Harry pleaded again. After another minute Hermione propped herself up on the bed and turned her face to Harry who was doing something at his desk.
"Harry what is going on?" she asked with slight concern to her voice. He turned to face her and when she saw his face she gasped in horror and fear; his face was as white as the wall. His brow was drenched in sweat and he was huffing loudly. "Harry what is it? Is it V-Vol-Voldemort?" she asked fully awake now that she saw him.
"Yes," he simply answered her and finished taking the stuff that they needed. He looked at her face again and an idea came to his mind. He dashed from his room to the room where Hermione's trunk was; he opened it quickly and took out all of her books. With a wave of his hand and in quick succession he mouthed three simple charms.
"Decresco minimus."
"Fermacarte."
"Compono."
Then he slid the now light-weight, shrunken and bonded together books of Hermione's in his pocket and dashed back to his room where he found Hermione staring outside from the window with a look of pure horror in her face. "H… Harry look! Death Eaters! Down there," she whispered and pointed towards the front of the house that was quite visible for it was illuminated from the big, bright, moon shining above.
"I know Hermione," he said and took his broom in one hand and is invisibility cloak in the other "I saw it in my dream; Hermione we must go away now! We don't have time. You have your wand?" he asked her while opening his bedroom window as silently as possible. She nodded.
"Good. Now quick, get on the broom with me." At this Hermione looked a little horrified as if the fact that she was going to have to ride a broom was worse than the fact that a mass of Death Eaters was standing in front of the house. However, after debating herself for a minute she reluctantly climbed behind Harry on his broomstick. He slid his Invisibility Cloak on them and as they got out if the window he saw that all of them were already there. Including Voldemort. He stopped in the air, turned to face the woman that sat behind him and put his index finger to his mouth to signal her to be quiet. She nodded and they continued flying slowly away from the house towards Mrs. Figg's. Harry chose her house because she was the only member of the Order who was close enough now and they could Floo from there to headquarters.
Suddenly Harry heard Voldemort and his Death Eaters chanting, "Enversor I detu voco passum dare itaque noceo Potter." As he remembered his dream, he knew what was coming now and just as it happened the first time he saw it, thunder began coming down from the now cloudy sky and he felt the house shake and tremble; something that looked weird to him for he wasn't even near the house now.
But then as he glanced a last look on the house, he saw it explode with a green ring expanding from it towards them and before he could do anything, the ring hit them and sent them spiraling towards the ground fast.
As they were diving, Harry tried to gain the control on his broom back. He saw that it was hopeless and waved his hand towards Hermione who was holding to him, afraid of letting go. He quickly attached his Invisibility Cloak to her so it wouldn't reveal her when he hit the ground. With the same spell that he used on her books, he managed to levitate Hermione before she hit the ground.
His right leg hit first twisting upon impact with a sickening crack , and the rest of his body hit the ground with a thud. At the same time a sharp pain invaded his mind though his scar. Quickly forgetting the pain that he felt all over his body, he began doing his Occlumency exercises in order to block Voldemort from his mind so he wouldn't find out through his scar that Harry was still alive. To his relief it worked, and soon the pain in his head subsided and he glanced a look up to see Hermione still floating in midair, tears streaming down her cheek like a dam had burst open.
"Harry?" she asked barely above a whisper.
He was still to numb from his pain but he managed to speak in a soft croak. "I'm ok don't worry," he lied.
He waved his hand towards Hermione and she slowly came down to the ground. As soon as she was down she rushed over to Harry throwing the cloak around him so it would cover them both from any Death Eaters who still may be in the area. She hugged him again sobbing on his shoulder as she said, "Oh! Harry, I thought that you were dead!"
She couldn't speak again as a fresh wave of tears swept over her and she cried harder, until finally Harry sat up and said to Hermione who was still holding him, "Hermione I am still a little hurt from the fall…"
She suddenly locked eyes with him and gasped as she let him go, "Oh Harry, I am sorry I didn't mean to make it hurt…." She trailed off.
He grinned at her and kissed her on the forehead and said, "You only made it feel better…" and he kissed her again and pulled her for a hug, ignoring the pain in his leg and ribs. But as they sat there in each other's arms Harry glanced a look at the house and gasped in horror.
"What is it Harry?" asked Hermione who had heard his gasp. He simply nodded with his head towards the direction of the house. But there was no house standing; well not a regular house anyway for in the place of the house now stood a green transparent statue of a serpent looking up and above his head in the sky was the Dark Mark.
"OH MY GOD!" breathed Hermione as she felt Harry was trying to stand up, she helped him up and then looked his leg seeing that it was bent in way she doubted any human leg could be bent, she let him support her and then asked, "Where to now?"
"To Mrs. Figg's house. I reckon we could Floo from there to headquarters or at the very least inform the Order of what has happened here."
"Okay," was all Hermione said and they started towards Mrs. Figg's house not noticing Harry's broom lying on the ground broken, his remains scattered across the cold hard concrete that was in front of Number 10 Privet Drive.
After a few minutes walk, Harry and Hermione arrived at Mrs. Figg's house, they knocked on the door.
Nothing…
They knocked again.
Nothing…
After a few more tries Harry started getting nervous and worried what they were going to do if Mrs. Figg was not at home, but why wouldn't she be at home at this time, she must be asleep reasoned Harry with himself.
He then raised his hand to the door and whispered, "Alohomora." The door made a clicking sound, and they pushed the door open and stepped inside the house.
As they came to the house's living room, they saw a figure sitting at a couch her head rested upon her shoulder. The television was still on but showing only snow as the programs for the day were over a long time ago. They stepped towards her trying to make as little sound as possible but when they saw her face Hermione shrieked with fear.
"She has been stupefied! Harry can you revive her?" asked Hermione.
"I can try," was all he said as he raised his hand towards the face of the old squib sitting on the couch, he muttered, "enervate." Mrs. Figg's eyes shot open and she looked around in surprise and fear until her eyes landed on the two teenagers standing in front of her and she gasped.
"Harry! Hermione! What are you doing in here?"
"Err…" was all Harry said as the memory of all that had happened no more then fifteen minutes ago came back to him in one big wave of memories and he suddenly fell to the floor, tears appearing in his eyes.
"It's a long story," said Hermione as she bent down to Harry and gathered him in her arms for an embrace.
After a few minutes of sitting like that in silence Harry spoke to Mrs. Figg still fighting the tears from falling.
"Voldemort," Mrs. Figg flinched at hearing the name, "He and another two hundred or so Death Eaters came to my house, and attacked us." He waited a minute so Mrs. Figg could really comprehend what he had just said.
Her face changed from a look of bewilderment to a look of horror as she stuttered, "What? How? Where? When?"
And she trailed off, and then Harry continued, "Hermione and I were in bed sleeping and I had this vision that Voldemort came with his Death Eaters and used some spell and the house exploded. But then in the dream I heard Sirius's voice and he told me that I had to wake up and run before they came and killed me. After I woke up, I remembered everything from my dream or whatever that was; which is unusual because most of the time I can barley remember a thing from my dreams. So I took my broom and my Invisibility Cloak, woke up Hermione and we got out on my broom and when we were like 300 meters away from them when I heard the same spell that I heard in my dream and then the house exploded and a big green ring shot towards us and we fell to the ground.
After that, all that was left in the place of the house was a giant green transparent statue of a snake looking up at the Dark Mark."
When he finished talking he looked at Mrs. Figg's face (for he was looking at his hands the whole time he was talking).
He saw that her face was pale as a wall. When she finally spoke her voice was weak and trembling, "You two wait here; I am going to inform the Order." She got up and walked towards the fireplace and threw some Floo Powder in the flames. She got down on all fours and stuck her head in the fireplace and called, 'Number 12 Grimmuald Place.'
She talked for a while with someone on the other side and Harry just sat there holding Hermione close to him. A bit later, Mrs. Figg pulled her head out from the fireplace and addressed the couple sitting in her living room "Albus said that you are to go to headquarters so come on; hurry up!" And with that they got up a little reluctantly for they were pretty content just sitting there holding each other, and went to the fireplace. Harry grabbed a handful of Floo powder and threw it at the roaring flames. Together he and Hermione stepped into the fireplace and spoke together "Number 12 Grimmuald Place."
Harry and Hermione stepped out of the fireplace at Number 12 Grimmuald Place and dusted themselves off from the trip. When they came out of the fireplace the house looked empty, but cleaner and a lot tidier from the last time they were there. It was eerily quiet, maybe it was dirtier last time, but at least Sirius was here then, Harry thought as memories of Christmas here with Sirius and how happy he was then flooded his mind and threatened to burst out through his eyes. He resisted them for now for he knew that if he would let them out he would not be able to stop.
"Have I already told you how much I HATE traveling by Floo?" Harry groaned as they made their way to the kitchen. Hermione only nodded in agreement as if she was trying to say 'yes like a hundred times'.
Just then, a loud shriek came from a few feet to their right and suddenly Harry remembered, "SHIT! I forgot that she was still here!" As he said this, they started hearing the all too familiar screams and curses of the late Mrs. Black.
"You! How dare you enter the Noble House of Black with that Mudblood? Vermin! Scum of the earth, get out of here! Or else you will feel the wrath of the House of Black!" Harry just couldn't take it anymore and while his anger boiled inside him at the mention of the 'm' word he just snapped and it was like bomb exploded in his head and fire started burning in his eyes.
"Now look here!" he said in a cold voice that would make his late Uncle Vernon cower in fear. "YOU SHUT UP AND DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO HERMIONE THAT WAY OR YOU WILL FEEL MY WRATH! GOT ME?"
"Who are you to give orders to me you snot looking mongrel?"
"ME? I AM THE NEW OWNER OF THIS HOUSE!"
"You? No! It can't be!"
"OH BUT IT CAN, YOU SEE YOUR DEAR SON DIED JUST A FEW MONTHS AGO AND LEFT THIS HOUSE TO ME." As he said this, a lump started forming in his throat and tears were streaming freely down his cheeks for it was the first time in two months that he had said aloud that Sirius was actually dead.
"What? My son? No it can't be; you are lying…"
She couldn't finish the sentence because at that exact moment Harry lifted his palm up to meet her face and bellowed, 'REDUCTO!'
Her head was blown off and the portrait of Sirius' mother snapped off the wall and came crushing down to the floor. Harry saw this and lowered his hand, and slumped to the floor and started sobbing, unaware to all the people who were standing behind him looking in awe at what he had done for none of them managed to do it for over a year of trying.
Hermione slowly sat on the floor near Harry and wrapped her arms around him and let him sob on her shoulder while tears were starting to form in her eyes as well as the memories from their near-death experience flushed her mind all over again.
"HERMIONE!" her parents screamed from the kitchen door where they stood with the rest of the people and came rushing to their daughters help.
"HARRY!" yelled Remus, Dumbledore, and Mrs. Weasley together as they rushed towards Harry.
Harry and Hermione snapped out of their own private world were they were sitting and looked toward the direction of the screams and were soon pulled apart and each of them enveloped in a bear hug by someone. Hermione by her parents and Harry by Mrs. Weasley, Remus, and lastly Dumbledore. That alone shocked everyone, it was not very often the Dumbledore showed affection to anyone, and to say the least hug them! But they just shrugged it off for the moment except for Minerva McGonagall who knew what this sudden show of affection from the headmaster towards Harry was all about, but kept it for herself for she knew it was not the time nor the place or her right to tell him.
After a couple of minutes, Harry and Hermione calmed down and were led by the adults to the kitchen where the rest of the gang was waiting for them.
As they came in through the door, they could see amongst the sea of redheads who were the entire Weasley clan (well minus Percy that is and Mrs. Weasley because she was with them) Professor Snape, Tonks, Mad-Eye Moody, and Kingsley Shacklebolt.
"HARRY, Hermione what happened?" asked Ron, Ginny and the twins as they ran to their best friends and each gave them a hug which they accepted a little reluctantly.
"Well that is exactly what we all want to know Mr. Weasley so why don't you give Harry and Hermione some room to breathe and I am sure that we can all hear what happened," said Dumbledore from behind Harry and Hermione.
"Oh, sorry," was all Ron said as he backed away from them to his chair, but as he walked to his chair with his face still looking at them his, eyes suddenly shot down to where Harry and Hermione were holding hands and his face and ears flushed red. He quickly turned around and sat without even looking at his two best friends.
"Harry, Hermione why don't you two take a seat," said Dumbledore as he motioned for a pair of chairs that stood directly across from where he sat. "And in the mean time, Molly here will fix all of us a mug of hot chocolate if she doesn't mind. You don't mind Molly, do you?" asked Dumbledore.
"Oh! Not at all," said Molly Weasley. In a flash she was up near the kitchen sink preparing the hot chocolate.
Harry and Hermione both sat down across from their Headmaster and both suddenly found that their hands on their laps were very interesting.
"Harry, I know that what I am asking from you is quite hard right now with everything that you must have went through, but I must ask you to be brave for me and tell me exactly what happened," said Dumbledore. He looked at Harry and his heart filled with sadness that he had to suffer like that all his life, "this year I am going to make sure that he will be safe and I will tell him everything," thought Dumbledore to himself.
Harry looked up at his Headmaster and suddenly he remembered the scene that took place in his office at the end of last year after he told him about the prophecy. "This year I am going to improve and I am going to make him proud of me," he vowed to himself.
"Okay," was all Harry could answer them. "Hermione and I were sleeping, and suddenly I had a vision of some kind that showed Voldemort," everybody except from Dumbledore and Hermione's parents flinched at the name, "and another 200 Death Eaters standing in front of the house. They all had their wands trained at the house."
He was cut off, "Albus how can this be?" asked McGonagall, but she became silent after Dumbledore raised his hand so she would quiet down and let Harry finish the story.
Harry took a sip from his hot chocolate and continued, "I heard him from the window telling them that they must say the spell at the exact same time because if they don't it will backfire and kill all of them except for him because they were not strong enough. Then they started chanting something and lightning came from the sky and the house began to shake. But then, I don't know how, but I heard Sirius talking to me, and he told me that I have to wake up before Voldemort came and killed Hermione and I." He paused to take another gulp from his drink. "Thank goodness I woke up and I remembered everything from the dream, which is really unusual because normally it would take me a good ten minutes to remember what the dream was about. So I woke Hermione up and quickly took out my broom, my map, and my cloak . And just then, I started hearing loud 'pops' from outside so Hermione and I got on my broom and we put the cloak on and got out from the window…"
He took almost half an hour retelling them everything that happened that night, but when he finished, suddenly a calm feeling washed over him as if a great burden was lifted off his shoulders.
"Harry," Dumbledore asked, "Do you remember the spell that Voldemort and the Death Eaters used on the house?"
He only nodded while he felt Hermione giving his hand a soft squeeze. "Enversor I detu voco passum dare itaque noceo Potter." When he finished repeating the spell that Voldemort chanted along with 200 Death Eaters, he looked up to meet Dumbledore's eyes and a sudden wave of panic flushed him as he saw his Headmaster like he had never seen him before. He was speechless.
"Everyone would you please leave Harry, Hermione and I alone for a moment?" asked Dumbledore in a strong voice that said it was a command and not a request.
"But Albus-" Mrs. Weasley tried to say but was cut off by Dumbledore.
"Molly leaves us alone, NOW," he said almost shouting the last word all the while Harry and Hermione were looming a little worried from their Headmaster's sudden outburst.
After everybody had left, Dumbledore looked back to meet Harry's eyes and Harry let out a breath he didn't know he was holding because all of a sudden the twinkle in the eyes of the old headmaster returned brighter then ever. "Harry. What I am about to tell you will probably shock you, and you even may hate me for keeping it from you until now, so I will tell you right now that I had no choice but to keep it from you. You see, when I was told about it, a certain charm was placed upon me which was quite similar to the Fidelius Charm. Only in this variation, I cannot tell the secret unless the one who told it to me thought it was time that I would reveal it to the next in line." He paused for a moment to let everything sink in before he continued. "You are not a regular wizard Harry."
"That's as much I can tell by myself, thanks," Harry replied sarcastically.
"You seem to misunderstand me Harry, let me explain. You see Harry, a long time ago, even before the time of the four founders of Hogwarts; there was an ancient race of wizards. Their name was the 'Ivan Barads'. They were the most powerful wizards and witches ever to exist, and they lived a good life of peace and tranquility away from the prying eyes of Muggles. Until a day when a younger Ivan Barad named Gavin Magnus ran away from his family only to return a year after with a goal to be the most powerful of them all, and he was willing to do what ever it took.
'So in order to defeat him, the Barad's high council selected a group of ten people each specialized in his own field of magic to train a young wizard named Merlin." He paused for a minute but before Harry opened his mouth to say something, Dumbledore spoke again only to answer his unspoken question, "No Harry, he was not the Merlin that we know, but in fact he was his ancestor.
'So like that, he trained with the group that was selected until one day, Gavin Magnus and a group of his followers attacked where Merlin was training and within the first ten minutes killed everyone there except for him. You see, after seeing this, Merlin was so angry that it took him only a thought and all of the attacking force, all except for Gavin was dead.
'After a long battle between the two, both Magnus and Merlin vowed that their heir would rise after their time and complete the task the his ancestor failed. For you see, they were both struck at the same time by each other's curse and dropped dead. As the years passed, every ten years, an evil dark lord would rise up only to be defeated by his rival from Merlin's side. Until a thousand years ago when the Four Founders created Hogwarts, and Salazar left the school only then did Godric realize that he too was an heir to the great Merlin and that Salazar was the Heir of Magnus. Now as you must have already assumed, Godric defeated Salazar and so the line continued until from the side of Magnus came Grindelwald." He finished and waved his hand lazily in the air as three glasses of pumpkin juice appeared out of nowhere and Dumbledore took a sip, as if waiting for Harry to ask the inevitable.
"So you are the heir from Merlin's side?" asked Harry still a little stunned from the story.
"Yes Harry. Now let me ask you something: who is today's dark lord?"
"Voldemort." And for the first time in his short life in the wizarding world, none of the people in the room shuddered because his name was spoken in their vicinity.
"And you know what the prophecy says…" At this Hermione looked Harry in the eyes with worry written all over her face.
"Don't worry Mione. I promise I'll tell you about it later, okay?"
She nodded. And then like somebody had just slapped him across the face, Harry realized what Dumbledore was getting at. "So you mean I am the Heir from Merlin's side?"
"Yes Harry, you are," Dumbledore replied.
"So that must mean that you are related," Hermione suddenly gasped at her own assumption.
"I believe that Miss Granger has once again proved that she is the smartest witch of her age," Dumbledore replied, his eyes looking at Harry and twinkling madly.
"Harry," Dumbledore continued, "I am your grandfather."