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Lost Memories
Chapter Ten
Escape
Wormtail exited the room and returned a second later with a small bottle of clear potion. Voldemort forced Claire to drink the liquid and waited for it to take effect.
Claire felt her self control slipping away. She was no longer able to speak freely.
"What are Dumbledore's plans?" Voldemort asked her for the third time.
"From where I am concerned he has been letting Harry train us to fight well, to defend against you and your death eaters."
"What is the Order doing?"
"I don't know."
"Do they know how to defeat me?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"The prophecy said that either you or Harry must die at the hands of the other."
"So either I will kill Potter or he will kill me?"
"Yes."
"Interesting," he sat in silence, thinking about it.
"Do they expect an attack?" he asked after a few moments.
"I don't know."
"Are they ready to defend against an attack?"
"Not yet."
"Perfect." Voldemort said smiling. He ordered them to take Claire back to her cell and went to plan his attack.
Over the next few weeks Voldemort spoke to her about Hogwarts and how best to attack it. And when he wasn't using her for his plans he kept her locked up without food for days at a time.
Claire stared at the crack in the wall of her closet sized room. She had been in there for three days, thinking and planning her escape.
She laughed to herself as she ran her fingers over her wand. Voldemort may be evil, she thought, be he is rather stupid. He didn't even think to take my wand from me. The fool.
A few days previous she had realized she knew a simple spell that could easily get her out. She also knew quite a few curses in case any of the death eater's stood in her way. She already knew they weren't allowed to kill her, the Dark Lord needed her to carry out his plans. But she wasn't going to let him.
At first she had thought of escaping right away, but then realized that wasn't the best idea. She should wait until Voldemort revealed his plot, then run and tell Dumbledore the information.
So here she was, sitting in her cell, thinking of the best way to get what she needed and make her escape. Soon, she thought to herself, I'll get out soon.
"What exactly are you going to do with me?" Claire asked Voldemort several days later.
The Dark Lord merely laughed, "I can't tell you that."
"Why not?" replied Claire, "I wouldn't be able to tell anyone, you have me very heavily guarded. Besides, wouldn't it be easier if I knew what I was going to be doing?"
"Well, I suppose." Voldemort said, thinking about it, "I'm going to use you for bait."
Claire raised her eyebrow skeptically, "Bait?"
"Yes. You are one of Potter's closet friends, of course he'll come to your rescue."
"I see." Claire said.
This was it. She had all the information she needed and she was about to make her escape. She steadied herself and slid her hand into her pocket for her wand.
The door behind her opened and Claire whipped around.
Wormtail stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the light in the hall. "You are to come with me. It is time."
Claire thought about attacking him and making a break for it, but no. It was not a good time. She would surely be recaptured within minutes. She nodded and followed Wormtail silently to the Dark Lord.
"Ah, there she is." Voldemort said as she entered the room. "But there is no time for talk, we must be going. But first, Imperio!"
Claire lost control of her body. She felt very light, and only vaguely aware of her surroundings. She had witnessed this feeling once before. Three years previous the impostor Moody had put this spell on each of them during a Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Harry had been the only one who had successfully released himself from the curse. She tried to think back and remember how he had done it.
The group traveled for hours by all means of transportation. They flew, apparated, used floo powder, and walked until finally they arrived at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, opposite the side of Hogwarts Castle.
"I must go take care of a few last minute details," Voldemort informed his death eaters, "you start toward the castle, I will meet you in an hour." He then disapparated without another word.
The Imperious spell was suddenly lifted with the disappearance of it's caster. But before Claire could decide what to do another was put on her by one of the death eaters.
"Thought you'd get away did you?" a cold voice said mockingly from behind his mask.
The group headed into the darkness of the forest. Along the way the death eater had Claire do ridiculous things like climb the trees, act like a monkey and sing the Canadian National Anthem.
"Stop that!" another man told the death eater.
"I just thought I'd have a little fun," he replied.
"You're acting like a fool, besides, we're on a mission."
"Fine."
Must... get... escape... the curse... Claire thought desperately as she tried to throw off the spell. Finally she found everything around her beginning to clear. Within moments she had released herself completely.
Before the death eaters knew what had happened she drove her hand into her pocket, pulled out her wand and stunned half the group.
"Get her!" a woman yelled.
The remaining death eaters pulled out their wands but Claire yelled, "Expelliarmus!" The wands flew to her hand and she swiftly threw them to the ground and brought her foot down on them, grinning as she heard each one snap in half.
"Why you-!" the woman yelled. Claire turned and ran and heard five people right behind her. She dodged around trees and jumped over holes, occasionally sending a random spell behind her.
At one point she saw a stream of what seemed to be purple light shoot past her. What? Claire thought, none of them have theirs wands, unless one of the men I stunned is sending a warning of some kind, but who would they be warning? She decided to figure that out later.
She was getting tired. Her legs were screaming in pain. Her throat burned with every breath that went through it.
Claire knew they were gaining on her, the yells were getting louder. She chanced another glance back and gasped. A giant hand came through the trees at that very moment and grabbed hold of the death eaters.
She stopped to catch her breath, making a mental note to thank Grawp later. She knew she was safe now but had to get to Dumbledore to warn him of the attack. She may have escaped but that didn't mean Voldemort's plans were ruined. She knew that if he didn't attack tonight he planned to attack on the first of February, she didn't know why.
She continued running and soon exited the forest onto the dark school grounds. She saw a few lights still on in the windows of the castle and hurried across the grass to the front doors. Wait, she thought, remembering the purple light, what if they had been informing a slytherin that I was coming? I'm sure they must be in contact with Voldemort.
She ignored her suspicion and climbed the stone steps to the doors. She threw them open to find herself face to face with none other than Draco Malfoy.
"Welcome back Claire," he said with a smirk on his face.
"Of course." Claire whispered to herself. She was right, they were informing Malfoy so he could stop her.
Before she could do anything he said, "Obliviate!" and she blacked out.
Claire opened her eyes and looked at Dumbledore.
"Well?" he asked, "Did you remember?"
"Yes," she said, and explained the entire ordeal to him.
When she finished he nodded and looked to a calendar hanging on his wall. He turned back to her gravely, "When did you say he would attack?"
"February first." she replied. Her eyes widened, "It's not-?"
"Tomorrow I'm afraid," he told her.
Claire sat openmouthed in shock. "What... what are we going to do? We don't have enough time to plan a defense or to evacuate or anything!"
"True. All we can do, is fight."
"What's going on?" Neville asked Harry, Ron and Hermione as they walked toward the Great Hall. All the students were told to stop their classes and go there for a meeting.
"I have no idea." Harry replied.
"It must be important." Hermione said, "how often do they call us out of class for an emergency meeting?"
"Never have as long as we've been here." Ron said. They walked through the doors and sat at their table.
The entire room was filled with confused chatter. Harry glanced around and saw the Hufflepuffs looking frightened and the Ravenclaws looking for answers. He noticed that the Slytherins, however, seemed very excited.
"Look!" Hermione said and pointed to the top table.
Ron and Harry turned to see a huge assortment of people standing against the back wall. As Harry looked down the line he saw Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley, Tonks, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, their adult children and about twenty other aurors, all looking very grave as they stood behind the teachers.
Lupin caught Harry's eye and nodded in his direction. Harry gave him a questioning look but Lupin merely shook his head and turned to speak with Tonks.
"What's Claire doing up there?" Ron asked.
Claire was standing near the edge of the group looking very nervous. Fred and George kept giving her reassuring smiles but Ron could see the fear in all their eyes.
The entire school gathered in the Great Hall and Dumbledore informed Claire that she would be addressing them.
"What!" she asked shocked, "Why? I can't... I won't..."
"It will be better understood coming from their peer. Besides," Dumbledore told her, "I'll be meeting with the Slytherins," a look Claire couldn't quite place flickered through the old man's eyes.
Claire sighed, "Fine. If I have to, but what do I say to them?"
"Just tell them what is coming. Explain that your memory came back, tell them your story, reassure them that we will fight and we will succeed. Then Lupin will take over and go over the plans."
"Okay."
At that point Claire looked around at her frightened classmates. She saw many familiar faces, her fellow Gryffindors, those who were in the DA with her, various others she had come to know a bit throughout her school career.
I'm not ready for this, she thought. I'm just not. I can't do this. But it doesn't matter if I'm ready. Because in the end, it will all come down to... she looked at Harry, him.
Okay, so what is Claire gonna say? Read and Review!
