A Hero's Defeat
Chapter Four
The air around the castle had shifted since Harry had disappeared to his rooms. It weighed him down as he walked towards the kitchens for an early dinner. Everything was quiet, something Harry could never get used to the castle being.
But things had changed since the second war had begun. Too many people were dead now. Everyone was dead. More people were going to die before the war was over and Voldemort was dead.
After getting a quick dinner from Dobby, Harry walked down to the dungeons. Before Snape was killed, Harry had spent a great deal of time in the dungeons looking at the Potions Master's collection of texts about the Dark Arts. Now, he head to sneak down there. No one else knew that passwords to the wards placed around the door and Snape had ordered Harry not to tell anyone else.
He, too, had known the truth.
There was no way that the Dark Lord was going to be beat with Light magic. Snape had been the one to suggest Harry's education of the Dark Arts. Since that time, Harry had found several useful spells for his final confrontation with Voldemort.
One of which was his mind barrier. It was a lot stronger than Occlumency and it was impenetrable. Harry had only been contemplating mastering it before Voldemort captured him and during the time of his imprisonment, he had mastered the skill and effectively blocked off most of his mind from Voldemort's torture.
But he had sacrificed a small part of his mind and that had been why everyone thought he was insane. It worked. People of the Order spoke around him, not fearing his reactions anymore.
They weren't worried about him knowing their strategies but they did wonder who had saved them those few times. All anyone recalled was seeing a griffon. None knew that that griffon was actually the insane Harry Potter.
~~~
When Ron regained consciousness after his torture session by Voldemort's hand, he realized that he was in a cell in what was most likely Azkaban.
Great.
Now he was going to be tortured by Voldemort until he was killed.
What fun.
He looked around the cell. The walls were blank, not that he expected them to be painted bright red…maybe dark red or brown for blood. The stone walls were foreboding and depressing.
Now he just had to wait for the Dementors.
But as he sat there in the cold dark cell, he couldn't understand why Voldemort would want him now. Even though was one of the leaders of the resistance, he wasn't that important to the fight. All he was trying to do was make Hogwarts a safe-haven again for those with no where else to go.
Was that why Voldemort wanted him? To keep that from happening? It didn't make sense and Ron's mind was too muddled with pain to concentrate.
He had known that the Cruciatus Curse hurt because both Snape and Harry had taught everyone in the order how to work though it by casting it on them. Ron had never experienced it the Voldemort cast it.
Full of hate.
The cell door opened. Ron expected Voldemort or one of the Death Eaters.
He never expected to see Harry.
~~~
Pettigrew approached his master silently. The snake-man was watching and listening as his plan came to fruition. Screams of pain had haunted Peter's ears since he'd returned to his post as Death Eater almost ten years ago.
Things had changed since then. Now his master was obsessed with destroying everything associated with Harry Potter.
As far as Peter could tell, it was working. Ron Weasley would be the second of Harry's family to break.
~~~
Harry chose a book from the shelf that he'd passed over a few times because if the subject. The History of Glamorie.
Harry felt that he would need it now if he had to face Voldemort while he still had Ron hidden away on Azkaban. Maybe he could find a way to counter the spell.
He settled himself into a chair and began to read. He had little time before Ginny would start looking for him.
~~~
Hours after the Ron Weasley's screams had stopped, a man walked the halls of Azkaban. He wore shaggy black robes and his black hair needed to be cut. His eyes were dead, void of the spark that had been there in his youth.
Now, every part of that man was dead. He was more like a robot than anything else.
That could mean one of two things for people, Muggle and wizard alike; he could either be very submissive, or the most dangerous person in the world.
Right this second, he was the latter. Though his mind was no longer his, he knew was that his former friend needed to pay for his betrayal.
He stopped outside the door of a cell in the deepest part of the prison, where Voldemort kept any wizard or witch who happened to be connected to the Order of the Phoenix.
He muttered the password and walked inside. "Well," he sneered, seeing the unconscious form on the floor. "Ennervate."
The figure jerked awake, his eyes searching the room in fear and uncertainty.
"Please," he said. "No more…We were friends."
The man simply glared. "Not anymore. Crucio."
~~~
Harry nearly dropped the book he was reading when he heard a tapping on the small window in the dungeon. He stood up and walked over to allow the tawny owl inside. He clearly recognized the owl, belonging to the one person who knew of his current situation.
He took the letter and opened it, immediately recognizing the scrawl.
Harry, there's been a development. We need to meet where they gather tonight.
S.
Harry committed the letter to memory before setting his wand to it and reducing the parchment to ash. What had happened to cause such a prompt meeting? They usually only met once every few weeks and the last meeting had been the week before.
So what was going on?
Harry sighed and went back to the book. He'd been reading on a particularly Dark form of glamorie spells that dealt with changing a person's perception so that they would see another person, possibly an enemy. It was used as a sort of mask on the eyes. He was still slightly confused by it, though he doubted that he would ever have to experience that form of the spell in any context. Harry was intrigued by it for some strange reason.
With a sigh, he replaced the book and readied himself to leave. He checked the hall outside Snape's room to make sure that no one was around. No one was and he made his way back to his own room only to find Ginny waiting for him.
A/N: Well, I'll leave this one here. I will explain the dark charm later as I was finding it difficult to explain here. So there. Thanks for the reviews. Keep 'em coming.
~SA~