A/N: Hello, lovely readers. I'm sorry for the delayed short chapter, but I've been pretty busy lately. This one is confusing…anyway, thank you for answering my poll and reviewing, it's very much appreciated. I don't really have anything to any of you except
KrystalK8: Thank you so much. I feel so loved. Tell your mate I say I'm sorry.
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Chapter Forty
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"Can we trust him?" Tonks asked, searching through the kitchen for her wand. "Are we sure it's not just a trick?"
"Dumbledore has informed us that it isn't a trick. Draco Malfoy was sent to the Death Eater meeting for a reason; he was initiated for a reason, and we were ordered to go. Thus, we should go. We need to go, especially if Dumbledore says this is three times as dangerous as Voldemort alone," Molly Weasley said. "We should hurry up, too. It sounds like they're all in great danger."
Garrick Ardel appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. "We're all ready to go," he told the women. "The Aurors have been informed about what's going on and they're on their way."
"I hope we can get there in time…" Molly said worriedly. "There's no telling what Voldemort will do to that poor girl."
"Kill her, that's what!" Tonks exclaimed, finding her wand in the cutlery drawer. "Ah-ha! Let's go!"
The three of them hurried into the entryway, where all the Order was already assembled. "Ready?" asked Arthur Weasley.
"What if we Apparate to the wrong place?" Tonks asked.
"Well, we'll just have to hope that we don't."
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"Full alert?"
"Yes, sir, we've got all the Aurors on their way there."
"You do realize that most of them will get lost while they're Apparating?"
"Yes, I do realize that, but we'll just have to risk it. This girl could change our futures, for better or for worse, so I think she's worth loosing a few Aurors for a couple days."
"Whatever you say, sir. What should I tell the Aurors to do?"
"Tell them that their top priority is to protect the girl. They can Apparate there as soon as you get your arse out there with them. Has Lora been contacted as well?"
"Yes, as has Dumbledore; by the boy, I hear."
"Very well, I suspect we need to leave now."
"Yes sir."
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"They're all on their way, Lora, I think it would be best if you went now as well."
"But, sir, wouldn't it be best if you went ahead and I finished organizing the teachers? I think you'd be a bigger help to them then I would."
"Nonsense, Lora, you're a trained Auror. You will be able to help much more than I will."
"But Voldemort's scared of you, sir, I think you will be loads more help."
"Lora, I insist you go before me. I have a few last things to talk to Professor McGonagall about before I go."
"All right…what are we going to do with all of the students?"
"They are not to be informed; we do not want them to panic. We're going to run the school as normal and Professor McGonagall is going to tell all of the students at dinner that I received an urgent message from the Ministry and had to go to France at once. They will never know the real reason I disappeared. Well, perhaps they shall find out tomorrow when we all return. But for now, they are going to be led to believe that I am in France. We are wasting time; I think you should go join the fight, Lora. I will be along shortly."
"Should we get Miss Weasley?"
"No, I don't see the need to worry her just yet."
"But she might want to help fight."
"Yes, I am aware of this. However, I don't think she is needed in this particular battle. I'm sure there will be another one for her to take part in."
With a shrug, Professor Lora Giancarlo exited the Headmaster's office, headed for the Forbidden Forest so she could Apparate from the premises.
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"WE CAN'T HOLD THEM OFF MUCH LONGER!" Pepper cried desperately to anyone who was nearby. She and Ron were currently trying to hold three demons at bay, but they were beginning to learn how to resist her freezing power, and she had used up all of the potions that duplicated her Aunt Piper's exploding power. Pepper herself had no powers to vanquish demons.
It didn't seem that anyone was able to come over and help her and Ron, so she suddenly had an idea. "Ron!" she yelled, deflecting the demon's power back at him, which he dodged. "MAKE ME MAD!"
"WHAT?" Ron yelled back, confused.
"MAKE ME MAD! I HAVE AN IDEA!"
She was already trying to recall moments in her life that really pissed her off, and soon her face was red with anger. And that was even before Ron started yelling things at her. "CAN I BE MEAN?" Ron yelled.
"YES!" Pepper said, swerving out of the demon's fireball.
"PEPPER YOU'RE SUCH A HORRIBLE FRIEND! YOU MAKE EVERYONE MAD AND THEN TRY TO PRETEND LIKE IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT AT ALL! YOU SNOGGED MALFOY AND THEN MAKE HARRY THE BAD GUY FOR SNOGGING GINNY! YOU PISSED HERMIONE OFF AND THEN PRETENDED LIKE AN APOLOGY WOULD MAKE IT ALL BETTER! YOU THINK OF NO ONE BUT YOURSELF!" It went on but by this time Pepper channeled all the anger into what she wanted and seconds later two clones appeared by her side. Acting on what she was thinking (and her frightened feelings) they began to help fight the demons.
Ron looked a little surprised at what had just happened, but he didn't think much of it since the clones were helping fight the demons and they needed all the help they could get at the moment.
Seconds later two more clones appeared. Now there were five Peppers, each with five powers, and they all began fighting Death Eaters and demons alike. Little did Pepper know, this power would come in great handy.
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"Are we in the right place?" Tonks asked whoever would answer.
"Yes, this is one of the sister's club," Ardel answered, coming up to stand beside Tonks.
"We've lost five people," Arthur Weasley said loudly. "Let's just hope they didn't land in the ocean."
"Are we ready to go in?" Ardel wondered.
"Aren't we going to wait for Dumbledore and all of the Aurors?" said Tonks.
"I doubt there's time," Arthur replied, walking over to the two. "I think we should go in now."
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"You said she would be defenseless, Seer," growled Voldemort in his sickeningly high-pitched voice.
"I said she would be where Dumbledore is not," the Seer replied. "I did not see the Charmed Ones there, only Harry Potter was at her side."
The Source threw an energy ball at the old, decaying wall, putting a hole in the wood. "You'd better be more reliable next time, Seer, or that wall will be your head," he threatened.
"I apologize, but still, are they not outnumbered? We are still able to catch the Halliwell girl, correct?" said the Seer. "We have enough demons and Death Eaters to overcome their small group."
"How should we know if we're able to catch her?" Voldemort said. "You're the one who can see what is going on. Now tell us what is happening!"
The Seer's eyes glazed over as Voldemort and the Source waited impatiently. "The girl is in trouble," said the Seer manically. "She'll be taken any moment now…"
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"PEPPER!" Ron cried as the girl was picked up by a demon's power and thrown through the air. She spun as she flew, hitting high on the wall near the ceiling. She fell with an alarming speed, landing hard on the floor.
He rushed over to her (he was pretty sure it was the real Pepper) and knelt down on the floor next to her. The demon that was about to attack him was attacked himself by Harry, who had seen Pepper be thrown into the wall. As Harry dashed over to Pepper and Ron, the Order of the Phoenix and a pack of Aurors came herding into P3, overcoming demons and Death Eaters as they went. This gave Pepper's aunts the opportunity to look surprised and rush over to their fallen niece.
"GET HER OUT OF HERE!" Lora Giancarlo shouted at the same time a Death Eater screamed, "GET HER!" There was a mad scramble to get Leo over to Pepper to orb her to Hogwarts (Paige had to stay so the Power of Three could vanquish some of these demons) and the Death Eaters and demons tried to fight their way to the unconscious girl to take her to Voldemort and the Source.
But the other Pepper's were confusing the bad guys, as they were taunting the Death Eaters and poking fun at the demons, telling them that each of them was Pepper.
Malfoy fought his way over as well, but before he could get to the battling group around Pepper he was grabbed by a Death Eater. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" the Death Eater snarled in a voice familiar to Draco. "We'll just have to show this to the Dark Lord…" and with a pop the two were gone.
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"What are you doing here, Lucius? Do you have the girl?" Voldemort hissed as the Death Eater appeared in the dimly lit room.
"No, my Lord, but I found something interesting," Lucius said, bowing before Voldemort while his son struggled to get out of his grasp. Lucius threw Draco down on the floor in front of Voldemort's chair. The Source watched with interest.
"Now what do we have here?" Voldemort drawled lazily.
Draco bowed low to Voldemort. "My Lord," he said. It had been a stupid idea, now that he thought about it, to fight alongside Good. His place had always been with Evil and he knew that, but he was tired of taking all of his father's orders and following in his father's footsteps. And now he was going to pay for his mistake.
"He was fighting with the Halliwells," Lucius sneered.
Voldemort turned to Draco. "Is this true?"
Draco nodded truthfully. Voldemort raised his wand immediately but Draco pleaded, "Please, Lord, give me a chance to explain myself." Voldemort didn't lower his hand but he sat there in silence, waiting.
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"Leo, get her out of here!" Piper cried frantically, blowing up a lower level demon. "Paige! Help him get all of us out of here! It's getting too dangerous! Make sure the kids get out first!"
Leo grabbed Hermione, Harry, Ron and Pepper before orbing from the club. One of Pepper's clones grabbed on to Leo as he orbed out.
Feeling threatened, Paige took hold of her sisters and the rest of Pepper's clones (since they didn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon) and followed Leo from the room, leaving stunned Death Eaters and deflated demons in her wake.
The remaining Aurors and Order of the Phoenix members followed suit, Apparating from P3 since they were no longer needed.
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"Lucius, what do you think would be appropriate punishment for your son?" Voldemort asked wickedly, his wand pointed almost lazily at the twitching, writhing, screaming boy on the ground.
Lucius knew this was a rhetorical question so he kept silent, watching his son suffer under the Cruciatus Curse.
"He should kidnap the Halliwell girl for us," said the Source, entering from the adjoining room. "The Seer has just informed me that the Halliwells have managed to escape, and the girl's baby might have suffered a massive blow when she was thrown into a wall by a demon. Therefore, we still need to capture Pepper Halliwell. Since young Malfoy here is always in such close proximity to her, he should do the job for us."
Voldemort lifted the curse from Draco for a minute. Draco lay there, head down, mulling all of this over. He couldn't hear every word that was being spoken by the Source but he got the main idea of what he was saying: he, Draco, would have to kidnap Pepper so Voldemort could take her nonexistent baby away from her and then kill her. And he was going to have to do it if he wanted Voldemort and his father to believe the story he had told them, which was that the Charmed Ones had put a spell on him so that he would fight on their side.
"I like it," said Voldemort coldly.
This was going to be a problem.
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A/N: REVIEW!!! PLEASE! YES! YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO! CLICK THE LITTLE PURPLE BUTTON!
Oh, and in case you guys didn't know, I revised the prologue.