Chapter 29 – Revelations
The party after the final was riotous. All of Gryffindor House was partying into the late of the night as they celebrated the victory over Hufflepuff and the winning of the Quidditch Cup. Just about every member of Gryffindor had come up and congratulated and praised Darren for his actions in the game. Even Seamus had been magnanimous when he had talked to him. He had been carried off the field and Ginny had hugged him so hard he thought she would kill him.
"I can't believe we won Darren!" she had shouted to him on the field.
"Awesome Darren, just absolutely awesome," Seamus had told him as he had clapped Darren repeatedly on the shoulder.
"Where did you come up with that move?" Harry had asked him in the common room.
"I saw a Chaser for the Ballycastle Bats do that once a few years ago. It was incredible and I never thought I would get the chance to try it, but it worked," Darren had explained.
"Well, it really doesn't matter where you got the idea, just that it worked Darren," Harry told him.
"Yeah, I guess it doesn't Harry."
"No, it doesn't. Did you see the look on Malfoy's and Snape's faces when we won? That was almost as good as winning the Cup."
Darren had indeed seen the looks on their faces. They looked like they had been forced to eat a pile of dragon dung for breakfast and Darren hoped he would always be able to remember their looks so long as he lived.
"Yeah, it was great Harry. They looked a bit upset, didn't they?"
Harry almost choked on his pumpkin juice.
"A 'bit upset'? They looked like they were going to be sick. It was great."
Darren laughed along with Harry.
"Yeah, it was great, it really was."
"You know who else was watching you Darren?"
Darren raised an eyebrow suspiciously at Harry.
"Who?" he asked.
"Cho was watching you after the game Darren. She looked like she wanted to talk to you, but she left instead."
"Why do you say that?" Darren asked of him.
"Well, because while you were jumping up and down with Ginny and Seamus, she was standing right behind you on the field, but she just turned around and left before you saw her."
"That's right Darren, she was," a voice said to him from behind.
Darren turned and saw Ginny standing there.
"You saw her too Ginny?" he asked the redheaded girl.
"Yes, and she looked hurt Darren."
Darren just looked down at the floor at the slight rebuke. He knew that Ginny was right. Cho was hurt. He had hurt her on purpose in order to try to keep her safe. If he had given a hint that he was in love with her, her life would be in danger from Lord Voldemort, just as his mother's and sister's were.
'Darren, maybe you should talk to her. Try to get things straight before she graduates in a couple of weeks. The term is almost over you know," Ginny told him.
"Yeah, I know," he said as he continued to look at the rug.
"The answers aren't in the carpet Darren. You can only make things right by talking to her," Ginny said as he tried to not look at her.
"I think it may be too late anyway. She hates me because I left her for no good reason. At least that is what she thinks."
"Darren, she doesn't hate you. In fact, it is the other way around. She loves you. I know she does because she is always talking Padma's sister about it. Parvati told Hermione and I a while back about it. She is starting to make the Ravenclaw girls angry with it. I think they are getting tired of her always talking to them about you and not facing you about it. Anyway, just a thought. Talk to her if you want, or don't, but either way, she has to get over it."
Ginny and Harry headed off to the other side of the room after a minute of awkward silence. Darren stood alone for several moments before Neville joined him.
"Hey Neville."
"Hi Darren."
"How are things going Neville?" Darren asked awkwardly.
He had not really spoken to Neville at length about anything ever since he had been forced to place him under the Imperius Curse. Ever since he had done that every conversation with Neville had been an almost one sided affair and Darren hated it. He hated what he had done to Neville, and Ron, and especially to Cho. How could he ever apologize to them, much less explain why he had done what he did.
"Fine," Neville answered in monotone.
"Good then. Well, I think I am going to go to bed then Neville. See you in the morning."
"Good night Darren," Neville told him as Darren turned and walked up the steps to the dormitory.
At the top of the stairs, just inside the doorway that led to the dormitory room for the fifth year boys, Darren found Ron standing alone.
"Jesus Ron, you scared me," he said as he jumped back in shock. He had not expected anyone else to be up there so soon in the evening. The party was still going strong downstairs and the entire house seemed to still be reveling in the Gryffindor victory.
"You said you wanted me to tell you if Harry wanted to talk to Hermione or me."
"Yeah, I did Ron," Darren answered as he looked into the hallway to see if there were any other students that could overhear them. When he saw none, he turned back to Ron.
"What did he say?"
"He told Hermione he wanted her to meet the two of us in the common room and then we would go to the Room of Requirement."
"Why would he want to go there?"
"He wants to talk to us about what has happened this year."
"What has happened this year?"
Ron had piqued Daren's curiosity and he also needed to know just what Harry might or might not talk about.
"He has been working with Dumbledore a lot in the Headmaster's office this year. Snape has been with them a lot of the time too. Other than that, we don't know most of it, but we figured it was something that was getting to him because he has not been working through it that well."
"So, he wants to talk to you two about what is troubling him then?"
"Maybe, I don't know."
Darren stood quietly for a few minutes and tried to think about what Ron had told him. Harry had been working with Dumbledore and Snape? Dumbledore made sense, but Snape didn't, not at all. What he had planned was risky, but the chance to get Harry alone and off guard was too good to pass up, so he decided this may be his only chance.
"Ron, stand over there please," he said.
Ron went and stood against the wall as instructed and Darren took out his wand and pointed it directly at him.
An hour later Harry finally came up to the dormitory. He looked over at Darren lying in his bed and waved to Ron who was sitting on the edge of his own bed and flipping through his Transfiguration textbook.
"Come on, let's go back downstairs and wait until everyone else goes to bed."
Ron put the book down silently and walked quietly out of the dormitory and followed Harry down the stairs to the common room. Many of the students, the older ones mostly, were still trying to celebrate the Cup victory, but the crowd was rapidly thinning out as Harry and Ron sat down on one of the couches.
"Great game Ron, see you tomorrow," Dean said as he clapped Ron on the back and headed to the stairs.
"Yeah Ron, nice save on that breakaway today," Seamus told him as he followed his friend upstairs.
"Thanks guys; see you later," he responded.
The crowd continued to thin as an hour passed by, then two hours and finally there was only one first year left who had fallen asleep in a chair in front of the fireplace. Ron got up and shook her awake.
"Oy, go to bed Angie," he told her as she rubbed her eyes.
The blonde girl got up wearily and staggered half asleep to the stairs that led to the girl's dormitory and when she was out of sight the two boys sat back down and waited for Hermione. Ten minutes and twenty checks of their watches later and she finally came down the steps.
"Where have you been?" Ron demanded.
Hermione shot him a look that said 'bugger off,' but she held her tongue in check.
'Well Ronald, I was waiting for the last of the others to go to bed, that's where I was. Or would you like to have to explain to Professor McGonagall, or maybe Professor Snape, why we are out in the corridors after hours?"
"Fine, but let's get going. We won't have all night," Ron said. "It is three already."
"Ron's right Hermione, let's go, now," Harry said.
He turned and led them to the opening that led to the outside corridor but before he opened it, he reached in his cloak and pulled his invisibility cloak. After Harry tossed it over the three of them, the group crawled into the opening and pushed the picture of the Fat Lady out of the way.
"Who goes there?" she asked towards the wall.
Hermione snuck a hand out from under the cloak and pulled the painting back over the opening. Through the cloak they could see her looking around and squinting in the darkness but she didn't see them. If she had, they were sure that after the scare Sirius Black had given her thee years earlier that she would have surely raised an alarm.
A few minutes later they were at the end of the corridor and heading towards the Room of Requirement. A slight diversion was made when they had to avoid Peeves in one corridor. He was mucking about in a broom closet, no doubt doing something to make Filch's job just a little bit harder the following morning. Once they were in the correct corridor, Harry stopped and pulled the cloak off of them and began to walk in front of the wall where the entrance was located. On his third pass a door appeared and the three of them rushed through and closed it softly behind them.
Ron looked around and saw that the room was smaller than it usually was, with a fire burning on the far wall and three overstuffed chairs that had a small table piled with pastries and pumpkin juice between them.
"Come on guys, let's get started," Harry told them.
"What is this all about Harry?" Hermione asked as they crossed the small room.
"It's about last June, and what has been happening ever since," he told her.
"What about last June?" Ron asked a little too quickly.
"You know perfectly well that Harry is talking about the Department of Mysteries Ron," Hermione scolded.
"Yeah, but we weren't there with Harry when a lot of that stuff happened."
"Well, no we weren't, but that doesn't mean Harry can't tell us something new about it, does it Harry?"
"Actually, according to Dumbledore I shouldn't tell either of you a thing about it, but it is just too much to have to handle, especially after the attack on Madam Bones last night."
"Madam Bones?" Ron and Hermione asked together.
"She's dead."
"WHAT?"
"Like I said, she's dead. Attacked in her sleep by what her bodyguards say was a Lethifold. Dumbledore told me because he thinks Voldemort may have one that he can actually control."
"How can you control a Lethifold?" Hermione almost shouted.
"Well, he has gotten the Dementors on his side, so why wouldn't he know some way or spell that would let him control one?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, but how do they know it was a Lethifold? They don't leave any evidence, do they?"
"Dumbledore said one of the bodyguards heard a muffled sound from her bedroom, but that he didn't think much of it because he just thought she was dreaming, but then the light under the door flickered, so he opened the door to see what may have done it. He saw it scurrying, or whatever they do, across the floor and out of a window," Harry said.
Ron and Hermione looked at each other in shock. The Minister of Magic had been murdered in her own home, with bodyguards right outside. The idea of something like that happening was almost unthinkable.
"There is more."
"What?" Hermione asked.
"Dumbledore thinks Voldemort might try to get it in here, to attack me."
"Well, you can do the Patronus Charm, so what have you got to fear from it?" Ron asked.
"Madam Bones was the Minister of Magic, and a very powerful witch who also could cast a Patronus, and it got her Ron. Just because you can cast a spell doesn't mean you can cast it when you need to," Hermione told him.
"Yeah, but Harry stopped the Dementors on more than one occasion, didn't he?"
"You can feel a Dementor coming, not a Lethifold Ron. Haven't you been listening in Defense Against the Dark Arts?"
"Yeah, I have been listening Hermione, but it still doesn't explain how Voldemort can control a Lethifold, does it?"
Harry and Hermione both raised an eyebrow at Ron.
"What?" he asked them.
"You've never used his name before, that's what Ron," Hermione told him.
"Oh, well, I guess I don't see the sense in not saying it anymore, I guess," Ron stammered after a second or two.
Harry gave him a slightly sideways look and then continued with their conversation.
"That's not all that happened last night. Ron, your dad saved the Prime Minister from a Dementor at the PM's official residence too."
"What!" both Ron and Hermione said in unison.
"Well, you know how Madam Bones had made him the head of Muggle/Wizard Relations?"
"Yeah," Ron answered, still shocked at what Harry had just told him.
"Well, it seems that it is becoming harder and harder, according to Dumbledore, to keep the wizarding world secret from Muggles, especially now with Voldemort beginning to act more openly."
"What happened at the Prime Minister's house Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Well, Dumbledore said Mr. Weasley had been sent to brief the Prime Minister on what has happened the last few months with Voldemort and his followers, and while he was there, a Dementor made an attempt on the Prime Minister. It got two of the PM's bodyguards, and when it tried to come into the room where Mr. Weasley was talking to him, I guess your dad recognized what it was before it ever got into the room."
"Wow, my dad saved the Prime Minister."
Ron sat down in one of the chairs and put his head in his hands. He was shaking from the news and Hermione put her hand on his shoulder to try to calm him down.
"You should be proud Ron. Your dad saved the Prime Minister, and everyone else in that building. None of the Muggles there would have had a chance if it wasn't for him acting so quickly."
"Yeah, but why would Voldemort send a Dementor after Tony Blair? He doesn't have anything to do with what has been going on the last couple of years."
Harry answered him this time. "Dumbledore thinks Voldemort is not trying to take over just the wizarding world anymore. He wants the entire world, wizard and Muggle too. If he wins, it will be the end of everything."
Ron just sat for a few minutes in silence as he reflected on what he had just been told. Harry and Hermione let him sit in silence and did not bother him. They would let him talk when he was ready. Finally, Ron spoke.
"Is my dad okay?"
"Yeah, he's fine and back at the Ministry, trying to sort out what happened at the Minister's house with that Lethifold."
"Well, there is nothing we can do tonight then, I guess we should be getting back to the dormitory."
"No, there is one other thing I wanted to talk to you two about," Harry told them.
"There is more than this?" Hermione asked incredulously.
"Yeah, this isn't what I wanted to tell you when I said I wanted to meet here."
"Well, what is it then?" Ron asked.
Harry took a deep breath and began.
"So, let me get this straight," Hermione said. "Professor Trelawney made the prophecy that we found in the Department of Mysteries, and that is why she teaches here?"
"Yeah, Dumbledore wanted to keep her somewhere safe from Voldemort, and I guess he figures there is nowhere safer than Hogwarts Castle."
"But, you said that the prophecy says only one of you can survive. One has to kill the other," Ron said.
'Yes, that is what has been bothering me all year. You two have been telling me to let whatever it is out, to stop holding it in, and now I have. I have to kill Voldemort, and nobody else can do it."
"Not even Dumbledore?" Hermione questioned.
"No, not according to Dumbledore. I saw his memory of it in his Pensieve and heard what it said for myself from beginning to end."
"Well, as long as you get the chance, what is the problem?" Ron asked.
Harry and Hermione both turned to him as if he had just turned purple.
"What is the problem?" Hermione almost shouted. "Harry has to commit what is almost equal to cold-blooded murder."
"But, it is Voldemort we are talking about. Not some little cute bunny or something," Ron almost shouted back at her.
"Ron, it doesn't matter who it is. What matters is the fact that when Harry meets Voldemort again, he has more than just his own life to worry about. He has the entire world and its future to worry about." She turned to Harry before continuing. "I'm sorry Harry for what I am about to say," and then turned back to Ron. "Ron, if Harry fails, the entire world will fall to Voldemort. We will lose, and there will be nobody to stop him. That is a lot for anybody to carry around, much less for the last year."
The three sat silently for several minutes before Ron finally spoke.
"Well, I hate to be the one to say it, but Harry doesn't have a choice."
"What do you mean he doesn't have a choice?" Hermione demanded.
"If the prophecy is true, and Harry is the only one that can defeat Voldemort, then he has to fight him, sometime. And he has to win, period."
"I'm not sure I can Ron."
Harry's answer surprised both of his friends.
"What are you talking about Harry, of course you can win," Hermione told him.
Now it was Harry's turn to sit down and put his head in his hands.
"Every time I faced him, it was just pure luck that I survived. That or Dumbledore intervened like at the Ministry of Magic last summer."
"Harry, I'm not…" Hermione started, but Harry cut her off by jumping to his feet.
"Think about it Hermione! He attacks me and kills my parents when I am a year old. I survive, but how? Luck. It was pure luck that Voldemort didn't know the prophecy then or he would have killed my parents and then sent somebody else upstairs to do the job on me that night. In the dungeons our first year, he was not able to take physical form, and I got lucky because Professor Quirrell touched me and that saved me. Our second year it was only because of Fawkes coming with that sword that I was able to barely get away from him. Our fourth year he made a mistake in letting the portkey lie around and I was able to get to it with a Summoning Charm and last year Dumbledore saved me in the lobby of the Ministry. I haven't done anything to make me believe that I can take him on in a straight up fight!"
Harry was angry now, caught up in all the things that had happened to him over his life. It was obvious that the pressure was getting to him. He threw himself back down in the chair and started to shake. His friends could not tell if it was anger or sadness, or a bit of both, but when he looked up at them, tears were running down his face and he looked as he was about to explode from within.
"I don't think I can do it, I'm not strong enough to face him, and I can't take the pressure of knowing what that damned prophecy says."
Ron and Hermione stood silently and let him talk. It was obvious he needed to. He had never opened up to them in this way before.
"How can I beat him, much less kill him? He is too powerful. Even Dumbledore knows it. Tonight he told me I had to find a way to do it, because he didn't know the answer. That was the first time he has not had an answer to anything I asked, do you know that? Every day I think what it would be like if I could get an Owl from my parents, what is would be like to meet them at King's Crossing for holidays or summer break. Learning things from my father about quidditch, having a real family to rely on and be with. I can't take this ANYMORE!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Harry, try to calm…" Hermione tried to say.
"Calm down, CALM DOWN! Do the two of you have any idea what it is like to have this thrown on you? I lost everything dear to me before I even knew them, and now I am being told I am the only one that can save the world too? How much does Dumbledore think I can handle?"
"If Dumbledore didn't think you could handle it Harry, he wouldn't have told you, would he."
Harry and Hermione looked up at Ron after he had said this.
"If Dumbledore didn't think you could win, he would have just spirited you somewhere far away and kept you in hiding to keep you safe in the hopes that you would one day be able to handle it," Ron continued, to the amazement of Harry and Hermione. "Besides, from what you said just now, it seems to me that you have every reason in the world to be able to take on Voldemort and do what you have to."
"What are you talking about Ron?" Hermione asked.
"Think about it Hermione. Voldemort murdered his mother and father and everything bad that has happened to him since then has been caused either directly or indirectly because of what happened that night. If Voldemort had murdered my family, I would want to kill him, and if Harry can't turn the rage he feels inside outward, he will lose, and so will we, and he knows it, don't you Harry."
It was not a question Ron had just said, it was a statement. Harry just put his head down and sat silently for a moment before finally nodding his head in agreement. Hermione was staring a hole through Ron as if she couldn't believe what he had just said to Harry, but Ron ignored her. He had no time to listen to her chastisements now, not when he had other more important things to worry about right then.