A/N: Thank you for all of your support-I do feel better. I've said it
before and I'll say it again-writing is my Zen. And on a very happy note: I
went to the dentist-teeth are fine; I went to the optometrist, and my eyes
are fine. I am one healthy person. I am really something. And now I'm done
with pumping up my ego. Thanks for reviews. Here's the next chapter.
Disclaimer: I'm stupid, and my sarcastic wit has left me. Man. It doesn't belong to me. Read my typing: IT DOESN'T BELONG TO ME. Thank you.
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Lucius Malfoy's cold gray eyes flicked up and down. Up. Wham. Down. Wham. Up. Wham. Down. Wham. Escaping from Azkaban had been too incredibly easy now that it was out of the dementor control. Within two weeks of being put in Azkaban, he was sipping tea outside of his manor house. Of course now he was here in Russia, but that was beside the point. He noted the clicking of the lock, but didn't turn around. He did stiffen, and every hair on the back of his neck stood up when he heard the cold voice.
"Much as I would enjoy watching to see how long it would take you to stick him to the ceiling, we do have work to do," Voldemort said lazily, putting his hand on Lucius's shoulder. "Honestly. He's not going anywhere." Voldemort's eyes flicked up to the ceiling where Oliver Wood's body was plastered ten feet off the ground.
"He attacked me," Lucius said, his chest heaving up and down with loathing. "He attacked a Malfoy. No one attacks a Malfoy. No one. Especially not some damn Mudblood Scot!"
"Lucius, I have asked you once, do not make me ask you again," Voldemort said. His voice carried the slightest hint of a threat. Lucius heard it, and knew when he had toed the line. His shoulders slumped, and the glittering light of revenge and bloodlust left his eyes. Lucius could feel Voldemort's nod of approval and the red eyes boring into the back of his skull.
Lucius turned around and respectfully averted his eyes. He ended up looking at the frail body on the ground. Hate surged through him again, overpowering the fear of the Dark Lord. He strode over quickly to where Oliver was lying. "No one attacks a Malfoy," he hissed, curling his lip. He swiftly kicked Oliver in the temple and watched the sudden jerk and slump as he went unconscious. "No one attacks a Malfoy," he repeated himself, his body and voice shaking in rage.
The door closed, and the lock clicked.
,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.
There was dead silence in the Weasley's living room. Angelina glanced around the room. The Order, guests, and family were sitting on the furniture, with their eyes cast to the floor. It was Harry that spoke first.
"So what's wrong with him?" Harry asked, leaning forwards toward Dumbledore. "We know that something's wrong with him. We just don't know what it is, why it's happened, or how we can stop it."
Angelina looked at Harry. His black hair was as unruly as ever, and his bright green eyes peered out from underneath his bangs that also hid his scar. He had always been thin but he looked unhealthy. His cheekbones were sticking out and he had large shadows under his eyes. Voldemort's return had not been kind to the Boy-Who-Lived.
"Yes, I know," Dumbledore said. "I do regret that you," he looked at Angelina, Alicia, Katie, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fred and George, "the people who needed to know most about Mr. Wood were kept in the dark the longest. It is time that you know everything about the circumstances in which Oliver Wood disappeared."
"The first thing you have to know is that nothing leaves this house," Moody growled. "When someone tries to beat what you heard here out of you, you will not even open your mouth to scream. Understand that?"
Katie wordlessly nodded, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. Alicia cheerfully patted her on the knee. Katie made a tiny whimper, and a grimace of terror.
"Thank you Alastor," Dumbledore said. Moody nodded and relapsed into silence. "The second thing you need to know is that Oliver Wood was a member of the Order of the Phoenix. He was not only a member, but one of the top members in the intelligence gathering department."
"But why?" Fred laughed. He looked slightly abashed at McGonagall's harsh look, but continued to make his point. "I've known Oliver for a pretty long time, and I didn't even know that he could do magic, much less do it well."
"Well you weren't watching very hard Mr. Weasley," McGonagall said. "Oliver Wood was certainly not the best student to go through Gryffindor, but he was not the worst. The worst student award could be claimed by yourself and your twin." George and Fred both shifted uncomfortably, and their mother gave them a fearsome look. "Would it surprise you to learn that in two subjects, Oliver Wood graduated in the top one hundred best averages?"
"What were they?" George asked, finally speaking up. His curiosity had won out over his fear of Professor McGonagall.
"His two best subjects were Herbology and believe it or not, Potions," Professor McGonagall said with a small, sarcastic smile. "Professor Snape did his best to make sure that no Gryffindor ever had a good grade in Potions, but true talent for a subject cannot be denied."
"Wow," Fred said admiringly. "So the Bludgers didn't damage his brain. They might've helped it. Old Ollie was pretty smart."
"Who would've thought?" George echoed, nodding his head solemnly. The twins sent each other meaningful looks and nodded firmly once.
"Yes, if we could turn aside from Mr. Wood's academic accomplishments, perhaps we could continue in our story," McGonagall said acidly. Fred and George promptly shut their mouths. "Professor Dumbledore?" she motioned to him.
"Thank you Professor McGonagall," he said to her. "Like I said before, Oliver Wood was vital to helping us gather intelligence."
"But why?" Katie asked. "Why would Oliver-" she nodded as the realization came to her. "The Quidditch."
Dumbledore pointed at her. "Exactly Ms. Bell. Mr. Wood's career enabled him to travel to places all over the world, many of which have Dark Wizards in them. So he had a very good opportunity to pry around in tight places. Not only this, but he drafted many wizards into the Order."
"But all of his espionage left him vulnerable," Lupin explained. "Some of the smarter wizards in Voldemort's army wondered why the Keeper of Puddlemere United was poking around in all these shady places. Some wondered more than others, and did some research into his old school records. They found that he had been a Gryffindor, a group notorious for its close associations with Albus Dumbledore. They went back to the pubs that Oliver was in, and found out the questions that he was asking."
"And these smart little Death Eaters told Voldemort, who is no dummy himself, and he figured it out. Not the whole conspiracy, but the fact that Oliver Wood, Puddlemere United's Keeper was in a group with Albus Dumbledore. That this was a group that was devoted to bringing down Voldemort's power. And Oliver being a certain high profile person, it wasn't hard for Voldemort to see When Puddlemere was playing Bulgaria. Bulgaria is of course, relatively unnoticed by major wizard media. If it wasn't for their Quidditch team, they would fall off the map entirely. It was too incredibly easy for the Death Eaters to kidnap Oliver," Charlie finished.
"From what we could gather from our remaining intelligence people, Oliver was fed a bogus tip about a gathering of Death Eaters in a small cave. He foolishly went alone, without telling the Order about what he was going to do. Oliver went to the cave expecting to see several Death Eaters having a meeting. What he saw was three giants, two sleeping, and one awake. He was watching for Oliver," Tonks finished, tossing a quill that she had been chewing to the table.
"And that's the last we've heard of him?" Angelina asked. "Aurors crawling over the entire Wood case, and no one has a clue of where he is?"
"I have all my team on this," Kingsley said. "Ever since," he sent a quick look at Harry, "ever since Sirius died, we haven't had a lot of work to do." Kingsley thought about how that statement would seem, and added quickly to it. "We can't find much information on his whereabouts. When Voldemort kidnaps someone, he takes great pains to make sure that they are not easily found." Alicia started as she recognized what Dumbledore had said earlier at Angelina's house.
Harry looked up from where he had been staring at the ground. "What about Snape?" he asked. His voice was harsh with pain and hate. He had still not forgotten Sirius, and the feud between Sirius and Snape. Everyone looked over to where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting.
"Professor Snape, Harry," Dumbledore reminded him gently. Harry made a small noise of disgust. Dumbledore made to say something else, but Harry interrupted him.
"What is he doing?" Harry asked angrily. He pounded his fist on his knee to make his point. "Why are we keeping him on if he's not going to provide us with any information? What's the point of having him in the Order if he can't get us any information on Oliver?" Harry stopped shouting. Everyone was looking at him with total and abject fear in their eyes. Everyone except for Lupin, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Hermione. Their expressions were filled with pity and understanding. That was the last thing that Harry wanted then, but he couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Harry, rest assured that Professor Snape is doing the best that he can," Dumbledore said sternly. "He is, for the moment, working to secure the location of Oliver Wood. We know that he has seen Mr. Wood at least once. He is unable to report to us because Lord Voldemort is watching his every move closely. Voldemort does not tolerate spies among his Death Eaters."
"Excuse me Professor Dumbledore sir?" Hermione asked shyly. "What exactly does V-Voldemort want with Oliver? I mean, why go to the trouble of keeping him alive? You just said that Voldemort doesn't tolerate spies; why is Oliver even alive now?"
Angelina and Katie both sent Herminoe scandalized looks, but she was concentrating on Dumbledore's face. "That is a very good, and very wise question," he told her. "The reason that Mr. Wood is alive right now is that Lord Voldemort believes that Oliver Wood has vital information about the Order, and about his own Death Eaters. Now, he could have gotten the information days ago by the Imperius Curse, or by Veritaserum. But either fortunately, or unfortunately, Voldemort prefers to get his information by...the most horrendous pain imaginable."
"And we don't know where he is?" Katie demanded. "He's undergoing torture, and we don't know where he is? Shouldn't we at least be getting out of here? Not that I don't trust his loyalty, but you said that You-Know- Who's torturing him. I think that under normal circumstances with a normal person, we would have already been attacked. Shouldn't we be going to somewhere that Oliver doesn't even know about?"
"Even if Mr. Wood knew where we were, he couldn't betray us. Only one person knows how to give away our position to the enemy, and he would never do that," McGonagall said.
Angelina looked around the room. "Who is it?" she asked curiously. Dumbledore raised his hand and gave a small wave.
"Well now that we know what happened, all we have to do now is get him back, right?" Katie asked with a bright and sunny smile. Her smile dimmed as she looked around at all the glum faces in the room. "Right?"
Disclaimer: I'm stupid, and my sarcastic wit has left me. Man. It doesn't belong to me. Read my typing: IT DOESN'T BELONG TO ME. Thank you.
,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.
Lucius Malfoy's cold gray eyes flicked up and down. Up. Wham. Down. Wham. Up. Wham. Down. Wham. Escaping from Azkaban had been too incredibly easy now that it was out of the dementor control. Within two weeks of being put in Azkaban, he was sipping tea outside of his manor house. Of course now he was here in Russia, but that was beside the point. He noted the clicking of the lock, but didn't turn around. He did stiffen, and every hair on the back of his neck stood up when he heard the cold voice.
"Much as I would enjoy watching to see how long it would take you to stick him to the ceiling, we do have work to do," Voldemort said lazily, putting his hand on Lucius's shoulder. "Honestly. He's not going anywhere." Voldemort's eyes flicked up to the ceiling where Oliver Wood's body was plastered ten feet off the ground.
"He attacked me," Lucius said, his chest heaving up and down with loathing. "He attacked a Malfoy. No one attacks a Malfoy. No one. Especially not some damn Mudblood Scot!"
"Lucius, I have asked you once, do not make me ask you again," Voldemort said. His voice carried the slightest hint of a threat. Lucius heard it, and knew when he had toed the line. His shoulders slumped, and the glittering light of revenge and bloodlust left his eyes. Lucius could feel Voldemort's nod of approval and the red eyes boring into the back of his skull.
Lucius turned around and respectfully averted his eyes. He ended up looking at the frail body on the ground. Hate surged through him again, overpowering the fear of the Dark Lord. He strode over quickly to where Oliver was lying. "No one attacks a Malfoy," he hissed, curling his lip. He swiftly kicked Oliver in the temple and watched the sudden jerk and slump as he went unconscious. "No one attacks a Malfoy," he repeated himself, his body and voice shaking in rage.
The door closed, and the lock clicked.
,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.
There was dead silence in the Weasley's living room. Angelina glanced around the room. The Order, guests, and family were sitting on the furniture, with their eyes cast to the floor. It was Harry that spoke first.
"So what's wrong with him?" Harry asked, leaning forwards toward Dumbledore. "We know that something's wrong with him. We just don't know what it is, why it's happened, or how we can stop it."
Angelina looked at Harry. His black hair was as unruly as ever, and his bright green eyes peered out from underneath his bangs that also hid his scar. He had always been thin but he looked unhealthy. His cheekbones were sticking out and he had large shadows under his eyes. Voldemort's return had not been kind to the Boy-Who-Lived.
"Yes, I know," Dumbledore said. "I do regret that you," he looked at Angelina, Alicia, Katie, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fred and George, "the people who needed to know most about Mr. Wood were kept in the dark the longest. It is time that you know everything about the circumstances in which Oliver Wood disappeared."
"The first thing you have to know is that nothing leaves this house," Moody growled. "When someone tries to beat what you heard here out of you, you will not even open your mouth to scream. Understand that?"
Katie wordlessly nodded, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. Alicia cheerfully patted her on the knee. Katie made a tiny whimper, and a grimace of terror.
"Thank you Alastor," Dumbledore said. Moody nodded and relapsed into silence. "The second thing you need to know is that Oliver Wood was a member of the Order of the Phoenix. He was not only a member, but one of the top members in the intelligence gathering department."
"But why?" Fred laughed. He looked slightly abashed at McGonagall's harsh look, but continued to make his point. "I've known Oliver for a pretty long time, and I didn't even know that he could do magic, much less do it well."
"Well you weren't watching very hard Mr. Weasley," McGonagall said. "Oliver Wood was certainly not the best student to go through Gryffindor, but he was not the worst. The worst student award could be claimed by yourself and your twin." George and Fred both shifted uncomfortably, and their mother gave them a fearsome look. "Would it surprise you to learn that in two subjects, Oliver Wood graduated in the top one hundred best averages?"
"What were they?" George asked, finally speaking up. His curiosity had won out over his fear of Professor McGonagall.
"His two best subjects were Herbology and believe it or not, Potions," Professor McGonagall said with a small, sarcastic smile. "Professor Snape did his best to make sure that no Gryffindor ever had a good grade in Potions, but true talent for a subject cannot be denied."
"Wow," Fred said admiringly. "So the Bludgers didn't damage his brain. They might've helped it. Old Ollie was pretty smart."
"Who would've thought?" George echoed, nodding his head solemnly. The twins sent each other meaningful looks and nodded firmly once.
"Yes, if we could turn aside from Mr. Wood's academic accomplishments, perhaps we could continue in our story," McGonagall said acidly. Fred and George promptly shut their mouths. "Professor Dumbledore?" she motioned to him.
"Thank you Professor McGonagall," he said to her. "Like I said before, Oliver Wood was vital to helping us gather intelligence."
"But why?" Katie asked. "Why would Oliver-" she nodded as the realization came to her. "The Quidditch."
Dumbledore pointed at her. "Exactly Ms. Bell. Mr. Wood's career enabled him to travel to places all over the world, many of which have Dark Wizards in them. So he had a very good opportunity to pry around in tight places. Not only this, but he drafted many wizards into the Order."
"But all of his espionage left him vulnerable," Lupin explained. "Some of the smarter wizards in Voldemort's army wondered why the Keeper of Puddlemere United was poking around in all these shady places. Some wondered more than others, and did some research into his old school records. They found that he had been a Gryffindor, a group notorious for its close associations with Albus Dumbledore. They went back to the pubs that Oliver was in, and found out the questions that he was asking."
"And these smart little Death Eaters told Voldemort, who is no dummy himself, and he figured it out. Not the whole conspiracy, but the fact that Oliver Wood, Puddlemere United's Keeper was in a group with Albus Dumbledore. That this was a group that was devoted to bringing down Voldemort's power. And Oliver being a certain high profile person, it wasn't hard for Voldemort to see When Puddlemere was playing Bulgaria. Bulgaria is of course, relatively unnoticed by major wizard media. If it wasn't for their Quidditch team, they would fall off the map entirely. It was too incredibly easy for the Death Eaters to kidnap Oliver," Charlie finished.
"From what we could gather from our remaining intelligence people, Oliver was fed a bogus tip about a gathering of Death Eaters in a small cave. He foolishly went alone, without telling the Order about what he was going to do. Oliver went to the cave expecting to see several Death Eaters having a meeting. What he saw was three giants, two sleeping, and one awake. He was watching for Oliver," Tonks finished, tossing a quill that she had been chewing to the table.
"And that's the last we've heard of him?" Angelina asked. "Aurors crawling over the entire Wood case, and no one has a clue of where he is?"
"I have all my team on this," Kingsley said. "Ever since," he sent a quick look at Harry, "ever since Sirius died, we haven't had a lot of work to do." Kingsley thought about how that statement would seem, and added quickly to it. "We can't find much information on his whereabouts. When Voldemort kidnaps someone, he takes great pains to make sure that they are not easily found." Alicia started as she recognized what Dumbledore had said earlier at Angelina's house.
Harry looked up from where he had been staring at the ground. "What about Snape?" he asked. His voice was harsh with pain and hate. He had still not forgotten Sirius, and the feud between Sirius and Snape. Everyone looked over to where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting.
"Professor Snape, Harry," Dumbledore reminded him gently. Harry made a small noise of disgust. Dumbledore made to say something else, but Harry interrupted him.
"What is he doing?" Harry asked angrily. He pounded his fist on his knee to make his point. "Why are we keeping him on if he's not going to provide us with any information? What's the point of having him in the Order if he can't get us any information on Oliver?" Harry stopped shouting. Everyone was looking at him with total and abject fear in their eyes. Everyone except for Lupin, Dumbledore, McGonagall and Hermione. Their expressions were filled with pity and understanding. That was the last thing that Harry wanted then, but he couldn't think of anything else to say.
"Harry, rest assured that Professor Snape is doing the best that he can," Dumbledore said sternly. "He is, for the moment, working to secure the location of Oliver Wood. We know that he has seen Mr. Wood at least once. He is unable to report to us because Lord Voldemort is watching his every move closely. Voldemort does not tolerate spies among his Death Eaters."
"Excuse me Professor Dumbledore sir?" Hermione asked shyly. "What exactly does V-Voldemort want with Oliver? I mean, why go to the trouble of keeping him alive? You just said that Voldemort doesn't tolerate spies; why is Oliver even alive now?"
Angelina and Katie both sent Herminoe scandalized looks, but she was concentrating on Dumbledore's face. "That is a very good, and very wise question," he told her. "The reason that Mr. Wood is alive right now is that Lord Voldemort believes that Oliver Wood has vital information about the Order, and about his own Death Eaters. Now, he could have gotten the information days ago by the Imperius Curse, or by Veritaserum. But either fortunately, or unfortunately, Voldemort prefers to get his information by...the most horrendous pain imaginable."
"And we don't know where he is?" Katie demanded. "He's undergoing torture, and we don't know where he is? Shouldn't we at least be getting out of here? Not that I don't trust his loyalty, but you said that You-Know- Who's torturing him. I think that under normal circumstances with a normal person, we would have already been attacked. Shouldn't we be going to somewhere that Oliver doesn't even know about?"
"Even if Mr. Wood knew where we were, he couldn't betray us. Only one person knows how to give away our position to the enemy, and he would never do that," McGonagall said.
Angelina looked around the room. "Who is it?" she asked curiously. Dumbledore raised his hand and gave a small wave.
"Well now that we know what happened, all we have to do now is get him back, right?" Katie asked with a bright and sunny smile. Her smile dimmed as she looked around at all the glum faces in the room. "Right?"