The Seers' Truth: Beyond the Darkness
By Lady Lestrange
Chapter 8
A Long Way Home
15 Reviews: I really hate blackmailing you into reviewing, but hey, I'm a Slytherin. It's in my nature, so when there are 15 reviews, for this chapter, the next one will magically appear. Love my readers and reviewers. Answers to the reviews follow the story.
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter characters and previous situations belong to JK Rowlings. No infringement is meant or implied. No money is made from this fanfic. Thanks JK.
Thank you to my faithful and hardworking beta, ennui deMorte==
Without a word, Voldemort waved the house elf from the chair next to Samara and seated himself there. He could see the weight lost because of her not eating, even though Severus had fed her with magic. Beneath her fingernails were traces of dirt from the Earth Elemental. Her face was glistening with sweat, and the smell of body odor had begun to be noticeable to him when he tasted the air with his tongue.
"Elf," he admonished with narrowed eyes. "I want her cleaner."
"Yes, Master," the elf squeaked and doing her own personal brand of magic, cleaned the sour smell from Samara's body.
He tasted the air again and was satisfied. "For your punishment, tonight you will scrub your own body with dragon blood drain cleaner." Winky whimpered. "I expect to see evidence that you have done a sufficient job," Voldemort continued, "or in the future, you will not have any skin to scrub." Voldemort placed the glowing hot tip of his wand along Winky's ear, singing the long hairs that grew there. "And you will keep her and her robes clean in the future." He withdrew the wand from the elf.
"Yes Master. Winky is—" she began, but he silenced it with a look. She stood nervously chewing her ears. He held Nagini on his shoulder for a moment more and then put her quietly on the floor.
"{She has much magic,}" commented Nagini.
"{Yes,}" said Voldemort. "{Perhaps too much.}"
"{Others with so much have died,}" Nagini remembered.
"{Yes,}" he agreed. "{But I intend to bring her back from death.}"
"{A noble purpose,}" Nagini commented.
"{She won't think so,}" said Voldemort. "{She will hurt. I will hurt.}"
With purpose, he leaned forward and touched her face.
The first thing he noticed when he touched her was the heat—the white hot flame of the fire Elemental burning away her humanity. She should be struggling in agony, this close to death, but she was still, only the sweat bearing witness to her pain. He could sense her attention elsewhere on something far from her pain, and while she was preoccupied, her body was being consumed by the magic. It was so powerful here that he hesitated, but only for a moment. Then he dug his fingers like claws into her consciousness and entered the magic to see what she saw.
The light blinded him at first, a painfully searing light that glittered off of the water. It was a huge expanse of water lay before him and a great flickering light shined that would not allow him to open his eyes. Only moments into the elementals with her and already he was hurting and blind. He waited for something he could understand. The flutter of movement caught his attention. He pushed forward, sensing, tasting and she stirred, feeling his intrusion.
"Child?" he breathed. "Come back with me."
Her emerald green eyes, as timeless as the stone basilisks' eyes, turned to him. Eyes filled with questions and with pain.
"Why are you here?"
"To learn. To help."
"I'm glad," she said, "but I must help this man first."
He saw no one, but she turned her face away from him to examine the butterfly she held in her hand, a butterfly so fragile and beautiful that for a moment he was transported through time to the beginning.
"Helga?" he whispered, one part of him doubting his senses, another thinking what a totally useless Animagus a butterfly was.
Then he realized with a sudden start of fear that the butterfly wasn't an Animagus at all, it was a Sylph, the embodiment of the air elemental, glowing with light and magic. The movement of the magic flowed over the body of the butterfly making it seem to move, but it was not truly alive. It was only the stuff of which life was made, raw and untamed, and yet still content to remain in her hand. It was a creature of light and air, her creation, made to enslave him here in this land of death! He snatched his thoughts from her, creating a breach between them.
She looked at him. "No, not mine," she said. "It is free. It must choose." She opened her hand and the creature fluttered away, out of his reach. Such power! And she let it loose! What a fool.
He leaned and stretched his magic to capture it, clawing the empty air where it lived and he was filled with pain. It was her pain: the pain of death. He knew its cold touch. As he entered the Air Elemental, her soul was displaced. She was forced to give up some of her contact with the Elemental because of his focused movement. The euphoria of spirit the Elementals were creating in her soul giving way to the devastation that the Elementals were creating in her body. She became aware, once again, of her body suffering for her lack of attention. She became aware of the pain.
The cost of beauty was too high, he thought. It served no purpose, brought no power and no sisshauss. He was unable to reach the Sylph now. It fluttered as high as the sun and blended with the air.
She had lost it, and he was crawling on the ground in one of his snake forms. No, not a snake, he thought. He was moving wrong, inching forward instead of slithering. He was a worm, bound to the earth. Vegetation sprung up around him. Yes, he understood. It was her contact with the Earth Elemental that was creating these various manifestations. It was her magic that bound him in this form, but he would not stay bound.
He had been here before, this close to death. He knew this path intimately, but the Earth did not interest him. He preferred the Fire and the Air. In the Air, he knew they could meet, but she was not allowing him to enter the Air. He sensed this and struggled to turn his Earth bound senses to Air, just as the Earth beneath his feet coaxed him to take root here. Perhaps Fire, he thought, but Fire was dangerous—much too dangerous. He would hurt her.
Searing pain shot through him as he pulled himself from the Earth. He was hurting her already, uprooting her from the Earth Elemental. He felt her struggle like Tom had struggled the day he first possessed him, like a butterfly pinned. The need to over come her filled him. The conquest was sweet and he had to exert an iron willed intent to keep from possessing her entirely. He knew from past experience where she would go to escape him. She would flee to the Elementals. She would die.
He felt her pain and was drawn to it, but he knew he should withdraw and abandon his search. It was enough that he had loosened her rootedness in the Earth Elemental. Every second he delayed, the power was being sucked from her life force pushing her not closer to recovery, but closer to the vastness of the Elementals. He felt as if he were rushing down a slippery slope with her toward oblivion—a bright light or a vast darkness, it did not matter. It was empty and frightening.
No! He would not permit her death. He pulled her back with him, back through the pain and the fear. He was the greatest wizard of all time. He would not be forgotten. He would live forever: He, himself, Lord Voldemort, Salazar Slytherin, not some misty remembrance in the Elementals but HIMSELF.
With a sickening ripping sound he pulled himself from her and fell exhausted on the floor. He lay still and panting for only a moment. He did not have the luxury of such actions. He felt Nagini's movement over his shoulder and the house elf at his neck.
"Master?" squeaked the house elf.
Voldemort pulled himself to his feet. "You did not see this," he said to the elf.
"Saw nothing," squeaked Winky, backing away quickly. "Winky is a good elf. Winky has shut eyes."
"If you speak of this, even accidentally, you will have no eyes," Voldemort said coldly.
Winky placed both hands over her mouth and nodded. She said nothing.
"I am the most powerful wizard in the world. Nothing could bring me to my knees. Ever. Remember that."
Winky nodded without taking her hands from her mouth.
Voldemort brought his hands to Samara's face, examining the long red welts that marred her cheek where his fingers had dug for the Elementals and the magic had burned her. Once again, bits of Earth magic were underneath her fingernails.
"{It is good,}" he told Nagini in parseltongue.
"{Her primary contact with the Elementals is Air.}"
"{Compatible with your Fire,}" agreed Nagini.
"{Yes,}" He smiled a slow smile.
"{So you know she is the prophecy child?}" asked Nagini.
"{No, I only know she is very, very powerful At least as strong as Harry Potter.}"
"{Will she be sisshauss?}"
"{I don't know if I can take her power for my own,}" said Voldemort. "{I think it would diminish it. It's so like Helga's, powerful, yet fragile.}"
"{Healing?}" asked Nagini
"{Yes,}" He stroked the snake distractedly.
"{It will be fine, Master. She will make you whole.}"
"{No,}" he said, "{that is Harry Potter's task. She has another task entirely.}"
He ran his hands over her body, checking for injuries. Other than the expected drop in her body temperature, she was fine. He pulled the blanket around her shivering form and did a warming charm. The basilisks on her body nearly purred in contentment, bathed in warmth and magic.
"Go find Severus Snape," Voldemort told Winky. "I want a wizard with her now at all times."
"Yes Master." The elf Disapparated with a pop.
"{Will she wake soon?}" asked Nagini.
"{I believe so,}" he said. "{If she is to awake at all.}"
"Master," said a Death Eater from the doorway, "This owl has been flying through the corridors for the last fifteen minutes." He opened the door, allowing the plain brown Gringotts owl to fly into the room and deposit his letter with Voldemort. The owl did not wait for a reply, but immediately departed, leaving behind a gold embossed letter with a Gringotts' seal.
++
Harry found it impossible to drink eggnog and eat Christmas cookies while Ginny, Samara and Beatrice were still prisoners. Nonetheless, he twirled a glass of the drink absently and looked out the window at the freezing rain as Fred and George recounted their time at Hogwarts yesterday.
"I'm telling you, Ginny is at Hogwarts," said Fred. "Mum won't listen to us at all."
"She just isn't thinking clearly," said George, "and then the news from Charlie isn't helping."
"News from Charlie?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah. There was a break-in at Gringotts. Some mallions of Muggle money stolen," said Fred. "Didn't you see it in the Prophet? There was an article about this big," Fred held up his thumb and index finger an inch apart, "on the sixth page."
"Mallions?" said Harry, edging his basilisk a little further up his sleeve. "Do you mean millions?"
George shrugged. "After all, it was just Muggle money."
Hermione shook her head. "I'm not getting a wizarding paper at home. Too many owls make the neighbors suspicious."
"Well, the Prophet blames it on the goblins like before, but this time, there was a dragon killed. It's all hush-hush. If Charlie wasn't involved with bringing in a replacement dragon, we wouldn't have even known."
"A dragon was killed?" asked Harry incredulous. "They aren't exactly easy to kill."
"True," said Fred, "And it's been years since a dragon died at Gringotts. Bill said that the last one killed was in 1938. Apparently the culprits made so much noise that security was alerted before they could rob the place though. Stupid gits. Weird huh?"
"That dragon might not have been killed," said George. "Bill said the whole body disappeared and was never recovered."
"What," laughed Ron, "someone like Hagrid wanted a pet dragon?"
They all laughed at that and George added, "It wasn't the first dragon Charlie's brought in from Romania this year. He and his team brought five to guard Azkaban."
"Then Azkaban—"began Harry, but he broke off as Sirius stuck his head into the room.
"Come into the Dining Room," he urged. "I have my grandmother all tucked into bed. I promise she won't scream at you."
(A/N: Deviation from cannon. I know JK said it was his mother, but his mother wasn't a Black until she got married, was she? In fact no grandmother could have been born a Black, either unless like the Malfoys, there were a few generations of Blacks marrying Blacks to keep the blood pure. So, I imagine, this woman in the picture, had a mother whose name was Black and a father whose name was unknown. Then she married her second cousin, changing the family name back to Black. (Slytherin inbreeding) In any case, I picture Sirius and Andromeda being left with a much less formidable woman than the one in the picture while Carman and her brother (Sirius' Dad) went with the Dark Lord. It would account for both of them being light wizards. This doesn't affect this book, but may affect the next book in my series.)
"Why didn't you just give that picture to one of your cousins with the house elf?" asked Ron.
"Couldn't," answered Sirius. "I can't get it off the wall."
"I still think you should have freed Kreacher rather than giving him to the Malfoys," said Hermione with a shudder.
"Yeah, who knows what kind of stories he will tell about the Order," said Ron.
"He doesn't know anything about the Order except that it exists," said Sirius, "and truthfully, Voldemort already knows the Order has been called out. He just doesn't know where we are."
"And we don't know where he is," said Harry.
"Minister Fudge says, 'It's just a matter of time until we locate him'" added Percy.
"True," agreed Sirius, "and Kreacher serves the house Black. Since I am the last Black, he is technically mine, but when I found that shrine in the basement to Valeriana back in September, I just lost it. I told him he was bound by house elf law to keep my secrets, but he could choose the Black he wanted to serve or he could have clothes. He chose Narcissa.
"I know he would have preferred Valeriana." Sirius sighed. "I don't know if that will work, but I'm glad to be rid of him. Dumbledore seems to think he will continue to be loyal to me as long as it doesn't directly conflict with Narcissa's wishes."
"We can hope," pronounced Ron as Sirius hurried back to the kitchen.
"So what's Fudge doing about Voldemort?" Ron asked Percy.
"Minister Fudge is working very hard on the problem," said Percy. "As a matter of fact, that's why I had to work today and tomorrow. He has a lead on some of the Death Eaters movements. He's out of town investigating it. It's not like he's home enjoying his holiday."
"Not unless he's skiing on all that ice," muttered Ron.
"Pardon?" said Percy.
"Oh, I said—that's nice," replied Ron as Percy began to berate the twins for bringing extendable ears with them to Sirius house.
"You never know when you may need them," said Fred petulantly.
"You don't really think Fudge is at the Snow Castle, do you, Ron?" whispered Hermione.
"Who knows?" said Harry in a whisper. "You don't think anyone would tell us, would they?" He reached his hand under the sleeve of his robe absently stroking the sleeping Shesha. Her cool scales felt oddly reassuring.
"Time for supper," said Sirius as Arthur and Molly helped to carry the food to the dining room table. They had all gathered around Sirius' huge dining room table, when a flurry of motion announced the late arrival of another guest.
The young woman tripped into the room and dropped a handful of packages under the tree.
"I hope none of that was glass," said Sirius.
She grinned at him and pulled her icy hood off of her head. Her hair was streaked red and green with holiday glitter, and her eyes were glistening amber color much like Madam Hooch's. Her eyebrows were also golden, like bits of glittering tinsel.
"I took the time off to do some last minute shopping," she announced while pulling off the glittering cloak which sported an animated fox collar. The collar looked at them curiously and sniffed the scent of holiday food.
"Didn't you have time off for Christmas either, Tonks?" asked Molly.
"Well, not really," she said looking at Sirius, "But what Moody doesn't know won't hurt him. Thanks Sirius for watching them for me." She leaned in to give Sirius a kiss. "You're a dear," she said.
The fox growled and Sirius said, "He really doesn't like being part of your coat, Tonks." She flicked her wand and released the little creature from the coat. He trotted across the room, greeting everyone, and then curled up in front of the fire with a bone that Sirius gave him. Harry noted the bits of ice and snow clinging to his fur. It must be uncommonly cold outside, he thought.
"This is my cousin, Nymphadora Tonks," said Sirius, introducing her to the children.
"Just Tonks," said the young woman, extending her hand to Hermione, Harry and Ron in turn.
Harry's eyes narrowed. "Watching who, Tonks?" he asked suspiciously.
"You've met everyone else I think," said Sirius and the twins nodded.
"Tonks is really awesome—" began Fred, but Harry interrupted.
"Watching who?" he persisted.
"Why you, of course, Harry. We couldn't have the three of you off at some unprotected Muggle house without an Auror guard, now could we?"
"You've been spying on us?" asked Harry incredulously.
Hermione and Ron just stared open mouthed.
"Oh, now. It isn't spying," said Tonks. "It's protecting. And you've been mighty good too, except for those six hours in the Riddle House. Merlin! I was frantic! The first two trips—"
"Six hours?" bellowed Sirius incredulously. "Three trips?"
"Riddle house," echoed the Weasleys.
"It's this type of irresponsible behavior," began Percy, but Sirius' voice drowned him out.
"Why didn't you report this, Tonks?" demanded Sirius.
Harry rubbed his hand over his scar, thinking she must have only followed the magical transportation to the Riddle house. She didn't realize that they left the Riddle house, walking to Samara's and then driving to Knockturn Alley.
"What were you looking for anyway?" asked Tonks, ignoring Sirius' outburst as she filled her plate.
"Not what, who," said Harry shortly, and Molly Weasley started to cry softly. Hermione leaned over to comfort her along with her husband.
"Now look what you've done," Percy accused.
"But six hours! I was beginning to think you got caught in one of the booby traps." Tonks stopped eating and shook her fork at Harry. "Do you know how hard it is to search booby traps when you set them off yourself?" she asked.
"No," said Harry.
"I had to transform into a water spider to get out of the quicksand," explained Tonks.
"I'm glad we didn't see that," said Ron seriously and Harry chuckled, explaining, "Ron's afraid of spiders." Although Ron glared at him, it seemed a better conversation starter than talking about the Riddle House.
Unfortunately, the adults all wanted to know why they were at the Riddle house in the first place which made for a very uncomfortable supper. Some of the tension was diffused when Molly and Arthur Weasley left, saying they wanted to be home early in case there was any word from Dumbledore about Ginny.
"He knows you're here, Molly," said Sirius, but she just burst into tears again and Arthur wrapped his arms around her and held her until she was calm enough to use the floo.
"I'll come with you," said Percy, "since I'll probably have little enough time tomorrow. Minister Fudge wants a full contingent of Aurors on standby. You two should come too," said Percy, frowning at the twins. "Mum would like you home."
"We'll be there shortly," said Fred.
"Right," agreed George. "We'll just help clean up."
"Well, no harm done at the Riddle house, I guess," said Tonks as they all moved to help remove the supper dishes, "but where did you get the portkey?"
"I made it," said Harry, ducking a pot that Ron had sailing through the air to the sink. "On the Hogwart's Express."
"Any more surprises for me?" asked Tonks, causing her golden eyebrows to rise right up into her red and green hair and wriggle there like glittering caterpillars.
"No," said Harry with a smile.
"Well, maybe," interrupted Hermione. "Harry promised to show me how to make a portkey and we never have time at school, especially with OWLs this year. I was wondering, could we do magic here, Sirius? Please? We did magic at Hogwarts over Christmas break, but, of course, I know we can't in a Muggle house, even though my parents wouldn't mind."
"It isn't a question of your parents minding," said Sirius. "It's a question of what's the law."
"Oh, Sirius," said Tonks dismissively. "You know we always did magic over the holidays and this place is so warded, no one from the Ministry can see it. If they do, it's better they see Harry and Hermione than the Order's magic."
"We considered wandless magic," said Harry softly.
"No!" Sirius boomed, nearly dropping the plates he was levitating. "You have no idea what you are getting into with wandless magic. It's dangerous. People have died—"
"Never mind," said Harry. "We'll just ask the twins." He glanced at Fred and George.
"Stop telling everybody!" snapped Fred.
"Not fair," said George. "We didn't even get a change to do things for you to keep you from telling adults."
"You can tell he's an only child," said Fred.
"Well, there's Dudley," disagreed George.
"He's not a child. He's a whale," said Fred.
Ron broke into laughter.
"Who taught you two wandless magic?" glowered Sirius.
"Oh, I don't know wandless magic," said one of the twins pointing at the other. "Just Fred."
"I'm not Fred. You're Fred! Quit lying."
"Me?"
"Stop it," roared Sirius, and a deafening silence fell in the room.
"You know, Ginny is the only one who could tell us apart," said the first twin softly.
"Ah Gin—" moaned the second.
"Who taught you?" Sirius demanded again His voice was low and threatening, his jaunty good looks transformed by anger. He looked like he might curse the both of them if they didn't answer him.
"No one," said Fred. "George and I just learned it ourselves."
"That's impossible," said Tonks.
Sirius stared at them, and all of the color drained from his face. Even Tonks looked appalled. "You did it alone?" squeaked Sirius. "You two have to be the luckiest wizards on the face of the planet."
Tonks nodded vigorously, her glittering hair bobbing.
"Wandless magic is forbidden," said Sirius gruffly. "Absolutely No."
"Sirius," said Tonks.
"Wandless magic is completely off limits," roared Sirius. He seemed to tower above the twins even though they were both a head taller than Sirius. In Harry's eyes Sirius looked like some celestial being, bent on bringing justice to the constantly irreverent twins. He had never seen Sirius like this, and for a moment he glimpsed the Gryffindor Sirius had been before Azkaban wrung him dry.
"Sirius," said Tonks lying a hand on his shoulder. "You can't do that. You know that the forbidden fruit is always the sweetest."
"Tonks, you know how dangerous it is."
"I do, and that's why you can't just tell them no. How would you have reacted to that sort of ultimatum at their age, Sirius?"
Sirius sighed. "OK, rule number one, he said, pacing in agitation. "No wandless magic. Rule number two, in case you decide to disregard rule number one, use the Elementals not your own power. Rule number three—"
"Wait, wait," said Hermione. "Why not use your own power?"
"Because you get a headache," said the twins together.
"The fragile neural pathways are unable to conduct the concentrated magic needed for a spell," said Tonks.
"What?" asked Ron.
"Your brain cells explode," said Sirius dryly.
"Sirius is essentially correct," said Tonks. "That's why you get a headache."
Hermione gasped.
"Now we know what happened to the two of you," said Ron, giving George a little push.
"This is absolutely not a joke," said Sirius, his dark eyes flashing fire. "And this is not something you are going to grasp in an hour."
"Sirius is correct," said Tonks. "It takes years of practice to perfect and control wandless magic."
"The difference between Elemental magic and using your own magic," continued Sirius, "is that you are using your whole body like a wand to conduct the magic," said Sirius. "And the magic is already connected to the Elementals. Essentially it exists in the stream that you need rather than having to string it together like you would if you were using your own power. But just like with a wand, some people and some woods handle certain spells better than others. Which brings us to the third rule." Tonks joined with Sirius in saying, "Always release the magic completely at the end of your spell."
"Why?" asked Harry. "More headaches?"
"No," said Fred.
"Worse," said George shuddering.
"Sick as a dog," said Fred.
"Excuse me?" said Sirius with a slight whine.
"Oh, that reminds me," said Harry. "When you were Snuffles at Hogwarts, I think you wanted to tell us something—"
Sirius was frantically shaking his head no, but Harry plunged on, not even looking at him.
"It was about the Chamber of Chains."
Tonks stared at them as if they had suddenly turned into demons.
"What is it?" Harry asked, looking at Tonks.
"Isn't that the room Filch used to hang students from their thumbs in?" she asked.
"That's the one," said Sirius.
"Oh, how awful," said Hermione.
"No, actually, hanging from your thumbs was a blessing. You couldn't touch the walls or floor," said Sirius. "That room was—well, before Azkaban I thought it was the worst place in the world."
"I remember Mum talking about it as if it was alive," said Tonks. "She said it sucked away your magic like a leech. I was scared to death to go to Hogwarts, but it was obliterated before I got to Hogwarts."
"Obliterated?" asked Harry.
"Yes. The room was removed from Hogwarts," said Tonks. "Headmaster Dippit rarely used it, and after my aunts locked my mother in it, he petitioned the Board of Governors to have the room removed. It was one thing if a teacher locked a student in for a limited period of time as a punishment and quite another thing if a student found the way in and locked another student in as a prank. My mother had nightmares about it for years. She said you couldn't get out on your own."
Sirius shook his head. "That's not true. I remember Narcissa bragging that she got out."
"Not on her own. She only got out because Aunt Laurel and Aunt Valeriana rescued her, and as far as I know, they were the only ones that could break the enchantment," said Tonks.
"No, they weren't," said Harry. "Samara got out without Dumbledore's help. Well, Draco Malfoy helped her."
"Like mother, like son," muttered Sirius.
"What!" shouted Tonks. "Dumbledore put someone in that room?"
"I know," said Sirius. "I was surprised that Dumbledore locked Samara in there too."
"Surprised?" said Tonks. "Try horrified…appalled . . . sickened…"
Sirius nodded. "I know, but I talked to Dumbledore about it. He said it was just a holding room now. There were no longer any terrors within it."
"But with Samara being an Empath, do you think she would have been more sensitive than most witches?" asked Harry.
"No," said Sirius. "If Headmaster Dumbledore said it's just a holding room now, then it's just a holding room."
"Yes, well," muttered Harry, "Dumbledore admitted to Karkaroff that he didn't know all the secrets of Hogwarts."
++
Over the clink of dishes, Harry heard a sound of a footstep in the hall, and turned, noticing Dumbledore, who looked rather tired and worn. He pushed his snow-covered hood from his head and dusted some of the ice out of his long white beard.
"Alas, I do not know all the secrets of Hogwarts," said a soft grandfatherly voice, "But Harry, neither do you." He held his gloved hands together as if warming them.
"Headmaster!" cried Sirius. "When did you get here? I didn't hear the door."
"Well, I used a stealth charm to get by your infamous grandmother," Dumbledore admitted with a twinkle in his eye, and then his face became very concerned. "Sirius, a word, please."
"Certainly, Headmaster." Sirius glanced at the twins and the trio. "Why don't you young people go to one of the upstairs rooms until we are finished here. You can practice the charm you asked about, Hermione."
"Always working," commented Dumbledore, "Even on your holiday. You know that's why you are a top student, Miss Granger."
"Thank you, sir," said Hermione, her face coloring with a faint blush. "Well, excuse us."
++
Voldemort was not planning to go Muggle hunting with his Death Eaters. He had intended to remain with his Prophecy children and try to discern which was the true child, but the Mulciber's information couldn't be ignored.
Harry Potter at an unprotected Muggle house.
It was an opportunity too good to miss. Voldemort was trying to decide which Death Eater was loyal enough to sit with Samara while he went to find the Potter brat, when Severus suggested that Virginia Weasley might be enlisted to do the job.
"Good," said Voldemort, "but she will not be at the Apparition point until noon, you will have to fetch her. See to it that she finds her way to Samara and remains there." Voldemort sighed. "It's a pity that you can't come with us, Severus, but I have to enlist your help to—monitor the Lestrange twins' activities."
"You want me to babysit," said Severus in a cold voice.
Voldemort smiled his strange snake smile. "It's not so bad, Severus. I can't trust the Lestrange twins with any but you or Carman or myself. Even their mother cannot handle them."
"Somewhere special?" asked Severus.
Voldemort raised an eyebrow, and lifted his head, scenting the air, and studying Severus' face. It revealed nothing. He didn't want to believe it, but by eliminating Death Eaters, one by one, Severus loyalty was back into question. "Perhaps," said Voldemort guardedly.
"Master?" asked Severus, "Is there something else you wanted from me?"
Your loyalty, thought Voldemort, but aloud he said, "Do you think the Weasley girl can be trusted?"
"With attending Samara, yes. It will be a while before she is capable of taking on larger projects though. Did you have something in mind for her?" he asked innocently.
Voldemort's eyes narrowed and he touched Snape's face with a long finger. He saw only Severus' understanding that the Weasley girl was repulsed by killing. He knew that already. "Go and get her," he said shortly.
"As you wish, Master," said Snape. He waited a moment for Voldemort to release the anti-Apparition wards around the Snow Castle and Apparated outside of Hogwarts grounds.
++
Hermione ushered Harry and Ron out of the room away from Sirius and Dumbledore. When they reached the top of the stairs, they found the twins who already had their extendable ears out.
"I think they put up a silencing charm," said George.
"You're right," said Fred. "Do you think we can break it?"
"Break the Headmaster's silencing charm? Are you mad," intoned George.
"Yep," said Fred with a grin.
"I'll work on it," said George.
"We might as well work on that portkey," said Hermione, hurrying into an adjacent room.
"But don't you want to know what Dumbledore is here for?" asked Ron.
"Probably just sharing Christmas cheer," said Hermione. "If he wanted us to know, he would have told us."
"No one tells us anything, Hermione," grumbled Harry.
"Well, there's not much we can do about it, is there?" said Hermione. "But we can work on this portkey."
"Ok," said Harry, "What should we use?"
Both glanced around the room, looking for innocuous objects. "There's not much here," said Hermione. "Let's try another room." They went into the next room which was still dusty and cluttered with junk.
Ron picked up one of several candy wrappers from the bureau. "This?" he wondered.
"I don't think so," said Hermione. "That's a Muggle candy. Malfoy wouldn't have that in his house."
"How about this?" said Harry, holding up a small vial that looked like it contained a small amount of dry blood.
"Yuk," said Hermione. "Where did you find that?"
"Under the bed," said Harry.
"Ok, that should do. Let's rinse the blood out," said Hermione.
"Why?" said Ron. "At Malfoy's house it's probably more realistic with the blood in it."
Harry shrugged, but they ended up following Hermione's advice and trying to clean out the blood. "Pergo!" said Harry, pointing his wand directly at the glass, but most of the blood stayed inside anyway.
"Oh, I guess it's Ok," Hermione said at last, and Harry pointed his wand at the item to begin his work on the portkey.
"Hey, wait! Let's see how fast you are," Hermione suggested.
"Ok," said Harry, brushing the hair out of his eyes and screwing up his face in concentration.
The first portkey took him nearly ten minutes to make. The second time he used a candy wrapper, which was faster at six minutes, but the third try, with another candy wrapper, took seven minutes.
"You have to practice this," said Hermione as she studiously ripped the unnecessary portkeys into tiny pieces. "You need to consistently be under five minutes to be as safe as you can be at the Snow Castle."
"That's assuming Malfoy doesn't just give you to You-Know-Who," said Ron. "I really don't like this plan."
"I can do it fine," said Harry. "I work better under pressure anyway. Let's go see how the twins are getting on with their extendable ears."
"No," insisted Hermione. "You need to practice this, Harry."
"I need a break," said Harry, walking over to Fred and George.
Hermione and Ron followed him, but Harry could hear Hermione grumbling under her breath about his taking unnecessary risks.
++
"How's it going?" asked Ron.
"Slowly," said Fred. "Dumbledore put up a silencing ward."
"Got it. Listen." George passed his extendable ears to Fred, who listened for a moment, a grin spreading across his face.
"I know. I'm a genius," said George with a slight smirk
"Sh-h-h!" admonished Fred.
"Well, what are they saying?" asked Ron impatiently.
"You won't hear anything good eavesdropping," said Hermione refusing to put the ears on.
Harry, on the other hand, had already taken his and was listening intently. It took him a moment to understand what they were talking about—something about Muggles—
"Do your parents go to church?" Ron asked Hermione.
"Not always," said Hermione, "But usually on Christmas and Easter."
Ron's face went totally white. "Not tonight?"
"I don't know if they were going tonight or tomorrow," she said. "Why?"
Ron yanked the ears from his head and put them on hers over her protests.
"Well, the weather is working," said Dumbledore. "Only five Muggle churches so far have been attacked and they were only half full."
"What does that bring the death count to?" asked Sirius.
"Just under four hundred so far," said Dumbledore. "It's better than we expected, but I still think you should convince Harry to stay here tonight. He might be hard to protect—"
Hermione yanked the extendable ears off of her head, and sprinted back to the room where they made the portkeys.
"Hermione!" Ron shouted. "Bloody Hell!" And sprinted after her.
The twins were now looking at Harry. "Hermione heard that, didn't she?' asked Fred.
"You can't go back to her house!" said George, but Harry had already left, following Ron and Hermione.
When Harry entered the room, Ron was entreating Hermione, "Wait! What are we supposed to tell Sirius and Dumbledore?"
"I don't care," she said, "But I can't leave my parents unprotected."
"But you can't do magic." Ron argued.
"Do you think I'm worried about getting expelled when my parents' lives are in danger?" She pulled her wand and reached for the glass bottle portkey, which was not spelled with a word but only activated by touch. As soon as her fingers closed around it, she dissolved into nothingness.
"Harry!" said Ron frantically. "Where's the other portkey?"
"What portkey?"
"The one that we used from the Riddle house. The piece of parchment with the ribbon tied around it."
"I left it at Hermione's house," said Harry appalled. "I just assumed Sirius would bring us back."
"Harry!" screeched Ron. "She could have just appeared in a house full of Death Eaters."
"Gimme that candy wrapper," said Harry pulling out his wand.
"Wait, wait. What are you doing?" said Fred, grabbing hold of Harry's wand arm.
Shesha immediately poked her head out and hissed angrily.
"Bloody hell!" spat Fred, yanking his hand off of Harry. "When did you get a snake?"
"You can't leave," said George. "What are we going to tell Sirius?"
"And Dumbledore?" added Fred.
"You'll think of something," said Ron "You're a genius, remember? Hurry, Harry. Hurry," muttered Ron looking at his watch. "Three minutes….four min—"
Harry thrust the newly made portkey under Ron's hand and immediately Harry felt the tug behind his navel. They left Fred and George complaining behind them.
==
Answers to the ReviewersFirst of all, thank you to all who read and reviewed. You keep me motivated to continue writing when the plot eludes me. You are very important to this story. THANKS!
Sky: I like the part where Draco removed Garrett's mouth too, and the comment—you're where Samara got that spell! Remember Samara? She'll be back soon.
Tiamat Warcraft: I've always found hitting a computer with a hammer is a satisfying experience. Please keep that in mind when I'm late updating. "Great one" I like that. Author smirks. Math? Yes, I think it's another form of curcious.
Kayleigh: Thanks
Harpy: Samara's brothers didn't react to the Imperio because squibs and muggles have no way to fight it. See: THE SEVENTH SUFFERING in THE SEERS TRUTH: THE BROKEN BEGINNING. For information about Edward's harpy feather wand, see BETRAYED BY WAND AND BLOOD, also in THE SEERS TRUTH: THE BROKEN BEGINNING.
Trillium: Tell sis happy B-day. Glad you like.
Black Skylark: Volde/Ginny? VOLDE??/Ginny. Are you crazy? I work so hard to make Volde totally disgusting and you LIKE HIM! What am I going to do with you? Lol.
Jager: Here's more.
Raven173: What Draco in JK's OOTP? I missed him too. Sniff. They PITY VOLDE? Honestly people, what do I have to do to make you realize he's the BAD GUY! Lol ok I admit. He's fun to write.
Emma-Trelawney Real action on the way. Of course, I think there has BEEN SOME REAL ACTION.
FUZ Glad you like
Kemenran: More on the way
WesleyPeppers: Glad you like Garrett. Won't be killing Draco any time soon. Sorry. I like him.
Reiven: Glad you approve of my Draco. I love him too. If the readers slow down a little I'll have time to read your story. I always like to read your reviews. It balances Ennui's reactions to Draco. Some cool Snape stuff on the way too.
Silverfox1: Love your reviews and also your answers to Ennui's questions. Always insightful.
Anon: Glad you went back and read the first fic. To those of you who are still trying to read this without reading the first fic, you might want to do it now. The next chapter is going to be mighty confusing, if you haven't read the first fic. Now's the time to read THE SEERS TRUTH: THE BROKEN BEGINNING.
The Elemental Sorceress: Glad you like the basilisk. More snakes to come
Ennui deMorte: Love your reviews. Love your wonderful betaing too. If you haven't read Ennui's brand new fic, go read it. It's awesome.
I KNOW. I LEFT YOU WITH AN AWFUL CLIFF HANGER. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS, REVIEW. 15 REVIEWS GETS THE NEXT CHAPTER.
After you review, please come and visit us at yahoo groups. W-groups.yahoo DOT com/group/The_Seers_Truth
LADY LESTRANGE