THE VICIS CLOCK
BY ABAY
-Chapter-Three-
Fooling Albus Dumbledore
Enjoy!
With extreme and total worry, Sirius paced around the pumpkin patch, not even acknowledging his four tired paws who were begging for rest, but Sirius could not relax, he could not stay still. Harry had just gone through the final and most difficult task of all, and he couldn't help but feel anxious.
During the past months, someone, with no doubt under the orders of Lord Voldemort, was trying to slaughter his godson whenever the opportunity was open to him, in any way possible. If anything had happened to Harry tonight, he would never forgive himself, and to his thorough dismay, his instincts kept probing him, jogging his brain, telling him that something was going horribly wrong tonight…utterly wrong, and these intuitions of his were never mistaken…they could always foresee if something had gone wrong…it had never failed him…but once.
Shaking his shaggy head feverishly, Sirius focused on his godson, whom he swore to Lily and James he'd protect like a son of his very own.
Flashback
"Sirius, mate?" a nervous James called, leaning back on the couch, as he rapped his hands around his wife's shoulders.
"Yeah?" he said, fighting back a yawn, as he too leaned back into the couch that was opposite both the couples, and wrapping his hand around a mug of hot milk, he felt a little warmth spread through him.
"I…Lily and I, we need a favor," came the hesitant reply. At seeing both James and Lily uncharacteristically tense and uneasy, Sirius stood up straighter on his couch, and leaned forward his brow furrowed.
"What is it, Prongs?" he asked, looking between both of his friends worriedly, but when he saw the tears welling up in Lily's eyes, he said in a more strained voice. "What is it?"
A still teary eyed Lily sniffed and took in a deep shuddering breath to calm herself down. "Swear to me, that you'll take care of Harry when James and I die-"
"We've already been through this," Sirius said cutting off Lily's words which he heard more than often and which were starting to tire him. "Nothing's going to happen to you and James, Lily! Nothing at all!" he added fiercely, placing his mug a little too hard on the table, making the warm milk splotch all over his hands, but he didn't seem to notice.
"Sirius…" said James, his hazel eyes boring into his grey ones. Never in his life had Sirius ever seen James so serious, so grave; never. "You now that we can't hide forever…you now that he'll get us sooner or later, now that someone keeps leaking information over to Voldemort…"
"I don't want you worrying about that James," he said sharply, and with a tinge of anger in him. "I'm on his tail and when I –"
"Don't be stupid Sirius!" James snapped back heatedly. "How many have tried to hide away from Voldemort and found themselves dead in the place they thought was the safest?"
"But you're perfectly –"
"Swear to me, Sirius!" cried Lily, cutting him off and bursting into frustrated and fraught tears. Her shoulder sagged as though a burden was weighing her down, and she sobbed into her hands. The sight of Lily in tears had broken Sirius's heart. She was always strong, brave...he had never seen her in tears before.
"Lily I…I" he started, not knowing how to react towards a crying woman, and with desperation for help, he looked back at her husband at loss, but James thankfully had taken over, and pulled his wife into a warm embrace, rubbing her back soothingly, as he whispered soothing words into her ears…
"We only need your word. We need to know that there'll be someone for Harry if were not." James finally said, looking at him in the eye, still holding a silent sobbing Lily in his arms.
"You know I'd do it without a thought Prongs, you know that I'll take care of him as a son of my own. You know how much I love little Harry…"
Sincere grey eyes met hazel and silently, James knew that his son would be in good hands after all.
End Flashback
Once again, he shook his head as though trying to shake the memory off, when an old woman, McGonagall, walked briskly up to him looking quite frazzled and troubled. He felt his heart skip a beat, because now, he would know, now he would find out if his assumptions were true or false, and silently Sirius pleaded for the latter.
She stopped right in front of him then stared down at Sirius, no doubt wondering how on earth she was going to communicate with a stray, bear-like dog.
"Come – ah - come along," she said awkwardly, gesturing with her hands that he should follow her, so he silently and obediently, trotted after her towards the castle, dragging one paw after another for now, they felt heavy as steal.
Alastor Moody limped towards his office with a crocked smile upon his face though this day had proved to be a terrible one indeed. Many who passed him bowed their heads and paid no heed to this, but the naked and untrained eye could not see beyond what a veteran and wise one could, for this man was not who he appeared to be. This man was treacherous and underhanded. This man had lied, fooled and deceived many, even the great, to achieve what was far beyond his grasp. This man would slaughter and slay to gain what he sought after, for he was a Death Eater, a follower of Voldemort, the darkest of the immoral Lords that had ever lived to this day, and Death Eaters did not hesitate to kill if someone strayed upon their path, be it a mere innocent child or an old vulnerable man, because all they could see was the prize that they hunted hungrily at the end of the road.
AndBartemius Crouch could now see his prize clearer than ever before…It was gleaming only a few steps away! His task was nearly done here. All he had to do was fool Albus Dumbledore, one of the world's greatest wizards', and he had easily deceived him! In a few hours the Dark Lord will rise to power again, and Harry Potter, the fool will be dead. In a few hours, he would be by the Dark Lord's side praised above all others, for he was the sole Death Eater who had remained worthy and loyal to Him.
Barty shut his office door, and placed the Triwizard cup on his desk. He would remain here in this room, pretending to be searching for any trace in the portkey, but Barty already knew that it was untraceable.
Walking behind his desk, he pulled open a drawer and took out a jar that contained a few strands of hair. It would be sufficient for now because he would need this crippled disguise for only a day or so. Sitting down with a wide grin on his face, Barty added a bit of grey hair into his flask and grimaced. He hated polyjuice potion, but it would be the last time he would drink it. As soon as the Dark Lord sends him an approval, he would kill the real Mad-Eye, and then Dumbledore would meet the same fate. Oh how he would enjoy that treat the Dark Lord had privileged him to.
O yes, he thought grinning insanely. That would be quite enjoyable.
When McGonagall and he reached the top of the moving staircase, she pushed the oak door open to reveal Albus Dumbledore sitting behind his desk looking calm and composed like he always was, and in front of him, seated on each end of Dumbledore's desk, were two couples looking extremely worried. By a vague memory, he could recall them as the Diggory's, but where Sirius hoped he would find a boy with unruly black hair and bright emerald eyes, he found another boy, with grey eyes, not as dark as his own, looking weary and exhausted.
"Ah, thank you Minerva," Dumbledore said inclining his head respectfully. "Leave him here."
McGonagall nodded stiffly, and after tearing her eyes away from the boy, she turned around and walked out of the room briskly and shut the door behind her with a soft click.
Sirius placed a hesitant paw in front of the other, as the occupants of the room looked at him warily, and only when his former headmaster gave him a gentle nod did he enter further into the room. Sniffing the air around him, Sirius could smell the stress and strain in the room, and as he looked back at Dumbledore he gazed at him with questioning eyes, but a silent stare at Sirius obviously told him to keep the form he was in. His former Headmaster turned to the boy, ignoring Amos Diggory's attempt to speak.
"I understand that you have gone through a painful ordeal tonight Cedric, but I must ask you torecall the events that had occurred after the task to me, we need to launch a search immediately." Dumbledore said gently choosing to ignore Diggory.
"I…I understand…" Cedric said quietly, looking down at the floor, but when his father made yet an other attempt to disagree, he looked at his father sharply and said with determination in his voice. "It's alright dad."
Exhaling deeply, Cedric started to explain the events in a hoarse whisper. He told them about how Harry had reached the cup before him, and saved him from the giant spider. How his godson generously offered him to share the glory, but when he had stared to explain how the portkey had transported both he and Harry, he hesitated, then told them of how Harry had started to suddenly scream and clutch his head. And then, he started to tell them of the hooded man that had appeared from within the darkness and walked towards them, cradling some creature in his arms.
"I thought that this was some part of the task," Cedric said in undertone. "I didn't believe Harry when he said that they were going to kill us."
"Are you meaning to tell me, that Harry had known that it was Lord Voldemort?"
Shuddering furiously when Dumbledore had spoke Voldemorts' name, Cedric nodded weakly.
"Yes…that would explain his scar hurting," Dumbledore said, muttering to himself, then sighing deeply he said. "I apologize. Please continue."
Taking another deep breath, the boy, Cedric started to tell them how the voice told the hooded man to kill them, how Harry told him to leave and inform Dumbledore, how he stubbornly refused, and how Harry had pushed him on top of the portkey, and when there was nothing to speak of anymore, Amos Diggory curtly said that the interrogation was over and that his son needed some rest and medical treatment.
His wife, who had turned ghostly white after Cedric had retold the events of this night, got up and moved towards Cedric, squeezed his shoulders, looking at him with a motherly concern. "Come on Cedric, to the hospital wing."
Nodding numbly, the boy got up shakily, and moved to the door supported slightly by his mother, but when his father opened the door for them, Cedric stood in his place abruptly, and turned to Dumbledore talking in a quiet voice. "I…I tried to save him sir…I really did."
Dumbledore smiled at him warmly and replied softly, "You have done all that was in your hands my boy, now rest, I believe that Madam Pomfery is waiting for you in the hospital wing."
Sirius watched as the Diggory's left the room, envious that it was their son who had returned and not his godson, and only when they were out of sight did he transform. Running a shivering hand through his disoriented hair, Sirius turned to the silver-haired man, his voice not able to rise above a whisper. "What are we going to do Dumbledore?"
"I have already asked Alastor to trace the portkey. We cannot start the search unless we get a trace or a lead. I will be going down there myself and investigate the scene--"
"What?" he cried horrified, his face whitening several notches. "Buttracing the portkeycould take ages Dumbledore! Time that we cannot spare! Do you realize that every minute we sit here uselessly Harry's life dangles closer to the edge—"
"I am aware of that Sirius," was Dumbledore's calm, irritating reply.
"Then we must do something!" Sirius said fiercely. "Act before it's too late!"
''I am afraid, that there is no lead, nor any clue left behind except for that portkey Sirius, and all we can do now is wait. It is our only hope Sirius, our only hope…"
It was bliss where he was, it was a place where you feel no pains, where you think no thoughts, but completely the opposite. It was a place of nothing. It was a place of rest, of sweat dreams and happiness, but when a throbbing sensation spread like wildfire through him, Harry felt himself drift away from that place, and he let out a groan of annoyance, wanting nothing but to stay there.
"Wake up Harry Potter," a voice that forever daunted his dreams hissed scathingly in his ear. "And witness your doom."
At hearing that cold, merciless voice he knew all to well, Harry's emerald green eyes snapped wide open to find scarlet ones staring right back at him causing pain after pain to stab through him like knives piercing his flesh. He tried to turn away from that awful pallid, snake-like face, but he was tied onto a tombstone so tight that the ropes felt as though they were ripping into his flesh.
His heart pounded against his chest fit to burst as he let his eyes dart beyond the ghastly face, and what he saw sent a wave of nausea through him. Wormtail lay on the ground, withering and sobbing, clutching a bleeding stump arm, but no one paid heed to him for the hooded figures in white masks surrounding him were keeping their eyes trained on Voldemort. Harry could see each one of their eyes, through the slits of their masks, glinting with a mixture of emotions he could not comprehend. And in the center of the circle was an enormous cauldron fit to carry a grown man, but the cauldron was broken in half, and it contents had spilled reveling a substance that was as black as darkness itself, and from somewhere within it, Harry could see a severed fleshless hand.
Harry did not know what to think; all of this was happening far too rapidly for him to grasp. It seemed that he had just shut his eyes for a moment and opened it to find all of this. How could he let all of this happen while he slept here oblivious? Swallowing his feelings of shock and guilt, Harry looked down at his arm, begging silently, that it was not his own blood Voldemort had withdrawn for his rebirth, but he knew not to hope, and proving his latter thought right, Harry saw a gash in his arm from which the blood was still flowing freely down his arm to the tip of his fingers, dripping onto the grass where a huge snake lay hissing.
He had the protection then.
A wide lipless smile spread across the unearthly face, and he touched Harry's scar, laughing madly as Harry yelled out in anguish as pain struck him viciously, and not until what felt like eternity did Voldemort break the his fatal touch, leaving Harry panting heavily for a lungful of air.
"Is this my great defeater whom all speaks of?" Voldemort hissed narrowing his scarlet eyes at him, then he whipped around facing his Death Eaters who shuddered at the fury in their master's eyes. "You think this child who feels pain by a mere touch of my finger could vanquish me?"
"Master!" a Death Eater cried getting down on his knees. "We were foolish! Forgive us for we knew not of—"
"Crucio!" The Death Eater shrieked as the Crutius curse hit him. His voice echoed through the grave so loudly that the dead might have even heard it. "Do not lie! The Dark Lord knows and sees all that is in your mind Avery. If you seek my forgiveness then serve me well and repay my debts. Wormtail here has already started in paying his, have you not Wormtail?"
"Y-y-yes M-m-ma-s-ster," was the hoarse reply. Wormtail was finding difficulty in letting the words leave him, he could not even summon the strength to sob in pain anymore. "I-I beg…beg o-of –y-ou…m-my…a-arm…p-plea-s-se!"
"But you deserve this pain," Voldemort said heartlessly as he moved closer towards the lying figure of Wormtail. "Had you come to your masters aid earlier then you would have never been in this situation. You understand this now, don't you?"
A weak and barley audible 'yes' was heard from Wormtail, but this did not seem to satisfy Voldemort for he stepped on Wormtails' stump arm, letting him wither and shriek with agony as he stepped harder, pressing his feet deeper onto the bleeding arm, intensifying the pain tenfold.
Cringing, Harry shut his eyes tight, not bearing to witness such cruel torture, but he could still hear the howls pain no matter how much he tried to block it, and oddly enough, Harry felt a pang of sympathy towards the man who sold him and his parents to Voldemort.
"YES!" Wormtail cried. "I UNDERSTAND! PLEASE! STOP! I UNDERSTAND!"
Voldemort, who didn't even seem sickened by his doings, lessened the pressure of his legs and raised his wand. "Good. Then may your faithfulness never stray from mine again Wormtail."
"Never…never…"
With a spin of Voldemorts wand, he conjured a formless silver molten hung in the air. It shuddered, and then by itself the hoary metal started to shape into a structure of a human hand which was flawless in every way. Gleaming in the light of the full moon which shun upon them, the hand soared toward Wormtails stump arm and fixed itself there. In an instant, his howling and weeping stopped.
"Master," whispered Wormtail crawling to Voldemort's feet and kissing them hem of his robes. "Thank you...it's wonderful. Thank you, thank you!"
"Get up Wormtail," Voldemort said ignoring his servants' gratitude. "And untie the bounds of the boy and give him back his wand, for now, we shall duel so that there will be no mistake in anyone's mind. Harry Potter had escaped me with sheer luck."
Authors Note:
I apologize if this had taken long to update, but I had problems with Voldemort you see ;P I thought he sounded a bit out of character…I'm still not sure so I would appreciate your views about how I portrayed Voldemort! And thank you so much for your reviews and flames! They really are valued and they really are what encourage me to keep writing so please, keep them coming!
Refer to bio page for the title of next chapter and update and please tell me what you think about this chapter...I didn't like it much...