Harry told Ron that everything was going to be okay; that no matter what,
he would be there for his friend. Ron just sat and held back tears,
sipping at his water.
"If only my vault money wasn't all gone," Harry lamented, "I would give [I]anything[/I] to keep you at Hogwarts!"
Ron looked up, surprised. "Your money's gone? All of it!?" Harry nodded and winced just thinking about how much all his money amounted to.
"What about your Triwizard money?" Ron asked. Harry accidentally dropped his fork right into his glass of water, which proceeded to tip over and spill all over his plate of untouched breakfast. As Ron grabbed for napkins, Harry numbly righted the glass. His Triwizard money… He had given it to the Weasley twins at the start of the summer in order to help them begin their own joke shop. Had they put that money in a vault as well? Had they spent it already?
"Harry!? Do you want to help me or what?" Ron was reaching over the table mopping up Harry's mess.
"Sorry," Harry finished sopping up the puddle.
"Well, what about your Triwizard money?" Ron asked again as Tom the Innkeeper took away the sodden plate. Harry hesitated, unknowing of whether he should tell Ron about giving the money to the twins or not.
"Uh," Harry mumbled, "yeah, I put the Triwizard money in the vault, too." It felt awful lying to his best friend, but he wanted to find out what was going on with the twins first.
Ron poked at his eggs one last time before announcing that he was full and wanted to walk around Diagon Alley a bit. Harry followed Ron out the back door and eventually through the brick wall archway.
Harry was utterly surprised to see swarms of people filling the alley. Only an hour before it had been nearly empty. They were congregating mainly in and around Madam Malkin's vacant store.
"What's his problem?" Ron said, pointing to the edge of the crowd. Harry watched as a white-faced man pushed his way out of the shop, screaming quite loudly and knocking over a couple of curious children. The large group was murmuring apprehensively. A witch apperated right next to a very surprised Harry and Ron, and she looked intently into the crowd.
"Paula! Over here!" A young man right outside the door waved to the witch next to us. She jogged over to meet him. "Come and see this…" the wizard led her into the door. After only a few minutes, the size of the crowd tripled and it spilled out of the shop and into the street. Harry and Ron just watched, wondering what in the world was going on. Harry was a little afraid, thinking about the horrified look on the screaming man's face.
"Come on." Ron said, walking toward the crowd, "I'm sick of watching this… let's go see what's up!"
Harry followed Ron into the crowd, pushing his way past everybody and into the shop. A strange green glow illuminated the entire room, including everyone's faces. Harry couldn't see what it was that they were all looking at, but it seemed to be located on the far wall. Harry listened to the nervous whispers and mumbles as he pushed toward the back of the shop.
"… never seen fire like that!"
"… I'm sending an owl to my brother, this is weird…"
"… just don't touch it…"
Harry and Ron finally reached the source of everyone's attention. The back wall of the store displayed a brilliant fireplace, larger than even the ones at Hogwarts. The spectacular thing was not the fireplace, though. Inside of it, a green fire burned, but there was no wood at all, the bottoms of the flames hung about 6 inches above the ground. The odd thing about the fire was that it seemed more liquid than flame, or something like fire being shown in slow motion. Harry couldn't tell why, but the undulating green fire made him feel unnaturally cold.
"Oh my… Harry, do you see this?" Ron poked at Harry's shoulder, still staring into the liquid fire.
"Yeah. But, what is it? Haven't you seen anything like this before?" Harry thought this might have been one of those things that are familiar to someone who had grown up in a wizarding family.
"No," Ron shook his head, "never seen it or heard of it. Ooof!" Ron stumbled as someone pushed their way between him and Harry.
"Out of the way, Minister of Magic coming through!" Cornelius Fudge stepped in front of Harry and looked at the fire. A young witch with a notepad and quill followed him, and stopped next to Harry, scribbling something down.
"See, Minister," she said, "I told you it was odd."
"Yes," he replied, "good thing you told me about this," Fudge turned to face her. "We need to get everybody out of here." Fudge suddenly noticed Harry standing next to the witch with the notepad.
"Harry Potter!" Fudge exclaimed with surprise and nervousness, "What are you doing here?"
Before Harry could say anything, the green flames erupted into a larger fire, a fire that looked more like a normal fire.
"[I]Harry Potter[/I]" a voice hissed from the smoke and flames. Everybody in the store became deathly quiet, and stared into the fire. A face began to form in the fireplace, something that was a lot more typical in the wizarding world, since they were used as something like a telephone.
All of a sudden, Harry's forehead began to burn madly. He placed a hand over his scar, and groaned with pain. Nobody noticed. Everybody was watching the fireplace in terror. Harry opened his eyes and saw a green serpentine face wreathed in smoke.
"Voldemort," he whispered. The face nodded. The girl next to him dropped her notepad and gasped. A handful of people screamed and ran out of the crowd, while everyone else watched in horrified curiosity.
"Harry Potter, I have been waiting for you. I knew you were too nosy to let such a strange phenomenon pass you by."
"What do you want?" Harry asked boldly, stepping forward.
"No!" Cornelius Fudge held out an arm and pushed Harry back. Fudge turned to the face, unable to keep the fear out of his voice. "I'll handle this!" The minister pulled out his wand and pointed it into the green fire. He yelled a spell that Harry didn't know, and a white beam shot out of the wand and sailed between Voldemort's eyes. The spell was ineffective somehow.
Voldemort laughed shrilly. "You fool. Did you honestly think that would work?" Fudge stepped away from the fireplace, his hands shaking at his sides.
"What do you want?" Harry asked again.
"I wanted to talk to you, Harry, and to anyone brave enough to not run away." The crowd of remaining people looked at each other nervously, but none of them left.
"I have had a lot of time to think over the past few months," Voldemort hissed, "and if there is one thing I pride myself in, it is getting things done. Now, there has been something on my agenda for the past 15 years that I just haven't been able to accomplish on my own. That's another thing about me, I know when to ask for help. Harry, I need you to be dead."
Everyone in the room shifted uncomfortably, some staring at Harry with fear, some glaring at Voldemort's evil face.
"You can't kill me," Harry said in a voice that was a lot braver than he imagined it could be.
"Maybe not," answered Voldemort, "but they can." Voldemort's smoky gaze left Harry's face and glided over the crowd.
"We would never do that!" Ron blurted out loudly. The group of witches and wizards shook their heads nervously at first, then more confidently as people spoke out.
"Never!"
"We're not on You-Know-Who's side!"
"You can't make us kill anyone!"
Voldemort's thin lips turned up into a terrifying smirk. "Do you know what I have?" He said quietly. The crowd became silent again. "I have all of your gold and silver." Voldemort paused as a few whispered angrily. "I have your money, but I'm prepared to negotiate."
"Negotiate?!" Cornelius Fudge mustered up the courage to speak again. "You're going about it backwards! [I]We're[/I] supposed to give [I]you[/I] money for something you've taken. How can we do any such thing when you have all the money!?"
"I suggest you think before speaking next time, Fudge." Voldemort glared at the minister. "I'm prepared to give one million galleons to everyone in exchange for Harry Potter's lifeless body."
A cold silence settled over the shop as Voldemort continued very slowly. "One million galleons to every witch and wizard over 16 years of age in addition to the amount lost in individual bank vaults."
Ron was shaking with fury. "One million galleons isn't worth it!" he shouted.
"We will see…" Voldemort's face swirled grotesquely out of sight, leaving the fireplace void of strange fire or light and plunging the room into pitch darkness.
"If only my vault money wasn't all gone," Harry lamented, "I would give [I]anything[/I] to keep you at Hogwarts!"
Ron looked up, surprised. "Your money's gone? All of it!?" Harry nodded and winced just thinking about how much all his money amounted to.
"What about your Triwizard money?" Ron asked. Harry accidentally dropped his fork right into his glass of water, which proceeded to tip over and spill all over his plate of untouched breakfast. As Ron grabbed for napkins, Harry numbly righted the glass. His Triwizard money… He had given it to the Weasley twins at the start of the summer in order to help them begin their own joke shop. Had they put that money in a vault as well? Had they spent it already?
"Harry!? Do you want to help me or what?" Ron was reaching over the table mopping up Harry's mess.
"Sorry," Harry finished sopping up the puddle.
"Well, what about your Triwizard money?" Ron asked again as Tom the Innkeeper took away the sodden plate. Harry hesitated, unknowing of whether he should tell Ron about giving the money to the twins or not.
"Uh," Harry mumbled, "yeah, I put the Triwizard money in the vault, too." It felt awful lying to his best friend, but he wanted to find out what was going on with the twins first.
Ron poked at his eggs one last time before announcing that he was full and wanted to walk around Diagon Alley a bit. Harry followed Ron out the back door and eventually through the brick wall archway.
Harry was utterly surprised to see swarms of people filling the alley. Only an hour before it had been nearly empty. They were congregating mainly in and around Madam Malkin's vacant store.
"What's his problem?" Ron said, pointing to the edge of the crowd. Harry watched as a white-faced man pushed his way out of the shop, screaming quite loudly and knocking over a couple of curious children. The large group was murmuring apprehensively. A witch apperated right next to a very surprised Harry and Ron, and she looked intently into the crowd.
"Paula! Over here!" A young man right outside the door waved to the witch next to us. She jogged over to meet him. "Come and see this…" the wizard led her into the door. After only a few minutes, the size of the crowd tripled and it spilled out of the shop and into the street. Harry and Ron just watched, wondering what in the world was going on. Harry was a little afraid, thinking about the horrified look on the screaming man's face.
"Come on." Ron said, walking toward the crowd, "I'm sick of watching this… let's go see what's up!"
Harry followed Ron into the crowd, pushing his way past everybody and into the shop. A strange green glow illuminated the entire room, including everyone's faces. Harry couldn't see what it was that they were all looking at, but it seemed to be located on the far wall. Harry listened to the nervous whispers and mumbles as he pushed toward the back of the shop.
"… never seen fire like that!"
"… I'm sending an owl to my brother, this is weird…"
"… just don't touch it…"
Harry and Ron finally reached the source of everyone's attention. The back wall of the store displayed a brilliant fireplace, larger than even the ones at Hogwarts. The spectacular thing was not the fireplace, though. Inside of it, a green fire burned, but there was no wood at all, the bottoms of the flames hung about 6 inches above the ground. The odd thing about the fire was that it seemed more liquid than flame, or something like fire being shown in slow motion. Harry couldn't tell why, but the undulating green fire made him feel unnaturally cold.
"Oh my… Harry, do you see this?" Ron poked at Harry's shoulder, still staring into the liquid fire.
"Yeah. But, what is it? Haven't you seen anything like this before?" Harry thought this might have been one of those things that are familiar to someone who had grown up in a wizarding family.
"No," Ron shook his head, "never seen it or heard of it. Ooof!" Ron stumbled as someone pushed their way between him and Harry.
"Out of the way, Minister of Magic coming through!" Cornelius Fudge stepped in front of Harry and looked at the fire. A young witch with a notepad and quill followed him, and stopped next to Harry, scribbling something down.
"See, Minister," she said, "I told you it was odd."
"Yes," he replied, "good thing you told me about this," Fudge turned to face her. "We need to get everybody out of here." Fudge suddenly noticed Harry standing next to the witch with the notepad.
"Harry Potter!" Fudge exclaimed with surprise and nervousness, "What are you doing here?"
Before Harry could say anything, the green flames erupted into a larger fire, a fire that looked more like a normal fire.
"[I]Harry Potter[/I]" a voice hissed from the smoke and flames. Everybody in the store became deathly quiet, and stared into the fire. A face began to form in the fireplace, something that was a lot more typical in the wizarding world, since they were used as something like a telephone.
All of a sudden, Harry's forehead began to burn madly. He placed a hand over his scar, and groaned with pain. Nobody noticed. Everybody was watching the fireplace in terror. Harry opened his eyes and saw a green serpentine face wreathed in smoke.
"Voldemort," he whispered. The face nodded. The girl next to him dropped her notepad and gasped. A handful of people screamed and ran out of the crowd, while everyone else watched in horrified curiosity.
"Harry Potter, I have been waiting for you. I knew you were too nosy to let such a strange phenomenon pass you by."
"What do you want?" Harry asked boldly, stepping forward.
"No!" Cornelius Fudge held out an arm and pushed Harry back. Fudge turned to the face, unable to keep the fear out of his voice. "I'll handle this!" The minister pulled out his wand and pointed it into the green fire. He yelled a spell that Harry didn't know, and a white beam shot out of the wand and sailed between Voldemort's eyes. The spell was ineffective somehow.
Voldemort laughed shrilly. "You fool. Did you honestly think that would work?" Fudge stepped away from the fireplace, his hands shaking at his sides.
"What do you want?" Harry asked again.
"I wanted to talk to you, Harry, and to anyone brave enough to not run away." The crowd of remaining people looked at each other nervously, but none of them left.
"I have had a lot of time to think over the past few months," Voldemort hissed, "and if there is one thing I pride myself in, it is getting things done. Now, there has been something on my agenda for the past 15 years that I just haven't been able to accomplish on my own. That's another thing about me, I know when to ask for help. Harry, I need you to be dead."
Everyone in the room shifted uncomfortably, some staring at Harry with fear, some glaring at Voldemort's evil face.
"You can't kill me," Harry said in a voice that was a lot braver than he imagined it could be.
"Maybe not," answered Voldemort, "but they can." Voldemort's smoky gaze left Harry's face and glided over the crowd.
"We would never do that!" Ron blurted out loudly. The group of witches and wizards shook their heads nervously at first, then more confidently as people spoke out.
"Never!"
"We're not on You-Know-Who's side!"
"You can't make us kill anyone!"
Voldemort's thin lips turned up into a terrifying smirk. "Do you know what I have?" He said quietly. The crowd became silent again. "I have all of your gold and silver." Voldemort paused as a few whispered angrily. "I have your money, but I'm prepared to negotiate."
"Negotiate?!" Cornelius Fudge mustered up the courage to speak again. "You're going about it backwards! [I]We're[/I] supposed to give [I]you[/I] money for something you've taken. How can we do any such thing when you have all the money!?"
"I suggest you think before speaking next time, Fudge." Voldemort glared at the minister. "I'm prepared to give one million galleons to everyone in exchange for Harry Potter's lifeless body."
A cold silence settled over the shop as Voldemort continued very slowly. "One million galleons to every witch and wizard over 16 years of age in addition to the amount lost in individual bank vaults."
Ron was shaking with fury. "One million galleons isn't worth it!" he shouted.
"We will see…" Voldemort's face swirled grotesquely out of sight, leaving the fireplace void of strange fire or light and plunging the room into pitch darkness.