Angels and Dragons, Chapter Ten: "Stay With Me Forever"
Summary: The brigade has arrived! What will happen? Read on to find out!
Disclaimer: don't own 'em, not making a profit off of 'em. Please do not sue. Thank you!
Okay, once again I am back with another chapter! Did you miss me? Oh come on, you know you did. Well, keep up with the nice reviews, and please feel free to leave any helpful criticisms in your reviews. But remember, if it's too harsh, I will send my editor after you. I mean it! On with the next chapter!
Chapter Ten: "Stay With Me Forever"
"Harry, do you have any idea as to what they want us to do?" asked Draco in a whisper.
"No, but whatever it is, I hope it means that we get to attack 'em, especially Bellatrix," added Harry. They walked on in silence. Even though most of them had passed the Apparating test, Ginny wasn't old enough to take it, so they had to use other methods to reach their destination. The Floo Network was being watched, and using a Portkey was also out of the question, since that was controlled by the Ministry also.
"Are you all right back there?" asked Dumbledore.
"Yes, we're fine, but how much farther do we have to walk? My feet are killing me," said Ginny.
"Not much farther, dear. You can hold out for a few more minutes, can't you?" asked Tonks. Ginny nodded. After ten more minutes of walking, Dumbledore, who was in front, stopped. He turned around to face everybody.
"Okay. The Lestranges were spotted in this area, which could mean anything, but from the clues we've gathered, they have taken up residence in their old place. What I'm going to need everybody to do is to have their wands out and be ready to aim a curse at them. Don't let them attack you, because that could be the mistake that costs you your life," he said. Everyone pulled out their wands. Harry stepped toward Dumbledore and asked him a question that only the two of them could hear. When Dumbledore nodded his head, Harry gave a solemn smile and walked back to his place next to Draco. Draco wanted to ask him what he'd asked Dumbledore, but thought better of it. The group stepped forward slowly and quietly. The house that they were apparently looking for came into view, because Dumbledore whispered, "Get ready." With wands raised, they surrounded the house. Using a spell, Flitwick "knocked" on the door in a certain way, which was probably a sign of some form for the Lestranges. As soon as the door opened and they could see that it was Bellatrix, Dumbledore shouted, "Now!" A chorus of curses came flying at Bellatrix and her husband, who'd come to see what was going on. The one that could be heard over the other curses was the Cruciatus Curse, sent at Bellatrix by Harry. (The answer to Draco's unasked question about what Harry had asked. Carry on!) Ginny's Bat Bogey Hex hit Rodolphus Lestrange, along with the Stunners sent by Fred, George, Dumbledore, and McGonagall. Flitwick, Moody, Lupin, and Tonks used the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix and Rodolphus, but not before Bellatrix had been hit by another Bat Bogey Hex sent by Ginny, and five more Stunners, sent by Draco, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Harry. The Lestranges tried to fight back, but their curses hadn't hit anybody because of the force of the ones aimed at them. (Plus, after being hit with six Stunners, I would hope that they couldn't do much damage.) Dumbledore stepped forward and examined them.
"Well, they won't be waking up for a little while. That was some curse you used, Ginny. It was very effective, too," he added with a smile.
"Thank you. It's been very successful against everybody I've ever used it on, too. Just ask Draco."
"Why?"
"I was on the receiving end of one of them once," Draco muttered. Harry started to laugh at the thought of it, but one look from Draco made him shut up right away.
"I take it you were told about this, Harry?" said Draco angrily.
"Yes, Ron told me. This was fifth year, correct?" Draco nodded, but didn't say anything. Lupin and Tonks looked like they were trying not to laugh, but were not succeeding. Fred and George were using each other to hold themselves up because they were laughing so hard. McGonagall, Flitwick, and Moody were busying themselves with picking up the Lestranges and putting them in chains. Hermione, Neville, and Ron were also helping so as not to be in the line of fire in case Draco decided to curse the ones who were laughing. Draco pointed his wand at Harry and told him to be quiet, which only made the others laugh harder. Draco threw his arms in the air. Harry wrapped his arms around Draco's waist and hugged him. At first Draco stiffened, but then he hugged Harry back.
"Well, I didn't realize that it would be so easy, but I am glad that you were all here. You can never tell what will happen, so it's always best to have a lot of people around when dealing with killers," said Dumbledore.
"What are we going to do with the Lestranges?" asked Hermione.
"Turn 'em over to the Azkaban guards, of course," said Moody.
"It's better to turn them over to the guards than directly to the Minister because..." started McGonagall, but Tonks interrupted her.
"Because he's a prat and doesn't know what he's doing," Tonks said angrily. Everyone, including McGonagall and Moody, laughed.
"Well, I suppose we'd better go, because otherwise we won't avoid the Minister. He might decide that today is his day to visit Azkaban," growled Moody.
"You're right, he might. Who's returning to Hogwarts and who's escorting these two idiots to Azkaban?" asked McGonagall, kicking the Lestranges.
"Well, I think that..." began Dumbledore, but Lupin stepped forward.
"Tonks and I'll make sure that Harry, Draco, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, and Neville get back to school. The rest of you should escort those two to Azkaban. Is that okay, Albus?"
"Of course. Thank you, Remus. We'll see you all later," he added. With that, they hurried off. Lupin and Tonks turned to the others and smiled.
"Well, shall we? Only this time, I have a better suggestion than walking," said Tonks with a smile. She Disapparated and then, a few minutes later, Apparated next to Harry with ten broomsticks. She handed them out and then instructed them on what they were to do.
"Fly high enough so that nobody sees you. I don't want to be responsible for correcting the damage. Ready everybody?"
"Tonks, why don't we just Disillusion them? It'll be much easier," said Lupin.
"Okay. I didn't think of that." With that, they Disillusioned everyone. Hermione gasped when she saw what had happened. Everyone else's reaction was similar, except for Harry, Fred, and George, who'd all experienced it before.
"Fred, George, have you been Disillusioned before?" asked Lupin. They smiled.
"Yeah, Fred and I tried it on each other last year to see what would happen. It was pretty cool," added George.
"We did it in front of a painting in our house to spy on Mom once," explained Fred. Harry smiled and shook his head.
"Well, that's not what you're supposed to use it for, but...," said Lupin with a smile.
"We'd never done it before either. We heard her coming and decided to try it," said George. Ginny giggled.
"Well, let's go. Mount your brooms, and when Remus gives the signal, follow him. Got it?" Everybody nodded their heads.
"Okay, now stay in single file. Let's go!" They all kicked off and rose up slowly, following Remus and Tonks. Harry felt like he was free again and decided to have some fun. He signaled to Draco, who smiled and nodded his head to say that he understood what Harry was going to do. Since they were last, they could fall behind a little and not get caught. Harry pulled a golf ball out of his pocket (I don't know why he was carrying one in his pocket, but anywho!) And tossed it to Draco, who made like he wasn't going for it, then did a small dive, caught it, and spiraled upward. He tossed it back to Harry, who caught it one-handed. This continued for a while, but then Lupin happened to glance back and see them.
"Harry, Draco! Quit playing around! You can do that after we return to Hogwarts. Maybe Dumbledore will let all eight of you have the day off, since tomorrow's Friday," he said with a smile.
"Okay," said Harry, pocketing the golf ball. When Lupin had turned around, he winked at Draco.
As they approached Hogwarts, Harry looked at Draco and smiled mischievously. Draco raised an eyebrow.
"I'll race you to the entrance," he whispered. Draco grinned.
"You're on, Potter." Without a word to the others, they both went into spectacular dives and increased their speed. They stayed neck and neck the whole way, neither one gaining the advantage. They pulled out of their dives and landed.
"That was fun! It's a shame nobody won," said Harry.
"Yeah, but that proves that we're both excellent flyers," said Draco.
"Nice flying, you two," said Lupin, who'd just landed next to them.
"Yes, that was excellent! Are all of the Quidditch players on your teams that good?" asked Tonks.
"No, I'm the only good player on my team. The rest are cheapskates and idiots," said Draco. As an afterthought, he said, "Now, on the other hand, the whole Gryffindor team has been excellent since I started coming here. I think that the best players, however, have been Harry, Fred, and George. Nobody's able to top them."
"Well, why don't you all show us your flying skills tomorrow? We'll speak to Albus and get the day off for you. Is that okay with you?" asked Lupin. Everyone said, "Yes!" as loud as they could without waking up the whole castle.
"Keep your voices down! Do you want the whole castle to know about this?" asked Lupin in a hushed voice.
"Sorry, Remus," said Harry.
"Yeah, sorry. We just haven't had the opportunity to fly in a while. We're not sure why, but they won't let us play Quidditch," said Draco.
"Quite all right. Just try to keep a low profile for now. Get yourselves to bed now, before we have anymore problems," whispered Tonks.
"Does the Headmaster want us to return to our dorms?" asked Ginny, sounding confused.
"I think so, but I'm not sure," said Lupin. At that moment, the rest of their group showed up, looking very angry.
"Let's get inside before the Minister and his idiots show up," said McGongall. Everyone turned around and hurried inside. Dumbledore, who was the last one in, closed the doors and flicked his wand. A bar appeared across the doors, which would make it hard for anyone to get in right away.
"What seems to be the problem, Albus?" asked Lupin. Dumbledore removed his glasses and cleaned them, then put them back on, before he answered.
"The guards said that they would have to alert the Minister and tell him who brought the Lestranges in. I'm having troubles believing that Fudge will want who captured the Lestranges to go public, though," he added.
"Why do you say that, Sir?" asked Hermione.
"Because, Hermione, he knows that it would take more than four wizards to capture the Lestranges, and if he found out who really did it, he'd flip. Am I right, Professor Dumbledore?" asked Ginny quietly.
"Yes, you are, Ginny. Fudge is no idiot, and he's bound to figure it out sometime. So, it's best if we keep a low profile for now. I need to go locate the other teachers and speak to them. You may have tomorrow off," added Dumbledore as an afterthought.
"Professor Dumbledore, would it help if you knew their location before you went looking for them?" asked Harry.
"What do you mean, Harry?" asked Dumbledore. Harry seemed to be searching for something, so he did not answer.
"Ah, here it is," he said. He had pulled out the Marauder's Map.
"Do you really want to be using that, Harry?" said Fred with a worried expression on his face.
"Yeah, don't you think that it's a little overboard" asked George, wearing the same expression as his brother.
"What is that, Harry?" asked Ginny.
"That's what I'd like to know," said Dumbledore. Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at the "piece of old parchment."
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he said. At once the map appeared. Lupin smiled.
"I'm glad to see that you've kept that, Harry," he said.
"Did you think that I'd get rid of it?" asked Harry with a smile.
"Nope, but I thought that it might've been confiscated again," he said.
"What is that, Harry?" asked Dumbledore. Harry handed it to him. Dumbledore studied it and raised his eyebrows.
"Where did you get this, Harry?" asked McGongall. As an afterthought, she added, "What is it?"
"I do believe I can figure it out by reading the names on here," said Dumbledore with a smile. Fred and George just stood there looking dumbfounded. Everyone else looked confused, because they either didn't know what it was, or they weren't sure why Harry was showing it to him. Dumbledore looked at Lupin, who smiled.
"Guilty as charged, Albus," he said with a sheepish grin.
"Very clever. Of course, the four of you were always creating things. So let's see if I've got this figured out. Moony, that's easy. That's you because of the full moon, correct?" When Lupin nodded his head, Dumbledore continued. "You also picked your names because of what you transform into, correct? So that means that Padfoot is referring to Sirius, Prongs is referring yo James, and Wormtail is referring to Peter. Quite the invention you've got here. I would assume that Harry got it from the Weasley twins, though. Am I right?" he added, a twinkle in his eyes.
"Yes, Headmaster," said Harry.
"Well, I suppose you should all get to bed. You can do whatever you want tomorrow, just make sure you clear it with me first. I'll be walking around the halls, so that you don't have to memorize another password," said Dumbledore. With that, the adults all set off in the direction of the other teachers. Dumbledore stopped and handed Harry the map with a smile. Harry took it and watched them leave.
"Harry, are you insane? Do you want us to get into trouble?" said Fred.
"No and no. Remus was one of the writers, Dumbledore is someone I trust, Tonks doesn't care, and McGonagall and Flitwick are the best teachers to show it to, because they're not gonna punish us if Dumbledore doesn't find anything wrong with it. Moody wouldn't care either, because he likes to know who's around," said Harry.
"Leave Harry alone. You should trust him; he knows what he's doing. Has he ever given you a reason to doubt his judgement?" asked Draco. Both of the twins shook their heads.
"Okay, let's continue this conversation tomorrow. Right now, I'd like to get some sleep," said Hermione. Everybody agreed, and they headed off. Harry and Draco waited until everybody was safely in the Gryffindor dorms before continuing on to their rooms. They stopped in front of the portrait and waited for the redhead to acknowledge them. When she finally did, they gave her the password("Draconus"), and then entered the Tower.
"Harry, your owl needs to learn to deliver at breakfast," said Draco, pointing to the window next to the fireplace.
"Hedwig, you silly owl. What have you got this time?" Harry took the letter and opened it. A single line was written on it.
'Stay with me forever and always.'
Harry read it a couple of times, then looked at Draco, who seemed to be looking for something, but was watching Harry.
"Draco, you're as bad as Hedwig! Why would you tell her to bring this to me now?"
"Because. Do I need a reason to tell my boyfriend how I feel about him?" asked Draco with a twinkle in his eyes.
"No, you don't," said Harry, stepping forward and kissing Draco.
Aw! It's so sweet! So, what do you think? Please read and review! Thank you, and bye for now!