First Off: Gotcha! Muhahahahahaha!
Review Responses:
Oz: "I knew it! I fucking knew it! Slimy little git!" that made me laugh out loud! I almost cried, it was brilliant. And Sirius is not an idiot, don't insult my pretend husband please! Now would I do that to you? Probably. Look for a Zeugma!
Peyton: Silly Momo, hoes are for wheat.
Chapter 14: Forest Fires
After class Harry watched Professor Parker leave once more, cursing himself for his coward ness he stepped out into the hallway to go to potions. Ron and Hermione walked next to him, angry and suspicious of each other, Harry laughed at the two of them.
"You guys spend more time being mad at one another than being happy with the relationship. Do either of you see anything wrong with that?" Hermione gave him a glare,
"Well Harry, what would you know about dating? I don't think that handing Cho tissues counts as a relationship!" she shouted before heading off to the dungeons in a storm.
"Oh Lord, what did you do now?" Ron joked as he watched her go. "You know Hermione man, she, she tends to, umm…"
"Over react?" Harry guessed. Ron laughed and nodded his head furiously at him.
The pair walked into the chilly potions classroom and noticed Hermione sitting at a desk with Padma Patil. Ron and Harry sat down and waited for Professor Blake to show up and begin the lesson. Ron glanced over his shoulder and looked at Hermione's table, Padma looked thrilled just to be in this class, her head was on her hand as she gazed at the door expectantly. Hermione looked disgusted.
A few minutes later Professor Blake entered the room and greeted them with a friendly hello. The girls all smiled and perked up in their chairs, waiting to be called upon for a question to answer. Blake, sat down on his desk and stared out at the class.
"Can anyone of you tell me what the 'Le breuvage magique de la destruction' is or does?" Every girl in the class raised their hands excitedly, hoping to be chosen, Lisa, who sat in the front row was picked to give the answer. She beamed, Draco looked murderously towards Blake.
"It is a potion that causes absolute obliteration of a persons heart, not physically, but mentally. They feel almost as though no one can ever reach them or understand them, it basically destroys their ability to love."
"Correct! Very nice work." Lisa looked smug. Professor Blake turned his back to the class to write some notes on the board for them to copy. As he wrote he spoke to the class, "This potion, was ironically, invented by the French to mentally destroy their wartime opponents, if they had any." He smiled and turned back to them, smiling, "Le Français est vraiment une belle langue. Je l'aime et j'aime la guerre encore plus." The girls all swooned at his French, even though not a single person in the room understood a word he said. Ron looked at Harry and rolled his eyes., "What is it with this guy?"
"No clue." he replied, shaking his head. As Professor Blake wrote the ingredients on the board Harry and Ron continued their conversation about how even though Blake was smart, nice, attractive, worldly and funny, he wasn't really all that great. The two of them laughed about it and made their potions together. A few minutes of work later Ron leaned over to Harry and asked, "Hey, when are you gonna talk to Parker?" Harry shrugged, "Soon I guess, its not like I'm in any hurry."
Ron chuckled, "No, you're scared to death that she'll kill you."
"That too. But really Ron, what else has she done besides seem a little suspicious? I just want to be sure of something before I go accusing her of lying or something worse, like I did in The Shrieking Shack. It was humiliating. Besides, there's something about her that I cant help but trust." Ron shook his head,
"Who cares if it was humiliating? If she is a Death-" Ron paused because right at that moment Professor Blake walked past their table with a nonchalant look upon his Black Irish face. It was obvious he had been listening, but for how long? They waited until he left them before Ron continued, "Well Harry, there is some weird stuff going on here. That guy, for example" he said nodding towards Professor Blake, "seems downright shady to me. And Parker, how could you forget her little smooch with Voldemort?"
Harry nodded and resolved to talk to Professor Parker right after lunch, even though he made it clear to Ron that he believed in her. Professor Blake looked on surreptitiously from behind his desk. At the end of the period he left the confines of his table to once more walk among the students and this time, pass out papers on a strengthening potion they had done about a week ago. When he passed Harry, he gave him a strange look before handing him the paper and going on with his business. Harry was shocked,
"A D?" he asked incredulously. "But how? I don't understand." The bell rang and Hermione walked over to their table, proudly displaying the "T" she had achieved. Harry was angry, he had worked hard on this paper. What did this Blake guy have against him anyway?
&&&&&&&&&&&&
After his class let out Desmond pulled on his cloak and went in a hurry towards the front doors to a secluded spot right beside the forbidden forest. Although it was near to noon, the clearing was dark and eerie, the trees giving the grounds a haunting look. Desmond, clad in his black cloak and skull mask bent down towards the frozen earth, hitting his knees in silence on the twigs and ice.
Looking over his shoulders to ensure that no one was there Desmond pulled his wand from his pocket and lit a large fire. The light from the blue flames lit his face and made him appear if possible, even more sinister than the skull and cloak alone. Desmond pulled the sleeve up on his arm and held it to the heat, the snake began to squirm trying to get away from the fire. In a booming voice, Desmond pointed his wand at the symbol and said, "My Lord I call upon the majesty of your face and wisdom! I call you now!" The snake on his arm seem to nip at the wand tip pointing at it before Desmond pulled it away, waiting for his masters call.
Within minutes the face of Voldemort appeared on the grounds of Hogwarts castle, right inside the fire that Desmond had conjured just minutes before.
"What news?" The head asked him. Desmond lowered his eyes in respect to his lord. The heavy cloak falling around his face, grazing his tanned cheeks.
"She is slipping, for which side I cannot tell yet. It is too soon to make a clear report. But even the students are suspicious of her, and not just the females anymore. Today I heard 2 boys speaking about the possibility of her being a Death Eater in one of my classes. As far as I can see from this position with her, she is with us."
Voldemort frowned and shook his head, he wasn't convinced.
"Tail her or get someone else to. I want to be absolutely sure before I take any action against her."
Desmond bowed once more in farewell before the flames died. He stood and removed his mask before taking out his wand to wipe away all evidence of his visit. As soon as he finished he went to the school to find his house elf Prisca.
He sat down in the large comfortable chair that used to reside in the quarters of Professor Snape. The fire was blazing so Desmond knew Prisca was close, he didn't know how to call her. He took a shot at it,
"Prisca?"
The personal house elf appeared in a flash before him and bowed her head low right down to the carpet. Desmond looked at the creature before him and he felt a tug at even his cold and blackened heart.
In Hogwarts all the teachers and special guests are granted a private house elf, all the staff members had one, even Filch. These elves were known as the elite of the house elf staff and in a sense, what all other elves worked towards to be. Prisca was an off pink color and her eyes were bright red, her loyalty to Snape had been strong enough to make her mourn for a long period of time. But not strong enough to be angry at his successor, she strived to please Desmond and no request he had was too big.
When she pulled her head up from the carpet Desmond gave a small grin,
"I have a job for you to do. And it must be kept secret. Understood?"
Prisca nodded enthusiastically and awaited her assignment.
&&&&&&&&&&&&
Harry sat in his herbology class and listened to his instructions from Professor Sprout, who was telling them about some plant from Africa that could eat your hand or something along those lines. Harry wasn't really paying any attention to her, but instead he was watching the forest, always looking at the thestrals flying around the grounds. It was an amusing past time, seeing as he was one of the few people who could do it.
Over the trees 2 thestrals sprang up and chased each other, nipping slightly at each others heals playfully. Harry smiled at their behavior, so uncharacteristic of them to act that way. Professor Sprout droned on and Harry turned his attention to the tree line, something caught his eye. A figure with dark hair was walking out of the trees holding a small bundle in his arms, it looked like a cloak. What was he doing out here?
Harry prodded the sleeping Ron in the shoulder to wake him up.
"Damn gnomes!" he screamed as he woke up. The entire class looked at him, "Sorry Professor." He mumbled before turning to Harry, "Mate, why did you wake me up? I was having a crazy dreams about those garden gnomes at my house."
"I could tell." He said, rolling his eyes. He used his quill to point to the man walking back from the forest, "Who do ya reckon?"
Ron squinted at the figure in the distance, "Oy! Harry, that's Professor Blake. What is that bloke doing out here at this time of the day?"
Harry shook his head, "No Ron, I think the better question is, what was he doing in the forest?"
"No clue, you wanna tail him tonight? We have nothing better to do, well, besides homework." He laughed but Harry's expression remained the same, thoughtful and suspicious as he watched Blake go into the castle.
"We need to have a little chat with Professor Dumbledore first."
&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Sirius Black hid in his dog form beneath a large log in the Dark Forest watching as Desmond Blake the Death Eater left the clearing. "That bastard," he thought to himself as he watched him go. Sirius was worried now, if Persephone couldn't see him coming they were all in trouble. Not only her, but Harry and Dumbledore as well. He needed to get the word out as soon as he could.
Leaving the safety of his hiding place, Sirius ran towards the Whomping Willow. As soon as he reached the cave he could send Persephone an unmarked warning. He prayed it wasn't too late.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
The Headmaster was pacing in his office waiting for Persephone to show up so that they could continue with their lessons. A knock sounded on the door.
"Come in Persephone." he said and he went to sit down at his desk. The door opened and instead of Persephone, it was Harry coming through his door, soon followed by Ron.
"Harry." Dumbledore said, surprised. "What are you doing here?" The boy looked nervous about something, a bit fidgety also. He gave a small smile and went to sit down in one of the large chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk while Ron stayed back by the door. Albus knew he obviously needed to talk to him about something important so he did not protest the invasion of his study. He waited for Harry to speak first,
"Professor, I think that there might be a Death Eater on your staff."
"Or two." Interjected Ron from the corner, Harry shrugged and replied, "Perhaps."
Dumbledore was curious, Harry's hunches always had some merit to them so he figured he would listen to what he had to say.
"Please Harry, tell me more." Said Dumbledore as he also relaxed in his chair, his body ached and Harry hadn't seen him hurt before. Dumbledore would like to keep it that way. Harry started once more,
"Professor Blake seems off to me. Something about him just seems sneaky and suspicious." Dumbledore nodded his head,
"Well, Harry," he sighed, "I respect what your saying but I'm afraid you need more proof than that."
Harry looked up at him and the words burst forth, "We saw him coming out of the Forbidden Forest today during Herbology carrying what looked like a black cloak. He was creeping along, as if trying to remain unseen. It was strange."
Dumbledore raised his eyebrows, "Really Harry? You saw this?"
"Yes, I didn't know what else to do besides come to you. What are you going to do?"
"I am going to put Professor Parker on the job of finding out what he's doing."
Harry nodded in approval, but Ron's disapproving voice came from the walls. His arms were crossed and he was looking expectantly at Harry. He cleared his throat,
"Bad idea Headmaster." Dumbledore looked over at him,
"I beg your pardon Mr. Weasley?" Ron moved forward towards the desk, taking charge from his friend.
"We think she's in on it too." Dumbledore went back to Harry,
"Harry is this true?" Harry shook his head slightly from side to side, "No Professor." Ron was disgusted and hurt, "Harry! How could you say that? We have thought this all year, she's sneaky and underhanded. Remember the kiss!"
Dumbledore looked confused, "Kiss? What kiss?"
Ron crossed his arms and waited for Harry to talk, "Well?"
Harry was annoyed with Ron and embarrassed at the situation he found himself in. "Yes Sir. Fred and George Weasley, on the night they escaped, they saw Professor Parker kiss Lord Voldemort." Ron looked expectantly at Dumbledore who nodded gravely and rose from his chair.
"Mr. Weasley, please sit." Ron complied but he was furious at Harry so he refused to sit in the chair right next to him, instead choosing one by the fire place. Dumbledore went on, "First off, let me tell you that the Weasley twins did not escape in any shape or form. They were rescued by none other than the woman you are accusing. By putting herself and her position in great danger she saved your brothers and Kingsley from a terrible fate." Ron's angry face lost a bit of its malice at these words before Dumbledore continued,
"Also Mr. Weasley, did the thought that Kingsley was with them and most definitely saw the action taking place ever occur to you? Was he upset? If it happened all those months ago do you not think I would have taken care of it if something was wrong?"
Ron was deflated now but he dared a question, "Then why did she kiss him?"
Dumbledore remained as calm as he could in his painful state before he replied, "That is none of your concern."
In the uncomfortable silence that followed another knock came at the door, Dumbledore quickly answered it and Persephone walked through the large door holding a note in her right hand. She glanced at the boys, a second longer at Harry before she spoke to Dumbledore,
"Headmaster, we may have a problem." She stood with the paper clenched in her fist, anxiously waiting for Dumbledore to open up. He turned to Ron,
"Mr. Weasley, please leave us. We have some things to discuss. Harry wait in the hall please, I will send for you when I am ready." Ron got up, half way between being enraged and being humiliated, and grabbed his bag, stocking out before Harry. Ron wouldn't look Parker in the face, but she was so nervous that she didn't even notice.
When the boys had left the room, Dumbledore sat down at his desk and ushered Persephone to his side. She practically ran to his desk, next to frantic with her news. She slammed the paper down on his tabletop.
"Read." He put on his glasses and did as she said. The letter said this,
Professor Parker, Hogwarts School, England
To Professor Parker,
The mark upon your arm has a twin roaming around your school. Desmond Blake is dangerous. Be careful of him. I witnessed him in the forest today conversing with Lord Voldemort planning an attack on you, keep your eyes open and get help.
A Friend
"What do you think about this?"
Dumbledore had much to think of this, he knew who had sent this letter. He had thought he saw a black dog on the premises today and had been about ready to yell at Sirius for his disregard of security. But in this case, Dumbledore couldn't have been more pleased. Persephone spoke again,
"Do you want me to take care of him?" Dumbledore looked pensive before shaking his head,
"No, at least not alone. All we know about this guy is that he was powerful enough to fool both of us and a background check. He is obviously after Order Members and Harry."
"So what are we going to do?" Dumbledore shrugged,
"I don't know, I'm dying I so I'm not making any of these decisions any more. What do you think we should do?" Persephone thought about it for a moment before replying,
"He's too dangerous to be left here around Harry. We can take care of ourselves but Harry, although brave is not match for a sneak attack by someone he trusts."
Dumbledore interjected and stood, using his gnarled finger to make a point, "Ah, but Harry doesn't trust him." Persephone looked confused, "Harry was just here saying that he suspected a few staff members of being Death Eaters. Blake being one of them."
Persephone's chest heaved heavily, "I am assuming that I was the other?"
Dumbledore nodded solemnly, "He heard about Voldemort from the Weasley twins."
"Oh God." she looked sick and angry, at herself alone. How could she have been so stupid to let them see? "What do we do now?" She asked him in desperation. He looked at her once more with that characteristic smirk of his.
"Well, he needs to be told." Persephone jumped off the desk,
"What? Are you kidding? No! He cant be told!"
"Persephone keep your voice down, he is right outside!" She was furious, pacing the room with stomping feet and her arms covering her chest. Her long black sweater whipping about her knees as she went.
"Nothing good can come of this! I am the last person that could have been used against him Albus." Dumbledore was pleased, she had at least started calling him Albus, she continued, "Even when everything happened last June, Sirius's …..passing." she still couldn't say death. "I agreed that Harry must not be told about me in any way."
"But hasn't it been killing you not to tell him?"
"Of course but it is better for him in the long run. When this war is over he can have whatever is left of his family, we have to protect him."
Dumbledore smiled wide, "Now you are thinking like a leader." She stopped her berating and look at him with a confused expression. "You would sacrifice your happiness to keep someone safe."
She had no words to reply, his voice had taken on a strange light sound that made her nervous for his sanity.
"Persephone, I am going to transfer all of my powers to you tonight because at last, you are ready. But before I do, Harry!" he called, "Come in here!"
Persephone didn't quite know what to do.
To Be Continued…
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Next Chapter: YES! The confrontation mahahahahahaha!. Not only Harry and Persephone but Voldie gets thrown into the process too.