Title: Harry Potter and the Orb of Souls
Author: SerafinaMoon
Date: February 10-24, 2005
Summary: Voldemort has discovered a new weapon—the Orb of Souls. With it, he has discovered a way to purge the world—with their only savior.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, any of its characters, or themes. I will not profit from this story except receiving enjoyment of your questions, comments, and input on this work.
Claimer: I do, however, own this story and its plot and any Original Characters that I may use during the duration of the story making process.
A/N- Sorry for making you all wait, but I'm getting a bit behind on my writing cuz my schedule is getting busier. Sorry, but for now, it looks like every other week updates are going to be put into effect until I can find more time to write.
Chapter 6: From the Outside In
And you,
You bring me to my knees, again,
All the times
That I could beg you please, in vain
All the times
That I felt insecure, for you
And I leave
My burdens at the door
But I'm on the outside
I'm looking in
I can see through you
See your true colors
Cause inside you're ugly
You're ugly like me
I can see through you
See to the real you
All the times that I felt like this won't end
It's for you
And I taste what I could never have
It was from you
All the times that I've cried
My intentions, fully of pride
But I waste more time than anyone
But I'm on the outside
And I'm looking in
I can see through you
See your true colors
Cause inside you're ugly
You're ugly like me
I can see through you
See to the real you
All the times that I've cried
All this wasted, it's all inside
And I feel, all this pain
I stuffed it down, it's back again
And I lie, here in bed
All alone, I can't mend
But I feel
Tomorrow will be ok
But I'm on the outside
And I'm looking in
I can see through you
See your true colors
Cause inside you're ugly
You're ugly like me
I can see through you
See to the real you
"Outside" - Staind
The first day of school at Hogwarts had been relatively normal, or what seemed to pass for normal at the school anyway, but Naito was dissatisfied. Hermione Granger had been in all of his classes that Monday, and though he had talked to her, he had found no substantial information pertaining to the Order of the Phoenix.
He had thought, at first, that with his spying capabilities, even knowing that she knew what he was up to, that he would be able to make the Gryffindor girl spill a few secrets at least, but he had not.
She was a whole lot smarter than he had at first given her credit for; she would definitely prove to be a challenge, but then again, Naito liked challenges—to an extent.
The red-headed boy on the other hand had been quite easy to manipulate, not noticing the subtleties that Naito used on him. He seemed to be an "act first, ask questions later" sort and Naito hoped that he would be able to draw out information from Ron if he could not draw out of Hermione at least.
Naito had spent the rest of the day after classes exploring the castle for a safe place to practice his training. The Dark Lord had told him how to access the Chamber of Secrets, but Naito planned to use it only as a last resort. He was looking for a room that would be better suited to his needs.
At the moment though, Naito was in the library, researching magical objects, hoping to find some kind of lead on the Orb of Souls. If he could even just figure out what the blasted thing was he would be happy.
He had spent most of the afternoon after his evening classes looking for books that might harbor some kind of information on the mysterious object. So far he had looked through half of Interesting Items and had taken out of the school library Odd Objects, Rare Relics, and Ancient Artifacts to read later.
With everything he had checked so far, there had not even been a hint of information about the Orb of Souls, but apparently, Voldemort knew everything about the elusive sphere except its current location.
Well, if worst came down to worse, Naito reasoned, he could always sneak into the Dark Lord's sanctum and make a copy of whatever book he had on the subject. It would be extremely risky, but that was why it was Naito's last resort.
Naito looked up from his book to see Ron and Hermione conversing quietly at the table in the corner of the room. Using his Metamorphmagus abilities, Naito tweaked his ears just a little so that he could hear what the two were saying.
"You think they're going to have a meeting tonight?"
"I believe so, I'm not really sure. Dumbledore and McGonagall were looking a bit anxious about something and kept sending each other significant looks."
"Should we cancel the DA? I mean, do we get to go to this one now that they made us partial members?"
"I've told you a million times, Ron! We are not any type of member—nor will we be until we graduate! We just get to go to some of the meetings that pertain to school matters that concern us! If they have nothing they want us to do or look ar-"
"Or listen."
"Or listen around for, then there is no reason for us to be there. You know that!"
Ron sighed, "I know, I just wish they'd give us a real mission, not all this bloody spying around the school."
"Well, we do usually hear different things than they do around here. They want to be kept aware of it."
"I know, 'Mione. Don't nag."
"I don't nag!"
"Yes you do; you do it all the time!"
"Do not!"
"I'm not in the mood to play ping pong, Hermione. So what are we doing in DA?"
Hermione glowered at her companion, but growled, "I'm not sure. It's only the second day back, maybe we should just do spell revision. What do you think?"
"Sounds good to me; I just wish I could get my Patronus. I'd be able to do it if Harry was...well, never mind. I'll just keep practicing."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. I wish he was still teaching the DA...instead...instead of us."
Ron sighed heavily, saying, "Yeah."
When they both fell into an uncomfortable silence, Naito knew he would not be overhearing anything else useful. Deciding to get into this "DA" somehow, he snapped his books closed and put them all in his backpack before going over to where they were.
"Hey, guys," Naito said conversationally.
Ron sneered and would not look at him, but Hermione responded with a tense politeness.
"Hello, Naito. Did you need help with something? I'm Head Girl now so I'll help you if you get lost or someone is messing with you."
"No, nothing like that, but I appreciate the offer. I was walking down to the Great Hall and saw a sign up for a club called the DA? The poster said that anyone interested in joining should see you. I was wondering if I could join?"
"WHAT!" Ron leapt out of his seat, hands balled into fists, his eyes wild and face flushed with rage.
Naito took a step back as if he was afraid and meekly replied, "I said I want to join the DA."
"B-but...you...you CAN'T!"
"Why?"
"Because...you just CAN'T! There aren't any Slytherins in the DA!"
"Well then, maybe it is time there was one don't you think?"
"I'm not letting a bloody You-Know-Who supporter-"
"Are you talking about Voldemort?"
Ron flinched, not saying anything and giving Hermione a chance to put her hand on Ron's arm so that he would calm down. Seeing that Ron was sitting back down, Naito turned to Hermione and crossed his arms in front of his chest, waiting for an answer.
"Just ignore, Ron. I think it would be great if you joined. It would help us and the other students with Inner House Unity."
Naito gave a soft placating smile.
"It's in a few minutes so you can come with us; we'll show you how to get to the room we're using."
At this, Ron scowled darkly at the table, the back of his neck and ears red with anger.
"We just finished the homework we were working on in here, so we're all ready to go. Aren't we, Ron?" Hermione asked in a simpering, sweet tone.
It took a moment, but Ron finally forced out with a grunt, "Yes."
"Good. Follow me, Naito," Hermione ordered before she strolled off down the hall with Naito and Ron trailing after.
When they reached the hallway on the seventh floor, Hermione began to pace until a door appeared. Naito looked at her questioningly so she answered.
"This is the Room of Requirement. You just walk back and forth three times, thinking about what you need and the room provides it for you."
Naito was amazed despite himself and said, "Awesome!" He had finally found a place where he could practice his training in the morning!
"I know," replied Hermione nostalgically with a faint smile.
Walking into the room proved it to be as wondrous as the idea itself seemed.
There was enough open space that a hundred or more students could bring their beds in and sleep on them comfortably, with enough space to get up and walk around the beds. There were bookshelves of any and every kind of book on defense imaginable and there were even rare weapons that dated back to more than one thousand years in the past to the more modern and common weapons that could be found just about anywhere.
It was simply amazing; there was no other word for it. Naito could not ever remember a time when he had been happier except when he had developed his Animagus abilities and discovered it had merged with his Metamorphmagus abilities as well, making him an Animorph.
"So what do you guys usually do when you come here early? Who teaches it anyway?"
"We do; we come here and prepare the room, make sure everything is in order for the others when they arrive," came Hermione's easy reply.
Ron merely scowled, clearly still not liking the idea that a slimy Slytherin had entered his domain.
No wonder he's in Gryffindor, Naito thought disdainfully, just like a male lion—he has to guard his territory.
"So, what can I do to help," Naito asked in a pacifying manner, trying to play up to Hermione.
"If you could just go over there and drag over those cushions, we'll just lay them out on the floor so that the others can use them when they cast spells on their partners."
"Okay."
Naito set to work on setting out the mats at different intervals all over the floor, which took up the rest of the time until the first members of the DA began arriving.
As soon as they saw him, the glares began flying his way as they whispered behind their hands obviously about him. Naito pretended not to notice the attention they were giving him and stood up against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest as he waited patiently for the proceedings to begin with a serene expression on his face.
It did not take long before everyone had arrived and settled themselves around the room and Hermione and Ron took a stand at the front.
"Thank you all for coming and welcome back. I hope you all had a nice break, but now we're going to just jump right into the activities. I thought that since it's the beginning of school and we also have acquired some new members-"
Many people looked over at Naito, some with glares and others (some of the prefects and the Head Boy) with merely a questioning glance before turning back to what Hermione was saying.
"-we would do some revision work. For those of you that know what you're doing, in other words, those that have been here before, go ahead and partner up; I've written the list of spells to go through on the board over there. Everyone else, please come see me and we'll get you situated. Ron would you go with the older members?"
The students separated into two groups—the more advanced students with Ron on the other side of the room, while the beginners or newcomers joined Hermione at the front of the room.
Once they gathered around her, Hermione started to speak.
"Now we don't usually put up a sign, but as it's the beginning of the year and we usually get new people we posted one. What we normally use to contact our members is this."
"That's a Galleon," one of the first years pointed out as Hermione drew out a gold coin from the inside pocket of her robes.
"Yes, but it's a fake Galleon," she told them all primly as she handed everyone a piece of fake wizarding currency, "I made them when I was in my fifth year. You see where the serial number is supposed to be? Instead it shows the date and the time on it. It'll get hot for a moment whenever I set the time on mine."
"A Protean Charm?" Naito asked his tone intrigued.
"Yes."
"And you said you made these in fifth year?"
"Yes."
"Impressive."
"Thank you," Hermione said before describing to them what the DA was for and how it was started in a matter-of-fact tone, but Naito could tell she was pleased with the compliment by the blush that colored her cheeks and the way her eyes glimmered and shone with happiness.
"Now the first thing we need to do is see how many defensive spells you can do right. Now I know the first years haven't really gotten to learn anything yet, so I'll call over someone to help you get started on basic spells. This will be stuff you might not learn in class, but will definitely be helpful. It will also help you learn to focus your magic, which is what you'll be learning all throughout the year. Okay?"
All the short kids nodded their heads nervously; Hermione smiled at them.
"Don't worry, you're new, but you'll get the hang of it. Oi! Parvati! Come here, please!"
Parvati, a seventh year Gryffindor from the looks of her walked over and said, "Yes, Hermione?"
"You told me that you were had practiced all summer didn't you?"
"Yeah."
"Could you help the first years learn basic spells? There's a list of them over at the desk if you don't know which ones to do."
"Yeah, sure. Come on, guys. We'll go over here."
After the group walked away, the only new ones left were Naito, a third year Hufflepuff, and two Ravenclaw students.
"Now what we need to do with you guys is figure out what level you're on, as I said before. Tell me what you think your best Defense spell is."
Naito knew that, being trained by Voldemort himself, he could beat any—probably all of them together—person here. So instead of telling Hermione the toughest spell he knew, he looked over at the board where the list of spells was written.
"I know all of those except that I can't conjure a Patronus."
Hermione's eyes widened and her mouth fell open in disbelief.
"You know all of those? And you can actually do them?" she asked skeptically.
"Yes, I am a seventh year."
"Yes, but the seventh years last year didn't know half of those spells."
"Hm. Interesting."
"So, how about you show me how good you can do those and I'll let you join the others over there, alright?"
"Sounds good to me. Who knows, maybe I'll even be able to teach you a thing or two, hm?"
Hermione just gave him a look that quite plainly told him how likely she thought it would be.
Without giving any sort of indication, Hermione promptly cast a Stunning Spell at Naito for him to block and the impromptu match began.
Most students stopped what they were doing to turn and watch as Naito sidestepped the Stunner and the red beam hit the wall, dispersing. They formed a wide circle around the two, as everyone backed against the walls, turning to watch.
Hermione was smiling even though Naito did not cast a spell; she was probably testing how well his fighting skills were.
Do well, but don't give yourself away, a tiny, mocking voice in the back of his head instructed him intelligently. Naito almost scoffed, I'm not that dumb, he told the voice before dodging and rolling to avoid another curse sent his way in a burst of orange light.
Naito decided to use non harmful spells only and threw a Jelly-Legs Jinx in Hermione's direction.
She easily blocked it with a well-practiced Protego and the match continued.
Naito shot a Disarming Charm at her as she sent a mild variation of the cutting hex in his direction. His quick reflexes from constant matches with his tutors helped him get his shield up in time and Naito looked over at Hermione to see how she fared; he watched her fumble with her wand and just barely get her own shield up in time.
As it was, a portion of the spell slipped past her defenses and hit her in the shoulder, pushing her backwards, but she managed to keep a hold on her wand. Naito sent a grim smirk in her direction, which seemed to make her incensed.
Angrily, she shot three quick Expelliarmus Spells in his direction. His eyes widened in surprise, but he managed to awkwardly dodge the first, block the second, only for the third to hit him squarely in the chest, knocking the wand from his hand and forcing him to fall back into the wall behind him.
Hermione gave him a triumphant smirk as she stalked toward him, his wand lying between them. It was then that Naito noticed the rest of the room was cheering for Hermione.
I knew there was a reason no other Slytherins came here, he thought satirically. They all thought he was beaten, done for, helpless and they were mocking him because he was Slytherin...they would all be deeply disappointed though, when he won.
His smirk erased the gloating expression from the Gryffidor's face and he knew what she was thinking. She was wondering what slimy, Slytherin trick he had tucked up his sleeve. She would never think of something as straightforward as him just going for his wand, however.
He knew he could not demonstrate his wandless abilities for them so he was given little choice but to simply grab for it.
One thing his teachers always tried to drill into him was to expect the unexpected; unfortunately, this girl had apparently not been taught that. So when he dove and rolled toward her, she stepped back, thinking he was going to attack her physically and tried to attack him with magic, which he just dodged.
He gave her a broad grin as she looked at him questioningly and he just pulled out his wand and pointed it at her from where he had snatched it off the floor.
Instead of keeping her eyes on her opponent (as Naito had also been taught) she searched the floor where the wand had fallen and seen that the wand was missing.
Naito rolled his eyes and sent a stunner in her direction, which she immediately put up a shield for even though it would have been easier to dodge.
It was then that Naito noticed a pattern in the way she had been dueling. Every time Naito tossed a spell in her direction, she would always put up a shield instead of dodging. She was relying solely on magic to help her and Naito knew how to stop her.
With more force than he had put into any of his other curses, Naito threw another stunner at her. This time when she shouted Protego, the spell held for about five seconds before snapping under the pressure and allowing the Stupefy through.
Hermione instantly fell to the floor unconscious so that Naito was forced to revive her with an Ennervate.
The room was dead silent by this time, everyone stared openly at Hermione who blearily sat up with Ron's help. He was looking at Naito with something akin to hatred in his eyes, but Naito simply gazed back at him indifferently.
In truth, he could have beaten Hermione in less than ten seconds, but it would blow his cover to show any more of his abilities to ones so close to the Order of the Phoenix. He had gone really easy on her, he had not even used a cutting hex, unlike her, and so it was with no little amount of confusion that Naito wondered why everyone in the room looked murderous.
Then it hit him, he was Slytherin. There was no other reason than that...after all, what more did Gryffindorks, as Draco liked to call them, need. As far as they were concerned, the moment that Sorting Hat uttered those first fateful syllables, he was destined to be nothing other than a Death Eater.
But you are a Death Eater, the voice in the back of Naito's head whispered.
Am I? answered another, deeper voice from within him. Do Death Eaters usually go behind their master's back and find ways to rid the world of his presence.
Naito thought not, but before he could contemplate his musings further, Hermione sat up, came to her senses, and said, "Good job. I'd say you're ready to join the advanced group."
She was met only with that annoying silence.
"Well," she started, trying to break through the quiet, "why don't you go over there, find a partner, and start reviewing like everyone else, hm?"
She gave him a false smile, which he did not return before going over to the others to be tested.
Reluctantly, everyone went back to their tasks, but no one came over to partner with Naito and he was left standing alone in the middle of the room.
Why'd I ever think I could make friends here! He thought to himself angrily.
Deciding not to dwell on things he could not control, Naito walked over to the bare wall, cast the Volley Wall Charm and proceeded to go through the list of charms, jinxes, hexes, and shields on the board by himself.
When the meeting was over, no one stopped to talk to Naito, not even Hermione so Naito merely left, heading for the dungeons when he remembered what he had overheard Ron and Hermione discussing in the library.
Instead, Naito changed directions and walked towards the Headmaster's Office, where he suspected the members of the Order to be gathering.
When he got to the stone statue, Naito looked around to see if anyone was in the vicinity before changing into a one of his small Animagus forms—a small, flying, black beetle.
Crawling under the statue proved to be none too difficult for the spy and he easily made his way up to the office without being noticed.
He had been partially right, he noticed when he entered the room. All of the Order members in the teaching staff had congregated in the room, but they all had their cloaks on in preparation to go somewhere else.
Quickly attaching himself to McGonagall's green robes and changing his shell color accordingly, Naito was able to hitch a ride unseen to Headquarters.
When McGonagall had thrown Floo Powder into the fireplace and said, "Number 12 Grimmauld Place," a memory had stirred in the back of Naito's mind, but he was unable to place it.
Shaking his head mentally he got himself back on track. He had been able to understand the words they had said, that meant that they did not even have a Fidelius Charm on the place...how dumb could you get?
All of the Order members taking their seats shook him from his reverie and he detached himself from McGonagall's robes for the duration of the meeting.
It would not do to have him make her itch so that she scratched and discovered him there now would it?
Naito tried to make his coloring blend in with the walls as he flew around, trying to find someplace where he could watch and listen unsuspected.
In next to no time he found a place at the top of the cabinet and settled in to listen.
It did not take long for everyone to find their seats and when they did, they were all ready to begin.
Dumbledore started them off by saying, "Welcome, I'm glad that everyone could attend."
"Enough with the pleasantries, Albus," growled a scarred, old man with a wooden leg and a rolling eye. "What's the news from the school? What's going on with that boy you told us about last time?"
The aged Headmaster imperceptibly sighed, saying, "Not much, I'm afraid, my friend. He's been sorted into Slytherin so Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley have not been able to find out much about him, not that Mr. Weasley has been trying very hard."
"You can drop the titles here, Albus," the old man muttered again, "it's not like you're still at school where you have to keep things formal."
The leader of the group nodded to the man and placed his elbows on the table to steeple his fingers in front of him.
"What's Ron been doing now, Albus?" inquired a plump woman that was turning red in the face.
Must be his mother, Naito thought idly.
"What he always does. He doesn't like the fact that Mr. Koori has been sorted into Slytherin and so has been trying to start fights and pushing him away. Hermione on the other hand has been doing a very nice job of remaining civil to him despite the fact that Ron is not cooperating with her.
"She actually managed to invite him to that club of theirs—the DA. She tested his magical abilities. She says that he was already able to do all of the spells that their group has been working on. All of them except for the Patronus Charm that is. She contacted me right before we came here."
Naito stored that bit of information away for later...Hermione had some way to speak with the Head of the Order without actually speaking to him physically face to face. I wonder how...
"She said that he didn'treally seem all that impressive, I surmise that he's more powerful than that, and is just hiding it, which is perfectly logical."
Good job, old man.
"From what Severus has already told us, we do know that Voldemort and a select few of his trusted Inner Circle have been training him so it is extremely likely that he knows all of the Unforgivables and other Dark Curses despite the fact that he demonstrated none of these before those in the room even when she had him cornered."
"What do you mean 'cornered,' Albus?"
"She described the duel to me and said he used nothing more lethal than a Stunner even when she used a cutting hex on him. She told me that the only spell to slip through his defenses was a Disarming spell, which sent his wand and him flying.
"He landed against the wall, was surrounded by those from every house who had apparently done nothing to make him feel comfortable with them and yet he used physical instead of magical means of retrieving his wand whenever she came at him."
"So, one thing we do know is that the kid probably has some pretty good reflexes if he was able to pull something like that off."
Dumbledore nodded to a young witch with spiky, blue hair.
"What you mean, is that we have a dangerous spy running around with who knows what kind of power and abilities and we're leaving it up to two school kids to figure out what he knows and what he intends to do. I, for one, say we should just bring out the Veritaserum, slip him some, and Obliviate him when we're done," snarled the rolling-eyed man.
"No, Alastor. Severus thinks he might not be completely loyal to Voldemort. If we could win his trust he would be a helpful ally to our cause."
Naito would have glared if he had been back in his body; he would not be used as a mere tool to do with as they wished for anyone. Even if he was gathering information for Voldemort (not that he would be laying out all of his cards at the moment) he would not be used as a puppet on a string.
He might be working for Voldemort for now, but that was only because it was convenient for him at the moment. Once it became apparent who was going to win the war (hopefully he could help take down Voldemort from the inside) then he would show his true colors, become a rogue, and go live somewhere by himself in peace.
"We'll see."
"What has been going on at your end, Severus?"
"I have not learned much more than the last time, but I do know that the Dark Lord is looking for something. I have not, as of yet, been about to determine what it is he is seeking, but he is very set on it.
"As I'm sure you have guessed, he has been gathering more followers to him, I do not know how many, as we have not had a full meeting, but he plans on striking out against the Muggles soon. It will not be long before he fully reveals himself once again and attacks more public wizarding establishments such as Diagon Alley and the like."
"Thank you, Severus."
"Kingsley, Tonks, have you been able to..."
(To Be Continued…)
A/N- Well, that's it. I hope you liked it. I tried to make it interesting, but I don't know how good of a job I've been doing. So I need you to tell me! Please review me w/any comments, questions, or critique you want! I'd love to hear from you.
Coming Up: Naito has to give his first report to one of Voldemort's Death Eaters. How much will he reveal to them about what he knows? What will happen when someone follows him and listens in? Find out in Chapter 7: The Battle of Wills.
Review Responses:
Amones of Magic: Naito/Harry's not really as ignorant as he seems and as for the others. Whatever similarities they notice between Harry and Naito is passed off as wishful thinking on their part. They want him to come back, but they "know" he never will so they think they are only deluding themselves and push it into the back of their minds. Yes, I have thought of Patronuses, which is why Naito will not be able to do one until we come to a specific plot point that I will not reveal at this time. I took what you said about Remus to heart and managed to fit him into one of my chapters that he wouldn't have originally been in. Don't worry, you will be seeing him soon. I'm actually writing chapter 9 so I'm not that far ahead of you guys. No problem! I love it when ppl are curious about my stories. I will not say anything yet about what is going to happen w/Snape, but I will tell you that you'll find out next chapter about some of the things you've been asking.
Hazel-Beka: Yeah, I do too. Thanks for correcting me on the words. I'd always wondered what it was they said at that part. I tried putting the words at the bottom of the screen (forgot what you call it...caption something) but it didn't show up so I just tried to figure out what they said for myself. I've already made the corrections for it I think. I went back and corrected that part about Harry/Naito as well. I actually didn't write that part, my beta did, cuz I'm not any good at fight scenes although I did write the one in this chapter...but NEways, she wrote it to give me an idea, but I just copied and pasted it in w/out reading over it and failed to notice the mistakes so...yeah.
Evaisy: Thank you! I'm glad you like my story, but no there won't be parseltongue in the next chap. I had not really planned on going into too much detail about classes I just did it for that one b/c it was a transition chapter and I had to explain somethings. I really don't know how to keep Draco in character as we never see him w/out his arrogant attitude that he shows off around Harry. It's kinda hard to make him cooperate when he's w/his friends.
MagicmanSmokegirl: Actually, I didn't know that about Voldemort but it makes a lot of sense. I actually do believe he could be able to take over the world if Dumbledore and the Order were to fall. He reminds me of Hitler in a way and he almost managed to control all of Europe before he met his end due to unfortunate circumstances. I actually do believe it's possible.
Deanna Troy: Lol! I loved your review...it was quite humorous. I'm really glad that you like my work and think so highly of my writing skills. It always pleases me that others derive pleasure from what I write.
LadayoftheWood: You are a dork? I never would have guessed. :P I wonder how we all did in creative writing...hm.
JCoolio: (raises one eyebrow) Are you alright? Jin Cheng Units still the same and all that? Thanks for reviewing!
I'd like to thank Jin Cheng for beta reading for me! You do an awesome job Jin Cheng! I love you Jin Cheng!