Title: Harry Potter and the Orb of Souls
Author: SerafinaMoon
Date: June 3-Aug 1, 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- Here's a super long chapter (for me) to make up for the short, boring transitional one last time...and it's packed with action as well!
Chapter 14: The Missing Members
The end of term came with a flurry of activities as everyone scrambled around, turning in last minute assignments and packing their belongings for the return home.
It was Christmas time and everybody had gone mad as the return home for the holidays was imminent. Naito had put his name on McGonagall's list as one of those staying over the holidays, for 'spying purposes' he had told Nott in his last report. Of course, he failed to mention which side he was staying to spy for...
Things had finally died down after the debacle at Gringotts, thankfully, and since the meetings with Voldemort had lessened, his weekly reports had become more dreadful. Considering that one of these reports might give him away as a spy he constantly worried about expulsion from the Death Eaters ranks as he delivered the information relayed to him by Dumbledore.
It had taken a lot of effort on Naito's part to keep from being discovered. After helping Hermione and Ron in Hogsmeade, Voldemort had kept an abnormally close watch on him and it had taken a few interferences from Snape to keep him in good faith with the Dark Lord.
Naito had heard on many occasions the maniac snake-lizard muttering or conversing with Ganmou about him saying things about familiar surroundings and "the effects wearing off in those sorts of conditions." While Naito was not sure what they meant, his vague suspicion about attending Hogwarts before he had lost his memory was beginning to grow and manifest itself into a very firm belief that it was where he belonged.
While their reservations about his loyalties had not stopped them from inviting him to a few of the more important meetings with the Inner Circle Death Eaters, lately, they (Voldemort and his most trusted servants) were being more secretive and Naito suspected they might be planning something big for the holiday season.
His suspicions were proven correct when he overheard two Order members whispering to each other as they hurried through the school up to Dumbledore's office.
Glancing around to make sure no one was watching, Naito transformed into his black ferret form (in case Dumbledore saw him) and swiftly maneuvered his petite, dexterous body to follow them behind the gargoyle.
"Dumbledore!" called Aurors Kingsley and Mad-Eye once they had reached the top of the staircase never noticing the ferret that slinked behind them and hid in the shadows of one of the corners, but Naito thought he saw Dumbledore's eyes pass over him before settling once again on his guests.
"Is there a problem, gentlemen?" asked the Headmaster in his usual calm, collected, and comforting voice.
"Remus and Tonks have been taken. We were scouting the area just like you asked and found them. There was a big gathering and we didn't notice when we tripped the wards. They surrounded us and we just barely made it out ourselves. We've got to do something; you know he's going to torture them for information! We need to get them out now!"
The fearless leader of the Order had his head in his hands by the time they were finished and by the tension that was being exerted throughout his body, Naito would say that he was on the verge of suppressing tears.
Thinking back to his own time with Voldemort and his lackeys Naito remembered the countless tortures he had been forced to endure on account of his failures. Recalling the pain and suffering he gone through at the hands of the Dark Lord's followers, Naito winced in remembrance and unconsciously groaned aloud, which came out as more of a squeak in his ferret body.
Immediately, Kingsley and Mad-Eye spun around, their wands aimed directly at him as spells flew from their tips. Naito squeaked again as he jumped out of the way only to find himself trapped in an invisible box a moment later.
Both Auror and Ex-Auror converged on him, wands never leaving their hands as they approached.
"Well, what have we here?" Alastor asked rhetorically as he lifted Naito out of the box by his tail.
"One of Voldemort's spies sent to see how we'll handle the loss of our friends perhaps? Well, I can promise you, you won't be the one gloating once we're through with you."
Together, Kingsley and Mad-Eye shot a blue-white light at him and he hovered in midair for a moment before he was freefalling to the ground with a butterfly-in-stomach feeling flowing through him. Naito was afraid his heart might burst after it stopped for a second to speed back up again twice as fast.
Naito's feet hit the ground and there was another blinding flash of light before Naito found himself on hands and knees on the floor of Dumbledore's office, fully human once again.
"You! I knew we couldn't trust you. No-good-"
The man's rant was interrupted when Dumbledore finally stood up from his chair and commanded, "Alastor! Leave the boy alone!"
"Does it mean nothing to you that we have a spy listening to our every word!"
"He is not a spy for Voldemort, Alastor. He is working for me. For the past few months he has been my 'source' that you are always hearing about when I give you reports about Voldemort's activities."
"Well, how do you know he's not just passing along false information to trap us?"
"Has anything I told you so far been a set up? Has any of it been wrong? Naito has almost been found out several times because he is the only one that can bring us this information. Even Severus cannot discover as much as Naito does by spying in this form."
"Oh yeah? Well, how do you know he's not just giving you the right information now only to turn-"
"Alastor! That is quite enough of that! I trust Mr. Koori and you should too. He is risking his life to help us overcome Voldemort and I would appreciate it if you showed him the proper respect."
The old Order member said nothing to this, only glared at Naito even as he was nodding his acquiescence to Dumbledore, all the time keeping his revolving eye fixed firmly on Naito wherever he went.
Naito on the other hand was looking at Dumbledore in disbelief. Why did Dumbledore trust him so much? What had he done to deserve the respect and trust the Headmaster was showing in him?
It doesn't matter, Naito thought to himself, I'm not going to let him down! If he's put that much trust in me, I'll just have to make sure his faith is not unfounded.
Kingsley broke the tension by saying, "Well, since you obviously knew of his presence among us, why did you allow him to stay?"
"Because he can help."
Moody only growled; obviously did not like the sound of that.
Dumbledore shot him a look as Kingsley asked a simple, "How?"
"Why, I do believe he is the only one among us capable of retrieving our missing members."
Moody liked that even less.
"He, like Severus, knows Voldemort and how he works better than anyone else in the Order. He knows where he hides out and what defenses he keeps. Have faith, Naito can save Remus and Tonks."
Turning to Naito, Dumbledore asked, "Is there anything you need for us to do to help you."
Thinking for a moment, Naito responded with a negative.
"It'll be better if no one really knows what's going on for the moment, just don't tell anyone else that the two are missing. I should be able to just break in a get them, but if I don't come back in two days I've more than likely been found out and you can do whatever you need to get them out."
"And what about you, my boy?"
"Don't worry about me; I can take care of myself."
With that, Naito turned and left the room to its other occupants who were too pensive to break the tense silence that now hung between them.
"I guess we're just going to have to trust him then..." muttered Kingsley in his usual rich, calm baritone.
As soon as he stepped out into the corridor from Dumbledore's office, Naito walked as quickly as he could, without drawing attention to himself, back to the Slytherin dorm rooms. Once inside, he drew out the new clothes he had bought in Hogsmeade when he snuck out and stuffed them in a rucksack hurriedly.
Rushing out just as quickly as he had come in, Naito did not slow down long enough so that he would not have time to stop and think about the decision he had made. He did not want time to change his mind; after all, he had already said he would help get the missing members back.
Due to this, Naito hurried through everything thankful that it was the Christmas holidays and that nobody was around.
Naito did not even slow down as he pushed open the common room door and transformed into a phoenix, backpack and all, and flew out the nearest open window.
Hm...I always knew I'd be grateful some day that Slytherins are too wary of paintings to hang any near their common room corridor.
Naito made good headway as a phoenix and soon left the vast, enormous castle that had become his home behind. Flash Apparating as a phoenix, Naito transported himself to just outside Voldemort's fortress wards.
Landing gracefully in the middle of a berry thicket, Naito transformed back into his normal self and quickly altered his appearance to what it had been when he had gone to Hogsmeade and purchased his Shadow Phoenix robes.
Quickly donning the garb, Naito considered his options. Though he had lived in Voldemort's fortress for over a year, he had never attempted to break out of it, fearing the consequences; besides he had never really had ample reason to leave the only place that, to his mind, offered him shelter, food, education, and care.
He was unsure how to go about to proceed in this rescue mission because just as he had never tried to get out, he never had to subtly find a way in either. The only familiarity he had with the grounds surrounding the fortress was when he had been practicing his bigger Animagus forms.
He knew there were great stone walls surrounding the entire bastion and layers upon layers of wards built on top of that, but he did not know what kind of traps might be in place to catch intruders, nor did he have any idea if he would be able to pass them as Voldemort's spy or if he would be able to get back out again with the Order members in tow.
This situation seemed to him to be even direr than the one in Hogsmeade. Then no one had been counting on him to save Ron, Hermione, and Ginny so if he failed there would be no one to report back to with the bad news. He won either way.
Now, he was ultimately working for Dumbledore, not himself and that made a big difference. The Order was counting on him to retrieve Remus and Tonks and if he did not, it would cause them to completely distrust him whereas they only doubted his loyalties presently.
If he were found out by Voldemort however, unlike with Hogsmeade, there would be no explanation for why he could be here, especially dressed up as he was. If he were caught, that would be it. He would be found out as a spy and would be tortured before he was killed.
That was all he could look forward to if he failed.
Then you MUST NOT fail!
Good point, now, how do I go about doing this?
First he would need to test the wards to check for any reluctance to let him pass. While he may not have the same appearance as when he was staying here, the wards were thankfully keyed into his magical signature instead of the way he looked. They might not be that hard to get past...guards on the other hand...they would be a completely different story.
Taking out his wand in preparation for the delicate work he was endeavoring to attempt, Naito began muttering a string of Latin nonstop under his breath until he was sure the wards would not hinder him.
Aware that Voldemort would know if his wards were tampered with, Naito only made a slight, subtle modification to them. Knowing that Voldemort would not think of something as miniscule as being important, Naito altered the way the wards processed who they let in and out.
Now, anyone could enter or exit the wards as long as they were accompanied by a Death Eater. Naito would be able to come back the way he had come and allow Remus and Tonks to exit the wards with him; it was as simple as that.
The next stage, Naito knew, would not be quite as easy.
Slipping through the wards, Naito circumspectly approached the stone wall surrounding the castle, making sure to stay hidden in the shadows so that he would not be detected by the guards.
There was a reason he had decided on the pseudonym Shadow Phoenix...
Checking the locations of the Death Eater guards, Naito slunk over to an unwatched section of the wall. It was not as hard as he thought it would be. Apparently the watchers felt secure in knowing that no one was stupid enough to break into Voldemort's home, thus, they had congregated at random conjunctions and were conversing among themselves.
Shooting a grappling charm up into the air, Naito managed to attach a rope to the top of the wall with a barely noticeable "clink" sound, which caused Naito to wince despite the lack of attention it drew.
Glancing around to make sure no one was looking in his direction, Naito swiftly began to scale the rope, reaching the top of the wall without detection.
So far so good, Naito thought to himself, knowing that the hardest part was yet to come. Hopefully his luck would hold out and would somehow manage to get everyone out of this safely.
Considering his options, Naito pondered which route would take him across the open land to the castle without accidentally activating any traps that may be in place.
Hm...the training area might be the best bet. Voldemort might not have done anything to it since I left. It seems to be the safest route to take, but the only problem with that is the only way into the fortress from the training area is through a small animal door; I'll never be able to bring Remus and Tonks back out this way.
I'll have to think of something else when the time comes...first, let's just concentrate on getting to them; we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.
With that thought in mind, Naito scampered over the top of the battlements transforming into something small enough to be undetected when he needed to pass by the guards that were stationed all around.
Despite them all huddling together talking, if they even thought they noticed something suspicious, they would instantly be on alert and Naito wanted his presence to remain undetected for as long as possible.
When he finally came to the open field that he guessed would be the safest to cross, he glanced around to make sure there was no one in sight and levitated himself down from the wall and onto the field.
Knowing that anyone who looked down would be able to see him even in the dark, Naito sprinted as fast as he could across the vast openness, grateful to reach the safety and anonymity of the shadows once again.
Naito was aware that since he was hunkered down in the darkness of the fortress's enormity, he would no longer have to worry about guards until he made it inside where there would be plenty of Death Eaters about and a regular patrol that did both the entire fortress and the dungeons themselves.
The captured Order members would be heavily guarded, as Voldemort would not want to give up his prized possessions and key items of advantage and knowledge without a fight.
This was the moment; this was the point of no return...He could go back to Hogwarts right now and tell them all that he had not been able to make it into the fortress. He could tell everyone that he had been detected too early in the game and had not even set foot onto the grounds.
He was still a child, they would merely blame his incompetence on that, or his loyalty to Voldemort, his inner voice supplied.
Shut up, he told the voice, but knew that was exactly what would happen if he went back empty handed. That was what they were all expecting of him—to turn them all over to the Dark Lord and betray them mercilessly. They thought he was just like those that went out and tortured and belittled others just for the fun of it.
They expected him to fail.
One way or the other, for whatever reason, none of them expected him to succeed.
So why was he even trying? What was the point if they all expected him to turn them over or die anyway? Why not just give up the game at this point while he still had somewhat of an advantage over both sides?
Dumbledore believes in you though...Ron and Hermione trust you now and Ginny never stopped believing in you even though you became a Slytherin. They are the reason you should keep going.
And what about Remus and Tonks themselves? I thought you figured out your purpose in life...Didn't you say that you wanted to help people? To prevent the innocent from being harmed or taken advantage of like they did to you? What about them? Don't they mean anything.
While Naito could tell himself that Dumbledore did not really care, that Ron and Hermione were only pretending to befriend him on Dumbledore's orders, that they only wanted to use him like everybody else in his life did, and that Ginny never really knew him or ever even would, he could not find a reasonable argument against wanting to help people.
He had made that decision while wondering alone in the corridors of Hogwarts when he saw and got to take part in just a piece of the freedom everyone else was able to enjoy, Naito knew he had to preserve that like it was never preserved in him...the innocence of childhood...the life that he saw sparkling in the others around him.
There was no denying that someone needed to protect the innocence and joy of life—not just existing, but living. And if no one else could even see the value of its importance besides him then he would just have to take matters into his own hands and be that unofficial guardian.
With this new resolution flowing swiftly through his veins, lighting a fire in his soul, Naito rose from his hiding spot and made his way into Voldemort's stronghold in his emerald snake form, sliding and climbing through the pipe system just like he had done during that year and a half of training.
Once he was inside, Naito debated on whether he should remain in animal form or if he should transform back to human...
Deciding that staying small and innocuous as opposed to roaming the corridors as a known enemy might be more beneficial if he came across people unnoticed and maybe even overhear some inside information through their whispered conversations, Naito remained in animal form.
The only alteration he made was shifting from a snake into a cat so he would be able to move much faster as he scurried down the hall with a liquid grace that only a feline could demonstrate.
He managed to make it undetected down to the lower levels of the castle and found that he had seriously underestimated how many guards Voldemort had put around his captives.
The way he figured things, there would be about ten or so guards compared to the usual two or three, but there were no less than twenty guards posted around Voldemort's top captives.
It was overkill in Naito's eyes, as the prisoners were tortured, tired, hungry, locked in a cell with no way out...why did he need so many guards?
Just in case someone decided to try and rescue them like you're doing now...the helpful voice in the back of his mind supplied without being prompted.
Shut up.
Naito looked to see which cell they were in and was surprised to notice that all the sentinels were surrounding a cell with a solid silver door instead of the traditional bars that allowed you to see into the holding area.
Naito wondered why that was until he remembered that Remus was a werewolf as Pettigrew had told him during his briefing session. He would easily...well, maybe not easily, but he would be able to break through the iron bars with relatively little trouble using his superhuman strength that his lycanthropy granted him.
The solid silver door however, he would not even go near as silver was fatal to werewolves.
Despite their reasoning on the matter, it actually made things easier in Naito's case so he stopped debating possibilities and shrunk himself down as small as he could into a cockroach and altered his little body with his metamorphmagus abilities so that his wings would easily hold him up in flight.
Once he tested his new body to make sure he had control of it, he skyrocketed up to the ceiling and flew over the heads of all the sentries at the door. Then, dropping to the floor heavily, he searched around the corners for a suitable crack to crawl through.
The form he picked was quite suitable for a spy job. For one thing, they were incredibly hard to kill and for another, they could fit into spaces smaller than themselves if they only squished themselves down enough.
The bottom edge of the doorway provided ample room to crawl under and into the holding cell, which Naito promptly took advantage of.
Before changing back into his natural form, Naito cast a wandless silencing spell on the door so that no matter what happened on the inside, the Death Eaters on the outside would not be able to hear anything.
When that was accomplished, Naito changed back eliciting gasps from both stunned forms in the room.
The response was immediate, despite being unarmed, Remus placed himself in front of Tonks and readied himself for a fight.
"Who are you! What are you doing here? Come to torture us some more for a spot of fun?"
Naito merely raised an elegant eyebrow as Remus ranted at him. You would think the change in mask color, while not make them immediately believe he was their rescuer, would not immediately think Death Eater either. Thus, Naito was amused that despite his strange entrance and garb they would believe him to be a Death Eater coming to torture them, but once he placed himself in their situation he sobered up immensely.
They had more than likely been starved, dehydrated, tortured, and humiliated by every person that had come into the cell with them. It was no wonder that they believed him to be no different. Well, now was as good a time as any to dissuade them from that notion.
"No, I have not come to harm you, but to help you. If you failed to notice, I did not come barging into the room with an arrogant swagger ready to make sport of you, but silently and subtly trying to remain undetected."
Remus relaxed his stance somewhat, revealing Tonks' face behind him staring at him in suspicion as pain glimmered behind her eyes.
"Why would you want to help us?"
"Because, Albus sent me."
Both Order members blinked at that and glanced at each other uncertainly.
Shrewdly, Remus asked, "How does Albus know you?"
Naito smirked, he was still in his covering persona with his altered features and a mask covering his face—of course they had no idea who he really was.
Removing his mask, Naito answered, "Dumbledore has many contacts with which he corresponds and keeps secret, but I on the other hand am his spy."
With that, Naito reverted back to his original schoolboy appearance, which caused them both to gasp again.
"YOU! Albus told us to watch out for you that you were trying to spy on us for Voldemort! Why should we trust you?"
"Because I am your only hope for getting out of here. He never told you I was at the attack in Gringotts and that he found me and brought me to his office after persuading me to work for his side, the right side. I've heard from my sources that he told you I doubted my allegiances to Voldemort," both Order members gaped at his use of his former master's name, "and that he wanted Ron and Hermione to win me over for you.
"Well, it worked, I saw how your side operated compared to Voldemort's and knew I had to try to help stop people from suffering under the same things I did at Voldemort's hand. The only question now is, can you trust me and Dumbledore enough to help get you out of here and back to Hogwarts where you belong?"
Their eyebrows furrowed and foreheads lined in contemplation, Remus and Tonks looked at each other, silently asking the other what they thought of the situation.
Finally they came to an unspoken decision and nodded to each other before Remus turned to Naito and said, "Alright, I figure our situation really can't get any worse so let's take a shot at it, but we have to go slow, they messed up Tonk's leg. As near as we can figure, it's broken."
Naito scowled, they did not have time to go slow, they had to get out of there and as quickly as possible.
Seeing the murderous look on Naito's face, Remus hurried to explain defensively, "What do you expect after being tortured so much! I heal much better because I'm a werewolf, but not everyone has those capabilities!"
"I'm not annoyed at you alright, I'm just annoyed in general!"
With that, Naito gave a quick wave of his wand and a splint appeared on Tonks' leg.
"There, that should help you hold up for a while. Now, I give no guarantees, but I'll do my utmost best to get you both out of here no more harmed than you already are. I heard some Death Eaters talking in one of the hallways I came down about how you guys wouldn't be staying alive for much longer, so we need to get a move on before they decide to come in here and kill you, but before we do that, I need you to make me a promise.
"If we make it out of here, I will have saved your lives and you will owe me a life debt. If we get out of this alive I will collect that debt by having you promise not to say a word of anything that goes on in here. Nothing of how I rescued you or my other persona or any of my special abilities, got it?"
"Why you blackmailing, dirty, rotten, foul, lying, Slyth-"
"Uh uh!" Naito waggled a finger at them condescendingly like a parent patronizing their child.
"None of that now. We all keep secrets and sometimes those very secrets keep us alive. All I want for you to do is keep mine and your life debt to me will be repaid. Just remember if you see this other form of mine again do not tell anybody anything you know about it, the connection to me, what my capabilities are, or anything like that. Got it? Good, now let's go."
"Wait a minute, I never agreed to your requirements!"
"No, maybe not, but that's not the way life debts work, do they? Once I have saved your life, you have to do whatever I ask of you as repayment for this and since I'm instructing you to keep my secrets there is nothing you can do about it, as your own magic will make sure you stay true to the debt of your life."
"You are such a-"
"No name calling please, it is extremely rude and besides, I think it would be much better to start escaping than to sit around bantering all day, don't you? Yes, I thought so, now let's go."
With that, Naito flicked his wand and muttered a blasting hex under his breath only for the silver door to go blasting off its hinges and barreling into those Death Eaters that were standing closest to it.
That certainly gave the Order members some pause, but they were soon shaking their heads and rushing out into the corridor, Remus helping Tonks to keep her balance and walk.
Naito covered them as the Death Eaters that had not been blown away by the exploding door had regrouped and were shooting at them from different directions.
Jets of multicolored light flew through the air, mostly missing, but a very few managed to hit their targets, mostly the work of Naito, who had been properly trained unlike some of these new recruits that had been sent to guard the prisoners.
Most of the Death Eaters had been blocked in at the end of the hall, but a fair few of them were in the other direction firing at them to keep them from making it up the steps.
Naito was grateful that the door had bent in and landed sideways so that it offered a minimal amount of cover from the Death Eaters that were barricaded in. They had to shoot over the door, which had wedged itself between the walls somehow, in order to hit them, but in all the confusion they were having a hard time hitting their targets.
The other Death Eaters were not having as much trouble and had beams of light pouring out of their wands, which Naito was forced to conjure shields to protect the injured Order members as they advanced.
It was rare that he was able to shoot at the top of the stairwell at the enemy, but every time he did, he managed to knock down at least one or two of them so that by the time they reached the bottom of the staircase no more than two or three remained standing.
When they rushed down the stairs to breach Naito's shields physically, Naito abandoned magic for his martial arts techniques and easily overcame them.
When their way was free of Death Eater obstacles, Naito, Remus, and Tonks were able to safely make it to the top of the stairs—Remus leading Tonks up first so that Naito could shield them from the curses coming from the other Death Eaters whose aim was getting much better at striking the general vicinity of their targets.
One of the spells that missed however hit the stairs themselves causing them to collapse and the banister to crumble and fall with a clank onto the steps twisted and broken.
With the panic of the steps collapsing out from under them, Remus—who was helping Tonks up the last stair and up onto the level floor—never noticed Naito knocked over by the force of the blast and onto one of the twisted pieces of metal, which imbedded itself into his side.
Unimaginable pain blossomed up all over his body, most intense in the area he had been impaled at. Carefully and slowly, Naito pushed himself up on his hands, his face twisted into a constant grimace of pain as the handrail came out of his side.
Taking slow, deep breaths that hurt with every inhale and exhalation, Naito managed to sit up on the steps dizzily, as his eyes become unfocused and he could not concentrate on anything going on around him.
He knew he needed to get up, that the Death Eaters were still firing hexes at him and that sooner or later they would be able to see through the dust and debris of the wreckage and hit him, but no matter how much he willed his body to get up and keep moving, it just would not listen to him.
I'm going into shock, he told himself as he swayed on the steps where he was sitting. Not bothering to scramble and grope around for his wand, Naito merely summoned it to him and muttered a small healing spell that would hold him until he was able to get out of the fortress and heal himself properly.
Then Naito used a numbing and bandaging spell to cover the wound and enable him to get up and keep going. Taking slower, deep breaths, Naito managed to regain his bearings as the numbing spell worked its magic and took all the pain away from him and he was able to finally stand up.
By this time, Remus and Tonks had noticed that Naito was not with them and could only be in the rubble behind them. They had turned back to try and help him and were softly calling to him when they finally saw him standing up and heading towards them.
His face was completely drained of color and his breathing was irregular, Remus noticed these signs immediately and saw the great, big hole in Naito's clothes and the large amount of blood congealed on his robes that surrounded it.
"What happened," Remus gasped.
"Nothing, just a scratch," Naito lied, knowing their time was running out and they had to get out now before Voldemort himself came to find out what was going on.
"Come on, we need to keep moving," Naito urged when Remus tried to inquire further about his injury.
Knowing he would not get a straightforward answer out of the young spy, Remus went back to Tonks and helped to support her up the hallway.
They were nearing the main hall where the entrance doors were when a horde of dementors came out of a side passage, effectively blocking their path.
A searing cold spread over them as voices in their heads began to form and grow overlapping with each other creating a cacophony of sound in the silence that was much scarier than any fairytale monster.
"Noooo!" Naito cried as he fell to the ground on hands and knees reliving painful tortures and depressing episodes of his life. He was so consumed by the trap of the nightmare in his mind that he failed to notice Remus leave Tonks and rush up beside him, grabbing his wand and causing a silvery Patronus to jump out of Naito's wand towards the dementors, pushing them back to where they had come from.
Once all of them had backed off and the chill in the air had disappated, Remus lowered himself down beside Naito noticing his hitched breathing and slight convulsions that wracked his small frame and managing to get a whiff of some familiar scent over the sweat, blood, and pain smell that surrounded the boy.
He furrowed his brow and tried to concentrate on the smell and where he had last noticed it, but the memory eluded him. By that time Naito had regained his composure and was whispering a shaking "thank you" as he took back his wand.
Both Order members were looking at him with anxiety and concern on their faces, but Naito sneered at them—he did not need anyone's pity and certainly not theirs. He had faced and fought with the horrors in his life the first time, there was no reason he should not be able to do it again, especially not if it was just a mere memory.
Biting out a sarcastic comment about how they should stop wasting time and keep moving, Naito rushed forward, carefully checking the spells on the door to make sure they would not be blasted as they went through and noticed that they were exactly the same as the ward spells.
Glad that he did not have to do anything dramatic to get out of the fortress (besides breaking out Order members and knocking down dungeon doors); Naito pushed the doors open and held them for Remus and Tonks to get through.
Forfeiting subtlety and going for an all out kind of exit now, Remus and Tonks ran out into the middle of the field toward the wall. Forgetting how idiotic and reckless Gryffindor's were, Naito did not think of shouting a warning to them about the booby traps that were most likely littering the field.
The two never knew until they ran right into the center of one of those traps...
"No! Wait a minute!" Naito shouted trying to get their attention, but he was unsuccessful as the ground around them shook and they became unsteady on their feet, swaying like leaves in the wind on their wobbly legs.
Running at the two as fast as he could, Naito managed to get there just as gigantic spears began popping out of the ground under their feet.
Tonks screamed and Remus' breath caught in his chest, both their eyes widening in surprise as they leaned against each other in shock, not able to move for fear of stepping in the path of one of the spears and being impaled by them.
Knowing of no other way to help them, Naito tackled them both out of the circle of shaking ground right as two pointed ends poked up out from beneath where the two had been standing only to sprout into full grown stalks as the duo was thrown violently to the side by Naito.
The Slytherin boy hissed in pain as they all stood up once again, having been slashed across the arm and chest by the shooting spikes.
Tonks gasped as she saw the blood covering him when he checked the damage.
"Don't worry," he said, covering his wounds back up carefully, "It's not that bad; it doesn't go very deep, but for goodness sake, will you follow me and stop acting like naive little first years! You have no idea what could be out there, you don't just rush out into it and hope it turns out alright--that just gets people killed."
They both flinched as if Naito had slapped them both in the face and Naito could only guess what that was about. Maybe they felt sorry for hurting him and were regretting their hasty actions, or maybe they had done something like that before and it had gotten someone killed...(or knew someone else who had done that.)
Dismissing it, Naito told them to follow behind him closely and to be careful before he cast a detecting spell to show him where strong enchantments were hidden so he could steer them around the traps.
After that, Naito was able to help them make their way safely through the encampment except for a few scuffles with Death Eaters that were patrolling the perimeter, where Remus managed to artfully snatch a wand away from its owner and turn it against them, gaining the Order members better odds.
"Good job on that, Remus," Naito said as they reached the surrounding wall, "we might actually be able to make it out of here now."
"You mean, you didn't think we would before?"
"Well, that's the thing with rescue attempts, sometimes they work and other times they don't, I'm not a seer and have no idea what the future holds. Besides, we're still not out of the woods yet and Voldemort could come at any time."
When the two of them blanched at the mention of Voldemort coming, Naito was quick to reassure them so they would not panic—who knows what a Gryffindor would do if they were panicking?
"Don't worry too much! I still have a couple of tricks up my sleeves, but don't get too confident either; just the right balance of fear and confidence will do fine though."
Both adults raised their eyebrows at his attempt of a joke, but Naito paid it no heed; he had been right when he said Voldemort could be coming after them that very minute and now he began to wonder why the Dark Lord had not already come in person to reclaim his prisoners.
He's watching us...Naito's mind supplied and, for once, he did not tell it to shut up.
How? Why? Where is he? He asked instead.
I don't know the 'how' or the 'where' but the 'why' is obvious...he's trying to figure out the strengths and weaknesses of his opponent—maybe even trying to figure out the 'who' of it as well.
He keeps setting traps in your path so he knows how he can take you down when he comes himself. Voldemort doesn't take any unnecessary risks on himself...he saves that for the Death Eaters and you may have noticed he's used up a lot of those recently.
If you manage to get out of this alive and he ever sees you again, he'll know just what to use against you: Gryffindor nobility complex—taking someone you care about and using them against you, Slytherin cunning and self preservation—blackmailing you into doing what he wants, Hufflepuff loyalty—underhanded tactics to get close to you then betray you, or even Ravenclaw intelligence—"
How can intelligence be used against someone? Naito asked himself.
Easily, people who are highly intelligent will more than likely overcomplicate matters thinking them to be more complex than they are, all he has to do is find something simple to stump them with...
Oh...
He'll even be watching to see if you are pureblood or Muggleborn to know whether he should use Muggle methods on you so you won't know what's going on or more wizarding ones to baffle you with the overwhelming aspect of magic
Well, he did train me himself, so I could more than likely handle anything he threw at me, but he knows all of Naito's weaknesses, if he sees the same ones in me, not only will he know who I am, but the best way to beat me as well...
You see my point; he's watching you somewhere somehow, assessing your abilities and skills so I would expect to see those dementors again sometime soon...
Oh crap!
With that, Naito's eyes widened and his countenance flushed slightly before turning an almost translucent pale, causing him to pick up his pace a little unconsciously so that Tonks protested with a sharp "Hey!"
But he did not slow down; he hurried the two up into the air as he cast levitation charms on them to get them up the wall before he levitated his own self up, wondering why he had not just done that in the first place when he first got there.
Naito had just started levitating Tonks down to the ground (Remus wouldn't without his own wand, because you never knew what a borrowed, temperamental wand would do in cases like this) when, just like his inner voice had predicted, a feeling of cold began to wash over him and he began to sink into his own mind, becoming lost in his deepest fears and sorrows as dementors closed in on him and Remus from both sides.
Tonks screamed from where she hovered halfway between the top of the wall and the ground, not able to grab onto anything and just having to rely on Naito's ability to hold it together and get her to safety. While Naito struggled to control his magic and block out the effects of the dementors, Remus hastily conjured a Patronus to cover the dementors on Naito's side, keeping himself exposed so that Naito could get Tonks to the ground.
Sweat beaded on Naito's forehead as he tried to stay focused and concentrate on what he was doing, which was immensely difficult because Remus was having trouble keeping the Patronus going with dementors closing in on him.
Therefore, it was a relief to them both when Naito finally levitated Tonks all the way down to the ground. After that, both males looked at each other, trying to figure out who should go down next.
It did not really matter Naito thought, while Remus could cast a Patronus to help with the effects of the dementors, he would not be able to keep it up for much longer and Naito had to get them out of there. They were the Order members he was sent to save; he had to let Remus down first so Remus could take Tonks and run—despite what might happen to him as they fled.
Thus, Naito picked Remus up with his spell amid much protest to the contrary and dropped him as fast as he could stopping him to hover right above the ground so that he landed with a small poof on his backside before he shouted at Naito to hurry up and come down.
Don't they get it? All these dementors are the signal that Voldemort's coming, why can't they figure that out?
Maybe because they don't have annoying voices in their heads like me to tell them things? Apparently, you are the only one with a voice in their head to instruct and give insight to them—only you have the wonderful privilege to enjoy the pleasure of my company!
Oh joy.
Before the Gryffindors could do something as stupid as try to come back after him and save him, Naito shouted at them that Voldemort was coming and that they should run and get away while they had the chance, as the evil, soul-sucking beast converged on him.
Naito could not see if the Order members listened to him as the dementors surrounded him, cutting off his escape routes as they gathered tighter and tighter in a circle around him, one of them going so far as to pick him up and lower its hood before a commanding voice called out for them to stop.
Naito's blood froze in his chest as a presence more chilling than the dementors stepped up to him when the soul-suckers parted a way through the crowd for him.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? A rescue attempt? Dumbledore must have sent you, no one else would be as foolhardy as to send someone to break into my fortress, which brings us to another interesting question...who are you that you knew where my secret headquarters was located?
"Are you one of my Death Eaters spying for Dumbledore, some kind of Magical Creature with an innate sense of direction, or something else entirely?"
Naito snorted contemptuously before stating, "I'm a mercenary, a rogue working for himself to make a profit off of both sides, I work for no one other than myself and will bow down to no man. I help those that can pay me best...as for your question of how I came to know your secret location, I have many allies and have lots of information stored away on both sides of the war..."
"Is that so?" Voldemort asked, looking him straight in the eye and encountering only a solid block in Naito's mind.
"What is your name, rogue?"
"The Shadow Phoenix is what you may call me."
"Well, Shadow Phoenix, I can assure you that whatever Dumbledore is paying you to retrieve those prisoners I can double or even triple the price if you will give me all the information you have on the old coot as well as returning his warriors to me."
Voldemort was stunned into silence as Naito began laughing a rich, cold laugh that reverberated through his chest, but without meeting his eyes.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not always paid in money and what Dumbledore has to offer me is more than you ever could...therefore, I do believe I will be going now..."
Voldemort glared at him with those pitiless red eyes as they came to understand that the defiance in the cold silver eyes behind the mask were never going to hold anything other than contempt for him and signaled for the dementors to take the Shadow Phoenix for themselves.
Thankful to Voldemort for teaching him an advanced method of Apparating that was a complete branch of its own, Naito silently vanished in the swirl of a cloak only to reappear at the bottom of the wall, where he found both Remus and Tonks hunkering down in the shadows discussing how they could best go about rescuing him from the dementors.
Naito sneered in disgust and grunted an annoyed "Gryffindors" under his breath, which Remus was able to perceive the sound of with his hypersensitive hearing. Tonks looked up when he did and they both noticed Naito standing there glaring at them furiously, which he knew was unreasonable as they would not have been able to run out of the wards without him anyway, but he was too annoyed to care.
Why did he not think of that before he got tangled up with the dementors in the first place, Gryffindors were SO annoying!
"Alright, come on, stop gawking! Voldemort's right above us and so are about a hundred dementors, now if you don't mind; I'd like to FINALLY get us out of here!" Naito shouted in the loudest whisper he could.
His anger seemed to arouse them from the stupor they had fallen into upon the sight of him and they both jumped to their feet; Tonks managed it with a little help from Remus while an adrenaline rush supplied the rest, and they all raced towards the edge of the wards.
Upon reaching it, Naito grabbed both of their arms forcefully and pulled them through with him, finally telling them to Apparate to the Hogsmeade entrance to Hogwarts before disappearing again to meet up with them at the specified location.
It took several minutes for the duo to show up and by that time, Naito had gotten rid of his disguise and hidden it and had paced up and down the road, blowing off enough steam that he had somewhat calmed down by the time the two arrived.
"Ready," Naito asked when they came up to him, "good, let's go."
Then he turned abruptly on his heel and led the way up to Dumbledore's office where Madame Pomphrey, Snape, Kingsley, Moody, and Dumbledore were waiting on them.
They all took seats that Dumbledore conjured for them around the desk and waited as instructed for Madame Pomphrey to finish her diagnosis of her two patients and her treatment of them before they could properly start the meeting.
Or interrogation, depending on how you look at it, Naito thought unpleasantly.
When the healer had done all she could to make Remus and Tonks more comfortable for the meeting, though she grumbled at the fact that she could not immediately take them both up to the hospital wing for better treatment as she returned to her territory, Dumbledore initiated the conference.
"I see you managed to succeed in your task, Naito, good job."
"Thank you, Headmaster," Naito replied, mindful to keep his Occlumency blocks up and his answers vague and short.
There was a momentary pause as everyone waited for Naito to begin his tale of the adventure, but they soon figured out that he had no more intention of speaking unless prompted and was asked another question.
"How did the rescue mission go?"
"It went fine as you can see; we all made it out alive."
And that was it; the Order members were at a loss, did this kid not know how things were done? Why was he not going into elaborate detail of how he had single-handedly saved two of Dumbledore most influential and prominent fighters?
He should be arrogantly telling his story, indulging in adolescent pride by telling them all the best parts and perhaps lapsing enough to share some secrets with them, but apparently, Naito was playing the game by his own rules and deciding to keep his own counsel.
No matter, they would simply ask Remus and Tonks for those details later.
"Well, what happened?" demanded Moody getting impatient.
Naito cast an annoyed look in his direction, huffing at him as he had been miffed before coming to this "get-together" and staying was only testing his patience even more.
Catching a glance of his Head of House as he turned back around, Naito saw a pronounced look of pride on Snape's face as he thoroughly irritated the most prestigious members of the Order of the Phoenix enough that they lost their composure.
Feeling bolstered, Naito stated simply, "It's none of your business, Headmaster. All you need to know is that, I managed to rescue your precious Order members at great personal risk to myself."
The last he shot at Moody to remind him just who had been out there risking himself to save Remus and Tonks.
Becoming irate, Dumbledore turned to those that had witness what happened and said, "Will you two tell us what happened in the fortress."
"No, sir, I'm afraid they won't," answered Naito for them before they could even open their mouths.
Everyone turned back to him, "Why not?"
"Because they've made an oath with me so that they cannot tell you anything."
"What kind of an oath!"
"What are you hiding from us, kid!"
"What did you do to them!"
Questions like these bombarded Naito while he waited patiently and stoically in his chair not looking at anyone in particular, but simply staring straight ahead until Dumbledore was finally able to regain control of the situation and bring order back to the Order.
When all was once again silent and still, Dumbledore turned back to Naito and asked him in a condescending tone he reserved for badly behaved students to get them to obey him, "What are you hiding from us, Naito?"
"I'm sorry, sir, but there are just some things I cannot tell you, for your own safety as well as mine. After all, you can't tell what you don't know. If Voldemort ever got his hands on any one of you and found out my true allegiances, I would be killed quicker than you could say the words of the Killing Curse.
"Of course, that would all be after a hefty dose of torture so he could find out what kinds of secrets I really know about the Order. Therefore, it is in your best interests to keep your own counsel and allow me to keep mine."
With that ultimatum spoken, Naito stood up, only to sink back down to the floor groaning in pain and gasping for breath.
Apparently, while he had been sitting calmly, "discussing" things with the Headmaster, his numbing spell had worn off and all the pain from the injury on the stairs came crashing down onto him all at once when he had tried to move.
The pain was so intense, so all-consuming that at first he did not even notice everyone around him scrambling out of their seats to get a better look at what was wrong with him.
When the initial agony had dulled to a pulsating throb instead of searing, stabbing pain, Naito was able to concentrate on what those around him were saying.
Dumbledore and Snape were crouching down beside him with Remus and Tonks standing just behind them watching on in concern. Moody and Kingsley were conversing in low tones just in the background; Moody keeping his magical eye fixed on Naito's shaking form while Kingsley kept glancing in his direction.
"What's wrong, Naito?" Dumbledore asked.
Although, all Naito could really hear were bits and pieces of what the Headmaster was saying, he was able to piece it all together by watching his lip movements. It was almost as if his hearing was fading in and out...Funny, his vision was doing the same thing...
"I got caught by a spell that hit the stairs. One of the banisters fell, twisted, broke—I landed on it, just a little anyway, nothing to worry about."
Remus and Tonks gasped as they heard this, "You should have told us you were injured, we might have been able to do something for you."
"It's fine, I just put a numbing spell and a bandage on it and was able to keep going, besides the biggest priority was trying to get you two out of there safely."
"You're important too, Naito," said Dumbledore quietly.
Naito said nothing in reply, only shifting uncomfortably under all the attention, which angered his wounds causing him to hiss in pain and his head and wound to throb in agony. His vision finally tunneled in and he slipped into darkness; the last thing he heard was, "Let's get him to Madame Pomphrey."
"He's not going to be very happy about this when he wakes up."
(To Be Continued…)
A/N- Wow, this chapter just kept going! It just wouldn't stop (after I got over my writer's block for the beginning of this and ending of chapter 13 that is)!
Coming Up: The battle of titans erupts into chaos as Voldemort and Dumbledore go head to head in Chapter 15: Steal, Kill, and Destroy.
Review Responses:
Crimson Reality: I'm glad, I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much or better!
Joanna Potter: So, how did you like all the action? Was it enough or what? (winks)
Willow Evenstar: I'm glad you like the Quidditch match and as for Naito being Gryffindor at heart, despite his grumblings of his rival house, I think he definitely continues to exemplify the model Gryffindor by his willingness to put other people's lives above his own as you will no doubt notice. (lol) I'm glad you like the jaguar, that took me forever to figure out how to write.
Thee-Unknown-Factor: I'm glad you liked it! I hope you continue to enjoy the story!
MagicmanSmokegirl: Yeah, well, I happen to be a BIG fan of angst if you haven't noticed...(cough-TBCS-cough)...I must say, I like the fourth one the best. I think the ending to HBP was cool, but that was about it...thanks for the tips...(winks)
scardi: Nope, Naito's going to be the first one to know...besides Voldemort and Ganmou that is...but everyone else, like Dumbledore just has suspicions, they won't find out anything concrete until after Naito does...you only have two more chapters to wait though...I will tell you that.
hprox4ever: I'm glad you like it so much, how did this chapter go over for you?
Hazel-Beka: No, I've just been reading too much of the Silver Mask...its on my Fav Stories list...I'm sorry, I just can't help it...just when you think it might be a regular AU story, I go and turn it into a...weirder? AU story? I don't know...oh well, life goes on I guess, but can you really see HARRY just sitting around doing nothing when he actually thinks he can fight? Now combine our Harry w/someone that's a spy and doesn't want to be found out...what do you get? The Shadow Phoenix of course! Ah, the Order attacking him by mistake...I've set it up so they will have every reason to believe he is on their side...sorta...this chapter and next show that. Hurumph! I don't even like HBP its like one of my friends said, a great big fanfiction...or seems to be anyway. Don't worry about me including any of it.
Nicky: I like the pairings, but not the way they all came together like they did. (lol) you are so funny! Well, school starts again today (sigh).
Basilisk from Poland: I'm glad you like it so much! I hope you enjoyed this last chapter!
Jin: You did an excellent job on fixing all my weird, stupid mistakes for this chap! Thanks a bunch! See ya at school!
LadayoftheWood: (snort) You're so weird and funny, I can't help but like hanging out w/you!
I'd like to thank Jin Cheng for beta reading for me! You do an awesome job Jin Cheng! I love you Jin Cheng!