Title: Harry Potter and the Orb of Souls
Author: SerafinaMoon
Date: Aug 2-Sep 4, 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 taking so long to get this up, guys! I won't waste your time telling you why yet. You've waited long enough, now here's the chapter!
Chapter 15: Steal, Kill, and Destroy
Dumbledore and the other Order members that knew about Naito harboring a secret always seemed to end up in the same places as the Slytherin. It was uncanny whenever Naito would walk into an ordinary classroom and one of them would already be there.
It was extremely suspicious, however, when Naito would be walking down a hallway and hear footsteps staying just behind him, almost as if someone invisible were lurking just a few feet away, trying to discover the mystery to the enigma that Naito had presented them with.
He had been extremely annoyed when one of the times he heard the footsteps following him from a corridor away. Whenever he would stop, so would the footsteps, whenever he would back up, so would the footsteps, whenever he would turn to look and see if anyone had caught up with him, there would be nobody there.
Finally, Naito had gotten so fed up with all of the ridiculous attitudes of everyone that he had stopped at a corner to one of the corridors and cast a spell that made it sound as if his footsteps were continuing on without him.
Therefore, when Kingsley Shacklebolt had stepped around the corner to follow Naito, he found the boy propped up against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, his face set in a superior look of "I-knew-it!-Now-what-do-you-have-to-say-for-yourself?"
Abashed at being so easily caught, the Order members had stopped following him around all the time and instead were always staring at him from the corners of their eyes, but Naito was pretty sure that Dumbledore had asked the paintings in the castle to keep an eye on him as well.
When Naito went to ask Snape what he had to say about the whole matter (as he was one of the only people that had been in that room that didn't stare at him with contempt, piercing gazes wherever he went) the Potion's Master simply replied, "I told them you would not be so foolish as to leave obvious clues for them to follow like an idiotic Gryffindor. Besides, I know how valuable secrets can be."
Now it was the middle of the Christmas break, between Christmas and the new year when all the students would be returning and Naito was sitting peacefully in his common room with his new favorite pastime—Exploding Snap cards.
It was during his trying to build a tower out of the cards that it happened.
Just like in the Headmaster's Office when school had first started, a pain erupted in Naito's forehead consuming him and causing all the playing cards to topple and explode all around him.
With the pain as an anchor, Naito was able to follow the link that he had discovered he shared with Voldemort's mind and searched for what was causing his intense suffering.
Emotions like glee, satisfaction, greed, and hate washed over Naito in a wave as he accessed the link and was able to view what was happening as Voldemort saw it.
The Dark Lord was having a bit of fun by making sport out of a Muggle village.
Death Eaters were tossing Muggles up into the air only to watch them fall back down to the ground screaming like banshees to catch them and throw them up once more. Naito was especially sorry for the victims of those that were not good at catching.
Horrified, Naito watched as Voldemort and his Death Eaters committed atrocities that were simply unthinkable; now he was certainly glad that Voldemort had only trained him to be a spy so he would not have to worry about all out attacks and be forced to torture innocent men, women, and children like that.
It was with great excitement that Naito saw the Ministry Aurors arrive and begin battling with the Death Eaters and with great shame and desperation that he was forced to watch them fall back quickly calling for reinforcements.
Luckily, Naito thought, Order members began arriving with the backup and they were finally able to gain a semblance of an advantage, but not enough when Voldemort himself joined the fray.
Desperate times calls for desperate measures, Naito thought, retreating from the vision and rushing up to his dorm to retrieve his Shadow Phoenix costume. Donning it quickly, Naito morphed into his black and silver phoenix form there in the secrecy of his bed behind the curtains and flash apparated to where he knew the Order and Death Eaters were battling.
Knowing that the whole affair would be bloody, Naito decided that the necessities needed to be taken care of first.
First things first, save the innocent...
It was easier said than done apparently.
Muggles were everywhere, running and screaming, crying and hiding. This would be a difficult task in the best of circumstances; unfortunately, the situation did not even remotely resemble good conditions and Naito was running out of time, the Order members and Ministry Aurors needed help quickly.
Shielding one of the buildings and mass summoning the pedestrians to himself seemed to be the best option at that present time and with nothing left to lose, Naito went for it, making sure to summon the Muggles that were in the most danger first.
Becoming desperate that his method was taking too much time, as it had been a few minutes already and the Light supporters were losing ground secondly, Naito was relieved when all the Muggles had been removed from the general vicinity...or that was how it appeared at first.
Apparently, hidden behind one of the buildings was a Muggle man and his wife and child. A group of three Death Eaters were having fun with the man's daughter and wife until the man pulled out a gun.
Not knowing anything about Muggle weapons, they taunted him, laughing in his face until the first gunshot was fired and the Death Eater that had been abusing the man's daughter fell to the ground, unmistakably dead.
They stopped laughing then and scattered in opposite directions, but the Muggle was so enraged with what the Death Eaters had done to his family that he continued shooting at all the black robed, white masked wizards in the area...including Naito dressed as the Shadow Phoenix.
A shot grazed Naito's arm as he saw the man take aim and fire at him, forcing him to duck out of the way, only narrowly missing the bullet. Knowing that he needed to get rid of the weapon, Naito summoned it and the family to himself, locking them up in the safe house with the others while muttering a Reducto curse at the gun, destroying it.
Relieved that all the Muggles were out of harms way, the Shadow Phoenix jumped into the fray of Order members, Ministry workers, and Death Eaters, reducing the opposition down to dwindling numbers so that the Order and the Ministry could take care of the rest.
Naito was just finishing tying up a Death Eater when a prickling feeling in the back of his mind told Naito that something was missing, there was something that he still had to do...if he could only remember what.
Wait a minute! Where's Voldemort? I was looking through his eyes when this first started, but now he's gone! Naito thought desperately.
Concentrating on the link he shared with Voldemort, Naito followed the connection to the local Muggle library, never even noticing the reinforcements that came for the Death Eaters, once again pushing the Light side back without the Shadow Phoenix there to help them.
Naito quietly entered the fountain flowing with knowledge commonly known as a library, took one look around, and immediately knew why Voldemort had decided that this Muggle place could even remotely be worth his time.
The place was more of a cathedral than an inn for books with its archaic mosaics painted onto the walls and ceiling, reaching up even to the second floor, which could be reached by a spiraling staircase that surrounded the topmost layer of shelves and swept gracefully down to the lower levels between the bookcases.
The bookcases themselves were intricately carved rosewood and blended in beautifully with the décor. Naito had to say he was impressed despite himself; it was an amazing place for Muggles to have made it—not that he was discriminating against Muggles of course, after all, they might not be able to levitate objects or fly on brooms, but they seemed to have a magic to invent things all their own.
Naito was interrupted from his musings when a cold, familiar, high-pitched voice echoed in the stillness of the acoustic designed room.
Edging closer to the sound, Naito spotted the Dark Lord, calmly gazing around at the books that surrounded him completely and muttering charms under his breath for finding specific books.
Apparently, after the Death Eaters messed up the last search through a Muggle library for the book on the Orb of Souls, Voldemort had taken it upon himself to lead a raid to ensure that his minions did not fail him again.
Therefore, he had left the Death Eaters to provide a distraction and have fun torturing Muggles at will while he took his time peering through the rows upon rows of bookcases to find the one book he was most interested in.
Naito was about to reveal himself as the Shadow Phoenix to Voldemort until a commotion outside forced both Naito and the Dark Lord to look up from what they were doing and glance out one of the stained glass windows to see Death Eaters fleeing in every direction as Headmaster Dumbledore stood looking straight at the library where the Shadow Phoenix and Voldemort were shielded, an army of Phoenix members and Aurors from the Ministry behind him.
Giving up his search as fruitless, the Dark Lord turned on his heel and stalked out from behind his bookcase and towards the door muttering about "old-coots that would finally meet their match" as he swept past Naito's hiding spot.
Intrigued despite himself, Naito transformed; his steely grey eyes morphing into icy, metallic silver and his lean, lithe human form altering into that of a jet black jaguar as he landed on velveteen padded paws with sharp, scythe-like claws sinking into the cushioning of the carpet as he slinked through the shadows after the murdering madman.
Emerging from the library, smoke, blood, and all manner of smells assaulted Naito's jaguar senses causing him to snort and flare his nose in an attempt to empty it of the potent smells that seemed to encase him.
Looking around, Naito noticed that most of the Death Eaters had either fled or already been rounded up. Only those that underestimated Dumbledore's power or war veterans with personal vendettas against the Headmaster remained to fight the Light-side warriors and its leader.
Silence settled over everything as Voldemort stepped out of the shadows and faced the wizened, light wizard. The only sounds that could be heard came from the small cracks of burning buildings and the faint rustling of the wind through leafless trees.
"So, we meet again, Dumbledore. I have long been waiting for the moment when your death was imminent. It has been my only hope these past few years that I be the one to deliver the final blow that will ultimately shake the Wizarding World to its core once again as I did with the death of Harry Potter. With him gone and you out of the way, all of Wizarding Britain and soon the rest of the world will be mine, it is irrevocable."
"You overestimate yourself, Tom...and underestimate the resistance that wells up against you."
Voldemort's bone-chilling laugh echoed in the stillness, shooting chills up the spines of all who heard it.
"Oh, you think so do you? What do you think the wizarding community has been doing all this time since that incompetent Fudge finally announced that I had returned? They have been scrambling around like headless chickens, hiding behind the protection of Hogwarts and you...of course there was a time that Harry Potter was in that category as well."
Voldemort's eyes shone with satisfaction as Dumbledore visibly jerked at the Boy-Who-Lived's name as if he had been struck in the face.
"What's wrong, Dumbledore? Do you miss your pet Savior? Do you wish your pocket pawn were still here with us today to take me down and reign victory upon everyone?"
"Don't you dare speak of Harry as if he were something merely to be used by others!"
"But isn't it true? Weren't you training him all those years at Hogwarts to become my murderer? All those adventures and escapades you let him parade off to every year with no more backup than mere schoolchildren to aid him?"
"That is not true," Dumbledore hissed, his aquamarine eyes slits of glowing ice as they hardened behind his half-moon spectacles and exuded a power that gave the Mugwump his label of most powerful wizard of the age.
"Harry was a wizard better than any ever seen before and could never be a plaything of anyone, especially me."
"Oh, come now, Dumbledore," Voldemort replied, his tone condescending, "We all know how you treated him the year before he died. If you cared for him so much, why would you leave your flickering candle alone in the dark when you knew perfectly well what the ravaging shadows around him had planned for his demise?"
"I had made many mistakes with Harry I admit-"
Dumbledore's tirade was cut off as the Dark Lord's laugh once again resonated in the wake of the battle.
"You have done no such thing...you molded the Boy-Who-Once-Lived into the perfect puppet for you, but there's just one thing you forgot to add to the final picture, tighter strings with which to better control your dancing doll."
"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Dumbledore shouted to the surprise of many, this unusual show of emotion from the usually twinkling eyed Headmaster showed everyone just how deeply the death of Dumbledore's protégé affected him.
With that last exclamation, the greatest wizard of the age decided to put an end to all the incessant talking by leveling a well aimed spell at the Dark Lord and thus the fight began.
Spells shot back and forth between the two powerful wizards dazzling the spectators with the speed, accuracy, and variation of the spells shot between them both.
"Come, Dumbledore, you know you are no match for me!" Voldemort shouted as he threw a powerful Killing Curse in Dumbledore's direction.
Summoning a piece of rubble to block the curse, Dumbledore shouted back, "You never did take the time to learn the essential things of life, Tom, and that is why I am more than a match for you!"
"Don't you go preaching about love to me, old man. You think that your precious love could solve everything and look where it's gotten you—a grave and tombstone labeled 'Harry Potter—the Boy-Who-No-Longer-Lives!"
With a cry of rage, Dumbledore shot a blue colored spell at Voldemort, which froze his arm immediately upon contact, drawing a cry of pain from the Dark wizard.
Voldemort performed a heating spell on his arm, but the damage was already done; his arm had gone numb and no longer wanted to respond to his commands, hanging limply at his side.
Voldemort's blood red eyes burned with an intense fire, seeming to light up his entire face with their malicious intent. With a vengeful growl, the Dark Lord conjured an enormous snake, ordering it to kill Dumbledore in Parseltongue, before casting a series of rapidly striking bludgeoning spells.
Unable to dodge or shield from all of the spells and the snake, Dumbledore tried to protect himself from all at once. He only managed to stop a few of the bludgeoning spells from reaching him before the snake bit him, causing him to lose focus on his shields allowing the rest of the spells to pass through his defenses and hit him.
The crowd gasped as one as the great and powerful Dumbledore crashed to the ground, his wand flung away from him as he lay sprawled, helpless in front of Voldemort.
Voldemort's high, cold laugh resounded once more as the battle of titans drew to a close with him the victor.
The Dark Lord stood over Dumbledore, his wand pointed at the old wizard's chest, ruby eyes gazing into the Headmaster's clear sapphire.
"Say goodbye, Dumbledore..." Voldemort hissed as he incanted the Killing Curse.
Dumbledore closed his eyes in defeat, his face calm and peaceful once again as he had always been, and a few people saw him mouthing the words, "I'm coming, Harry, and I'm sorry."
Just as the green light of the Unforgivable was leaving the Dark Lord's wand, a shadowy blur rushed forward, ripping the wand out of the snake-like wizard's hand, redirecting the curse in another direction so that it completely missed its target and hitting the ground, blasting the cement apart.
"What the...?" cried the Dark Lord in surprise.
Everyone turned to look at the sleek, lean creature that stood between the Dark Lord and his prey, Voldemort's wand between its fangs—Naito's jaguar form.
Muscles, lithe and strong, coiled and ready to spring, rippled under the lustrous coat, which had a midnight, black-violet hue in the moonlight. Razor sharp fangs and claws glistened in the darkness, made aware to all around by the flexing motions the jaguar made, assuring everyone that this was a dangerous creature that should not be messed with.
What really caught the attention of everyone around were the brilliant, emerald eyes that glowed with a vivid, intense inner light—a fire that burned bright and strong.
It growled in warning as Voldemort tried to approach it to regain his lost wand. It was a growl that clearly said, "You take one more step and you're dead."
It gave the Dark Lord pause as he stopped to consider his options.
Before he had a chance to even utter a command to one of his Death Eaters, the jaguar had been replaced with a handsome, nondescript man around twenty years old with short, wavy, brown hair and icy, silver eyes that could look through a person and see into their heart. His face was covered in a mask and his battle robes were dark and polished.
It was...
"The Shadow Phoenix; what a surprise to see you once again," Voldemort hissed, his voice not belying how he really felt about the intruder.
"You just can't stop barging in where you're not wanted can you? No matter, you will soon learn some manners...Crucio!"
Naito jumped out of the way of the Unforgivable, picking up and depositing the Headmaster to safety a few meters away near some Order members so that no harm came to anyone.
The Order members quickly created a portkey and whisked the Transfiguration master away to Hogwarts to be healed as the Shadow Phoenix carried on the duel with Voldemort in his place.
"Why you-!" Voldemort roared as Dumbledore disappeared in a whirlwind of sound and color.
The Dark Lord spun around to face his nemesis as the last of Dumbledore's star covered robed disappeared into the darkness.
"This is the last time you will interfere with my plans! Crucio!"
Naito dodged, but was unable to get out of the way in time as Voldemort's anger and fierce hatred for the Shadow Phoenix was unleashed upon him.
Naito tensed and bit his lip in preparation as he felt the beginnings of the spell take hold of him. He struggled not to scream as the full blast impacted on him, but a agony-filled wail escaped from his writhing, convulsing form nonetheless.
The spell was held on Naito so long he knew the Dark Lord meant for him to be driven insane by the curse.
Minutes seemed to drag by and mutated into what seemed like hours—whole days seemed to pass before the agony became so great that Naito wished anything, even death, would stop this all consuming, insurmountable pain that encompassed his entire being in wreathes of flame.
Just as Naito felt the edges of his mind begin to bend, starting to break and tear, the curse suddenly stopped.
With no energy left to sustain him, Naito collapsed, barely catching a glimpse of two lingering Order members amongst the Aurors.
Apparently, Tonks and Remus had recognized him, and in seeing what he had done for the Headmaster had decided to help him by leveling a spell at the Dark Lord to distract him from his prey and tear his focus away from the Cruciatus Curse he was administering.
The pair gazed at Naito with intense expressions before they both nodded to him and Disapprated away to help Dumbledore.
Two more for the cause, thought Naito satirically as he found the strength inside of him to get back on his feet and continue the fight.
Seeing that those who ambushed him had fled, Voldemort turned back to his quarry, ready to finish the Shadow Phoenix off.
Crimson red eyes of blood turned to liquid fire as they analyzed the damage already done to disable the Shadow Phoenix; thinking him to be sufficiently injured, Voldemort laid out an outline in his mind of how exactly he wanted to dispatch this particular nuisance.
Meanwhile, Naito was gathering what remaining energy he had left to ready himself for the remainder of the fight, which was why he was particularly grateful for the brief reprieve from torture.
"I have always planned to torture you to death since I first met you, but instead of getting it over with rather quickly, I believe I'll draw it out while you have no strength left and nowhere left to run."
Indeed, as soon as Tonks and Remus got away by Disapparating, the Death Eaters watching the fight had thrown up anti-Apparation jinxes.
Hm, thought Naito, this is going to take some creative thinking on my part to get out of this mess—same as always I guess!
Better do it quickly, the voice in the back of Naito's mind commanded silently, hurriedly.
Naito mentally nodded as his silver gaze focused on the Dark Lord's wand arm as it came up, the snake-like mouth parting to utter what could only be a painful curse.
Before the madman could get any further, Naito brought his own wand to bear, raising it above his head in one smooth, swift motion that exemplified the speed and agility he possessed. A bright light erupted from the tip of Naito's wand, blinding everyone in the vicinity momentarily, giving the young Slytherin time to prepare for a counterattack.
Muttering two quick incantations under his breath, Naito's form was safely tucked away under an invisibility spell while an illusion of the Shadow Phoenix replaced him a safe distance away.
Voldemort roared his anger to the sky as he muttered a spell to return his vision to normal and found his victim running for the edge of the anti-Apparation boundaries.
The evil wizard bellowed a freezing spell at the illusion to prevent it from going any further, but the spell seemed to miss. Voldemort shot twice more at the decoy before waving his wand in the air so that silver sparks rained down all around.
The mirage disappeared and the real Shadow Phoenix was revealed to be heading in the opposite direction.
Immediately Death Eaters began firing at Naito forcing him to duck and dodge, shielding himself with magic and rubble to prevent from being struck down by an Unforgivable.
Unable to avoid the mass of spells that was inundating his milieu, Naito transformed back into his black panther form and began attacking the nearest Death Eaters in earnest.
While a few of Voldemort's henchmen spared no qualms of hitting their own men, most of them did and tried to get close enough to Naito to curse him from point-blank range.
Knowing that he needed to get out of there quickly, Naito bit and clawed his way through the throng of minions back to the shadows.
The young Slytherin spy chuckled to himself at the irony of the situation. There were so many Death Eaters gathered in one place trying to get through each other to have a chance to curse him that they were attacking each other and had not even noticed he was no longer in the crowd.
As quickly as he could, Naito made his way past the anti-Apparation wards and Disapparated away to the Forbidden Forest.
Sure that everyone would be in the Hospital Wing with the Headmaster, Naito arrogantly assumed that his way back to his dormitory was clear and that he could finally take a nap and recover from the Cruciatus Curse...
He found out just how wrong he was when he opened the Great Hall doors and walked straight into his Head of House.
The man grabbed him by the cuff of his cloak and dragged him down to his office in the dungeons.
"Where have you been," the irate Potions Professor growled as soon as they were behind closed doors and silencing spells.
"I was just out taking a walk," Naito snapped back miffed.
"Oh, and did you just happen to have the Cruciatus Curse put on you while you were walking along?" Snape spat saracastically.
"I...w-what!" Naito sputtered trying to appear innocent; he knew that his teacher was aware that neither the Dark Lord nor the Order had called him to help and would wonder why he had been missing from school grounds.
He probably doubts my loyalty too, just like everyone else, Naito thought surly.
"Your hands are shaking and your eyes are not dilating properly, both symptoms of the Cruciatus Curse being placed on you, now I reiterate, where have you been?"
Naito looked down at his hands and refused to say a word.
"I see. Well, why don't you let me tell you what I think you've been doing. I believe you've gone and gotten yourself an alternate ego named the Shadow Phoenix and are using it to terrorize the Death Eaters. Are you trying to get yourself killed? Do you not know how important you are?"
Oh, of course, he's talking about my spy position...if they lose me, they lose most of their inside information since I can sneak around and get information that others can't even get near. Well, at least I know why he's been pretending to be so nice to me all the time. He and everyone else just want to use me to reach their goals.
It's not going to work though. I may help them take down Voldemort if I can, but my life is my own and I won't let them take me down with them, that's why I came up with the Shadow Phoenix in the first place: to help others and fight my own way.
"How did you manage to figure out who I am, you've never even seen the Shadow Phoenix?"
"I've heard the reports! I'm not as daft as you believe me to be boy! I can add the clues together to reach their sum. It's obvious that you've been hiding information from the Order, Remus and Tonks have been acting different ever since we sent you to rescue them, all of a sudden this new ally shows up and is always off fighting whenever you're gone."
Naito glared at the arm of the chair, thinking that if glares could literally burn a hole through someone then his chair would be cinders and ashes by now.
"All I really want to know is how you managed to obtain more than one Animagus form."
Naito started at that and looked up in surprise at his teacher who he found was gazing at him with a curious, not condemning, expression on his face.
"It's none of your business! Why do you want to know!"
"Because..." he paused a moment for a dramatically increased effect, "it has never been done before."
The courtyard was eerie—dark and silent—as Snape and Naito crossed the grounds of Voldemort's Headquarters and proceeded into the compounds.
The Dark Lord had called a surprised meeting; although it was not so surprising for those that had been involved with the fight earlier that morning. As a matter of fact, the Death Eaters that had been involved with that fiasco were probably already present and had come directly from the battlefield.
Snape had been summoned and been instructed to bring Naito along with him. Naito had certainly been thankful for the interruption; it would not do to reveal all of his secrets to the one man that could betray him to the worst (or best) of each side.
He would never reveal all of his talents and abilities to anyone; it was bad enough that Voldemort had found out about all of them while teaching him, but he had taught him how to utilize those abilities so the negatives were somewhat negated.
Naito was not really worried about this meeting so far. As far as Voldemort knew, he had not been in any way apart of the raid on the Muggle library and thus he had nothing to fear.
But his inner voice just would not stop antagonizing him—there was something wrong it told him.
If you have nothing to worry about, then WHY were you summoned in the first place. Your mission is stationary, you're not needed to give your usual report and your not here to be punished for the raid...so what is the importance of you being here for this meeting?
It was a good question, but one that no matter what angle he looked at it from, he just could not figure out the answer to—something bad was going to happen.
Naito's musings were cut short when he realized he had entered the throne room.
Peering inside, Naito was relieved to see that Voldemort was not there yet, or was at least not revealing his presence to them at that present time, giving him the chance to look around at his fellow Death Eaters.
The ones already lined up in the front were the ones that had obviously been in the battle; some of them had torn robes, cuts on their bodies, or burns from spells. They were nervously shifting from foot to foot, anticipating the punishment they were to receive.
The others that had nothing to do with the raid, but had gotten there before Snape and Naito were standing calmly behind the others, their eyes alight with curiosity. Even though they were calm and serene (to a degree) at the moment, Naito knew that as soon as the Dark Lord stepped into the room they would be cowering in fear behind those in front.
Naito took his place beside Snape in the Inner Circle surrounding the ones in the front.
It was just a few moments before everyone arrived and Voldemort still had not appeared.
Many were beginning to whisper and conspire with their neighbors, discerning the manner of this tardiness when the shadows began to creep just a little higher up the walls.
No one but Naito noticed how the darkness was slowly but surely choking out all the light in the room. With the darkness encroaching, the candles flickered, dimmed, and died, causing all of the Death Eaters to suddenly go silent.
Then, without warning, all the candles suddenly flared back to life and the two lanterns on each side of the throne burst into a fiery blaze, drawing everyone's attention to the crimson eyed monster with a gaze of fire.
Several of the new recruits gasped as they gaped at the unexpected spectacle, while those around them with more experience fell to the ground in respect. Catching onto their mistake, those that had not already were kneeling before the Dark Lord at his mercy.
"Rise."
The Dark Lord's voice boomed like thunder and his eyes glowed with pitiless intensity at all of those gathered around him. It was then that Naito knew none in the room would be spared from Voldemort's fury.
"Crucio," with just one word, everyone fell back to their knees, screaming and writhing in the pain of the curse. When they were all finally allowed to stand, Naito looked up, only to see that instead of Voldemort's anger diminishing, it was mounting.
Once again they were all subject to the agony of the Cruciatus Curse before the Dark Lord was finally able to get past his rage enough to speak.
"Once again, you have all failed me! I have taught you myself and you cannot even contain a wizard twenty to one long enough for me to get to him! You still have not found the information on the Orb of Souls like I've commanded AND you cannot even set up the right wards to keep a DYING DUMBLEDORE FROM GETTING AWAY! CRUCIO!"
This time the curse was aimed just at those in the front row and Naito was very relieved he did not have to withstand that crucio. The weakest of that group passed out shortly after the spell was cast because of the strength of the curse; the others were unable to get back to their feet.
"This is the SECOND time that Shadow Phoenix has shown up and ruined my plans! As most of you are aware," Voldemort's voice was a low, dangerous hiss by this point, "we had managed to apprehend TWO of Dumbledore's followers. They were placed here in the dungeons because it is the most secure of all my headquarters and do you know what happened?"
They all did.
"THEY ESCAPED! ALL OF YOU LET THEM GET AWAY! CRUCIO!"
The curse was back on all of them again and hardest on those of the Inner Circle. Naito lay twitching and panting at the end of it just like all of the others, trying to regain his bearings enough just to know what had transpired a few moments before.
Dimly, a voice echoed inside his head.
"Someone altered my wards to admit anyone as long as they were with one of my followers! That means, that one of you in this room helped them to get away..." his voice trailed off as they all got back to their feet and Naito noticed the Dark Lord's eyes glance in his direction.
Naito's blood froze in his veins.
Why didn't I think of that in the first place! Of course! Who else would have the power needed to alter the wards on Voldemort's castle? Who else among the Death Eaters had an Animagus form!
Voldemort already knew that it was the Shadow Phoenix that helped Remus and Tonks escape and he saw me just today transform into a panther! He's put all the clues together! He knows! This is it! I'm going to die!
Naito's thoughts jumbled together in his head and his breathing became erratic as panic set in.
Why, oh why, did I ever think I could be a spy! If I'd only thought this far ahead this wouldn't be happening! I should have done something different with the wards, just blast them apart and fight my way through to the prisoners! Oh no, oh no, oh no...
Snape elbowed Naito in the side when he saw the panic that was sweeping through the boy, ravaging him and taking from him coherent thought.
There may still be a way out of this you stupid boy! It's not over yet! He mentally told him with Legilimency.
Naito closed his eyes and took a deep breath, steadying himself and preparing for the onslaught that he knew was about to come his way.
"Naito," the Dark Lord called.
The crowd around him parted and immediately he came forward, those piercing ruby eyes focused on him the whole time.
Well, if this is my time to die, I might as well do it standing up and fighting him face to face.
"Yes, my Lord," he muttered just loud enough to be heard by Voldemort.
"What have you to report on the old, muggle-loving fool?"
It's a test, Naito realized. Voldemort was giving him one last chance to prove himself. He knows that Dumbledore's injured, has no idea of this meeting, and that if I were in league with him and having him filter my previous answers then there is no way he would be able to do it for me this time.
"He is grievously injured and will have to spend some time in the Hospital Wing, maybe even be sent to St. Mungo's, but those in the Order do not believe he will be safe there and will only send him if there is no other alternative."
There, that doesn't give anything away. It's not what Voldemort's looking for, but the question could definitely be interpreted that way, maybe this will end up ok after all.
"You foolish child! As if I care about Dumbledore's heath condition. He escaped and thus will find a way to fight another day. What I want to know is what he has planned. You told me before he was interested in the Orb of Souls; what has he done to try and find it? Answer me!" he commanded when Naito hesitated.
"He's sent people on missions to find it, that's all I know!"
"Where you imbecile! Where!"
"Other countries, his former contacts, the Ministry, I don't know where all he's getting his information. For most of the major things, he just does them himself and won't tell anyone what he's planning!"
Voldemort was silent, mulling over what Naito had said.
"Hm...I do believe you are on to something, Naito. Yes indeed. Of course, with the attack they would have rebuilt it, put up more security, and moved some important items inside, thinking I was finished with the place. Yes, I bet that's just what they did."
He seemed to be talking more to himself at that point than anyone else in the room, but he suddenly turned to Naito and told him, "Thank you very much, my loyal servant. You have greatly pleased your Master. Now, return to the school and maintain your mission until I call for you."
Naito bowed and turned toward the exit...all eyes following him as he left. They were all wondering what insight Naito had given the Dark Lord and what their Master was going to do with this newfound epiphany.
Those parting words sent chills down Naito's spine. He did not know what it was that he had said, but hearing that Voldemort was pleased scared him more than when he thought he was facing his death—because when Voldemort was pleased, it usually meant something unpleasant was going to be occurring, not just to Naito, but to the entire wizarding community.
(To Be Continued…)
A/N- Wow, that took me forever to write! I'm sorry for taking so long guys, but schoolwork and writer's block just wouldn't let me work on this chapter to get it out to you! I hope you liked it and I know you are all anxious for the next chapter, since it's the one you've all been waiting and asking for from the very beginning.
Coming Up: The Orb of Souls is discovered at the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic and Naito must race to get there before Voldemort does to keep the Dark Lord from wielding its power. As usual for Naito, things do not go as planned when a memory triggered by his surroundings illuminates the veil shrouding Naito's past and breaks it down revealing the secrets hidden from him in Chapter 16: Unveiled Memories.
Review Responses:
crimson reality: That's ok, I do that a bunch too.
hotcocoalatte: Thanks! I'm sorry I couldn't get this chapter to you quick enough...
hprox4ever: You'll just have to wait and find out...maybe. I hope you like this chapter as well!
Joanna Potter: Yup! I love that story! That's how I got the idea for the Shadow Phoenis...sorta. I hope you like this chapter.
Jin: That's NOT what I meant...lol. How's summer reading coming?
Willow Evenstar: Yeah, it's also funny or ironic, I think, how Naito keeps berating Gryffindors for their behavior when he acts just like them!
Strawberrylover: Thanks! I'm so glad you like this story! I hope you like this chapter as well!
MagicmanSmokegirl: I STILL haven't gotten around to checking my email yet...I really need to do that so I can start emailing you back and forth again...this senior year is going to KILL ME! ACK! (flinches as some random outer space planet explodes...)
logi: sorry it took me so long, but I'm glad you liked the chapter and I hope you like this one as well.
firegirl505: Thanks! I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!
I'd like to thank Jin Cheng for beta reading for me! You do an awesome job Jin Cheng! I love you Jin Cheng!