Title: Harry Potter and the Orb of Souls
Author: SerafinaMoon
Date: Sep 19-Nov 13, 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- I'm sorry for the long delay guys, but I'm sure all of you know that life is not predictable except in its unpredictability. Therefore, I would hope that you would not flame me for having to just flow with what life has thrown at me these past weeks.
Chapter 17: Fool Me Once
The Orb of Souls is an artifact I had the inspiration to create after an autodidactic study on Soul Magic. I always found it fascinating in my study that Soul Magic was the most powerful kind of magic because of its connection to emotions.
It has been observed of young magical children that when they become extremely distressed, their emotions often trigger their magic to do things that not even some trained adult wizards are capable of because it is magic in its rawest form.
This occurrence is most commonly found only to be associated with children; however, it has been noted that some teenagers and adults experiencing fluxes in their magic will occasionally have magical "slips" in their control.
Since this is pure magic, undiluted and unfiltered, I have decided to create this Orb to capture the souls of others to increase the power of magic. This book will take you through each step and process to control my greatest work other than my creation of the Dementors—creatures I made based off the principle of increasing magical power by the use of soul magic.
Thus, my two creations complement each other and can often trigger special effects that could not be otherwise produced in one without the other. The first chapter is an intimate description of the Orb of Souls and Dementors and the parts of each, with labeled sketches as an aide.
The second and third chapters detail just what powers the Orb of Souls has and how to work it, with some shortcuts on complex procedures and advice to achieve maximum results. These are also the chapters that include how to increase your own power, using the Orb of Souls as a focusing tool by honing the powers of captured souls.
The fourth and fifth chapters detail how the Orb of Souls works/controls Dementors and the operations involved in bending the Dementors to your will.
After reading the introduction, Harry was eager to begin reading the book and figure out how to work the Orb of Souls. If it was able to capture souls, then there might just be a way for him to "vanquish" Voldemort for good.
Along with all the other memories of his past, the memories of Harry's life also brought back with them, the knowledge of the prophecy. Harry knew he needed to do something to get rid of Voldemort and now he had a reason for why he had turned against the Dark Lord that took him in even when he was Naito—it was his destiny.
He had wondered all that time, what it was that had warned him away from completely trusting or believing everything the Dark Lord said, something that made him dislike the snake-man even thought he never could figure out what.
Now he knew.
He was Harry Potter, The Chosen One, The Prophecy Child, The Boy-Who-Lived, everyone's hope, light, and most importantly Savior.
Of course that was not to mention all the other titles that came along with the bad press, Harry was the world's scapegoat—their person to blame whenever something was going wrong.
Harry shook his head in wonder...He could not discern if Harry Potter or Naito Koori had the better life. Neither one of them had a good life; it just went to show that no matter whether he had a different name nor and different face, Harry would always attract the wrong sort of attention.
Yes, Murphy's Law was indeed trying to screw him over.
Why could he not just be normal for once! Why did everything have to happen to him!
You know why.
Great, the voice was back...why did even his own thoughts have to torment him?
It's because before you were even born an old Divination fraud had to open her trap and spew a bunch of nonsense about some child defeating a man in every way his senior.
Except that by the time Harry finished reading the book on the Orb of Souls, Harry would know how to work it...not Voldemort.
That thought spurred him into action and he began to read the beginning chapters.
The reading was extremely interesting in his opinion, especially when he found out that not only could he control Dementors with the Orb of Souls, but if the host was still alive, return the lost souls they had gathered back to their owners.
There were also ways to protect yourself or others from an attack if the orb fell into enemy hands, you could block someone else's drain against yourself or your allies.
(This, Naito found, was to be one of the most helpful things in the book.)
There were so many possibilities it was no wonder Voldemort wanted the orb so badly.
Harry kept reading until classes began, even skipping breakfast to read more, but taking the book with him to all his classes and pulling it out every time he had a spare moment, which was fairly often as he already knew everything his professors were teaching from Voldemort's training.
He had disguised the book to look like a N.E.W.T. study guide book and no one had pestered him about it.
One of the major questions that kept popping up in his mind, however, was whether or not he should tell Dumbledore or any of his friends that Harry Potter was alive. As long as he did not tell them who he was then it should not be too much of a problem.
But when he began applying logic to the problem, it was starting to look better and better that he did not even tell anyone he was still alive. What would happen if they knew?
The answer to that was obvious; they would not stop looking for him until they found him and word would get back to Voldemort somehow that the Order knew he was alive; he would be pulled out of Hogwarts and back into Headquarters and then Voldemort would know that he knew about the Orb and had the book.
It was not until the end of the day that Harry actually put the book down and talked to somebody.
He had been eating dinner in the Great Hall, the disguised book propped up on his lap when Draco came and sat down beside him.
"Hey, Nate," the blonde said as he sat down and began loading his plate.
"Hey, Draco," Harry replied, obviously distracted.
Malfoy did not let this deter him, however, and kept pounding him with questions about his day, trying to start a conversation.
Most of Harry's answers were short and curt, but he finally had to give up his reading when it became apparent Draco would just continue to ignore his annoyed behavior until he could finally get Naito to start talking.
It was then that Harry noticed how different Malfoy seemed to him now that he had gotten to know the boy from the Slytherin side.
Is this how things could have ended up if I had shaken his hand on the train and let the Sorting Hat put me in Slytherin? Could I have ended up being Draco Malfoy's friend?
It appeared so and Harry was amazed to discover that underneath the cold, hard exterior, inside, Malfoy was just as human as anyone else.
"Guess what I heard," Draco said, his eyes focused and intense as he stared at the boy he thought was Naito Koori.
"What?"
"I heard that the Dark Lord found the Orb of Souls last night! My dad sent me an owl this morning. I would have told you sooner, but you've had your nose buried in that book all day and I've just now got you out of it."
"Hm...That's all well and good that he has it, but it won't do him any good if he doesn't know how to work it. I thought there was some weird book that went with it. Did he get that too?"
"No, apparently that Shadow Phoenix guy got there before he did and got the book and the orb, but the Dark Lord and my dad managed to get the orb from him before he took off with the book. My dad gave me a task: I have to keep a look out for anyone that might have that book somewhere or someone that knows too much about the Orb of Souls."
Harry thought that a rather ironic comment as the one he was talking about was sitting right beside him and he apparently did not know it. The clues were all right in front of him.
Naito had been extremely interested in the Orb of Souls as far as Draco knew, had found out about the attack last night from Draco himself, was seen reading a book all day long just as the Orb of Souls book "happened" to go missing, and here he was asking educated questions based on his previous knowledge of the orb, and yet, Draco still had not caught on.
It must be the fact that I'm Voldemort's top spy as far as Draco knows and thus inevitable that I would want to know what is going on with my "master."
Harry shook his head at Malfoy's naiveté and asked, "So if he doesn't have the book on how to work the orb, how is he going to use it?"
"Oh, he found the spell to trap souls in it somewhere when he was researching the Orb of Souls itself," Draco flippantly replied.
"Oh really? How does he know it works? Has he tested it yet?"
"No. He's going to do that tonight. My father told me he's going to find some random Muggle village to test it out, and if it works he's going to draw out Dumbledore's Bird Brigade and use it on them. Who knows, he might even be able to get that Shadow Phoenix guy..."
Yup, that blocking spell was definitely going to come in handy tonight.
Night had descended upon the castle as Harry slunk through the hallways. After dinner with Draco, Harry had spent the rest of the night in the Room of Requirement practicing the shielding charm described in the Orb of Souls book until he thought he had it down. With nothing substantial to practice with, however, he had no idea how effective his shield really was.
Harry's musings were interrupted when he heard voices whispering the corridor coming towards him. Swiftly and silently he folded himself into the shadows, not wanting to get caught by whoever was wandering around the dark castle at night.
Listening to what the voices were saying, he recognized Ron and Hermione—his former best friends who both thought he was dead.
Harry felt a fresh rush of anger course through him at Voldemort; his best friends should not have had to mourn him for a year before they could get on with their lives. He should not have to be sneaking through the hallways at night to go fight against Voldemort's army and new super-weapon.
Instead, he should have been walking through the hallways with his best friends, discussing Quidditch maneuvers with Ron, S.P.E.W. with Hermione, and what they were going to eat once they made it to the kitchens for a midnight snack.
It was just one more thing Harry could account to Voldemort, one more thing that had been taken away from him, and on more reason to get rid of the tyrant that had destroyed his life.
Voldemort had fooled him through his dreams, leading to the death of Sirius, he had fooled him with his broken memory and he had lost everything he had ever known, but he would not be fooled anymore.
He had been on the defensive ever since he had learned Voldemort was after him, but now it was time to go on the offensive, keep him second guessing himself and finally beat him at his own game, use his own mind tricks against him.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Harry pondered the phrase to himself as with one last glance at his friends retreating backs, he took off again, heading out the front doors and disappearing into the night.
Finally, things were turning in his favor; the Shadow Phoenix might have gotten the book, but he had the Orb of Souls itself, and even a spell to work it (although, whether the spell would be effective or not was still to be determined).
Now, all he needed to implement his machinations was to give the signal. If everything went according to plan, he would know how close his charm was to activating the Orb of Souls, there would be fewer Muggles to contaminate Britain, and maybe even some of Dumbledore's Order member's souls captured. Or, even better, Dumbledore himself and that pesky Shadow Phoenix.
Stretching his senses, Voldemort checked that his small army of new recruits and Inner Circle Death Eaters were in place before hissing a quick "Morsmorde," shooting the Dark Mark into the air, the magnificent emerald skull and snake shinning down on the small muggle town.
The cursed green light was a foreshadowing testament to the numerous Avada Kedavra's that would be uttered that night. It was a forewarning of the death and destruction that would sweep through the village, overtaking all opposition and bearing victory in its wake.
Like a plague of vultures swarming an unsuspecting target, the Death Eaters surged forward, bursting into homes where lights turned on, and people began screaming, and with a flash of brilliant emerald were silenced.
Deciding that the midst of the chaos was a perfect time to bring the evening to a climax, Voldemort strode forward and began a long, Latin chant. The Orb he drew from his pocket was illuminated from within upon receiving the charging magic of the words and started to pulse with an eerie light before searching out through the darkness and striking someone.
All the noise seemed to be drowned out and dulled as a sound like the rushing of wind swept through the area. White particles of light were being drawn from the body and concentrated into the form of the person as it swirled through the air.
Finally, when every last particle of light had escaped from the body, it fell with a soft "whumph" as the light cut through the air like a whip, until it was drawn into the Orb which glowed faintly before it resumed its original status.
Pleased with the success of the proceedings, Voldemort started again, picking out his next target.
Same as before, the Orb brightened briefly before striking out in search of the intended target.
Unlike last time, however, the illumination encountered an obstacle in the form of a barrier.
Voldemort stepped back, his surprise evident on his countenance as he looked around, searching for the source of the disturbance.
Oddly, nothing seemed amiss—his Death Eaters were on rampage, Muggles were running and screaming, and chaos had ensued, but the Orb of Souls had stopped working.
Why had that happened?
Either there had been a glitch or...someone had deliberately sabotaged his spell.
A memory flashed into existence of the Shadow Phoenix holding the Orb of Souls book and Dumbledore's group arriving, coercing his forces to retreat.
Whipping around, Voldemort had just enough time to dodge out of the way before a jet of icy blue light flew past, hitting the pavement behind him.
Looking up in the trees encompassing the village, Voldemort spotted what he was looking for in the form of a darkened shape, shrouded in shadow—the Shadow Phoenix had arrived.
It had been fun, Harry thought, to see the look of surprise upon Voldemort's face as he had blocked his spell. It would have been even better had he been able to curse the self-appointed Dark Lord while his back was turned even more.
Unfortunately for him, Voldemort's powers of deduction had kicked in and the slimy serpent had managed to get away just in time, with the full capability to curse back.
The green light of the Killing Curse advanced on Harry's location in the tree he had been hiding in and the young wizard was forced to spring into the air, catapulting over the Dark Lord's head with a back flip and landing with the liquid grace of his Animagus feline form in a crouched position in front of the menacing maniac.
Instantly a sparring match ensued as the Dark Lord Voldemort and his mortal enemy Harry Potter The-Boy-Who-Lived in the attire of the Shadow Phoenix faced off once again.
The two combatants circled each other warily, occasionally tossing spells back and forth, probing for a weakness in the other that they could use to their advantage.
Suddenly, both duelers exploded in a flurry of movement that had those around them scrabbling back away to keep from getting hit by the barrage of spells that were flying in all directions.
Soon there was enough space cleared out for the Shadow Phoenix and Voldemort to duel "comfortably" and pull off some more of their more impressive tricks.
Harry shot off a quick procession of bludgeoning spells in a row and Apparated behind Voldemort to hit him with a ball of fire.
In a display of power, the Dark Lord blocked all of the bludgeoning spells with a single shield that held up under all the attacks and Apparated away from the ball of fire, deciding to take a leaf out of Harry's book.
Voldemort reappeared on Harry's left side and threw a bone-breaking curse at Harry's arm, which was dodged and counteracted by an unknown spell with orange light that sailed harmlessly by as Voldemort brushed it away.
Civilians and Death Eaters looked on in awe as the two enemies flitted around each other in a mad dance of life and death.
It was not long before the disturbance of such a large magical discharge was noted by the Ministry of Magic and Aurors were sent to investigate...those among them consisting of Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks who immediately alerted the Order of the Phoenix.
While Harry noticed, he had no thought to spare for all the people that were arriving at the scene, his mind was entirely ensconced on trying to parry the Dark Lord's attacks and get in a few hits of his own.
Coming up with a strategy to win was becoming increasingly difficult as more and more people Apparated in to handle the situation. With so many people scrambling around, Harry was hard pressed to concentrate solely on his own objective and not be distracted by the chaos of spells and people around him.
Not only that, but he could no longer shoot lethal spells at Voldemort for fear of hitting an innocent; Voldemort, however, had no such qualms and frequently sent Killing Curses, Cruciatus Curses, and others in his direction, not caring whether the spell hit Harry, an innocent, or even one of his own Death Eaters.
Several times, the Dark Lord had tried to use the Orb of Souls on innocents while Harry was distracted. This caused even more of a disturbance when he had to conjure a shield to block it, giving Voldemort time to score several hits on his person, namely several Cutting Hexes.
Harry could feel blood flowing out of his body, sapping his strength and causing his body to stiffen and no longer obey his commands as it tried to protect itself from suffering blood loss.
Every move Harry made was now filled with the agony of the numerous cuts Voldemort's spells had made. It was for this reason that Harry's motions began to slow and become less lithe and graceful and more sharp and jerky as he attempted to escape the Dark Lord's wrath.
Thus, when a particularly fast Petrifying Spell was aimed in his direction, he was unable to get out of the way properly and fell to the ground, all of his limbs bound to his sides by the magic that held them in place.
Everyone around the couple gasped at the sight of the new hero being felled so easily and they all watched astounded at what was happening before their eyes.
Voldemort, smug in his victory, advanced on the fallen Shadow Phoenix, his mouth curled into a smirk of malicious glee as he said loud enough for everyone in the vicinity to hear, "Now we shall see who the real man behind the mask is and everyone will know I will wipe out every opposition that comes my way by your example."
Knowing that he needed a proper distraction in order to get out of the mess he found himself in this time, Harry frantically searched his memory banks for a spell or anything that could save him.
Luckily, he knew just one such distraction...the Dementors.
Through the Orb of Souls that Voldemort still retained on his person, Harry could summon the Dementors through a highly simplistic spell and order them to do his bidding. If he wished for only the Death Eaters and Voldemort to be persecuted then it would be done and none of the innocents would be harmed.
Through clenched teeth, tightly closed lips, and an unresponsive tongue, somehow, Harry managed to force out the incantation to summon the ultimate soul sucking creatures. With only an anti-climatic, faintly glowing Orb of Souls everything returned to silence as the crowd around Voldemort and Harry grew even bigger.
The pale, deranged man crouched down beside the still body of the mysterious Shadow Phoenix and reached out an inhuman, long-fingered hand and removed the mask that was shielding Harry's face from the people.
As the crowd collectively inhaled sharply, Harry silently chuckled at their reactions. In front of them was a nondescript featured face with intense, moon-beam colored eyes and a head of ebony colored hair. It was the face of someone that could have been seen almost a hundred times in a day because it was a collection of the most common features.
I wonder what their expressions would be now if I hadn't used my Metamorphmagus abilities to disguise myself, Harry thought wryly as his gazed passed between one curious face to the next.
Voldemort's countenance was by far the best of the lot as he curiously gazed down at Harry with the most peculiar expression Harry had ever seen. He almost looked as if Harry were someone he knew, but could not quite place the features of.
As Voldemort stood up, preparing to give a monologue about the Shadow Phoenix's historic defeat, Harry only hoped that it would be long enough to give his Dementors enough time to come to his aid.
Indeed, only a few words into Tom Riddle's lovely speech was he interrupted by a feeling of intense cold, which sent the gathered spectators scrambling around for cover as they realized what was heading their way.
The Dark Lord hesitated for only a split of a second before concluding that the Dementors were his allies and therefore, of no threat to him and turning back on his prey.
With wand raised and poised to strike, Voldemort began the feared incantation, "Avada Ked-" before he was cut off as ten Dementors glided silently over to where he stood and calmly began devouring the core of Voldemort's essence.
With an angry roar at the Dementors, the Dark Lord began conversing with them in their own language.
Not knowing what was being said, Harry could only gage the reactions of both parties in order to find out what was going on and had to draw his own conclusions.
When Voldemort hissed like an angry cat at the conclusion of the conversation, shooting his Dark Mark into the sky to inform the Death Eaters of their retreat, Harry decided that Tom must have discovered his loss of power over the dark creatures and was beating a hasty retreat to reduce his losses.
Well, this is great, Harry thought sardonically as everyone was running in circles around each other from the appearance of the Dementors and had not even noticed that the dark creatures were leaving now that their task was completed.
Everyone's so busy scrambling around that they've forgotten all about me...Hopefully they won't step on me.
Harry began to get worried as people came closer to where he was laying, still under the influence of the hex, unable to move. The worst part of it for Harry was that he could not even tilt his head up just a little to see who was coming to know if it was Death Eaters, Dumbledore's people, Aurors, or even the random people running about.
All he could see was the multitude (or what seemed like a multitude from his position) of long, dark shadows advancing on where he lay helpless.
There was a brief moment of panic as Harry thought that since Voldemort had already left and the Orb was out of reach, he would no longer be able to call back the Dementors for help if he needed them.
That panic was swiftly subdued as the tall, lean form of Dumbledore knelt beside him, uttering a short "Finite" and helping him stand.
Harry noticed that several of the Order members had followed Dumbledore over to get a look at the famed Shadow Phoenix before the old Headmaster cut into his thoughts.
"Are you alright, my boy? You gave us quite a scare when you were captured and we could not get to you."
"I'm quite alright, Mr. Dumbledore. Luckily Voldemort became distracted and fled so that you could help me."
"Indubitably. I am glad you remain moderately unharmed—nothing that a trained Mediwizard could not cure. In this war we have found ourselves in, it is good to have all the allies we can get."
Hm...I wonder what he'd think if I told him three of those allies of his were the same person...
"If you would permit us to help you, the nurse from my school is just a few blocks away and I'm sure she could have you healed up in a jiffy."
"That would be much appreciated, Mr. Dumbledore. Would you please lead the way?"
"Certainly, certainly. Right this way..."
The duo and following Order quickly found themselves in a sort of mini-encampment that had been established for the injured.
A tent had been set up with those that had been hurt being brought in and simply laid on the ground so that there was enough room. Mediwizards were rushing from patient to patient trying to pick out who was fatally wounded and portkeying them to St. Mungo's and placing those whose injuries were not quite so life-threatening into a "waiting area" of sorts.
Dumbledore led the group past all the patients and Mediwizards to the back of the tent where the Hogwarts Nurse Madame Pomphrey was helping a young boy who had become an orphan in the melee get settled onto his bed as she attached a splint to his leg.
Once she was finished and had begun to move onto someone else, Dumbledore called softly to her, "Poppy, if you could come here for a moment. I'd like your help for a moment."
"Yes, Headmaster, what seems to be the problem?"
"If you would be so kind as to fix this gentleman up, I would be most delighted."
"Indeed. Come sit over here so I may have a look at you."
Madame Pomphrey gasped as Harry stepped out of the shadows and into the light where she had indicated. Harry wondered if the surprise came from the spectacle of his bloody status or from the sight of the Shadow Phoenix up close.
Apparently it was his wounds because she was back to her ordinary, unruffled, and business-like manner in only a few seconds ordering him to "Take off that filthy robe right away so I can patch you up."
"Thank you, Poppy. This young man saved quite a few lives tonight by keeping Voldemort's attention away from the Muggles and somehow blocking the Orb of Souls I believe I saw?"
Harry nodded curtly and did not reply as Madame Pomphrey applied a cleaning potion to his cuts that hurt and stung, making him wince and hiss in pain for the brief second that it lasted.
Once that was finished, the nurse tapped each of the cuts with her wand in turn and they each began to diminish and close right before his eyes until his arms and torso looked exactly as they had before the fight began.
"Thank you very much madame. I am much obliged."
"You're very welcome and I thank you for keeping that," she waved an indistinct hand in front of her, indicating the numerous patients that kept appearing and disappearing, "from becoming more than what it could have been."
"Not a problem. Now, if you all would excuse me. I have somewhere else I need to be at the moment."
Without another word, Harry turned around and walked back out of the tent, Disapparating as soon as he was a good distance away and appearing again at the edges of the Forbidden Forest.
Before he could even go anywhere he saw Snape hurrying out of the castle towards where he was standing, his pace turning into a sprint when he saw the Shadow Phoenix standing at the edge of the wards.
"Hurry, boy! Turn back into yourself. The Dark Lord has called a meeting and you are to be present! We have to leave now! I've got your robes here."
Quickly shoving a dark mass in Harry's direction, the spy waited impatiently for him to morph back into Naito and don the clothes, hiding the Shadow Phoenix garb under a pile of leaves and needles; when both of them were ready, they both Apparated to Voldemort's side.
Grateful that he had let Dumbledore take him to Madame Pomphrey to be healed, Naito walked into Voldemort's throne room, no longer bearing the wounds that would have marked him as the Shadow Phoenix had he not been fixed up.
Everyone was already gathered as Snape and Naito walked in; they were the last to enter.
"Severus, Naito, you are late, I'm extremely displeased with you," hissed the Dark Lord, his fierce red eyes seeming to be illuminated from within.
Snape and Naito shared a brief glance; considering how Voldemort's raid had gone thanks to the Shadow Phoenix and the Order, Naito knew just how "displeased" Voldemort was and was easily able to deduce who his first targets were going to be.
Sure enough, five seconds later found the Potion's Master and the Boy-Who-Lived writhing on the ground, screams forced out through tightly clenched jaws as the Dark Lord unleashed his fury on his two spies.
It seemed to take forever before the curse was finally taken off, but it had really only been half a minute. When they were able to stand up without pitching back over again, Naito and Snape joined their fellow Death Eaters in their proper places among the ranks.
"At last, now that we are all in attendance," at this point Voldemort glared at the latecomers before commencing his speech, "we can finally begin this meeting. Lucius!"
"Yes, master?" asked the blonde aristocrat as he came forward, bowing before his lord.
"What news do you have on Ministry intelligence?"
Sarcastic comments about the Ministry not having any intelligence immediately came to mind, but Naito knew this was the wrong time to express those ideas and so he kept silent.
"The Unspeakables know that the Orb of Souls and its accompanying book were taken from the Department of Mysteries, but they have not yet released to the Ministry the knowledge of what was taken. All the Ministry knows is that something was stolen and that is all they will release to the press."
"Excellent, then the Aurors will have no knowledge of how to block the Orb. Only the Shadow Phoenix seems to have that information," Voldemort snarled, talking to himself.
"If I may say, m' lord, the Unspeakables that studied the Orb might know as well and they have been given the power by the Ministry to hunt down your followers and use the Unforgivables."
At this news, the Dark Lord turned back around, eyes intense as he growled, "This is not good news, Lucius, and I do not believe I gave you permission to speak."
"Sorry, my-"
Malfoy's apology was quickly cut off as the Cruciatus Curse was put on him so Voldemort could vent some of the anger he felt from being beaten once again by his enemies, namely the Shadow Phoenix.
After Malfoy was released from the curse, Voldemort told him to have one of his spies look through the Ministry database to find a face to match up with the Shadow Phoenix's after he had been demasked. After that, several more Death Eaters were called upon to give reports of their assignments. Every single one of them was cursed as Voldemort found something to charge them with.
Close to the end, Snape was called upon to give information on Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix shortly followed by Naito.
"Do you have anything to add to Severus' report, Naito?"
"Yes, my lord."
Knowing that if he did not give the Dark Lord some good information, he would end up being cursed again just like the others, Naito decided to give away a little more information that what Dumbledore had dictated to him.
"I have found out that the Shadow Phoenix is now working for the Order. Dumbledore approached him at some point and now he passes on information of your movements to the Shadow Phoenix, which is how the SP knows where to find you to attack."
Glancing over at his Potion's Master, Naito saw that Snape was eyeing him oddly, and had a look of curiosity on his face, which was quickly masked.
Wondering what Snape was thinking, he almost missed the look of hunger in Voldemort's eyes as Naito talked about that man in the black mask. His voice a low, dangerous hiss, Voldemort asked, "Do you know the identity of this...Shadow Phoenix?"
Hesitating briefly, knowing the Dark Lord would not like a negative answer, Naito tentatively replied, "No, my lord. Not even Dumbledore knows the identity of the Shadow Phoenix; he attends the meetings discreetly, no one in the Order knows he is there. I only know because I overheard a conversation between him and the Headmaster not that long ago."
The Dark Lord was not pleased with that answer and so cursed him once again before instructing Naito to gather more information and find out who the Shadow Phoenix was.
With that done, the Death Eater meeting came to a conclusion and Voldemort sent everyone except Naito and Ganmou away with Snape waiting outside the door to take Naito back to Hogwarts.
Wondering what was going on, but knowing that it could not be anything good, Naito tried to stay calm and keep his Occlumency shields up as Voldemort circled him like vulture, Ganmou standing in the background, watching the proceedings intently.
Suddenly, Voldemort sprang into action; barraging Naito's mind with a powerful Legilimency attack, Voldemort sifted through Naito's projected memories, looking for all the information that he had on the Shadow Phoenix.
Not sure what Voldemort was trying to find out, Naito projected all the same things that he had just got done telling the Dark Lord during the meeting.
Finally, not really satisfied, but knowing he would not be able to find anything more, Voldemort paced in front of the young Slytherin, his eyes fixed on the boy's eyes, hoping to catch a slip in peripheral thoughts.
"Are you sure there is nothing else you would like to share with me about the Shadow Phoenix, maybe?"
"No, master."
"Really? You don't want to tell me why he said that Albus Dumbledore is the greatest wizard in the world. And are you sure you don't want to tell me why he said it in the exact same context that Harry Potter used it in his second year against my memory?"
On the outside, Naito pasted an innocently confused look on his face as he said, "No, master," while on the inside Harry was kicking himself for saying that and growing anxious as to how he could make it out of this encounter alive.
"Oh? Well, why don't you give me a guess on why the Shadow Phoenix would say that then."
Trusting on his spying instincts to get him out of this mess, Naito said, "Well, this man has joined the Order; he obviously looks up to Dumbledore like all the other Order members do. I expect its something normal for the old coot's followers to say since you said Harry Potter has said it before too."
"I see. So you don't believe that this Shadow Phoenix could really be Mr. Potter in disguise?"
Naito started at that comment and rushed to cover it up by saying, "But I thought you said Harry Potter was dead. You said you had his aunt and uncle take him to a restaurant to be poisoned by your followers. How can he be the Shadow Phoenix if he is dead?"
For a long time Voldemort simply stared at him, hoping to catch him in his lie, but being unable to distinguish anything because of Naito's Occlumency shields, he merely said, "How indeed. You may leave," dismissing the boy from his presence.
Naito turned to leave as the Dark Lord approached Ganmou and asked, "Well what do you think?" in hushed tones.
"I do believe it is possible that he could have remembered his past, having now spent so much time in a familiar milieu, but-" was all he heard before he opened the door to find Severus Snape, Potion's Master and Dumbledore's spy eavesdropping at the door.
Closing the door quickly, Naito peered into Snape's eyes intently, trying to distinguish if the man had heard anything important from the conversation as Severus stared right back.
Finally deeming that there was no way to actually know what the Occlumens had heard or not, Naito started walking back towards the exit, Severus Snape following behind him at a quick pace.
Upon reaching the castle of Hogwarts, Harry and Snape went their opposite ways, Harry back to the Slytherin dormitory and Snape up to the Headmaster's office where he exclaimed, "Harry Potter's alive, Albus!"
(To Be Continued…)
A/N- I'm sorry for the underdevelopement of the chapter, especially since it's taken me 2 months to finally get it up, but unfortunately, I've been suffering from the two things every writer fears most: writer's block and life. (Oh, yeah...I also have no idea when the next time I update will be...)
Coming Up: Dumbledore and company go back to check Harry's grave to find the body missing! The Order talks to the Dursleys again and find out what happened at Harry Potter's "death" in Chapter 18: Six Feet Under?
Review Responses: Now, I don't know how many of you know this, but I got an email saying that we are no longer allowed to answer reviews so I'm sorry to say there will be no more review responses. I would like to thank all of you, however, for your faithful reviewing despite my diligence to update.
Thank you for reviewing!