Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter J.k.Rowling does
"…"speech
'…'thought
I forgot to say this earlier I think, but this was written way before HBP. It was written almost two years ago.
The students stared at Harry for a bit, before the whispering began.
"What's he talking about?" a girl named Amanda Bradley asked her friend.
"I have no idea," was the answer.
"Who survived and what?" a boy asked one of the prefects.
"I'm not sure. Probably, Harry and his friends survived something and that made You-Know-Who angry." The questions were being repeated by people over and over, seeking an answer before Dumbledore put up a hand to silence them. When all was quiet, he began speaking.
"Surely that wouldn't make so mad as to do this to you. It's never been so bad; there must be something else." Harry was about to answer, when his scar began burning again. Only a little at first, but then it got worse. Blood began trickling between his fingers, and down his face. He roared with pain. Everyone gasped and stepped back, as they watched the Boy-who-lived sit up, still clutching his head. His breath started coming in short little gasps as he struggled against the pain. Then he fell back again, and passed out.
"HE'S ALIVE! How is that possible? There's no way they could have fought off so many dementors!"
"M-my Lord, we don't know how he did it either, but it happened," said Lucius Malfoy, trembling.
"And where are they now?"
"Who, My Lord?"
"The dementors, you idiot!" Voldemort roared, throwing down the Daily Prophet. Lucius shrunk back; he knew he would be punished now.
"They h-have l-left-" he broke off, not able to continue. He wasn't usually like this, but Voldemort had never been so angry; two plans ruined in one go!
"Well? Where are they?"
"They have l-left you, Milord. They've gone back to Azkaban."
"WHAT?" Voldemort was furious. Potter had escaped them, and they went back to Azkaban! Nothing was going as planned, and the idiots he called deatheaters were failing everything.
"I'm sorry, My Lord, they decided to leave."
"You worthless fool! How could you let them get away? We needed them!"
"W-we c-c-couldn't stop them. T-they killed Jenkins i-in our attempts." Lucius was terrified. He knew this was ruining everything his master had planned, and him telling the Dark Lord all of it meant terrible pain for him.
"Jenkins?" Lucius nodded. "He was worthless anyway," Voldemort said loud enough for Lucius to hear. To himself he said, "This is ruining everything. Ugh that stupid prophecy is ruining my life and chances of taking over everything." He started talking to his servant again. "Lucius I hope you understand that the only reason I haven't killed you, is because of your connections. Otherwise you'd be long gone by now." Lucius nodded again.
"Yes My Lord." Voldemort looked into the fire, thinking. The people he sent for the veil should be back by now; in fact Lucius had been one of them.
"There is still one more way to kill Potter without battling him directly," he muttered. "Lucius, bring me the veil." He picked up his glass of water and waited. The other man gulped. He knew he was going to get it this time; his master had never been angrier before and this wasn't going to help. Bracing himself for the inevitable, he spoke.
"We could not get it, sir. It was gone." Voldemort's pale face turned red, and his eyes seemed to glow.
"YOU IMBECILES!" He threw the glass to the wall where it shattered into a million pieces. Turning around, he pointed his wand at Lucius who was shaking, waiting for the one word that would cause him so much pain. He didn't have to wait long. "CRUCIO!"
Harry woke up with the word ringing in his head, just as he was about to be levitated to the hospital wing. Blood was flowing freely from his scar, and his hand had smeared it on his forehead. He sat up panting, trying to focus his eyes. Soon he could see clearly.
"Harry? Harry!" Hermione was yelling at him. "What happened?" He turned his head to look at her. She looked worried and her brows were furrowed in confusion. The man glanced around and saw the whole school standing in front of him, looking scared and panicky. Dumbledore knelt down beside him.
"Harry what happened? Do you know what Voldemort is so angry about?" many people gasped or shuddered at the mention of Voldemort's name, but the old man paid no attention.
"Yes, I just saw it. He was angrier than ever before because we managed to get away from the dementors, and because the dementors left to go back to Azkaban."
"What?" Dumbledore looked taken aback. "They've left him?"
"Yes. Then he said that there is another way to kill me without battling me directly, and he told Lucius Malfoy to bring him the veil which he had sent a bunch of deatheaters to get earlier. Malfoy told him the veil had been moved, so they couldn't get it and Voldemort did the crucatius curse on him. Apparently all of his plans have been ruined by the dementors leaving and not finding the veil. And there's me being alive, of course." Everyone looked shocked by this, except for Dumbledore who was always good at hiding what he was feeling. Actually, Hermione looked like the best thing in the world happened, which didn't make any sense to anybody considering the situation, but they didn't dwell on it.
"I see," the headmaster murmured. Then he stood up, and turned to face the terrified students. He ushered them out into the hall, and closed the door to the library. That didn't stop the people left inside from hearing what was going on out in the hall though. They heard Dumbledore perform the memory charm on the students, and told them to go to their dormitories and not go out again for the rest of the day, and until breakfast at 8:00 the next morning. The students cheered (since there would obviously be no classes that day) and went to their respective dormitories.
After the sound of footsteps died down, he reentered the library, once again shutting the door behind him. By that time all the teachers had taken seats at the tables, and Madam Pomfrey had conjured up some bandages and water and was in the process of wrapping up Harry's head, and cleaning off the blood from his face. Ron and Hermione were still sitting on the floor next to their friend.
"I hope you all realize," Dumbledore began gravely, "that we have a very serious problem on our hands." He paused before continuing. "Voldemort will stop at nothing to get the veil, which can be used to kill many more people than Harry. He was probably planning on luring Harry there with a vision, like in fifth year." Harry winced remembering that time. "But now that Harry knows about that plan, it won't work obviously. Still, there are ways he can get Harry there, and the veil can be used for more than just getting rid of Harry." He stopped as if remembering something. "No, he wouldn't be able to lure you there by means of a vision will he Harry? You told me he stopped possessing you when you left Hogwarts and you knew that he tried but wasn't able to." Harry looked uncomfortable, and Hermione shot him a frightened look.
"Sir," Harry said, removing his hand from his constantly throbbing head at Madam Pomfrey's orders. "Back at the hospital, the day after I woke up, I was about to tell Ron and Hermione something when I felt my scar burning. When I looked at Hermione," he stopped abruptly looking at her. She looked at him expectantly, and Ron, who had remained silent the whole time, did the same. He still hadn't told them what he felt that day.
"Yes?" McGonagall prompted. "Go on, Harry." Dumbledore looked like he knew what Harry was going to say, but he didn't make a sound. Madam Pomfrey had stepped away from him by then, and was waiting for what he would say along with the other teachers. She noticed him clutching his scar again, and tsk tsked disapprovingly but didn't say anything.
"When I looked at Hermione, I felt hatred. Like I wanted to hurt her terribly, and make her suffer." Hermione gasped, and Ron looked shocked. Harry had a sad expression on his face. He looked up at Dumbledore, who was still standing, but he didn't say anything. The young man knew he wanted to hear more. "It felt like in fifth year, when I wanted to-" Harry took a moment to steady himself then continued. "When I wanted to k-kill you, Professor, as if you were the only thing standing in my way, keeping me from doing something. At St. Mungo's it felt as if Hermione's d-death would cause my enemy the most pain, and to me that's the best thing that could happen aside from their death." Hermione started crying quietly and Harry felt terrible. Ron was looking at his best friend with an unreadable expression on his face, while patting Hermione on the back. Dumbledore nodded in understanding.
"So he can posses you again." Noticing the looks on Harry and Ron's faces, he said "I hope you understand it isn't your fault. You were still weak and vulnerable which is why he was able to do it, and you couldn't fight back." Ron's expression softened somewhat, but Harry still felt bad. He knew it wasn't his fault, but he still didn't feel good about it. Hermione had stopped crying by then and was looking at her friends.
"I'm sorry Hermione," Harry said quietly.
"It's not your fault, it's just shocking." Then she gasped in horror. "Harry! Your hand and bandages are all red!" Indeed, Harry could fell wet liquid, which he figured must be blood, against his hand again and lowered it. As soon as he did though, his head started hurting more and he quickly pressed it back against his bleeding forehead. Madam Pomfrey rushed forward again, and performed a charm that would temporarily stop the bleeding, so she could change the bandage. This had to be done twice more, before the blood stopped flowing enough for the bandages to stay white.
"He's not as angry anymore," Harry informed them when Madam Pomfrey changed the wrappings for the last time. They all nodded looking relieved.
"That's good," Ron said. "But he doesn't seem…happy, does he?" Harry was thinking hard. He really couldn't tell if Voldemort was happy or not; in fact he couldn't feel any emotion from the other man at all.
"He's not happy, or at least not incredibly happy, I would feel it, but he's not very angry anymore either. I don't know what he's feeling because I can't fell anything from him, and my scar has even stopped hurting."
"So he seems normal now?" Dumbledore asked gently.
"I suppose so. I'll let you know if I feel anything else," Harry said. The old man sighed.
"All right Harry. You need some rest. Poppy, take him to the hospital wing and give him some dreamless sleep potion." The Boy-Who-Lived seemed to be taking a lot of those lately.
"No not the hospital wing. Professor Dumbledore, you have no idea how sick I am of hospitals," Harry pleaded. Dumbledore chuckled
"All right, you have been in a hospital for almost two months now. Poppy, just bring some potion to his room, all right?" She nodded and left the room. "Now Harry, do you have space in you room for two extra beds? I'm sure Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley would rather stay here for the rest of the day than fly back home."
"Yeah, I have room. But professor do I have to take the potion right away? I mean it's only around 1:00 p.m still. Actually, do I have to take it at all? If I don't I might be able to see what Voldemort is doing or plotting," Harry said hopefully. He really didn't want to have a dreamless sleep and the potion was revolting.
"Harry, you know how those affect you," Dumbledore said sternly.
"Yes, I do know, but it could really help."
"All right, but if you have a dream about him, then right after take the potion."
"Ok, ok."
"Good," the headmaster said. "I should be going now. I need to tell the house elves to bring dinner up to the common rooms tonight." With that he left. All the teachers followed suit, but Professor McGonagall stopped at the doors.
"Since all the students are confined to their common rooms, you can go anywhere in the castle, but do be careful because there are a lot of students who like sneaking out." They nodded and she went out the doors, closing them quietly behind her.
As soon as her footsteps died away, Hermione turned to her friends with an excited expression. She sat down in the seat Professor Sprout had recently vacated and gestured for Ron and Harry to take the seats next to her. They looked at her with confused expressions, but sat down. Once they were seated Ron asked,
"Hermione what's going on? Harry and I were going to go out for a game of Quidditch. You wanna come?"
"No, Ron, I have something important to tell you both."
"Ok," Ron said uncertainly. Harry just looked at her expectantly.
"I figured it out," Hermione said quietly.
"The defense?" Harry asked.
"Hermione that's impossible!" Ron said before she could answer. "You were going on about how useless all the books were, then you went out for a walk, and when you came back you just started looking for another book. Then the thing with Harry's scar happened; you had no time." The woman glared at him.
"I didn't figure out the actual spell, but I figured out what we'll build it off of. In other words, I found out how we're going to make the spell." Harry looked eager but skeptical at the same time.
"Ron's right Hermione, I don't think there was really any time for you to figure this out," he said.
"Well I didn't figure it out from a book. Not necessarily at least. Remember when Ron said that the book he was looking at had nothing except stuff about you, and how your parents died?" The black haired man nodded. "Well your parents' deaths sort of stuck in my mind, as if they played an important part in this. Then when you felt Voldemort get angry, I figured it out." The two men looked confused but didn't say anything. "Lily sacrificed herself for Harry, and that's what stopped the curse from working on him, love; the most powerful kind of magic there is." At this point Ron interrupted her.
"You're saying we need someone to sacrifice themselves for someone else, so that eventually every person in the world has a love sacrifice protecting them?" he scoffed. Hermione looked at him darkly.
"Let me finish," she said crossly. "Of course we can't do that. Anyway as I was saying before someone interrupted me, love is the most powerful magic. And, as I said, everything began to make more or less sense to me, when Harry started clutching his scar. His mother's love protected him, so the curse just left him with this scar." Harry still looked blank but for once, Ron was starting to look like he understood before his friend.
"So you're saying…we need a spell that will protect people with love?" he asked. Hermione beamed.
"Yup," she said.
"How are we supposed to do that, Hermione?" Harry asked.
"Well this is what we have to build off of, and I actually do have a part of the spell figured out." Ron gaped.
"How are you so quick at this? It took you, like, ten minutes to figure it all out." he said, astonished. Harry narrowed his eyes.
"A minute ago you told us you only knew what we had to build off of."
"I know, it slipped my mind, because I was afraid I would forget about what I found out."
"Oh, go on then," Harry said.
"Ok, well when Harry mentioned the dementors, I remembered the spell to get rid of them is 'Expecto Patronum.' I have a suspicion as to what it means but…hold on." She raced off to the languages part of the library, leaving two confused men behind.
She came back with a big English/Latin dictionary. She plopped it on the table, and began to leaf through it. She found one of the words she was apparently looking for and her eyes widened in excitement. Then she found the second word and murmured,
"Just as I thought." Suddenly she slammed the book shut and said "Ok, 'Expecto Patronum' means something along the lines of 'expecting a guardian.' So we need to find the Latin word for love, and add 'Patronum' onto the end of it and we'll have our spell."
"Wow, I never thought we'd get it so fast! Hermione you're brilliant!" Ron exclaimed making her blush. Harry was grinning. The red head suddenly leaped for the dictionary, and began tearing through it. Finally he let out a triumphant yell. "Found it!" Usually Madam Pince would come rushing over immediately to scold him, but she wasn't here at the moment.
"Well?" Harry asked eagerly "What is it?" Ron had no time to reply, however, because suddenly the door opened and the headmaster appeared. His hair and beard were disheveled, and it looked like he had been running. He was panting, and his faced held a worried and frantic look. He was holding his wand in his hand, in an attacking position.
"Get out to the halls! We need as many people as we can get right now, hurry!" He hurried away. The three adults were left in the library, looking confused.
"What was that?" Ron asked as they were getting out their wands, and cautiously going to the door of the room.
"Dunno, I've never seen Dumbledore act like tha-" Harry was cut off by Hermione.
"Shh!" she hissed. "Do you guys hear that?" They all listened intently, and Harry and Ron could make out some sort of sound. Suddenly Harry realized what it was.
"People are screaming! We've got to go." They all ran out the library entrance, and came across Professor McGonagall, who was breathing heavily.
"Professor!" Ron stopped her. "What's going on?"
"Death Eaters in the school; they went to the Ravenclaw common room already. There are already two students dead. The others managed to run away in time." Hermione was stricken, Ron was shocked, and Harry was torn between sadness about the students and panic.
"This is bad," he said worriedly. "Let's go guys!"
"Harry," Hermione said. "Wait. Professor where are the students?"
"They all ran into various places in the castle. Most of the Slytherins are in the Great Hall, I think."
"I wonder why," said Ron sarcastically and Hermione glared at him.
"We'll go try to help immediately," Hermione told her former teacher.
"Be careful," Professor McGonagall said hurriedly. "They don't even know Harry is here. Voldemort has, apparently, begun to think he can overthrow Dumbledore. I must go now. Good luck!" and she ran off down the opposite corridor. The three friends watched her retreating form until she disappeared around the corner. Then Hermione turned to Ron.
"Ron, what's the spell?" she asked. He sucked in his breath and looked at her silently. Finally he answered.
"Amoris Patronum."
I'm so so so so so so so sorry for how long it's taken me to update! At first I was too lazy to update and wanted to update a lot at the same time (for a lot of different stories) and was planning to start but then my computer got completely swarmed with viruses! My dad's finally fixed it but still I've been totally swamped with tests in school and projects and homework and sports and everything. But just so everyone knows, I haven't abandoned any of my stories! I promise! Now that school's started, it's just going to take me longer to update. Although, if I had someone to change The Marauders and Lily read Harry Potter book 3 into story format for me, it would go quicker…if you're interested, let me know.