Chapter Five
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Harry didn't understand why Voldemort's attack had been on an international country. What could Volemort possibly gain from attacking Australia? This thought had run through his head so many times that it had just become on long blur. Needless to say, as soon as they had arrived back from London the Order members had called an emergency meeting, the biggest meeting they had ever held and the first they had held without Dumbledor.
Harry, although being seventeen, was not apart of the meeting, mainly because he had chosen to stay with his friends and because Lupin and Leo had already promised to explain why the attacks had occurred overseas and not in England.
It was a good three hours before the meeting concluded, giving Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny enough time to talk. What Harry, Hermione and Ginny wanted to know had nothing really to do with the attack but with the way Ron had acted on the train earlier that morning.
"Why can't you lot just leave well enough alone?" Ron said through gritted teeth. "It's none of your bloody business"
"That's where you're wrong, Ron. It is our business," Hermione said back in a calm and rational voice, "Me, Harry and Ginny, we are all worried about you and that's what friends do, they worry because they care"
Ron scowled at her. "Why can't you just bugger off, Hermione?"
Harry jumped up, ready to defend his girlfriend. "That is enough!" he said sternly while crossing his arms over his chest, his eyes flashing angrily as he did so. "You have no god damn right to take your anger out on her, or any of us for that matter"
Hermione squeezed his hand. "It's OK, Harry, really"
"No, it isn't OK," Harry and Ginny, said concurrently.
Ginny crossed her arms as well and stood on the other side of Hermione. "Harry's right, Ron. You don't have the right to treat anyone the way you are now"
Ron glared at his sister and muttered something malicious under his breath.
"I want you to apologize to Hermione," Harry said.
"NO, I WILL NOT APOLOGIZE TO HER, I DON'T SEE THE NEED!" Ron shouted at him, his face burning a fierce crimson. "YOU NEVER MAKE HERMIONE APOLOGIZE WHEN HER AND ME FIGHT, SO WHY SHOULD I!"
"Ron, stop shouting. You are acting incredibly immature"
Ron narrowed his eyes at Harry, "Why don't you just piss off!" Ron answered back angrily, and then stormed out of the lounge just as Lupin, Leo and the Charmed Ones came in.
"What in the world was that about?" Piper asked, concern spreading across her face. Over the past week she had noted that the bondHarry, Hermione and Ron shared with each other was very tight, but now it seemed that that bond had suffered a major rift.
Ginny crossed her arms and flopped down onto the sofa. "Never mind, nothing that can't be fixed," she said, although seriously doubting her words.
Piper, Paige and Phoebe shared a look then moved to stand behind the sofa that was currently occupied by the bewildered teenagers.
Lupin moved in front of the mantel and with a wave of his wand conjured a large and very detailed map of the world that floated between himself and Leo. He then tapped the south-eastern corner of England. A bright blue dot appeared and the name LONDON was spelled out in blazing blue letters. "Okay, this is where we are," he said motioning to the name.
He then tapped a bay in Northern California. "Here is San Francisco," he said, as a red dot and the name SAN FRANCISCO appeared.
"And finally here is where the attacks took place," he tapped the map at a position about midway down the east coast of Australia and a purple dot and the name BRISBANE appeared.
"These three cities are the three most magical places in the world, London because it holds England's Ministry of Magic, because it has the largest wizarding community in the world and because of its close proximity to specific runes, such as Stonehenge."
"Then there is San Francisco. San Francisco is quite unique because the city itself sits upon a spiritual nexus, a battleground for good and evil. The problem with this is that there has to be someone guarding the nexus at all times and this is why the Charmed Ones are based in San Francisco, to keep the spiritual nexus on the side of good. San Francisco is also home to many powerful Wiccans and also America's second Ministry of Magic"
Lupin waited for them to process the new information he had given them before moving on. "Then we have Brisbane. This city holds the largest magical community in the southern hemisphere and is also home to both the Australian Ministry of Magic and the magical equivalent of the United Nations. Brisbane is also where the Australian school of magic is, or rather was located"
Hermione gazed at the graphically detailed map, a thoughtful frown beginning to wash over her features. "What do you mean by 'was located'?" she asked.
"Ah, yes. Well it's still there but as of four hours ago it is no longer in use and probably won't be for the better part of the year," he looked upon the group with sadness in his eyes. "The school, sadly, is one of the places that was attacked by Voldemort and his followers earlier today"
Harry looked up at him in disbelief. What reason did Voldemort have for violently attacking a school full of innocent school children? He didn't want to think about the deaths that most likely accompanied this horrid attack, but he had to ask. "How many school children died?"
"At the moment the death toll sits at four hundred, many of the students that died had been those that were less skilled at defending themselves"
"Such as first year students," Harry said in a quivering voice.
Lupin nodded gravely. "Yes"
Harry closed his eyes and let warm tears roll down his cheeks. The images of lifeless children and grieving parents flashed in front of his eyes. How were the parents of so many children going to handle the fact that they would never see their sons or daughters grow up, and all because of a war Harry had considered, up until now, to be isolated to his part of the world.
Hermione closed her hand over his and squeezed it gently. "Are you alright, Harry?" she asked, fearfully.
Harry pushed the sad thoughts from his mind and opened his eyes. He nodded. "I'll be fine," he sniffled, and then without wiping away the tears still clinging to his face he asked another question that needed addressing. "You mentioned the school was only one of the places attacked. Where were the others?"
Lupin cleared his throat. "Voldemort and his followers also attacked muggles in the Queen Street Mall, a major entertainment and shopping strip in the heart of the city," he rubbed a hand through his hair. "Many muggles have died as well, but not as many that might have if the attack had been during the day and not an hour before midnight"
Leo took over, giving Lupin time to gather his thoughts. "We believe that Voldemort attacked Australia because the magical communities down there are very important allies to England and the rest of the world. We also believe that he is trying to sever a great magical tie between England, Australia and America," Leo surveyed the curious faces in front of him and then nodded at Lupin. Acting on Leo's signal Lupin once again tapped the map and a gold line started to draw it's self across the surface, connecting each city to the other. The line had formed a lopsided triangle.
"This line represents the magic that connects the three cities," Leo said. "It is a strong magical tie that can, if needed, protect itself from being severed. But, like all things, it can be broken"
"What will happen if this magical link is severed?" Harry asked, concerned.
"Well, the word apocalypse comes to mind. If the tie is severed the magic that courses through that magical tie will seep out and cover the world, from end to end. This means that anyone good or evil, apart from muggles, can use this magic. If evil gets a hold of this magic then it will most definitely be the end of the world"
"How do we know if the tie has been broken?" Harry asked.
"Well, the environment around us will become increasingly unstable. Weather patterns will change, natural disasters will occur more frequently especially in places that are already frequented by natural disasters, oceans will rise, causing major flooding in most costal cities. The list is endless"
Harry gazed at the windows and watched the rainwater make intricate patterns on the glass. It had been raining like this for more than a week and the summer temperature had become increasingly colder over the last couple of days, to cold for summer. "It's already started," he stated simply. "The magical link or whatever the hell it is has already been damaged enough to start at least a part of the process"
"What!" Lupin said in disbelief. "How can you be sure, Harry?"
"Oh, come on. Don't you think the weather has been a bit off lately? I mean, one day it's so hot it feels like that hell has come to town and then the next day we're wearing jackets and scarfs," Harry looked around the room, certain that he was on the right track. "God knows I don't want to be right, I don't ever want to be right when it comes to situations as dire as this. But think; look at the evidence, the rain and the cold weather, it's not right"
"Maybe it's all just coincidental," Hermione said in a shaky voice.
Piper came around from behind thesofa and stood next to Leo. "As much as I don't want it to be true, I think Harry's right"
Phoebe frowned at her in confusion . "Why do you think that?"
"Phoebe, think back to before our arrival here. What's been happening in San Francisco for the last two weeks?"
"Oh! Oh no!" Phoebe shook her head, suddenly realising what Piper meant. "Aw crap!"
Hermione looked at Piper curiously. "What's been happening?"
"Earthquakes," Harry said simply, still not wanting to believe what was happening.
Piper nodded. "Yes, for the last two weeks San Francisco has been sitting atop some pretty unstable ground. We've had at least a tremor a day, sometimes more"
"But…but…San Francisco sits on a very large and major fault line," Hermione stated. "Can't these earthquakes have been caused by pressure build up along the fault?"
"I don't think so," Leo responded, a confident tone is his voice. "For some reason, an earthquake can be triggered by the magic that courses through the link-line but only if it crosses paths with that of a fault line. It might be because the pressure of the magic is forced upon the pressure already in the fault, thus causing a powerful upheaval"
"So, is that it then?" Ginny asked, fear, stark and vivid, glittering in her eyes. "Are we going to die?"
"No, if the world was going to end it would have done so already," Leo said, frowning thoughtfully as he did. "But, it does look as though it has been damaged"
Harry looked up at Leo. "How do we fix it?"
"When Voldemort dies along with his vampires and death eaters the damage will be fixed," Leo said. "But, we can not rush haphazardly into war. Not until you are ready"
"Which is why I think I should teach you how to defend yourself properly," Phoebe said. "Not magically but physically"
"But im going to need magic to kill Voldemort," Harry said, clearly surprised by Phoebe's offer.
"No, Harry. Phoebe means defence against vampires, not V- Voldemort," Hermione said with determination. "Vampires are immune to magic. They can use it but they cannot be killed by it, so I'd say that this is an excellent suggestion and that you should take Phoebe up on her offer"
Harry nodded in agreement. "I see your point. Alright, I will do it," he said and faced Phoebe. "Thankyou"
"Not a problem," she said. "Granted I might not be as good as the Slayer when it comes to fighting vampires but I am pretty good. And any way, I'm sure she can take over from me when she gets here"
"Im sure she can," Harry said, with a smile that was meant to hide his uneasiness. But what if she doesn't come? What happens then?
Authors Chat
Hi. A Happy New Year to you all! Sorry if this chapter is a bit boring but now you know why the attack was in Australia. The story will get better though. I thank all of you who have been reviewing regularly. Without you guys I probably would have given up writing this story ages ago, thanks. I don't know when the next chapter will be up because I am going away for the rest of my school vacation but it should be up soon. Please don't forget to review and please don't forget to read DISTANT MEMORIESjust a story I thought up one day.
Thanks.
