Chapter Seven
"Dear, dear, dear, dear, dear, dear me." Said a voice from behind them and the Potter orphans turned to see Stephano standing there, his heavy, green suitcase with the dark mark on it floating behind him, and a look of pure joy on his face.
"This is just so terribly horrible that I can't help smiling." Nicholai shook his head, and his sneer remained on his face. It scared the children very much to see Nicholai so happy, because whenever he was happy, someone innocent and kind was suffering. In this case, Hagrid had already suffered and they were still suffering, having to look at Nicholai's hideous sneer.
"Why, it looks like he was scorched with dragon fire." Nicholai sighed sadly, pointing to Hagrid's scorched beard. But when Harry, Hermione and Ron saw the look on Hagrid's face, they knew it could not have been a dragon.
Hagrid's face showed one of absolute shock and surprise, as if he had been killed suddenly from horror. Harry shivered and looked away. That was exactly how his parents' faces had looked when they were killed.
Hermione sputtered, "No dragon killed Hagrid. I've read all about dragons, and I know that if he had been burned, his beard would have been much more then singed! He would be a blackened skeleton."
"Well, maybe the fire burned his skeleton, but not his skin." Nicholai shrugged smugly. "You never know what kind of freakish creatures this halfbreed keeps around here."
"How dare you call him halfbreed!"
"Not only that, he was halfblood too." Nicholai snickered. "Halfbreed and halfblood. What fun." Then he sneered again, "But of course, this is all a pity. Now, we need to get going. Hitch up the brooms. We're going to walk the ten minutes and find the portkey to Diagon Alley I believe it is a beer bottle, is it not? Make sure to bring the floo powder so we can get to Romania through the floo fireplace network. Then we'll fly into the heart of Romania." Then Nicholai looked at his watch. "And the portkey is scheduled to go at nine o'clock. It's already after eight, so let's go."
"How could you kill him!" Ron cried. "What did he ever do to you?"
"What do you mean 'what did he ever do to you?'" Nicholai mimicked. "He kept you children's fortunes from me, that's what he did to me! I want those galleons in your vault! And besides, isn't it obvious I didn't do it? Look at the scorched beard and hair! Even his clothes are burned! I would think a logical chess freak like you would be able to recognize dragon marks when you see them."
"You murderer." Hermine gasped. "
Nicholai laughed, "You make it sound like such a bad thing."
"We're going to tell the ministry about you." Ron said.
"Yeah," Harry jeered. His green eyes filled with tears as he remembered Hagrid's kind eyes and laugh. "You are going to pay."
"No." Nicholai's eyes hardened and shone with a eery black light. "You are going to pay. You should have died long ago."
Ron and Hermione were taken aback by the look of loathing in Nicholai's eyes.
"It's your fault I'm like this." Nicholai said.
"Like what?" Ron asked, totally confused.
Nicholai just laughed. Then he whipped out his wand. "I will hurt you, Harry Potter. You know I will. This wand is just as eager to hurt you as I am. Sure, you and your accursed siblings maybe have stopped me when you were babies, but that was then, and this is now. I have regained my power."
Harry's anger almost left his as he stared at Nicholai. "What are you talking about?"
Nicholai's eyes flashed from Harry's lighening scar, to Hermione's and Ron's scars on their foreheads. "You don't know where you got those, do you?"
The siblings just stared at him.
He laughed again. "Now get the brooms. It's time to go."
The siblings simultaneously reached their hands into their own pockets, but Nicholai cried, "Expeliarmious!" And their three wand danced out of their hands and into Nicholai's left hand.
"Now, let's go."
It took the children a few minutes to gather up the four brooms that Harry had carefully bewitched for the journey. Then they walked out of the Reptile room, leaving the cages of reptiles, the books and dear Hagrid, still lying in the room.
They went to their rooms and got their bags. Then Nicholai marched them out the door and they began walking down the driveway, past the rows and statues of dragons, that had looked so frightening at first. Nicholai kept his own suitcase floating behind him.
The Potter siblings felt a deep sense of loss as they left the house. They knew they were leaving behind all those wonderful dragons that Hagrid had taken care of so selflessly and had loved each one. He had studied them, tamed them and cared for them, just as he had cared for the Potter siblings. Hagrid was a very loving halfgiant, and the children would always remember him.
And the children, as they walked down the driveway, began to wonder and to question. What was to happen to them? What would Nicholai do to them now? Why had he wanted to heartlessly slaughter Hagrid? What was so important about going to Romania with them? Would anybody help them, or would everybody disbelieve them and be as dim-witted and oblivious as usual? These were frightening questions, and the siblings were so focused on answering them that they didn't even look ahead of them and were shocked when Mr. Fudge suddenly apparated out of nowhere and they jumped about a foot when they heard his pop!
Nicholai cried out in surprise and in his shock he must have done some spell because his wand let off an explosion and sent sparks in all directions. Harry stumbled back into Hermione, who bumped into Ron and all three Potters landed in a heap.
"What in Godric's name are you doing here!"
Swearing by using a very respected man's name inappropriately name is very rude, but Nicholai was very, very shocked. And furious.
Mr. Fudge puffed up his chest, and after sneezing once or twice into a hankerchief, said, "You will not speak as such to the minister of magic."
"Fine." Nicholai snarled. Then he said very politely, "What in Salazar's name are you doing here?"
Mr. Fudge looked at him disgustedly.
"What are you doing here, Mr. Fudge?" Harry asked.
Mr. Fudge gestured to the three bags that were floating behind him. "I wanted to give you your clothes and few belongings. I could have just gotten a few owls to take them, but I wanted to meet you kids and see how you were doing with Hagrid."
Then Mr. Fudge looked around, "And where is Hagrid? And who is this strange man?"
"He's Voldemort." Harry spat. Everybody flinched at the sound of his name. Nicholai glared at Harry and raised his wand, about to do something dreadful, but then Mr. Fudge started laughing.
"Oh, that's a good one, my boy! But don't say his name! And besides, he's gone. He's a wreck of a wizard with no powers."
"I must object to that." Nicholai's eyes locked with Mr. Fudge. "Voldemort-" Everybody flinched again, "Maybe have been…slightly dimmed thirteen years ago, but he is certainly not incapable of coming back. I'm sure such an intelligent man as himself could find…ways of resotring himself."
Mr. Fudge stared at Nicholai, then laughed again. "Oh, don't be absurd. You-know-who is gone, gone, gone."
"But you put us in his care in the last book!" Ron objected.
"Don't be silly, that wasn't you-know-who! That was someone pretending to be him. The real you-know-who is definitely not back yet. The man I put you with last name called himself that because he wanted to sound important and powerful. He did turn out to be quite stand-offish, didn't he?" Mr. Fudge mused.
"He tried to marry me to get our fortune." Hermione said dryly.
"See, that is why he could not have been the real you-know-who. He was really you-know-who, he would have killed you one the spot to get revenge."
"Revenge on what?" Harry asked.
Mr. Fudge looked uncomfortable. "Maybe when you're older." He supplied.
The Potter siblings were furious. What was all this about Voldemort losing his power? Nicholai had spoke of it. And apparently Mr. Fudge didn't believe that the atrocious man they had lived with last was as evil as he really was. They need to convince Mr. Fudge that Nicholai was at least the fake Voldemort, even if they couldn't convince him that he was the evil wizard of thirteen years ago who apparently mr. Fudge believes to have been defeated.
Nicholai laughed. "Well, this is fun, isn't it? I am certainly not you-know-who, nor am I this previous gardeian who had stolen you-know-who's name."
"Actually," harry said tartily, "I don't know who. Could you please tell me his reall name because I don't know who this you-know-who is."
Mr. Fudge look disapprovingly at Harry.
"Don't be so rude, Mr. Potter."
"He is really quite a bright boy." Nicholai smiled. He placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, and Harry shivered.
"Who are you, really?" Mr. Fudge asked.
'But he-" Hermione began, but Nicholai interrupted, "I am really and truly Nicholai. I am- I mean I was Hagrid's assistant."
"What do you mean was?" Mr. Fudge wanted to know.
"There was a terribly horrible accident. Why, it's so dastardly that I can't help but smile." Nicholai sneered. "It seemed a dragon burned him. Don't question me though, I don't know anything about dragons. Now he's very dead."
"Oh this is horrible!" Mr. Fudge cried. "I would never expect this to happen to Hagrid. He wasn't the best student. Got expelled in his second year at Hogwarts because, well, he was taking care of a baby dragon secretly and it got out and killed a girl. Very sad. But he was just a poor kid, and Dumbledore, the headmaster, let him stay as gamekeeper, and then let him come out here and keep and train dragons. Very nice man. What a sad end."
"Why yes," Nicholai sneered. "I went to Hogwarts about the very same time as this Hagrid. The silly halfbreed couldn't keep his creatures under control. Such a pity. I was just taking the children to the ministry and have a member come and look at him. Probably one who knows about dangerous creatures."
"He wasn't taking us to the ministry!" Ron cried.
"The children are very upset and don't know what they're talking about." Nicholai shook his head sadly. "Why don't you go into the house, and I'll go with the children to the ministry?"
"Don't leave!" Hermione cried. "Mr. Fudge, he's going to take us-"
"Why don't we just contact the ministry with floo powder?" Mr. Fudge asked.
"His house is not connected to the network. It's too far away."
"Good thing I brought a mirror." Mr. Fudge said. He pulled a mirror out of his suitcase and opened it up.
"Mr. Fudge, don't!" Ron cried. "This Nicholai is really our previous guardian!"
"You mean the man who was pretending to be you-know-who. Don't be silly." Mr. Fudge said.
"It's true!" Hermione and harry said together.
"Do I look like this man?" Nicholai asked.
"Well, no." Mr. Fudge replied. "You have a beard, and you have no eyebrows at all."
"But he could have grown a beard and shaved the eyebrow!" Harry said.
"Look at his ankle!" Hermione cried.
Nicholai rolle his eyes. "If you insist. Which ankle."
"Left." Ron said trimuphnatly.
Nichlai pulled off his shoe and his sock, and there was his skin, shining in the morning light. But there was no tattoo on the ankle. The skin was perfectly smooth with no blemish.
REVIEWERS
John- I updated! Aren't you so happy? And now you've finished the Series of Unfortunate Events, so you understand the story better! Yeah!
Arkady Jeanette Pheonix- That's so funny! There's a girl named Snodgrass! Won't that be an awesome last name, though? We will eventually finish posting "insert clever and witty title here", but we're so laaaaaaazzzzy. And also, we're both writing other stories at the same time. I'm writing another Lemony Snicket story, which I want to finish before I post. You can type websites in reviews. Go ahead.
Visualpurple- Hey, S! I'm sooooooooooo excited about Star Wars! I can play the theme song on my clarineto, and I've been looking at all the internet previews and clips from the movie. So basically I've already seen the most dramatic scenes.
Queenofinsanity- Yes, I will post the Lemony Snicket's childhood story. But right now I've only written about 120 pages, and he's only seven years old! It's so much fun! I love having little Lemony and little Jacques. Hee hee. And little Olaf. And Beatrice!
EowynEvermore- I'm glad you liked the story. I am planning on doing the whole series, but me thinks that will take quite a long time, seeing as I'm still on book numero dos. (number two). I like Spanish. Anyway, if I stop being lazy, I hope to get through the whole series.
Tonkasean- I'm glad you liked my story. I will definitely be writing more. Here you go!
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