Wow this chapter took a long time! We sincerely hope that no other chapter will take this long. And sorry. By the way, KCB was supposed to be introing this chapter, but i kind of left the sheet in my locker (i do that a lot) and therefore you wouldn't get this until Tuesday. We figured you wouldn't like that. She says something to the effect of sorry for the delay and hope you like this chapter. Anywho-we still don't own Harry Potter.
Chapter 32
The Pointless Mission
"OW!" Harry woke up and rubbed his head where he hit the floor. He intended to get back into his bed, but he found it wasn't there. Panicking, Harry took several steps backwards, tripped over a broken perch, screamed again, fell, and landed on something hard. He learned it was Ron, after said person broke into a resounding, though rather interesting, chorus of the Hogwarts School Song to the tune of God Save the Queen.
"Hogwarts Hogwarts Hoggy-warty warthogs
Sirius has fleas…" Sirius jolted awake at the sound of Ron's terrible off-key singing and took this opportunity to smack him and then join in.
"Whether we be old and bald, or young with scabby knees,
Our heads could do with filling with some interesting stuff,
For now they're bare and full of air, dead flies and bits of fluff-"
"Stop singing, both of you!" Harry yelled, covering his ears.
"Hey, you're a person!" Sirius observed.
"Um, yeah…oh!"
"Wow, I am!" Harry exclaimed. "Now, where are we?"
"Dumbledore's office."
"If this is Dumbledore's office, then where's Dumbledore?" Ron and Harry asked at the same time.
"Top secret Order mission. I do not, however, know where Heather and Hermione are."
"Right here!" Heather's voice rang through the walls as she, Ginny, and Hermione reentered the office.
"Hey Harry! You're-back," Hermione stammered. Fawkes flew into the room and looked down at Harry in what could only be considered phoenix-disdain.
Potter, you broke my perch!
"I did not!"
"You didn't what, Harry?" Sirius asked, putting his hand on his godson's forehead. "You feeling okay?"
"Just-just, oh never mind."
"Anyway," Heather continued, "mind telling us how you transformed back? Or, what you were doing outside at midnight in the first place?"
"Uh, not sure how I transformed back, and I was-uh-er-I did-but-he-tower-uh…MalfoyandIdueledontheastronomrytowerbecausehewasmadatmeforpunchinghimatQuidditchyesterda
yandhebeatmeandIfelloffthetowerandIthoughtIwasgoingtodiebutthenItransformedsoIdidn't."
"What?"
"I kind of-sort of-dueled with Malfoy."
"Outside?" Heather asked suspiciously.
"Er-on the Astronomy tower."
"And he beat you?" Sirius yelled.
"Well, um, I-yeah. But he did something illegal! He used the-" Harry stopped himself in mid-sentence when he realized what Sirius's reaction to Harry being hit with the Cruciatus Curse would be.
"He used the what?" Ron prodded.
"Never mind."
"Harry…" Sirius growled.
"He-he used two wands." Both of his godparents raised an eyebrow at this, but let it go.
"So, is there any chance you can transform back?" Heather asked.
"Uh-possibly…Why?"
"An animagus form is very useful. It won't be much help, however, if you can't use it when you need to," Sirius smirked. "If we have to push you off a building to get you to transform, we could potentially have a problem."
"Okay, I get it, Sirius. Um, did we ever actually go over that part?"
"Nope."
"Then how did I manage to do it last night-this morning-whenever it was when I transformed?"
"Adrenaline. But now, we're going to have to get you transforming the hard way."
"Run, Harry," advised Heather. "Run. Now. Run far, far away."
"Oh come on, it's not that bad, is it?" Sirius argued.
"Um, maybe we should leave you guys alone," Hermione suggested. "Come on Ron, Ginny, you need to work on homework anyway. To the library!" She raced out of the office, pulling a very annoyed Ron and a complaining Ginny with her.
"So anyway, you're actually supposed to say a spell to transform," Sirius explained. "Everyone's spell is different, and you won't know what it is until you say it. That's the reason the Animagus transformation is so difficult."
"So how did I transform before?"
"Don't know, actually. You must've said the spell without realizing it."
"How do I figure out what the spell is?"
"Pure and utter luck."
"Great."
"Just follow my lead." Sirius transformed into the great black dog and sat down at Harry's feet.
"Yeah, Sirius, I really don't think that helped him so much."
"Could you slow it down a little?"
"Just watch me, Harry." To both his and Sirius' amazement, Heather started chanting something in a language that sounded rather Celtic; before they realized it, a green-eyed fox was in Heather's place. The black dog that was Sirius gave a large yelp and transformed back into a person.
"You're an animagus?" The fox simply stared up at him and wagged her tail. "YOU are an animagus? You? Fox? Heather?" Said fox gave several small yips as if she were laughing and started prancing around Dumbledore's office.
"You are an animagus, aren't you? Was my mum an animagus, too?" Heather transformed back and laughed softly.
"Lily? Go against the rules? No, she wasn't an animagus. James did try rather hard to get her to become one, but in the end he just settled on convincing me. And I must say, Sirius, the look on your face was worth all of it!"
"But-but-you-he-oh, never mind. You get to help me with him then."
"Fine by me. Harry, concentrate on a phoenix. Look at Fawkes over there."
Gryffindor! Honestly, my name is Gryffindor!
"Gryffindor, not Fawkes."
"Wha?" Sirius stammered, looking at Harry in total confusion.
"You spoke with him, didn't you?"
"Yeah, and I can still understand him, too."
"That's…"
"Unusual," Heather finished, gazing at the phoenix in wonder. "Anyway, focus on Gryffindor, and say the first thing that comes to mind."
"Hello, Gryffindor!"
Hello, Potter"That's not what I meant!"
"You said, 'say the first thing that comes to mind,' so I did!" Harry countered.
"Sirius, would you stop laughing already? You're not helping!"
"You have to admit, he has James' sense of humor."
"Whether or not Harry is as funny as his father doesn't make a difference! We're his godparents! We're supposed to be helping him!"
"I am helping him!" Sirius exclaimed. While the two of them were arguing, Harry and Gryffindor were in deep conversation.
Concentrate on your wings. The feel of the air on your feathers. Flying without a broom. Are you focusing?
"Yes," Harry murmured in reply.
Good. Now close you eyes. Take several deep breaths, but still think of the phoenix. Now, open your mouth and say something.
"Kalimatrakes neolpo." The feathers and wings returned, and Harry jumped into the air, trilling loudly. Heather and Sirius stopped shouting at each other and stared at him.
"See, he managed it on his own. My laughter doesn't matter."
"Yeah, just as long as he can transform back," Heather reminded him.
"How do I switch back? How do I switch back?" Harry panicked.
"Calm down! Just reverse the order of the words." Harry did as the bird told him and found himself human once again.
"Yes!" Harry shouted. "Thanks Gryffindor!"
You're very welcome.
"Hey, Gryffindor, does Dumbledore ever sleep?" Sirius asked, looking over at the phoenix. "He'll never tell me."
About once a week.
"He says once a week," Harry interpreted.
"I knew it."
"Tell me again why we're here?" Sturgis Podmore, Remus Lupin, and Nymphadora Tonks were sitting, huddled around a dying fire, in a very cold cave in the middle of Siberia.
"Because," replied Tonks exasperatedly, "this is where the Death Eaters have been spotted." Of course, the entire thing was a lie. But while Tonks and Lupin kept Podmore out of the way, the rest of the Order was planning an attack on Voldemort's actual strong-hold.
"So, where are they?"
"We don't know," Remus told him. "That's why we're waiting for them to show us where they are."
"Oh, so it's like a stake-out!"
"Exactly!" they shouted.
"So, where is everybody else? If we know the Death Eaters are here, shouldn't the entire Order of the Phoenix be here too?"
"They are," Tonks lied. "They're all spread out and hiding other places."
"Okay," Sturgis remarked, seemingly satisfied with the answer. They began to play poker (with muggle cards, so as not to attract attention), and had soon been waiting for five hours.
"You know, I don't think they're here."
"Of course they're here!" Lupin responded. "They just haven't come out of hiding yet!"
"I'm going to go have a look." Tonks walked out of the cave, looking for the signal Dumbledore was supposed to be giving them as a sign to return to England. She didn't find Dumbledore or any other Order member. She did, however, come face to face with a large group of masked wizards in black robes.
"Tonks, what's keeping you? I thought-" Moony cut himself off in mid-sentence. "Oh, no. RUN!"
"What?" Podmore poked his head out of the cave in confusion. "Hey look, Death Eaters! We found them!" Lupin and Tonks, meanwhile, were in a very heated duel with about twenty of Voldemort's servants. After taking out no more than five of them, the two Order members attempted to retreat and Apparate to some point, preferably not one overrun with Death Eaters. Before they could do so, Bellatrix had stepped forward and taken the tired and cold Tonks out with one spell. That left Lupin and Podmore, who was nowhere to be seen, with an ever-growing number of very powerful, very angry Death Eaters.
"Hello, werewolf," one of them snarled, and Moony immediately recognized Rodolphus Lestrange's humorless voice.
"Hello, Lestrange. How's life as one of Voldemort's lackeys?" Successfully drawing every single wand-point to his chest, Remus levitated Tonks' limp body and made a mad dash for…for someplace. Anywhere that didn't have a large number of people trying very hard to kill him would be good.
He didn't get far, however. Some hex hit him in the leg, and he fell face first into the snow, Tonks hitting the white ground not far to his left. Flipping over to face the Death Eaters, Lupin found both Lestranges had removed their masks and were pointing their wands straight at him.
"Let's see how long it takes for him to go insane," Bellatrix suggested menacingly.
"The Longbottom's set a nice record, think you can beat it, werewolf?" They both laughed cruelly and hit him with the Cruciatus Curse.
No, he thought, don't give in. I have to face more pain than this at the full moon. It's nothing. Don't focus on the pain, think about something else. Bridget. Think of Bridget. Bridget…
He couldn't stop himself. All at once, Remus was screaming louder than he ever had. His throat was becoming raw, he was thrashing wildly in the snow, and still the Lestranges kept up their spell. More and more Death Eaters joined in, until it was all too much. It felt as if his body was being torn apart with white-hot butcher knives. And then suddenly-it stopped. Everything stopped, and Remus Lupin knew no more.
Muahahaha! The next chapter has already been outlined, it just needs to be put on paper (or rather hard drive space) so it should be up in about a week, maybe two weeks. After three you can start flaming us. Remember to review! It makes us oh so happy!
P.S. I do believe we've forgotten something. The password into the Gryffindor common room, blubber monkeys, was given to us by KCB's sister Leah, who was also the driving inspiration behind chapter 33. Please applaude now, even though she can't hear you. Review!
