Chapter 15
Behind the Veil
Ginny felt her feet hit something hard, and when she opened her eyes, she was standing in the middle of a wide stone balcony overlooking a large city. In the distance, she could see a castle perched on a large hill and a raised road snaking its way toward the gate. She stepped toward the stone wall along the edge of the balcony and looked down.
Below her she saw a courtyard which looked all too familiar. The fountain in the center was broken and empty. A large scaffold had been erected nearby, and four wizards were busy assembling a pair of large doors braced with steel and gold. Other wizards were busy planting trees and repairing large stone tiles.
"It is a tragedy," announced a voice from behind her. "That courtyard was created long ago by a very old family who wished to return some beauty to this battle scarred city."
Ginny spun around and found Grigore Tarus standing in the doorway behind her. "I― I'm sorry, I promise I never meant―" Tarus held up a finger to stop her.
"You have nothing to apologize for," he said with a smile. "Even if you alone had been the source of all that destruction, I would consider myself lucky to pay such a small price for your safety. I would rather see this city destroyed than have you killed."
Ginny was not prepared for such a statement, and she struggled to find the most appropriate response.
"Do not concern yourself. This is the nature of things. Come," he beckoned as he walked to the low wall and pointed to the wizards working on the massive doors. "Do you see those doors, there? The first doors were heavily enchanted to keep this city safe. They were crafted so well, that after centuries they had never failed. However, they did tend to look as if their creator was as worried about the inhabitants as he was about the invaders.
"A hundred years ago, they were improved, 'to correctly reflect the wealth and greatness of the city,' it was said. It was a small change, but the tiniest flaws can become fatal weaknesses. They are being built anew, by the finest craftsmen in Europe. They will be strong, imposing, inspiring and beautiful. Such a creation would not have been made for many years had the old doors not been torn down."
He swept his hand over the rest of the courtyard. "All the trees will be replaced. We will bring in the most attractive and noble trees from around the world. There you can see a pair of tall birches from the wilds of Finland. This inn, one of the oldest in the city, is full for the first time in ages."
"So, you're happy it was destroyed?"
"Happy? No, of course not," Tarus said, "but such events are only destructive if we allow it to remain destroyed. This is only a tragedy because the wizards who created it never had a chance to see how appreciated their gift had become."
Ginny nodded distractedly. Her mind had already moved on to much more interesting topics. It was obvious to her now that she was in the same tower which she and Harry had reached from the tunnel. Tarus had said that he didn't know what had happened to her, but his words and actions spoke differently.
"Why am I here?" she asked.
"A wise question," he said with a smile. "Clever witches and wizards ask questions with many answers. One can often learn many things while professing to have only a single purpose."
"No, I... er..." Ginny stammered, struggling to understand what Tarus had implied.
He simply laughed. "You have better instincts than many, Ginny. To answer your question, I will give you all that you might ask. You are in Romania to discuss my request for Aurors during the Quidditch World Cup Tournament. Your Minister thinks it is impractical and impossible, and for once, he is correct. You're here to see that the number is lowered, but you'll fail. Instead you will force me to agree to let other wizards ―well-trained, but not Aurors― be used in their place."
Ginny stared at him strangely. If he hadn't been laughing, she might have thought he was trying to pressure her into agreement.
"You are on this balcony because I was forced to bring you here by Portkey," Tarus continued, keeping the same light tone. "A regrettable choice, but a necessary one. Myself, I never have liked Portkeys. It is simply too easy to trick their users. However, it is also difficult to track their users, and impossible to waylay them. I brought you to this balcony because this inn is perfectly safe, and from here you would be able to see with your own eyes that you are just where I said you were.
"If you wished to know why you are in this inn, and not any other, the answer is much simpler. This is the safest building in the Lower City. Even the Gatehouse is less secure, due to its rather drafty nature at the moment," he added with a smirk. "And finally, if you want to know why you are in the Lower City, and not the Upper City, I need only ask you: Would you rather spend the night in the Castle? The city guards insist that you will be perfectly safe there."
"No, I think this will do fine," Ginny answered quickly.
"I expected you would say that," Tarus replied. "I also expect that one of those was the answer you were seeking? While it is possible you were asking a philosophical question about the purpose of our very existence, I'm afraid that answer would be very long, and quite boring. I was hoping you might stop me before I was forced to begin on that subject. Are you satisfied? May I skip the discussion of our grand purpose in life?"
"Yes, thank you," Ginny replied, unable to keep a smile off her face. "I think you've answered all my questions."
"That is fortunate, for I must leave for the evening. Something very important and frightfully boring has come up. I'm sorry to say that must attend to it immediately," he explained. "Feel free to explore as much of the city as your bravery allows. Please do remember, however, that you do work for me now, and you will make a poor assistant if I cannot find you tomorrow morning."
Tarus bowed and left quietly. Ginny explored the rest of her room and found it to be rather lavishly decorated. She realized that she should have expected such a room, since Tarus himself must have asked for it. As the sun descended toward the horizon, a pair of young wizards arrived at her door with a number of platters of food. Ginny accepted them graciously.
She had absolutely no desire to venture out into the city again. She preferred the idea that hardly anyone even knew she had left London. As night fell, she watched the torches flare to life across the city from her balcony. It seemed Tarus had already worked out all the details of their meeting. With luck, she would be back in London before lunch.
Ginny awoke the next morning to a bright sunrise shining into her room through the balcony. She hadn't slept as well as she had wanted to. While she believed what Tarus had said, the only thing between her room and the night sky were the satiny (and undoubtedly expensive) curtains hanging across the doorway to her balcony. Certainly someone would have thought to make sure that someone would need more than a broom to break into any of the rooms. Still, it made for troubled dreams.
She decided to chase her memories of the night away with a long, relaxing bath. Her room had two of them, and Ginny had chosen the deeper of the two. For almost an hour she simply laid back, soaking in the warm water and listening to the gentle music being made by a bizarre clam-like creature that lived in the bottom of the tub.
She had almost drifted back to sleep when she heard the familiar sound of ruffling feathers coming from her room. It must have been an owl. Tarus said he would be meeting with her this morning. He'd probably sent the owl to tell her when she would be expected. With a resigned sigh, she stepped out of the bath and dressed quickly. Wondering whether she'd have time for breakfast, she grabbed her brush and walked out of the bathroom.
She started brushing her hair, but stopped immediately and let the brush fall to the floor when she saw the owl perched on the foot of her bed. It was Hedwig. She even recognized the parchment she was carrying as the same piece she had sent two days ago. Had Hedwig been unable to find Harry? What could that mean? Hedwig hooted encouragingly and held out her leg.
Ginny took the note, and realized immediately that it was not the same note she'd sent. It was the same parchment, but she could see the distinctive shapes of Harry's handwriting scratched through the parchment before she'd even finished opening it. As she sat down and flattened the parchment in front of her, Hedwig jumped from her perch and flew off through the curtain.
Ginny was upset for a moment, but realized that if Hedwig had made it to Romania in only a little over a day, she must be hungry and tired. Instead of worrying about Hedwig, Ginny turned her attention to the letter. As she expected, it was from Harry, and by the look of his handwriting he had written it very quickly. She frowned as she began reading.
Ginny,
You need to leave Romania as quickly as you can. The Brotherhood is planning something and you're in terrible danger. Don't send any messages to me or Hermione or any of your family members. Don't let anyone in the Ministry know where you are until you are back in London, and try to avoid Grigore Tarus and all of the guards if you can.
The Brotherhood is watching you. You need to stay hidden until you can find a way out of the city and back to London. I will be coming to help if you have not found a way out already. If you need to find me, look for a shop on the High Street selling the first Christmas gift I got from Kreacher. Once you're inside, a goblin will find you and tell you where to go. Try not to let anyone notice you.
Destroy this message as soon as you can. Please be careful, and stay hidden. I'm on my way.
Harry
Ginny sat and stared at the message for a while longer. The message itself wasn't as disturbing as the way it was written. Harry's script was hurried, frantic, and tense. In a few places, his quill had almost cut through the parchment. What had happened to make him react like this? Why hadn't he told her anything more? How would he know if she had made it out of the city? What would he do after she left?
There were too many questions, but the letter wasn't going to answer them. She quickly found her wand, picked up the message and held it away from her body. She tapped it lightly with her wand and called out, "Inflamare." The parchment incinerated instantly, leaving only the smallest puff of ash.
She wanted to go to the balcony and see if there was something happening in the city that might give her some clue about Harry's worries, but thought better of it. Perhaps her appearance on a balcony visible to all of the city would be just the thing the Brotherhood was waiting for. She'd been stupid to spend so much time there the previous afternoon. She began pacing, trying to figure out just what to do, but was interrupted a minute later with a sharp knock at her door.
"Ginny," a voice called through the door, "may I speak with you?"
It was Grigore Tarus. If anyone was going to tell her what was happening, it would be him. Ginny raced to the door, and pulled it open. Tarus stood in shock for a moment, looking rather uncertain.
"Are you alright?" he asked as he stepped into the room. "You look upset."
"Oh, no," Ginny said dismissively, "I, er... I'm just a little off today. I don't sleep well in strange places."
"I understand," Tarus said with a somber nod. "Well, it was an unsettling night for many, I'm afraid."
"Is something wrong?" Ginny asked, trying not to appear as eager as she truly was.
"Wrong? No, not yet," he answered. "There are... complications."
"I think I need to leave."
"Oh? And what will you tell your Minister?"
"Just what you told me yesterday," Ginny answered. "I've thought about it and it's perfectly reasonable. It still accomplishes what you want, but it will be easier for him to accomplish and he'll be more willing to help when you ask for more next week."
"And why would I ask for more next week?" Tarus asked curiously.
"Because the war will have started by then," Ginny replied boldly.
Tarus surveyed her carefully. "You are a truly clever witch. I have never regretted my decision to seek you out."
"So we're done then?" she asked. "Do you have a Portkey or fireplace I can use to get back to London?"
"I do, but I'm afraid that there is some other business I need to discuss with you first. I have a Portkey which will take us to the Castle. I regret that the situation is now so unstable that we can no longer risk taking even the High Street. Your Portkey to London is there."
"We can't discuss it here?"
"It will be much more difficult here. Some things are easier to understand when they can be seen," he told her. Seeing the worry in her face, he stepped closer to her and spoke in a reassuring voice, "There is nothing for you to worry about."
"Your guards―"
"My guards will not harm you while you are with me," he finished for her. "The situation is precarious, but not yet that disastrous. Please trust me. This should not take long. You can be back in your Ministry before Harrington has even left for his noon meal."
Tarus pulled a small wooden box from his pocket and opened it for Ginny. Sitting on a bed of soft velvet, was a small silver key. Tarus held the end of it in one hand, and slipped the box back into his pocket with the other. When he pulled it back out, it was holding his wand. He gave her a questioning look.
With a deep breath, Ginny took a hold of the other end of the key. Tarus nodded and slowly moved his wand toward the key. The moment they touched, Ginny felt her body get yanked forward and the room around her vanished.
A moment later, Ginny found herself standing in a round room lined with ancient-looking paintings. The floor was marble, but the walls looked to be made of roughly cut granite.
"Where are we?" she asked suspiciously.
"You see? It's not so easy to trust them, is it?" Tarus commented. "Come. See for yourself." He led Ginny through a small doorway and out onto another balcony. They were in the Castle, and she could see the tower they had been in gleaming in the morning sun across the city.
"What are we here to talk about?" Ginny asked.
"You," Tarus answered casually. He motioned for Ginny to follow him back into the castle.
"Me? What about me?" Ginny asked as he led her through a different door which led to a set of stairs which spiraled back down into the castle. As they stepped onto them, Ginny felt them lurch slightly and slowly start twisting downward. Tarus didn't hesitate, and began walking down them at a casual pace.
"I have met tens of thousands of wizards in my life, Ginny," he explained as they began passing doorways to various levels of the castle. "Of them, there have a hundred or so great witches and wizards. In my mind, I see them as proud ships sailing the great sea. They ride above the world, navigating its currents and anticipating its storms. Other wizards are content to follow the winds of fate, but the great wizards bend them to their will." Tarus paused and looked back, "You, Ginny, are one of those wizards. A great storm is approaching, and I foresee that you will be the anchor that will keep the wizarding world safe. You will be a great leader."
"I haven't done much to show it," she commented.
"Come now. You can't tell me that no one has ever told you that you were not like the others," he said as continued down the stairway. "No one has ever singled you out? No one has insisted on selecting you when others were available?"
"I haven't done half the things that Hermione has done. Even Ron's done more than I have."
"And they are also great wizards, but they do not hold the potential that you do. Miss Granger is amazingly clever, but she has become tangled in the servitude of others and only seeks answers to questions that others ask. Even your brother, Ronald, has great potential, but he has chosen to run from it and hide behind a frivolous pastime."
"And what I've done is so much more?" Ginny argued. "I'm just an assistant. All of the honors and duties don't change that. I didn't do anything to deserve them. I didn't do anything to make them happen."
"Of course not," Tarus replied lightly. "I did."
Ginny nearly tripped down the stairs. "What?" she barked. "You did what?"
"I felt guilty when I heard that you no longer wanted to be an Auror," he explained. "You would have made a fine Auror, but after what happened to Charles, it was understandable. So I gave you another option. I set up the meeting with Henri. Had he been more respectful, you would have been able to profit greatly from his friendship. I convinced the French delegates and the French Minister to gamble upon your abilities, and it paid off well. When the opportunity arose, I told Razvan to suggest you to be the delegate to visit our pitch so that I might see how you were handling your new duties."
"You manipulated the Ministry to get those things!"
"Manipulated? That is a poor choice of words to describe what I have done," Tarus replied defensively. "The Ministry pays you to do as they tell you, do they not? Are they manipulating you? Is that so different from what I have done? I paid handsomely, in both agreements and resources, to see that you got what you deserved. At each step, you have proven your value, and you have accomplished more than your Ministry expected. In essence, I have paid for them to discover a witch with invaluable talent. These are unstable times. We do not have the luxury of time. I have only revealed what they would have found in time. In what sense would that be... manipulation?" he asked with distaste.
Ginny trudged down the steps trying to figure out just how to respond. She felt confused. In many ways he was correct, and yet it still felt distinctly wrong and unfair to her. It was manipulation. The fact that the result was beneficial to the Ministry didn't make it any less so. The question was whether such manipulation was wrong by definition. Instead of pressing the issue, she decided to try a different angle.
"Why me, then?" she asked with real curiosity. "Because of Charlie?"
"You mean, why you and not Miss Granger?" he asked. "I will admit that I did feel some obligation to your brother, but that only drove me to seek you out. What I found in you was unused potential in amounts I had not expected."
The stairs came to an abrupt end at a huge iron door. Tarus retrieved the key they had used as a Portkey and slipped it into the lock. With a light push, the door swung open, revealing a large circular room. Two large staircases came to an end on either side of the room. Directly across from them was a large stone arch which appeared to slope down from the level of the room. As they stepped into the room, torches around the perimeter burst to life.
"The war is nearly here, Ginny," he said with a serious tone. "Whatever happens, the world will be in dire need of truly great witches and wizards when it is over. Hermione knows her talents. When the war ends, she strive to use them, even if that is not what the world needs. You are only beginning to understand your talents. It is much easier to build a strong castle if you start from a clean foundation, rather than trying to finish one half-completed by someone else. You are a clean foundation, Ginny. With my help, your talents have grown faster than they ever would. Fast enough to prepare you for what is to come."
"My talents? What exactly are those?" Ginny asked. "What am I supposed to be preparing for? A war?"
"No, for peace," answered the old wizard. "The war will come, and it will be won, for it must be. To allow ourselves to consider losing that war is to contemplate the upheaval of nature itself."
Tarus led her across the room, through the large arch and down the gently sloping corridor. "You are the key to everything I have anticipated, Ginny. When the war is over, you will be desperately needed. Your friends are influential whether they survive or not. That influence will grow into power. You have a sharp mind and a quick wand. The world will accept you as a leader, whether you want them to or not. You will not be able to do it alone. You will need the wizards you have met. They will make powerful allies."
"What is this all about? Why did we have to come here to talk about this?" Ginny asked. Something was beginning to make her uncomfortable. It was intangible, yet unmistakable. "Where are we going?"
"I had meant to bring you here earlier. Perhaps many hardships could have been avoided, and perhaps things could have turned out much worse," he commented mysteriously. Ahead of them was another large arch, blocked by a pair of very simple doors. They appeared to be made out of stone trimmed with gold. Tarus stopped as they reached them and turned toward Ginny. His eyes stared intently at her.
Ginny tried to stare back, but her earlier discomfort was growing and becoming more insistent. It was distracting and irritating, like a buzzing in her mind that could not be escaped or ignored.
"You can feel it, can't you?" Tarus asked. "Even through these doors you perceive it."
Ginny stared at him in confusion. "What are you talking about? What is it?"
"I decided long ago that you needed to know before the war started. You needed to see it and hear it before you were forced to decide what you would do," he told her solemnly. "This place was not inhabited because of its fertile fields or easily defended citadel. At the heart of this hill is something the ancient wizards knew must be protected."
His answer had done little to answer Ginny's question, but as he turned away from her to face the arch, the stone doors groaned and slowly parted, revealing a dimly lit, cavernous hall through the doorway. Tarus remained standing where he was, but he nodded to her, telling her to enter.
As Ginny stepped forward, she was surprised with the size of the room. It was round, like so many of the other rooms in the Castle. The floor of the room looked to be more than twenty feet below her, at the bottom of six successively smaller levels, almost like some sort of amphitheater. The ceiling was domed and rose well over the level of the door.
In the center of the room, there was a raised, circular platform of crumbling stone. In its center stood a single arch of smooth, dark stone. It was cracked in many places, and one side had a sizable chunk missing, making it appear as though it was standing precariously. Over the arch was hung a single piece of dark fabric which trembled slightly.
Ginny's eyes had locked on it. Her mind more than her ears confirmed that the buzzing, hissing noise was coming from it. The resemblance to the archway in the Department of Mysteries was more than coincidental. They were not identical, but Ginny had no doubt that their functions were similar. Her feet were frozen where they were, unwilling to either run away or move an inch closer.
"You have seen one of these before, have you?" Tarus whispered from behind her. "Someone who had never seen one would not be so hesitant to investigate it."
"I have seen... another arch like this," Ginny mumbled as she stood transfixed, "in the Department of Mysteries."
"Of course you have," he said softly. "That is just one of many coincidences that made me realize how important you are. Few wizards would be able to understand what you are about to experience."
Ginny's head spun around to glare at Tarus.
"Relax, Ginny," he said comfortingly. "I have not expended all of this time and energy to simply throw you through that arch. I would sooner throw myself," he said sincerely. "You hear it, don't you? It is just a minor thing, like a sound you cannot quite identify or a splinter in your finger which you cannot find."
Ginny nodded and turned back toward the arch.
"Step closer with me," he urged, "and tell me what it is you hear."
They carefully climbed down the ancient steps leading to the platform. Ginny was unable to concentrate on anything but the arch. As she approached, the sound felt stronger, and she began to think she could almost hear it. Tarus led her down to the last level and stood with her just beyond the edge of the platform.
"We will be safe here," he told her. "Now listen, and tell me what you hear."
Ginny closed her eyes, and focused on the bizarre mixture of sounds swirling around in her mind. There was a strange rhythmic hissing, almost like the sound of someone slowly sweeping a floor with a straw broom, and a deeper sound, somewhere between the sound of a boiling cauldron and the grinding of stone against stone. Mixed in with those sounds was another sound, or possibly a group of sounds. It rose and fell in volume, like the tide washing against a beach, but softer and almost musical.
"I don't know what it is," Ginny said. "It might be nothing at all. It's just noises."
"It's more than that," Tarus insisted. "It is not one thing, but many. Concentrate. Open your eyes. See the veil in your eyes, hear the sound in your ears, and perceive the other side with your mind."
Ginny did as he said, and twitched as she saw the veil ruffle slightly as if momentarily struck by a breeze. She swallowed and tried to concentrate harder. The sound increased in volume, but she noticed that it sounded muffled. With a little encouragement from Tarus she focused even more, and slowly, the veil began to ripple and sway in some sort of pattern.
The sounds became a little clearer, and Ginny began to hear a more definite pattern to the sounds. The hissing was not so rough or broken as she had thought before. It was smooth and continuous, but varying rapidly in pitch and volume. It sounded less like scratching and more like rushing air. The rumbling remained the same, but the third sound was much more distinct.
It was not just a single sound, but the combined sounds of a vast number of things. like wind through a forest of trees, and yet it was more than that. The sounds seemed to have a life of their own. They were calling out to her, trying to get her attention.
"I― I think I hear... voices," Ginny stammered.
"What are they saying? How do they sound?"
Ginny tried to ignore the other sounds, but it was harder than she thought. The more she focused on the voices, the louder the hissing and grinding got. There were many voices, hundreds of voices, calling out to her across some vast distance. They sounded sad or mournful. Were they trapped there? Where did the arch lead? Were they trying to find a way out? Ginny stretched her neck forward a little, and the voices rose over the hissing. There was something more about them that she couldn't quite make out.
Slowly and unconsciously, she stepped up onto the platform. "Just a little closer," she murmured. She felt Tarus's strong hands holding onto her shoulders firmly.
As she'd hoped, the voices became even clearer. The veil flapped and waved as if tossed by a brisk wind. The voices didn't sound so mournful anymore. They sounded as if they were pleading or begging. Something felt wrong. They weren't begging to be saved, they wanted her to do something. It wasn't sadness she had heard, it was despair.
"They're trying to warn me about something," she said urgently. "They're trying to tell me to do something ―something to prevent it." As she spoke, the voices swelled, and Ginny thought she could almost hear them echoing in the room. They were desperate and panicked. In the background, the rumbling began to get louder.
"Time does not exist on the other side," Tarus said sharply. "They see the past and present at the same time, and perceive the future with the clarity that you and I might foresee the events of the next few moments. There is much that we may learn from them."
"They're afraid of something," she said. "Something is going to happen, or―" The rumbling increased suddenly, becoming so loud that Ginny felt it in her chest. The veil billowed like a sail, and she realized in one terrifying moment that it was not grinding at all, but the rumbling growl of some thing on the other side of the veil. Her skin went icy cold, as though it had been struck by a harsh winter wind. Her heart began beating faster, sending hot blood through her chilled veins.
"What is it?" she asked in terror. The voices were crying out to her now, but she couldn't hear them over the growl. The hissing started again, sounding as if it were coming from inside her skull. As it echoed in her mind, she felt twinges of pain shooting down her neck. She closed her eyes and pressed her hands against her ears, but it didn't help. The hissing got louder and louder, forming some rhythmic pattern, a pattern that sounded faintly familiar.
Her heart pounded in her chest, mingling the echoes of her own pulse with the hissing in her head. It was a sound she'd heard before, a memory kept only in the deepest corners of her mind. It grew louder still. The rhythm had stopped, replaced by the same pattern, again and again:
Assyath ash sharrath assai! Assyath ash sharrath assai!
It was a command. She didn't know what it was asking, but she couldn't stop hearing it. She tried to think of anything else. She pressed her hands against her eyes, trying to force her mind to focus on something else. It continued, louder and louder, more demanding each time. Her throat tightened, choking her. When she gasped for breath, her lungs filled with hot, dry air. Her whole body felt hot now, and her skin felt scorched and dry. Panicking, she twisted and flailed her arms, trying to get Tarus to let go so she could run away.
She opened her eyes for a brief instant, and saw the veil billowing out toward her as if driven by a violent gale. An oily-looking plume of black vapor was escaping from the cracked support of the arch. Then, with the sound of an oncoming train, the veil was tossed upward, revealing an infinite blackness. An image flashed into her mind, an image which had haunted her dreams for years: a young man grimacing maliciously at her, his cruel, hate-filled eyes burning with a malevolent green light.
Assyath ash sharrath assai! Ginny! Come to me!
Ginny closed her eyes and screamed until her throat hurt. She felt her feet leave the floor, and then a moment later she heard another voice echoing through the room.
"Occulo Animoportus!"
As though a door were slammed shut, the sound stopped. Ginny found herself on the cold marble floor lying only feet from the platform. Grigore Tarus was standing over her, with his wand drawn. A smooth beam of light was stretched from the tip of his wand toward the arch. She twisted to follow it and found the arch surrounded by a cylinder of crackling purple light, which followed the edge of the platform and extended to the ceiling. Inside the cylinder, the veil twisted and flapped angrily.
Tarus looked tense and angry. Like Ginny, he was breathing heavily and shaking. She sat up and slid herself away from the platform. The veil was gradually calming, and by the time she had reached the rise of the first terrace, it was only swaying gently. Tarus lowered his wand, and the wall of light dissolved away. The slightly irritating buzzing noise returned. It no longer held any of the intensity she'd just experienced, yet she found that she could now make out the three distinct components.
"I must apologize," Tarus said shakily, "I was not prepared for it to escalate that quickly,"
"Why didn't you let me go?" Ginny replied in a raspy voice. "Didn't you see it? Couldn't you hear it?"
"No, I could not. What you saw and heard was only in your mind."
"I couldn't stop it. Didn't you feel me trying to escape?"
A look of remorse crossed Tarus's face. "I did," he said. "It was only a matter of seconds. I did not expect it would happen that quickly."
"Seconds?"
"No more than four seconds passed between your last word and the moment you began screaming. I reacted as quickly as I could. I apologize. I am not as quick as I once was."
Ginny turned and stared at the arch. Four seconds? What had happened to her? No one had ever described anything like that with the arch in the Department of Mysteries. Harry and the Order had fought a battle with the Death Eaters around it. What was so different about this one? What had happened and how had Tarus stopped it?
Ginny looked at the platform again and noticed something curious. She'd been too preoccupied with the arch to see it before. The platform itself was made of cracked white marble, but the edge was not. The lip of the platform was made entirely of gold, as though a huge golden ring had been embedded into the stone surrounding the platform. To either side of the arch, there were a pair of large silver globes also embedded into the stone, which the golden ring seemed to pass through in a single piece. Ginny had little doubt that she would find a third on the far side of the platform.
"What is this place?" she asked unsteadily. "Who made this? Was that― Was that some sort of illusion, or..."
"You saw no illusion," Tarus assured her. "What you saw is no less real than anything that exists in this world. I can only speculate as to what you saw. I am afraid that I do not have the strength to face it without someone to guard me as I guarded you."
Ginny wasn't paying attention to him. "Did they build this?" she asked as she struggled to her feet. "Why do they want him? How did they find him..."
Tarus strode over to her and stared into her eyes. "Did you see him? Did he speak to you? What did he tell you?" he asked, clutching at her shoulders with sudden desperation.
Ginny ignored his questions, and pointed at the ring surrounding the platform. "Why is that here? What does it mean?"
Her voice seemed to wake Tarus from his own thoughts. He looked to see what she was pointing at, then turned back toward her with a curious expression. "You have seen something like it before? I thought you might have."
With an echoing boom the doors above them flew open, striking the wall on either side of the doorway. Ginny flinched at the noise, and when she looked up she saw three wizards leaping down the stairs toward her and Tarus. They were not wearing the purple robes of the city guard, but the long, grey hooded cloaks of the Brotherhood. Their wands were already in their hands.
Ginny stood up and spun around, pulling her wand from her pocket and training it on them in one fluid motion. Two of them stopped immediately and raised their wands, but the third shouted something in a foreign language and jumped back toward the other two. If she acted quickly, she might be able to hit more than one of them. Just as she was about to cast her hex, Tarus leaped toward her, knocking her wand from her hand. Instinctively, she twisted and elbowed him hard in the chest. He gave a feeble cry, and fell back as Ginny dove her for wand.
"Stop!" echoed Tarus's voice.
Ginny froze, having already recovered her wand and pointed it at the three wizards on the stairs. She took a moment to look at them. The first of them through the door was currently standing between her and the other two. He was clutching at one of the wizards' wrists, pointing it harmlessly toward the ceiling.
"Josef! Send the other two away!" Tarus commanded. Ginny heard the wizard facing away from her bark an order, and the two wizards slowly relaxed, put their wands away and quickly climbed the stairs. When they had left, the first wizard walked down the last stretch of stairs and strode toward them.
"I apologize, Grigore," the wizard said. "The detectors went off, I did not know you had already brought her here."
Ginny stared at the wizard before her. She recognized him almost immediately. It was Josef, the guard who'd come to the Ministry only a week earlier and the one who had guided her to Tarus the first time they'd spoken. Now, however, he was dressed in the long grey cloaks the Brotherhood wore, and hanging from his neck in plain view was a talisman of gold, in the shape of a single gold ring passing through three equally spaced silver spheres.
"What's going on?" she asked confusedly. She looked from the talisman around Josef's neck to the golden ring circling the arch and platform. She felt her heart racing again. Her throat was dry, and she felt as though she was about to be sick. "No..." she said softly. "No, it can't be. I―"
She was having trouble breathing. Her legs were still shaky and as she stepped back, she stumbled and only barely caught herself on the edge of the higher terrace behind her. After steadying herself, she drew her wand again and aimed it at both of them.
Tarus had arranged the circumstances which led to her job. He was the one who'd introduced her to Henri D'Anneau. Henri had been a member of the Brotherhood. That was why he had let himself be scolded by Tarus. He had been doing what Tarus told him. That is why he never expected the Brotherhood to come for him. All the guards around the Romanian camp, they'd been there to stop Harry, not the Brotherhood. They were the Brotherhood.
And Harry had known. He'd known the whole time. He'd told her that morning to stay away from all of them, even Tarus. He'd told her that the Brotherhood would do anything to keep themselves hidden. They would even appoint her to an archaic position to keep her from being interrogated by her own Ministry. The Brotherhood had sent Hermione away, knowing Harry would follow, and knowing that he wouldn't return in time to make sure she stayed in London.
Ginny clenched her teeth and gripped her wand tightly. She tried to get a look at the rest of the room. There was only one set of doors, only one set of stairs leading to them, and both Tarus and Josef were standing between her and those stairs. He had called her to Romania, separated her from Harry, and lured her into the heart of his stronghold. She was trapped in the most dangerous place she could imagine.
"Please remain calm, Ginny," Tarus said. He took a step toward her, and she bristled. "You are in no danger here, I assure you."
"Then let me go," she growled.
Tarus slowly held up his hands in a gesture of peace, and softly ordered Josef to put away his wand. Josef did as he was told, slowly and calmly.
"You are free to go, if you wish," Tarus assured her. "Josef will see you to any place in this city you might wish to go, even if that is to the fireplace in the Gatehouse which would return you to London. Though, if that is your destination, you may save yourself and Josef some time by simply using the Portkey I have prepared. It is in my study."
"I don't want anything from you. Let me go."
"I did not bring you here to imprison you," he said gently. "I brought you here to show you things others would hide from you and to give you the answers which others have refused to reveal. There are many things I would speak to you about, things we should have discussed when you were last here."
He slowly stepped toward Ginny, looking more relaxed. "Of course, if you still wish to attack us, I would suggest attacking Josef first. He is young and well trained; I am not nearly so quick, as you have seen just a moment ago, nor am I any match for you physically."
Josef opened his cloak and carefully pulled his wand out, showing her that he had no intention of using it. As slowly as he could, he kneeled down, and laid his wand on the stone floor. He stood back up, and spoke gently to her, "We are not enemies. I would not dream of harming you. You have trusted me twice before. Trust me once again. Listen to what he has to say."
"Why should I? You tried to kill me!"
"A most regrettable occurrence," Tarus apologized. "I'm afraid Tiberiu misinterpreted the situation. Seeing the fighting, he assumed that Stefan had killed Lawrence. He thought he was protecting you. He has since realized his error."
"Has he? And what happened to him?" Ginny asked, keeping her wand trained on Tarus. "What will you do with me if I don't 'realize my error'?"
"Nothing at all," he answered in a voice that sounded almost sad. "I will do nothing at all, and that might be worse than anything you could possibly imagine."
"So what do you want from me?"
"Perhaps we can speak somewhere else," Tarus suggested, "somewhere a little more comfortable for all of us?"
Ginny lowered her wand, but didn't put it away. It was clear that she'd get nowhere while she was threatening the two of them. Josef slowly bent down to pick up his wand. Ginny's arm twitched, but he slipped it back into his robe and turned to walk away. Tarus followed him, showing absolutely no concern over turning his back on Ginny. Warily, she followed them.
As she climbed the stairs, she couldn't help feeling like she was walking from one trap to another. She didn't even know where she was. How was this any different than being a prisoner. If she attacked them, the rest of the Brotherhood would hunt her down. The only other option was to follow them and hope that she'd be able to find some other way out. It didn't seem likely that he'd just let her walk away.
They led her back up the stairs and into the large, circular hall. From there, they turned and walked up one of the sets of stairs. At the top of the staircase, there was another pair of heavy iron doors. Josef paused and reached for his chest. Ginny watched as he held up the golden ring hanging from the chain around his neck. It flashed briefly, and the doors slowly swung open.
The rings were keys.
Tarus saw the recognition in her eyes, and nodded. "Their function is not related to the ring around the arch," he explained. "Their shape is merely a reminder of the dangers of the arch and our purpose in this world."
"And what exactly is that?"
"In time, I hope to explain it to you," said Tarus. "For now, let us say that it concerns what you just saw in the arch."
"Why do you care about Tom? He's gone," she snapped. Before he could reply, she thought of the most obvious answer. "That's why you want his wand, isn't it? Why do you want to resurrect him? Do you think he'll tell you how he almost became immortal? It didn't work, you know."
"Tom Riddle?" Tarus asked curiously. "That is who you saw? Curious." He stared at her for a moment, then nodded. "And you are quite right. Voldemort is irrevocably dead. However, his influence and power live on." Ginny followed silently as they walked up numerous stairs and down long corridors. As they walked, they passed by numerous other wizards, all wearing the long grey robes of the Brotherhood, and wearing a chain looped through a golden ring talisman. Eventually they stopped at another set of iron doors. Josef raised the ring talisman again, unlocking the doors in front of them. Tarus and Josef stood aside, gesturing for Ginny to enter the room.
It was another circular room, with three doorways leading to it. In the center of the room was a sunken pit holding a large fire. Around the fire were circular rows of benches, all looking inward. At each of the doorways, a pair of guards stood wearing the purple robes of the city guards. Tarus and Josef walked in behind her.
"Josef, we'll need some privacy," Tarus ordered in a soft voice. Josef called out to the other guards, and they all quickly responded, leaving through the doors they were guarding.
"Will there be anything else, Grigore?"
"No, Josef, I think that will be fine," Tarus answered. "Please wait outside the main door in case Ginny decides that she would like to leave."
Josef gave a quick bow and then walked toward one set of doors which, unlike the other two doorways, was framed with a large golden arch. Once he had left, Tarus pulled out his wand and waved it casually, making the benches vanish. In their place, two soft chairs appeared, with a small table between them and a pair of teacups. He calmly walked forward and took a seat in one of the chairs.
"Come, sit down," he invited. "Have some tea. It will calm your nerves."
"I think I'll stand if it's all the same," Ginny replied tensely. "And my nerves are doing just fine." She had trusted him, and now she was shut in a room with Brotherhood wizards guarding all of the doors. The differences between her current situation and imprisonment were tenuous at best.
"I understand your hostility, Ginny, but now is no time to act rashly. There are important things we must discuss, and they will require both of us to think clearly and rationally. There are many questions I can answer for you, but only if you are willing to ask."
"Why did you lie to me?" she snapped.
"I have not lied to you," Tarus declared. "If I have given you false information it is because I myself did not know the truth."
"What about Giza? You told me D'Anneau was found with an Egyptian witch and her family killed him when they found out."
"I am certain I did not. That was merely the story told by others. I said only that a group of wizards discovered what he'd done, and came to fix the problem, and that was true. I had warned Henri to remain focused. He was there to allow me to speak with you. In return, I would help him win his vote. He stayed away from you, but could not resist other temptations. When we heard what was happening, I sent my guards to stop him. He did not need to die, but he knew I would not allow him to return to France."
"So you killed him?"
"He chose his punishment, not I."
Ginny narrowed her eyes and asked, "What about everything you said to me? You talked about the Brotherhood, but you never said you were one of them."
"And I am not. I do not wear their cloak or carry their sign."
"What are you then?" Ginny pressed. "They follow you like a leader ―or a lord."
"I am no lord," Tarus insisted. "I am their teacher. They do what I ask only out of respect and trust. I guide them and counsel them and nothing more."
"Did you counsel them to kill Sabine D'Anneau?"
"They did what was necessary!" he replied, raising his voice momentarily, then turned back to his tea. "You need to understand this, Ginny," he said in a calmer voice. "Henri was a despicable wizard, but he understood the base nature of the world. I could find no one else. I needed him, and Sabine was his payment. I did not want her to die. I would have been pleased to let her take his place, but she would not. She threatened to destroy it all. Henri did not deserve life. Sabine did not deserve death. Is peace not worth such things?"
"That's not peace at all!" Ginny shouted. "That's murder! How did killing Sabine or her family save anyone's life? Who are you to decide who's life is worth taking in order to pursue your twisted notions of peace?"
"Who else can give the world peace? Can you? Who else is prepared to do what it takes to see that the world heals? We are standing on the brink right now, Ginny! Who else will step forward? Who else will see that it is done, no matter how difficult it might be?"
"Is that it, then?" Ginny laughed bitterly. "You wish to be the savior again? You wish to lead us against the great darkness? How many of us will survive this time? Will my family get a cartload of gold, or will they just find themselves under the boot of a new Dark Lord?"
"Those are interesting comments," Tarus replied. "I wonder who you have been talking to. Did your friend tell you the rest of the story? Did he tell you how we prevented Europe from falling to a cult of dark wizards? How many murders did we prevent? Hundreds? Thousands? The Brotherhood told me what they were doing, and I told them how to accomplish it. Those peasant fools couldn't understand. I had no choice but to kill them. By taking their lives, I saved the lives of countless others."
"You're no different than every other dark wizard," Ginny spat. "You'd bring peace by killing all those who fight you. That's not peace. That's tyranny."
"No, Ginny, that is nature," he said. "We bring balance to a world that seeks to unbalance itself. Those dark wizards were not just seeking riches. They wanted control. They wanted to bend Europe to their will. Such a desire is a crime against nature, and yet it is no worse than trying to eradicate all such evil from the world. That is why we have not destroyed the Death Eaters. Britain needs them."
"Needs them?" Ginny exclaimed. "What have they done other than torture and kill innocent wizards?"
Tarus gave her a quizzical look. "You speak as if those are not desirable things. Without them, what would your Aurors do? Without the Aurors, who would protect you from the next threat? No, you need them more than you know. The minute number of crimes they commit keep you vigilant. They keep you fighting. Without that, you would become content and lazy like the villagers who died in the dragon attacks just a few months ago."
Ginny stared at him in shock. "What are you saying? You knew about the dragons, and you didn't stop them?"
"Stop them?" Tarus laughed. "I ordered them to be set loose. The fields around those villages are extremely fertile, but the wizards refused to allow anyone to use them. Their wealth had made them arrogant, and they protected themselves with gold and hid behind my guards. Dragons care nothing for gold, and without the Brotherhood to protect them, they found out just how weak they had become."
"You're worse than a dark lord," Ginny said in shock. "You're a tyrant. You don't care about anyone but yourself."
"I am no tyrant," he said sternly. "You simply do not understand. I serve the natural order of the world. I have spent decades selflessly ensuring that the world is not twisted to the darkness or left to whither in the light. I am no dark lord, nor am I your enemy. We share a common goal."
Ginny sneered at him, "Unless you're talking about getting good seats for the Quidditch World Cup, I seriously doubt that."
"Now is not the time for humor, girl. We fight the same enemy and we both seek Harry Potter."
Ginny felt an icy chill shoot down her spine. Harry knew about Tarus, but did Tarus know about Harry? "Harry Potter is dead," she announced. "He died fighting Lord Voldemort."
Tarus stood up, frowning quite sternly. "I can only hope that in fifty years death is treating me as well as it has treated him." He slowly walked toward her. "Nonetheless, I seek news of him, and you cannot deny that you do as well. I would be very interested in anything you would hear about him."
"I don't think we'll be speaking again," Ginny said almost flippantly. "I'm afraid Harrington keeps me rather busy, and I'll have the Quidditch World Cup to think about, you see―"
Tarus interrupted her with a smooth voice, "Perhaps there is something I might offer you, in exchange for some of your very valuable time."
"I don't think you have anything to offer me."
"Don't be foolish, girl," he scolded her. "Whatever you believe my motives might be, you and I are hunting the same dark wizard. I can help you defeat him."
"You know him, do you?" Ginny replied, trying not to let him hear the tightness in her throat. "He's one of your students, isn't he?"
"No, no," Tarus replied. He began pacing and spoke as if remembering things that happened long ago. "Not any more. I trained him at one time, but I don't think he was ever truly my student," he commented. "He turned his back on us long ago, taking a number of my best students with him. He serves no master but his own darkness, now."
Ginny gave him a skeptical look. "And just what are you offering? If you needed my help, you would be be offering information to me. If you do not need my help, then you are offering nothing at all."
"Finally, you are using your wits. I offer you justice, the opportunity to correct a tragedy. Above all, I desire your safety, but I will forego that in exchange for the location of Harry Potter."
"No," Ginny replied. "Name something else, some other price."
Tarus stopped pacing. "There is no other thing which I would take in payment."
Ginny voice was laden with frustration and anger, "It's not possible. Harry is gone."
"That may be, and that news itself would satisfy me."
"So why aren't satisfied now?" Ginny replied.
"Because I cannot be certain that what you say is true," he answered simply. "Certainly you can understand my skepticism of wizards who are only reportedly dead."
"And what would convince you? A grave? A body? To see him on the other side of that arch? Is that what you want?"
Grigore Tarus spun around faster than she'd ever seen him move. He glared at her for a moment, and Ginny began to wonder whether he was trying to read her thoughts. Seconds later, he turned away.
"No― No, that is the last thing I would wish for," he said heavily. "What would make me happy is to see Harry alive and speaking with me in my study. Do not be deceived, Ginevra. I do not seek Harry to destroy him. I want to find him ―I need to find him― to protect him, and to protect the rest of the wizarding world."
"The only thing you want to protect is your own power," Ginny spat.
"As do you," Tarus shot back. Ginny could see that he was beginning to lose his patience. "You call it vengeance, but that is nothing more than the power to inflict your will on those you believe have wronged you, calling it justice. You have stood in judgment of them, and declared their lives to be of no more worth to this world. Is that so different from what I have done?" He stepped very close to her and stared into her eyes. "You and I are not so different, Ginevra. I can give you your vengeance, if you help me give the world peace."
Ginny stared up into his eyes defiantly. "No, we are not alike. I want justice to correct a mistake which you had a hand in creating. I don't want anything else. Even if I could give you what you want, it wouldn't satisfy you. You'd only protect him while he could give you more power."
"Your eyes see much, but they are still too young to see the truth through the fog of emotion. I am older than I appear," he said, holding up an age-whithered hand. "Unlike Lord Voldemort, I do not desire immortality. I know I will not live to see you become the great leader I know you will be. What power could I gather in what remains of my life?"
"Too much," Ginny said.
"On the contrary, I fear that my task is already an impossible one," Tarus admitted. "Our enemy's strength is beyond my own, and his grows while mine dwindles. My only hope lies in finding Harry Potter."
"I guess you're out of luck, then," she said flatly.
Tarus took a deep breath. "So, you will not aid me? You will not tell me where Harry is?"
"Harry's dead."
Tarus's face fell into a deep frown. "I am truly sorry to hear that." He walked back toward the chairs, and stared at Ginny's full cup of tea. "There is still the matter of the arch. You said that you saw Tom Riddle in the mirror. I wonder if you might discuss that with me."
"I think we've spoken enough today," Ginny said stiffly. "I think I should be returning to London."
Tarus frowned again, then nodded. "Very well. I will have Josef take you to my study. There is a Portkey there which will take you to London. You are the Romanian Liaison, and it is there for your use. If you should ever have information for me, all you need to do is find your way to the Gatehouse. The guards will bring you here, and the Portkey can return you. No one will need to know that you ever left London."
Ginny stood still for a moment, struggling to decide just what the best course of action would be. Would Tarus really allow her to leave? Harry had told her to leave, but he didn't know about the Portkey. If the it worked, he might not find out that she'd left for some time. She knew what would happen if he thought that Ginny was being kept in the Castle.
"I think I'll just use the Floo, if you don't mind," Ginny said hesitantly. "I think I've lost any trust I had in Portkeys."
"I understand," Tarus said with a slow nod. He took out his wand, and aimed it at the main doors. A bolt of sparks shot out of the tip, and struck the iron doors, making them glow gently. A second later, they opened, and Josef walked in, now wearing the purple robes of the guards and a warm smile.
"Is there something Miss Weasley needs?" he asked in a comfortable tone.
"Josef, take a number of guards and escort Ginny to the Gatehouse," Tarus ordered. "Let no one stop you or slow you down."
Josef nodded and bowed to Ginny. When he rose, Ginny was still standing where she had been, wondering if there was something she had missed. Were they just going to let her leave? Reluctantly, she turned and walked toward Josef, looking back over her shoulder to see what Tarus was doing. He had sat back down in the chair and was sipping at the last of his tea.
Ginny followed Josef and as they passed through the iron doors, he barked out some order to one of the guards flanking the arch. The guard ran ahead and disappeared around a corner. Josef didn't pay any more attention to him and instead began walking alongside Ginny, only slightly ahead of her. The reached the end of the corridor and made sharp turn, followed by another that led up a large staircase. At the top, they passed through another large set of locked iron doors, and into a large marble hall.
The moment they stepped into the hall, eight purple-cloaked guards stepped forward to form two columns on either side of them. The doors behind them closed tightly, and when Ginny looked at them again, she saw that on this side, they were made of the same rose-colored marble as the rest of the walls. They had passed into the main part of the Castle now, and in confirmation of this, Ginny began to see other witches and wizards walking about.
There were no more grey cloaked wizards. The wizards there wore the common black or brown robes, with the occasional white or green. The guards still stood out in their purple robes and Ginny did not forget that every last one of them was a Brotherhood wizard.
Her mind tried to process everything that had happened. Harry had said that the head of the Brotherhood was a dark wizard, and something had felt off about Tarus. He'd always been so controlled the other times she'd seen him, but today, there had been a few moments where his facade had cracked, showing anger and impatience. It had felt almost as if Tarus himself were cracking. Ginny wondered just what he had been hiding all this time.
Without much warning, Ginny found herself walking out of the main gate and onto the High Street. Below her she could see the city stretching out to the horizon. Far away was the Gatehouse and the tower where she had slept the night before. That was where they were taking her, without stopping and without giving her any opportunity to do anything else.
In a flash, she realized what Tarus was doing. He was keeping her from Harry. He knew Harry wasn't dead. He never would have asked if he didn't. He had told her that she could leave, but he was going to make certain that either Harry wouldn't know she left, or it would look like she left with the Brotherhood. Either situation would prompt Harry into action, and that was undoubtedly just what Tarus wanted.
She needed to find Harry. As she walked, Ginny tried to remember the directions she'd been given while thinking of some way to get away from the guards before she'd need them. The guards were probably hoping Harry would try to stop them before they reached the Gatehouse. As soon as Ginny started to see shops appearing on either side of the street, she knew she had to act quickly. She had a plan, but she wasn't certain if it would work. It didn't matter. It was the best she could think of.
She waited for a lull in the crowd, and unceremoniously stopped in the middle of the street. The guards froze immediately and pulled their wands. At the front of the group, Josef did the same and shouted to the wizards nearby to clear the street. They did as they were told, and soon the street was completely quiet.
"What is it, Ginny?" Josef asked, looking more than a little paranoid.
"You can turn back now," she said in a condescending voice.
"You want to return to the Castle?"
"No," she said flatly, "I want you to return to the Castle."
Josef looked confused. "I was ordered to take you to the Gatehouse."
Ginny glared imperiously at him. "And now I'm ordering you to leave me and return to the Castle. Don't forget that I am the Liaison to Romania, and you are just a guard."
Josef looked from Ginny to the Castle and back. It would take them some time to return. The frustrated look on his face confirmed Ginny's hope that they had no easier way to communicate with Tarus. "I could disobey you," he said in a strained voice.
"You could," Ginny agreed, "and I would tell my Minister. He would renounce my title, and the Department of Mysteries would interrogate me. Would you like to be the one who was responsible for that?"
Josef glared at her. "I'm trying to help you," he growled. "There is more at stake than you understand. This is not the time to play games."
"I'm not playing games, Josef," she replied gently.
Josef glared at her. "This is serious, Ginny. You don't know what you're doing."
She flashed a mocking smile. "And neither do you. That's the part I like best."
Josef hissed an order to the guards. They turned to stare at him, and he shouted at them. They immediately turned and began running back to the Castle. Josef remained behind. "You cannot imagine the danger you're putting yourself in."
"I don't care, you traitorous bastard," she hissed. "Now run along back to your Castle. I'm sure your master will be glad to see you return so soon." Josef stared back at her, looking almost hurt. His eyes searched Ginny's face, as if looking for the answer to some mystery there. Finding only scorn, he turned and broke into a swift run. At his pace, it wouldn't take long for him to reach Tarus. She was beginning to worry that it wouldn't be enough time. How far away was Harry? If he was smart, he'd have picked some place halfway between the Castle and the Gatehouse. That would have the greatest chance of being close by, and was still a ways down the Street. If the guards were running, she needed to cover as much ground as possible, and she began to jog down the street, checking the shop fronts as she went.
Harry had said she should look for a shop selling the first gift he'd gotten from Kreacher. She remembered that Christmas well. That was the first time she'd thought that Harry might have started noticing her. She'd picked a maggot from his hair, and Ron had told everyone about Kreacher's gift. She jogged down the street, zigzagging to get a better look at the stores. When the pain in her side grew too intense, she slowed to a walk and started looking closer. It had to be there someplace. There wasn't much more time. She was certain the guards would be coming back for her.
Suddenly she saw it. A shop front a little ways down the street: a large glass window with a cauldron full of maggots. It was much easier to spot since the crowd was keeping well away from it. Over the window there was a large wooden sign carved in Romanian. Ginny couldn't read it, but there was a smaller sign underneath, with a Translation Charm which read: Thorlag's Potion Supply.
Ginny began walking toward it, but before she'd gotten two steps, she felt someone collide with her, sending them both to the ground. Ginny rolled away and pulled her wand out of her robes, With her attacker still lying on the street, she scrambled to her feet and took aim with her wand.
"Ginny, wait!" Hermione shouted. "I'm sorry!"
Ginny goggled at the witch laying nearby. Why was Hermione here? Harry hadn't said anything about her being in Romania. Ginny looked about nervously, pocketed her wand and then quickly helped Hermione to her feet. The crowd around them had stopped to watch the action, and Ginny was quick to lead them down the street where less people were watching.
"Why are you here?" Ginny asked.
"I have to talk with you, Ginny. It's urgent."
"Alright then," Ginny agreed reluctantly. "What is it? I don't really have time for any more privacy than this."
"It's about Harry," Hermione said. Ginny's head jerked instinctually. "He's here isn't he, Ginny?"
"Harry?" Ginny repeated nervously. She looked around her. The guards might show up at any moment. Despite the thickening crowd, Ginny began to feel very exposed. There was no telling who might be watching or listening to them.
"We shouldn't be seen together," Ginny whispered. She surveyed the area, hoping for some easy answer. "See that pub across the street? I'll meet you there in thirty minutes. If I don't make it, I'll meet you at the Leaky Cauldron." Ginny turned and started walking away.
"Wait!" Hermione called out. "What about Harry?" A number of wizards stopped or turned to look at Hermione.
Ginny stopped to stare at Hermione. "Harry's dead, Hermione. I accept that now. I'll see you later."
Ginny ducked through the crowd and checked the area one last time before quickly walking to the front door of Thorlag's Potion Supply. She couldn't see anyone, so she darted toward the door and quickly slipped inside. The shop was not nearly as empty as she had hoped it might be. At the front of the store was a large counter, tended by a very old looking goblin. He glared at her, then returned to counting out newt tails.
She ducked into the aisles of various grotesque looking bottles. She wondered just what she was supposed to do when the goblin found her. It wasn't like she'd be able to walk back out onto the street. As she reached the end of the aisle, she felt something tug at her hand.
She looked down and found a very small goblin pulling her toward a back corner. When they got there, he jumped up and grabbed a large bottle of yellowish liquid. With a squat little arm, he rolled it down the aisle toward the front of the store. As it rolled he pushed a table aside and ran his hand along a patch of cracked paint on the wall. A small door appeared and opened, creating a space barely large enough for Ginny to crawl through. The goblin quickly disappeared into the door. Ginny dropped down to her knees and wondered whether it would even be possible for her to fit through the tiny door.
Suddenly there was a crash behind her. She turned and saw the bottle of yellow liquid broken and it's contents spilling across the floor and sending a large yellow haze into the air.
"Stun gas!" the goblin at the front croaked. "Clear the store!"
Ginny heard a great shuffling of feet, along with the sound of several wizards dropping to the floor. Suddenly she began thinking this had been some sort of trap. The cloud was now moving toward her quickly. She bent down and stuck her head through the hole.
She felt a stout hand push her backwards, and a second later, the goblin's head poked back through the hole, glaring at her. "Feet first!" it squeaked.
Ginny looked back and saw the cloud only a few feet away. She didn't have much time to argue. She spun around and slipped her legs through the small doorway. A faint yellow mist slipped in front of her, and she began feeling a little disoriented. She tried feebly to push herself through the hole, but she didn't have the strength.
Then, in one dizzying second, she felt something tug at her legs. She quickly slipped through the hole, roughly scraping her arms against the sides. She felt a moment of weightlessness and then the crushing blow of her feet on dusty ground. She landed on her back and watched as a pair of goblins snapped the door shut with a puff of yellow vapor.
She was lying on the ground about eight feet under the door she'd just slid through. The sky was above her, as well as quite a few shops. They had been built upon pillars and scaffolding in order to reach the level of the High Street. The smaller goblin who had helped her was now trying to push her into a sitting position.
"Hurry, hurry," it told her in a high pitched voice. "Potter is very worried. Follow the alley. Take the second left turn, then then next right turn. Find the empty store by the rag shop." Once he had finished relaying his message, he scampered off under the store, leaving Ginny disoriented and confused.
She slowly stood up, and tried to shake the fogginess from her head. Loud noises from the store behind her reminded her just what she was doing there and she forced herself to run down the street, searching for the second alleyway to the left. She found it, and the next alley to her right. She followed that narrow street until she could see the end of it. To her right, she saw a shop with two large heaps of rags in the front window. Next to it was an old broom shop which looked as though it had been boarded up for years. Ginny ran forward and knocked on the door. Seconds later, the door opened partly and a strong hand grabbed her shoulder and pulled her into the shop.
This shop wasn't nearly so clean as the last one Harry had used. There were broken tables and chairs strewn about the dusty floor. The room she was in had obviously been the main room in the shop. To one side there was a door leading to what looked to be a stock room, and in the back there was a door to some sort of back office.
Ginny stumbled over a broken broom stand, and found a chair to sit in. After a few deep breaths, she looked up and found Harry sitting in a chair nearby looking both relieved and terribly worried. For some time he just stared at the floor, looking slightly ill.
"Did Grigore talk with you?" he asked quietly.
Ginny nodded as she tried to catch her breath.
"Did he show it to you?"
"What are you talking about?" Ginny asked.
Harry leaned forward, running his hands through his hair. "Did he take you to the veil? Did he have you listen to it?"
"Yes," she replied in a hoarse voice, "and then he introduced me to the Brotherhood." Harry leaned back in his seat, but kept his eyes one the floor, as if waiting for Ginny to continue. "Why couldn't you tell me, Harry?" she finally asked.
"I wanted to," he said weakly. "I tried―"
"You tried?" Ginny snapped. "When did you try Harry? You had a whole day to mention it, but you didn't. You even mentioned him and the head of the Brotherhood in the same sentence as if they were two completely different people!"
Harry didn't deny it or even try to explain himself. "How much did he tell you? Did you talk about the wand?"
"The wand?" Ginny exclaimed. "No, I can't say it was a big topic of discussion. I don't really care that he's got Tom's wand. You're the only thing he wants now."
Harry sat up and finally looked into Ginny's eyes. "You didn't talk about the wand or the attack on the Ministry?"
"No," Ginny replied dismissively.
Harry shot out of his chair and started mumbling, "Doesn't he know? Why wouldn't they tell him? He's made a mistake..."
"What are you talking about?"
"He doesn't know," Harry announced as though it meant something to Ginny. "I need to find Hermione. She needs to know that I'm alive."
"She already knows you're alive," Ginny told him.
Harry narrowed his eyes at her. "She does?"
"Yes, she does," repeated Ginny. "She's here, looking for you."
"She couldn't be―" he said to himself. "You saw her here? In the city?"
"Just a few minutes ago."
Harry strode across the room and started grabbing things and stuffing them into his bag. "Where exactly did you see her?" he asked as he quickly pulled off his robes to reveal the Muggle clothing he had been wearing underneath.
"I-I don't really know. Not far from the potion shop, I think," Ginny stammered. "What's going on, Harry?"
Harry wrapped a cloak around his shoulders and tossed another cloak to Ginny. "Which side of the shop," he asked. "On the High Street or in the alleyway?"
"The High Street," she answered. "I didn't tell her anything. I told her I'd meet her in one of the pubs in a half hour. She didn't follow me, I'm certain."
"It won't matter," Harry said hurriedly, "but we still might have some time. In the back room you'll find some Muggle clothes. Change into them as quickly as you can. We need to leave as quickly as possible."
"Why? Are we going to find Hermione?"
Harry frowned. "That wasn't Hermione. I never found Hermione in Albania. It was all a trick to get me away from you. She couldn't know that either of us were here. You were talking to a Brotherhood member, probably using Polyjuice potion. You need to go get changed."
Ginny had looked confused and frightened as she walked past him to the back office. The door closed only loosely, so he avoided approaching it at all. There were too many things on his mind. At the moment, the thought of a wizard masquerading as Hermione and leading the whole Brotherhood to his new hiding spot, wasn't even his greatest worry.
Tarus had brought her here. He must not have spoken to her much the previous night. Whatever had happened in the morning, she had gotten his message. Tarus had spoken with her. He'd told her about the Brotherhood, but he hadn't told her everything. Then he'd let her go. He must have hoped that he'd be able to catch them both.
Harry took a deep breath and tried to control his anxiety. Something was changing. Grigore never gambled like that. It wasn't like him at all. He could have told her about the wand. He should have told her. What was he trying to do? Was he trying to convince her to join him? Why would he risk that?
Harry stepped into the old stock room and grabbed the small bag of food he had stashed there. It should only take them a day, but he had no idea how hungry Ginny might be. He strode back into the main room and stuffed the food into his bag.
"Leaving already, Harry?"
Harry felt panic stabbing into his chest. He slowly turned around, his hand already inside his cloak and only inches from his wand. Standing just inside the door was Grigore Tarus and Razvan Lupescu. They had been waiting for him with their wands drawn. Harry slowly pulled out his wand, but kept it at his side.
"Good morning, Harry," Grigore greeted him lightly.
Harry glared at him. "You're not welcome here, Grigore."
"Neither are you, Harry," he replied. "Remember, we are in Romania."
The door to the back office creaked, and Harry saw both of the wizards train their wands on the door. They knew about Ginny. This was exactly why he'd refused to let her join him. If Tarus made him chose between her and him...
"Don't come in, Ginny!" he shouted to her. "There's a fireplace! Take it to Oradea Station! Go! I'll find you!"
Tarus and Razvan looked at each other, as they heard the sound of a fire flare to life. The younger wizard ran for the door, leaving Harry with Grigore. A moment later, there was a second rush of flames.
"Together again, eh Grigore?" Harry said with mocking smile. "I thought you were too smart and too cautious to let this happen."
"Things are not as you expect Harry," the old wizard replied. "This is my city. I still have the advantage."
With a flash of red hair, Ginny stepped out of the stock room and pressed the tip of her wand into Tarus's temple. "Not today you don't," she said through her teeth.
Grigore didn't flinch. He kept his eyes on Harry, and his wand ready but pointing at the floor. "What a pleasant surprise, Ginny," he said with a faint laugh. "I see that, much like Harry, you are not burdened with the desire to tell the truth."
Even as he spoke, the door to the shop burst open. Though he'd tried to prepare himself, he couldn't help but pause at the sight of Hermione. She strode toward them and aimed her wand directly at Ginny's chest, through the gap in her untied cloak.
"Put the wand down, Ginny," she said. "We don't want to hurt you."
"It's not her!" Harry reminded her. "She's one of them."
Ginny scowled at Grigore. "I thought you said I was free to go?" she said through clenched jaws.
"I did, and you still are," he said without taking his eyes off Harry, "but I cannot let you go with him. I promised your brother that I would keep you safe."
"Yes, you promised him, and then you had him killed!" she shouted. "Did you think I would believe that you'd let one of your cult members betray you? After all the wizards you've killed?" Harry could see her eyes getting red and glassy. Her wand arm shook as she continued, "You said Charlie was led astray, but he wasn't, was he? He found out what you were, and you had him killed when he tried to stop you."
Harry felt as though his stomach was filled with lead. He looked into Grigore's eyes and saw the dark laughter behind them. Harry felt a hot anger boiling inside him.
"I told you the truth, Ginny," Grigore declared. "I had sent a group of wizards to the Ministry the day your brother died. Charlie wanted to go with them, but I forbade it. He did betray me that day, but he also betrayed you, himself, and the rest of the wizarding world." Grigore paused fixed Harry with an icy stare. "She didn't have to know, Harry. It could have been hidden, a lost detail in a sea of tragic events."
"You used him! You knew he would disobey you! You knew he was going to the Ministry!" Harry shouted. "I tried to protect him! I tried to save him! You only cared about him because you could use him to get to her!"
"Where is the wand, Harry?" Grigore snarled. "Where is that trinket which was worth so much more than her brother's life? Has it provided either of you with any safety? Has it shown any worth? Was it worth killing him, Harry?"
He didn't know what to say. The look of pain and betrayal on Ginny's face was everything he had expected it would be, and there wasn't anything he could do to to fix it. He couldn't say that it wasn't him, or that he didn't know it was Charlie, or that he hadn't meant to cast the charm. It was all true. Harry had replayed that moment in his head a thousand times. There had been no way he could have seen that result. He hadn't done anything wrong. He'd cast hundreds of Reductor Curses. It shouldn't have been strong enough to bring down half the ceiling.
Grigore turned his head and called out to Ginny, "Do you see it now? Can't you feel the darkness growing in him? This is only a hint of what it will be like before the end. I told you that a time would come for you to make a choice. This is that time, Ginevra. Help me. I do not want to kill him. Help me take him to the Castle. He doesn't know what he's doing. With your help we can stop this before anyone else is killed."
Harry stared at Ginny, trying to figure out what she might be thinking. She didn't even look at Grigore. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused, as if she were trying to decide just what to do. A single tear squeezed out of one of her eyes, and slowly traveled down her cheek. She turned away from Harry and lowered her wand.
Harry couldn't believe what he was seeing. The witch who looked like Hermione relaxed a little, but didn't lower her wand. Then he noticed it. Ginny had grabbed the edge of her Shield Cloak and pulled it out a bit, draping it over her arm like a more conventional shield. She was looking away from him. She doesn't want them to notice, he told himself. His heart began beating faster. He tried to hide his anxiety behind a mask of anger.
"Will you come peacefully, Harry?" Grigore asked. "It has been some time since we last spoke. Even then, you left in anger before hearing everything I had to say. Will you listen now? If you will not, I―"
Before he could finish, Harry sprang toward the wall focusing all his will and shouting, "Stupefy!" Grigore ducked and twisted away, seeking shelter behind a large, empty bookcase. The witch impostor cast a quick Shield Charm, but there was no need. The red beam of light slammed right into Ginny's side, tossing her against the front wall of the shop. Harry ducked behind a large counter and took aim at the empty bookcase.
"Incendio!"
The old, dry wood lit quickly and easily, burning much faster than even Harry had expected. Seconds later, a pair of powerful hexes exploded against the counter and wall behind him, showering him with bits of wood and stone. Someone ran across the floor, and then Harry heard the sound of the door opening and closing quickly. He took a chance and peeked over the remnant of the counter to survey the room.
He ducked back down a second later as a jet of purple sparks shot past his head, striking the wall behind him. Grigore had escaped, but the impostor had remained. She was only there to slow him down long enough for the others could show up. He probably had mere seconds, but he still had a surprise.
After taking a few deep breaths, he leaped out from behind the counter and dove for the door to the back office. He ducked one hex, and another ripped the door from its hinges just after he had slipped through the doorway. He quickly ran to the fireplace and found the bag of Floo powder spilled across the ground. He gathered a handful and tossed it at the small crackling fire still burning behind on the hearth. He heard a voice call out over the roar of the green flames.
"Harry, stop!"
Harry turned and stood up straight. The witch standing before him had her wand drawn and was aiming directly at his head. "Those cloaks won't protect you from everything, and I've trained dozens of wizards in hexes you've never even heard of," she said. "Now, step away from the fire, and come back to the Castle. Grigore is a man of his word. He isn't planning on killing you."
"I'm sure he isn't," Harry replied stonily, "but he's done loads of things he didn't plan to, and I've never been good at following his orders. Do it now. There's no time to think about it."
"You're right. There isn't," she said remorsefully. "I wish it hadn't come to this, Harry."
Harry just kept staring directly at the witch. "I promise you, it's not her."
The witch paused. "It's not her? What do―"
Another woman's voice rang out: "Enfracto!"
The room echoed with a tortured scream as the witch collapsed onto the floor. She clutched at her thigh tightly as her voice trailed off to a hoarse moan. Harry kneeled down next to her and watched with grim satisfaction as she gasped in agony. "Tell Grigore to back off. Tell him to stay away from her," he said in a firm voice. The witch didn't respond, but she turned her pale face to Ginny and glared at her from behind twitching eyelids. Harry kicked the witch's leg, causing her to scream in renewed pain. "This is between him and me," he told her. Harry grabbed the witch's wand as he stood up, and used it to direct Ginny to the fireplace.
"Go on, you first," he told her. "Ask for Oradea Station."
Ginny didn't say a thing, but walked quickly to the fireplace. With a burst of green flame, she was gone. He scooped up another handful of Floo Powder and tossed it into the fireplace. Harry took one last look at the witch on the floor. With her watching, he put the tip of his wand to hers. A second later, her wand burst into flame. Harry held it for a moment, watching the wood singe and twist in the fire until he heard the crackling of the unicorn hair in the core. He tossed it onto what was left of the Floo Powder, and it erupted in a flash of smoke and sparks.
As he walked to the fireplace, he heard voices calling out from the other room. Calmly he stepped into the flames, and called out, "Oradea Station!"
He rolled out of the fireplace at Oradea station. There was a small crowd of wizards milling about in the small lobby, but no one took much notice of Harry. He looked about quickly and found Ginny crouched in a corner with her hood up and eyes looking toward the floor. She looked up as he approached and Harry felt his heart twist at the pain in her eyes.
"Come on, there's no time," he said softly. "They'll be coming for us." Ginny held out her hand and Harry gently pulled her to her feet. As they walked toward a large door at the other end of the lobby, Harry pulled off his cloak. He told her to do the same and slipped both cloaks into his bag. At the door, he stopped and pointed his wand at Ginny. She recoiled, letting out a faint shriek.
"It's alright," Harry reassured her, "we just need a little disguise." He touched his wand to her hair, and it slowly turned from its normal fiery red to a deep black. Then he turned his wand on his own hair, and it lightened and grew longer, covering his forehead and extending down to his shoulders. He put his wand away and then carefully removed his glasses. After fumbling about in his bag, he slid them into a pocket and slung his bag over his back again.
"I'll need you to lead us," he whispered. "I won't be able to see a thing."
The walked out the door and into a small, dusty train station. There were only six platforms, but there were quite a few people walking about purposefully.
"What are we doing in a Muggle train station, Harry?" Ginny asked. There was a troubling emptiness in her voice, but they didn't have time to deal with that yet.
"We're escaping," he told her simply.
She led him to the ticket counters, and he found a clerk who spoke English. He had the clerk recite the train schedules for all the next trains. Before he had finished, Harry stopped him and pulled some money from his wallet. It was far more than he needed, but he slid it across the counter to the clerk. "We need two tickets on the train to Arad."
"It is leaving in just three minutes," the clerk said. "There is another train to Tamisoara in just twenty minutes. It will stop in Arad as well."
"We'll take the earlier one, thanks,"
"You will want to run, then," the clerk said as he slid the tickets across the counter.
"That's exactly what I was hoping," Harry said as he grabbed the tickets and he let Ginny lead him out of the crowd. They ran through the masses and queues of Muggles toward the platform. As they approached their train, they passed a large map, and Ginny pulled up short.
"Harry! We're on the wrong train!" she hissed. "This one isn't leaving Romania. It's going back into Romania!"
"I know," he said, urging her forward. Once on the train, they found a small compartment which was completely empty. They sat down in the seats and waited in tense silence to see if any Brotherhood wizards had followed them. When the train pulled out of the station a minute later, they finally relaxed.
Ginny slumped in her seat and stared out the window at the passing landscape. Harry tried to pretend that he found it beautiful, but he couldn't really concentrate much on it. After minutes of awkward silence, Ginny finally spoke up in a scratchy voice.
"Why are we going this way? Why couldn't we take the other train into Hungary?"
"They expect me to go that way. They always forget to watch the Muggle trains, but they'll probably figure it out this time. Still, they'll expect me to run for the closest fireplace on the British Floo Network and take the quickest route there. There's one in Budapest. They'll be there waiting for us, and they'll be on the train before then."
"Where are we going, then?"
"To Arad, where we'll board a train to Vienna," he answered. "We'll pass through Budapest hours after they expect us to, and by time we reach Vienna, they'll have given up looking for us."
Ginny nodded and returned to her window. Harry felt ill. He knew they had to talk about what Grigore had said, but he didn't know just how to start.
"Are you alight?" he asked, pointing at her arm. "It looks like you're bleeding."
Ginny looked down at the sleeve of her shirt and found a bright red stain showing through the yellow material. She frowned at it. "I'll be fine," she mumbled.
"I'm sorry if the curse was too strong, I... I needed to make sure you were out of the way."
"I know, Harry," she said with a little edge in her voice. "It was my idea, wasn't it?"
Harry turned away. "Yeah. I guess it was."
They fell silent for quite some time as both of them just stared out the window at the passing hills and trees. Harry knew he should be hungry, but his stomach was too knotted to think of actually eating anything.
"I'm supposed to hate you," Ginny finally said.
"Maybe you should," Harry replied, feeling even worse.
"It was all true, wasn't it?" Ginny asked. "You were the one who killed Charlie."
"Yes," he answered. "Yes, I killed him, but it wasn't like Grigore said. I was only trying to block the gate, but―"
"I know what happened," she interrupted him. "I saw it."
"You did?"
"Hermione showed it to me on... some sort of magical device. It was like a camera I guess."
"Oh," Harry replied, unsure of what else he was supposed to say.
"Aren't you going to say that you're sorry?" Ginny asked without any emotion.
"I'm sorry."
"That's it?" Ginny replied. "You're not going to say that you tried to keep it from happening, or that you wanted to run back and save him, or that you have felt simply horrible about it every day since it happened?"
Harry kept staring at her. "I did everything I could to prevent it. I wanted to run back and find some way to save him. I think about it every day, and it hurts just as much as it did the day it happened," he said defeatedly. "Does that make you feel any better?"
"No," Ginny replied as a tear ran down her face.
Harry turned back to the window. "It's never helped me either."
Author's Notes:
Sorry for the delay. My Beta has been having a couple of rough months and this chapter was rather complex. As you can see, it is rather important and there are quite a few very important things happening here. It should start answering many of your questions... and make you want to ask many more. Alas, that is the nature of the story. Feel free to ask me, if you like. People who ask me questions usually get answers, even if they aren't the answers they were looking for.
