CHAPTER 23
The Circular Study
Harry and Ginny arrived outside the Wayward Fox and found Ron and Hermione standing nearby with their wands drawn. The pub sat at the bottom of a rather steep hill. At the top was a small, run-down castle. Behind them, the land sloped away until it suddenly stopped and dropped to the sea.
"It's pretty quiet," Ron said. "There aren't more than a dozen wizards inside."
"One of them is a spy for the Brotherhood," Harry replied. "They'll have someone in every wizarding pub in Britain by now. They're probably watching to see if we leave by Apparation or the Floo."
"How are we going to leave, then?"
Harry smiled and clapped his hand on Ron's shoulder. "The Floo," he answered lightly. "We're taking the Floo to Paris."
"How are we supposed to do that? There might be only a dozen wizards in the pub, but I doubt it holds much more than thirty at most," Ron explained. "If we use the Floo, everyone in the pub will know exactly where we went."
"I hope so," Harry said with a nod. He began walking toward the door, but Ron grabbed his shoulder.
"I thought the point of coming here was finding a secret way into France. If we don't care about that, why didn't we just Apparate from the Ministry?"
"If I wanted to find a secret way into France, I'd have gone to Nottingham. There's a wizard there who will sell you Portkeys into Europe. His silence is for sale as well, but I wasn't interested in secrecy."
Ron looked perplexed.
Harry tried to explain it to him. "If we just disappear, the Brotherhood will go for Fred and George, or Bill and Fleur, or your Mum and Dad. They'll hunt down every person who might know where we were. I want them to know we're going to Paris. I need them to see us arrive there. Let them go there to try and track us down. It's better than having them coming after our friends and family."
"Alright," Ron replied. "Where are we supposed to be going?"
"We are going to take the Floo to a pub called Le Singe Ivre. It's large, popular, and very close to Paris."
"Sounds like a great place to go when you're trying to run from a band of murdering dark wizards," Ron commented sourly.
Harry frowned and turned away from Ron. "From there, we'll split up and Apparate here—" he said as he handed a piece of parchment to Hermione. "You know it, don't you?" he asked her.
"Yes," she said with a nod.
"Good." With a flick of his wand, flames flickered to life around the scrap and she let it float to the ground as it burnt.
"Oi!" Ron cried. "What about me? You're going to take me to Paris and then leave me with a bunch of angry wizards?"
"No, I'll take you. That's why we're splitting up," Harry told him. "Hermione will take Ginny. It will be easier for us to split up like that." Then, without giving Ron any more chances to object, Harry strode to the door of the pub, opened it and walked in.
Every witch and wizard in the pub turned to look at him. He was still disguised, but that would hardly make a difference. The Wayward Fox was such a small and secluded pub that any newcomers were easy to spot. The arrival of four strangers in the pub on the same day that Harry slipped past the Brotherhood would be a mystery any Brotherhood lookout could easily solve.
Harry walked to the bar and waited for the barman to acknowledge him. Once Ginny, Ron and Hermione had joined him, the old wizard finally broke out of his shocked silence and turned to face Harry.
"Is there something I can do for you lot? If you're looking for a room to sleep in, you're off by quite a few miles," he said in a low, coarse voice. "You'll want Roderick's of Brighton. He's always got a spare room or two."
"Actually, we were hoping to use your fireplace," Harry announced.
"Fireplace is for patrons only," the barman replied gruffly. "You can Disapparate or you can walk. No brooms around here. There's Muggles on the other side of the hill."
"We're patrons," Harry said as he slid a pair of gold coins across the bar. They weren't Galleons, but it didn't matter. They were gold, and they were large. "We'd like four handfuls of Floo Powder," he announced.
The old man stared at the coins, then at the four of them. He seemed locked in a battle against his better judgment, but as Harry discovered long ago, nothing clouded judgment like the gleam of gold. Harry pulled out a third coin and slid it across the bar as well.
"Alright," the man agreed suddenly. "You've got your Powder. Use it and be off. Strangers aren't terribly welcome around here, less so when they're pushy, and dangerously less when they're rich."
He crouched down behind the bar and pulled out a wide pot filled with a fine black powder. Harry gestured for the other three to take a handful before he got his own. With a nod toward the fireplace, they all turned and walked off, leaving the barman to scowl at their backs.
Harry told Hermione and Ron to go first, then Ginny. After Ginny had spun off to France and the rush of flames disappeared, Harry prepared to leave as well. He took one last moment to look around the bar. Of the dozen or so wizards there, over half of them were still watching him. Any one of them could be working with the Brotherhood, but there was no way to tell which one. He would just have to hope they were listening.
He stepped into the flames and tried to relax. If he was tense, he'd never pronounce it right and he'd end up spinning off to someplace he might not even recognize. He took one last deep breath and threw the Powder into the heart of the fire.
"Le Singe Ivre!"
Harry tumbled out of the fireplace and into the center of a cavernous room. The fireplace and chimney were made of stone, not brick, and stood in the center of the hall like an enormous tent pole supporting the ceiling high above him. He was surrounded by wizards from many different countries. Most of them were French, but Paris had always been a gathering place for wizards, and Le Singe Ivre was the largest and most welcoming pub in Paris.
He'd first come there just over a year ago with Grigore. He had invited Harry, Josef, Dragomir and Andros to join him in speaking with a wizard Grigore had been trying to recruit into the Brotherhood. Harry's first impression of the place was positive. He'd liked the open space and the way it resembled a miniature version of a Quidditch Pitch, with multiple levels surrounding the open center.
Unfortunately, his memories were tainted by the revelations of that fateful meeting. That was the first time Harry had met Henri D'Anneau. He had disliked the man from the very start. Only Josef's quick reflexes had prevented Harry from hexing Henri. He'd been back to the pub a number of times since then, most recently to search for Sabine's sister. As he looked about the hall, he wished that he could return someday with business no more sinister than the smuggling of Fairy Wine which had been prohibited for over fifty years.
"Enough sightseeing, Harry," Ron said in a low voice. "Let's get going before everyone in this place realizes that we don't belong."
Harry gave Ron a strange look. "Why would we want to leave before then? Are you in some hurry?" While Ron was trying to understand just what he meant, Harry began making his way to the large stone bar at one end of the hall.
"Where are you going?" Ron asked. "The door is over there!" he shouted, pointing in the opposite direction.
"I'm thirsty," Harry called back. "Find a table. I'll be right back."
He dodged between tables and clumps of wizards, slowly closing the distance between himself and the bar. The bar was truly immense, stretching from one side of the hall to the other. There were a number of wizards standing behind it, but they had little to do. At one end of the bar, a short wizard in bright yellow robes was standing on a stool and telling some story.
Whatever the story was, it was capturing the attention of the bartenders just as much as the patrons. Few people were buying drinks, and fewer people were selling them. Harry walked up to an empty space along the stone slab and simply waited for someone to notice. After only a few seconds, a round-faced man with graying hair spotted him and began walking over. Before he could get within ten feet of Harry, an attractive young witch with playfully curly blonde hair appeared and stood across from Harry smiling in a similarly playful manner.
"Bonjour, chéri. Bienvenu au Singe Ivre," she said as she leaned over the bar and stared into Harry's eyes. "Est-ce que je peux t'apporter quelque chose? Une tasse de Vin? Ou peut-être une bière? Suivie d'une longue nuit blanche avec petit déjeuner dans mon lit?"
"Bières à Beurre," he said clearly, pointing at a pyramid of bottles behind the young woman. "Quatre," he added, holding up four fingers as if her knowledge of the French language might be worse than his.
She stared at him strangely. "Bières à Beurre?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "Tu plaisantes, non? Allez, nous sommes connus pour notre cabernet... Et je promet qu'il vient accompagné de choses encore plus douces…"
"Oui," Harry replied with a friendly smile.
The young witch stared at him for a moment before turning around to pull four bottles off the top of the stack. "Tu veux que je te laisse ta dignité avec eux?" she said as she placed the bottles on the bar. "Ou tu préfères quatre pailles d'enfant?"
Harry was unprepared for the barrage, and struggled to catch all of the words. "Je suis—" he began stammering.
"Les quatre pailles d'enfant aussi, je vois," she said with a nod and a warm smile.
Harry returned the smile. "Mais oui. Naturellement."
"Naturellement," the woman said with a charming laugh. Harry searched in his pockets for more of the gold coins while she opened each of the bottles and put them on a tray.
"What the bloody hell are those?" Ron nearly shouted when Harry returned. He sat the tray down in the center of the table and took a seat between Ron and Ginny.
Harry frowned at the four bottles. "I'm certain I would know if I had studied French longer than two months."
Each of the four bottles had been given a curling glass straw which bent and twisted as it left the neck of the bottle. A few inches above the top of the bottle was a comical facsimile of a monkey's head. It had been fashioned so that the straw passed through into its mouth and out through one ear.
Ginny was the first to reach for one of the bottles. With a shrug, she put the end of the straw to her lips. Harry watched as the pale liquid looped through the narrow straw. As it passed through the monkey's head, its eyes opened and spun about crazily making a rather annoying, high-pitched noise.
"Oh, that's brilliant," groaned Ron. "You weren't satisfied to just let us be seen here, but you had to humiliate us while you were at it? Thanks, Mr. Evans, but I don't think we'll be needing your linguistic skills any longer."
"Oh, and you're so much better?" Harry shot back. He leaned across the table, and hissed, "I speak English and Parseltongue. How many languages do you speak?"
Ron glared at Harry, then pulled the straw from his bottle and slapped it onto the table mercilessly. "I think I made my point," he announced as he sat back and began drinking his butterbeer.
"I speak English, French, German and Italian," announced Hermione.
Harry pulled the straw from his bottle and stared back at her. "No one cares." Hermione rolled her eyes and reached for her bottle.
They all sat at the table, drinking their butterbeer and not talking. Once the embarrassment of the immediate situation passed, the tension from earlier in the day returned. Harry became aware of the large number of wizards watching them. It was almost as if they all knew that the four of them were about to do something that they should all take note of.
Ginny appeared to have noticed as well. She'd stopped drinking her butterbeer and left the half-empty bottle on the tray. "I, er— I don't think I'm thirsty anymore," she whispered.
Harry looked over at Ron and Hermione. Hermione gave him a quick nod. Ginny was right. It was time for them to go.
Harry stood up and walked around Ginny to stand in front of Hermione. When she stood up, he held out his arms and embraced her in a tight hug. He didn't say anything, but she seemed to understand the plan. Harry turned to Ginny, giving her a similar hug, but adding a quick kiss. Ron followed Harry's lead, hugging Ginny and kissing Hermione after a whispered goodbye.
Harry turned away from the women, and led Ron toward the main door. As they walked, the crowd seemed to part slightly, making it easier for them to pass than it truly should have been. Harry tried not to dwell on it. He'd come here so that they would be seen. He always knew there was a chance that someone would be able to follow him, or that they might even set up an ambush. For now, that didn't make sense. Grigore always hated acting without understanding first. So long as Harry kept doing things that were difficult to understand, he would be safe from any harsh actions from the Brotherhood.
Ron, unfortunately, knew nothing of this. By the time they walked out of the doorway to Le Singe Ivre, Ron looked ready to turn his wand on the first wizard who flinched in the wrong direction.
"Relax," Harry whispered to him. "We're fine. No one's going to attack us."
"Then why do you keep walking faster?" Ron growled.
"Just a little further," Harry said under his breath. "Give me your arm."
Ron held his elbow out for Harry to grab in his left arm. Harry pulled his wand out with his right hand, grabbed Ron, and a fraction of a second later, Paris was swept away, as Harry pulled Ron through the choking darkness to a small city some distance away.
"What is this place?" Ron asked as he walked toward a run-down wooden building. It stood alone in the middle of a small grouping of trees. Beyond the trees, the land was mostly flat and featureless.
"It was one of the proposed sites for next year's Quidditch World Cup," Harry replied. "They ended up picking a different one. They thought this one was too close to too many Muggles. It was abandoned months ago. All of the wards were removed, but it's easier to take down wards than break international Floo System connections. There is a fireplace inside that building which can take us all the way to Vienna."
"And that's where we're going?" Ron asked. "What's in Vienna?"
"Trains," Harry answered. "Lots of trains. Quite a few of them will pass trough Romania. We just need to find one."
Before Ron got a chance to ask more questions, a loud pop announced the arrival of Hermione and Ginny. Harry and Hermione briefly explained the same information Harry had just related to Ron, and then he urged them toward the building. There would be plenty of time to discuss the future once they got on their train at Vienna.
Harry tumbled out of the fireplace in Vienna and felt nervous almost immediately. Ron and Hermione were standing stiffly and staring at him. He barely had time to get out of the way before Ginny rolled in behind him. Harry quickly dusted himself off, stood up, and promptly froze.
"Hello, Harry," Andros greeted him. "Or, at least, I assume that is your name and that you are not some hapless bystander whom these three have roped into this stupid venture."
Harry simply stared back at him. "Where is Dragomir?"
Andros answered quickly and comfortably: "Romania."
"Who is with you, then?" Harry asked. "Where are they?"
"No one is with me. Grigore was explicit. We're lookouts only. We work alone today. Josef convinced Razvan and Grigore that you'd never come this way. He suggested that the most vigilant guards be sent in other directions. I was given the Vienna train station. No one was expecting to see you here, except Josef."
"How does this Josef bloke know so much?" Ron asked.
"He spent weeks with your friend," Andros replied. "Josef worked with him. He studied with him, and he studied him. He knows how much Harry likes trains, and he knows he's used Muggle transportation to slip past the Brotherhood in the past. He also said that you would be too impatient to take a train from some safer location like London or Amsterdam. He figured you'd pick the closest train station with a large wizarding population." Andros held out his arms. "And here you are. Please, take a seat. Josef sent something he said you'd need."
Harry sat down and motioned for the other three to do the same. They did, but kept well away from Andros. "Alright," Harry said quietly, "What do you have for me?" Next to him, Ron flinched as Andros reached into his robes. "We can trust him," Harry whispered. Ron relaxed, but Harry had to admit that there was some wisdom behind Ron's reaction. Once they had both calmed down, Andros slid a tall bottle filled with dark liquid across the table.
Harry picked it up and felt a gentle warmth radiating off the glass. The liquid inside was not one single color. Instead, it seemed to be made up of two things which were only slightly mixed. One was a deep maroon and the other was dark enough to be black. He quickly put it back down on the table.
"Norwegian Ridgeback blood?" he asked with a disgusted frown. "What is it mixed with? Acromantula venom? Kelpie oil?"
"Acromantula venom," Andros answered with a nod. "Anesthetic. The Ridgeback blood is the important ingredient. It's amazingly powerful."
"It's also very illegal," Harry snapped.
"Not in Romania," countered Andros, "and not in Austria. Don't get moralistic, Harry. Whatever you gave her, it won't last long. It needs to be fixed not ignored."
"It was fixed," Harry growled. "Cryopaste works just as well, and I didn't have to break any laws to get it."
"For the love of God, Harry! Cryopaste?" Andros cried out, attracting the attention of several nearby tables. He tossed a threatening glare at a pair of wizards who were staring at them and continued in a hushed voice. "Are you insane? I thought you said that you loved her? The pain must have been—"
"I didn't have much choice, did I?" Harry interrupted. "If Josef felt like being helpful, he could have stopped Razvan from doing it in the first place."
Harry hadn't seen Andros angry very often, but he knew that he was getting close. "He might have, if you hadn't waltzed into your Ministry wearing his face and making a spectacle of yourself," Andros hissed in response. "Instead, he was stuck in Britain trying to keep you alive and fix the mess you created."
Now Harry was getting upset. "What was I supposed to do? Let Grigore kill Ron? Let him get Voldemort's wand?"
"It has been two days, Harry," Andros said, "—just two short days since I sat here with Dragomir and listened to him ask for your help. We didn't ask anything of you except one thing: Stay alive and don't do anything stupid. And in those two days you have staged an assault on a Quidditch match, fought a battle in the middle of a Muggle street, restrained a Brotherhood member, and tricked the rest of the Brotherhood into attacking a branch of the largest wizarding bank so you could sneak into your Ministry to retrieve the wand while wearing the face of the wizard who is trying hardest to keep you safe."
"I didn't have a choice."
"Maybe not," the other wizard replied, "but you have one now. The path you're on now leads to your death. If you die, you'll take all of us with you. Josef, Dragomir and I cannot face Grigore alone. If we fail, who knows what will happen?" Andros leaned forward and looked into Harry's eyes. "Turn back. This is not the time to fight this battle."
"I don't have any more time," Harry replied stonily. From the corners of his eyes he could see the tense expressions on his friends' faces. Of the three, only Ginny looked confident. She was staring directly at Andros with one hand inside her robes, undoubtedly gripping her wand. If Harry wasn't careful, he'd start yet another battle and lose his last allies.
"Listen to me," he pleaded. "If I let Grigore get the wand, Reynard would have taken Hermione. Grigore could have prevented that, but he didn't. He could have walked away, but he didn't. The Order of the Phoenix didn't know about him, but he attacked them. He didn't need to involve them, but they'll be searching for all of you now. It's all falling apart, Andros. He'll kill them if they find out about any of you. You know he will."
"Sacrifices must be made, Harry," replied Andros. "Josef said he can guarantee the lives of the Weasleys, the Werewolf and the Metamorphmagus. He knows that you care for them and he wants to prove that he is trying to help you."
"And the others?"
Andros looked somber. "If any of the others die, they should be proud to give their lives for such an important cause. The Brotherhood has never made such agreements. This is a personal guarantee from Josef."
"I don't want any guarantees from Josef," Harry snapped. "I know how he works. I can't wait for him to find a perfect solution which doesn't exist. I won't gamble with people's lives like that."
"You will not wait?" Andros asked in a frustrated voice. "Not even for a day?"
Harry stared back at him with empty eyes. "In a day, Grigore might kill six of my friends. Even one would be too many."
Andros then turned to Ginny. "Can you do nothing? Your words may have more control over him than any I could say," he told her. "Please? For your own safety and for his, go back to Britain, or France, or Germany. Anywhere but Romania."
Harry turned to look at Ginny but she ignored him. She was still staring at Andros with a passive look on her face.
"I can't," she told him. "Enough people have died. Harry can stop it, and he will. And I'm going with him."
Andros shook his head. "You don't know the danger—"
"I know that I'm the only one who can keep him safe," Ginny interrupted. "Tarus won't kill me. If anything goes wrong, I may be the only one who can get Harry out of there alive."
Andros glared at Ginny as though she had betrayed him. He turned to Ron and Hermione, and then finally back to Harry. "Very well," he said defeated. "I suppose there is no other choice." He leaned back and reached into his robes.
With surprising speed, Ginny rolled off the edge of her seat and lunged forward pointing the tip of her wand directly into Andros's jaw. To his left, Harry saw that Ron and Hermione both had their wands out as well.
"Relax, Ginevra," Andros said stiffly. "Where you're going, I have no doubt that you will have use for such reflexes, but for the moment, they are only drawing more attention to a meeting that is not supposed to be happening."
Ginny looked back to Harry, as if to ask for some advice on what to do. In the end, Andros was still a member of the Brotherhood, a group of wizards firmly under the control of Grigore Tarus, a wizard who'd tricked him, trapped him, and lied to him many times. And yet, he didn't think he could succeed without some help.
"Sit down, Ginny," Harry said softly. Ginny looked surprised and almost hurt. "Sit down, but keep your wand on our friend," he told her. "He won't mind. If he's really trying to help us, we have no reason to attack him." Ginny did as he said and sat back down in her seat. She left her right arm lying on the table and her wand pointed directly at Andros's chest.
He glowered at Harry, obviously unimpressed with the amount of trust shown. After a moment of frustration, he slowly removed his hand and slid an envelope toward Harry. "A show of faith," Andros said. "It would be encouraging to see something in return."
Harry reached for the envelope, but Ron lunged for it first and pulled it from Harry's hands. "I don't trust him," he mumbled to Harry as his fingers pried the parchment open. Harry watched as Ron pulled out what looked to be a number of slips of bleached white paper.
"They're... er, I don't really know what they are," admitted Ron.
"They're tickets," Hermione explained. "They're Muggle train tickets. The train leaves in... about half an hour and ends in a place called Oradea."
"Tickets?" Harry asked Andros.
"If you refuse to help us, then at least allow us to help you do things the right way," he replied. "What were you going to do? Stand in line with the Muggles and hope that no one would be watching?"
"How would that be worse than having a Brotherhood member give the tickets to me?" he retorted. "At least my way there's only a chance that Grigore finds out where I've gone."
"Grigore will not learn of this from me, I guarantee you," Andros said in a serious tone.
"I know him better than you do," Harry told him. "He is going to talk to every one of you. He'll know that you're hiding something from him. Once he knows there is something worth hiding, he will find out what it is."
Andros straightened in his chair and stared calmly back at Harry. "You are right. Grigore is very skilled, but even he cannot extract the truth from an unconscious man." It took Harry a second to understand just what he meant. "Yes, Harry," he said as he saw the recognition in Harry's eyes. "The tickets aren't the show of faith. This is."
Harry's mind ran through a dozen different hexes which would work. Each of them had their own risks. Some of them were impractical; some were pointless with the variety of potions available just outside the pub. There were two however, which would work nicely.
"A day should be long enough," Harry declared. "Have you eaten recently?"
Andros nodded. "I have paid for a room upstairs. If you can give me a minute to get there, no one will even find me before it's all over." Harry agreed. There was one obvious choice. Andros knew which one it was. He'd been expecting this long before Harry even arrived. With a nod to the clock over the fireplace, he looked at Harry and spoke: "You've got twenty minutes. You should go. Dragomir will be waiting for you."
Harry pulled his wand out and aimed it at Andros's chest. He closed his eyes and whispered, "Hiberno Totalus." A soft wisp of golden mist swirled from Harry's wand and wound itself toward Andros's chest. It struck him, dissipating silently. He sighed deeply and stood up.
"Good luck."
Then he turned and walked unsteadily away from them. Harry watched as he carefully climbed the stairs and stumbled down a narrow corridor.
"Come on," he announced, "we've got a train to catch."
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny boarded the train as soon as they could. Just as Harry and Ginny had done before, they found an empty compartment and sealed themselves in. For some time, they simply sat in uncomfortable silence waiting for the train to depart and take them away from the city.
Once Vienna was nothing more than a collection of dark spots on the horizon, they all seemed to relax, but the compartment was still filled with a tension that was difficult to describe. The only sound for minutes had been a couple of quick spells by Harry to remove the charms he'd been using to disguise himself.
"How long do we have?" Ron asked, ending the silence.
Harry tried to work out the time. It shouldn't be more than three hours, but he couldn't remember how many stops there would be between Vienna and Oradea. Ron kept asking questions. None of them required much thought and it became clear that he was doing it out of a desire to avoid letting the room fall back into silence.
"Once we get there, where do we go?" Ron asked. It was the first real question he'd asked.
Harry decided that Ron was right. He had better use the time they had to explain the makeshift plan he'd been making in his head. "Once we get to the station, we leave and make our way to the Fireplaces. We'll take the Floo to a place called Oras-Maisus. We won't be able to get there, but the Floo will take us to the Gatehouse at the edge of the city. From there, we'll make our way to the Castle."
"The Castle?" Ron replied. "Is it abandoned? Won't someone be guarding it?"
"Of course," Harry answered honestly, "but not as many as usual. They rely on magical locks, but we've got keys." Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out a golden ring on a simple chain. He handed it to Ron saying, "I have the ring Ginny took from her friend at the Leaky Cauldron. She has the one she took at Giza. This was Charlie's. It should be yours. He died defying Grigore and trying to help me."
A confused look appeared on Ron's face. "What about Hermione? Isn't she coming with us? If we only have three, then—"
"We have four of them," interrupted Hermione.
"What? How?" asked Ron. "Did you steal one from one of the blokes in the Department of Mysteries? Hermione said they weren't wearing them."
"They weren't," Hermione said. She wasn't looking at Ron. Instead, her eyes were focused directly on the floor of the compartment while her fingers twisted and pulled one of the buttons of her robes. "Harry, can we be alone for a while?"
Harry and Ginny nodded and stood up. They carefully checked the corridor before leaving the compartment and searching for a second one that was empty. It didn't take much looking. The train was mostly empty and once inside their new compartment, Ginny sat down and stared out the window at the scenery rushing past them. Harry concealed the door and sat down across from her.
"I— I have a bad feeling about this," she mumbled. "They're acting differently than they were in Giza. They were always so cautious and secretive then. I couldn't even prove they existed. Now they're setting up an ambush in the middle of Muggle streets." She looked up at Harry.
"This is a trap, Harry."
Harry nodded. "Probably." He leaned back in his seat and ran his hand through his hair. "I don't see any other choice, though. He'll start killing the Order. If that happens, I don't see how Josef can keep them from killing your parents, or Lupin, or who knows how many other wizards. We still have one advantage, though."
Ginny stared at him and waited for an answer.
"You," he said without looking at her. "Grigore won't expect me to bring you. He would never imagine that I would endanger you like that. He thinks that I'll do anything to keep you away from him."
"Then we'll use that against him," she said. "He won't attack me. So long as we're cautious, we should be able to keep each other safe."
Harry knew this moment would come. How could he explain it to her? What could he do to convince her that this was the best way?
"You're not going to be with me," he announced simply. "It's too dangerous. I need you nearby, but you can't follow me where I need to go. You need to stay away from that arch."
"And you don't?" she shot back.
"Please, just trust me," he begged her. He couldn't bring himself to tell her just why it was so important. "We can't have the distraction of fighting together," he explained instead. "If you're with me, there is nothing I can bargain with. So long as you're nearby and hidden, I still have something I can use if I'm captured."
Ginny turned to stare out the window again. "It's going to be bad, isn't it?" she asked. "They know we're coming, don't they?"
Harry didn't respond immediately. He simply nodded and looked out the window.
"Do you have a plan?"
Harry frowned to himself. "I know what needs to be done. Grigore is trying to do something horrible, and I know what needs to be done do to stop it. I can't let him use the Veil. If I succeed..." Harry's voice trailed off as he looked down at his hands. "I don't know what might happen —to me or any of us. I don't know what the Brotherhood will do. Ginny, I— There are things I might have to do—"
"I trust you, Harry," Ginny said in a gentle voice. "You're not like them."
"No," he replied. "No, I'm not." He knew it was true, and yet that fact no longer gave him any comfort.
What was Grigore trying to do? He'd asked the question so many times that it had been a relief when he'd finally found an answer. He felt certain that he was right. It explained everything. And yet, another thought had been creeping around in the back of his mind for some time. He tried to ignore it, but it was becoming more insistent.
He told himself that he didn't want Ginny in the Veil Room because he was certain that Grigore meant to give her to whatever was on the other side of the Veil. He still wasn't ready to admit that he also didn't want her there to hear what Grigore might say. If he knew it would be all lies, he wouldn't have been as worried, but he was afraid that some of it would be the truth, and at times even he had a hard time separating the two.
They both sat in complete silence. Somewhere nearby, he knew Hermione was trying to explain to Ron why she had joined the same secret society of wizards that his brother had been working for when he died. Harry was glad that he didn't have to watch it, and yet, sitting alone with Ginny and knowing that he was leading her into a trap hardly seemed any better.
It wasn't fair. He'd barely had any time to spend with her. He shouldn't have hidden from her. He should have found her long ago. They'd had only twelve days, and now he was risking ending it all like this? He stared across the compartment at her, and wished he knew some way of apologizing for what he had done.
"I've always loved trains," Ginny announced in a clear voice. "There is so much you get to see. Charlie used to travel by train quite often. They would use them to transport the larger dragons. They were disguised to look like flat, empty cars to Muggles. They never had any idea that a dragon was rolling past them." She reached up to her eyes and wiped away a small tear. "I miss him."
"I know."
She nodded and wiped away another tear. "For a little bit, I thought I was going to actually like my job. It was... exciting. I guess there was a reason for that. When this is all over, I think I might still like it, though. Have you thought about what you would want to do?"
"Are you kidding?" Harry replied. "I'm rich. I plan on sitting around my house and doing nothing at all."
Ginny coughed and began laughing. It was the first time he'd seen her laugh in quite some time. It felt good, and Ginny seemed to agree. She slowly stood up and walked over to sit next to Harry. She rested her head on his shoulder and began talking.
For the rest of the train ride they talked about anything except the Brotherhood, Grigore Tarus, or unknown Dark Lords.
When the silhouette of Oradea Station loomed in the window, Harry reluctantly interrupted Ginny to tell her it was time to leave. He took a moment to quickly re-cast the charms to disguise himself before leading her back to the compartment Hermione and Ron had been in. They too had noticed their approaching destination. Neither of them looked quite as relaxed as Harry or Ginny, but it seemed that they had resolved any issues which might have been between them.
Before the train had even stopped, they were walking to the rear of the train, searching for the door which would put them closest to the platform exit. After stepping off the train, they formed a tight group and began moving quickly toward the arched exit and the hallway which would lead them to a fireplace on the Romanian Floo Network.
Harry navigated the maze-like corridors, giving the others quick hand gestures to tell them what to do. They were in Romania now and no matter how easy it had been to get in, it wouldn't be as easy to get out and they knew it. There was no talking. They simply did as he said.
There was a pair of public fireplaces in a hidden chamber off the main ticketing area of the station. However, it would undoubtedly be watched by many more eyes than Josef could control. Harry had decided to head in the opposite direction. He knew of one other fireplace. It had been placed to give the few wizards who regularly worked at the station an easier way to come and go. After only a short walk, he found the door he was looking for.
"Alohamora!" he shouted, unlocking it.
He'd aimed his wand before he even had a chance to recognize the figure standing in front of the fireplace.
"Good evening, Harry," Dragomir greeted him.
Harry bristled at his voice and took a moment to aim his wand a little better. "Everyone inside the room," Harry ordered. Ron waved the women in, closed the door and locked it quickly with his wand.
"How did you know I'd come here?" Harry asked Dragomir.
"You didn't have a choice," the other wizard answered. "There are anti-Disapparation wards up and I have already disabled the other fireplaces."
"Are you here to help me or stop me?"
"That depends on where you're headed."
"I'm going to Oras-Maisus," Harry declared with finality.
"I was afraid of that," replied Dragomir. "I understand why you feel you must do this, but I think —in this case— that you're making a grave mistake."
"I'm sorry you feel that way. Are you going to try and stop me?"
Dragomir let out a frustrated sigh. "Can I assume that you've spoken with Andros and that he's already tried every method he could think of to stop you?" Harry gave a quick nod. "Very well, but remember that I told you this was a bad idea."
Harry shrugged, and grunted, "Fine."
"Grigore is still trying to prepare the Castle," Dragomir explained. "Brotherhood members are spread all across Europe and he's trying to call them all back. If you need to get in, you'll need a Ring —one for each of you who plan on entering."
"We've got them," Ron chimed in.
Dragomir frowned at him. "The fireplace will take you to the Gatehouse. Grigore has already locked the gate. You'll need a password."
"Do you have it?"
Dragomir looked even more uncomfortable. "Yes, I do. We are under strict orders not to give it to anyone else." He paused to stare at Harry. "Are you certain you wish to do this?"
"Tell me the password, Dragomir."
"The password is tradare."
Harry found himself speechless for a moment. It was worse than he thought, but there was no way he could turn back now. If he waited or retreated, it would only give Grigore a better chance to defend himself. He had to attack now before the rest of the Brotherhood returned.
"I understand now," he told Dragomir. "I never meant to put you in danger. I will do my best to—"
"Of course you didn't mean for this to happen, Harry," Dragomir replied, "and yet, here you are, standing before me and telling me that you are planning on doing everything we begged you not to. We have been trying to help you in every way we can. We have risked our lives for you, and you have not shown concern for anyone's life besides those of yourself and these three. I should have expected this. Josef said you would act irresponsibly. He has been right about you at every step. He told us not to trust you to act reasonably."
"Josef and I often disagree over just what is reasonable," Harry replied.
"You're risking much more than our safety, Harry," Dragomir said in a slightly patronizing tone. "You must understand the position this puts the Brotherhood in. If Grigore is correct, then we risk becoming unwilling minions to an even greater evil. And if you are right, then we may be walking into the biggest trap Grigore has ever created. Both worries could be lessened by simply waiting. If you are certain that you are correct, then in the name of all that you love: delay this plan. Time will show your position to be the correct one and more of the Brotherhood will be willing to aid you."
Harry was still unmoved. "That is not an option for me. I must stop him now. Do whatever you must, but if you stand in my way, I will fight you."
Dragomir glared at Harry and his friends. "We are not going to stop you," he told Harry, "but you are making it very difficult for us to help you. I assume Andros won't be very talkative today?"
Harry nodded. "No, he—"
"Do not tell me!" Dragomir shouted. "That is all I need to know. If you open the gate, I have no doubt that Grigore will know what I have done. My fate will rest in your hands, then." He took a deep breath and shook his head. "I hope that I have not made a mistake." He unlocked the door, opened it quickly and checked the corridor. "Goodbye, Harry," he said, "I do hope that we will meet again." With a nod toward Ginny, he turned and slipped through the doorway.
As the door clicked shut, Ron walked over to make sure it was locked again. Satisfied, he turned around and shot Harry a questioning look. "What was that about? What is so special about that password?"
Harry ignored Ron for the moment and pointed at Hermione's bag. "Do we have enough Floo Powder for four?" he asked her. She nodded, pulled the bag off her shoulder, and began rummaging in it.
Harry opened his bag as well and began searching it. Ginny walked over to his side and was now peering over his shoulder. He hadn't had much time to pack at Gringott's and now he was having trouble finding everything he remembered tossing into the bag. He pushed aside an extra Shield Cloak and finally found the last of them.
"I've got the Floo Powder," Hermione called out.
"Good," Harry replied. "Take everything you think you might need. We'll have to shrink the bags before we leave. Harry flattened his and shrunk it to the size of a large wallet.
"Harry, what are those?" Ginny asked, pointing to his left hand.
"Wands," he replied quickly, adding, "I've got one for everyone."
"Why do we need another wand?" Hermione asked.
"These aren't for casting spells," he said as he handed one of them to her. He then extended one toward Ron, and one to Ginny after Ron had taken his. He kept the last one and pocketed it.
"Why not?" Ron asked.
"Because they are copies of Voldemort's wand," Harry announced. Ron nearly dropped his, and Ginny held hers gingerly, as though sickened by the touch of it. Hermione, however, held hers up for a closer look.
"You made these?" she asked as she ran her finger along the grip. "They're amazing. When did you get the time?"
"They are duplicates of a copy I made before I hid the real wand. There are only a few people in the world who could tell they are only fakes. One of them is standing in this room."
"So where is the real one?" Ron asked.
Harry had anticipated that question, and he'd decided that it was best to completely ignore it. They would all be safer if he was the only one who knew where Voldemort's wand truly was. "Put them away. You'll need your real wands. We should be going." Harry turned and picked up a handful Floo Powder.
"Harry! I asked a question!" complained Ron. "I'm here because I trust you. It would help if you at least acknowledged one of my questions?"
Harry turned back toward Ron. "The password is a message to anyone who reveals it to someone outside the Brotherhood. The word tradare is Romanian. It means treachery. The message is obvious. He intended for me to learn it. Grigore knows that some members of the Brotherhood have turned against him. He knows we're coming. He's planning on dealing with all of us at once."
"Just how powerful is he?"
Harry shook his head. "Not as powerful as I am." Harry turned back to the fireplace and conjured a fire with a flick of his wand. "I'll go first," he told the others. "There should be at least two wizards keeping guard on the other side. They'll attack me the moment I appear. I need you—" he said while looking at Hermione "—to show up as quickly as you can and help me. Ron is next. Ginny is last." He stepped into the fire and gripped his wand firmly. "Listen closely to the name of the place. It can get rough if you say it incorrectly." Harry closed his eyes, took a deep breath and tossed the Floo Powder into the fire.
"Oras-Maisus!"
Ginny watched as Harry disappeared in a tornado of green flame. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she could feel her blood throbbing through the hand she was clutching her wand with. Ron was already reaching for a handful of Floo Powder as Hermione stood in front of the fireplace and waited for the fire to return.
The world seemed to have slowed to a crawl. The fire was taking a painfully long time to reappear. As the first green tongues began flaring back to life, Hermione jumped from the hearth to the heart of the fireplace. Instead of leaving immediately, she waited a few agonizing seconds for the fire to grow stronger. Ginny wanted to shout. She wanted to grab a handful of powder and throw it into the fire herself. Somewhere far away, Harry was rolling out of a fireplace into a room full of wizards who had been trying to kill him for a year.
Relax, she told herself. Harry knows what he's doing.
"Oras-Maisus!" shouted Hermione. The walls of the small room flashed green, and Hermione was gone.
"Go, Ron, hurry!" she urged. Ron leaped into the fireplace as she grabbed a handful of Floo Powder. It was more than she would need, and her mother would have scolded her for wasting it, but she couldn't be bothered to be frugal at that moment.
Ron barely waited for the first signs of flame to return before he had thrown down his powder. The flames choked on the Floo Powder for a second, then exploded, showering the room in green sparks. He shouted, "Oras-Maisus" and was taken away by a smoky green whirlwind.
When Ginny stepped into the fireplace, the small fire was sputtering weakly. It would take too long to wait for it to return by itself, so she decided to give it a little help.
"Incendio!" she shouted, and bright orange flames blossomed across the wood. For an instant, the fire was hot —painfully hot— but the green flames quickly overtook the orange ones. Ginny tossed the powder into the flames and shouted:
"Oras-Maisus!"
It seemed to take forever for the flames to respond to her command. She closed her eyes, gripped her wand and pressed her arms tight against her chest. Just when she was about to open her eyes to see what she'd done wrong, she felt a gust of air rush from her feet to her head and lift her off the floor of the fireplace.
She opened her eyes and watched as a series of images of fireplaces whipped past her face. She could feel herself slowing down. She wasn't far. She tried to prepare herself. She needed to be ready in case something had happened to Harry. The spinning slowed drastically, and she felt the familiar shove telling her that she'd reached her destination. The darkness of the fireplace was drawn back like a curtain and she found herself rolling headfirst into a room filled with a soft yellow light.
That was when she first noticed the shouting.
She deftly found her feet and rolled into a low crouch. Ron wasn't far ahead of her. His wand was out and he had just stunned a wizard standing off to Ginny's right. Harry and Hermione were standing together on the other side of the room, firing hexes at another wizard who seemed to be hiding behind a shield the size of a small umbrella.
Ginny ran across the room, keeping as close to the side wall as she could. When she'd almost reached the far wall, she turned and took aim at the wizard. He hadn't seen her arrive. He was still holding his shield so that it sheltered him from Harry and Hermione. From Ginny's perspective, however, he was totally unprotected.
She remembered the lessons from earlier that day. Whoever this wizard was, he had been smart enough to protect himself. There was always the chance that he had included some form of shield item as well. She waited for Harry and Hermione to fire off another volley of curses, then, just as he was preparing to return fire, she cast her charm:
"Incarcerous!"
Instead of aiming for his chest or legs, she had pointed her wand directly at his head. The thin cords wound around his face and neck first, and then began wrapping themselves around his shoulders and arms. After a second, Ginny reached for the cords with her left arm and gave them a mighty pull. The wizard on the other end let out a muffled scream and then toppled to the ground.
Hermione ran over to him and hit him with a pair of curses to finish binding him and rendering him unconscious. When they were done, Harry nodded toward her and flashed a quick smile.
It took Ginny a second to notice the change. "Harry... your disguise, the charms—"
"I know," he said. "The wards here dispelled the charms. I knew it was going to happen. It surprised the three of them, though," he said, motioning toward the other two bodies. "I don't think they were expecting us to—"
Harry's voice was cut short as his head whipped around to look at the large doorway leading to the rest of the gatehouse. His arm straightened suddenly, pointing his wand back across the room. Ginny and Hermione turned to see what he was aiming at and found a boy standing just inside the room, staring at the body of one of the guards lying in the center of the room. Ron had already spotted him and had his wand pointed at him as well. Harry began slowly walking toward the young wizard. The boy's eyes opened wide and he took a step back toward the door.
"Stay where you are!" Harry commanded. The boy flinched in response and stared back at Harry's wand. Slowly, Harry lowered his wand. "We're not here to hurt you," he said in a soothing voice. "Just relax and I promise nothing—" The boy had turned and bolted for the door.
"Ron!" shouted Harry. "Stun him!"
Instead of doing that, Ron turned to scowl at Harry and lowered his wand. Harry let out an angry growl and broke into a run as he followed the sound of the boy's footsteps. Not knowing what else to do, Ginny took off after him as well. Harry beat her to the doorway, but came to an abrupt halt just on the other side of it.
The boy could still be seen running down the corridor. He had almost reached the enormous intersection where this corridor met with the one leading to the gate. Harry was staring at the boy, his wand was drawn and aimed, but he wasn't saying anything. Then just as Ginny was about to do what Ron hadn't, a crackling line of light like a golden bolt of lightning shot out of his wand and struck the boy's back. He collapsed immediately.
"Come on, we need to bring him back to this room," Harry whispered. "Quickly."
The four of them walked quietly down the corridor. Harry led them with his wand ready for anyone who might show up. Ginny stayed close behind him, ready to help. When they reached the boy's body, Harry stepped over it and walked forward to the corner. He motioned for Ginny to stand at the other corner.
Ron and Hermione gently turned the boy over onto his back. Ginny heard a shocked gasp from Hermione and turned back to see the boy's arms lying limply on the floor and his eyes frozen open in a lifeless stare.
"What did you do, Harry?" Ron asked quietly. "Did you kill him?"
"No!" Harry answered with a harsh whisper. "It's a paralysis hex. Now take him back to the parlor."
"Why?" Ron asked. "He'll be fine here,"
Harry turned away from the corner and strode back toward Ron. "No, he won't," he said through clenched teeth. "Now take him back to that room and don't use any magic."
Ron scowled at Harry, but did it anyway. Ginny kept watch at the corner for a little while longer. It was strange. She had expected to see more people walking about. Even if the Brotherhood was spread across Europe, there had to be other guards in the building. Where were they?
She felt a tap at her shoulder and turned to see Harry calling her back. She followed him back to the room at the end of the corridor. When they caught up with Ron, Harry stopped to help Ron carry the body back into the room.
"What was that about?" Ron snapped. "Did you just want to prove that you're in charge? Or is there some reason why—"
"I told you to stun him," Harry said firmly.
"He's just a boy," Ron growled. "He was scared. He wasn't going to tell anyone."
"Yes, and that's the problem," Harry retorted. "It was his job to guard that door. He's supposed to send up sparks to set off the alarms and then do whatever it takes to keep us from leaving. If they find him at the end of that corridor, it will look like he ran instead of doing his job. When they find him here, they'll just think that a thirteen year old boy was paralyzed by the same wizards that overcame three of the city guards. For failing to set off the alarms, he'll only lose his job. For running, he would have lost his life."
Ginny stared at Harry. Had he thought of all that in the instant he'd seen the boy? It was impressive and a little frightening. While Ginny knew that she had been better than most of her classmates at Hogwarts, Harry seemed to have advanced far beyond the level anyone would have expected, even for the Great Harry Potter.
"We need to go," Harry announced. "This place should be better guarded than this. Something isn't right."
Harry led them out of the room and down the corridor. They stopped for a moment at the large intersection of the corridors before turning and moving down the main corridor just as quickly. Ginny searched the walls and floors for any evidence of the destruction she and Harry had wrought almost two weeks ago, but there was nothing.
They reached the gate earlier than Ginny had expected. They hadn't encountered a single guard in all that time, and it was obvious that Harry was getting quite paranoid.
"There should have been two guards here," he said to himself. "They are always here. They're not allowed to leave. Only the Captain of the Guard can..." Harry stepped away from the gate and aimed his wand at its center.
"Revelatio!"
For a brief moment, a red pattern stood out across the doors, glowing like molten metal. Three figures were visible. Two of them, a J and a K were superimposed, so that they shared a single vertical stroke. The third figure was just a long diagonal slash, cutting from the right side of the gate to the lower left.
"Josef was here," Harry said with a bitter laugh, "and I would guess that he left something for us." The last figure on the gate to fade was the long slash and Harry followed it to a dark corner next to the gate. When Harry stood up again, he was carrying a large grey bundle. "Quickly. Everyone, grab a set of robes," Harry said.
Harry helped them all put on their robes, including golden waist-cords, and a large golden medallion embossed with the shape of a lion and hung from a chain which they were to wear about their necks. "The Brotherhood wears these when they go out into the city," he explained. "The golden medallion is a symbol of the Ministry and it lets everyone know that they're not to be bothered. With luck, it will work for us as well."
Once they were set, Harry shouted the password: "Tradare!" The doors groaned for a moment, then silently opened onto a darkened courtyard. Ginny stared at the scene just inside the gate and struggled to understand just what had happened. The courtyard was indeed beautiful, just as Tarus had said it would be, and yet its beauty was marred by a number of people sitting around the walls of the courtyard in dirty clothes, or laying on makeshift beds.
"Keep walking," Harry whispered. "Remember: We are Brotherhood members with Ministry business."
"Why are they here?" Ginny asked quietly as they skirted a small encampment of the derelict wizards.
"If I had to guess, I'd say that Grigore locked the gates and won't let them leave. We escaped one too many times. Don't think on it too much. It's no good trying to solve this problem now. We'll figure something out if we make it back here."
"—when we make it back here—" corrected Ginny.
"Right. Of course."
They passed out of the courtyard and onto the beginning of the High Street which led to the Castle. In the distance, lit windows in the highest parapets could be seen peeking over the old buildings which made up the Lower City. Ginny's eyes kept seeking it out, wondering if Tarus were in one of the towers looking down on them, waiting for them to get close enough that he could hex them from some darkened window.
When they had walked half the distance, Harry began quietly explaining what they were supposed to do when they got to the Castle. He was going to help them get past the front gate, and show them how to get into the parts of the Castle where only Brotherhood members were allowed. Once he'd done that, they would need to split into pairs.
Ginny had known it was coming, but she still felt the urge to beg him to let her come with him. For Ron and Hermione, it was a little more or a shock.
"What are we supposed to do?" Ron asked. "Neither one of us have ever been in there. We can't— Wait. Neither one of us has been in there, have we?"
"No," Hermione answered weakly. "I— I didn't even know any other members. If anyone talked to me, I wouldn't know what to say."
"Don't worry about that," Harry commented. "If anyone gets close enough to talk to you, you'll have more problems than trying to think of the right way to greet them."
"So what do you want us to do?" Ron repeated.
"I want you to keep Ginny safe," Harry replied. "Hermione will be coming with me."
"Wait— No. I'm not going to go hide while Hermione walks into a trap."
"We're all walking into a trap, Ron. I can't take Ginny with me, and Hermione is the only one who has a legitimate reason to be here. If someone stops us, Hermione is the only one who has a chance of explaining herself."
Ginny didn't really believe Harry. She knew what he was trying to do. He needed Hermione because she already knew what she was facing. Ron didn't. He couldn't. If Harry pushed him into that situation, there would be no telling how he might respond.
Harry and Ron walked ahead of Ginny and Hermione. As they walked, Ginny caught bits and pieces of a hushed argument. Ginny turned to speak to Hermione, but she didn't look like she was in the mood to talk. Instead, her eyes were focused entirely on the Castle looming in front of them. It stood atop the hill like a ghostly stone crown, and they were walking right into it.
Ginny's mind wandered to all the times she'd spoken with Tarus and all the things Albert had said to her. They were the only things she had that might help her through this. She didn't think any of it would really matter. Harry was right. They were walking into a trap. It wasn't the first time, but she didn't know how many more miraculous escapes he could possibly make.
Then it suddenly occurred to her. Of course, it wouldn't matter if Harry failed at whatever he had planned. Something told her that if he failed she wouldn't really care about escaping anymore. She ran ahead and tapped Harry on the shoulder.
"I think I know how we can escape!" she said excitedly.
"Not now," he growled.
"I won't have time after we get into the Castle," she told him. "It won't take long, I swear."
Harry didn't even turn to look at her. "Not. Now."
Ginny gave him a sour look, but relented a moment later when she saw a pair of shadowy figures standing in the path ahead of them. They seemed to have noticed her strange behavior and had turned to stare at the four of them. As they got closer the two guards began walking toward them.
"Names!" the one on the left shouted, "Quickly! You're not supposed to travel in groups larger than two."
"There's been an attack at the gatehouse!" Harry called out. "They need help. Someone might have escaped."
The moment he said it, Ginny knew it wouldn't work. The guards stiffened and reached for their wands. "Names!" the one on the left barked.
"My name is Harry," he replied. The two guards froze in fear and before they were able to pull their wands, Harry had made a slashing movement with his arm, shouting,"Petrifacto!"
The two guards didn't move, and Harry quickly put his wand away. "Act normal," he said over his shoulder.
Ginny wasn't sure exactly what behavior was natural when dealing with petrified guards. Harry showed her a moment later as he slapped one of them on the shoulder as he passed by. Ginny felt far too uncomfortable to do anything more than walk near them.
Once past the guards, they only had a long stone bridge to cross before reaching the front gates of the Castle. Ginny could feel the pace of her heart picking up as they reached the far side of the bridge. For a second, Ginny wondered how they would get past this next gate, but to her surprise, it began opening before they even reached it.
As they passed under it, the clatter of chains ceased, and the gate began lowering itself again. Ginny found herself in a familiar courtyard. They walked across the courtyard and through another gate, and into the large hall where the painting of a city on a hill in flames hung. As Harry led them down the unmarked corridors, Ginny began to see other familiar things. She knew they weren't far from the marble hall where they would be able to enter the more secretive parts of the Castle.
A few minutes later, they reached that room. As Harry stood in front of the rose colored marble of the wall, he turned back to Ginny. "This idea you have for escaping, can you do it from the other side of this door?"
"Yes," Ginny answered quickly.
"Alright," he replied. "You take Ron and you do whatever it is that you think you can do. Do you remember these?" he asked as he pulled out a gold coin.
Ginny looked closely at it. "The D.A. coins?"
"Right. When you feel it get warm, I want you to come back to this door as quickly as you can, whether you've finished what you're doing or not. I've got one for both of you."
Harry handed a pair of coins to Ginny and Ron. It looked as though he wanted to say something more, but instead he frowned and turned away. He reached under the collar of his robes and quickly pulled out the ring hanging around his neck. Holding it in his palm, he pressed his hand against the stone and was rewarded with a soft grinding as the door opened. He had his wand out and ready, but no one was on the other side of the door.
"Touch your talisman to the stone before you enter," he instructed them. "There are alarms. If you get to a locked door, touching it with the talisman will open it, but anyone who follows you without doing the same will trip the alarm."
Ginny was the last to press her ring against the stone and pass through the door. Once she was through, Harry tapped the other side with his wand and it began closing behind them.
Ginny's stomach felt as though it was filled with lead. Harry seemed uncomfortable as well and she recognized similar expressions on Ron and Hermione's faces.
"It's time," Harry said quietly. "We need to go." He didn't seem to want to look Ginny in the eye, and she knew why. She could feel the tears welling up and she didn't want him to see her like that either. He needed to be thinking about Tarus and the Brotherhood, not her.
"You're right," she croaked. "Come on, Ron. We need to go this way." She took one last moment to wave at Harry and found him looking at her out of the corner of his eye. "Goodbye Harry," she whispered.
She forced herself to turn away from him, and began walking down the corridor she'd pointed out to Ron.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
"Someplace dangerous," she answered.
"How far away is it?"
"I have no idea," she answered honestly. "Pretty far if we keep walking the wrong direction like we are now."
"What?" hissed Ron. "Why are we walking this way, then?"
"Because Harry needed to go the other way and he would have asked questions if we had walked any other direction. It was easier for him this way, trust me. Now shut up and keep your wand ready." Ginny stopped at a corner where another corridor split from the one they were walking down. She took a moment to look around. "I think we'll just turn around and go back through the door we just came through. There may not even be a way to get there from here."
"You told Harry that you needed to be on this side of the door!"
"I know," she replied. "I had to lie to him. He never would have let us do this if he knew where we were going."
Harry and Hermione walked quickly down the corridors. It wasn't a difficult place to find once you knew that it actually existed. You simply had to keep taking whichever path led you deeper underground. There were hardly any other wizards walking about and on the only occasion where another pair of Brotherhood wizards passed by them, they merely nodded and walked along silently.
"Where are we going?" Hermione asked as they descended a winding staircase.
Harry knew it would be best if he told her before she saw it. "At the heart of this castle is a veiled archway, very much like the one in the Death Room at the Department of Mysteries."
"One of the lost arches is here?" Hermione gasped.
"You've heard of them then? Good," he replied. "Do you know what wizards have been trying to do with them over the past hundred years or so?"
"Not really," she answered. "There are a few wizards at the Ministry who claim that you can use it for Divination, and one old man who claims that it's a horrible threat to everyone in the Ministry."
"It seems they're both right, to some degree." Harry explained what he'd learned from the book in Ginny's office and Hermione seemed to reach the same conclusion he had.
"You think that Tarus is trying to use it to make himself more powerful?"
"Powerful enough to become immortal," Harry added. "At least, that's what he thinks it can do. I think he's been deceived, though I don't know if it's by old age or something far more sinister. I think whatever power is on the other side of that arch has promised him power if he kills me or Ginny."
"Is that why you didn't want her to come with you?"
Harry nodded. "If she were there, there would always be the chance that he'd find some way to use us against each other. He has little use for you now that the Order is involved. It's probably lucky that you were able to find me before Grigore realized that."
"What exactly are we going to do when we get to the Veil?" she asked.
Harry didn't know just how he wanted to answer that question. "So long as Grigore and that gateway exist, the world won't be safe."
"Harry, you know what the arches are. Do you have any idea what destroying one might do?
"Yes, I know what they are, but I don't know what would happen if one was destroyed. I don't think anyone really does."
"Harry! This is serious magic we're talking about. These things aren't easily destroyed, and when they are, bad things happen."
Harry paused as the staircase made a sharp turn. "I'm not here to destroy the Veil," he said without emotion.
"Then why are we here? We need to stop him. If you're not— Oh my god."
It had only been a matter of time before she would figure out what he needed to do. He just hoped that she wouldn't abandon him now that she understood what needed to be done.
"I won't ask you to help," he said solemnly. "I only ask that you not try to stop me."
"You can't, Harry!"
"I faced Voldemort alone. I can face Grigore."
"No. This is different. Voldemort— He wasn't even human anymore," Hermione said in a rushed void. "He had nothing more than a shred of his soul. Tarus is a living wizard, Harry! He's arrogant and he's manipulative, but he's not evil."
Harry began walking again. "No, he's not. But he's not good either. He's... something worse."
Hermione grabbed his shoulder and spun him around to face her. "And what are you?" she asked angrily. "He thinks you're evil. Is this how you'll prove him wrong?"
"I can't prove him wrong. He's already made up his mind." Harry wrenched his shoulder free and continued walking. They had reached a set of wide stairs that Harry remembered. At the end of the corridor, he could see a pair of doors shut tightly.
"You can't convince him, so you're going to kill him?" Hermione cried out.
Harry glared at her and gesture for her to keep quiet. "I don't have a choice Hermione," he said as he reached for his ring again. The iron doors weren't far away and he needed to move as quickly as he could. Somewhere above him, Ginny was trying to work out a plan for escape, and he hadn't thought of a good way of getting out of the situation alive.
"There must be some other option," Hermione pleaded as they stopped in front of the metal doors.
Harry pressed his hand against the metal of the doors and waited for them to open. The twin doors parted slowly to reveal the richly decorated hall which led to the Veil Antechamber.
"Well, you've got about two minutes to think of one," he announced.
Ginny pressed her ring against the iron doors and waited for them to grind open. She walked through the opening as soon as it was wide enough to slip between the doors and Ron followed close behind her after placing his ring against the metal as well. Ginny tried to remember how Josef had closed them, but they began closing themselves before she could even think of trying anything.
They retraced their steps. Ginny didn't know just where they were or where she was supposed to go, but she remembered the painting and she remembered the path Grigore had taken her on the very first time she'd been in the Castle. Ron followed her silently.
When they reached the room with the painting, Ginny took another moment to try and make sure that she remembered where to go. Ron took a moment to stare at the painting. "It's a little violent for an Entrance Hall, don't you think?" he asked lightly. "What kind of message do you think it's supposed to send? Go away or we'll burn your town to the ground?"
"The town in the painting is this city," she explained. "I guess it's a memorial to the work they did to repair it. Come on. That's the hallway."
Ron turned to follow her. "Still," he said in a low voice, "it's not a very cheery thing to put next to the front door."
"It's just the truth, Ron," she said. "This isn't a cheery place."
Ginny walked as quickly as she could. She remembered the sloping corridors and tried to remember just how long it had taken her to walk there the last time. Suddenly the occasional doors recessed into the walls disappeared. She knew they couldn't be far. Up ahead of them, she could see a pair of doors, one on each side of the corridor. The one to the left had to be Grigore's study.
She stopped in front of the door and listened for the sound of footsteps. After quite a few seconds of complete silence, she decided to assume they hadn't been followed. The longer she stood at the door, the more likely she was to hear someone headed toward them. Ginny gripped her wand in one hand and held the ring in the other. She pressed the ring against the door and hoped that Grigore was trusting enough to allow any of the Brotherhood members into his personal study.
A second later, there was a sharp click, followed by a soft creak as Ginny pushed the door open. She slipped into the room quickly and shuffled to the side as her eyes scanned the curved walls enclosing the study. Ron was standing on the threshold, fishing down his robes for his own ring. "Just get in here," Ginny hissed. "You shouldn't need it. This part of the Castle is open to anyone." Ron paused and carefully stepped into the study, allowing the door to close behind him.
To her relief, the study was completely empty. It was darker than she remembered it. The large window in the ceiling was dark, showing the stars twinkling against the night sky. As they walked around the room candles flared to life and made it a little easier to see.
"Is that why we're here?" Ron asked pointing to a darkened fireplace recessed into the far side of the room.
"No," Ginny replied distractedly. She looked around the room. It was ringed with a collection of low shelves and cabinets. "We're looking for a Portkey," she explained. "It will be in a small wooden box —probably an expensive looking one, lined with purple velvet."
"Where are we supposed to look for it?"
Ginny let out a frustrated sigh. "Somewhere in this room," she said as she began searching the shelves in front of her. When she found nothing, she moved on to the set next to them, and then the cabinet next to them. Ron did the same, starting roughly half way around the room. Each time she opened a new cabinet, or looked into some dark space, she hoped that she would see a familiar box, but after going a third of the way around the room, she still hadn't seen it.
"Well, I'm back where you started. You're sure it's here?" Ron asked skeptically.
"This is where he said it was,"
"He said it? You mean this Tarus bloke?" Ron said. "You know, Ginny, he might have been lying to you. He doesn't seem like the most trustworthy person, to be honest."
"He wasn't lying about this," Ginny replied. "He wouldn't have. He's got some bizarre obsession with keeping me alive. He promised me that it would be here. He wanted me to be able to visit him whenever I wanted."
"Right, in case you were in the mood to be killed?"
"He didn't want to kill me," she said. "I think he wanted me to join the Brotherhood." She closed the doors to another cabinet and shuffled over to look through another set of shelves.
"Well, it's for the best," Ron added in flat tone. "It looks like he was quite serious about his liquor, as well."
"Hardly," Ginny replied with a snort. "I met him in an abandoned pub in Egypt. It was filled with loads of bottles and he hadn't even touched them. I've never seen him drink anything but tea."
"If you say so," Ron replied, sounding rather doubtful. "There's a half-empty bottle of stuff I've only seen once before. Upham bought a flask of it after we won our first match of the season. He said it made Firewhiskey feel like drinking water."
Ginny spun around and jumped to her feet. "Show me the bottle!" Ginny ordered. Ron recoiled in surprise and held the bottle up for her to see.
Ginny felt her throat tighten. She strode across the room and snatched the bottle from Ron's grip. She knew immediately that she had seen the bottle before. It had been just yesterday when she had shattered one just like it against a wall of a room in the Leaky Cauldron.
'Where did you find this?" she barked at Ron.
"It was right there!" he replied defensively. "It was sitting right in the middle of the table."
Ginny had never seen any evidence that Tarus drank at all. She'd only seen one wizard who drank anything that strong, and his bottle had never been farther from him than an arm's reach. If it was here, there was a good chance—
"We've got to go!" Ginny hissed, suddenly very aware of the noise they had made.
Ron stared at her for a moment. "Is that it? Is that the Portkey? Why didn't—"
"It's not the Portkey," Ginny interrupted. "It's a sign."
This didn't appear to clear up any of his confusion. "What does it mean?"
"It means we walked into a trap," Ginny said. She pulled the stopper out of the bottle, put it to her lips and tipped it back quickly, swallowing a mouthful before pulling it away. She clenched her teeth and closed her eyes tightly until the searing pain had passed. She blinked her eyes and feeling the world sharpen around her. After stoppering the bottle, she tossed it back onto one of the chairs, and pulled her wand out. "Come on, we have to get out of here, now."
Ron followed as she ran to the door. Ginny stopped at the heavy door and pressed her ear against it, listening for any sound that might warn her of some sort of ambush. After a number of seconds of complete silence, she was certain that they were safe —for the moment. They would need to move quickly, though. Ginny reached for the doorknob, and opened the door quickly.
She took a single step before coming to a complete stop. Standing just inches in front of her were a pair of wizards. The closer one was tall, with hair hanging past his shoulders, and a calm, focused expression on his face.
"Good evening, Ginny," welcomed a familiar voice.
Ginny looked up into Albert's face and found a noticeably different man. Gone was his bright red hat and cheerfully lively eyes. In their place was a sheet of dark brown hair and the steady, piercing stare of a hunter.
"Don't call me that," she growled. Faster than she realized she could, she raised her wand to point directly at Albert's chest. She'd underestimated him and he'd escaped. It wouldn't happen again.
"Enfracto!" she shouted, but before she even saw the hex burst forth from her wand, things had gone horribly wrong. Albert had swung his left arm, knocking her wand arm off its target and slamming it into the stone arch lining the door. Ginny let out a shriek as sharp pains shot up her arm. It took all of her concentration to keep a hold of her wand.
Albert's concentration, however, was no longer on her. While still pinning her arm to the stone, he pivoted to point his wand past her and into the room. Ginny had only a fraction of a second to realize what he was doing.
"Expelliarmus!" he shouted. She heard a disgusted growl from Ron as his wand clattered off the wall next to Ginny. Albert released her arm and for an instant, Ginny saw her chance. She bent her arm to point her wand at Albert's head.
"Stupefy!"
Again, her curse missed its target as Albert viciously slammed the heel of his hand into the middle of her chest. Ginny stumbled backward two steps before colliding with something heavy and fast-moving. Ron had been diving for his wand, until she staggered into his path. His shoulder drove into the small of her back, flipping her over his back and spinning him off into the wall some distance from his wand.
Albert's strike had knocked the wind out of her, and Ron's shoulder had awoken the dormant pain in her back. She hit the ground hard and heard a horrible sound: the sound of her own wand rolling off under one of the nearby cabinets. She forced air into her lungs and twisted to look back toward the door.
Through watery eyes, she could see that Albert was already striding through the doorway with his wand pointed directly at her. Ignoring the throbbing in her back and burning in her lungs, she pushed herself to her knees and lunged toward her wand.
She heard Albert shout "Incarcerous!", and she even felt the tight cords wrapping around her waist, constricting against her aching back, but by the time she landed, the cords had disappeared in a puff of dust. She stared at her waist for a moment before remembering the dragonhide vest. When she looked up, she saw Albert striding toward her with an uneven gait and a very annoyed expression.
"Maurizio, take him," he said sharply. "The girl is mine."
Ginny reached under the cabinet and felt her hand close around her wand. The touch of it gave her courage and hope. She had to fight. Harry was depending on her. She could hear Albert directly behind her now. She pushed off the cabinet with one hand and spun around on her knees to face her attacker.
"Stupe—"
Before she could even finish shouting the incantation, Albert's hand had shout out and snatched her wand directly from her grasp. Ginny stared at her empty hand, dumbfounded. To her right, she saw Ron pressed into the wall, fighting the other wizard. Ron's grey cloak lay in shreds and he was struggling to keep his Shield Cloak. With an enraged shout, the wizard tore away the cloak and aimed his wand.
"Stupefy!"
The Ron collapsed against the wall. The wizard let out an animal-like growl and roughly pushed him to the ground with his foot. "Would you care to tell me just how you knew they'd be here, Aleksey?"
Ginny glared at the wizard standing over her. It wasn't Albert? The face looked identical, he was limping, and there was the bottle. She would have sworn it was left as some sort of gloating hint about the horrible mistake they had made. The wizard had seen the confusion in her eyes, and held up his right hand.
"New wand," he whispered with a smirk, then raised his voice for his companion. "I knew they would be here because instead of simply trying to guess what my prey would do, I took the time to truly get to know it. I've been following this one for some time. She's as clever and resourceful as a fox, but this vixen has lost her teeth," he said, waving her wand before pocketing it along with his own.
"What about Harry, then?" the wizard asked.
"I have only met him once," Albert said, shaking his head. "It will not matter. We have her. She will lead us to him, or him to us."
"We came here alone!" she shouted. "I don't know where he is."
"We will see," Albert said icily.
"Never!" Ginny shouted as she kicked her leg toward the leg she had broken only three days ago.
Again, Albert proved too nimble for her unprepared attack. He caught her leg by the ankle and gave it a mighty tug. Fresh pain shot through her hip as she was dragged across the ground toward the center of the room. She kicked and twisted but could do nothing to stop it.
"Her robes," Albert called out. "Take them." He let go of her leg while the other wizard fell upon her, pinning her to the ground while he pulled off the grey Brotherhood robes and the Shield Cloak she'd been wearing under them. As he tossed aside the cloak, he let out a surprised gasp: "What have we here?"
The wizard turned her onto her side and pinned her arms above her head with one hand. His other hand was running up her side from her waist. The sensation made her feel sick.
"Do you see this, Aleksey?" he said.
Ginny took advantage of the distraction and swung her legs up, driving her knee into the man's ribs. He let out a wheezing grunt and fell backward onto the floor. Ginny rolled the other direction and scrambled to her feet. She began running to the door, but somehow Albert was already waiting for her. Before she had taken more than a few steps, his hands where latched onto her upper arm and she felt herself being spun in a tight arc.
His hands released her and she was tossed into a small table next to one of the chairs. The edge of the table dug into her leg and she felt herself tumbling over the chair. Before she could get up, Albert was there, this time grabbing onto the shoulder of her vest and the waist of her jeans and throwing her into another chair. It had been a cushioned chair, but no amount of cushioning could absorb the shock of being thrown into a chair. It fell backward, taking her with it and crashing into the stone floor.
Ginny lay on the stone floor coughing and trying to breathe. Her ribs hurt, though not as much as she expected them to. She knew she'd bruised her arms and legs, and she could feel one of her cheekbones throbbing. Everything had gone so wrong. She had to fight, but what did she hope to accomplish?
She climbed back onto her feet and tried to keep her balance while the two wizards stalked toward her. Between them, she could see Ron laying on the floor and his wand lying nearby. Perhaps if she could get to it, she would have a chance.
Albert's limp was more pronounced than it had been earlier. The activity was still probably too much for him. Ginny took a chance, and ran toward him. As he reached out to grab her, she spun away from him, then stopped and swung her arm around in the other direction, hoping to punch him in the nose.
Albert caught her fist in a shockingly strong grip and stared at her coldly. "No more playing, Ginny," he growled.
"Don't call me that!" she shouted. "You're not my friend!" She tried to twist away from him, but he twisted the other way and Ginny felt as though her shoulder was about to explode. Her legs buckled and she felt herself fall to the floor
A second pair of hands latched onto her other arm and together the two wizards pulled her arms taut, making it impossible for her to struggle as they dragged her toward one of the chairs. Ginny thrashed her legs, but it was useless. All she managed to do was kick a small table, dumping an expensive looking candlestick to the ground and giving her yet another bruise on her leg.
She felt herself be tossed into a tall, stiff-backed chair. Perhaps some part of her expected it, but when she felt familiar texture of dragonhide against her wrists she panicked. She struggled, trying to pull her arms away before the straps could be tightened beyond hope. When she knew she had failed, she resorted to the only thing she had left.
She took a deep breath, and screamed.
Both wizards flinched at the ear-splitting sound, but Albert recovered first. He stepped in front of her, brandishing a third dragonhide strap. Knowing exactly what he was threatening to do, she relented and simply sat silently, glowering at him.
"Maurizio, go tell the guard that everything is in order here," ordered Albert.
"But Grigore said we were to remain in pairs until—"
"We were to remain in pairs to prevent fools from being waylaid by any of them. Grigore has others following Harry and the Granger girl. He would be much more upset if he were distracted by an alarm caused by the pointless wailing of a captured prisoner. I don't believe my injury has weakened me to the point where I feel threatened by a stunned wizard and a bound witch —no matter how... spirited she might be." Albert turned to glare at the wizard imperiously. "Now go, but do not rush back. I think Ginny and I need some time alone. We have much to discuss."
At that, the wizard's eyes darted over toward Albert. "Very well, Aleksey, but do not forget that Grigore wanted her unharmed."
"I will try to remember your concerns," said the wizard Ginny knew as Albert. "I will do everything I can to ensure she is not injured."
The other wizard frowned a little and nodded his head in a slight bow before turning and striding toward the door at a quick pace. Albert walked after him, though much slower and with a noticeable pause as he put weight on his injured leg. From the corner of her eye, she watched him pick up Ron's wand and tuck it into his pocket before walking back to her.
She glared at him the entire time. "If you do anything to me, Harry will kill you, I swear. He's different now. He could do it."
Albert pulled another chair in front of her and sat down. "I believe you," he said as he sat back. "However, I cannot foresee many outcomes of this night which do not put my life in immediate peril, so I am afraid that your threats will do little to alter my course." He paused to take a deep breath. "Now, why did Harry come here?"
Ginny stared back with emotionless eyes. "He's not here. Ron and I came alone. Harry stayed in London."
"Now is not the time to start lying to me, Ginny."
"And why not, Albert?" Ginny sneered. "Or is it Aleksey? Maybe I should have started lying to you from the very start, like you did with me."
"I have not lied to you."
"You said your name was Albert!" she spat.
"No," he replied calmly, "I only said that you might call me Albert. I could not have a pub full of British wizards calling me Aleksey, could I? The patrons of the Leaky Cauldron are a suspicious lot."
"You knew Harry was alive," Ginny said, resolving herself to the fact that dozens of wizards had known this far longer than she had. "You knew what he meant to me and you never told me."
"You never asked," Albert said lightly. "There are many, many things which I have not told you and which you have never asked about. Are they lies as well? Was I lying by not telling you every detail of my thoughts?"
"You said you only had one of those bottles," Ginny said, with a nod toward the bottle still sitting on the center table. She was trying desperately to find something to win the point.
However, Albert just smiled back at her. "And is that a lie?" he asked himself while stroking his chin. "What exactly would a lie be? A discrepancy with the truth?" he asked her. "The rub there is the idea of truth. In the end, truth is simply a perception of the world, no matter how many may share it. And perception is more opinion than fact."
"You're twisting words."
"All words are twisted," replied Albert. "They are merely another aspect of truth. What I told you was truth. Albert had only one such bottle —and now he has none, by the way. Aleksey has many, many bottles. When I said it, you knew only Albert, and in your perception of me —in your world— what I said was truth. Now your perception has changed, and so your truth has also changed, but it hasn't brought you any closer to finding the one universal truth."
Ginny narrowed her eyes at him. "What is it that you want from me?"
Albert looked down at his hands, adopting an almost sorrowful expression. "There was a time when I would have asked for other things," he said slowly. "Your help. Your friendship. Even your respect. All of these things I have dreamed of. In you, I found a hope and resilience that I thought I had lost long ago."
He paused to look at her. There was something strange in his eyes. It was a look of sadness and confusion. "You said that Harry has changed, and I fear that I understand all too well. You, too, have changed. Your hope has darkened and your resilience has weakened to rely upon another. And so, as you failed, so have I. I can see now that I no longer know the right path. The light I have been following has led me astray, and I am lost. Like you, I am left to follow the only leader I can find. I will do what tasks I am assigned, and I will hope that the world will forgive me for whatever damage I may do in my folly."
"Albert, what are you saying? What are you going to do?" Ginny asked in a wavering voice. "What have you done?"
Slowly, Albert reached into his robes and pulled out a small wooden box. He opened it revealing a shining silver key resting on a bed of purple velvet. "I believe this is what you were looking for," he said in a low voice.
Ginny said nothing but simply looked at the key. She never had a chance. She watched as Albert pulled a small scrap of paper from inside the box and then closed it tightly. Ginny flinched as he pulled his wand out of his pocket, but relaxed a little when he pointed it at the parchment instead.
A tiny line of fiery light shot from the tip of the wand and inscribed a series of glowing letters onto the parchment. Albert folded the parchment once, then put the tip of his wand to the corner and incinerated it.
"It is done," he said in a melancholy tone.
His eyes stared blankly at the box in his hand. "Before my colleague returns, I want you to know that I understand the reasons behind all the things you have done. You are not to blame. We are merely playing the roles we were assigned." His eyes stared into hers. "I want you to know that I forgive you," he said solemnly. "I forgive you for everything you have done. I only hope that before— before the end, you will find enough hope and resilience to forgive me."
Author's Notes:
Sorry for the delay. I've been working on a number of things, including the outline for the two sequels to this story. I've already finished this one and I'll be uploading the two remaining chapters very soon. If you're impatient, you can read the rest of it here: http/
