Chapter 10: Back In Session
"Come on, Harry, concentrate," said Lupin, sending another curse at him. Harry, focusing all of his concentration on the spell shooting out of Lupin's wand, flicked his wrist the way he had been taught. To his amazement, the curse was deflected. "Very good," smiled Lupin. "Let's try again."
He made Harry deflect curses for another ten minutes before he was satisfied.
"I think that you've got it down," said Lupin, sitting down and indicating for Harry to do the same. "I told you it wouldn't take you a long time."
"Yeah, if only it were this easy with Occlumency," said Harry.
"Don't worry, you'll get it. Remember, it took you six months to learn how to conjure a patronus, and that was something that they show students in seventh year. Occlumency is something that many grown wizards never hear of, let alone learn. Are you practicing every night before you go to sleep?"
"Yes, but it's not doing much good. At least with patronuses I made some improvement. I've been working on this for how long now, and I'm not getting the slightest bit better," complained Harry.
"I have faith in you," Lupin told him. "Try to find something else to concentrate on when people like Malfoy are around. If you can learn to keep your emotions under control then that should help make Occlumency easier to learn."
"Great, the Dursleys all over again," muttered Harry, thinking about the last time that Aunt Marge had visited.
"What?"
"Nothing," answered Harry. "What would you suggest thinking about? The last time that I tried to do that I was reciting a Quidditch book in my head, but that stopped working as soon as I forgot what came next."
"Well," considered Lupin. "Maybe you have to envision yourself flying around somewhere, over an open field, perhaps. You know, anywhere that's calm and peaceful."
"It's worth a try," answered Harry.
"Would you like to have another go at Occlumency before the others get here?" asked Lupin. "You could try to see if the Quidditch technique works for that or not."
"Sure," agreed Harry, getting up and following Lupin to the center of the room.
"Get ready, Legilimens!"
"Your mother needn't have died, she was trying to protect you..." "Not Harry! Please no, take me, kill me instead!" "I hope you didn't waste time down there acting like a hero..." "It's still a Hogwarts victory, we'll tie for it..."
As countless memories flashed through his head, Harry fought with all of his might to concentrate on the open field and not his mother's pleading voice. As the field vision began to get clearer, it pushed the bad memories out of the way. After another minute or so the memories were hardly visible and completely inaudible. That was when Lupin lifted the spell.
"That was certainly an improvement," encouraged Lupin. "I predict that after two or three months at this rate you'll be able to look Severus or me in the eye and lie to us without our knowledge."
"What about Dumbledore?" asked Harry, thinking about those annoying, penetrating blue eyes.
"Not a chance. But don't worry, I don't think that anyone can do that." Harry laughed.
"Come on, let's have another try. We still have about twenty minutes before the others get here."
"Okay," agreed Harry.
"Legilimens!"
"You have been taught to duel, Harry Potter?" "Sirius, he's gone, Pettigrew's transformed." "Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?" "There is nothing as important as you learning Occlumency." "Don't kill Cedric, don't kill Cedric, who's Cedric, your boyfriend...Dad, help me..."
Harry, who was starting to get frantic about Lupin hearing the rest of the dream that Dudley was reciting, tried to push him out. Next thing he knew he was on the ground with Lupin standing over him.
"You're getting there," said Lupin, extending a hand to help Harry to his feet. "You forgot about the field, you let me get in too far."
"Sorry," said Harry. "It's just that some of those memories just—"
"No need to be sorry," Lupin told him. "What you just did was use your willpower to push me out of your mind, no help from anything else. It just took you a bit longer is all."
"Can we try again?" asked Harry.
"Of course. Get ready—Legilimens!"
"I'll bet that's why You-Know-Who wanted to kill him in the first place, didn't want another dark lord competing with him." "The Cruciatus Curse ought to loosen your tongue a bit." "Hermy, where Hagger?" "I am not paying for some crackpot old fool to teach him magic tricks!"
At this Harry burst out laughing, causing the curse to lift and Lupin to look down at him, perplexed.
"What was that? These aren't supposed to be humorous memories."
"They're not," Harry assured him, calming down. "It's just that that line came from when my uncle tried to stop me from coming to Hogwarts. The memory itself wasn't happy, at least not that part, but the line itself was. The 'crackpot old fool' is Professor Dumbledore."
"Ah, well, that does put things into perspective, doesn't it? Now the other memories—"
Harry groaned and rolled his eyes.
"What was with the supposed reason that Voldemort wanted to kill you?"
"It was second year when they thought that I was attacking the students, when everyone found out that I could speak Parseltongue," said Harry in an offhand voice.
"And the Cruciatus curse?"
"Oh, um, well.." Harry was unsure if he wanted Lupin to know that. He sighed, it was too late now. "Umbitch...I mean bridge, Umbridge, she, er, wanted to know who I was using her fire communicate with that...that night."
"And she threatened you with the Cruciatus curse?" asked Lupin incredulously.
Harry nodded. "Yeah, she got the word halfway out of her mouth before Hermione dissolved into 'tears'." As he said the last word Harry made the quotations symbol with his fingers. (A/N: I don't know how to describe this, so I hope you get what I mean.)
"What do you mean, 'tears'?" asked Lupin, repeating Harry's gesture.
"Well, since I knew that Harry, being as stubborn as he is, was never going to tell her anyway, why not tell her some fake story to lead her in the wrong direction?" said a new voice. Harry and Lupin turned around to see Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna standing in the doorway.
"How did you lead her in the wrong direction?" asked Lupin.
"I told her that we were trying to contact Professor Dumbledore to tell him that the weapon was ready," said Hermione. "When she asked us to show her where it was I lead her into the Forbidden Forest where she got carried away by a heard of centaurs."
"Quick thinking," nodded Lupin, obviously impressed. "Why did the centaurs leave you behind?"
"Well..." Hermione trailed off, not wanting to give away Hagrid's secret. Now, however, was Harry's turn to answer.
"Do you remember that last memory that you saw? Not the crackpot one, but the 'Hermy where Hagger' one?"
"Well, now that you mention it, I was meaning to ask you who that—"
"It was Hagrid's little brother," Ron answered before Harry could.
"Hagrid's little—"
"Don't you think that it's time to start with the lesson?" interrupted Harry.
"Yes," agreed Lupin, snapping out of questioning mode. "Who wants to go first?" (A/N: ok, maybe not totally out of questioning mode.)
"I'll go," said Luna, taking her place before Lupin.
While Luna, Ginny, and Neville all took turns with Lupin, Hermione and Ron confronted Harry.
"So, are you going to tell us what Lupin was teaching you yet?" asked Ron.
"He taught me how to block curses," answered Harry, his eyes on Neville.
"Why didn't you tell us?" demanded Hermione.
"I wanted to wait until I could actually do it," said Harry. "Don't worry, as soon as we're done reviewing I'll teach it to the DA. I think they'll have an easier time with that than patronuses."
After everyone else had had a turn with Lupin Harry stood up to take his place. He took a deep breath and concentrated on the field while Lupin cried, "Legilimens!"
"Ginny, don't be dead, please don't be dead." "Dumbledore's been driven out of this castle by the mere memory of me." "That's chess, you've got to make some sacrifices." "If you want to kill Harry you'll have to kill all three of us." "The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies." "Come on, you can do better than that."
"STOP IT!"
Harry was on the ground, his hands over his face. He hadn't seen his godfather die in a while. He had been so busy with the Occlumency lessons that he hadn't had time to broad on it. now, however, the memories came flooding back to him. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into Lupin's warm amber eyes that were filled with concern.
"I-I think that I started thinking about the field too soon," he said before Lupin could say a word. "I wasn't ready; I'll do better next time." And without a word to anyone he sat down in his chair and stared out the window, blinking back tears and silently scolding himself for not being able to control his emotions as he knew he ought to.
"Are you ok?" asked Hermione. Harry just nodded and remained solid. He watched the others struggle through Occlumency for another twenty minutes before he thought that he was ready to try again.
"Harry, are you sure that you want to continue?" asked Lupin doubtfully. "You've been through a lot today, maybe you should just call it quits for today—"
"No!" Harry practically shouted. "I need to learn how to do this. I'll have one more go tonight and then we can quit."
Lupin agreed, although it looked like it was against his better judgment. "Legilimens!"
xxx
Harry stared as the room in front of him filled with people. He was used to teaching twenty-seven people, not forty. He was surprised t o find that he was nervous; it wasn't as if this was his first time teaching or anything. He took a deep breath and waited until he had everyone's attention before he started.
"Well, I'm glad to see that you all are so keen to learn Defense Against the Dark Arts. I'm honored to teach you all, I just wish that you'd never have to know this. Since there's an even number of people, I want you all to divide into pairs. We're going to start off by reviewing what you learned last year, both to refresh your memories and give the new members an opportunity to catch up. Now, who here cannot produce a disarming spell? Don't be afraid of looking stupid, you'll look like an even bigger idiot when everyone else moves on and you can't because you don't have the basics down."
Nobody raised their hand.
"Okay," continued Harry. "I'll take your word for it but remember, if you're too ashamed to admit it in front of everyone you can come and talk to me at anytime for extra help. Now we're going to move on to stunning..."
For the next ten minutes Harry wandered among the students. All of the returning members had it down perfectly, which came as no shock to Harry. What did shock Harry was the alarming rate at which the newcomers were progressing. He supposed that the older members had told them what they were supposed to know, which was fine with him.
"I think that for the rest of the time we will spend five minutes on each spell. That should give me enough time to see what you're doing wrong and correct it so that you can practice on your own. Now we're going to work on Shield Charms..."
After 'Protego' they worked on the Impediment Jinx. Then Harry made sure that they could all perform the Summoning and Banishing Charms, which wasn't hard, considering that Flitwick had already taught them that in class. Harry nodded his approval and offered his advice where he saw fit, trying to encourage them. He was pleased to see that they were moving along nicely.
"Attention, please!" he called at nine. "That was great for a first lesson. I expect all of you to practice during the week so that next lesson we can move on to something else."
"When are we going to work on Patronuses again?" asked Lavender.
"After we review all of what we covered last year and get these guys caught up I'm gonna teach you all how to block curses and then we can pick back up on Patronuses. But that's only if you all work really hard. Deal?"
"Deal," they all chorused back.
"Good," agreed Harry, pulling out the maurauder's map. He opened his mouth to dismiss them but stopped looking down at the map that his father and godfather had worked so hard to make. If he ever got this taken away... he resolved to take extra good care of it. Looking up to find the entire room staring at him, Harry quickly cleared his throat. "Ok, so, all dismiss you in groups of threes—"
"Harry?" He looked up at Hermione.
"What?"
"We're not sneaking around anymore, remember? Everyone can leave without getting in trouble, because Dumbledore gave us permission. "
"Oh yea," remembered Harry. He put the ma back in his pocket. "Well, same time next week. Practice!"
Once everyone had left Harry, Ron, and Hermione cleaned up the Room of Requirement.
"That went well," observed Hermione as they worked.
"I agree, they were a lot better than I would have expected them to be," said Harry.
"Well, I expect they've already been practicing before," said Hermione as they headed back toward Gryffindor tower.
"Yeah, I guessed that, too," said Harry.
"So, how many more class times do we have to review?" asked Ron.
"Not too many," Harry assured him. "I just want to make sure that everyone has the old material down first."
"So within a few weeks?" persisted Ron.
"Yes, Ron. By next month we will be starting something new, don't worry."
"Good."
Harry laughed and Hermione rolled her eyes. "You'd think you'd be glad not doing anything new so you would have time to study Occlumency," she told him.
"Oh lighten up," said Ron. "We're doing that, too."
"I don't think you're taking it serious enough," continued Hermione. "Dumbledore obviously thought that it was really important, otherwise he wouldn't have Lupin be teaching all of us, he would have only been teaching Harry.
"Why do we have to learn it, though?" asked Ron. "I mean, Harry's the one seeing things through You-Know-Who—"
"Shhh!" whispered Harry and Hermione frantically.
"Sorry!" said Ron, clapping a hand over his mouth and looking around. "I don't think that anybody heard me."
"You'd better hope not," snapped Hermione. "Can you imagine what would happen if that story got out?"
"I didn't mean to!"
"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes," said Harry. The Fat Lady's portrait swung open, putting an end to Ron's and Hermione's fight. Well, that one anyway.
"Let's finish our homework now that we've got some time," suggested Hermione.
"We can do homework anytime," argued Ron. "Let's do something fun."
"Like what?" snapped Hermione.
"Exploding Snap...chess...Gobstones..."
"Oh yeah, it's not like you can play any of those anytime—"
"We haven't done anything fun in a while," complained Ron.
"Whatever!" snorted Hermione. "You played Quidditch all day Saturday, you beat both Harry and me about ten times last week in chess—"
"That was last week," countered Ron. "This week all we've done is homework and Occlumency."
"In case you haven't noticed, we were assigned even more homework today. I would have thought that you'd rather waste Thursday night doing homework than this weekend."
"We'll do homework then, too!" shouted Ron exasperatedly. He turned to Harry. "Back me up, mate."
"You're on your own," said Harry, retrieving his bag from the corner where had thrown it before, sitting down, and starting to work on an essay for Snape.
"OH! Look at that, Harry's decided to do homework!" cried Hermione triumphantly.
"Harry!" exclaimed Ron.
"Well, what do you expect? I can't play any games by myself and you two won't stop fighting. Besides, we don't have too much homework. We can plat chess or whatever later, Ron," Harry added, seeing Ron's crestfallen face. "Just let me finish Snape's essay and I'll play whatever you want."
"Fine," muttered Ron, slumping down next to Harry and starting on his essay. He didn't so much as look at Hermione, who, thirty minutes later, decided that she had had a long day and was going to bed. Ron stared at her as she left. As soon as she was out of earshot he turned back to Harry. "Exploding Snap?"
"Sure," Harry agreed, finishing the last line of his essay.
"So what was that?" asked Ron, passing out the cards.
"What was what?"
"You know, your sudden desire to do homework."
"It wasn't a 'desire to do homework'" Harry told him, beginning to play. "You two were fighting and I couldn't think of anything else to do. Besides, I figured that it was a fair compromise: spend the first part of the evening doing homework until Hermione goes to bed and then you can I can do whatever we want."
"Good thinking," agreed Ron, adding his cards to the stack. "How's Occlumency going?"
"What do you mean, 'how's it going'? You're there with me!"
"I know, but I can't see how well you do. Is it easier than with Snape?"
"Hell yes," answered Harry, continuing the game. "Lupin encourages people, all Snape does is scowl and say how weak and useless I am."
"Yeah, that sounds like Snape," grinned Ron. "I'm glad I didn't have to learn from him."
"Lucky," agreed Harry.
"What's lucky?" asked Fred. Ron jumped at the new voice but Harry, who had seen the twins enter a moment before, looked up.
"Ron's lucky that he never had to have extra lesson with Snape," he told them.
"Ahhh...yes, Occlumency," nodded George. "You know, if you ever get good enough at it, you might want to learn Legilimens. Then you could teach the DA."
"Hey, that's an awesome idea!" agreed Ron.
"Yeah, the only problem is that I can' even protect my own mind, how am I supposed to attack others'?" asked Harry.
"You'll get there," encouraged Fred. Harry was saved from further comments by the stack of cards in front of him blowing up in his face.
"Nice look," Fred told him, eyeing the ashes that now decorated Harry's face. George and Ron nodded their agreement.
"Thanks," muttered Harry sarcastically, wiping his glasses off on his robes. "So how's your mini-DA?"
"Mini-DA, huh?" asked George, considering the name. "Nice. Anyway, it's okay. They're a bit slow, really, I can't remember being that stupid when I was a first year."
"What are you teaching them?" asked Ron.
"Well, we tried 'Expelliarmus', but it's not working too well. The forth years and most of the thirds got it. The others, well, let's just say they better be a fast runner."
"Why?" asked Ron.
"So they can run away from the Death Eater's spells, because their wands sure as hell aren't doing them any good."
"That's nice," replied Harry.
"Well it's true," said Fred. "You had to teach, what, forth year and up?"
"Yeah," agreed Harry. "Except for Dennis Creevy, he was a second year.
"Even he's better than these kids!" insisted George. "I haven't seen anyone this inept since Lockhart!"
Fred and Ron laughed; Harry frowned. George's words came crashing down on Harry: kids. They were eleven years old. They weren't supposed to have to learn how to fend for their lives. Ron noticed Harry's frown. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," lied Harry. Ron looked skeptical but remained silent.
"Oh, that reminds me," said Fred. "McGonagall's offering Harry his position as Seeker back again. Also, the team captain position. What d'you say?"
Harry stared at him. Quidditch captain? Normally he would have been thrilled. But now, after everything that had happened, Harry wasn't so sure that he wanted to play anymore.
Ch. 11 Trouble
"Are you sure you don't want to reconsider?"
"No, stop asking me!"
"Why not? You love Quidditch!"
"I loved Quidditch; there's a big difference."
"But you were so upset when you were banned last year, now you get your old position back and you'd even get to be captain if you wanted to, I'd let you have it back if you changed your—"
"AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!"
Harry yelled so loud that Ron jumped back from him, surprised. The former took a deep, calming breath, and turned to face his best friend.
"Ron, for the last time: I DO NOT WANT TO PLAY QUIDDITCH. I have more important things to do than chase around some stupid ball. It's been two months, what makes you think that I'm going to change my mind now?"
"I was hoping that you'd see how bad our team is without you," grumbled Ron. Harry snorted.
"Oh please. I only played one game last year and you all still won the cup without me. You've done it before and you'll do it again; I'm not the only person on the team who can play, you know."
"But that was when Ginny was seeker," insisted Ron. "Now that she's chaser we've had to pick another new seeker, and that Stacy Pollup isn't even as good as Ginny was, let alone you."
"Ron, I appreciate it, I do. But I need to spend all the time that I can studying Occlumency and working on the DA and everything. I thought you understood that."
"I understand that you have to do that, yes, but I don't understand why you can't have a little fun as well. And you've come really far in Occlumency, even Lupin said that you've made a lot of improvement. And Hermione agrees with me that you should have some fun—"
"I don't have time for fun, I have a war to fight."
With that Harry turned and stormed up the stairs to the dorm room. He was so sick of Ron's constant complaints that he should rejoin the Quidditch team. He had considered it the first time Ron asked him, right after try-outs and they had all seen the losers that had shown up, but later that night Harry had had another vision, this one of Voldemort torturing some poor girl until her parents agreed to be Death Eaters. Then Harry had resolved to work even harder on Occlumency, practicing it whenever he had time. That had lead to a drastic change in Harry's accomplishments, which had pleased Lupin. For two months he had worked almost non-stop, taking time out for the DA and homework.
Harry sighed and plopped down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. He wished that he could take Ron up on his offer, rejoin the Quidditch team, and forget about Voldemort. But he couldn't. No more could he stand to sit by and watch innocent people die because he was too busy having fun. Despite what he had told Fred and George two years ago, he no longer felt that laughter was a key part to this war. Laughing had only lost people lives. That wasn't going to happen anymore. He wouldn't let it.
xxx
"I'm worried about Harry."
"Oh Ron," sighed Hermione, "we all are. I don't know what's gotten into him. I mean, he was fine for a while, but then, I dunno. I want to help him, but I don't know what to do. Lupin's tried talking to him, we've tried talking to him. God, even Luna's tried it. Nothing works!"
"He just told me that he didn't have time for fun because he had a war to fight. He's acting like he has to fight this thing all by himself or something."
Hermione looked at Ron with a slight frown on her face. "He's always been like that. Taking on more than he can handle's not really a new subject to him or anything. I mean, everything that he's done the past few years has been a result of him doing something dangerous that should have been left to the adults. But he's always managed to end up on top in the end, well, most of the time anyway; I'm sure he'll be fine now."
There was something about the tone in Hermione's voice that told Ron that she was trying to convince herself as much as him, which is why he remained silent and set to work on his Charms' essay.
xxx
As soon as Harry walked into the Room of Requirement everyone settled down and looked at him expectedly, awaiting instructions. Harry made his way to the front of the room, deciding that he was never going to get used to everyone quieting down when he entered the room; it was still too weird, even after all this time. He mentally shook his head to clear it and then looked around at everyone assembled there.
"I'm glad that you all made it this evening. I'm pleased to inform you that everyone can now successfully perform every spell that we learned last year as well as the new ones we've learned this year. I've spoken to Fred and George and they've informed me that the lower years are catching up as well. This is good news for everyone. And, because everyone's been working so hard on learning those spells, I thought we'd have another stab at something that I know you've all been looking forward to for a while."
"Patronuses?" yelled out one person hopefully. There was some muttered agreement before everyone looked to Harry, who smiled and nodded.
"That's correct. Now, I would like the old members to wait patiently for a few minutes while I explain to the new members what to do..." After all questions were answered Harry turned his attention back to the group as a whole. "Now, patronuses are very advanced magic. It took me the best of six months under the tutelage of Professor Lupin before I could do it properly. Don't be discouraged if you can't do it at first; just be sure to concentrate hard on that happy memory and keep trying. Make sure it's the happiest memory you have, otherwise you might be making it harder for yourself. So, any questions?"
None.
"Alright. Before you start, I thought a demonstration might be helpful." Everyone started whispering excitedly. Harry walked over to a suitcase that he had previously borrowed from Lupin and placed in a corner. As he brought it to the front of the room he said, "Professor Lupin has been so kind as to find a boggart for us to use. Now, when it sees me, it's going to assume the shape of a dementor. I don't want any of you to panic, it won't hurt you—"
"That's a big thing to promise, wouldn't you say, Potter?" sneered a voice from behind him. Harry spun around and felt his stomach drop. Five Death Eaters had seemingly appeared there, all masked, although Harry could tell it was Lucius Malfoy who had spoken. Harry raised his wand and spoke in a calm, collected tone to the others.
"Okay, everybody, Death Eaters have arrived. I would suggest getting your wands ready to fight or else getting the hell outta here as fast as you can and getting either Professor Dumbledore or any of the others who are supposed to be guarding this school."
Everyone-or almost everyone, immediately scrambled to get out of the room. In the commotion, no one seemed to notice Malfoy raise his wand; no one except Harry.
"Stupefy!"
"Protego!"
Harry reflected Malfoy's curse and the Death Eater dodged it easily.
"You thought that you'd send me to Azkaban without any consequences, did you, Potter? Well you've got a lot to learn. Stupefy!"
Harry was so caught up in his battle with the five Death Eaters surrounding him that he didn't notice that more were appearing. He didn't notice that while he was keeping the others busy, the DA members, despite all their training, pelted out of the room as fast as they could, with the exception of those who had accompanied Harry into the Department of Mysteries. They started dueling with some of the arriving Death Eaters as well, but there were too many. As Harry dodged another curse aimed at him he saw the others still in the room.
"Get out of here!" he yelled at them, fear spreading through his body as he saw how many more Death Eaters there were than he had realized. In his desperation to get them out of the room, he never saw the book that came soaring towards him, thrown by one of the masked Death Eaters. Thus he didn't realize that anything had hit him until he felt a tug behind his navel.
xxx
As soon as Harry had vanished Ron and the others stopped fighting, as did the Death Eaters. The former stopped out of shock; the latter because their job was done. Although several seemed inclined to take the others with them, they were content to simply stun them and vanish with a single muttered word. "Portus."
xxx
Colin Creevey raced down the hall as fast as his legs could carry him. Once he reached his destination he slammed into the door and started banging with all his might. The door opened to reveal one irate Professor McGonagall.
"Mr. Creevey, what do you mean by banging on my door—"
"Death Eaters are in the Room of Requirement," Colin shouted before she could finish her sentence. He saw her face pale considerably.
"Thank you, Mr. Creevey," she muttered. "Get back to your dormitory, and tell anyone you meet on your way to do the same." Then she took off running as fast as a woman her age could, pulling a necklace out from under her shirt as she went.
xxx
Lupin and Moody were in the former's office when the necklaces around both of their necks started to grow hot. They took them out in time to hear McGonagall's voice whispering urgently, "Death Eaters in the Room of Requirement."
The two ran off towards the seventh floor. (a/n: I don't know if it really is that floor.)
xxx
Dumbledore and Snape were in the middle of a very serious chess game. Snape rolled his eyes as Dumbledore went to make his sixth irrelevant move of the game. He was about to comment when the band around his neck started to burn. He took it out and saw the headmaster do the same. The same words that Lupin and Moody had heard flooded the office as well. They took off at a run as well.
xxx
Fred and George were in the middle of a serious event as well, although not as serious as the headmaster's chess game. These two were debating with their mother over their joke shop. They were trying to tell her how important it was to them when their matching chokers started to burn. All three people in the room hurried to the Room of Requirement as soon as the message was finished.
xxx
Professor McGonagall was the first to arrive, closely followed by Lupin and Moody. They saw that several pictures had been knocked down, their owners taking refuge in nearby paintings, scowling at the Transfiguration professor and muttering about rowdy children. Several members were unconscious on the floor. Deciding that they had more pressing matters to attend to, the three raced inside and gasped.
xxx
Dumbledore and Snape reached the room seconds after the Weasleys did. They all entered to find the other order members staring at the middle of the room in defeat.
xxx
"Ennervate."
Ron opened his eyes. He was closely followed by Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna. They looked around quickly, expecting, like the others had, to find Harry and several Death Eaters fighting. What they did not expect was to find the room empty of anyone except for themselves and the members of the order.
"What happened?" asked Ron and Lupin at the same time.
"Harry was about to demonstrate the Patronus Charm when Lucius Malfoy and some other Death Eaters showed up," Hermione told them. "He-Harry-told us to either help fight them or else get out of here as soon as we could, and that someone better get help. We seem to be the only ones that stayed. The last thing I remember is someone muttering 'Stupefy'."
"So it doesn't seem like they were the targets," muttered Lupin, staring at the spot that showed the most signs of a struggle, where Harry was sure to be standing.
"Does that mean that they have Harry?" whispered Ginny.
"It would appear so," stated Dumbledore, his blue eyes missing their usual sparkle. He turned to Snape.
"Severus, you knew nothing of this?"
Snape turned towards the old man. "No, I did not. I knew that they were planning a break out from Azkaban, as I already told you. I also knew that he was plotting with some of the other Death Eaters at the end of a meeting a few months ago. They did not inform me of what it was they were talking about, other than the fact that they were still interested in learning what the prophecy was talking about. I would have told you if they were planning an attack on Hogwarts."
"Yeah, right," muttered Ron quietly, although not quietly enough. As Snape opened his mouth to retaliate the headmaster cut him off.
"That's enough. Ron, I believe Severus. Voldemort does not tell all his Death Eaters all of his plans all the time. He doesn't like for everyone to know what he's up to, for he knows that he can't trust all of them. Also, he likes to spread around his jobs for them to do, so that they can prove themselves. This must have been one of their tests. That's why there were so many Death Eaters. They were to help aid the more faithful Death Eaters in their quest."
"What are they going to do to him?" asked Neville fearfully at the same time that Hermione asked, "Where are they keeping him?"
"Unfortunately, I know the answer to neither of these questions, although we will be working on it. In the meantime, I want all of you to go to your dormitories. Minerva, I would like for you to accompany them to the Gryffindor common room. Tell everyone the truth; that Death Eaters were here and they have taken Harry Potter. If anyone has any information, they can either tell you, myself, or any of the order members, although don't tell them that they're order members. Tell them they're—"
"The people sent to watch the castle," supplied Ginny. "That's what Harry called them.
"Yes, that will do well. Tell them to be very careful from now on, although I don't think that the Death Eaters will return. Fred, George, Molly, you are more than welcome to go with her, or you can return to your rooms. Remus, I ask that you escort Miss Lovegood to her common room and tell them the same thing. Alastor, if you would be so kind as to take care of the Hufflepuffs, and Severus, if you could inform your own house, than we will be all set. I will set to work immediately trying to find out where Harry is. Goodnight, everyone, and do try to get some sleep."
With that Dumbledore turned and walked back to his office. Snape followed suit, heading down towards the dungeons, Moody following close behind.
"Come on," said Lupin quietly to Luna. "Let's get you to your rooms." He inclined his head to everyone else. "Get some rest."
"Goodnight," they whispered solemnly.
"I'm going to my room," said Mrs. Weasley. She had tears in her eyes.
"He's not dead, Molly," said McGonagall softly. Mrs. Weasley nodded and left.
"Let's get going," said McGonagall to the rest of them. She turned to Fred and George. "Are you two coming with us or not?"
"We'll come," said Fred. George nodded.
"Then let's get this over with."
xxx
Quite unexpectedly, Harry felt his feet slam into the ground and fell forward. The surrounding Death Eaters laughed. One of them pulled him to his feet and half dragged, half carried him towards a door. Harry immediately began to struggle. He felt the Death Eater's grasp tighten and he reached for his wand. A nearby Death Eater cried, "Expelliarmus!" and Harry, despite his best efforts, felt his w
wand fly out of his hand. He continued to struggle until he heard someone shout, "Stupefy!" Then the world went dark.
When Harry awoke he found himself bound and gagged in a chair. He was facing an even bigger chair, practically a throne, surrounded by Death Eaters. They seemed to be excited. Harry tried to look around, but found that he was tied too tightly to turn his head more than an inch on either side. The Death Eaters laughed as he struggled to get out of the ropes binding him to the chair.
"No need Harry," laughed a high, cold voice. "You'll be leaving shortly. That is, if you give me the information I want."
Harry looked up into Voldemort's cold red eyes and forced a laugh. "Yeah right. I tell you what you want to know and you'll just send me on my way home will you?" he asked, mirroring what he said to Lucius Malfoy in the Department of Mysteries.
"I said you'd be leaving; I didn't say how. And you will be returning to Hogwarts, I promise you. It's just too bad that you won't be alive to see it. And that's really too bad, for I imagine the looks on their faces when they realize that their hero's dead would be priceless."
Harry narrowed his eyes in hatred as the Death Eaters laughed. In truth he was scared, but if he had learned anything the past few years, it was never let your enemy know when you're scared. Now that he had learned Occlumency, or at least was a lot better at it, it should be harder for Voldemort to find out his true feelings. At least he hoped so.
"Now, Harry, this can work one of two ways. The first way, the one that I'm sure you would prefer, is that you can tell me the prophecy and I will kill you now. I'll use Avada Kedavra, so it will be fast and, as far as I know, painless. Then I can send your body back to Hogwarts and I'll go on my way and you'll be reunited with that mangy godfather of yours.
"The second way, which is a lot more fun for me than it is for you, is that you can be the stubborn brat that you're known to be, and refuse to tell me. In that case, I'll be forced to use the Cruciatus curse on you until you do tell. And believe me, you will. No one has ever refused anyone who has used the Cruciatus and lived to tell about it. For you will live; I do believe you have seen the marvelous job my Bella did on the Longbottoms. You can go that was as well, if you prefer. I think it would probably a lot more fun to see the looks on everyone's faces when you turn up like that, but the choice is up to you. Tell me and die quickly, or refuse and spend your last memorable moments in severe pain. Chose."
Harry looked away from those gleaming red eyes. He didn't know what to do. He knew that he couldn't tell Voldemort the prophecy; that was out of the question. Sirius had died defending both Harry and the prophecy, there was no way that Harry was going to tell Voldemort that now. And if he told him while he was here in this chair then there was no reason for Voldemort to keep him alive, and would surely keep his word and kill him. Harry couldn't let that happen. He would have to wait it out under the Cruciatus curse for as long as he could stand, and pray that someone from the order come in time. He just hoped that none of the others would hurt. Upon hearing Voldemort clear his throat as an indicator to hurry up with an answer, Harry blinked and looked once more into Voldemort's eyes.
"Go to hell."
Chapter 12: Worry
Whispers broke out through every common room as soon as the order members were out of the way. Those that weren't in the DA were shocked and scared that Death Eaters had shown up at Hogwarts. Those that were in the DA now felt ashamed that they had all run and not tried to help out in some way. The only common room that was indifferent about the entire situation was the Slytherin common room, which remained quiet save a few gasps. Most looked smug.
"I can't believe that they took Harry," whispered a fearful Parvati Patil back in the Gryffindor common room. She was one of the many gathered around the four people (not counting Luna, since she's a Ravenclaw) who had remained behind to help.
"Maybe they wouldn't have if you all hadn't been the biggest bunch of cowards this side of France," retorted Ron, who whole-heartedly blamed Harry's capture on those that had run away.
"Ron," warned Hermione.
"No," snapped Ron. "The whole point of the DA was to teach people so that they could defend themselves against You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters. That's why Harry's been spending so much time pouring over books, so that he can learn how to do something so that he can teach us. And what thanks does he get? The one time that he really needs people to help back him up, and to show off what they've learned, they all back out. A bunch of friends you all turned out to be."
And without another word Ron stormed up to his room and slammed the door shut behind him. Everyone around them remained silent for a few moments. Then Neville turned to Hermione.
"I'll go talk to Ron," he told her, and left. Hermione simply nodded, willing the tears in her eyes not to fall.
"McGonagall's right, you know," Ginny whispered quietly. "He's not dead." Hermione raised her head to look at Ginny, a few tears falling despite her attempts to stop them.
"I know. But they're Death Eaters. Just think of what they're probably doing to him as we speak..." Hermione trailed off, not allowing herself to speak. A part of her knew that it was wrong to bring other's hopes down along with her own, but another part wanted them to understand how bad Harry was probably feeling right now, as opposed to thinking that he was just fine. She wanted them to realize how much Harry had risked for them, and, deep down, she agreed with Ron that the DA, including themselves, had failed Harry.
xxx
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, in a dark room, Voldemort began to pace.
"You do realize that you're just making this harder on yourself, right?" he asked, in a voice of mocked concern. Harry, lying trembling on the floor, just ignored him. He took several deep, calming breaths, and attempted to stop shaking. He had been under the Cruciatus curse for god only knew how long. In reality it had been ten minutes; to Harry it felt like a lifetime.
"Fine," snapped Voldemort, growing impatient due to Harry's lack of response. "We'll continue on my way. You're in for a long night, Potter. Crucio."
And so it continued. On and off for the next six hours Harry was placed under the Cruciatus curse. He would be placed under it for approximately ten to twenty minutes at a time, occasionally being placed under it for half an hour when Voldemort would get really frustrated.
Still Harry refused to tell, although his body was begging him to. He tried to focus on something else to get his mind off the pain. For a while he observed Voldemort, and what he called him. he began to realize that whenever Voldemort was really pissed at him, he would call him 'Potter'. When he was pretending to be his friend or was humoring him, he would call him 'Harry'. He didn't really know which name he preferred.
Whenever he noticed that Harry was slipping off into unconsciousness, Voldemort would mutter "Ennervate" and continue on as though nothing had happened. It was near dawn by the time Voldemort finally gave up and gave the order for him to be lead down to a dungeon. Harry was too exhausted to even try to fight back. He felt himself be thrown to the floor and heard a door behind him being shut, locked, and cursed. Too tired to even look around, Harry fell asleep.
xxx
"Severus, is there any place that you can think of as to where they might be keeping Harry?" asked Dumbledore gravely.
"None, Headmaster. I have already searched most of the old places that he used to be at, and there was nothing there. I know for a fact that he mentioned that he had found a better place to meet, but he had yet to tell us where it was."
"Where had you been staying previously?" asked Lupin.
Snape rolled his eyes. "For the last time, we were meeting either in the graveyard that Potter escaped from the last time, or else the house on the hillside. His father lived there or something. Anyway, as I already mentioned, I've searched the entire house. I haven't seen one shred of evidence that Potter is in that house."
"Alright," said Dumbledore. "I think that the best that we can do for now is to continue on and wait for Severus to figure out where he is. Until then, there's nothing that we can do to help him."
"You mean that Harry's fate lies in the hands of him?" Fred asked, horrified, pointing to Snape. The latter just glared at him.
"I trust Severus," Dumbledore stated in a firm voice. Then he ushered them out of his office, leaving himself and Snape alone. As they left the room, Fred and George glared suspiciously at Snape. They weren't the only ones, either: Moody gave him a very cold stare as he left the room; Lupin looked tired; Mrs. Weasley looked just plain sad.
"Albus, if they do show me where Potter is, what am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to risk myself as a spy to save one child? I realize that he is the boy who lived and everything, but I don't think that it's right to place one person's life above so many others."
"Nor do I Severus," said Dumbledore, turning and walking towards the shelf on which he had placed his penseive. "Nor do I. But Harry isn't just any child; he is very important to this war. Now, what I am about to show you, Voldemort can never figure out."
"Albus," started Snape angrily but Dumbledore cut him off.
"I know what you're going to say, and no, I don't think that you're working for Voldemort. All I'm saying is that this isn't one of those things that you can sacrifice telling him to gain his trust, understand?"
"Fine," muttered Snape through gritted teeth. He watched as Dumbledore raised his wand to his temple and withdrew a memory. The old man placed it in the stone basin and let it lay there for a moment. Then a figure with hugely magnified eyes began to elevate.
xxx
"So, how did you enjoy last night, Harry?" Voldemort asked the small figure that was being held up by several Death Eaters. Harry forced himself to raise his head and look once again into Voldemort's eyes. No matter what they did to him, he vowed, he wouldn't beg or show any sign of weakness.
Hours later, as Harry was unceremoniously flung into his cell, he realized that his plan wasn't going to work entirely. No matter how strong his mind was, he was unable to keep his head up while he was being tortured. Harry sighed and struggled to find a comfortable position in which to lay down. Giving up, he rested his head on the hard, damp floor and closed his tired eyes. While he couldn't physically hide his weaknesses from Voldemort, there was no way that he was going to tell him the prophecy. He kept telling himself that in his head over and over again. Don't tell them the prophecy...don't tell them the prophecy...It was quickly becoming a mantra in his head. Those were the words that he was muttering when sleep finally met up with him.
xxx
"It's been a month, Severus. When is he going to call you?"
"For the last time, Lupin, I do not control when he wishes to see us. Until he calls, I won't know where to go, hence I don't know where Potter is. I can't simply demand to see him."
"Thank you for your time."
Snape sighed as Lupin turned and left the room. He knew the werewolf wasn't being infuriating on purpose, but at the same time he wondered how anyone could expect to keep the school calm with the teachers bustling about, attempting to keep everyone's mind off of Harry and at the same time keep knocking on his door every five minutes trying to see if the Dark Lord had called him yet.
Damn that Potter, thought Snape darkly. Even when he's not here he drives me crazy.
It was then, as he reached for his glass of firewhiskey, that he felt it: the mark that had been branded into his left forearm was starting to burn. Without hesitating, Snape snatched up a handful of Floo powder from a pot on his desk and whirled it into the fireplace. "Dumbledore!"
"Severus, my boy, what can I do for you?" the headmaster asked in that ever-cheerful voice of his. How that man could manage to still smile with Voldemort out and about with the wizarding world's savior in his arms was a mystery to Snape. All he knew was that he had approximately two minutes to be by the Dark Lord's side or there would be hell to pay.
"He's calling."
"Thank you for telling me. You had better go." Both left without another word. Dumbledore pulled his head out of the fire and stood up in his office. Snape flung more Floo powder into the fire, this time transporting himself to some store in Hogsmeade so that he could Apparate to Voldemort. It wasn't until he found himself alongside Lucius Malfoy that he realized that Dumbledore had never told him what to do regarding Potter.
Only years of spying for the order kept Snape from gasping at the sight of Harry Potter as two Death Eaters flung him to the floor in front of Voldemort. The boy was clearly exhausted, both mentally and physically. He was taking deep, ragged breaths, and he had cuts and bruises all over his body. His clothes were in tatters. He was dangerously underweight, and hadn't showered in weeks. It took a moment for Snape to realize that he actually felt sorry for Harry Potter.
"I'm glad that you all have found the new place," sneered Voldemort. "I know that it's been a while, but I trust that you all have been upholding my plans nicely. Nott, have you..."
Harry was only dimly aware that Voldemort was talking above him. Somewhere in his mind, he registered that there were a lot more Death Eaters present than there had been at any other point, and that they must be at some sort of meeting. It never occurred to him that Snape was there.
Meanwhile, the potions professor in question was staring down at the almost lifeless body of Harry Potter with shock clearly written on his face. He was grateful for the mask that he was forced to hide behind, for if the Dark Lord saw the look on his face he would be in big trouble. As Voldemort continued to walk around the interior of the circle, Snape forced his eyes away from Harry and followed Voldemort's passage. He was sure to incline his head as far down as possible when Voldemort turned to face him.
"Does Dumbledore know where Potter is or what we're doing to him?"
"No, My Lord. He knew that you were probably still interested in the prophecy, and that you had several Death Eaters show up at one of their little defense meetings and take the boy. Other than that, they have no idea what's going on." Nor do I, Snape finished silently to himself.
"Yes, and that brings us to our next topic for discussion. The prophecy. I know that it regards myself and Potter, and that it's very important, otherwise Dumbledore would not have worked so hard to protect it, and Potter would have given in long ago."
Voldemort turned to stand directly over Harry, looking down at him before addressing his Death Eaters once more. "As some of you may know, I have had this boy under my care for the past month. He has been continually placed..."
xxx
"...under the Cruciatus Curse, Albus," Snape informed him as soon as he returned from the meeting that night. Lupin, McGonagall, and the rest of the order that was staying at Hogwarts gasped in shock and horror.
"And you didn't get him out of there?" demanded Fred.
"Just how was I supposed to do that?" asked Snape coldly. "Just walk over to the Dark Lord and politely ask if I can return Potter to Hogwarts? Or perhaps storm over and demand that Potter be released? Are you really that stupid? If I had done anything to get Potter out of there, we would have both been killed and you'd never even know what had happened until he had arrived in the Great Hall the following day."
"The Great Hall?" asked Moody, confused.
Snape sighed and continued to reveal what he had found out. "That's his plan. He's going to continue to torture Potter until he tells him the prophecy. Then he's going to kill him and send his body to Hogwarts so that everyone can see what happens when you go against him."
"Harry's been under the Cruciatus for a month?" asked Mrs. Weasley quietly.
"Not straight, but yes. He gets placed under it for about twenty minutes at a time, depending on how frustrated the Dark Lord gets. Then they take breaks in between, so that Potter won't..." Snape inwardly debated with himself for a moment before deciding to continue, "so that he won't go insane as the Longbottoms did. The Dark Lord wants Potter as sane as possible when he finally kills him."
"And what happens if Harry doesn't give in?" asked Lupin, looking more weary than ever.
Snape sighed. "I don't know. I have a feeling that he is growing impatient with Potter's stubbornness. I think that if Potter doesn't give in soon than the Dark Lord's going to kill him anyway."
There was silence as the words washed over everyone.
"What are we going to do?" asked George. All eyes turned towards Dumbledore.
"I don't want to lose my best spy. But that is preferable to losing Harry. Severus, you are to remain here, away from Voldemort and his Death Eaters. We will go to this place and get Harry out of there."
"And how is that going to work?" demanded Snape, not following where the headmaster was going with this. "If you go and remove him from there and I'm stuck hiding at Hogwarts it's going to be obvious that I sold them out. If you allow me to continue attending meetings, then he would have to guess which of us is a spy. That would take him longer and would offer us more information for the time being."
Dumbledore seemed to be considering these words. Before the older man had a chance to respond Snape broke in with a proposal.
"Give me one more meeting. He told us that he would await another week before calling us again. He won't kill Potter until then; he's the sort of 'person' that likes to show off. If Potter does crack before then, which I'm not entirely sure that he will, then he'll call us immediately and then proceed to kill him. I have my order band on me. If, for some reason, he does decide to kill Potter before I have a chance to get him out of there, then I will summon you all to the location for backup."
The others seemed hesitant about waiting so long to get Harry out of that death trap, but as they could see no other alternative, they agreed. Some were more reluctant than others.
Chapter 13: Unexpected Heroes
True to his word, a week later Voldemort summoned all of his Death Eaters to him. Without hesitating to contact Dumbledore as he had before, Snape ran towards the pot on the desk and grabbed a handful of Floo powder at the same moment that he pulled the order pendant out from around his neck. He pulled it towards his mouth and muttered, "It's time," before throwing a handful of powder into the fire and disappearing to join Voldemort.
As soon as Snape reached Voldemort he knew that this would be the night that Potter died, unless he did something to save him. The Death Eaters seemed apprehensive, and Voldemort seemed more agitated than usual. Potter was nowhere to be seen – yet. Snape stood in his spot beside Malfoy and watched the other members fill in the spots around them. Once everyone was there Voldemort turned to the group, inspected them all quickly, before starting.
"Today will be the last of several different things," he began. "Since term ended yesterday, I want any Death Eater who has a child at least fifteen years of age to have said child attend the next meeting with them. They will earn their right to be a Death Eater. Then they will be marked. Thus, the end of child-free meetings. Anyone the age of fifteen should have already grown up – and should consider it an honor to be asked to join me.
"The next thing that will come to an end is all the fun that I have been having with Potter for the past few weeks. No matter what I have done to him –I even put him back under the Dementomins Curse – the boy refuses to tell me that damn prophecy that Dumbledore told him. I know that he knows, and that if he won't tell me than someone else will. He has served his purpose. Now I will kill him."
As Snape made to activate his pendant in order to inform the Order that now was the time to react, Voldemort turned to him.
"Severus." Snape instinctively dropped his hand to his side and stood up straight.
"Yes, My Lord?" he asked calmly.
"I would like for you and Lucius to go and retrieve Potter from his little cell. Lucius knows where it is. Do not do anything to him. If he is asleep – which I doubt – or unconscious – the much more likely option – don't wake him. I highly doubt that he'll be able to fight back, but I would like to do those honors myself. Go now, and hurry back."
"Yes, Master," they both answered, bowing their heads and turning to follow his orders. Snape couldn't believe how lucky he was; he was to retrieve Potter. Voldemort was in the other room. Now all he had to do was get Lucius out of the way. But first he had to find out where Potter was.
"So, Severus. Are you jealous that our master asked me to retrieve Potter and not you?" sneered Malfoy.
"In case you haven't noticed, I am standing right beside you and we are both going to get Potter," retorted Snape, even though he knew that wasn't what Lucius was referring to.
"No, I mean, are you jealous that he didn't ask you to help remove Potter from Hogwarts?" continued Malfoy.
"Not really," replied Snape in a bored voice. "He knew that it would be too dangerous, and might risk me looking like a spy."
"You are a spy," Malfoy pointed out
"You know that and I know that. But the order doesn't know that, do they? They think that I'm spying for them. Use your head sometimes," scolded Snape, ignoring the look on Malfoy's face at being yelled at by a man seven years younger than he was.
Both remained silent until they reached Potter's cell. Snape waited until Malfoy stepped inside first, just in case there was some kind of ward over the doors that he wasn't aware of. Sure enough, it took several minutes until Malfoy had undone all of the wards around the door, although Snape didn't see the need to have any of them there at all. He supposed that they were just there as a safety precaution because of all the other times that Potter had escaped, which, under normal circumstances, would have made sense. Now, however, Potter was so out of it that he couldn't have escaped even if all the wards were down. That was what worried Snape. Well, that and the fact that he was worried about Potter. When he remembered the reason that he suddenly started to care about the insufferable brat, he silently cursed.
That prophecy. Potter was the only one who could kill Voldemort. Only when Voldemort was dead could Snape possibly try to live a normal life. He hated having to depend on a Potter, famous Harry Potter none the less, but he had no other options. That was why it pained him so much to see Potter, severely underweight, with dark circles around his eyes that were clamped shut with tear stains running down his face. Snape wondered why the boy hadn't said anything to Voldemort earlier, when he still had his strength. He had heard that Potter was excelling in Occlumency now, therefore he couldn't fathom why Potter didn't simply tell him some other prophecy.
His thoughts were brought to an end by Lucius, who was stepping over Potter, not seeming the least bit sorry when he "accidentally" kicked the boy in the head. What scared Snape was the fact that Potter hardly even acknowledged the kick. He whimpered a little, but that was it. Taking a deep breath, Snape pulled out his wand and, before Malfoy could turn back around from stepping over Potter, Snape shouted, "Stupefy!"
Instinctively, Malfoy turned around to face his attacker, but he was too late. The curse hit him square in the chest, and he fell backwards, away from Harry. Snape quickly walked over to the boy on the ground and dropped to his knees.
"Potter? Potter? Can you hear me?" he asked quickly but urgently. When he didn't get so much as a nod from Potter, Snape knew that attempting to assure him that he would be alright would be a waste of time. Right now he had to get out of here before Voldemort wondered what was taking them so long.
He wanted to Apparate, but he couldn't not with Potter. He knew that it was possible for a group to Apparate, even if one of the members wasn't of age yet, but it was too dangerous, and since Potter was in such a bad condition and Snape had never attempted it before, the potions master felt that it would be best if he could activate a Portkey for Potter to touch. He immediately looked around the hallway leading to Potter's cell. He couldn't see anything there that could be used as a Portkey.
Cursing, he grabbed the order pendant from around his neck and did something that you were never supposed to do: He took it off. He pointed his wand at it and muttered, "Portus." Then he made sure that Potter had at least a finger on it. In the distance, he thought that he heard footsteps advancing towards them. Heart-racing, Snape quickly muttered, "one...two...three."
And they were gone