Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine.
AN: it's been a while. Life has been... well, no excuses. Writing has slowed down for me. And summer holiday is ending... Anyway, hope that everyone will enjoy this new installment, in which something is explained, and a major event will happen!
Thanks to all those who reviewed
Read and Enjoy
Chapter 8 Games, Plots and a Bond
Harry stared out into the space, the sound of water splashing against porcelain tiles faint in the background. What happened in his parents' house- Godric's Hollow – flashed across his vision. The long underground passageway, the large empty chamber, the traps, the Potter family tree, and the place with the missing portrait- somehow he just knew that it was a portrait- and the chest that contained his family's last remnant to him... and his parents' grave. All that threatened to burst his head. He just couldn't figure out the meaning of all that, but he had got a feeling that his parents had really wanted to tell him something... something important.
Nevertheless, the trip gave him something. Something he would treasure.
Water spilling all over his body roused him back to the living world. "Hey!" he half yelled indignantly. Yet Padfoot had no mind of stopping the assault, and kept shaking its gigantic body and splashing water everywhere. Maybe it had not been that great an idea to attempt to let Padfoot have a bath – yet he was so dirty and nearly stunk.
"Stop that, will ya?" one hand trying to hold the hairy body still, the other holding a slippery soap, Harry tried in vain to rub the soap against the long and messy hair of his godfather. Yet with another shake of the dog body, and Harry was even more thoroughly soaked with water and foam. He definitely was going to need a bath after this. Gratefully the Dursleys were away for a family outing, or else they would without doubt kill him for making such a mess of their bathroom. From the wolfish grin on Sirius's dog face, he was enjoying himself immensely. Harry groaned in annoyance in return. Deciding it should be his turn to retaliate, Harry picked up the water spray and directed the cold water column directly onto Sirius's, at that moment, overly smug dog face. Harry watched in satisfaction as it was his godfather's turn to yelp in indignity.
The moment of satisfaction turned out to be only fleeting, as Sirius retaliated in turn by jumping up and down in the tub full of water and sending nearly all of its content, which did not only contain water and foam, but also the layers of dirt that fell off from Sirius body, out of the tub and covering everywhere.
"Stop it, Sirius! For god's sake, you are a grown adult! Stay still and let me- " Harry's yell was cut off abruptly as Sirius decided that he no longer wanted to stay in the tub -- and jumped out and landed onto Harry. He immediately started assaulting Harry by licking and nudging at all sort of wrong places, making Harry laugh uncontrollably. "Stop ...stop! Stop... it!" Sirius's dog body was simply too heavy for Harry to lift away.
They played in the bathroom for what like whole of the morning and most of the afternoon, before Harry could successfully get both Sirius and himself cleaned and dried up. It was so tiring, because Harry couldn't remember when the last time was he had laughed so hard. Or one could put it another way – it had been a long time since Harry had felt so happy and so relaxed.
However, it also took the rest of the afternoon before Harry could clean up the mess they had made in the bathroom.
Dolohov bent his head even lower as his master's voice raised.
"I didn't buy you all out because I cared whether you would rot forever in Azkaban. I thought you would at least be of some use to me. You have failed me more than once. I will not tolerate it again. "
Dolohov could feel the Dark Lord's blazing gaze swept across the back of his bent neck. He couldn't help but shifted his body a bit to avoid straining his still aching left leg too much.
"I smell fear. I smell disloyalty." Dolohov's heart squeezed painfully in fear. "I do not forgive. I do not forget. Do well, and you will be rewarded beyond your wildest dream. One wrong step, the consequence will be dire. It will be just as I have promised the day I brand you all as mine. You will forever remain mine, and you will forever obey me till the day I rid of you from this world. Or after. "
The following moment of silence was so pressing and suffocating.
Dolohov felt a tinge of annoyance as the usual drawling voice broke the silence.
"Yes my Lord. We are all thankful that you get us out from Azkaban. We would work even harder in gratitude of your kindness... we would not disappoint you again. Since your kindness, I have already ..." the self-proclaimed Dark Lord's right hand man, Lucius Malfoy, spoke with utmost meekness in his voice. As he listened to Malfoy's words, Dolohov kept telling himself it was worth it to do what he had done behind the Dark Lord's back. He couldn't stand forever being one step below that insufferable Malfoy. He would do anything to rise above Malfoy, even if it meant to withhold information like Potter's whereabouts from the Dark Lord.
After 10 minutes or so, Malfoy finally finished his report.
"Tolerance does not reside in me. You remember my words. Look up, you all. "
Outwardly Dolohov showed no signs of fear. Years of experience in the Dark Lord's service had taught him that. One thing never changed – his inside was being turned into liquid by fear. However, he met the Dark Lord's red hot glare steadily for those milliseconds that it swept across him. If the glare had lingered on, it would have penetrated his mind and seen what couldn't be seen, yet there was no outward indication for it to linger on him in particular.
"Dismiss. Get yourselves out of my sight. Get your tasks done. " the Dark Lord hissed.
Half an hour later, Dolohov sat moodily in a muggle pub in an outskirt part of London. He hated muggle pub. The smell of cheap muggle cigarette, the sound of ear-splitting muggle music(he was stunned that anyone would call that music), the taste of foul muggle beer, and the sight of filthy muggles, all made him want to vomit and leave the place at once. The irony was that this was last place his pureblooded aristocratic colleagues would ever be when not at work, and hence this place that he despised so much was the place that could provide him with much needed privacy.
The sound of leather boots, fine boots that only magic could make, against the rough floorboard announced the presence of someone Dolohov had been waiting.
"Do you, by any chance, know of a person called T.M. Riddle?" the person whispered.
"Yes and No. " Dolohov answered .
"Do you know where he lives?"
"He lives on the slope of the Mount of Betrayal."
Only after they confirmed each other's identity with conversation that meant nothing to an outsider, did Avery dare to sit down.
Swiftly, Dolohov performed an anti-eavesdropping charm with his wand under the table. They sat in silence, but neither touched the beer in front of them. Ten minutes later, Dolohov stared at his watch in irritation.
"Avery, what has happened with Macnair? He should know not to be late with such meeting."
"I bet it's about his eye again. Have you not heard how he complained of it after the last time we make the move against that Potter boy? He was muttering something like his new eye had dislocated again after we rouse him. "
"Macnair was the one who bought us into this. He had better not get us into trouble." Dolohov scorned as he rubbed his sore ankle. It took him a painful night to regrow the ankle that had been completely crushed by that blasted dog. According to the healer, his ankle was not ever going to heal completely. He would forever walk with a limp.
What urged the three Death Eaters first to act secretly behind Voldemort's back was their mutual hatred for the Potter boy. That boy was the reason that they failed their Lord. Macnair's hatred had been the deepest, as it was he who lost an eye during the battle in the Department of Mysteries. But now Dolohov's hatred towards the boy was building real fast, as the boy caused him to be kicked back into Azkaban, a place that had caged him for over 13 years. A place he loathed above all. The boy was so lucky. Indeed, simply too lucky for his own good. A day would come when his luck failed him. When that day came, Dolohov was going to take full advantage of it, and the boy would suffer.
"Did you hear the tone of Malfoy? Sounds like he hasn't been caught and tossed into Azkaban like we did." Avery groaned under his breath. And Malfoy was the other reason why the three of them were scheming together. The three of them had joined Voldemort around the same time as Malfoy did. What made Malfoy Voldemort's right hand, but they merely members of the inner circle, had nothing to do with ability, in their opinion. Rather, it was because of Malfoy's aristocratic ancestry. The three of them were pureblood, no doubt, but their blood had been neither as pure nor as noble as that of Malfoy. That's why they had to tolerate Malfoy's command and pretend that they worship him in order to satisfy his over boosted esstem. They had had enough. In order to get a higher ranking and to gain the Dark Lord's favuor, what they had to do was to capture the Potter boy, who was without doubt Dark Lord's needle in the eye that he desperately wanted to eliminate.
"Seems Macnair decided to grace us with his presence finally. "
After the exchange of password, Macnair sat down. Both of his dull grey eyes looked normal at first glance, but if observed long enough, one can notice that every now and then his right pupil would disappear to the back of his skull, leaving the eye completely white. Dolohov scolded Macnair for being late, and was annoyed to find himself lightly brushed off by Macnair. Avery interrupted at that moment to stop the two from rowing.
"Come on, get off each other's throat and start doing what we're here to do. Have you found out anything about that black dog?"
"We all knew what we have seen. Sirius Black fell through that veil in Department of Mystery. There's no way that he was getting out. He is dead." Said Macnair gruntingly.
"Then you reckon it was pure coincidence that a black dog that looked exactly like Black's animagus form happened to come across us when we were about to capture Potter? " It was Dolohov's turn to grunt.
Avery stretched his prematurely balding head. "Well, let's not forget that it is Sirius Black who we are talking about. That man became an animagus when he was still in Hogwarts. That man escaped Azkaban." Dolohov's whole body stiffened at the mention of that hell of a prison "So why can't he pull another stunt and escape death? For all we know, it may well be related to the fact that he is an animagus. . ."
Doholov slammed his mug down, spilling its content over the wooden table. "I have tried to look up about animagus since that day. So far I could find nothing that indicates being an animagus can help someone avoid his soul being sucked into the realm of Death. And we will know if that blasted dog is Black or not as soon as we get our hands on it. The more pressing matter is Potter. You heard what our Lord said today. We are not in his good grace now. We need to secure our places. And we need to act fast and with a good plan. We failed with our first strike, though that opportunity was unexpected. No matter what, we are now exposed. We have to get Potter before words of our unauthorized attack reach the Dark Lord's ears."
"Then why are we sitting here at all? We should be making our strike now!"
"Macnair, I thought you lost your eye, not your brain. Or is it the other way round? We can't just jump into their house without being killed by all those wards. We will have no chance once that boy got back to school."
"I can't agree to that." A fourth, sharp voice interrupted.
The three of them froze.
It was a voice that Dolohov was so used to. A voice that he hated so. A voice that accompanied him in the dark hours in Azkaban... a mad laughter that haunted almost his every waking second in Azkaban.
"Bellatrix Lestrange. "
There was something amiss with the mad woman. The mad glint in her blue eyes was there. Lurking behind those depths, however, were emotions of other kinds – hatred and ... denial?
"I thought you would bring forth the Potter boy today. I'm disappointed." Bellatrix Lestrange was a tall woman, but no taller than the three of them. The slight tilt of her head gave her an air of insufferable arrogance and somehow she managed to stare down at them with an air of superiority.
"Get off us, Lestrange. We don't know what you'ar -"
"You very well know, Avery." It would be a fatal mistake to overlook Bellatrix's intelligence because of her madness. She was mad. But she was even more clever. A deadly combination. "I know what you've done, Avery. You did your trick with imperius curse. You got what you wanted, thinking no one except you three noticed. " The tilt of her month, the sickly satisfied glint in her eyes, was of a spider whose prey was caught securely in her carefully lay web.
Avery grabbed Macnair's forearm to prevent him from reaching his wand.
Dolohov's eyes fixed onto Bellatrix's. "Apparently we were wrong. What do you want?"
Bellatrix's horrid laughter stung his ear so. "Dolohov, my dear comrade. Straight to the point as always. I will just tell you what I want. I want in."
"No way I'm working with a mad woman like -" Macnair's voice died in his throat the moment Bellatrix's lips pressed to a firm line. Without the fake smile/smirk, the menace positively radiated from every inch of her body.
"I am not asking for permission. You will all be dead the moment I let slip what you have done behind Voldemort's back. Deny me, I will slip. Obey me, I will provide you a plan to capture Potter. You have no choice. None at all. "
Macnair's face turned white, then red, then a sickly grayness as Bellatrix's words sank in. Doholov knew his face colour must have mirrored that of Macnair's.
Bellatrix laughed in triumphant, watching their faces change. She laughed so hard that her gaunt body shook and vibrated violently. The mad laughter rose above the raging music in the background, flooding the thoughts of the three scheming men.
"But... how do you suppose we can get Potter? We won't follow your plan if it leads us to failure and exposure."
"I've got my perfect plan after a short stroll to St. Mungo's. Potter will fall into my web. I knew my dear cousin's godson's weakness very well."
Doholov didn't envy Potter in the least bit. He might as well start to pity him, having Bellatrix Lestrange setting her wicked mind on him.
It has been a week since Harry and Sirius visited Godric's Hollow. Harry had not been any wiser than before about what happened there, as Sirius has refused to 'talk' or explain just yet. Harry had not got a lot of free time to contemplate what happened there, anyway, as he was too preoccupied with practicing the new Concealment Charm.
When it came to the agreed moment to cast the Concealment Charm, Harry hesitated.
"Sirius, are you absolutely sure about this? I don't want to risk your life."
"We are already tied by more bonds than we can count, Harry, which is exactly why this would not be too hard for you to cast – our bond is already so strong. The day your father named me your Godfather, my life, my destiny is irrevocably entwined with your destiny. It is not much different to the type of bond formed after a witch or wizard become in debt of another. Which brings up our other bonds – I m in your debt because you saved me from the fate of dementor's kiss in your third year. You are in my debt for I nearly died for you. The list can go on and on. But my point still is – it won't be a problem for you to cast this Concealment Charm on me, as the basis of this charm is the existing bond between the caster and the subject. Our bond is strong enough for it to build on. You well know that I have faith in your ability. Just do it. Trust yourself and trust me. "
Harry nodded with renewed resolution. For Sirius, I can do it, he told himself.
"tego texi tectum" the soft pronunciation of the incantation was accompanied by a series of complex wrist movement that he had practiced nearly a thousand times before. Exactly as the last syllable of the incantation left his mouth, his wand was point to the spot midway between Sirius's clear blue eyes. For a moment that seemed to last for eternity, Harry lost his eyesight to the surrounding. Floods of memories and emotion flowed to and fro through his wand between his and Sirius's mind. The exchange was in such quantity and tremendous speed that Harry couldn't discern one memory or one thought from another. He didn't know if it was from Sirius or from himself. All the while he was aware of the flow of pure magical energy from his very core via his wand to the connection between him and Sirius, silently re-forging it and strengthening it.
The first thing Harry was aware of after the overloading of images and thoughts and emotions was the pair of clear blue eyes in front of him. Somehow his knees had buckled and his was kneeling on the floor, his eyes level with Sirius's. Staring into the crystal clear depth, Harry was conscious of something new at the back of his mind. Or rather he had discovered the presence of something that had long been hidden in his mind. It was a wall that separated him and another being. He could feel waves of anticipation and joy seeping through the wall into his mind from that other being. He knew that all he had to do was to knock politely on the door connecting him and the other being, Sirius, and he would be welcomed in.
Sirius's wink was accompanied by a voice that Harry had missed so much.
/What about a walk to the park to see if the concealment charm really did work?/
In his mind, the voice was as clear as if it had been whispered into his ear.
Harry's face split into a wide grin.
/Sure!/ He thought, his grin further widened as Sirius hopped up and down enthusiastically.
The newfound freedom and happiness was exhilarating. The closeness of two souls, finally at peace with the world around them, finally settled after such a long and lonely sail in their lives. They found each other for the first time.
After Harry returned with Sirius, with several people in the park staring at him strangely because to them, Harry had been wearing a grin for no reason at all, Harry found the phoenix feather given to him standing on its end. And start quivering and madly ran across a parchment. It was Remus, who invited Harry to Grimmauld Place to spend the rest of his summer there, just as Remus had promised.
Please review! Give me some idea what how do you think it is going!
Next chapter: the reunion with old friends
tego texi tectum: to cover, bury, conceal, hide, protect, shield.