Chapter Twenty Nine – A New Player in the Game
"Molly you've already taken Sirius and the others quite enough food," Arthur said to his wife.
"You know as well as I do," Molly replied. "Left on their own those three would just ransack the pantry and call it dinner. And that's assuming they even remember to eat."
Arthur just shook his head at his wife's insistence on playing mother hen to the Order. He went back to the living room to finish reading the Daily Prophet.
Molly finished gathering up the food and walked to the fireplace. She was going to the headquarters later than she had planned. Bill had come over for dinner and the family had spent the evening talking.
She grabbed a handful of floo powder and threw it into the fire.
"Number 12 Grimmauld Place," she said. She started moving before she realized the fire hadn't changed to green.
Arthur heard his wife shout from the kitchen. He was up in a flash and ran back into the kitchen to see Molly lying on the floor. The bottom of her dress was smoldering. He saw the contents of the basket of food she was taking to the headquarters strewn about the floor.
"What happened?" Arthur knelt down next to his wife.
"I'm alright," Molly said. "I must have just said the name wrong or something. The floo didn't connect to the house. I put the fire out."
"Are you sure you're ok?" Arthur said.
"I'm fine Arthur," Molly replied in a testy voice. "Just embarrassed," it had been years since she made a mistake using the floo. She looked around the room. "Look at this mess. Get the broom Arthur I need to clean it up and get more food for the boys."
"Are you absolutely sure you're ok," Arthur said. It wasn't like Molly to have an accident using the floo. "You don't have to take care of Remus and Sirius every night. You've been running yourself ragged. Take the night off. You need to relax."
"I said I'm fine Arthur," Molly said, pushing herself up off the floor. She waved her wand in the direction of the closet, "Accio broom."
The closet door opened and broom came flying into her outstretched hand. She immediately set it about cleaning the floor. She then started gathering more food.
Arthur shrugged his shoulders in defeat.
It was a few minutes later when Molly got the kitchen in order and prepared another basket of food. She went to fireplace and tossed in another handful of floo powder.
She very carefully said, "Number 12 Grimmauld Place."
This time the fire turned green and Molly walked through into the living room of the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. She dropped the basket and had to cover her ears. The pictures were all screaming.
"DEAD!! I WAS DEAD!!!!"
"BLACKNESS!!! BLACKNESS!!!"
"HELP!!!! DARKNESS!!!"
The screams were coming from all parts of the house. Every picture was screaming about blackness or death. The noise was deafening.
Molly didn't see anyone in the living room. Some of the furniture looked out of place. What happened? She turned back to the fireplace and grabbed more floo powder and tossed it into the fire.
"THE BURROW!!!" she shouted at the top of lungs. She could barely hear her own voice.
She tumbled back into the Burrow.
"ARTHUR!!" she shouted.
He was back in the kitchen. "Molly what's wrong."
"The headquarters," she was panting. "The pictures, all screaming. I didn't see anyone," she shook her head. "The noise, all screaming at once."
Arthur hugged his wife. He didn't understand. The pictures were screaming? His head spun around as he heard the loud crack of someone apparating into the living room. Dumbledore strode into the kitchen.
"Arthur, Molly," Dumbledore said. "You must stay away from the headquarters. Something has happened."
Molly looked at Dumbledore. "I was there. The pictures screaming about death and blackness. The pictures said they were dead."
"Molly calm down," Arthur tried to comfort his wife. He looked at Dumbledore and saw a strange look cross the man's face.
"The pictures were screaming about death?" Dumbledore's face became a mask of hardness.
"Stay here," he said in a commanding voice.
"Professor, what's happening?" Arthur asked.
"Just stay here," Dumbledore repeated. "Warn the other members of the Order to stay away from the headquarters."
"I couldn't reach the house earlier," Molly said. "The floo didn't connect."
"What?" Dumbledore said.
"A few minutes ago," she replied. "I thought I just made a mistake. But the floo didn't connect."
Dumbledore's eyes narrowed. "Stay here," he said. "Do as I said. Tell the other members of the Order to stay away from the headquarters.
Dumbledore disapparated with a loud crack.
Dumbledore reappeared in the living room of 12 Grimmauld Place. Before he even appeared the furniture started flying up and away from the center of the room where Dumbledore arrived. If anyone who had been in the room they would have been forced to take cover or be severely injured by flying furniture.
Dumbledore winced at the sound of the screaming pictures. He waved his wand next to his head and the sound became more manageable to listen too. He looked around the room. The pictures on the walls were all agitated. Running back and forth between frames. Screaming about death and blackness.
Dumbledore waved his wand and three glowing balls of light appeared and went zooming away. He continued to search the living room. He stopped when he saw the broken remains of a wand on the floor. A quick examination showed that it was Sirius' wand.
Had Voldemort discovered the headquarters? But how? And why strike like this? It was not Tom's way. It was too soon for him to move this openly.
The three balls of light returned to the living room. Two were still white. The second was a pulsating red. Dumbledore waved his wand at the two white balls and they vanished. He then motioned at the ball flashing red. It flew out of the room with Dumbledore following.
They went out into the entryway. The pictures there were screaming just a loudly. Dumbledore saw the front door lying at the far end of the room.
He followed the ball into the kitchen. Dumbledore saw the remains of the kitchen table. Large sections had been shattered. He saw blood on the ground. Too much blood. The red light hovered over the blood. It had been sent to find Remus. He saw another broken wand wedged under the counter. Remus' he surmised.
Kreacher. Dumbledore moved to small pantry to find the house elf. He pulled open the door to the cupboard Keacher called home. He found the elf curled in a ball on the floor. He clenched his moldy blankets tightly around himself.
"The house is dark. Mistress is dead. Everything is dead. Blackness everywhere," Keacher babbled.
Whatever happened to the pictures clearly affected him as well, Dumbledore thought. What could have caused such a reaction? Tom didn't have the power or the knowledge to blacken the pictures. He had only been initiated into the lesser mysteries.
He rose and continued the search. Someone had clearly attacked the house. Dumbledore was having his doubts about it being Tom. Whoever it was seemed to have killed Remus and possibly captured or killed Sirius and Mad-Eye.
He made his way upstairs. There was a strange stinging smoke in the air. Dumbledore waved his wand and a pocket of air formed around his body. He saw the tattered remains of Mad-Eye's invisibility cloak. Mad-Eye's broken wand was also on the ground.
No, not Death Eaters. They wouldn't destroy wands so casually. Someone else had done this. He went into the room he knew Mad-Eye used.
He saw an odd tubular device on the floor. It seemed to be the source of the smoke. He pointed his wand at it and it flew up and into a small bag Dumbledore had pulled out. He would examine the item later.
He then saw the emergency portkey lying on the ground. Mad-Eye had obviously tried to use it. Someone had isolated the house so effectively that portkeys and the floo had been cut off and the pictures had been blackened.
If Tom had that knowledge he would already be striking larger targets. He wouldn't bother hiding from the Ministry. Dumbledore fists clinched. There was someone new in the game. Someone he didn't know. Someone powerful. An ally of Tom's perhaps? Unlikely. Again, with such an ally, Tom would not be constrained in his movements. He certainly wouldn't bother to feed false information through Snape.
The other possibility was the attack came from outside the Wizarding world. Dumbledore did not know how the magics outside the Wizarding world had advanced during his people's long isolation. Had Tom in his studies and his quests for knowledge led their ancient enemies back to the Wizarding world?
It was too soon for that. His plans were not yet ready. He needed to get Tom out of the way before he could approach those outside.
Of course such a possibility raised far more questions. Why attack this house? They would be more likely to target Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley. Or, if he had led them to rediscover the Wizarding world, one of Tom's bases. Too many questions with no good answers.
He had learned all he would learn tonight. He had contingency plans in case the Order's headquarters were compromised. He needed to make certain all the other members of the Order were informed. Then he needed to figure out what to say to Harry. This could break the boy. And the boy was too important to Dumbledore's long-term plans.