The Agent of Darkness
Harry and Hermione ran fast. They know what this was about. They were on the second floor when they heard a scream.
"Is it happening already?" Harry asked.
"No way. Dumbledore's got to leave before the attack happens." said Hermione nervously.
"It's come from that corridor." said Harry and rushed into the corridor, ready to fight. He emerged from it with a very drunk Sybill Trelawney who screamed "How dare you … aaargh?"
"What?" said Hermione.
"She's quite drunk." said Harry as he dragged her forward.
"Harry, we should …"
"What happened, Professor?" Harry's asked kindly.
"You may well ask!' she said shrilly. "I was strolling along, brooding upon certain Dark portents I happen to have glimpsed …"
Harry smiled cooly '"Professor, were you trying to get into the Room of Requirement?'
"… omens I have been vouchsafed – what?"
Suddenly, she looked shifty. Hermione raised her left eyebrow.
"The Room of Requirement," repeated Harry softly. "Were you trying to get in there?"
"I – well – I didn't know students knew about –"
"Not all of them do," said Harry with a charming smile, not dissimilar to Tom Riddle's to Hermione's annoyance. "But what happened? You screamed … it sounded as though you were hurt …"
"I – well," said Professor Trelawney, drawing her shawls around her defensively and staring down at him with her vastly magnified eyes. "I wished to – ah – deposit certain – um – personal items in the Room …" And she muttered something about 'nasty accusations'.
"I see." said Harry, glancing down at the sherry bottles. "Apparently, you couldn't get in and hide them."
He found this very odd as the Room had never failed to provide access. That meant that Malfoy was in the room right now.
"I was attacked." said Trelawney, "By a vicious man. That's why I couldn't get in."
"Ah… perhaps you should tell Professor Dumbledore or Professor Moriarty." suggested Harry.
"The Headmaster has mentioned that he would prefer fewer visits from me," she said coldly. "I am not one to press my company upon those who do not value it. If Dumbledore chooses to ignore the warnings the cards show –"
Her bony hand closed suddenly around Harry's wrist.
"Again and again, no matter how I lay them out –"
And she pulled a card dramatically from underneath her shawls.
"– the lightning-struck tower,"she whispered. "Calamity. Disaster. Coming nearer all the time …"
"Even if that's the case." said Hermione with a grimace. "You should tell him."
"I remember your father you know." said Trelawney abruptly. "Your just like him, blinded to the art of divination. Back then he used to make fun of me. Ignoring me just like Dumbledore."
There was a dangerous wildness in Hermione's eyes. Fortunately, Trelawney began ranting about Firenze. Harry and Hermione could barely blame Firenze for ridiculing Trelawney.
"... I mean, would Dumbledore have let me teach at this great school, put so much trust in me all these years, had I not proved myself to him?"
She looked at Hermione sadly.
"I well remember my first interview with Dumbledore," went on Professor Trelawney, in throaty tones. "He was deeply impressed, of course, deeply impressed … I was staying at the Hog's Head, which I do not advise, incidentally – bed bugs, dear children – but funds were low. Dumbledore did me the courtesy of calling upon me in my room at the inn. He questioned me … I must confess that, at first, I thought he seemed ill-disposed towards Divination … and I remember I was starting to feel a little odd, I had not eaten much that day … but then …"
And now Harry was paying attention properly for the first time, for he knew what had happened then: Professor Trelawney had made the prophecy that had altered the course of his whole life, the prophecy about him and Voldemort.
"… but then we were rudely interrupted by Severus Snape!"
"What?" exclaimed Harry loudly.
"Yes, there was a commotion outside the door and it flew open, and there was that rather uncouth barman standing with Snape, who was waffling about having come the wrong way up the stairs, although I'm afraid that I myself rather thought he had been apprehended eavesdropping on my interview with Dumbledore – you see, he himself was seeking a job at the time, and no doubt hoped to pick up tips! Well, after that, you know, Dumbledore seemed much more disposed to give me a job, and I could not help thinking, Harry, that it was because he appreciated the stark contrast between my own unassuming manners and quiet talent, compared to the pushing, thrusting young man who was prepared to listen at keyholes – Are you alright,my dear children?"
"Yes… we are." said Harry as he was visibly shaking. "Well, I suppose I should bid you goodnight. I shall report the incident to Dumbledore so you may return to your office and rest a bit."
"Harry, what's wrong?" asked Hermione after Trelawney left.
"You'll know soon enough," said Harry as he strode toward Dumbledore's office.
Hermione ran after him, clueless of what was going on. She tried the mental connection but she was blocked by an enormous amount of rage within Harry.
He, without knocking, opened the door to Dumbledore's office and barged in. He froze upon seeing four wands aimed at him.
Hermione entered after him.
"Merlin's pants. What is happening here?" she said.
Harry suddenly jumped on Snape, landing his fist on his nose. Blood splattered on Dumbledore's face who was sitting in the middle.
"Harry!" Lucinda screamed as Sirius locked his arms around Harry to pull him away.
"You bastard!" cried Harry.
"Potter?!" said Snape, astonished by his behavior.
"You murdered my parents." said Harry breathlessly as tears mad his face wet and soggy.
"You told Voldemort about the prophecy, it was you! You listened outside the door, Trelawney told me!"
Snape stared at Harry in shock. Sirius loosened his grip and Lucinda grimaced. Moriarty on the other hand simply looked away.
"Harry…"Dumbledore tried to make an excuse but Snape beat him to it.
"It was me, yes. I killed Lily Potter." he was crying like Harry albeit with more dignity. "I am sorry but that cannot bring your mother back. If there was anything I could do…"
"There isn't." Moriarty snapped angrily. "Let the dead be dead."
Harry look at Moriarty sharply.
"We will talk later." said Harry, trying to get a grip on himself. "I want to hear the full story."
"That, I can provide, Mr Potter." said Snape with a grim voice.
"We have more important things to do." said Moriarty, "tonight is our one and only opportunity to save Malfoys. Dumbledore, Harry and Hermione will leave the school accompanied by me. We shall make sure our exit is known to Draco. I believe his spy is Madam Rosmerta from Three Broomsticks. She will be informed of our departure. While we are gone, the Death Eaters will attack. They will try to draw Dumbledore away from us. The best choice for them is the astronomy tower. Sirius, I have already shown you our hidden pathway to the top. We shall face them there where students won't be present.
Here are the communication rings commissioned by my department. Wear them and be ready. We can communicate our thoughts through them."
Everyone found the rings disturbing but Sirius, Hermione and Lucinda. The worst reactions belonged to Dumbledore and Snape who jumped the moment they wore theirs.
"What a penetrating force!" said Dumbledore .
Snape tried to remove the ring but failed.
"They stay on until our mission is over," said Moriarty.
"It's done." said a head in the fireplace next to Harry making him jump to his right. Harry was relieved to see Unspeakable Stiltskin's head in the fire.
"You've been spotted."
"Well done Mr Stiltskin. We will proceed to the next phase." said Moriarty.
Stiltskin's head disappeared, leaving the fireplace empty.
"We should get going. Miss Riddle please cast Disillusionment charm on yourself and Mr Potter."
"Uhm … Professor…would you allow us at least tell Ron and Ginny?" asked Hermione.
Moriarty agreed to let them go back to their common room. Harry and Hermione ran as fast as they could. Once they reached the common room, Harry told Ginny and Ron what was going to happen. He asked them to be careful and do nothing precarious.
"Take this by the way." Harry gave Ginny his remaining liquid luck.
"But, Harry…"
"Please live!" said Hermione. She stepped forward, grabbed Ginny's head and kissed her passionately.
"This is not happening!" Ron said, feeling revolted.
When Ginny broke the kiss and aggressively pulled Harry to herself Ron could only cover his face with his palms.
"Grow up, Ron," said Ginny disapprovingly. "It's time you did."
Harry and Hermione smiled warmly and left.
Before they went back to Dumbledore, Hermione asked Harry to wait a bit. She took a turn into the very corridor that had the entrance of the Room of Requirement.
She walked back and forth three times until a door appeared. She pushed the door open and entered. Draco immediately draw his wand but she effortlessly deflected the hex away and disarmed him.
Draco's face paled.
"My lady." he whispered as he bowed.
"Leave the Death Eater crap to my father Draco." she said cooly.
"It's done." said Draco excitedly. "We could have finished it a few months ago if I had been less foolish and had asked you to help me at the very beginning."
"No matter, Draco. It's finally finished. My father shall spare your parents." said Hermione confidently.
"Will you be here once I summon them?" asked Draco hopefully.
"No. I will be out with Dumbledore and Harry." she responded casually. "Wait until Rosmerta gives you heads up."
Draco quivered. "You knew?"
"Hermione Riddle is called a know-it-all for a reason, isn't she?" said Hermione with a pleasant smile. "Of course, I know. I always know."
Draco took a step back.
"I will do as you requested." he said obediently.
"You are a very good cousin, Draco." she said as she walked to the cabinet. "I will test it myself."
Hermione walked into the cabin peacefully. She opened the door at Borgin and Burkes.
Borgin froze upon seeing her.
"What… what are you doing here, milady?" he said bowing his head fearfully.
Hermione guessed that he knew who her father was.
"My father used to be welcome here." she said.
"Of course, he is still welcome. It is our honor that he used to work here." said Borgin proudly. "You might be interested in our business as well. It is very useful to be acquainted with our work here."
"I see." said Hermione. "Tell my mother I said hi."
"Yes milady." he said as Hermione left.
Hermione left the Room of Requirement after asking Draco to be careful.
Once they reached Dumbledore's office they found it less crowded than before. This time only Moriarty and Dumbledore himself were awaiting them.
"You will do anything ordered by me. No questions asked. If I say run, you run. If I say jump, you jump. If I say leave me behind you will leave me behind."
Harry nodded immediately. Hermione hesitated but then she agreed as well.
They left the school together. Dumbledore was visible to everyone. Some politely nodded their heads toward him. Moriarty on the left was visible to them but everyone else was ignoring his presence. They were surprised when Madam Rosmerta talked to Dumbledore but not to Moriarty. Once they reached somewhere uncrowded they apparated away.
Draco felt his special two coins warm up. Hermione's coin told him that they had left and Rosmerta's had a similar message. He immediately pushed his Dark Mark. A few minutes later they would be there. Dumbledore would be finished in a couple hours. According to Rosmerta Dumbledore had gone for a drink. He was most likely accompanied by an invisible Hermione.
His mirror shook and the face of Bellatrix Lestrange appeared within its glossy surface.
"Draco! Moriarty is in the Ministry. We shall make our move tonight. Stay put!" she said. "Will Hermione be there?"
"No." responded the exhausted boy.
"The Dark Lord says that only she can kill Dumbledore if we fail. She will be the only one who can defeat him."
"She wouldn't want to do it." he said desperately.
"I know." Bellatrix smiled and disconnected the feed.
"... It requires blood." Dumbledore finished explaining.
"OK," said Moriarty. He summoned two pigeons and cut the head of one and let the pouring blood soak into the feathers of the second bird. The living bird struggled and the blood splattered on the rock.
"Pitty, I could have used it to purify a house of mold." He laughed darkly.
Dumbledore looked at him in astonishment. The silver outline of the arch appeared again. This time it didn't vanish.
Moriarty strode in. He waved his wand and a soft yellow light filled the area. Dumbledore followed carefully.
"Let's touch the water," said Moriarty.
"No!" Dumbledore yelled but it was too late. Water moved and bodies emerged. Moriarty whiplashed his wand. The bodies were pushed flat on the water. Moriarty gave his wand another jolt and the bodies began to melt into a paraffin like substance. Slowly the river was covered by solid paraffin. Moriarty moved his wand again and the paraffin changed, becoming denser and darker in shade.
Dumbledore, Harry and Hermione looked in awe.
"Let's walk." He walked comfortably on the hard material covering the lake.
"And people call me the greatest Wizard of our time." murmured Dumbledore.
"Well to be fair, you shouldn't consider me contemporary." said Moriarty cheerfully.
They walked to the center of the lake. Moriarty allowed Dumbledore to test the pensive like basin in the middle of the lake.
"I can only conclude this potion must be drunk." said Dumbledore.
"Oh… then it shall be," said Moriarty.
He cut away and vanished a section of the solid material beneath them.
"Accio Kedavra." he said dryly.
A body shot out of the water and was guided to a few meters away from Harry. Other corpses tried to climb out but the vanished part reappeared and pushed them down while being sealed back in its place.
Moriarty did a series of wand movements. The Inferius walked toward the basin and grabbed the rather large cup that Moriarty had conjured lazily. It began to devour the potion as if it was water. Once the potion was consumed the Inferius crumbled into dust and Moriarty simply took out a small locket.
"This is fake, of course." said Moriarty. "We are here for the note Regulus Black has left for Voldemort. It was put here intentionally to scare him out and draw him to Regulus once they had the proper number of them. Three is what they need at least. If they have more it will become easier to proceed with their plan."
Hermione looked at Moriarty oddly.
"Ah, you don't know Miss Riddle. I will inform you tonight. I asked Harry not to tell anyone until we have arrested the spy in Hogwarts." he explained to Hermione.
"Spy?"
"You should find out soon enough." Moriarty didn't explain any further. They returned to the entrance and Moriarty sacrificed the other pigeon to open the gate once more.
The Dark Mark was shining over Hogwarts. A Death Eater had died and now all of them were up in the astronomy tower.
"We cannot go up. The entrance is sealed." said Sirius.
"Well they should come down at some point." Lucinda said.
"Hey is that...is that Hermione?" Lupin said incredulously. "She is flying… without a broom!"
Lucinda looked at Hermione in awe. They were even more surprised by Jim Moriarty who seemed to be making huge leaps in the air. Dumbledore and Harry were behind them on two brooms.
A few minutes later they heard a few loud noises and a few screams. After two minutes Moriarty came down rushing toward Sirius.
"Go help upstairs." He bellowed angrily as he passed the awestruck members of order, Ronald Weasley, his sister Ginny and Neville Longbottom.
A few seconds later. Harry came down following Moriarty and paying them no attention.
Moriarty rushed to a very familiar corridor and walked back and forth three times in front of the Room of Requirement. The moment he opened the door Harry arrived. They both jump in to see Horace Slughorn with a didem in his hands.
Moriarty disarmed Slughorn who looked at him impassively. The didem fell away, disappearing between the whole lot of junk.
"Merlin! what up with this behavior?" he said coyly.
Moriarty froze and squinted his eyes.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"I ?… I'm Horace Slughorn… Like you're Jim Moriarty."
"No, you are not." said Moriarty and whispered "Homenum revelio."
Slughorn's face slowly changed, unlike an animagus transformation it was slow and gradual. The whole thing took a minute. Now there stood a man similar to Sirius with green eyes just like Harry's.
"Pleased to meet you, Merlin. I am Orion Black." said the man with a wide grin at Harry's surprised face.
*A/N: Just as a reminder: Orion Black is Michael Sheen.
I'm not sure if I've managed to surprise you. Tell me if I have.
