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Chapter Four
Ministry at Hogwarts
Harry was eager to return to Hogwarts, though careful not to say so around Sirius. Everyone had clearly noticed how moody Sirius had been as the school year approached, and Harry didn't want to add to Sirius' growing depression. The other reason, aside from getting back into the magical world and probably far more important to Harry right now, was that at Hogwarts he could finally put some distance between himself and Will. The other boy had not mentioned anything related to his and Harry's conversation in the bathroom, but the way he kept looking at Harry and smiling knowingly left no doubt in Harry's mind that it had been no dream.
On the very last day of the holidays Harry was sweeping up Hedwig's owl droppings from the top of the wardrobe when Ron entered their bedroom carrying a trio of envelopes.
"Booklists have arrived," he said, throwing one of the envelopes up to Harry, who was standing on a chair, and setting a second onto Will's bed. "About time, I thought they'd forgotten, they usually come much earlier than this..."
Harry swept the last of the droppings into a rubbish bag and threw the bag over Ron's head into the wastepaper basket in the corner, which swallowed it and belched loudly. He then opened his letter. It contained two pieces of parchment: one the usual reminder that term started on the first of September; the other telling him which books he would need for the coming year.
"Only two new ones," he said, reading the list, 'The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5,'by Miranda Goshawk, and 'Defensive Magical Theory,'by Wilbert Slinkhard."
Crack.
Fred and George Apparated right beside Harry. He was so used to them doing this by now that he didn't even fall off his chair.
"We were just wondering who set the Slinkhard book," said Fred conversationally.
"Because it means Dumbledore's found a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," said George.
"And about time too," said Fred.
"What d'you mean?" Harry asked, jumping down beside them. Will walked in at that moment, and Harry saw him cross to the letter on his bed, tearing it open as he joined the four of them.
"Well, we overheard Mum and Dad talking on the Extendable Ears a few weeks back," Fred told Harry, "and from what they were saying, Dumbledore was having real trouble finding anyone to do the job this year.
"Not surprising, is it, when you look at what's happened to the last four?" said
George.
"One sacked, two dead and one locked in a trunk for nine months," said Harry, counting them off on his fingers. "Yeah, I see what you mean."
"What's up with you, Ron?" asked Fred.
Ron did not answer. Harry looked round. Ron was standing very still with his mouth slightly open, gaping at his letter from Hogwarts.
"What's the matter?" said Fred impatiently, moving around Ron to look over his shoulder at the parchment.
Fred's mouth fell open, too.
"Prefect?" he said, staring incredulously at the letter. "Prefect?"
George leapt forwards, seized the envelope in Ron's other hand and turned it upside-down. Harry saw something scarlet and gold fall into George's palm.
"No way," said George in a hushed voice.
"There's been a mistake," said Fred, snatching the letter out of Ron's grasp and holding it up to the light as though checking for a watermark. "No one in their right mind would make Ron a prefect."
The twins' heads turned in unison and both of them stared at Harry.
"We thought you were a cert!" said Fred, in a tone that suggested Harry had tricked them in some way.
"We thought Dumbledore was bound to pick you!" said George indignantly.
"Winning the Triwizard and everything!" said Fred.
"Its obvious why he didn't," Will said musingly, still reading his book list, "The Ministry is trying to crack down on Dumbledore's control of Hogwarts, and if they see him giving 'special treatment' to Harry, the other person that their actively trying to ridicule, then the Ministry would squeeze harder to restrict what he can or cannot do…"
"Makes sense… I guess" Harry said absently.
The twins started to tease Ron about becoming just like Percy, thrusting the badge back to him like a diseased animal. They were all interrupted, however, when Hermione burst into the room, a similar badge in her hand.
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Hermione smiled when she saw the banner Mrs. Weasley had hung in the kitchen to celebrate: 'Congratulations, Ron and Hermione, New Prefects!' Mrs. Weasley was in the best mood they had seen her in the entire summer holiday. "I thought we'd have a little party, not a sit-down dinner," she told them all as Hermione, Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Ginny, and Will entered the room.
Sirius, Lupin, Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt were already in the kitchen, and a few minutes into the festivities Mad-Eye showed up. Hermione, who was the closest to Mrs. Weasley aside from Will, was able to hear her talking to Mad-Eye as he shrugged out of his traveling cloak, "Oh, Alastor, I am glad you're here. We've wanted to ask you for ages… could you have a look in the writing desk in the drawing room and tell us what's inside it? We haven't wanted to open it just in case it's something really nasty."
"No problem Molly…" he grunted in return, and his electric blue eye swiveled upwards and stared fixedly through the ceiling of the kitchen. The pupil contracted and Mad-Eye nodded, "yeah, it's a Boggart… want me to get rid of it Molly?"
"No, no, I'll do it myself later," beamed Mrs. Weasley, "you have your drink. We're having a little bit of a celebration, actually..." She gestured at the scarlet banner. "Fourth prefect in the family!" she said fondly, ruffling Ron's hair.
"Prefect, eh?" growled Moody, his normal eye on Ron and his magical eye swiveling around to gaze into the side of his head to stare in Harry's direction. But Moody's conversation with Ron paled in the importance to what Will was discussing with Mrs. Weasley. He was trying to press what looked like a small bag of gold into her hands, but Mrs. Weasley was refusing, "No dear, I couldn't take it."
"Mrs. Weasley, if you don't accept it, not only will I be offended, but I'm going to drop the bag right here and leave it for Mundungus to take later… and I'm also taking care of the Boggart for you, and I won't take no for an answer." And with that Will dropped the bag right onto the table with a soft clatter of gold, and left the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley looked mournfully at the closed kitchen door, and swept the small bag into her pocket, frowning as she did so.
"Well, I think a toast is in order," said Mr. Weasley, when everyone had a drink. He raised his goblet, "to Ron and Hermione, the new Gryffindor prefects!" Ron and Hermione beamed as everyone drank to them, and then applauded.
Everyone started milling about and chatting happily, and no one noticed as Hermione slipped out to see where Will went. She tiptoed up the stairs past the stuffed house elf heads, shuddering at the grisly sight. Reaching the first floor landing, Hermione felt a wave of cold fear run through her, before being washed away. Then she heard the sounds of sobs from the drawing room.
"Hello?" Hermione said, pushing the door open.
Two people were standing in the middle of the room, wands pointed at each other. The two boys were also unmistakable.
Will and Harry.
But… Harry was downstairs… so it couldn't be.
Harry spoke, completely ignoring Hermione and focusing solely on Will, "I hate you. You lied to me. You left me all alone, you are the reason for all my pain, and I will never, EVER, forgive you for this. I hate you, I reject you, and I wish you had stayed dead!" Harry's voice was full of anger, and Will's wand was shaking madly in his grip.
"No… that's not true; it's not my fault…" he was moaning, whimpering in terror and pain. "Riddikulus!"
Nothing happened. The false Harry smiled as Will blanched, his wand shaking wildly. Hermione jumped in front of him, shoving Will behind her and facing the boggart.
CRACK!
Red eyes gleaming, Faykan stepped forward where the false Harry was before, brandishing his wand and grinning wickedly. "Dear sweet Hermione, all alone and friendless, my power shall grow to consume the world of men, and Darkness will reign upon the age of the orc!"
"Not this time." Hermione said resolutely, "Riddikulus!" Faykan exploded into sparks and mist.
Hermione turned to look at Will, but the boy had run from the room, and she heard him thundering up the stairs and slamming the boys' bedroom door.
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Draco followed his parents through the crowded station in silence. The summer had been probably one of Draco's worst, consisting of mainly being confined to the manor and listening to Lucius' endless hints at the Dark Lord's return, how it would mean 'Great things in the future of wizard kind,' and that they would, 'finally put those upstart Mudbloods in their place.' On the whole, it was starting to scare Draco how insanely loyal his father seemed to be to Voldemort, there appeared to be very little he would not give up for his place at the left hand of the Dark Lord, second only to Aunt Bella, who was still thankfully locked up in Azkaban. Draco had no true desire to meet her, if even the tamest of his mother's stories of her were true.
"Oh, look," Lucius drawled to Narcissa, "if it isn't Potter and his little entourage…"
Sure enough, Draco saw Harry and his friends, along with ex Aurors making their way toward the train. Next to Harry was a big black dog that Draco recognized as Sirius. What he wasn't expecting was for Lucius to recognize it as well, "Well, well, Sirius Black, trotting along like the mutt he is, in broad daylight…"
After being ushered onto the train by a hug from his mother, and a pointed glare from Lucius that screamed 'behave this year,' Draco immediately looked for where Harry had gone.
Draco found him sitting in a compartment near the very end of the train, with Ginny, Longbottom, Miss Lovegood, and another boy of about fifteen that Draco did not recognize. "Hello Draco," Harry said, rather miserably. Draco felt a pang of sympathy for his friend. The Daily Prophet had been having a go at both him and Dumbledore every other day for the entire summer, and Draco could only imagine what that could have done to Harry emotionally, adding Faykan's death to it.
Draco decided that it would be wise to keep the subject away from these topics, and turned to the unknown boy in the compartment, holding his hand out in greeting, "Hello, who are you? I'm Draco Malfoy."
The boy stood, taking Draco's hand in a rather firm grip and grinning slightly, "Hello, I'm Will, Will Stanton."
Luna spoke up, "Rather nice of you to come back after last year, isn't it…"
Everyone stared at her for a minute, and Will shifted rather nervously, "Um… yes, it is, isn't it…" he said, before turning back to Draco. "I met Harry, the Weasleys and Hermione over the summer, and Master Snape is taking me on as his Potion apprentice, so Dumbledore suggested that I just take classes like the rest of the students, to free up time for simplicities sake."
Draco wondered what 'over the summer' might have meant, as he had received little to no information as to what happened to them all over the holiday, aside form Harry's attack and hearing, and he presumed that they had all been in the same place at the least for the summer.
"Ah, so… you've been sorted already into Gryffindor," Draco said, pointing at the red and gold symbol on Will's robes, and he nodded. They sat and Draco started guiding the topics of the conversations, making sure that they did not drift to anything that might upset Harry.
Nearly an hour later, Hermione and Ron showed up, for which Draco was very grateful, as he was running low of means to subtly influence the flow of topics. He noticed immediately that Ron was wearing a Prefect's badge, and commented on thus, which led to them all talking about the other school Prefects, which unfortunately included Theodore Nott. Draco had no doubts that the influence of the Ministry caused his selection, and that Nott would without a doubt use the power to further bully and demean the other students.
Sadly, as though summoned by the usage of his name, Nott came bursting into their compartment, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle. "What?" Harry demanded before Nott could speak.
"Manners Potter or I'll give you a detention," Nott drawled, eyeing them all in turn, his eyes lingered momentarily longer on Will, but Nott said nothing for the moment. "You better watch yourself, Potter. The Ministry is likely to lock you up any day now," he added with a smirk. Will stood up, and the three other Slytherins eyed him suspiciously. "I think it would be best if you three left, now." Will said calmly, and Nott laughed, "You think so do you? And who the hell do you think you are to tell me to leave?"
Will simply leaned in close to Nott and whispered something into his ear. Draco didn't hear what it was, but it made the snide boy blanch instantly and back away from Will, who grinned wickedly at him. Nott and his cronies left without another word, and everyone (except Luna) badgered Will for what he had said to make Nott shut up and leave. Will merely shook his head, refusing to spill the secret.
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Harry tried to engage in the conversations around him during the train ride, but he kept getting distracted whenever he glanced around. Most everyone was staring at him, almost anticipating him to sudden start yelling. Luna was buried behind her Quibbler, and Will was absently watching the scenery fly by out of the window, occasionally catching Harry's eye and giving him a small smile. Cho Chang and her boyfriend Cedric Diggory walked past their compartment, and they waved at Harry through the glass, which brightened Harry's mood slightly. At least some people still trusted that he wasn't completely out of his mind.
At last, the train began to slow down and they heard the usual racket up and down it as everybody scrambled to get their luggage and pets assembled, ready to get off. As Ron and Hermione were supposed to supervise all this, they disappeared from the carriage again, leaving Harry and the others to look after Crookshanks and Pigwidgeon. "Here," Will said, taking Pigwidgeon's cage while Draco took custody of Crookshanks, freeing Harry to manage Hedwig's cage.
Harry shuffled out of the compartment after Will, Luna, and Neville. Draco and Ginny followed behind him as they joined the crowds in the corridor. Stepping onto the platform, Harry instinctively looked around, listening for Hagrid's booming voice. Instead, he heard the brisker, female voice of Professor Grubbly-Plank calling for the first years instead. "Where's Hagrid?" he said out loud, and Ginny shrugged at him.
Still thinking about Hagrid, Harry moved automatically with Ginny, Draco, and Will toward the horseless carriages. They stood waiting for the two Gryffindor Prefects, and Harry glanced over the sea of students to catch a glimpse of his two best friends, and that's when he saw that the carriages weren't horseless anymore.
There were creatures standing between the carriage shafts. If he had had to give them a name, he supposed he would have called them horses, though there was something reptilian about them, too. They were completely fleshless, their black coats clinging to their skeletons, of which every bone was visible. Their heads were dragonish, and their pupil-less eyes white and staring. Wings sprouted from each wither - vast, black leathery wings that looked as though they ought to belong to giant bats. Standing still and quiet in the gathering gloom, the creatures looked eerie and sinister. Harry could not understand why the coaches were being pulled by these horrible horses when they were quite capable of moving along by themselves.
"What are they," Harry said absently, only realizing that he spoke aloud when Will answered, "Thestrals."
"What are…?" Harry began, but he was interrupted by Ron and Hermione pushing through the crowd to them, and Harry immediately changed subjects to asking them about Hagrid. They had as little knowledge as he did however, so all six of them piled into one carriage and set off for the castle.
The Entrance Hall was ablaze with torches and echoing with footsteps as the students crossed the flagged stone floor for the double doors to the right, leading to the Great Hall and the start-of-term feast. Draco looked tentatively over at the Slytherin table before grudgingly walking toward it. Harry sat at the Gryffindor table with Ron and Hermione, across from Will, as Ginny was called toward some fellow fourth years, and together they waited for the feast to start. Harry couldn't help but notice the vast amount of muttering and sideways glances that people were casting at him; he gritted his teeth and tried to act as though he neither noticed nor cared.
Hagrid was absent from the head table as well. Glancing down the row of teachers, Harry saw Professor Snape looking in his direction. Their eyes met, and the Potions Master nodded once in greeting. Further along, Dumbledore was smiling warmly at the students amassing at the house tables. Harry was suddenly reminded of the last lines of Faykan's will to him, 'Do not trust Albus Dumbledore…' Harry frowned, wondering what his friend could have meant by it. The person in the final seat caught Harry's attention as well. She looked, Harry thought, like somebody's maiden aunt: squat, with short, curly, mouse-brown hair in which she had placed a horrible pink Alice band that matched the fluffy pink cardigan she wore over her robes. Then she turned her face slightly to take a sip from her goblet and he saw, with a shock of recognition, a pallid, toad-like face and a pair of prominent, pouchy eyes.
It was Dolores Umbridge, Harry recognized her from his hearing during the summer, and the Malfoy Yule party two years previously. He informed the three other Gryffindors around him of this, and they spent most of the time up to the sorting discussing reasons for her presence.
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Severus watched with a nearly bored expression as the final eleven year olds were sorted into their houses, and Dumbledore stood to make his false speech before the serving of the feast. "To our newcomers," he said in a ringing voice, his arms stretched wide and a beaming smile on his lips as he looked in 'Wills' direction, "welcome! To our old hands, welcome back! There is a time for speech-making, but this is not it. Tuck in!"
Severus grinned to himself as the plates filled with food from the kitchens. For all Dumbledore's subtly he lacked a bit in wisdom, not to notice how odd it was for a boy to be effectively transferred into Hogwarts on the eve of another's death, sorted into the same house, and befriending the same people that the previous boy had just left. It was rather amusing; the little game Faykan was leading Dumbledore along in, and thereby dividing his attention with thoughts of a new Lord in Germany to assist him against the Dark Lord. The boy had shown some of the correspondence to Severus, and the old fool was definitely overeager to enlist this 'Lord Zemar' into his confidence. Thankfully they had taught each other different skills in Occlumency, and Severus had explicitly shown Faykan how to project false images with his mind, thus allowing them to perfect his persona of Will Stanton.
Glancing momentarily at the Gryffindor table, Severus spotted they boy listening quietly to Harry, Granger and Weasley. Faykan had told him, and Severus agreed completely, that these three must be the first, if not the only people, to learn of the boy's continued survival from the battle in the graveyard after the Third Task. Severus had noticed however, that Faykan had not decided on when the best time for this to happen would be.
Finally, the gold plates cleared of the last traces of food, Dumbledore stood again, "Well, now that we are all digesting another magnificent feast, I beg a few moments of your attention for the usual start-of-term notices," he began. Severus zoned out for the normal reminders about magic in the corridors, and the forest, returning to the world to listen as Dumbledore mentioned the new staff members.
"We are pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons, and we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge, our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Dumbledore was about to continue on, but the pink clad Umbridge made the oddest fake coughing noise Severus had ever heard, still effectively silencing the Headmaster as she rose to her feet and walked to the podium in front of the staff table.
"Thank you, Headmaster," she simpered, "for those kind words of welcome." She continued on, emphasizing the Ministry's view of the education of young witches and wizards, which Severus translated as, 'preventing Fudge from losing his perilous powerbase in the light of the Dark Lord's return, not that we'll admit it…'
Her final words were probably the most informative as to her agenda, to prevent students from learning anything that the Ministry would deem 'dangerous.' Adding to the fact that she was in the post of Defense Professor, Severus surmised that this meant that the students would once again be subjected to inferior training in that subject, if Umbridge allowed them to learn anything at all.
She finally sat down. Dumbledore clapped, followed by several of the other professors, and finally the students, although most of them clearly hadn't understood a word of her speech. Dumbledore stood again, "Thank you very much, Professor Umbridge… that was most illuminating… Now as I was going to say, some of you may have noticed another new face at the Gryffindor table, aside from our first years, as you feasted on our delicious meal. Will, if you'd be so kind as to stand and allow us to see you clearly…"
Faykan stood, putting on a small show of false nerves, but Severus could see the underlying smugness of his demeanor.
"Will Stanton will be joining our school as a temporary student, and as you all have probably guessed he had been sorted into Gryffindor already. Now, the real reason for him joining us this year is that he has been selected by our own Potions Master, Professor Snape," Dumbledore gestured at Severus, who refused to react, "to learn his trade as a Potions apprentice. He will attend lessons and take his O. with the rest of the fifth years, while also working on learning more advanced potioneering skills."
There was a slightly larger smattering of applause for 'Will' and the boy bowed slightly before retaking his seat. Severus caught several Slytherin's eyes as they stared at him confusedly. No doubt they were wondering why he, the Head of Slytherin, would consent to take on an apprentice that was sorted into their opposing house. Well, they could wonder all they wanted; none would work up the courage to challenge him head on about it.
Faykan caught Severus' eye and winked as the students were dismissed to go to bed, and he gave the boy a brisk nod in return before Faykan turned to follow Harry and the rest of the Gryffindors out to the entrance hall.
~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~
Harry would have walked with Ron and Hermione, but the whispering all around him was starting to really get on his nerves, so he broke off and made his way up to Gryffindor Tower on his own. He only made it to the fourth floor before realizing that even if he reached the portrait of the fat lady, he did not know the new password for this term. Sighing dejectedly, he started to go back to find the group of first years led by his friends when saw Will round a corner and run toward him, "Hey Harry," he said, catching his breath as he caught up to him, "I saw you take off and figured you might not have the password, so I got it from Hermione and followed you. Can we walk to the common room together?"
Harry shrugged, and turned to continue up through the secret passages. He wondered for a moment how the other boy had followed him through all the secret passages he had memorized from the Marauder's Map, but the thought was brushed aside when Will spoke again, "I wanted to apologize for what happened the night before your trial Harry, I'm not exactly sure who you thought you were seeing, but I'm sure it wasn't your intention to do what you did if you thought I wasn't that person…
Harry felt himself turn bright red, but Will kept on talking, "It's alright Harry, I'm not upset, truth be told I didn't really realize what had happened until the next day, all I remember was you launching into me and then it's a giant blur until I woke up the next day. At first I thought it was just a very awkward dream, but then they way you were trying to avoid me the rest of the summer kinda proved to me that something had happened, something that you were highly embarrassed about." Harry glanced sideways and saw that Will's cheeks were tinted with red as well.
"I'm sure you really don't want to talk about it, but I want you to know that I do admire you, not many people have the strength to endure the things you've gone through…"
He broke off as they arrived at the secret door to the Gryffindor common room and Will gave the password, "Mimbulus mimbletonia."
The common room was quite deserted, as most people were still climbing the stairs and weaving through the masses of other students. Harry and Will walked straight up to the dormitory, now clearly labeled 'Fifth Years.' With a pang, Harry realized that Will was going to be sleeping in Faykan's old bed now, and the sudden resurgence of his loss returned. Will must have noticed, as he placed his hand on Harry should and gave a reassuring squeeze, "if you ever feel the need to talk about it, I'm here…" he said before crossing to his trunk at the foot on his bed.
Just then Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas entered the dormitory, chatting together but stopping abruptly as they saw Harry. Harry wondered whether they had been talking about him, then whether he was being paranoid.
"Hi," he said, moving to his own trunk and searching for a pair of pajamas. Will looked over as well, and Dean nodded once in his direction before speaking to Harry, "Hey, Harry. Good holiday?"
"Not bad," muttered Harry, as a true account of his holiday would have taken most of the night to relate and he could not face it. "You?"
"Yeah, it was ok," chuckled Dean. "Better than Seamus', anyway, he was just telling me."
"Why? What happened, Seamus?" Harry asked. Seamus didn't answer at first, instead crossing to his own trunk and making a small show of rummaging through it for something. Then he said, with his back still turned to Harry, "Me mum didn't want me to come back."
"What?" said Harry, pausing in the act of pulling off his robes.
"She didn't want me to come back to Hogwarts."
Seamus stood, pulling his own pajamas out of the trunk along the way.
"But why?" Harry said, a slightly hint of dread edging into his voice. He had a good guess at the reason.
Seamus didn't answer until he finished buttoning his pajamas. "Well," he said in a measured voice, "I suppose… because of you."
"So she believes the Daily Prophet then…" Harry said quickly, "she thinks I'm a liar and Dumbledore's an old fool?"
Seamus looked up at him, "Yeah, something like that."
Harry said nothing more. He turned and angrily threw his wand down on the bedside table and climbed into bed. He was so sick of being the person stared at and talked about all the time. Stupid fools, he thought savagely as he went to pull the curtains closed.
Before he could though, Seamus spoke again, "Look… what did happen that night when… you know, when… with Faykan and all?"
Harry glared at him, "What are you asking me for," he retorted. "Just read the Prophet like your stupid mother. That'll tell you all you need to know."
"Don't you have a go at my mother," Seamus snapped.
"I'll have a go at anyone who calls me a liar!" Harry shouted.
"What's going on?"
Ron appeared in the doorway, his eyes traveling from Harry, kneeling on his bed with his wand pointing a Seamus, to Seamus, who was standing there with his fists raised. Seamus rounded on Ron, "Do you believe all the rubbish he's coming out with about You-Know-Who?"
"Yeah, "Ron said, suddenly turning cold, "I do!"
"Then you're mad, too," said Seamus in disgust.
"Yeah? Well, unfortunately for you, pal, I'm also a prefect!" said Ron, jabbing himself in the chest with a finger. "So unless you want detention, watch your mouth!"
Ron and Seamus glared at each other for several seconds, and finally Seamus jumped into his bed and wrenched the curtains shut. "Right," Ron said angrily, "Anyone else have a problem with Harry?"
The rest of the boys shook their heads before returning to their own business.
Harry lay back on his pillows while Ron bustled around the next bed, putting his things away. He felt shaken by the argument with Seamus, whom he had always liked very much. How many more people were going to suggest that he was lying, or unhinged?
Had Dumbledore suffered like this all summer, as first the Wizengamot, then the International Confederation of Wizards had thrown him from their ranks? Was it anger at Harry, perhaps, that had stopped Dumbledore getting in touch with him for months? The two of them were in this together, after all; Dumbledore had believed Harry, announced his version of events to the whole school and then to the wider wizarding community. Faykan's words rang in his head again, 'Do not trust Albus Dumbledore.' Perhaps… perhaps Dumbledore was simply using Harry, but for what purpose? And why? These questions plagued Harry as he tried to sleep, and his scar began to prickle uncomfortably.
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In the deep blackness of his underground fortress, Lord Voldemort was plotting and planning. Aside from the prophecy, his mind and his servants were focused on other assignments. One such was the liberating of Azkaban, and the returning of the dementors into the fold. Voldemort paced, his robes billowing on an invisible wind as he moved, his great mind pondering the best approach to the highly guarded prison.
His newest servants, legions of the dark creatures known as orcs, would be essential to his cause. They knew no good feelings, and therefore were immune to the dementors should they choose to attack his forces, until he himself set foot on the island and they flocked to his side. But he needed other ways of breaking the Auror guards at the front gates.
"Rally the Olog-hia out of their long exile… Summon the Mountain trolls, the Wargs, the Werewolves and the Vampires to your cause. Command them in the name of the Lord of Darkness, and they will come. You will have an army greater than any that walks the earth, Lord Voldemort…"
Smiling, the Dark Lord absently stroked the Onyx ring upon his hand, the ring that granted him such raw power and insight. Flaring his magic, he sent out a summons, calling all evil to his service, in the name of Darkness. They would come; such creatures would not be able to resist the magnitude of his power. Perhaps even the dementors would answer him, and the plan to destroy Azkaban would not be needed.
The laughs of the Dark Lord echoed through his fortress, sending shivers down the spines of his Death Eaters.