Just as a reminder, due to a spot of confusion, AoM posts every Thursday, and every other Tuesday (the other Tuesday reserved for Stormreaver) Thanks to those who reviewed, I am thoroughly pleased with the reception of the latest chapters. please enjoy the next one~ ~F
Chapter Twelve
Christmas Plots
If Harry had ever sat through a longer night than this one, he could not remember it. Sirius suggested once, without any real conviction, that they all go to bed but the Weasleys' unified looks of disgust was answer enough.
They mostly sat in silence around the table, watching the candle wick sinking lower and lower into liquid wax, occasionally raising a bottle to their lips, speaking only to check the time, to wonder aloud what was happening, and to reassure each other that if there was bad news they would know straightaway, for Mrs. Weasley must long since have arrived at St Mungo's.
Fred fell into a doze, his head lolling sideways on to his shoulder. Ginny was curled like a cat on her chair, but her eyes were open; Harry could see them reflecting the firelight. Ron was sitting with his head in his hands, whether awake or asleep it was impossible to tell. Harry, Faykan and Sirius looked at each other every so often, intruders upon the family grief, waiting… waiting…
At ten past five in the morning by Ron's watch, the kitchen door swung open and Mrs. Weasley entered the kitchen. She was extremely pale, but when they all turned to look at her, Fred, Ron half rose from their chairs, she gave them all a wan smile. Faykan, who had been sitting next to Harry, tightened his grip on Harry's knee slightly.
"He's going to be all right," she said, her voice weak with tiredness. "He's sleeping. We can all go and see him later. Bill's sitting with him now; he's going to take the morning off work."
Fred fell back into his chair with his hands over his face. George and Ginny got up, walked swiftly over to their mother and hugged her. Ron gave a very shaky laugh and downed the rest of his Butterbeer in one. Faykan released Harry's leg with a small sigh of relief.
"Breakfast!" said Sirius loudly and joyfully, jumping to his feet. "Where's that accursed house elf? Kreacher! KREACHER!"
But Kreacher did not answer the summons.
"Oh, forget it, then," muttered Sirius, counting the people in front of him. "So, it's breakfast for, let's see, eight… bacon and eggs, I think, and some tea, and toast…"
Harry tried to make himself as invisible as possible, but Mrs. Weasley enveloped him in a teary hug almost immediately, thanking him profusely for raising the alarm of Mr. Weasley's injury. Harry could hardly bear her gratitude, but fortunately she soon released him to turn to Sirius and thank him for looking after her children through the night. Sirius said he was very pleased to have been able to help, and hoped they would all stay with him as long as Mr. Weasley was in hospital.
"I'd… like to talk to Sirius, ok Fay…" Harry whispered quietly, but Faykan merely took one of his hands and messaged it with his thumb while shaking his head sadly.
"I know what you want to discuss Harry, but Sirius won't know anything about it. If you really want to you may; but I'm warning you, Sirius is irrefutably and unfortunately deep in Dumbledore's pocket…"
Harry nodded, but slipped his hand free and went over to Sirius, confiding in him the insane feeling of wanting to attack Dumbledore right before the portkey activated, but as Faykan had said, Sirius merely reassured Harry that it was probably lingering effects from the vision. His advice was to just stop worrying about it and get some sleep after breakfast.
But how could he? Harry was terrified that he might become the snake again, and possibly attacking someone else he loved, Ron or Hermione or anyone else in the house.
He went up to the bedroom he, Faykan and Ron had shared over the last few weeks of summer, but while Ron crawled into bed and was asleep within minutes, Harry sat fully clothed, hunched against the cold metal bars of the bedstead, keeping himself deliberately uncomfortable, determined not to fall into a doze, terrified that he might become the serpent again in his sleep and wake to find that he had attacked Ron, or else slithered through the house after one of the others…
He stayed that way until Faykan slipped onto his bed beside him and wrapped his arms tenderly around Harry. He tried at first to protest, squirming to try and get Faykan's arms off him, but Faykan simply squeezed him tighter, leaning back against the headboard and pulling Harry until he was lying against the taller boy's shoulder, listening to his steady breathing. Harry drifted off as Faykan began a soft, slow song in a language that Harry thought sounded familiar, but he was far too tired to try and understand.
Harry dreamed of the sea, and awoke a few hour later feeling more refreshed than he had in a long time. Their trunks arrived from Hogwarts while they were eating lunch, so they could dress as Muggles for the trip to St. Mungo's.
Harry and Faykan remained pensive while they changed, quite opposite of the happily chattering Weasleys. When Tonks and Mad-Eye turned up to escort them across London, they greeted them gleefully, laughing at the bowler hat Mad-Eye was wearing at an angle to conceal his magical eye and assuring him, truthfully, that Tonks, whose hair was short and bright pink again, would attract far less attention on the Underground.
~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~
Severus mounted the stairs to Dumbledore's office in angry silence. What on earth could the old man want at this hour of the morning? Pausing outside the door, Severus heard the telltale girlish voice of Umbridge.
"I want you to tell me where Potter and the Weasley children have gone Dumbledore?" the woman was demanding.
Dumbledore sounded as calm and plotting as ever, and even right through the oak door Severus could feel the damnable twinkling of his eyes. "Arthur Weasley has been sent to St. Mungo's, and I have given them all special permission to visit him just before the Christmas holidays."
"Including Potter and Stanton?" Umbridge continued suspiciously, and Severus decided it was best for him to interrupt now. Barging in, he saw Umbridge standing directly in front of Albus' desk, which the old man was seated behind. They both turned to look toward him.
Albus smiled in gratitude for his swift intervention, "Ah, Severus."
"You called for me Headmaster?" Severus said in a cool collected voice, masking his intense dislike of present company.
"Yes, if you'll excuse us Dolores, Severus and I have private business to discuss," Dumbledore said dismissively, shooing the obviously angered woman from his office.
"This isn't over Dumbledore," she said coldly as the door closed.
The Headmaster frowned at the wooden door, "No, it certainly isn't…"
"May I be informed as to why I have been awoken at this unlawful hour of the morning Headmaster?" Severus said, shaking Dumbledore out of his thoughts.
"Ah yes Severus…" Albus started, "I'm afraid that the worst has happened at last, Lord Voldemort has become aware of his and Harry's connection via the poor boy's scar…"
Severus stood unfazed, Faykan had forewarned him that it was only a matter of time before this happened, and they were prepared for the consequences, from both the Dark Lord and Dumbledore. "…and?" he said, pressing the old man for more information.
"And," Dumbledore continued, "I have a plan to lure Voldemort to the Ministry and try to defeat him. But I need you to weaken Harry's mental defenses until Voldemort figures out how to trick Harry into attempting to retrieve the prophecy himself. We'll tell the boy we're going to have you teach him Occlumency so he can protect himself, but you simply have to keep his defenses low enough for Voldemort to slip in as easily as possible."
Inwardly Severus was horrified at the prospect of purposely lowering anyone's, let alone Harry Potter's, mental defenses to encourage an attack from the Dark Lord. "And what makes you, in your brilliance; think that the Dark Lord will take the bait?" he replied coolly, continuing to play his part.
Dumbledore smiled serenely, "Tom wouldn't risk entering the Ministry for it himself, and only he or Harry can touch the Prophecy without going mad. If he hasn't figured that out by now, you may inform him of it to move our plans along."
Severus merely reinforced his Occlumency, and nodded his 'agreement' to Albus' insane plan. Severus of course had no intention of actually going through with it. When he went to Grimmauld Place to inform Harry of his new 'lessons' he would speak with Faykan of what their next move would be. And probably let both boys know of his complete support of the advanced lessons of the Defense club while he was at it.
~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~
Harry was quiet the entire train ride back to Grimmauld Place, lost in his thoughts over what he, Faykan, Ron, Fred, and George had overheard in St. Mungo's. Mad-Eye had told Mr. and Mrs. Weasley while the children eavesdropped with the Extendable Ears Dumbledore thought that the visions Harry had seen about the snake meant that Voldemort was possessing him. Everyone was watching him out of the corner of their eyes now, as if they expected him to suddenly attack them at any moment.
Harry remembered how the snakelike face of Voldemort had once forced itself out of the back of Professor Quirrell's head and ran his hand over the back of his own, wondering what it would feel like if Voldemort burst out of his skull.
He felt dirty, contaminated, as though he were carrying some deadly germ, unworthy to sit on the Underground train back from the hospital with innocent, clean people whose minds and bodies were free of the taint of Voldemort… he had not merely seen the snake, he had been the snake, he knew it now…
A truly terrible memory of what Sirius had told him the first night at Grimmauld place then occurred to him, a thought bobbing to the surface of his mind, one that made his insides writhe and squirm like serpents.
What's he after, apart from followers?
Stuff he can only get by stealth… like a weapon. Something he didn't have last time.
I'm the weapon, Harry thought, and it was as though poison were pumping through his veins, chilling him, bringing him out in a sweat as he swayed with the train through the dark tunnel. I'm the one Voldemort's trying to use, that's why they've got guards around me everywhere I go, it's not for my protection, it's for other people's, only it's not working, they can't have someone on me all the time at Hogwarts… I did attack Mr. Weasley last night, it was me. Voldemort made me do it and he could be inside me, listening to my thoughts right now…
"Are you all right, Harry, dear?" whispered Mrs. Weasley leaning across Ginny to speak to him as the train rattled along through its dark tunnel. "You don't look very well. Are you feeling sick?"
They were all watching him. He shook his head violently and stared up at an advertisement for home insurance.
"Harry, dear, are you sure you're all right?" said Mrs. Weasley in a worried voice, as they walked around the unkempt patch of grass in the middle of Grimmauld Place. "You look ever so pale… are you sure you slept this morning? You go upstairs to bed right now and you can have a couple of hours of sleep before dinner, all right?"
He nodded, thankful for the ready-made excuse to escape talking to anyone about what they had overheard. So when the door opened he hurried straight up to his, Ron's and Faykan's room.
He began pacing, trying to reason out how it was possible for him to have become a snake, or how he had gotten from Hogwarts to London and back in a single night. So deep was his thoughts that he didn't hear the door open and reclose, nor notice that anyone else was in the room until arms encircled his waist and Faykan settled his head on Harry shoulder.
"Knut for your thoughts?" he asked weakly.
Harry shook his head, still wanting to be alone, but Faykan wasn't about to leave him to brood. With a wave of his hand, Faykan bolted and set up privacy wards around the door as well as Phineas Nigellus' portrait. Glancing nervously at his friend, Harry saw the powerful gleam in the boy's eyes.
"Fay…" Harry said warningly, but too late. Faykan was already holding him, pouring his magic into the embrace and murmuring into Harry's ear small reassurances and soothing words.
"Harry… Why must you carry the world on your shoulders, dear kentano…"
The intensity of the magic was overwhelming, and Harry felt himself relax against his will, as Faykan continued to speak, "I cannot carry these burdens for you, but when you start to fall I will catch and carry you if need be. You're strong Harry, but you cannot do this alone. I won't allow it. Let your friends be your strength. Let us help you. We love you Harry…"
~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~
Hermione had heard about Mr. Weasley being attacked and that everyone except her and Draco were at Grimmauld Place. It took some clever arguing, but she got her parents to allow her to stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas break, and then Professor McGonagall to appeal to the Headmaster to send her to Grimmauld Place herself.
She arrived at around six in the evening on the second day of the holiday, and immediately went looking for Harry, after hearing from Ron and Ginny that he and Faykan had been rather reclusive the entire time.
Sirius had indicated that the two boys had been last seen carrying a bucket of rats up to the topmost bedroom to feed Buckbeak the Hippogriff, and so that's where Hermione started her search. She heard voices from the inside of the room and, recalling vividly the last time she opened a door with these two boys on the other side unannounced, she knocked first.
"I know you two are in there," she said, "I want to talk to you."
There was the sound of shuffling feet and a small argument in lowered voices for several seconds, and finally Harry opened the door, looking slightly unhappy. "What are you doing here?" he asked, genuinely surprised, "I thought you were skiing with your mum and dad?"
"Don't be rude Harry, invite her in…" came Faykan's voice from inside the room.
Harry stood aside, and Hermione entered, bowing to Buckbeak, and looking around. Faykan was sitting in a moth eaten chair across the room from the Hippogriff, occasionally tossing a dead rat to it with a flick of his wand. There was a strange looking candelabra lighting this room, shaped like the same quartered circle and supporting enough candles to fully create an identical circle of flame. Faykan was no worse for wear, if not seemingly tired from keeping Harry constant company, Hermione guessed that from what the Weasleys and Sirius had told her.
"So…" she said hesitantly, "I presume you two have been secretly busy, in spite of all the Weasleys' attempts to include you in their Christmas festivities."
Harry coughed slightly and Faykan grinned mischievously, "Is it that obvious?" he asked, "Plotting is supposed to be more subtle than this, but with Harry wanting to have time to himself, it's hard to plot with him in plain sight, so we had to." He trailed off, watching the flickering firelight of the strange light source.
"Ron also told me about what you overheard on the Extendable Ears and Harry…" Hermione began, but Harry held his hand up.
"Don't start Hermione, we have already worked out that it's impossible that I was being possessed by Voldemort. We've just been trying to find time to ourselves to prepare our next course of action for the most part…" Harry interrupted…
At that moment, they were both momentarily distracted when Faykan suddenly leaned forward, making a grabbing motion with his hand and murmuring elvish words to himself. The ring of fire leapt into the air, changing into something that resembled a fiery orange crystal in the same shape as his other strange trinkets. It dropped into Faykan's hand gently and significantly darkened the room.
"I wish you'd tell us what those were by the way," Harry commented, sounding annoyed, but Faykan shook his head.
"Not yet, it's too soon for the full story… wait until I have them all…" he said cryptically, and Hermione exchanged a glance of exasperation with Harry.
Later that week, Christmas morning brought its usual cascade of presents, and a wonderful breakfast by Mrs. Weasley. Everyone had been delighted by her gifts, and the only person who had not gotten anything for anyone was Faykan, but he promised to have something after they got back to Hogwarts. That led Hermione to believe that their gifts were not material items in nature, which was rather exciting.
After lunch everyone went down to St. Mungo's to visit Mr. Weasley, escorted by Mad-Eye and Professor Lupin. They found Mr. Weasley propped up in bed with the remains of his turkey dinner on a tray on his lap and a rather sheepish expression on his face.
"Everything all right, Arthur?" asked Mrs. Weasley, after they had all greeted Mr. Weasley and handed over their presents.
"Fine, fine," said Mr. Weasley, a little too heartily. "You, err… haven't seen Healer Smethwyck, have you?"
"No," said Mrs. Weasley suspiciously, "why?"
"Nothing, nothing," said Mr. Weasley airily, starting to unwrap his pile of gifts. "Well, everyone had a good day? What did you all get for Christmas? Oh Harry,this is absolutely wonderful!" He had just opened Harry's gift of fuse-wire and screwdrivers.
Mrs. Weasley did not seem entirely satisfied with Mr. Weasley's answer. As her husband leaned over to shake Harry's hand, she peered at the bandaging under his nightshirt.
"Arthur," she said, with a snap in her voice like a mousetrap, "you've had your bandages changed. Why have you had your bandages changed a day early, Arthur? They told me they wouldn't need doing until tomorrow."
"What?" said Mr. Weasley, looking rather frightened and pulling the bed covers higher up his chest. "No, no, it's nothing… it's…"
He seemed to deflate under Mrs. Weasley's piercing gaze.
"Well, now don't get upset Molly, but Augustus Pye had an idea… he's the Trainee Healer, you know, lovely young chap and very interested in… um… complementary medicine… I mean, some of these old Muggle remedies… well, they're called stitches, Molly, and they work very well on… on Muggle wounds…"
Mrs. Weasley let out an ominous noise somewhere between a shriek and a snarl. Lupin strolled away from the bed and over to the werewolf, who had no visitors and was looking rather wistfully at the crowd around Mr. Weasley; Bill muttered something about getting himself a cup of tea and Fred and George leapt up to accompany him, grinning.
"Do you mean to tell me," said Mrs. Weasley, her voice growing louder with every word and apparently unaware that her fellow visitors were scurrying for cover, "that you have been messing about with Muggle remedies?"
"Not messing about, Molly, dear," said Mr. Weasley imploringly, "it was just - just something Pye and I thought we'd try, only… most unfortunately, well… with these particular kinds of wounds… it doesn't seem to work as well as we'd hoped…"
"Meaning?"
"Well… well, I don't know whether you know what… what stitches are?"
"It sounds as though you've been trying to sew your skin back together," said Mrs. Weasley with a snort of mirthless laughter, "but even you, Arthur, wouldn't be that stupid…"
"I fancy a cup of tea, too," said Harry suddenly, jumping to his feet.
Hermione, Ron, Faykan and Ginny were all too eager to escape right behind him. As the door swung closed behind them, they heard Mrs. Weasley shriek, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THAT'S THE GENERAL IDEA?"
"Typical Dad," said Ginny, shaking her head as they set off up the corridor. "Stitches… I ask you…"
"Well, you know, they do work well on non-magical wounds," said Hermione fairly. "I suppose something in that snake's venom dissolves them or something. I wonder where the tearoom is."
"Fifth floor," said Harry automatically
They walked along the corridor, through a set of double doors and found a rickety staircase and up several flights of stairs, trying to ignore the portraits of old healers who kept shouting advice for obscure ailments.
They reached the fourth floor, and Faykan looked up at the sign that read: Spell Damage. "Oh, can we stop here briefly, there's someone I'd like to visit right quick."
They all shrugged and entered the corridor, glancing in from ward to ward as they followed Faykan down to one named the Janus Thickey Ward. A motherly looking Healer was bustling around inside, clearly delivering Christmas presents to the patients. Faykan tapped on the door, attracting her attention and she flicked her wand at the door, which caused it to open.
"Yes? May I help you?" she asked cheerfully.
"Why yes, I'm looking for a Mr. Broderick Bode…" Faykan said hesitantly.
The woman smiled and turned to one of the nearby beds, "Did you hear that Broderick, you have a visitor." Turning back to Faykan, she beckoned them all into the ward, "Well, come on in, and make yourselves at home."
Hermione and the others followed Faykan into the ward, and looked around. Faykan immediately walked over to a sallow-skinned, mournful-looking wizard lay in the nearest bed who was staring at the ceiling, at least until Faykan approached, then he stared wide eyed at him and started gibbering in what was clearly a heavily accented elvish. Faykan sat quickly next to him, taking a hand to silence him.
"im Faykan. Telin le thaed. Lasto beth nîn, tolo dan nan galad."
Mr. Bode gazed directly into Faykan's eyes, and Hermione could read the understanding and wonder in the man's face. Hermione distinctly saw Faykan press some sort of flat rock into the man's hand, and whisper instructions into his ears, but she couldn't hear exactly what he said because the nurse started talking immediately at the same time.
"Its so nice that your visiting Broderick on Christmas, and right after he started regaining the power of speech as well, even if we isn't speaking any languages we recognize, but your friend seems to understand him just fine. And… oh, Mrs. Longbottom, are you leaving already?"
Everyone spun round. The curtains had been drawn back from the two beds at the end of the ward and two visitors were walking back down the aisle between the beds: a formidable looking old witch wearing a long green dress, a moth-eaten fox fur and a pointed hat decorated with what was unmistakably a stuffed vulture and, trailing behind her looking thoroughly depressed Neville.
~~Sina tea kirma : This is a line break~~
On the very last day of the holidays, something happened that made Harry positively look forward to his return to school, despite Umbridge or his trepidation of leaving Sirius alone again.
"Harry, dear," said Mrs. Weasley, poking her head into his, Faykan's and Ron's bedroom, where the he and Ron of them were playing wizard chess watched by Hermione, Faykan, Ginny and Crookshanks, "could you and Will come down to the kitchen? Professor Snape would like a word with you both."
Harry did not immediately register what she had said; one of his castles was engaged in a violent tussle with a pawn of Ron's and he was egging it on enthusiastically.
"Squash him, squash him, he's only a pawn, you idiot. Sorry, Mrs. Weasley, what did you say?"
"Professor Snape dear, in the kitchen, he'd like a word with you two." She repeated, indicating him and Faykan.
Faykan's mouth split into a wide grin and without another word he bolted for the door, whipping out of sight as Harry sat there dumbly. "Professor Snape?" he said blankly.
"Yes dear," Mrs. Weasley said, "Now come on, quickly, he says he can't stay long."
"What does he want with you? It would have thought just F… Will would be the person he wanted to talk to." Ron said, catching himself with a side glance at Ginny.
"I know…" Harry replied thoughtfully as he stood and headed for the kitchen.
Professor Snape was sitting at the kitchen table with Faykan, chatting in quiet tones as he entered. They both turned as he entered, and Snape indicated a chair next to Faykan for Harry to sit in, then waved his wand to conjure privacy wards so they could not be overheard.
"Well now," Professor Snape said coolly, smiling briefly at the pair of them, "I am supposed to be here on Dumbledore's orders, to tell you Harry, that it is his wish for you to study Occlumency with me during this term."
Faykan frowned and Harry raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"However, as I choose to no longer follow Dumbledore's orders as he dictates them, I will tell you the truth. Dumbledore wishes for me to open your mind further to the Dark Lord, allowing him to bait you into a trap, which the Headmaster would then spin into a trap of his own making."
"WHAT!" Harry yelled, rising slightly, how could Dumbledore betray him like this?
"Furthermore," Snape continued calmly, "I will not do as the Headmaster wishes, but actually train you in Occlumency and the true arts of shutting off your mind, even though myself and Faykan agree that it will prove useless against the Dark Lord, as his connection to you is too strong…"
"My plan," Faykan said, tugging Harry's sleeve to make him sit again, "Is to allow this farce to continue until Voldemort sets his trap, and we - meaning you, I, the A.D.A., along with Professor Snape - will be ready to take matters into our own hands."
"…the A.D.A.?" Harry asked. Faykan smile widened considerably.
"The Advanced Dumbledore's Army," Faykan explained, "the group I told you about that we would form after the Christmas Holidays with selected students from the DA, to be supervised by Professor Snape and taught the similar things I taught you, Draco, Ron and Hermione. I have a very good idea where the traps will be sprung, and exactly how to counter them. Divide and Conquer. Set the Order against the Death Eaters and slip away with the prize."
"What prize?" Harry said, at a loss as to what they were talking about now. But Faykan patted his shoulder and shook his head, saying that it was something to discuss at a later time.
"I'm going to warn you Harry," Snape continued, "Occlumency is not going to be easy, especially with the connection to the Dark Lord in your mind, so it's going to take a lot of hard work and effort on your part."
"I understand." Harry said.
"Good." Professor Snape replied, "I'll see you and Faykan in my office on Monday at six o'clock for the first lesson. We can decide on when and where to continue afterwards."
Just as the privacy wards were lowered, the kitchen door opened and the entire Weasley family, plus Hermione, came inside happily, with Mr. Weasley walking proudly in their midst.
"Cured!" he announced brightly to the kitchen at large. "Completely cured!"
kentano : potter
im Faykan. Telin le thaed. Lasto beth nîn, tolo dan nan galad: I am Faykan, I come to help you. Heed my voice, come back to the light.
Potential Spoilers Ahead: You Have Been Warned!
Again, many thanks to those who review, and comment on the things discussed here. naturally, Fire from the Candle Ring is the newest scene, meaning that Faykan has 5 out of 6 Signs. their relevance will come in due time. For those who are reading the background material of the Dark Is Rising Sequence, for the purposes of this story, the titular book in the series, as well as The Gray King, and Silver on the Tree are the most important to grasp the elements I have taken for the use in this fic. naturally I recommend them all, as it is one of the major classics of the Post-Modern Literary Era, being just off the heels of the Modern period where LotR was begun. Until next time! ~F