The-Boy-From-The-Future
Disclaimer: I do not and never will own Harry Potter or other associated characters and ideas.
A/N: Ok, this chapter will probably be a bit confusing. That's because I wrote it without any help at all from Abi, who usually proof-reads everything I write, and then re-writes it again. But she's busy with coursework and other stuff (cough lurve cough), so I'm free to mutilate this story as I feel free.
Mwah hah hah.
Anyway, there's loads of new characters in this that I invented (based on people I know in school, hehe), so take it slow, and if you have time, let me know what you think of my writing compared to Abi's.
Is it better? (so I can gloat) Worse? (so - horror of horrors - she can gloat) Or the same (no one gloats).
(Incidentally, Abi wrote the first paragraph).
Chapter 6
James fumed.
He should've remembered that he couldn't possibly be accepted that easily, they were Slytherins after all, and practically trained to be suspicious.
But it still hurt him, both his feelings and his pride. He was used to having things his way – his late night escapades with illegal potions brewing an excellent example – and to be excluded from cosy get-togethers was a new experience.
Lying back and closing his eyes, he fell into an uneasy sleep, his thoughts whirling with scenes from earlier that day, interspersed with memories of his own friends from an easier, more carefree time.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Alex Dee was worried. And it took a lot to worry Alex Dee. Alex was made in the same mould as his predecessors, Fred and George Weasley, James Potter (father of Harry Potter) and Sirius Black.
In other words, he was generally a very cheerful, easygoing chap, whose idea of a good time was a game of Quidditch with his friends, either preceded or proceeded by a lavish prank on members of another house. Preferably planned and plotted with his best friend, James Potter (son of Harry Potter).
However, it was awfully hard to plot and plan when abovementioned best friend was missing.
Alex had already spoken twice to Professor McGonagall, twice to Professor Snape and three times to Mr. Potter.
It was all rather perplexing. He'd had a detention with Filch in the Great Hall, which then gravitated to a horrible, slimy corridor that lasted all evening, right up to five minutes before curfew. After sprinting back to the Common Room, so as to avoid another detention, Alex had immediately headed up to his dormitory, only to find Teddy and Amadeus fast asleep and James' bed empty. He'd returned to his favourite seat in front of the Common Room fire and waited for his friend, promptly falling asleep.
The next morning, James was nowhere to be seen. Alex didn't say anything at first, thinking that perhaps James had gone down to the kitchens to grab an 'alternative' breakfast, as he was known to do.
However, when James missed Arithmancy, Defence and Potions, Alex knew that something wasn't quite right.
Reporting the incident to Professor Snape probably ranked in the top three most nerve-wracking experiences of his life, although strangely enough, the Professor hadn't reacted quite as violently as he'd thought he would.
Instead, the man had thanked Alex for alerting him and immediately dismissed him. However, while Alex was halfway out the door, he distinctly heard Professor Snape say, "12 Grimmauld Place!"
That was James' home, thought Alex. Why would…oh. Idiot! If James is missing, it's obvious that Professor Snape would inform James' parents. Now stop worrying!
It was after his second meeting with Professor Snape, who insisted on dissecting his third conversation with James' father, that Alex found himself wandering along the stone corridor, deep in thought. In fact, he was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the other boy who'd just swept round the corner, muttering angrily under his breath.
The two collided with such force that they both fell back onto the ground, clutching their heads and glaring at each other.
Solly Malfoy, thought Alex. Just the thing I need.
"Watch it, Dee," snapped Solly, rubbing a sore spot on his forehead.
"Likewise," drawled Alex, although with considerably less venom than usual. It was difficult to appear intimidating when you had an egg-sized bruise on your head that caused you to go slightly cross-eyed.
However, as Alex made to get up, he caught sight of a glint of gold in the corner of his eye. Squinting, he fumbled slightly before he realised that whatever it was, it was embedded in the ground.
"What are you doing, Dee?" asked Solly, who'd also more or less recovered.
"Spotted something," said Alex, intent on clearing the powdery substance from the gold glint.
Solly leaned forward. Suddenly, he snatched Alex's hand back.
"You idiot! That's a potions spill. And now you've got that stuff all over yourself."
Alex rolled his eyes. Without warning, he flicked some of what was now clearly the dried remains of a gluey potion straight into Solly's face.
Solly's face contorted in an odd mixture of anger and disgust.
"You…you…," he trailed off, clearly at a lost for words.
Alex just smirked and went back to his attempt to work out what the metallic speck was.
Solly watched him irritably. "What the hell was that stuff that you chucked at me, Dee?" he said through clenched teeth.
"Merlin, Malfoy. A bit of a compulsive cleaner, are you?"
Solly's only response was to huff angrily. He brought out his wand and tapped the spot on the floor roughly.
But before Solly could utter the incantation for whatever cleaning spell he'd decided to use, the metallic speck began to glow. A heartbeat later, a bright light engulfed the area.
A moment later, and the only sign that anything had occurred there was a faint glow above the spot where the pair knelt. But a mere moment after that, the glow had faded, leaving only an empty, albeit dusty corridor.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
It was deathly quiet. Only the faint whisper of the breeze outside could be heard and shadows enveloped the corridors. Moonlight from a crescent moon spilled feebly through the windows, shading everything in a silvery glow.
Protecting two sides of the borders was a dense forest, into which anti-apparition and Portkey wards stood. But the wards only extended into the humanly navigable parts of the forest, so about half a mile in, the wards stopped.
This was not a case of carelessness or sloth; rather it was both unnecessary, as well as plain impossible to stretch the wards any further. The forest was a tangled web of thorns and branches that not even a dozen powerful blasting hexes could cut through.
Apparating or portkeying in would result in severe slashing, and swift death, as many of the thorns carried potent poison.
The defences here were just as strong as Hogwarts'; in fact, in addition to Aurors, curse-breakers and wards specialists, several knowledgeable wizards, including Albus Dumbledore had had a hand at building them.
Of course, no one dreamt that a rat would Portkey into the thorny forest.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
"Did you hear that?"
"Go back to sleep, Ella."
"I'm being serious, Anna. Wake up!"
"Alright, alright." A slight rustling indicated sheets being thrown back. "What?" The irritation was clear in Anna's voice.
"I think someone's trying to break into the school," proclaimed Ella.
Anna stared at her for two heartbeats. Then, she flung herself back onto the downy bed and pulled the duvet up over her head.
"I am being serious, Anna. We've got to raise the alarm."
A muffled voice carried its way across the dark room. "And why hasn't anyone else noticed, then?"
"There's only six of us on this side of the house. Katie and Mick sleep like rocks, Laura and Sandy tend to sleep with the wireless on and you just pretend that you're dreaming the noise."
"Ok. Fine. We'll tell Professor Truman."
Slipping noiselessly into thick robes, the two girls made their way down and across the house to their housemistress' apartments. Stopping outside the white wooden door, they paused and glanced at each other.
"You were the one who heard the 'noise'," said Anna, scepticism still clear in her voice and on her face.
Ella grumbled, but still raised her hand and pressed the little button embedded in the wall next to the doorframe.
A few seconds later and the willowy form of Professor Truman appeared in the doorway, blinking sleepily.
"What's the matter, girls?" she asked worriedly.
"Well, Ella heard a 'noise' so we thought we'd let you know," stated Anna in a matter-of-fact tone.
Ella glared at her. "I heard…a thud. You know how all the noise carries up to our room? Well, I distinctly heard some male voices, but they were cut off suddenly, like…"
"Like if someone cast a silencing charm," said Anna, her eyes widening. Then, they narrowed. "You didn't tell me you heard someone talking," she hissed, annoyance clear in the tone of her voice.
Professor Truman cleared her throat. "I'll inform the Headmaster, girls, but there shouldn't be anything to worry about; the alarms haven't been -"
With perfect timing, the professor was cut off by a shrill ringing directly above them. A moment later, the high-pitched whine was joined by a lower-toned, but equally loud klaxon, which in turn was joined by a traditional bell.
Professor Truman's sleepy demeanour vanished in an instant, and she had her wand out, closely followed by Anna and Ella.
In no time at all, sleepy girls wrapped in thick robes, and some in duvets trailed down the stairs; a few had their wands out, but the majority were unarmed.
The professor tapped seven times on her doorframe, which flickered twice and then fell into a neat coil of rope. Once she'd done a headcount and made sure that everyone had a grip on the rope, Truman said, "Chamber," and twenty-three girls and a professor disappeared.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Across Durovernum, students and professors alike were panicking. The alarm had been triggered by a careless Death Eater, who tripped on a trip jinx set up by the narrow river that wound its way along the school's boundaries. All pupils were forbidden from going within ten feet of the river, for fear of expulsion and the snapping of their wand. No wildlife dared venture near the area either – a direct result of a botched potions accident that imbued the soil around there with a magical poison that targeted bare skin or fur.
Therefore, the river alarm was considered fairly reliable.
Each of the four houses were directly linked by Portkey to a chamber that was located near the foundations of the school – the very last place any enemies would gain entry to. Only students and faculty were keyed into the wards; anyone else would disintegrate upon contact.
Unfortunately, the intricate security systems didn't take traitors into account…
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Oswald Price was a good-looking boy, who excelled at his studies and Quidditch. However, he was also horribly disgruntled because he had not been chosen as a 'Violet' at the beginning of his last year.
Nevertheless, he kept up the façade and went about his duties as a simple corridor monitor.
But when he was approached the previous summer regarding ways to further himself, Oswald jumped at the chance. Guaranteed a high posting in the Ministry upon leaving Durovernum, Oswald, without hesitation, agreed to carry a small, gold amulet with him at all times, including down into the Chamber, if that were ever necessary.
It was through that particular piece of jewellery that the Death Eaters would gain access into Durovernum's foundations.
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Durmstrang was widely thought to be a recruiting ground for Voldemort's followers. Although the students did learn practical Dark Arts, and many of them openly admitted to prejudice against Muggleborns and Half-bloods, their primary loyalty was to the school.
The headmaster who took over after Karkaroff's sudden absence was one of the strongest advocates of this idea of loyalty to Durmstrang, thus immediately eliminating the option of joining Voldemort.
Headmaster Fota made himself an enemy of Voldemort, proclaiming to be against the Dark Lord despite having so many similarities in policies related to blood purity and magic, so when Voldemort decided to strike at European magical schools, Durmstrang was one of those at the top of the list.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
Beauxbatons was one of the most glittering bastions of the light. Headmistress Madame Maxime openly supported Albus Dumbledore's war against the Death Eaters and the curriculum at Beauxbatons had a very strong Defence Against the Dark Arts syllabus.
However, its main failure was an overemphasis on personal defence, neglecting the defence of large groups or communities.
So it was no surprise when the twinkling, silvery towers of Beauxbatons were brought down with strategically placed explosives on the same night that three other magical schools were attacked.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-
The next morning, Hogwarts found itself the host of many unexpected guests, two of whom were not even in the right time.
So...what do you think? If you're confused, don't worry, the next chapter will clear things up. And it was meant to be all disjointed in my feeble attempt to represent the chaos of Voldemort's attacks. ;)