A/N: Once again I have overshot my file size for download, folks. My apologies for having to give you once again a chapter with a part A and B.
But as always,
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: Go back and read the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before the one before this one.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX PART A: BECCA
Harry looked around where the group stood, surveying their surroundings, which for all intents and purposes hadn't changed.
With one small exception.
The group now stood within what appeared to be a large conduit, which appeared to end some ten feet behind them, but stretched in front of them well past the horizon. Harry stared in awe at the thing that now encased them. To him they could have been easily standing in the center of a Quidditch stadium field. The walls appeared to be some sort of magical barrier, which shimmered in the sunlight as waves of color passed through them. But despite the play of colors over the conduit's walls, it appeared to Harry that only one color got through.
Yellow. Or more, a burnt orange. Everything around him within the conduit now looked as though they had started their journey at sunset rather than early morning. But as he stared past the walls, he noticed that everything outside the conduit retained its natural, vibrant assortment of colors.
Next to him, Orion was also taking stock of their new situation, but in a far more physical way. With his wand already out he had shot off several spells at the walls of the conduit, each one being stopped as it appeared to be harmlessly absorbed by the shimmering walls.
With a frustrated glare, Orion finally turned back to Voldemort.
"And were you expecting this as well?" He ask in a low, tight voice.
For his part, the dark wizard had been standing almost perfectly still, surveying their new surroundings with his eyes. Finally he turned to the man next to him. "No more than you were, Mr. Black." He replied in a flat, emotionless tone. "But it does appear as though we were not unexpected."
"And now?"
"Well, thankfully, as you have already demonstrated, it appears our magic is still intact, although," he added, looking about the conduit again, "I would suspect anyone who can construct something like this would be more than capable of changing that on whim."
"So why leave us with it?"
Voldemort gave the younger man a small, mirthless smile. "Perhaps because it makes the game more interesting to him, Mr. Black."
"You think this is all some 'game' to him?"
Voldemort gave a small frown as he considered the question. "More a 'puzzle'." He replied finally.
"And we're just the pieces he's trying to figure out where they go?"
Voldemort was already walking off to where Lupin and Arabella stood locked in a serious discussion. "More how they all fit together, Mr. Black."
Orion sighed to himself as he followed the older wizard over to where the others stood. But he stopped suddenly when several voices caught his attention. Turning he was only slightly surprised to see his superior heading towards them, trailed by several Unspeakables, one struggling to keep step with him as he walked along side.
"We had him on trace, sir," the agent was frantically explaining as Bale stalked towards the conduit wall, the look on his face clearly expressing that he was none to happy with the current situation. "Everything was perfectly normal, and then... 'poof'... he just disappeared off the scope. All five of them. Just...gone."
Bale stopped short and turned to his agent. "How long have you been a wizard, Jenkins!?" He asked bluntly.
The younger man stopped just short of plowing into his superior. "I...I...well, all...all my life, sir." He stammered a quick reply.
"Then you know all too well by now that things do not just go 'poof'...and disappear. Use your good sense, man." Bale added, then started off again.
The younger wizard looked slightly relieved that no further questions followed and hurried after his boss.
Orion watched the group approach with a mixture of surprise and interest. No more than ten feet away and Bale had yet to so much as look at him or slow his pace. Jumping back several steps, he just managed to avoid what he felt was an eminent collision with his superior, but looked up just in time to see Voldemort standing with his arms crossed over his chest while several of the rest of the group appeared to walk right through him without the least notice on either side.
Orion turned quickly to where his superior was now heading towards the other side of the conduit. "Orin!" He called out in a loud voice.
Bale stopped and Orion was about to say something else when he noted quickly that the man had not turned to face him but to the rest of the group.
"Everyone spread out." He directed. "Scan the area. Look for any magical traces, fields, spell dispersions, anything. Report back when you've finished."
Instantly the group began to fan out, each agent already weaving various spells to try and find what had happened to their fellow agent.
Lupin, Arabella, and Harry quickly joined Orion and Voldemort where they stood.
"Interesting." was Lupin's only comment on the unfolding events, while Arabella was still taking inventory of the events going on around them, but seemingly oblivious to their presence.
"'Amazing', would be my choice." She commented, turning to Voldemort. "Just how much power does this man yield?"
Voldemort looked around them again, then turned back to her. "If my suspicions about him are correct, this is just a small fraction of what he is capable of."
Orion turned to the older wizard. "Care to share any of those 'suspicions'?" He ask.
Voldemort gave him a small smile. "Not just yet, Mr. Black."
Orion turned back to studying the activity around them. "No. I thought not." He murmured.
The group remained where they were as they watched the Unspeakables sweep the area with spells and wards. But each one apparently failed to turn up anything. A fact that was confirmed as each agent reported back to Bale. Finally, when they seem to have exhausted their field work, the group gathered to apparate back to the Ministry. Orion watched as his boss stood for several moments just outside of the conduit wall. staring at the ground, a deep furrow etched in his forehead.
"Come on, Orin." Orion whispered. "You know something isn't right. You said it yourself. People don't just disappear."
"You coming, Sir?" One of the agents called to his boss.
Orin gave a slight wave with his hand as he continued studying the ground.
With a sigh and a shrug, the man stepped back into the group and they immediately disapparated, leaving Bale still staring thoughtfully at the ground.
As soon as the group disapparated, Bale suddenly looked up again. He took several steps away from the conduit's wall before turning back around.
Orion watched his superior's actions with interest. The man acted as though he was looking for something, but just wasn't sure what it was.
Staring at the conduit as though he could see it, Bale pulled out his wand and began to weave a spell in the air. The sheer force of the magic Bale was drawing on surprised Orion, who could feel the waves of it even through the conduit's barrier walls. It wasn't strong. More like a gentle breeze that blows through the air, suddenly disturbing an otherwise perfectly calm day. But Orion reasoned that if the spell's effects were being dampened by the conduit's walls, he could only imagine what they felt like on the other side.
A sudden burst of energy caught Orion's attention and snapped him out of his own thoughts. It hit the conduit's wall like a blast from a cannon, reverberating all along the wall and washing it in a rainbow of colors. Bale stood on the other side, his wand directed straight at the conduit's walls.
Orion stared at the man in amazement. He knew Bale controlled a great deal of very powerful magic, but never anything like the force of this.
The waves continued to pass over the walls of the conduit until they faded like ripples over the surface of a pond. But no more did the last one fade than the blast hit it again. But this time he didn't wait for it to dissipate before he hit the wall again. A total of six separate blasts hit the wall all within seconds of each other. Orion watched as each washed over the walls of the conduit, but appeared not to disrupt so much as a blade of grass within.
Outside Bale, looking as exhausted as though he'd just run a marathon, stood back to survey the damage his spell had caused, A deep frown running across his forehead was all Orion needed to see t know the answer.
"Nothing," He state quietly. "You didn't even dent it, Orin."
"Interesting though." Voldemort stated, stepping up next to him as he watched the head of the Unspeakables turn and walk off a few feet from the conduit.
"What? That he couldn't break through it?" Orion ask, watching as his superior turned one last time to them, then disapparated.
The dark wizard shook his head. "No, Mr. Black. That your leader is such a dark horse in the world of magic. I have seriously underestimated Orin Bale all these years." Voldemort turned to the man next to him. "I won't make that mistake in the future."
Orion watched the man walk off to where Lupin, Arabella and Harry now stood, having back up several feet when Bale had thrown his spell at the wall. He frowned deeply at the comment. Effectually, Orion knew Voldemort had just handed out his own death warrant on his superior. Voldemort now knew just how powerful Bale was, and had labeled him a threat because of it. And the dark lord's way of dealing with threats to his own power were all too well known.
Orion started over to join the group when a brief flash out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, Turning to it, he found he was now facing a small, petite young woman with soft, sleek dark hair that fell nearly to her waist. She was dress in what appeared to be little more than a long tunic of almond colored material with a small rope belt around her slim waist.
"Greetings to you from my lord." She announced. "He welcomes you."
The others had now joined Orion where he stood facing the woman, all of them giving her their own private assessment.
"Who are you?" Orion ask in a short, brisk tone that did not convey one ounce of warmth in it.
The woman's charming smile did not waver even in the smallest way under Orion's blunt question. "My name is Becca. I am the servant of the wizard you are seeking."
Orion was taken slightly aback by the introduction. He had expected the man to do everything he could to stay in the shadows and dissuade them in every way possible from finding him. This approach, to him, amounted to the man doing everything just short of popping out from behind a tree with his hand out.
"Where are we?" Orion ask with all the same warmth as his previous question.
The woman cocked her head slightly to the side as she studied the man before her. "You are at Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." She replied after a moment's consideration.
Orion gestured to the enormous corridor they stood within. "'What is this', is what I meant." He explained in a curt tone.
Becca looked around them as though she were seeing the corridor for the first time. "This is a corridor." She replied finally, turning back to them, the same quizzical look on her face from the first question Orion had put to her.
Orion was about to press the issue when Voldemort cut him off. "Why are you here?" He ask.
The woman seemed to appreciate the change in subject matter as she greeted his question with another warm smile. "I am here to greet you." She replied in the charming, welcoming tone she had used before.
She appeared about to go on with her speech when Voldemort cut her off just as effectively. "Greet us?" He stated sharply. "Your master doesn't even know us."
The woman appeared to frown at his tone. "My master knows you all too well, Lord Voldemort, Leader of the Deatheaters. But his interest in you in minimal."
Orion almost laughed at the expression the woman's words brought to the dark lord's face. But he quickly pressed on with his own questions. "What about the rest of us?"
The woman turned her attention smoothly over to him. "You are Orion Black, agent to Orin Bale, the leader of the Unspeakables, whose actions my master did not approve of."
"I'll be sure to let him know." Orion replied.
The woman dismissed his comment as she turned to the others. "And you are Arabella Figg, Auror, Remus Lupin, Professor at Hogwart's, and you,..." she added as she turned to Harry, her smile softening into one of apparent genuine affection. "...you are Harry Potter. My master welcomes you most of all, Harry. He is very pleased to have finally met you."
"Finally?" Voldemort stated under his breath, casting a quick glance at Orion, who picked up on the phrase as soon as the man next to him.
The woman turned to them, and Orion realized he had to distract her from her slip quickly.
"Aside from this lovely welcoming party," he stated, "what else does your illustrious master want?"
The trick seemed to have worked as he hoped as the woman's expression turned serious. "He has sent me to warn you off this journey. Great danger awaits you if you continue, and my master does not wish harm on any of you." Her warm smile returned as she faced the one person in the group again who seemed to have already won her favor. "Especially the young Mr. Potter." But the smile disappeared just as quickly as she cast her glance over the rest of the group. "Say so now, and he will return you to safety."
Voldemort quickly elected himself spokesman for the group. "Your illustrious master can..."
The woman cut him off with a finger pointed directly at him. "My master does not wish to hear from you." She stated in a tone that verged on anger. "In fact," she added with a smile, "he has heard quite enough from you, Lord Voldemort."
From out of the air a long piece of cloth materialized and immediately made a path for Voldemort, wrapping itself tightly about his mouth and neck.
"My master wishes only to hear Mr. Potter's response." She stated, ignoring the man in front of her who struggled to pull the cloth off of himself.
Harry stared up at the woman. "We're going on." He stated simply.
The woman didn't appear the least bit offended by his bluntness. Instead she walked over until she stood directly in front of him. Arabella quickly took up her own position behind her godson, her hands resting protectively over his shoulders.
"Be reasonable, Harry." the woman replied in a soft, pleading voice. "The pathway you are on is wrought with dangers you can not imagine. My master wishes you no ill. He realizes you have been led astray by others. And they will pay for misdirecting you for their own means. But he knows you are innocent of any real wrong doing and he wishes to show good faith by allowing you this opportunity to correct your judgment."
Harry stared up at the woman. She talked about him and her master as thought they knew each other. As if they had for years.
Or more accurately, as though the wizard had been watching him all these years. A feeling that didn't leave Harry any to happy. Just one more person watching from the outside while he lived a life few could have tolerated, and did nothing to intervene.
"We're going on." He state resolutely.
A look of pure disappointment etched itself across the woman's face. One that slowly faded into anger.
"You have made a very foolish choice." She stated firmly, all the softness and warmth gone now. "My master offered you a chance to correct this mistake, and you have thrown it back in his face with insult. Very well. The choice was yours and so have you made it, Mr. Potter." She straighten back up and looked over the rest of the group. "Continue as you may." She announced. "But be well advised that my master will not make this offer again."
The woman disappeared as quickly as she had appeared. But she didn't leave them alone when she departed. As soon as the woman vanished, several dark robed additions took her place before the group.
(PLEASE SEE CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX PART B)