A/N: I'm sorry to have missed last week, folks, but things simply caught up with me and I didn't have time to polish up this chapter in time to get it posted. I guess a truer testament to how busy I've been is to say I didn't have time to polish up the 'right' chapter. I worked on polishing up a chapter, only to discover just a few hours before I was going to post it that it was the wrong one.

Also, you'll note that this has a Part One and a Part Two to the chapters. This is different from A & B chapters. These are not a split chapter. They are individual chapters that deal with a central theme. In this case, as the title suggests, Point of View.

So what can I say? Except,

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 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 FORTY-THREE: POINT OF VIEW

(PART ONE)

Being led by Roland, the group made slow progress through the corridors. Leading the group now was Harry, who walked along slowly with the little snake held out on the palm of his hand in front of him.

For his part, Roland seemed to take in everything around him, his small tongue constantly flickering in and out of his mouth as they went.

After some time, Voldemort stepped up to where Roland was again looking about the area.

"I thought you were going to get us out of here." He stated irritably.

"It will take a certain amount of time to find the right path." Roland replied calmly. "In the meantime, why don't you do something useful. Like cultivate some patience."

"And I've been in the blasted castle as long as I care to.

"Three hours. Big deal." Roland replied in a bored manner. "I've been in this place for three years." The little snake turned to him. "Doesn't make your whining sound so important now, does it, Sunshine?"

Voldemort stiffened slightly at the insult, but then frowned deeply at the little snake. "And I'm beginning to doubt you know anything at all."

"Feel free to go off on your own." Roland offered. "We may actually get lucky and never see you again. Ahh!"

Roland quickly pulled up and turned about to face Harry, pointing with his tail behind him. "Here's what we've been looking for." He announced proudly. "The stairs to the upper levels."

Harry turned a perplexed stare to the little snake, having just surveyed the stone wall ahead of them.

"Ummm..., Roland, that's a wall." Harry felt the need to point out.

The little snake shook his head, then turned back to the teenager. "What part of my earlier explanation did you not understand?" He ask. "Wards, Harry. This place is littered with them. It's the way this wizard keeps you occupied while he figures out his next move. You could feel like you've wandered around this castle for days, when in fact, you never leave a single room."

"So how do you know this is a ward?" Harry ask.

"Three years." The little snake reminded him. "You learn a lot in that time. Trust me, I know where the stairs to the upper levels are. I used them often enough to escape capture."

"I thought you said you stayed out of the lower levels because you didn't like them?" Voldemort was quick to point out. "Too damp and cold for your liking, I believe you said."

"Look, Sunshine, I'd crawl into a freezer if it helped me escape a pact of rabid hunters bent on my capture. Sometimes, coming down here was the only safe place to go."

"Why down here?" Harry ask.

"For the very reason the unpleasant one pointed out. It's damp and cold. The wizard's servants know that no normal snake would seek out such conditions."

"Emphasis on the word 'normal'." Voldemort pointed out.

"Hey!" Roland snapped back. "It isn't like I took up residency down here. I just stayed until the heat wore off. Then I went back upstairs."

"All right then," a fourth voice added. "How do we get through the ward?"

Roland turned to Orion, who was studying the apparent stone wall before them.

"You're suppose to be a wizard." Roland replied. "Shouldn't be that hard for you to figure it out."

Orion walked up to the wall and ran his hand over it, covering a large area of it before stepping back. Almost at once the tower of black robes appeared next to him.

"Well?" He ask.

"Hey!" Roland called out. "No fair asking the boggart!"

Bo immediately turned back to Roland. Reaching out a robe covered hand, he gently patted the little snake on the head before turning his attention back to the task at hand.

"Condescension!" Roland declared with a great deal of indignation as he cringed under the boggart's touch. "That's all they're good for."

But by then Bo had already started into his usual flurry of gestures as he spoke to his Channeler, gesturing several times to the wall and finally coming to what appeared a rather abrupt halt.

"You're sure?" Orion ask.

The boggart nodded emphatically.

"If you're playing one of you're games here, I'm warning you now that payback will be immediately forthcoming." Orion told the boggart as he took several steps back from the wall. Pausing for a moment, he closed his eyes and started walking.

As the group watched, the Unspeakable approached the wall, but then disappeared into it as though it wasn't even there.

"Well, that was fairly easy." Orion stated as he reappeared from the still very solid looking wall a few moments later.

"Easy if you know the trick." Lupin commented. "Apparently this ward is set up only to stop those who can see it."

"It's a bit trickier than that." Orion stated. "The ward is set up to stop you if you in any way feel that it should. The only way through it is to remove all doubt from your mind that it's there. So, one by one, each person turn around, take several steps away from the wall, then close your eyes, step back towards it, and walk until you make contact with the stairs on the other side."

Under Orion's guidance, each member did as they were told, and soon the entire group was once again on the move, this time up a long, wide set of stairs.

After several minutes of climbing, Harry turned Roland back to him as the little snake again sat perched in his hand as they moved forward.

"Do these stairs ever end?" He ask. "Or is this just another ward, where we never stop climbing, but we're never really getting any higher?"

"There are no wards on the stairs that I'm aware of." Roland replied. "And if you think it's tough for you, try doing it on your belly. I had aches for days afterwards."

"How sad." Voldemort intoned without any real sympathy backing his comment.

"Sort of the same aches you'd have if you were to, say, accidentally slip and fall back down these same stairs." Roland replied.

"Could we keep the comments to a minimum?" Orion hissed back at them. "I'd rather not alert too many people to our whereabouts just right now."

Facing the dark lord still, Roland's tongue again slipped out, although this time Voldemort felt it stayed out a little longer than usual.

After what seemed like an endless climb up the stairs, Harry glanced up to note he could see a faint glimmer of light ahead of them.

"Finally." He breathed a sigh of relief.

Roland quickly poked his head out of the hood of Harry's sweater. "Keep your head down." He advised. "Looking up just makes it seem to take that much longer."

Harry took the little snake's advice and looked anywhere but at the dim portal of light ahead of them. Glancing back, as he had several times during the climb up the stairs, Harry checked to see how Voldemort was doing. Bringing up the rear of the group this time, he seemed to be struggling to make each step, as he had been since nearly the start. Harry had started to ask him several times if the leg was bothering him, but stopped as the older wizard seemed to sense his gaze and returned a deep frown as he met the teenager's stare.

Shrugging slightly, Harry returned his attention to the stairs ahead of him and continued to climb.

Finally, nearly hypnotized by the repeated appearance of one stair after another in his field of vision, Harry almost tripped over his own feet when he suddenly found himself on solid ground. With a sigh of relief, he turned quickly back to see Voldemort emerging through the same doorway he himself had just walked through.

"Well, it's about time." The older wizard snapped, stretching his back out as he pulled himself up to the body's full height again after what seemed like hours walking slightly bent over.

Harry quickly turned back around to ask his godmother how she felt, but stopped abruptly.

Expecting to be facing the Arabella, Orion, Lupin, and even the boggart, Harry instead found himself staring at an empty corridor. Turning back around quickly he saw Voldemort examining the hallway with a perplexed and unhappy stare.

"Well now," he stated in what sounded like a bored, drawn out tone, "isn't this interesting?"

Arabella was the first to notice that their number had depleted slightly when they stepped into the corridor, the first flat land they had had in some time.

"Harry!" She noted with alarm, looking about quickly, but not seeing her godson anywhere.

Orion quickly scanned the area, then ran back over to the doorway that led to the stairs Roland had brought them up. Leaning past the doorway, he surveyed the stairs as far down as he could see.

"Harry!?" He called loudly, not caring at that point who heard him. "Harry!?"

He listened to his voice echo down the stairwell. When no answer came he turned quickly to the tower of black robes at his elbow.

"Bo, search the doorway. Look for any trace of magic, particularly a ward."

The boggart's only answer was to trace a finger in the air in front of him.

Orion frowned deeply at the gesture. "What do you mean, 'again'?"

The boggart added several more gestures to the first.

Orion's frown became a scowl. "You mean we walked right through a ward and you didn't feel it necessary to bother telling anyone?"

The boggart crossed his arms over his chest and draw a figure in the air.

"For magic's sake, Bo!" Orion erupted, all but shouting at the boggart. "You've been alive for several hundred years, I would have expected that by now I didn't need to tell you everything! Like the fact I'd like to know when I'm about to walk through a ward!"

The boggart pulled back in a startled gesture, then abruptly vanished.

"Bo!" Orion demanded. "Bo! Get back here! Now!"

Nothing happened.

A small hand laid itself gently on his arm. Orion turned to meet the concerned stare of his wife.

"There was no need to yell at him." She said calmly.

"He's as much a part of this group as anyone else!" Orion stated, little of his anger diminished. "And he didn't do his part. I'm not going to praise him for that."

"Speaking of the group," Lupin spoke up, looking about the corridor, "has anyone noticed Harry isn't the only one missing?"

The rest of the group looked about suddenly.

"Voldemort." Arabella stated quickly.

"What's the purpose in this then?" Orion murmured as much to himself as to anyone else.

"Divide and conquer?" Lupin speculated.

Orion turned his stare to the man, then slowly shook his head. "Then why leave five of us together?" He ask. "Why not separate all of us. No. He was too selective for this to be a random act. Harry and Voldemort are the keys to the lock in all of this. He wanted them away from our group for a reason."

Lupin turned his eyes slightly back to the man from having been studying the floor. "The question," he stated quietly, "is why?"

Katlin stepped into the discussion. "You already said it." She replied to her husband. "Harry and Voldemort are the keys to finding this wizard. Perhaps he's hoping without them we'll agree to give up and go back."

Orion frowned at the suggestion. "Then he's going to be very, very disappointed."

Q&A

MasterLupin:

Well I liked the addition of the snake Ronald. He has quite the personality that the group needed to progress onward. I do look forward to reading the story more now (if that was possible) that I think that I have revised my theory properly, see if I'm right. Although I still think that Harry will fall into a situation of confrontation in this story without backup except for Ronald the snake.

Roland is without a doubt too cute for words.

Have you been reading my notes again? Ok, that's all I'm saying here. But I look forward to your theory after the next chapter as to what is going on.

Silverfox:

Ah, so that's why Remus seems to not quite be there in so many scenes. I'm still eagerly waiting to see what he's good for other than covering Harry's eyes when his godparents kiss.
Did Bo actually give Orion the ability to understand parseltongue, or it he somehow translating? And Roland's afraid of bogarts? Interesting, very interesting. muses about relationship between bogarts and animals

Yes, and sometimes it's more blatant than others. But originally he wasn't included in the group so I have to be very careful while editing these chapters before posting to make sure he's in there.

Oh, Lupin has several very useful talents to lend to the group. Trust me. Just give it time. If nothing else, he is the unwavering voice of reason. While Harry tried to figure things out, he is still just a teenager. Arabella, while a very good Auror, is still prone to the occasional show of (dare I say) hysterics when her godson is involved. Orion, again, not the fastest horse on the track, but definitely the most methodical. Voldemort has his own agenda. And Katlin is just too prone to see killing something as a solution to the problem. But Lupin is the one who will usually step in and try and make everyone else see reason.

He actually gave him the ability, Dear. Not acting as a translator here. Remember, Bo is a purely magical force. There is very little beyond his abilities. The most advanced magic others are doing he would see as mere child's play. The problem is (or the solution, depending on how you look at it), is that while Bo can do just about anything with magic, he's pretty much happy with things the way they are and sees little need to change them. He's got his host, his Channeler, his family, and a home. Yup. Life is good from the boggart's point of view.

Actually, don't put too much time into it, Dear. Roland's reaction was pretty much standard. Nothing underlying there...or was it? So here's a question for you. Which was Roland reacting to? The boggart or the 'Power'?

Skahducky:

Roland seems to be quite a character. I only hope he can get them out of the lair quickly. Anyway, this is a great chapter. Please update soon!

Roland is indeed a character with lots of it to go around. Whether or not he is any help to getting them out of the castle any quicker remains to be seen.

All reviews are as of 03/11/2007.

And remember:

Adjusting daylight savings time will save our country 1 in over all energy consumption. This, however, has nothing whatsoever to do with the thousands of hours necessary to make the adjustment for the earlier change to computers, automated systems, timers, and the fact that kids now get to wait at their bus stops in the dark three weeks earlier.