Thanks for reviewing, everyone! Like I said, I make some mistakes with the characters- I didn't read the book so carefully. I also have no idea what Dean really looks like, so I made something up as well. Oh, and, by the way, the twin are strong because they work out-it's their magical abilities which are supposed to be a mystery.
Chapter 7:
Dumbledore seemed genuinely surprised at Terry's request to leave Hogwarts, because all that came out of his mouth was, 'what??'
Terry was probably the first person in history to have willingly requested to quit.
It was Josh, however, who replied, spotting, as usual, a golden opportunity to annoy someone, 'you heard him, we are ready to leave your stinking school,' he said, obviously not caring about anything now that he knew he could not receive any punishments once he was out of there.
Dumbledore looked as if he thought they have both lost their minds, a thought which was, apparently, shared with Snape, who looked surprisingly happy at what was going on. As Terry studied Snape's face, he thought that, far from being great friends, his father and Snape must have hated each other, judging by Snape's attitude towards them and by Terry's excellent instinct to spot those kinds of things. 'I didn't mean what I said,' Dumbledore said quickly. Too quickly. Terry was starting to get suspicious. He was also starting to feel a bit like Sherlock Holmes, from the negative point of view of it, and it was starting to give him a headache, 'of course you can stay here. This is your place, this is where you belong,' Dumbledore said.
Terry, however, did not fall for it. He knew that, usually, he would have believed every word Dumbledore said, but upon looking at him closely due to everything he has heard so far, a hint of falseness could be detected in his tone and in his expressions. It looked as if everything Dumbledore did was fake, just like Hermione's permanent act of a new personality which, now that he thought about it, he still did not know the reason for.
'I'm really sorry, old man,' Josh said, 'but you've missed your train - we're outta here.'
'But,' Dumbledore was clearly trying to hide his desperateness, 'what about your carers? They should be informed.'
'Oh, don't worry about Mrs. Cole,' Terry objected, 'she cares about us just as little as you care about your other students.'
Terry and Josh both walked towards the door. As Josh opened the door, Terry stopped at the doorway, turning towards Dumbledore, 'oh, and say bye to Dean from me. We weren't exactly great friends, but he was the sanest.'
'You can try going out of the castle, but I don't think you can succeed,' Terry stopped in his trucks and turned around, eyebrows raised, as Dumbledore said this, 'you see, I've placed shields all around the castle,' he added calmly, and Terry was starting to get impressed at his ability to get control himself so quickly.
Smiling bemusedly, Terry waved his hand dismissively, 'nah, we're going through the forbidden forest.'
- 'You can't'
- 'Why not? We've got our brooms.'
- 'You don't know how to fly.'
- 'Whatever.'
This statement came from Josh, who was starting to look increasingly impatient, 'we don't owe him a detailed plan of how we're getting out of this damned place, come on,' he urged Terry.
'First of all,' Dumbledore said calmly, 'swearing in this school is strictly forbidden. Five points from Gryffindor. Secondly, I am in charge of you now that you are in this school, which means that I decide if you can leave or not and, for your own safety, you cannot leave.'
Well, that complicated matters a bit. Terry and Josh looked at each other, probably thinking along the same lines; they could just leave and, just in case Charlie decided to tell Dumbledore about them, take on new identities and stay somewhere else. They now had enough money to rent a flat. Shrugging, Terry and Josh both ignored Dumbledore and started walking towards the door. They suddenly stopped as a shield was produced in front of them.
Josh raised his eyebrows, 'are you trying to keep us here against our will?' he asked, 'I think I'm starting to believe what Hermione told me about you - you are a total freak!'
'What Hermione told you?' Dumbledore looked at Hermione, who was standing quietly near the fireplace; she looked just her usual self, but now that Terry learned how to read her, he thought that she looked like she was fighting very hard not to strangle Josh.
Josh ignored Dumbledore and turned to look at the shield in front of him with interest. He reached out a hand to touch it casually, to test its strength. Immediately, he was flung backwards into the office, only stopping when he collided with the wall painfully, 'hey, what the…' he gasped.
Terry's temper now started to rise even higher than it did when Dumbledore told Snape about them. He stormed back into the office, barely noticing that the door shut behind him on its own accord, and stomped his way up till he was level with Dumbledore. Well, not exactly level… he only arrived up to Dumbledore's shoulders, 'what the hell did you do that for?' he yelled at him heatedly.
Dumbledore still looked as calm as ever, 'I did not do anything to him. He should have known not to touch the shield. Shields tend to do those things.'
'Not all of them,' Terry objected, 'in fact, most of them don't; why did you have to use that one?'
Dumbledore looked surprised at Terry's knowledge about shields, but Terry did not give him a chance to answer; he walked towards Josh, helping him to his feet, 'come on, we are getting out of here.' He suddenly noticed that Josh's leg was held in an awkward angle and realized what happened as he turned to Dumbledore, 'you broke his leg,' he informed him.
'I am truly sorry,' Dumbledore said in his calm tone, which Terry now knew was fake, 'I can heal it if you…'
'No, thanks, I don't want you touching me,' Josh interrupted before Dumbledore had a chance to finish his sentence. Terry got his own wand out and pulled the leg of Josh's pants up. He pointed his wand at the purple area, and the unnatural color disappeared immediately, while the leg returned to its normal angle.
'Thanks, bro,' Josh muttered.
'Where did you learn doing that?' Dumbledore asked, 'that was very complicated magic.'
'None of your business,' Terry snapped. His anger had reached some really dangerous levels and he was hardly able to keep himself from lunging towards Dumbledore and rearranging his face with some well aimed punches, 'now, I would appreciate it very much if you would remove the shield. I don't feel like spending the night in this fucking office of yours.'
Knowing that it was the wrong thing to say did not make any difference for Terry, but Snape seemed to have other thoughts going through his head, 'watch what you are saying Potter. Now I understand what happened in my last lesson. The memory charm Dumbledore did on you was very unnecessary; only James' son could have such words coming out of his mouth. Two Potters in my class…this is going to be a very difficult year,' he sneered.
Terry did not even blink once. 'Piss off.'
'Mr. Potter!' Dumbledore sounded shocked, 'I expect you to have some more respect towards your teachers.'
- 'And I expect you to remove the shield.'
- 'Not until we sort things out and you give me your word that you are not leaving Hogwarts' gates without permission.'
Terry opened his mouth to argue back, but Josh seemed to have better plans as he took his wand out and pointed it at Dumbledore, 'you heard him. Do as he says!'
Everyone in the room, including Terry, which did mean something as he knew Josh best, was surprised at Josh's reaction. Snape looked outraged, 'how dare you threaten the headmaster!'
Dumbledore, on the other hand, did not look as mad as Snape did, at least, not on the outside, 'put the wand down, Joshua, you don't want anybody to get hurt,' he said calmly.
'Oh, yeah? And who said that?' Josh replied.
For an old man, Dumbledore moved very fast; his wand was out in less than a second, and Josh's wand was out of his hand less a millisecond after Dumbledore's wand was out. Catching Josh's wand in one hand, Dumbledore put both his and Josh's wand into his robes, then said as if he was continuing a normal conversation, 'so…where were we? Oh, yes, I want your word that you will not leave Hogwarts without my permission.'
Terry was hardly able to control his anger anymore and he felt like it would be really easy for him to tear Dumbledore apart right at that moment. Josh, however, had a much lower fuse than Terry did, which meant that he did not have any trouble at all in keeping his anger. That is, because he was not keeping it. The next thing Terry knew, there was a black blur flying past him as Josh hurled himself at Dumbledore, who fell down on the floor, surprised, but quickly got to his feet and pulled his wand out again, pointing it at Josh's chest.
'I'm really sorry,' he said apologetically, 'I know that I should not be threatening students, but don't make me do this.'
Josh sneered, 'do what? You ain't got no wand.'
Dumbledore looked at his wand for a second in confusion until it flew out of his hand and landed on the floor. Snape made a surprised noise as his wand also flew out of his robes. Both Dumbledore and Snape looked at Josh with bewildered expressions, unable to guess how he did that.
Josh took Dumbledore's wand in his hand and pointed it directly at Dumbledore, 'remove the shield,' he said dangerously, 'now! You can't force anyone to stay here in your…less than pleasant company.'
Snape sneered at him, 'I have no idea how you managed to do that, boy,' he said. Josh smirked. 'but you are going to learn to respect your teachers.' He slapped Josh hard across the face. Josh was too stunned to do anything as Snape rolled smoothly across the floor and grabbed his wand, pointing it at Josh, whose wand suddenly flew out of his hand. He then flicked his wand once and thick ropes flew out of the wand, wrapping themselves tightly around Josh.
Before he knew it, Terry gave out an angry cry and lunged himself towards Snape in frustration, 'you son of a bitch,' he screamed, 'how dare you do that to me brother?'
Before he reached Snape, however, he collided with something and was flung backwards the same way Josh did when he touched Dumbledore's shield. A second later he realized that what he had collided with was another shield Dumbledore produced. He was flung back hard, colliding with the wall and landing on the floor in a heap, his whole body aching. He then felt strong ropes snaking around his body, binding him tightly. Both of his hands were pulled back and pinned together so tightly that he was sure that the ropes were cutting his flesh. He looked up to see Snape hovering above him with his wand held out in front of him.
Terry glared at him, struggling against the ropes. Snape's lip curled, 'your brother attacked me,' he said, answering Terry's question and leaning down to take his wand from his robes.
If he could, Terry would have argued that he did not attack anyone, but his mouth was gagged and he could not make any sound.
Dumbledore, however, looked apologetic, 'I'm really sorry we had to come to this,' he started. Terry vaguely wondered how many times Dumbledore had to apologize in one day, but stopped quickly because just thinking about it was giving him a headache.
Dumbledore walked towards Josh and flicked his wand once, removing his gag. Josh immediately let out a stream of some very colorful curses.
Looking up at the ceiling Dumbledore said, 'I have gone temporarily deaf and have not heard what you just said.'
Josh repeated the same curses again and smiled innocently at Dumbledore, 'did you hear it now?' he asked. For the second time ever, Josh managed to remove Dumbledore's calm mask as his eyes flashed angrily, but, as before, it was only temporary.
Dumbledore was going to say something, when Terry made some angry noises through his gag. 'I'm really sorry, Harry,' Dumbledore said. Terry's blood boiled as Dumbledore mentioned that name. Terry has already asked Dumbledore not to call him that. '…but we only need one of you to answer the questions I have for you,' Dumbledore continued.
'I'm really sorry too, Dumby,' Josh said, mimicking the way Dumbledore was always apologizing, 'but if you want me to tell you anything then it's gonna be a reeaally long night. What are you gonna do? Torture me?'
'Oh, no, definitely not,' Dumbledore feinted shock, 'what made you think I am so barbaric? I'm only going to give you a truth potion, it's as simple and effective as that.'
Josh's confident look seemed to waver a bit, but he somehow kept his cool, 'pah! Truth potions don't work on me!' he informed Dumbledore confidently. Terry was not as sure as Josh, but his opinion was not asked for at that particular moment.
Ignoring Josh, Dumbledore turned to Snape, 'could you please give me one of the strongest truth potions you have?'
Snape smirked as he reached his hand inside his robes, producing a tiny bottle of a fine, clear liquid. 'I keep it with me wherever I go,' he explained, 'just in case it is needed.'
Terry felt an ice hand gripping his heart as he saw the bottle. It was verituserum, and it was not one of the strongest truth potions in the world; it was the strongest truth potion in the world. He could not let it happen. If Josh told Dumbledore everything, then Terry was going to get stuck in Hogwarts for the rest of his life. That is, during the year, but at the holidays he was going to return to the orphanage. Terry shuddered, unable to decide which one of these was worse. He struggled hard against the ropes, but already knew that it was hopeless.
Josh was still trying to keep cool, 'verituserum,' he said, 'strongest truth potion in the world, made from finely chopped Girm leaves, powdered toad's legs…' he continued reciting the ingredients, '…and not in the least effective on someone like me.' he finished.
Snape smirked, 'we'll see… what makes you think so?'
'What kinda question's that?' Josh asked in return, 'I'm one of a kind!'
Dumbledore swished his wand once, and Josh was stunned, unable to move as if he was a stone statue. Dumbledore gripped his jaw and poured a few drops of the potion into his open mouth. He then un-froze him and looked into his eyes, which were now staring at Dumbledore blankly.
Terry could not watch. Josh was now going to tell them everything, and there was nothing to stop it from happening. He struggled a little more against the ropes, helplessly.
Dumbledore ignored Terry and turned to look at Josh, 'OK, Josh,' Dumbledore said, 'I'm going to ask you questions, and you are going to answer very truthfully. Is that fine with you?'
'No,' Josh answered, face blank.
Dumbledore smiled, 'I thought so.' he said, 'how did you learn to do wandless magic?'
'Practiced,' Josh answered shortly.
'Where?' Dumbledore asked.
No! Terry knew that Dumbledore did not mean to ask for the location; he meant to ask how he learned that, but the potion worked differently. Josh was very likely to tell Dumbledore the exact location of where they have stayed for the past three years.
Josh opened his mouth to answer. Terry was so desperate, that he found himself thinking desperately, no, Josh, don't answer that question!
- 'What?'
- 'What?'
- 'Hey, what's going on? Terry, I can hear your voice in my head. How are you doing that?'
- 'I…I don't know, I mean, what? How the hell am I supposed to know what's going on? I mean, can you hear me? I mean, you can read my thoughts! No, wait, that's not important right now. What's important is that you don't answer Dumbledore's question. Do you hear me, Josh? don't answer his question!'
- 'Come on, Renaldo, do you think I'm that stupid? Why the hell would I answer it?'
-'I don't know,' Terry answered dryly, 'maybe because you have just drunk the world's strongest truth potion and have already answered two of Dumbledore's questions truthfully?'
- 'Gee, you are right. I can't believe I only noticed it now,' Josh sounded puzzled, but he suddenly smiled and looked at Dumbledore, 'could you please repeat the question?' he asked.
Dumbledore looked puzzled, but repeated the question nonetheless. Josh looked as if he was thinking for a moment, 'well,' he said, 'where I learned to do wandless magic…' he pretended to think about it, then, 'you're so dumb, I told you already - I practiced it.'
Dumbledore looked surprised at this reaction. Apparently, he has never seen anyone behave like that under the effects of the potion, so he decided to change the question, 'who taught you?'
'In case you haven't noticed yet, Dumby, the person sitting here in front of you is a genius. I don't need anyone to teach me, I learn alone.'
Dumbledore was so surprised that his mouth practically dropped open, 'what?'
'You heard me, Dumby,' Josh answered, then burst out laughing, 'I told you already - that potion doesn't work on me!'
Snape looked ready to snap Josh's neck, 'how the hell did he do that?' he asked, looking at Dumbledore and forgetting that he himself was not allowed to swear.
Dumbledore looked puzzled, 'for the first time, Severus, I am just as clueless as you. I suggest we try the other one.'
Snape still looked mad, but he nodded and turned towards Terry, swishing his wand once so that Terry's gag disappeared. Terry spat at him and felt a surge of victory as, yet again, Dumbledore looked annoyed. He cheered at himself quietly for managing it.
If Dumbledore looked annoyed, there were no words to describe Snape. He looked madder than ever; he wiped the spit from his face with his robes in disgust and pointed his wand at Terry. For a split second, Terry thought that Snape was going to kill him. Then he realized that he was going to stun him, like Dumbledore did to Josh.
Terry suddenly realized something else, which was so obvious that he had no idea why he hadn't thought about it before; he was able to do wandless magic, for god's sake!! Why the hell didn't he use it??! He quickly produced a shield to block Snape's spell. He could do two types of shields; one that absorbed the spell and one that rebounded it. Just for the fun of it, Terry decided to use the rebounding shield. It was very surprising to see Snape move so fast. He had excellent reflexes and he dodged the rebounded spell easily, although he did look surprised at Terry's ability to produce shields wandlessly and, if possible, he was even madder than before. He was so mad, in fact, that his face was starting to reach a very interesting shade of purple.
Just to finish the picture, Terry concentrated on the small bottle in Snape's hand. It suddenly exploded, sending bits of the liquid flying everywhere. Terry smiled proudly, but his smile was quickly wiped off as Snape slapped him, hard, across the face. He suddenly realized that there was a limit as to how mad a person could get. 'HAVE YOU GOT ANY IDEA HOW LONG IT TAKES TO MAKE THIS POTION?' Snape looked more than ready to snap Terry's bones and powder them to make his new potion.
Terry felt his cheek burn where he was hit by Snape, but he tried not to show it, even though the place was probably hot red, 'two years,' he answered automatically.
It was, apparently, the right answer, which did not make Terry's situation any better. Snape pulled his face as close to Terry's as possible without actually touching it, 'that's right,' he said in a dangerously soft voice, 'and have you got any idea how much each one of these cost?'
This time, Terry really did not know the answer, 'no,' he answered.
'That's good,' Snape hissed, 'because you would have had to pay for that if you did not live in an orphanage.'
Terry could not care less, 'oh,' he said blankly.
Snape looked ready to snap again, when Josh spoke, 'OK, folks, I got your point, you kidnapped us, tied us up, blah, blah, blah… what are you gonna do now?'
Terry looked at Josh questioningly. He knew that Josh was trying to say something- he never said any sentence which ended in a question mark without a reason, but he was not exactly sure what Josh was trying to achieve. He suddenly remembered that he could talk to Josh in his head and decided to use it.
'One more of your little tricks, brother?' he asked.
'Tricks?' Josh answered, 'oh, no, this is not a trick, I prefer to call it blackmailing. You see, they tell us what that dog was guarding, let us go without telling anyone what happened and without telling anyone about our identities, and we don't tell on them, the way they kidnapped two boys, and we also stay here. You see, staying here might not be too bad, just think about all those delightful potions lessons.'
Terry thought about what Josh had just said, and realized that it sounded logical, except for one small bit, 'how do you know that dog was guarding something?'
- 'It was standing on a trap door.'
- 'Oh. OK, let me do the talking.'
- 'Sure, you know I'm no good at it.' This statement was said ironically.
Terry looked up at Dumbledore, ignoring Josh's last statement, 'OK, we can make a deal,' he told him.
Dumbledore and Snape both reacted suspiciously, 'what kind of a deal?' Dumbledore asked, at the same time as Snape said, 'we do not make deals with students!'
'Well,' Terry started, answering Dumbledore's question and ignoring Snape's statement, 'you tell us what that dog's guarding and stay quite, and we'll keep quite about you as well and stay at Hogwarts, like you want us to, for whatever reason.'
'And what, may I ask, makes you think that Floppy was guarding something?' Dumbledore was looking at him suspiciously.
'Unless what you might think,' Terry said, 'I'm not blind, in case you haven't noticed. That dog was standing on a trap door.'
Dumbledore looked impressed. 'hey, you are talking as if the credit is all yours! I was the one to notice it,' Josh moaned in Terry's head. Terry ignored him.
'Yes, that dog was, in fact, guarding something,' Dumbledore confirmed, 'as it is, it is not very…traditional to make deals with students, but I'm willing to make an exception with the two of you,' before Terry could celebrate his success, however, Dumbledore continued, 'but you have to give me your word that you are not going to tell anyone within, or out of, Hogwarts.'
'Fine,' Terry snapped, 'what is it?'
- 'How do I know that you are going to keep your word?'
Terry sighed, twisting his arms unconsciously behind his back and wondering if he was ever going to get out of that place, 'you don't have to believe us,' he told Dumbledore with a tensed calm, 'I'm sure you must really like our company. Maybe you would even be kind enough as to summon a few cups of tea?'
Dumbledore's jaw clenched, and Terry celebrated the second time he managed to get Dumbledore to change his expression, 'fine,' Dumbledore said, 'it's guarding the philosopher's stone. Happy now?'
'No,' Josh answered instead of Terry, 'we don't know what it is.'
'Hermione seems to know,' Dumbledore said, turning towards Hermione, who had a very surprised look on her face, 'she will tell you what it is, won't you, Mrs. Granger?' Dumbledore said, directing the last question at Hermione. Hermione nodded her head, lowering it in the process so that she did not have to look at Dumbledore's eyes. 'Good,' Dumbledore said, turning back towards the two boys, 'now, I'm going to untie you and I do not want you to try anything foolish.'
'Are you kidding me??!' Josh said as soon as the words left Dumbledore's mouth, 'I'm gonna attack you as soon as I'm free.'
Dumbledore looked bewildered, 'what…?'
'I swear, Josh, I'm gonna kill you when we get outta here! Quit that shit!' Terry said furiously in Josh's head.
'OK, relax, brother, I was only kidding,' Josh answered, sounding defensive. 'Only kidding,' he repeated, saying that sentence out loud so that Dumbledore could hear it.
Dumbledore shook his head and waved his wand once.
As soon as the ropes disappeared, Josh jumped to his feet, 'boo,' he said.
Dumbledore was unimpressed; Snape shook his head sadly.
Terry was also shaking his head unconsciously as he slowly got to his feet, rubbing his hands where the ropes have cut into them, when he suddenly spotted a huge cut along Josh's back. He looked at Dumbledore accusingly 'we need our wands back.'
Shaking his head, Dumbledore put both of his hands on his desk, 'as a punishment, you will not get your wands back except for lessons, till I decide that you can get it back,' he said.
'I need to heal Josh, he's hurt,' Terry said heatedly, wondering if Dumbledore was only pretending not to know why he wanted his wand back.
'Really?' Josh asked, 'where?'
'Oh, just shut up,' Terry answered, looking at Dumbledore expectantly.
'No, I can heal him if you want to, but you are not getting your wands back,' he said.
'No way,' Josh said as soon as the words left Dumbledore's mouth, 'I prefer to stay this way.'
Terry looked at Josh, then sighed as he pulled his shirt up, 'let me see what I can do.' He concentrated hard on the cut, willing it to seal. To his surprise, he managed to do it quite easily. He then also managed to make the dried blood disappear. He realized that the more he used his powers, the easier it became for him to do new things.
'Thanks. Hey, this is so cool, I should try it next time. I could never have asked for a better brother,' Josh told him. Terry rolled his eyes.
'You can go now,' Dumbledore, who was watching everything quietly, said.
'Not that we needed an invitation to,' Josh muttered, walking towards the door. Terry followed, and was almost surprised as Hermione followed behind him; he completely forgot that she was there.
'And don't forget that you still have an appointment with me on Monday, 9:00 p.m.' Dumbledore called after them. Terry and Josh ignored him.
'Wait,' they all turned in surprise, but this time it was Snape, and not Dumbledore, who stopped them, 'I think I should take them to their dormitories, in case they lose their way again,' Snape explained, 'after all, it would be most unpleasant if they were back here after only a few minutes with Filch saying that he found them… only god knows where.'
Dumbledore looked surprised, 'OK, you can do that,' he agreed, although he looked a bit puzzled.
Terry was not exactly happy about this idea, but did not feel like arguing again, so he said nothing. He vaguely wondered if Snape was planning to murder them as soon as they were out of Dumbledore's eyesight. They all started down the spiraling staircase and out of the main door, which was covered by the leaping gargoyle.
As soon as they were out, Snape turned towards Hermione, to Terry's surprise, 'I know about you,' he told her, 'what did he say?'
Hermione looked as puzzled as Terry felt. She looked up at Snape with a surprised expression, 'what?'
Snape laughed, 'Shigamo always told me you were a good actress. Now I can see it with my own eyes.'
Hermione still looked surprised, but realization suddenly dawned on her features, 'you are working for him?' she asked in disbelief. Snape nodded.
'Hey, what's going on?' Terry asked, 'who the hell is he?'
For some reason, Hermione's face suddenly contorted in anger, but she ignored Terry's statement as she looked at Snape, 'if that's so, why did you help Dumbledore?'
'I had to,' Snape replied, 'my job includes gaining his trust. Why didn't you tell them yet?' It was obvious that Snape was trying to change the subject, whatever it was.
Hermione pursed her lips, 'I only found out about them a few hours ago. Didn't get a chance to tell them since then. I talked to Shigamo, though, and he said it's necessary to tell them. I can't believe he didn't tell me he had one of his agents here at Hogwarts; is there anybody else?'
Snape shook his head, 'no, only me, as far as I know. Listen, have you got the mirror with you?' Hermione nodded, 'good, you can contact him, tell him everything that's happened as soon as you get to your common room.'
'Hey, hey, slow down,' Josh said, putting his hands up, 'you two are talking like two old pals, what's happened? Hermione, I was only starting to trust you. If Snape is on your side than I definitely am not.'
Snape smiled coldly, 'you have no choice. There are only three sides; one of Dumbledore and the dark lord, one of the people opposing Dumbledore and the dark lord, our side, and one of the people who think they know everything but know nothing, which is actually most of the people in the wizarding world, including you. This side thinks that Dumbledore is the goody-goody who helps them fight against the dark lord.'
Terry had no idea what Snape was on about, 'what?' he asked.
'Don't listen to him,' Hermione interrupted, 'he's just trying to confuse you by plunging you straight into the middle; I'll explain everything myself once we get to the common room. I don't think anyone's gonna be there at two o'clock in the morning, so we're gonna have it all to ourselves.'
'Hey, you are with the evil potions master, what makes you think I can trust you?' Terry asked, totally meaning it.
'The evil potions master?' Snape asked dangerously.
- 'That's what everyone calls you behind your back.'
Snape gritted his teeth, 'don't think that I'm going to go easy on you just because we're on the same side,' he warned Terry, but Terry knew that the statement was also directed at Josh since they shared the same father.
'Like my brother said earlier, we still don't know if we're on your side, nothing has been explained to us. Anyway, it's gonna take lots of work to convince me that you're the good guy.' Terry replied dryly.
Snape smirked, 'the good guy, huh? Forget about it! for you, I'm always the bad guy. Anyway, can you tell me how you really learned to do wandless magic?'
'Believe me,' Terry said, 'being your favorite student is not exactly on the top of my priority list. As for your question, I'm gonna pretend you didn't ask anything.'
Snape sneered at him, 'I…'
- 'Thank you very much, professor, but I think we'll be fine from here. We can find the rest of the way by ourselves,' Hermione interrupted.
Snape looked annoyed, but nodded and walked off in a different direction.
Josh rubbed his eyes in disbelief, 'did I just hallucinate, or did Snape just listen to Hermione?'
Hermione smirked proudly, 'oh, you have no idea what's gonna happen to him if he doesn't listen to me. Let's just say that someone's gonna be really angry.'
Terry and Josh exchanged confused looks, but said nothing. They finally arrived at the portrait of the fat lady, who was deep asleep. It took them about five minutes to wake her up and say the password, then, they all climbed inside the common room and took the seats near the fire. Like Hermione has predicted, the common room was completely deserted.
'So - care to tell us what this was all about?' Josh asked.
'Mmm…I don't really know where to begin,' Hermione answered.
'The best place to start is at the beginning,' Terry advised.
'I know,' Hermione answered, 'the only problem is that there are two beginnings. One is mine, and one is of a Japanese man in the name of Shigamo. I guess I'll start with my story first.' She said, 'actually, there isn't much to tell about my life before I reached the age of five; I come from a muggle family. My mum is a full muggle and my dad is a squib, a muggle born to a pure wizarding family. My dad hates the wizarding world because of the cruel way his family treated him only because he was different, and he passed this hate on to my mother.'
Terry nodded, listening intently, but unable to understand what this had to do with anything.
'So, you'll probably understand that as soon as I was born, and my parents realized that I was a witch, they hated me for it. They never gave me enough food, closed me in a cupboard for days at a time, and made me work for them like a slave.' (A/N: yes, I know, that's Harry's story in the original book, but I had to make it this way. You'll find out why in a few paragraphs).
'When I was about five years old, a Japanese man called Shigamo came to our house and said that he was from the ministry of magic and that I was supposed to start primary school at a wizarding school. He told them that I would be gone till I reached the age of seventeen. My parents didn't care in the least and signed the papers he gave them immediately.
'I guess I can start with the other part now, which will later join with my story: Dumbledore has been working alongside Voldemort right from the beginning, targeting muggles and killing them, only the killings were done quietly and disguised as accidents, without attracting too much attention. Voldemort was caught killing a muggle red-handed one day and, from then on, he did not bother to hide his actions; he gathered followers and they all attacked in broad daylight. Dumbledore, however, was more precautious. He pretended to help look for Voldemort, while secretly helping him all this time. No one ever suspected Dumbledore and everyone spoke of him as a great man.
'Dumbledore hardly ever made the attacks himself, because getting himself captured would mean both his and Voldemort's downfall, as Voldemort was very dependent on him, but he did kill some people now and then. His biggest shot was at a family reunion of a very wealthy muggle family in Japan. He killed everyone, but one man, Shigamo, managed to escape. He was only lucky because Dumbledore didn't notice him, because, otherwise, he would have been hunted down and killed as well by either Dumbledore or Voldemort's followers, so that he could not tell anyone what he saw.
'Shigamo was the first and last person to see Dumbledore killing muggles with his own eyes. At the time, he knew nothing about the wizarding world, but he did some research; he realized that Dumbledore must have been a wizard, because of the things he did with his wand. He hunted down some wizards, pretending to be one himself, and got as much information as he could about Dumbledore-'
Terry interrupted her suddenly, 'how could he tell that the wizard was Dumbledore?'
Hermione looked at him with a look that suggested that the answer should have been obvious to anyone, 'Dumbledore is famous, Terry, there are hundreds of pictures of him in books and newspapers. He could easily tell that it was the same wizard who killed his family. The first thing that there is to know about Shigamo is that he is not stupid,' Hermione said, 'he managed to put two and two together, especially after finding out as much as he could about the wizarding world from witches and wizards, and set up his own secret organization with the money he inherited from his family. The organization consists mainly of witches and wizards, but there are also some muggles.
'OK, this is the part of the story where I come in; He knew that Dumbledore was a headmaster in this school and decided to find someone who could attend this school so that they could spy on Dumbledore from the inside. He asked some of his agents to do a spell to find out who could be most suitable for it-'
'What??' Josh suddenly interrupted, 'he just wanted to take any kid from their home only so that they could spy on Dumbledore for him?! You can't tell me that he is less evil than Voldemort.'
'Let me finish the sentence,' Hermione said, annoyed, 'he wanted to find the most suitable person in terms of the person who would benefit from this arrangement most, for example, if the kid was an orphan and had to go to foster families all the time. Apparently, my situation was worse than an orphan, as the spell picked me. My parents must have hated me that much! They didn't even think twice before signing the contract. Never mind that it was fake…'
'Wow, it sounds way worse than the orphanage we used to attend,' Terry commented, running a hand through his straight, black hair unconsciously.
Hermione nodded, 'I think it was. Anyway, as I said, the papers he gave my parents were fake, so that no one from the wizarding world had any idea that I stopped living with my parents, including Dumbledore. I went to live with Shigamo, and I am now like his daughter, no, I think I am his daughter, in a way, because he kinda adopted me. He definitely did care about me a lot. I guess I'm the only person he has, after his family has been killed, and he's kinda protective of me. He also taught me how to fight lots of different kinds of martial arts. Anyway, Shigamo's agents enchanted my parents house so that any letters arriving there concerning me will arrive at his house, which is how I got my invitation letter to Hogwarts, and that's about it.'
Josh let out a low whistle, 'that's some life story you have, but what does this have to do with us? Why did you have to tell us about it?'
'Well, Shigamo has been investigating the cause of Voldemort's downfall ever since it happened. Your parents' deaths were partly Dumbledore's fault, because he probably helped Voldemort truck them down. When I found out who you two were I contacted Shigamo immediately, and he told me that I can tell you everything so that he will gain your trust.' Hermione explained, 'I have a way of contacting him from Hogwarts through a two way mirror.'
'Two way mirror?' Terry echoed her questioningly.
Hermione nodded, reaching her hand inside her robes and producing a normal looking mirror with an elegant handle, 'this mirror has a twin,' she explained, 'Shigamo has the other one. If you say the name of the person who has the other mirror and concentrate on their face, it makes the other mirror burn. Then you can talk to the other person through the mirror. I put an anti-breaking charm on mine.'
'But, Hermione, look, I'm not trying to say anything, or whatever, but how can you trust what Shigamo told you?' Terry asked, 'how do you know it's true and he's not trying to use you for some personal grudge he has against Dumbledore?'
This time, the tears which filled Hermione's eyes were real, 'he loves me as if I'm his own daughter,' she sobbed, 'I know… I… I was in his mind - I didn't believe him at first, either, so he let me inside. I saw everything and… oh, it was so horrible… I saw Dumbledore kill his family, it was Dumbledore, and he had that evil look in his eyes…he was enjoying himself.'
Terry and Josh looked at each other awkwardly; neither of them has ever been in a situation with a crying girl before and they had no idea what they were supposed to do.
Suddenly, all of the three kids looked up sharply as the portrait hall swung open and Dean came storming inside. Hermione quickly dried her tears with the sleeve of her shirt and looked at Dean with narrowed eyes.
Dean did not notice them yet and was storming inside, kicking chairs and other things which came in his way angrily. He suddenly froze as he spotted the three other kids sitting near the fireplace, 'Oh,' his angry look disappeared and he was looking at them with a weird expression which Terry could not quite place, 'what are you doing up at this hour of the night?'
An few hours earlier, Dumbledore's office, just after the three kids and Snape left:
Dean was feeling very hot under the watery cloak he was under, which he borrowed from his father, and he was sweating furiously, although he was not sure whether it was because of the heat or because of what he had just witnessed. As soon as everyone left the office, Dumbledore seated himself on his chair heavily and sighed. Dean has never seen his father looking as tired as he did now;
Dumbledore held his head between his two hands, muttering, 'what have I done? What have I done…'
Dean felt his heart pounding as, for the first time in his life, he has seen his father express some kind of weakness.
'It can give everything away…' Dumbledore continued murmuring.
Dean could not stand watching it; it was him, Dumbledore, who had always taught him about keeping his emotions under control, about always being calm. This was what gave Dumbledore his air of power. Now he knew what his father was like when no one was watching, the only time when he could show his emotions.
Walking quietly until he reached the front of Dumbledore's desk, Dean braced himself, putting on the hard, but blank look he had practiced so often in front of the mirror, and took the invisibility cloak off. Dumbledore's eyes immediately shot up in alarm, 'Dean?'
Dean smiled, 'hello, father.' he felt like grimacing as the usual calm mask returned to his father's face.
'Why did you take that cloak without permission? Did you see everything?' Dumbledore's tone was just the same as always as he talked.
'Yes, I saw everything,' Dean answered in the exact same tone as Dumbledore, 'so were they really the Potter twins?'
Instead of answering the question, Dumbledore directed a different question at his son, 'why did you have to hide in this office for?'
Having prepared himself for that question, Dean had an answer ready, 'I had a feeling that you were keeping something away from me, something which you have been keeping from me all along, which is the reason for all this madness, the reason you make me do those things. It's as if you are preparing me for a war.'
Although Dumbledore's features did not change, Dean has learned the skill of detecting changes in is father's eyes, which meant a change of emotion, but apart from that, he could not tell anything else from his features, 'if you are talking about the lessons you are taking, then I can tell you now that you are taking them for self defense, nothing else.'
Dean gave out a short laugh, 'self defense? I feel like I'm being trained to be an assassin! You can't fool me, I know that there is something going on and I know that you're planning to tell me about it sooner or later, so why not just do it now?'
Dean knew that Dumbledore knew that he knew that he was hiding something, but it still did not matter for Dumbledore, who had an attitude of steel, 'there is nothing for me to tell you,' he said in his usual, infuriatingly calm tone, 'oh, maybe there is just one thing…'
Dean's eyes shot up hopefully, 'yes?'
'Don't get too excited,' Dumbledore warned, 'I only wanted to warn you that as much as the Potter brothers seemed dangerous, which they are, Granger is much more dangerous than them. You know why? Because she is sly. Slyness is the most dangerous thing on earth, remember that.'
'I…I don't understand,' Dean muttered, 'why would any of them be dangerous? Why didn't you let them leave? I know that Josh attacked you first, but why did you have to tie them up?'
Shaking his head, Dumbledore lowered his eyes, 'I can't tell you any more than that. Just keep what I said in mind.'
Anger started building up inside Dean, but he would not show it, he could not show it, not in front of him, no, he would make him proud and keep his emotions under control, just as he was taught to do ever since he was born, so that when he spoke, his voice was impossibly calm, 'you are my father,' he said simply, 'you should not hide anything from me.'
Dumbledore looked at him with steady, blue eyes, 'go to bed, Dean, it's late.'
He could not keep it bottled up inside any more; the anger inside him was too great to be contained inside for too long. He turned his face away so that Dumbledore could not see his expression and started walking away towards the door. Calm, steady steps. Sure steps. He opened the door and got out without another word.
Only when he was out of the office for sure, past the stone gargoyle, did he allow himself to run. He ran as fast as he could, taking out all of his fury by doing so. At one point, he saw Mrs. Norris staring at him, but he did not slow his pace, not even when he saw Filch in front of him;
'Hey, kid, slow down,' Filch shouted, 'you are coming with me straight to the headmaster's office.'
Dean did not slow his pace in the slightest, nor did he even blink as he went sprinting past Filch. He would have been surprised if Filch even managed to get a glimpse of his face. When he arrived at the fat lady, he was not even out of breath, which made him even angrier as he knew that it was because of the six miles run Dumbledore made him take every day, along with the private tutor who taught him how to fight every single form of martial arts to perfection. He was so sick of it that he even thought about not coming tomorrow, but he squashed that thought just as quickly as he made it up; he would have been dead if he was only late for the lesson in five minutes and just the thought of the consequences he was going to face if he did not attend the lesson at all made him shudder.
He shouted the password at the portrait of the fat lady, ('hey, there is no need to shout! My ears are sensitive!) and stormed his way into the common room. It was the first time in years that he has been so angry and he had no idea where it came from. It might have even been a build up of anger over the time. He kicked a chair which came in his way, then punched the table, grabbing a book which lay on it and throwing it at the wall. He suddenly froze when he realized that he was not alone; the three faces of Terry, Josh and Hermione were staring at him.
Trying to resume his blank mask without success, Dean found himself staring at the three kids. He could not believe that he was staring at the last two descendants of the Potter family and at Hermione Granger, the girl Dumbledore told him was dangerous, but who seemed to have been crying, judging by the red patches around her eyes. However angry he might be, Dean always kept his head, no matter what the situation was, and one word his father told him kept ringing in his head. sly. This girl was sly, which meant that he should not believe a word she said or a thing she did. All this crying could have well been an act.
'What are you doing up at this hour of the night?' he found himself asking. He praised himself at his quick thinking; none of them knew that he was also present in Dumbledore's office a few hours ago.
'Actually, it's not night anymore, it's morning,' Terry corrected him, 'and I could have been asking you the same question.
Dean had no idea what to say. He found himself wondering which one of the brothers was Harry, but quickly gave himself a mental slap; he should not be wasting his time on thinking about stupid things which did not matter. He focused on what Terry said instead, then smiled, 'hey, you're not the only ones who like getting into trouble,' he said, 'I just decided to see what it would be like to walk around the corridors at night.' he felt like physically hitting himself at this lame excuse for an excuse after he realized just how pathetic it sounded.
'So why come barging in here destroying the common room?' Terry asked. Dean suddenly had a flashback of what Terry had said a few hours ago, 'say bye to Dean from me. We weren't exactly great friends, but he was the sanest.' one glance at Terry told him that he was having second thoughts about the last bit of the statement.
'Peeves,' Dean answered automatically, 'the stupid creature was throwing chalks at me,' spotting a golden chance and taking it, Dean added, 'what are you doing up at this hour, anyway?'
'Homework,' Dean's eyes shot up in surprise as Hermione said it, 'Snape gave us extra work in potions and we have to hand it in tomorrow. We finished just now and we were just talking about how hard life at Hogwarts is,' Hermione explained.
Although the excuse was really stupid, Dean was surprised at the conviction Hermione has said the statement in; it sounded as if she believed it herself. He laughed, 'your excuse is even worse than mine,' he told her, 'anyway, I'm going to bed now.' he went as fast as he could without looking too desperate to get away.
He knew that they were going to get suspicious, but who cared? He pulled his cloths off so that he was only left with his boxers on, climbed into bed and pulled the covers up to his chin, even though he knew that he was going to get no sleep today. He was still angry at Dumbledore for not wanting to tell him anything, but if he didn't, then Dean was going to make sure that he will find everything out by himself. Tomorrow, he was going to make one of the trio tell him. It didn't matter which one; he was not scared of any of them…
As soon as Dean left the room, Terry and Josh exchanged suspicious looks with each other, 'what's wrong with that bloke?' Josh asked.
Terry shrugged, 'just another messed up idiot?' he suggested.
'Look, I don't really care about him,' Hermione interrupted, 'I have to tell Shigamo what happened. Maybe he'll want to talk to one of you.'
Forgetting all about Dean, Terry raised his eyebrows, 'what? Now?'
Hermione sighed, 'it's different, the times here and in Japan, it's probably noon in there; I can't really remember the time difference.'
'Oh,' Terry felt stupid, 'OK.'
Hermione held the mirror up. Terry could only see her reflection, 'Shigamo,' she said clearly. Nothing changed immediately, but a few seconds later, Hermione's reflection started to fade away, to be replaced with the face of an Asian man who looked to be in his late thirties; he had, unsurprisingly, brown eyes. His face was cleanly shaved, along with the rest of his head.
When he saw Hermione, he suddenly broke into a large grin, 'Hermione!' he said happily. He said something in Japanese and, to Terry's surprise, Hermione answered him in the same language. He looked surprised at what Hermione had said and said something back. This time, Hermione started talking rapidly in fluent Japanese with a perfect accent, without stopping for a second; Shigamo was listening intently with a serious expression, nodding patiently.
They continued talking like that for some time while Terry watched, fascinated. Shigamo said something, and both he and Hermione suddenly looked at Terry and Josh, 'so you are the Potters?' Shigamo asked them warmly in a strong accented English. Terry and Josh both nodded, unable to think of anything else to do.
'Hermione probably told you that you are in danger now that Dumbledore knows who you are?' it was a question rather than a statement. Terry and Josh both nodded again. 'I hope that she explained everything,' Shigamo said, 'I think that it would be wise if you stay at my house in the Christmas holidays rather than at the orphanage; I'm sorry to have to tell you that on our first conversation with each other, but Dumbledore might have already set up an accident at the orphanage, ready for when you get back.'
'Don't worry, we're not getting back to the orphanage anytime soon,' Josh said.
Terry looked at him in surprise, 'do you trust him?' he asked Josh in their newly found way of communication.
'Trust him?' Josh sounded incredulous, 'no way! I only said that because I know that he hasn't got the power to send us back to the orphanage and we have the perfect excuse not to go to his house.'
'Really?' Shigamo looked surprised, 'where are you going to stay?'
That was a tricky question. Terry was bewildered for a few seconds, until he was suddenly hit with a new brainwave, 'we are staying at our dad's old friend, Lupine,' he said, congratulating himself silently until Shigamo spoke again.
'Mmm…' Shigamo said, 'I see that what Hermione told you was not enough to make you trust me as I know for a fact that you are not staying at Lupine's place.'
Terry was so bewildered that he could not think of anything to say, but, fortunately, Josh spoke for him, 'oh? And how did you know that?'
Shigamo smiled grimly, 'I only know one Lupine who was a friend of your father's, and he is working for me. I think that it was just mere coincidence that he was going to stay at my place during the holidays as well.'
'Fine,' Josh said, 'so we don't trust you; is that unnatural?'
'Oh, no,' Shigamo answered, 'it is very natural. In fact, I am very glad you decided not to trust me; it means that you can probably take care of yourselves.'
'You have no idea,' Terry muttered under his breath.
Shigamo seemed to hear him, but all he said was, 'as I said, it is good that you do not trust someone you do not know, but I can give you proof that everything Hermione told you was true because it is necessary that you trust me if I am to help you.'
He walked over to a large cabinet in the corner of the room he was in and opened the door. Inside was what Terry clearly identified as a pensive, a large cauldron where you can keep your memories, 'I asked some wizards to put some of my memories inside,' Shigamo explained, 'I always show this to new agents, because they never believe what I tell them about Dumbledore. I don't know if you should see this, but I know that this is the only thing which can convince you that what I say is true.' He pulled something from his pocket and threw it into the pensive.
Immediately, the thick, silvery contents of the pensive started twirling, until they finally stopped and a scene was played out on the surface like a TV;
There was a huge, modern looking room, in which there were hundreds of people, all talking together in Japanese. Terry thought that he spotted Shigamo, who looked about twenty now and was talking to a short, plump Asian woman. The atmosphere seemed happy, with people chatting merrily.
The lights suddenly went out and silence fell in the room. Someone said something in Japanese and shuffling feet could be heard. Then a scream, which was followed by several more screams. There was suddenly a cold voice which spoke a word that Terry understood, 'lumos!'
A small light immediately lit up at the center of the room and a very clear outline of Albus Dumbledore could be seen; he was wearing, strangely enough, a purple robe with golden stars on it and his face held an expression Terry has never seen on his face before: Madness. Sheer madness.
Everyone was looking at him in astonishment, unable to decide if it was some kind of a game. Dumbledore seemed amused as he held his wand high over his head, 'all you muggles should not deserve to live!' he shouted, 'you are contaminating our world!' he shouted the words of a spell Terry has never heard before.
A strong beam of blue light shot out of the wand in a large arc. Terry's eyes widened at what he saw next: the light looked as if it was alive; any person it touched immediately dropped onto the floor, and renewed screaming occurred as people scattered around, trying to get out of the way of the beam. The beam managed to catch most of the people, and only about ten people remained standing on their feet when it finally disappeared, staring around, wide eyed at the hundreds of bodies littering the floor. One of the people still standing was a woman, who was clutching a baby. She shouted something in Japanese.
Terry turned around as he heard a sob behind him. It was Hermione; it must have been hard for her watching it for the second time. Without thinking twice about what he was doing, he reached towards her and took her hand in his, squeezing it reassuringly. Hermione did not even look up at him, so he just looked back at the pensive in the mirror:
He probably missed something, because there was now no one left standing on their feet in the place, only a vast number of unmoving people on the floor, one on top of the other. Terry felt sick; Dumbledore had a huge grin plastered on his face as he returned the wand back inside his robes and strolled out of the room with sure, steady steps. He did not even glance back. All this happened in only a few seconds and Terry was bewildered at Dumbledore's great power, only realizing then that Dumbledore could have easily killed them back in his office if he had wanted to.
Terry found himself staring at the cauldron in disbelief, trying to digest what he just saw by looking at the pile of the hundreds of bodies which littered the floor, when he suddenly spotted a small movement coming from the bottom of the pile. He did not even have to look to know that it was Shigamo, who has probably been trapped under the pile of people and did not dare to move for the whole time as he was too scared to. He staggered a bit, looking around with wide eyes, when the contents of the pensive suddenly swirled again and the scene was replaced with the silvery stuff which was there originally.
Josh gave out a long breath of air. Hermione was still sobbing, now with her head on Terry's shoulder, 'that woman…' she sobbed, 'she said…she said…don't kill my baby…'
Terry gave an involuntary shudder as he heard this. Shigamo's face suddenly reappeared in the mirror and Terry was staring at him, wide-eyed; he did not seem affected by the scene in the cauldron- he probably watched it hundreds of times, but he did seem affected by Hermione's reaction; he said something, softly, looking as if he wanted to get out of the mirror and hug her.
Terry motioned to Josh that they should leave and they both started heading towards the boys' dormitories. They undressed and got into bed without saying another word, but as Terry pulled his covers up, he heard Josh say, 'I don't know about you, but I believe her now.'
'Me too,' Terry said, 'he could never have faked anything like it: it's impossible to enter fake or modified memories into a pensive.'
'I don't think we should talk about it now,' Josh warned, 'Dean might still be awake.'
'Oh, Ok,' Terry knew that Josh was right, 'goodnight, then.'
'Yeah, goodnight.'
This is the longest chapter I've done so far!!! OK, I know that it wasn't that great, but I seriously like the next one.