Chapter 7: Defiance

By the time Harry reached the doors to the castle, Minister Smythe and his cronies had vacated the grounds. Their flight had been so hasty that they had left the cage with the goblin on the grounds. Harry lowered his wand and turned his focus to the on-demand stream of knowledge that came from his Founder rings. This enabled him to ensure that the Ministry officials had indeed left the grounds and were not lingering.

He shook his head in disgust. Smythe had to be the worst Minister of Magic thus far, though Harry knew that there would be worse in the future. A smirk crossed his face as he contemplated Smythe's future. The political landscape at present was volatile and barbaric. Smythe's associates would be quick to see weakness and exploit it. Would Smythe be ousted? Or would he be a puppet for the rest of his tenure? Either way, it didn't matter to Harry.

The other professors, including the female one who had confronted the Ministry first, quickly dispersed with the exception of Professor Greengrass. As the decades had passed, Harry had slowly become more and more distracted by his studies of time travel and had left most of the day to day affairs of the school to his deputy headmaster.

Harry's rare appearances usually were accompanied by confrontations where Harry made it clear to students, professors, dark wizards, or incompetent Ministers of Magic that their behavior had been unacceptable. Consequently, few of the professors and even fewer of the students could say that they knew him, let alone were comfortable in his presence.

Professor Greengrass joined Harry just outside the doors. "Do you think the Ministry will really be able to take over Hogwarts when you're gone?"

Harry looked over at Professor Greengrass and carefully considered his answer before responding. "They'll try," he responded, "but they'll never completely control the school."

This seemed to relieve Greengrass greatly, but Harry knew it was for the wrong reasons. He had been a student in Slytherin while Harry had still actively looked after the management of Hogwarts, and Harry knew him better than Greengrass realized. Greengrass wanted to be the next Headmaster of Hogwarts. He wasn't really committed to Hogwarts's mission, but Harry knew that the man's sly nature could protect Hogwarts's interests. The prestige the man hoped to have would only last as long as Hogwarts did. Perhaps he would become converted to the school's mission as time wore on.

Harry didn't know for sure if Greengrass would succeed him as Headmaster. Greengrass seemed to think there was a good chance. Harry still appeared to only sixteen, but it was common knowledge that Lord Darkbane was at the very least over one hundred years old. Harry wasn't sure how old he was, he'd stopped counting. His age seemed to be irrelevant anyway.

Whether Greengrass became Headmaster depended on whether Harry figured out how to get back to the future before Greengrass died. Harry had made tremendous progress. He had discovered everything there was to know about time travel, except for the part about travelling to the future. He had moved on to researching the nature of reality in hopes that it combined with his knowledge of time travel would provide the answer.

"What are we going to do about the goblin?" Greengrass asked.

"I'll take care of it," Harry said slowly. "Why don't you go and check the grounds to make sure those idiots left?" Harry didn't want witnesses to what he was going to do next.

Greengrass quickly made his way to the gates and was soon out of sight. Harry walked over to the goblin cage and blasted open the mechanism holding it shut with a jab of his wand. The goblin exited the cage and stared at Harry. "Do you know who I am?" Harry asked.

"Darkbane," the goblin answered, glaring at Harry as was natural. Harry supposed it must be their natural complexion.

"Good. Who is your chief?" Harry realized that the goblin would be hesitant about revealing details about other goblins, but he needed to know for sure that he was talking to the right sort of goblin before he went any further.

The goblin took his time answering, but finally spoke up. "Gringott."

"Go tell Gringott that he can count me in," Harry instructed.

"What is that supposed to mean?" the goblin demanded.

"He'll know," Harry said coolly. "Now go."

The goblin left, unhappy at being commanded to do what he had already intended to do. Harry watched his retreating form head into the forest. He didn't know whether or not what he was about to do was such a good idea. From what Harry knew of the future, it probably wouldn't turn out badly. At the very least, it would help to ensure Hogwarts's safety from the Ministry.

~!~!~!~!

It was not long before Tonks dropped Ron, Hermione, and Ginny at Hogwarts and left them there. They were soon standing in front of Professor Dumbledore's desk and unable to speak because they were panting too hard and their minds were still racing with the new information that they had discovered. Putting it into words was tough.

"I take it that you had a measure of success," Dumbledore stated, his eyes twinkling.

"More than could have been expected," Hermione said.

Ginny smiled widely and spoke up, eager also to share the news. "We found Harry!"

Dumbledore was surprised at this comment. "Your instincts were right then, he and Lord Darkbane did cross paths."

Ron shook his head. He broke the news in a loud and dramatic voice. "No, Harry didn't go to the past and cross paths with Lord Darkbane. He went to the past and became Lord Darkbane!"

"What?" Dumbledore exclaimed, leaping forward in his chair and looking at the teens intently. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely," Hermione said, indignant that anyone would question her accuracy. "In the memory Tonks's friend showed us, we saw the Minister of Magic try to arrest some poor goblin he'd found in the Forbidden Forest. The professors here at the school got into a big argument with the Ministry officials but it was interrupted when Harry showed up."

Ron cut in and seized Dumbledore's attention. "We didn't know that Harry was Lord Darkbane until he spoke. Then he and the Minister got into a big argument."

"Actually," Ginny corrected, "I knew Harry was Lord Darkbane the minute I saw him because he had those three rings that Snape mentioned."

Hermione ignored Ginny's comment, but spoke up to correct Ron's comment. "They didn't actually have an argument. Harry told the Minister that he couldn't arrest the goblin and this made the Minister really angry so he told Harry that when he died, the Ministry was going to take over Hogwarts."

"That's when Harry drew his wand and chased the Minister of Magic out of the castle!" Ron crowed.

Dumbledore was trying to grasp all of the details and had a great many questions. He decided that the rings Ginny mentioned would be easy to get out of the way first. He looked at Ginny. "You said you saw the three rings on his fingers?"

"Yes," Ginny replied. "All of them were made from gold and each had a different colored jewel. One was a sapphire, another was a ruby, and the other was kind of yellow. I'm not sure what jewel that was. They were definitely powerful magical objects."

"Did he use them at all during this confrontation?"

"Not that I saw," Ginny admitted, glancing at Ron and Hermione to see if they had noticed anything, but they hadn't.

"Extraordinary," Dumbledore said quietly, searching his memory for any information about magical rings now that it had been confirmed that the rings Snape spoke of existed. "Now tell me, what exactly was said in the argument?"

This proved slightly difficult, but between the three they managed to piece it together. Hermione started. "The Minister claimed that he was arresting the goblin because he suspected he was involved in a goblin rebellion."

"Harry asked if the Minister had any proof," Ginny continued.

"The idiot didn't have a shred of proof," Ron declared, "so Harry told him that he couldn't arrest the goblin. Then he also told the Minister that if anyone was doing wrong around Hogwarts, it was his job and not the Ministry's to take care of it."

Ginny was next. "The Minister didn't like this and it made him really angry. He accused Harry of breaking the Ministry's laws for decades."

Dumbledore jumped onto this tidbit of information quickly. "Decades? Are you sure he said decades?"

Ginny was reasonably sure, but Hermione confirmed it. "Yes, to be exact, he said that Harry had flouted the law for decades."

"That's not a big surprise, Ron said. "We knew from that book that he was Headmaster for ninety-seven years."

"That is true," Dumbledore mused. "It does give us a reference point though. Harry had already been Headmaster for several decades when you saw him in the memory. What did he look like?"

"What do you mean by that?" Ron retorted. "He looked like Harry."

Hermione was quicker on the ball. "Ron, if decades had passed, Harry should have looked like an old man."

"But he didn't," Ginny said.

"Harry didn't look old at all?" Dumbledore asked.

"No," Hermione answered. "He looked exactly like he did the last time we saw him."

Ginny modified this statement. "Actually, he had changed. He was still young, but I could see that that some subtle differences. His eyes were more intense and he looked like he could spit nails. Everyone in the memory, even the people who seemed to be a lot older than him, was obviously scared to death of him."

"Fascinating," Dumbledore muttered. "Either Harry became adept at glamour charms or he simply didn't age."

"That makes is more likely that Harry will come or already has come back to the future, right?" Ron said. "Or if he didn't age, maybe he just stayed around and has been keeping out of sight."

Dumbledore shrugged. "It could mean a lot of things."

Ron and Hermione were clearly thrilled and had a lot of ideas about how Harry could now help them and what advantages they would have. In their mind, Lord Voldemort didn't stand a chance against Lord Darkbane. Professor Dumbledore was more cautious but was also clearly pleased with the apparent possibilities. The idea that Harry became the Headmaster of Hogwarts was extraordinary to Dumbledore and he privately reveled in it.

Ginny was thrilled at the possibilities and the fact that Harry had made good, but something came to her memory and it wasn't good. She hated to bring it up and ruin the enthusiasm that they were now enjoying, but it was an important concern. She cleared her throat and got everyone's attention. "We have a slight problem with all of this," she informed them.

"What is it?" Hermione inquired.

Ginny pointed toward Professor Blood's sleeping portrait. "According to him, Harry committed suicide."

Apparently, the others had forgotten this minor detail because there was silence for several moments. Ron was the first to break the silence. "Maybe he was just joking."

"Be sensible, Ron," Ginny said. "What motive would he have for playing a sick joke on us?"

Hermione was able to come up with a more practical explanation. "If I remember correctly, Professor Blood and Lord Darkbane, or Harry, were separated by about two centuries. Professor Blood's information probably isn't firsthand. Furthermore, I don't think the man knows nearly as much as he would like us to think." From her tone of voice, it was clear that Hermione still harbored bad feelings for Professor Blood.

"Maybe we could ask him directly," Ginny suggested.

"That's a very good idea," Dumbledore said.

They then spent nearly a quarter of an hour trying to coax Professor Blood's portrait to awake and speak to them, but to no avail. None of the other portraits were able to do anything for them either. Eventually, they had no choice but to admit defeat.

"Hogwarts THE History didn't say anything about Harry's death did it?" Ron asked them all.

Professor Dumbledore had been the one to examine the account, therefore he answered. "It simply indicated the month during which his tenure ended. There was no mention of a death or suicide. At that time, I assumed that he died around the same time since it didn't mention anything about him after then."

Of those gathered, Ron seemed to possess the least skepticism about Harry's fate and the most confidence in his powers. "Harry probably figured out how to travel back to the future. Supposedly he was a master of time travel. When he was gone, he couldn't be Headmaster anymore."

Professor Dumbledore nodded in agreement. "We may as well continue our research of Lord Darkbane in order to find Harry's fate. I personally doubt that Harry died or committed suicide. Certain circumstances make that highly unlikely. If he found a way to travel to the present time, something may have gone wrong. The fact that he has not made himself known to us or left us word would suggest that his plans may not have been entirely successful. His return may be up to us."

"We can go through the rest of the records at the Ministry Archives," Hermione volunteered. "There might be mention of the circumstances around the end of his tenure. At the very least, we could confirm that his body isn't in some random cemetery."

Dumbledore shook his head negatively. "Now that we've determined that Harry was Lord Darkbane, it is no longer necessary for the other members of the Order to be focusing on other things. I don't want to announce our discovery quite yet, but I'll quietly assign separate Order members to start researching Lord Darkbane. It will take them far less time to go through all the documents in the Ministry archives."

Under normal circumstances, Ginny would have been extremely offended at being taken off the project at the first sign of a breakthrough, but she realized that Dumbledore was being practical. She, Ron, and Hermione would know Lord Darkbane's identity while the others would be in the dark. That was a good sign that Dumbledore wasn't insulting their abilities.

Ron and Hermione didn't look pleased, but Dumbledore was quick to avoid them getting angry. "Harry's ultimate fate is probably tied to Hogwarts," he said. "I realize that you turned up a blank when you researched earlier, but there must be something. If Harry departed for the future, he must have departed from here. Your research hasn't indicated that he had any other residence. The four of us will have to do our best to find what secrets this castle may have about Harry."

This pleased Ron, Hermione, and Ginny immensely. They were working exclusively with Professor Dumbledore at the scene of the crime as it were. Now that they knew Harry was Lord Darkbane, how hard could things be? Surely he left clues behind especially for them. They just had not been looking properly before.

They soon left Professor Dumbledore's office and managed to catch the tail end of dinner. Professor Dumbledore had made it clear to them in past weeks that their permission to participate was dependent on their keeping caught up in their classes, so they opted to get as much homework done that evening as possible.

Their excitement inspired unity and they were soon working together in a secluded corner of the Gryffindor common room. They achieved much in short spurts of intensity. Every few minutes one of them would interrupt the others with an idea.

"If I went to the past like Harry, I bet I could arrange to become really rich," Ron declared.

"I should think he would have other concerns," Hermione replied primly.

"Well think about it," Ron argued. "Harry could have easily bought tons of property or invested money with Gringotts. The interest from an account there would yield a lot of money over a thousand years."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "If you paid any attention in History of Magic, you would know that Gringotts has not existed forever. If I remember the precise dates, the bank didn't exist while Harry was at Hogwarts."

Ron was quite annoyed at having his or rather, Harry's, parade rained on by Hermione. He ignored Hermione by pretending to resume his homework, though his thoughts were still racing about what Harry might have done.

After a few minutes, Hermione began to feel guilty, so she tried to make a truce. "Money isn't the only valuable thing that Harry might have collected, you know."

This quickly caught Ron's interest. "You're right! He could have found all sorts of ancient treasures."

"I was thinking that maybe he collected books," Hermione said. "Books that are very old and expensive now might have been comparatively cheap then."

"Books," Ron scoffed. "That's the last thing he would have looked at."

Hermione was quite offended. "You had better hope he did collect books! That's the only way he would have been able to find a way to travel back to our time."

"He could have just gone and asked a really powerful wizard like Dumbledore," Ron argued.

"He was the 'Dumbledore' of his age!" Hermione declared shrilly. "Do you think Professor Dumbledore can just go around and ask other wizards how to deal with a problem when he has one? He has to go and find out for himself so he can help himself and help all the people who come to him."

Ron wasn't about to give up. "Maybe those magical rings just did everything for him. Or what about the hourglass that Snape talked about? Maybe it was a device he found that did everything for him."

"He would have had to find information about those in a book!" Hermione retorted.

Ron and Hermione's antics were causing Ginny a great deal of amusement and it soon became necessary for her to excuse herself before she burst into laughter and offended them. She packed all of her completed homework into her book bag and made her way upstairs and found her dorm deserted. Her roommates had male friends to spend Friday nights with, probably in the Astronomy Tower.

If Harry was in charge, they'd be getting cold water deposited on them about now, Ginny smirked. The fact that Harry had invited Peeves to the castle made much more sense now. He probably met Peeves and realized that it was his job to do that, Ginny told herself.

Telling herself that it would be good to get an early start on the search in the morning, Ginny opted to change into her nightclothes and go to bed. She was soon under the covers with the lights out. Soon, different thoughts were coming to her. How must have Harry felt?

Ninety-seven years was a terribly long time, not to mention the years before he became Headmaster. If he spent all that time in the past because he couldn't find a way back, he must have been very frustrated, Ginny determined. It was then that Ginny pictured how Harry had looked when he confronted Minister Smythe.

He seemed awfully sad and a little angry, Ginny thought. I bet he was in the middle of trying to figure something out when those morons interrupted him, she told herself.

It wasn't long before Ginny moved onto thinking about all of the great things Harry had probably accomplished. Sleep overtook her and by the next morning she was ready to put full effort into searching Hogwarts for information on Harry well before Ron and Hermione were.

Nothing was found on Saturday or even in the coming weeks. It seemed that no one had taken the time to record information about Hogwarts's first Headmaster. Ron and Ginny were especially frustrated at this and theorized that there was some sort of conspiracy to hide Harry from them. Hermione had more experience with research and came to different conclusions.

"Harry probably never bothered to see to it that there was a history about himself," she told them. "During that time period, if someone wanted to be remembered by history, they had to go out of the way to make sure that it happened. Harry probably didn't really care and might have even wanted to avoid it for fear of disrupting the time line."

Her statements seemed to soothe Ron and Ginny and proved to be true as they were able to discover that the second Headmaster had been a man named Greengrass. Almost all of the information they found had been in sources that Greengrass had compiled personally and put in the library. It was clear to them that Greengrass had been a terribly ambitious sort of fellow seeking after glory. They weren't sure how much they could believe of what he'd written.

Dumbledore put forth a large amount of effort and searched his records, office, and living quarters assuming that Harry must have occupied them. He found nothing. The portraits of former Heads knew nothing about Lord Darkbane. The oldest portraits were always sleeping and there didn't seem to even be portraits for the earliest Headmasters. He soon discovered that Professor Blood's portrait was in fact the oldest portrait in the office.

Despite the lack of more information about Harry's fate, the three teenagers and the Headmaster were upbeat and cheerful. Dumbledore seemed to walk with renewed energy and optimism. Ginny was excited and thriving. Hermione couldn't stop calculating the possible advantages. Ron's confidence had surged and he was doing better in all of his classes, but was getting a little prideful. Their friendship and association with Harry who was now clearly on level with Dumbledore gave them the sense that they somehow had more authority and power.

This attitude translated into increased confidence and was passed onto other students at the Dueling Club meetings. The club had done a great deal of good for everyone who attended. Professor Flitwick had commended them for their progress and told them that he was confident their skills would help them survive a Death Eater attack. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny took this to heart.

The Hogsmeade weekend just before the Christmas holidays found Ron, Hermione and Ginny in the Three Broomsticks nursing Butterbeers whilst socializing with nearly every student there. They had become rather popular. Consequently, their table had the most people sitting and standing at it.

"Have you heard anything about Voldemort?" Neville inquired casually from his seat at the table.

Everyone waited with bated breath for an answer from Ron or Hermione. Ron favored them with a response. "He's definitely out there scheming. We need to be on the watch."

"I bet the Slytherins are working for him," muttered a young Gryffindor who was standing near Ron's shoulder.

Daphne Greengrass glared at the said Gryffindor and silenced him promptly without having to say anything.

Hermione was always ready to lecture someone. "Anybody could be working for Voldemort," she declared. "It's important that we show them the reason why they should be with us instead of making them our enemies."

This lead to a lively discussion that often was repeated as students would leave for other shops and be replaced by others on a regular cycle. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny eventually decided that they needed to get their own Christmas shopping done as well and left the Three Broomsticks to go to Honeydukes to buy some treats.

The candy store was too crowded for much conversation and they made their purchases as quickly as possible. They were soon standing out in the street arguing about their next destination. Midway through the conversation they noticed a commotion in the crowds further down the lane.

It was only a few seconds after that they spotted what was causing the commotion. The Death Eaters were attacking the village. "Death Eaters!" shouted Ron, alerting all the students that hadn't noticed. "Either run or get ready to fight!"

Most of the students scampered, but there were a significant amount of older students who drew their wands and started running for various hiding places where they could cast spells but still be shielded. Ron did likewise. Hermione and Ginny opted to follow him and were soon entering Gladrags. The shopkeeper and customers had evacuated and the shop was deserted.

"We might be safer upstairs," Hermione said.

They soon discovered a staircase in a room in the back and went up. They were soon in an upstairs room with a window that overlooked the street. It appeared to be a bedroom of sorts. It had never occurred to them that one might rent lodging in Hogsmeade. Hermione cast a spell that caused the glass to disappear.

The Death Eaters were now swarming in the street outside. They were meeting staunch resistance from the Hogwarts students. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were soon shooting stunners at every Death Eater they could see.

"This is working out fine," Ron declared.

"It will work fine until they figure we're up here," Hermione warned Ron. "Try to stay to the sides so they don't look up and see us standing here."

It was too late though. A major blasting hex cast by a Death Eater came their way and nearly destroyed the entire wall. Ron and Hermione dodged quickly enough, but Ginny got caught by flying debris from the destroyed wall and it sent her flying to the back of the room where she landed with a thud.

"Ginny!" Ron gasped. He rushed to check on her while Hermione shot several blasting hexes of her own toward the source of the spell.

Ginny was still conscious but in pain when Ron kneeled by her side. "I think my arm is broken," Ginny told him.

Ron helped her from her sprawled position on the floor among debris and sat her up against the wall. It was clear that her wand arm was broken as it was bent unnaturally. Ron took her wand and put it in her robes. She tried to move it to a better position for her hand, but intense pain caused her to cry out. Holding back tears, she spoke. "You'd better help Hermione or we're going to be in trouble."

Ginny's injury had sobered Ron up a bit. When he rejoined Hermione and began fighting again his spells had more intensity and accuracy. This was a serious fight now. He intended to show those Death Eaters that they weren't going to get away with anything.

The Death Eaters were at a disadvantage against all of the students. Though they knew Hogsmeade almost equally as well as the students, they were not the ones holed up in various hiding places. Only about ten minutes passed before they were on the defensive and retreating, though it seemed like an eternity to Ron, Hermione, and Ginny.

"Let's go make sure they leave for good!" Ron declared.

"Are you sure we should leave Ginny alone?" Hermione asked.

Ron's excitement and desire for vengeance outweighed his sense of caution. "She'll be fine. I doubt anyone will find her up there."

"I'll probably be fine," Ginny told them. "Just come back as soon as you can. I don't think I can get far on my own."

Ron and Hermione rushed out of the room and left the building. Ginny could hear them down in the street calling for some other students to help them give pursuit and secure the village. Several other students joined them and Ginny listened as their voices faded.

Ginny tried to relax. The pain from her broken arm seemed to be more intense now that she was alone and there was nothing to focus on. The adrenaline from the surprise attack had also faded leaving her in severe pain.

A noise in the building caused her to tense up. It's just the wind or something she tried to tell herself. Unfortunately, she was proved wrong as footsteps soon followed the original noise. Someone was in the building. Was it one of her friends?

A few minutes passed and then the question was answered when Bellatrix Lestrange entered the room. Ginny was propped up against the back wall, so Bellatrix's back was turned toward Ginny as the Death Eater surveyed the exploded store front and the view of the street below.

Her heart beating a double speed, Ginny tried to hold her breath, praying that Bellatrix wouldn't spot her. Fortune was not with her. Bellatrix turned and spotted Ginny immediately, pointing her wand at Ginny. "I thought you might be in here," she said to Ginny with a cruel smile.

Ginny was scared to death, but she didn't want to die like a cowardly beggar so she said nothing. There was no chance of fighting back as her wand was in her robes. She should have told Ron to put it in her other hand. When Bellatrix saw that Ginny wasn't going to say anything she spoke again. "The Dark lord wishes to speak to you, girl." She motioned with her wand. "Stand up."

When Ginny didn't make any motions to obey, Bellatrix walked over and grabbed her broken arm and yanked her to a standing position. Ginny screamed before the pain caused her to black out. When she next awoke, she found herself tied to a wall in a small dark room. Her broken arm was still in agonizing pain and she tried to block it out as she surveyed her surroundings.

This lasted for about half an hour before the door to the room opened and Lord Voldemort entered followed by Bellatrix and some other Death Eaters that Ginny did not recognize. Ginny's heart began to pound with fear. I'm going to die, she told herself.

The Dark lord looked at her and met her eyes with his blood red ones. "Ginny Weasley," he hissed.

Ginny returned his stare and glared, but didn't say anything as she couldn't think of anything good to say. The fact that she was in intense pain didn't help either.

Voldemort wasn't too amused and cast the Crucio curse on her. He held it for a minute while Ginny screamed in agony, wishing to die. He stopped and waited until her screams and sobs subsided. "Tell me what you know about Lord Darkbane."

Ginny remembered her commitment that no Death Eater would learn anything from her again. She knew that she would hold to it. However, she wondered if she would have been able to if she had not known that Lord Darkbane was Harry. "I'm not telling you anything," she said weakly.

This resulted in several minutes under the torture curse again. Ginny cried for longer after the pain subsided. She was still sobbing when Voldemort spoke again. "I know a great deal about Lord Darkbane," he told her. "I probably know more than you do or even the old fool. All I need are a few details. I'll find those details out soon enough; it will be easier for you if you help me."

Ginny couldn't help but consider her options at this point. Her commitment to not reveal information seemed so long ago. Voldemort would be able to find the same information that they had on his own eventually. The difference would be a delay and her own death. Was it worth that? He might not find the information though. Ginny began to calculate the value of her life.

If she sacrificed herself, would it make the difference in the Order's fight against Voldemort? Or would it be a useless gain? Would she be able to live with herself knowing that she had spilled everything even if it had not made a difference? If she told Voldemort that Harry was Lord Darkbane, Harry might lose any advantage he had and die. For some reason, this seemed to be a central thought. She owed Harry a life debt; she couldn't do anything to hurt him. Something in her seized upon this and she thought she might be able to resist, but was Harry alive or dead?

Voldemort took her extended silence as some sort of acquiescence, so he continued speaking without putting her under the torture curse again. "I know that Darkbane was Headmaster of Hogwarts at one point," Voldemort informed her. "I know all about him. In order to get what I want, I need to know where he went after Hogwarts."

"After Hogwarts?" Ginny gasped out, a small hope growing inside of her. She knew that Voldemort's claims to knowledge of Lord Darkbane weren't entirely false.

"You're not in a position to play games with me," snarled Voldemort. "After Lord Darkbane staged his suicide, where did he go?"

Despite her agony, Ginny felt the sweet feeling of triumph. Harry had staged his suicide. He was still alive and had probably returned to their time. This fact made Ginny's decision and gave her the ability to draw on the power her life debt to Harry afforded. She looked Voldemort in the eyes. "I will tell you nothing," she said as loudly as she could.

Voldemort's serpent-like nostrils flared with anger and his eyes seemed to glow. "You'll tell me everything," he said. "Bellatrix will help encourage you. When you're ready, let her know and I'll be back."

Voldemort swept out of the room with the other Death Eaters, leaving Bellatrix alone with Ginny. Bellatrix smiled and Ginny shuddered.