First off: I would like to apologize for my absence :( It's used a lot as an excuse but I was very sick. I had a fever and then a cold, and now I'm better but I'm still sniffing a bit. But I managed to finish off this chapter which I will admit is not as great as my others but the story's almost done (I think about three or four more chapters) and then I'll go on to finish The Devil's Tears.
Current song: Storm by Lifehouse.
Anyway; enough of my rambling, let's get on with Chapter 19!
Harry had applied his fresh new clothing much slower than usual. The thought of Ron flooded his head, and he knew that his best friend needed him. As he gingerly applied his suede boots on, not paying attention to his hands, but rather looking out the window, at the cold and dark-looking village of Muggle & Burrow. The village had acknowledged his return, but that hadn't hidden the fact that Riddle was still alive and thriving, or that Ron was still missing, or that Harry had not done anything to contribute to Riddle's desired downfall.
He stood up, and walked to the window. He wore a faded white shirt, brown pants and his favorite suede boots. His hands rested on the window sill as he just stared down at the familiar village, contemplating on what the group should do once they had arrived at Lady Lestrange's home.
"Harry?" he whipped around, and saw it was only Ginny. She looked more beautiful than ever, but took Harry aback, as she was wearing pants instead of a dress, with boots, a long green shirt with a large metal belt separating her chest from her waist. Her hair tied neatly behind her head. "Is everything alright? We are ready to leave now."
Harry sighed. "I suppose I am only afraid of what is to come. Hermione and I still haven't regained our powers," he explained.
Ginny looked at him, her brown eyes resting on his face; Harry felt warmth. "Harry, I've thought about it for a while…"
Harry tilted his head a little to the side. "Thought about what?"
Ginny mouthed "wait", before disappearing out of the room. Harry was initially confused, but she reappeared in the doorway, holding the Sword of Godric that he had achieved earlier in his journey. "Ginny…what…"
"Hermione and I have been studying it, and…well, the sword sort of only answers to you, Harry."
"What do you mean?"
"It almost seems as though…it knows who you are, and knows what you'll do with it. I think you should use it." She walked up to him, the blade resting in both of her hands. She handed it to him and he took it gingerly and studied the sword as though it was his first time seeing it.
He nodded, put the sword back in its sheath and stuffed it at the side of his belt. "It will definitely be of use. What about Hermione?"
"I lent her a pair of my mother's old swords," Ginny explained. "She's not terrible at it, but she's not wonderful, either. I think she'll manage it. She's very smart."
Harry smiled and nodded. "And Neville and Luna are all set and packed?"
Ginny nodded.
Harry looked at the sword. "Great."
"Harry, I know you're scared," Ginny's solemn voice said. "I am too. I'm sure half the people in the kingdom are, if not all, and even the neighboring kingdoms of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons are panicking. It's OK to be scared."
"I know that," Harry said. "It's just not only me I'm scared for. I never dreamed of people dying for me. I suppose it feels like this."
"Nobody's dying for you," Ginny said, gripping the front of his shirt. "Do you understand? We are going to get through with this, one way or another, but right now, we are rescuing my brother."
Harry put one hand on top of hers and saw a soft glint of determination in her eyes. He smiled and she smiled back, and both knew without speaking that they would not let harm come to each other in the midst of a coming battle.
They were interrupted as Hermione, fully dressed in an outfit similar to that of Ginny's, but her shirt was a dark shade of hazel, with brown pants and boots; her hair was tied back in a braid. "Harry? We're ready to go now."
Harry eyed her and then raised one eyebrow. "Are you sure you can carry that sword, Hermione?" he said as he spotted it neatly in its sheath behind her back.
Hermione raised an eyebrow back, and said with a smirk, "I may be a woman, Harry, but that does not mean I don't know how to swing a sword."
Harry raised both his eyebrows now and Ginny laughed. "Right. Where are Neville and Luna?"
"They're all ready downstairs, we will perform a disapparation charm in order to get there." she turned on her heel, and Harry an Ginny quickly followed her as she led them to the stairs. "Don't worry, Luna has mastered disapparation – apparently it takes a bit of imagination – so I'll disapparate with Ginny and Neville and you can disapparate with Luna."
They arrived downstairs, where Neville and Luna waited in the doorway. Luna wore a shirt of white, to Harry's relief, as vivid colors could have given away their lead. Neville wore a simple tunic and a long sleeved shirt underneath, and had a metal-shackled belt attached to his hip. "Harry!" he said, walking up to him. "Luna and I have been practicing protective spells, you know, since you and Hermione can't cast spells at the moment."
"Very thoughtful, Neville," Harry said, though a pang of jealousy hit him as he realized he hadn't gotten his powers back yet.
"Do you think there'll be any wrackspurts there?" Luna was asking Hermione, who looked rather irritated. "My father said they make excellent guards, though I'm not quite sure myself, as I've never seen them…"
"Alright," Harry interrupted, putting his hands on his hips. "I assume you're all ready?"
"Oh just get on with it, Harry," Ginny said, stepping from behind Neville and crossing her arms. "We should just leave now and discuss other things later. My brother is waiting."
"Right," Harry said. "Hermione discussed this with you, but I'll go over it again just to make sure: all we need to do is grab Ron, and go. We don't need any revelation. It isn't an attack, it's a rescue mission. You can hurt as many of Riddle's prats as you want as soon as we get back here. Understood?"
"Yes, Harry," Ginny was saying impatiently. "Can we leave now?"
"Harry's right," Hermione said, stepping forward and in front of Harry. "The last thing we need is to issue an attack. Be subtle."
"Now with that out of the way," Harry said, stepping towards Luna, "let's go save Ronald Weasley."
Ginny smiled and winked at him as she took Hermione's hand, and Neville took Ginny's.
"Have you performed disapparations before, Luna?" Harry asked, as he took hold of Luna's hand.
"I have before, you shouldn't worry," Luna said.
"Good," Harry said, straightening up and closing his eyes to prepare for the unpleasant feeling he had gotten used to the past few weeks. Gripping the sword tightly in his right arm, he grasped at Luna's hand, and in a mere moment, he opened his eyes as he felt cold air slap his face. He was on a hilltop, with the view of the Malfoy's home some yards away. He whipped around quickly to see Hermione just appear with Ginny and an unstable Neville, who staggered on the spot, looking sick. "You alright, Neville?" Harry said.
"Swell," Neville said, though he looked far from well.
Hermione released Ginny and Neville's hands and took her sword from its sheath from behind her back, walking up to Harry. "They'll probably be having guards of some sort," she said, and by the look of her eyes Harry took out the sword of Godric. "We need to get there protected."
"Right," Harry said, staring at his blade. "Ginny, Neville, Luna, you ready?"
"As we'll ever be," Ginny said, staring at her hands and rubbing them as she prepared to use the ultimate force of her magic.
"Let's go then," Harry finished, and lead the way to the very large mansion, running downhill to the gate. He quickly whipped around to see the rest of the group running downhill as well, following his lead to the gate. Harry took deep breaths as the cold air went in and out of his lungs. Finally he reached a better view of the place, and halted the group with his hand. "There are palace guards at the gates. I didn't know Riddle was so protective."
"We can past them," Neville said, stepping up to stand next to Harry.
"Neville's right," Hermione panted, setting her sword into the dirt for a while. "Harry, you and I can take right, and Ginny and the others can take right."
"You can't get past those guars without any magic," Ginny said, stepping up. "I'll come. You and Harry can use your swords to distract anyone who gets in our way, and then I can use my powers to blast them off."
"Ginny, I don't –" Harry began, but was immediately silenced by the stern look on her face. He sighed. "All right. Ginny, you can come with us. Neville, Luna…be careful."
Luna nodded and Neville looked solemn as the two parted ways and began running downhill again. Harry had the Sword of Godric still clutched in his hand, and he glanced down at it while still running. He wondered why the sword answered only to him, and why on earth he needed it to find the incantation of the Godric Touch…
"OI!" said a loud voice, and Harry's head snapped up as he saw two guards take out their weapons at the sight of the trio.
Harry grunted and lunged at the guard, carefully swinging his sword to collide with his, and they began dueling; out of the corner of his eye he was impressed as he saw Hermione swinging her sword as well. Harry head butted his opponent, and as he backed down, Ginny raised her hand and said, "Stupefy!" Harry watched in horror as the guard flew back and hit the gate.
Hermione was still busy with her guard, and she was trying to wrestle his sword out of his hand. She whipped around and said, "Ginny, now!"
This time, Ginny had used a nonverbal spell, and a pink flame went through the guard's chest; while he was dazed, Hermione kicked him down and panted as she looked at Harry's surprised expression. "My father is the village blacksmith," she explained.
"Right," Harry said, clearly frightened. "My guess is that there'll be more of them out there, lurking about, so we better keep our eyes peeled. You alright, Ginny?"
"Oh, never better!" said Ginny, and though she was panting, she was running in place. "I've never felt more alive!"
"Right," Harry said again, and laughed nervously. "We'd better hurry up if we want to catch up with Neville and Luna. Let's get going."
The pair of them rushed from the gate to the front yard of the household, and Harry, holding the sword of Godric up high, kicked the door open, his sword at the ready. He was genuinely surprised at the sight of nobody in view, but the mansion was considerably dark, as if there were no habitants. Odd, Harry thought to himself.
"We – we'd better get to Neville a-and Luna," said Hermione, who was clearly uncomfortable. "G-Ginny?"
"I'm here," she said, though her hands were at her side as she examined the décor of the house. "This is a prison?"
"Don't be fooled," said Harry, his sword still held up high. "Ron and I were kept downstairs; it's so murky and filthy down there. You alright, Hermione?"
"Swell," she said, though her voice cracked uncertainly. "Let's just hurry, I don't want to spend another minute in this place –"
"OI, what are you doing here?" said a rather deep voice, and Harry whipped around, sword in hand, to see a large and bulky man, probably a snatcher, brandishing his hand at them. Harry had a feeling he would use his fists over his magic. "I'll teach you a lesson –"
He was cut off as a bright blue light filled the room and in a second, the man was on the floor, unconscious. Harry turned around, and saw Ginny, her hands still held up. "I panicked," she panted, as she was now putting loose strands of her behind her ear.
"Harry, I'm scared," Hermione said, tugging at his arm. "This place must be infested with guards and what not, I'm scared that perhaps Neville and Luna –"
"We're right here," said a familiar voice, and the three turned around to meet face-to-face with Neville and Luna, who were both jogging towards them, sweat dripping at the ends of their faces. "I took down some bloke and Luna stunned about two others, it was a handy spell if you ask me –"
"Any signs of Ron?" Hermione said, her voice cracking again.
Neville shook his head.
"Look, let's just hurry up and then leave," Harry said to the group. "I am feeling very uneasy about this situation –"
"Mind you, we are as well," Ginny said from behind Neville. "Shall we get a move on?"
Slightly taken aback by her determination, Harry unwillingly put his indicating hand at his side and began walking in front of the group again, holding his sword up for any potential enemy. As the group walked through the door to the drawing room, Hermione gripped onto Harry's shirt even tighter: "This is where she tortured me," she whispered into his ear, and pointing a shaky finger at the middle of the room. "Y-you and Ron must h-have been directly underneath…I-I could h-hear him s-screaming…"
Harry turned around, and spotted a small staircase where he remembered he and Ron had emerged from to rescue Hermione. "I think I know where," Harry said, and pointed two fingers at the staircase, leading the group to disappear underneath.
"Wait," said Neville, and he stopped right at the foot of the staircase. "I'm going to stay up here so that I can alert the pair of you if there's anybody coming. I'll keep watch."
Harry nodded, impressed at Neville's courage.
As they went down, Harry could feel Hermione's nervous breathing on his neck. He couldn't blame her; they were, after all, rescuing Ron.
Underneath was a small hallway with about three lined cells. Harry remembered he and Ron being kept on the very last one against the wall, and hurried down, excited to see his best friend. The first cell, there was nobody there. The second looked even more deserted than the first. And the last one had Harry drop his sword out of bewilderment.
It was empty.
"Well, well, well," said an uncertain and sneer-like voice that sent shivers up Harry's spine. "It looks like we have ourselves a little confusion, don't we?"
:O
Dun Dun Dun! Oh I love cliffhangers. But I got this one all planned out. And not to fear, readers, for Harry will soon discover the incantation and why on earth he needs a sword to discover it. I am already working on my 20th chapter, I will admit. But I am still quite busy so it might take a while to get it up. But I will try my hardest.
As always, please rate and review!