Author's Notes: My third chapter is out. Still a bit slow pace, but it is my first fanfic, and setting the stage for romance and action isn't easy.
By the way, I personally dislike Hermione. Well, Ron too, but Hermione just strikes me as an annoying, prissy, arrogant, bimbotic git. Sorry if you disagree with me, but that's just how I interpret her. For the sake of the plot, however, I'm not going to get her tortured and killed by Death Eaters…yet…
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CHAPTER THREE: DIAGON ALLEY
"Hey guys, mum says lunch is ready." Said Ginny from the boys' room doorway, watching Harry and Ron play chess.
"Sure Ginny. Just let me beat Ron first." Harry replied.
"Not a chance, mate. Here, checkmate." Ron exclaimed triumphantly, a huge grin plastered on his face. Harry gave a small chuckle as he stood up and headed to the door, while Ginny just rolled her eyes.
"I don't see why you're so proud of yourself, Ron. Anyone can beat Harry." Ginny said, before quickly turning to her brother's friend. "No offence, Harry, but it's the truth."
"None taken. Now come on, I don't want to miss your mother's cooking for anything"
After getting the chess pieces to pack themselves, the three of them hastily went downstairs to the dining area, where they met the rest of the family (not Percy, of course).
Mr Weasley was on an old armchair, reading the Daily Prophet, while Fred and George were wore puzzled expressions on their faces as they looked at two boxes of what was presumed to be their latest inventions.
"Hi Mr and Mrs Weasley. Oh hi Bill, Charlie. Oh there you are Hermione." Harry chirped as he went down the flight of stairs. The male Weasleys smiled and waved in response, but Hermione and Mrs Weasley were hurriedly rushing from the kitchen to the dining room.
"Women." Ron breathed, before proceeding down the rest of the stairs along with Harry and Ginny.
After much ruckus from all the Weasleys as they gathered to the table, halfway through the noisy meal, Harry turned to the two oldest Weasley children.
"So, Bill, Charlie. What brought your home today?" He inquired.
"Actually, Dumbledore told us that your would all be receiving ye Hogwarts letters today, and we figured that we might as well take a day off to go with you." Charlie replied with a slight Romanian accent.
"Actually, that's not the only thing he spoke to us about." Bill added on darkly. "It's still tentative, but they may cancel Quidditch this year due to You-Know-Who's uprising, and you may see some aurors from time to time in Hogwarts."
Both bits of information perked the attention of the students, but none so much as Hermione, who's eyes doubled in size upon hearing that the Hogwarts letters would be coming, and stood up and had an expression of excitement yet horror.
"OH MY GAWD! WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL US SOONER! I'M BOUND TO FAIL AT LEAST HALF OF THE SUBJECTS! GOOD LORD I'M---"
"Good Merlin, Hermione, shut up!" Roared Ron from across the table, causing her to sit down abruptly and stare at him, which caused him to lower his voice but continue on his rant. "Bloody hell you're the smartest girl in our year. Heck, you bear any Ravenclaw hands down. I don't think you're even capable of getting anything lower than a "E", and that in itself is even a long shot. If you think you're about to bloody fail, then it's practically Judgment Day for Harry and I!"
Everyone's eyes widened in surprise. Ron rarely ever shouted at Hermione, let alone with all his family members present. In good Weasley fashion, though, he quickly blushed and looked intently at his food, ignoring Hermione's stare.
Harry decided to break the silence. "So, Bill, how's the wedding preparation coming along?"
"Oh, you know, just let the bride do everything." He replied with a chuckle. "Fleur's been really busy with all that, so she spends her day at work, and the rest of the night finding dresses, decorations, and what-have-you."
"Which reminds me. Your will have to get some nice dress robes at Madam Malkin's for the wedding ceremony." Mrs Weasley said.
Before anyone could get another word in, however, four handsome barn owls flew in from the window and dropped an envelope each onto the four students. Ron glared at it as if there were spiders inside, while Hermione's look was one more normally reserved for weddings when the bride or the groom was about to have a nervous breakdown. Ginny's letter was comfortably received by her while Harry took his far more nervously. They did contain his O.W.L results, after all.
Ginny was the first to open the letter. As she peeked into the envelope, she saw, a metallic pin next to the parchment. Gasping in surprise, she recognised the Prefect's badge, and excitedly took it out.
Molly, who of course was watching, became ecstatic and hugged her youngest child proudly, a few tears streaking down her face.
"My little girl's a prefect. I'm so proud of you, dear. Looks like we're going to have to get you something special in Diagon Alley today." She said with a grin.
Hermione was the next to give Ginny a bone-crushing hug, but the twins had a morose look on their faces.
"A lost cause…"
"Et tu, Ginny!"
"And we had such high hopes for her…"
"Our own apprentice too…"
"Alas, betrayed by our dear sister!"
"FRED! GEORGE! THAT IS ENOUGH! YOUR SHOULD BE PROUD FOR…" Mrs Weasley ranted but by now, Harry had tuned out whatever noise they were making. It was a typical day in the Weasley household.
Name: Harry James Potter
House: Gryffindor
Harry James Potter, we are pleased to inform you that, from your Ordinary Wizarding Level, you have attained seven O.W.Ls. Below is a list of the grades for each subject.
Transfiguration O
Charms E
Divination D
Defence Against Dark Arts O
Herbology A
Care for Magical Creatures E
Potions E
History of Magic D
Astronomy A
As you can see, you have attained seven O.W.L.s. Congratulations, Mr Potter. Attached is a list of necessary materials you will have to obtain for the respective subjects. We hope to see you soon.
Albus Dumbledore
Headmaster of Hogwarts
A genuine smile split Harry's face. Ok, he wasn't elated, but his grades were really quite good considering the effort he actually put into studying, what with all the nightmares and visions last year.
"YES! Six O.W.Ls! Merlin, this is great!" Ron exclaimed, standing up and doing a little victory dance, his meal, for the moment, forgotten.
Hermione, however, had yet to open her letter. She looked at it with a trembling lip, and was barely holding it by the tip of her index finger and thumb. She removed the seal and got took the parchment out, but before her eyes could fix properly on the paper, a pair of hands grabbed it from her.
"Just as expected."
"O, O, O, and another goodness-knows how many following that."
"Ah, but wait. What is this I see…"
"Merlin! Fred, she only got Exceeding Expectations for Defence!"
"Tis the apocalypse! Hermione Granger got something below Outstanding!"
The subject of the twins' teasing was torn between gladness and frustration. At the current moment, she was infuriated with the two red-heads who had taken her report card, and she could do nothing to get it back. On the other hand, she was pleased of her grades, though her score for Defence dampened her spirits. Slightly.
The problem-at-hand, however, was quickly resolved as Mrs Weasley summoned the parchment from George's hand and gave it to Hermione, who thanked the matriarch.
"Ok, as we said earlier, we'll be going to Diagon Alley today. Looks like we have a lot of books to get and since your will also have to get new robes and potion ingredients…" Mrs Weasley announced, but Harry momentarily blanked out.
"I got an 'E' for Potions. Snape only takes students who get an 'O'." he realised with a numbing jolt. Charlie's voice broke his thoughts
"Oh yeah, Professor McGonagall wanted me to tell Harry and Ron that they will be taking Potions this year." The dragon-handler said as he turned to face the two of them. "She didn't tell me why, though, but I think you shouldn't expect too many people to share your misfortune of being in Snape's class for another two years." He smirked.
Harry didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. By taking Potions to N.E.W.T level he could fulfil his dream of being an auror. More importantly, he probably needed to help of some potions to defeat Voldemort; he could never take down the Dark Lord using spells alone. Of course, it just so happened that the Potions teacher was among the likes of Lockhart and Umbridge when it came to Most-Hated teachers of all time. Ah yes, Snape's lessons were gloriously awful and one could easily expect the Gryffindor rubies to vanish from the container used to mark House points.
"Come on now, finish your lunch then get ready for shopping, children."
Harry, along with Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George, quickly gobbled Mrs Weasley's sumptuous meal then headed upstairs, where they got dressed, took what they needed before heading downstairs where they flooed to The Leaky Cauldron, leaving Mrs Weasley behind to attend to housework.
Upon reaching Diagon Alley, they made a list of places that they were going to, as well as a stern admonition from Mr Weasley to be careful and stick around Bill, Charlie and himself. Harry decided that he'd have to pay Gringotts a visit later, though he supposed that the gold he had with him would suffice for now. They then cheerfully went to Flourish and Botts to get the books they needed. All in all it was a simple affair, if not for the fact that Hermione was still considering getting more unnecessary books long after everyone was done getting their extra ones.
After shrinking the books, they got potion ingredients, where the twins managed to sneak a few potion ingredients for them to fool around with for their joke shop. They were about to leave the shop when they chanced upon a particular fair-haired boy a few feet away.
"Ugh! Look! It's Potter and Granger with the Weasels. And I was hoping not to see you until school. That is, if they accepted you in the first place." Came a familiar sneer.
All nine members of the party spun their head to see Malfoy with Crabbe, Goyle and a few other thugs.
"SHUT UP, FERRET! WE'RE NOT SCARED OF YOU AND YOUR GOONS!" Ron yelled back.
"Is that so, Weasel? I heard from my father that your got yourselves into deep trouble with the Ministry a few months ago." Draco smirked. "I'm beginning to wonder how fast it would take for you to die once you lose your Gryffindor luck and the over-protective Dumbledore always coming to save your precious asses."
"Why you-" Fred and George muttered before rising to attack him, but were restrained by their father and two older brothers.
"Leave him alone. There are more ways to get even then by giving him a black-eye which can be healed at St Mungo's." Bill said, holding tightly on to Fred's shoulder. "Besides, I'm sure we need to teach him a bit of humility; starting with his father, who he seems to hide behind every time he sees a beetle."
Suddenly Malfoy's face contorted into something between fury and sorrow. "This has nothing to do with my father. I don't hide behind him, and I don't admire him either." He spat. "He and I are different, but at least I'm not an impulsive idiot like you."
With that, he stalked off, trailed by his entourage.
"Annoying effing bugger! Wait till I'm of age to use magic…oh, he'll pay, I'm sure…" Ron was muttering, earning him a reproving look from Hermione.
Harry was momentarily tuned out to what Malfoy had said. There was just something…strange, about it all. There was most certainly trouble in the air. Why was Malfoy with so many bodyguards? Why did he appear so downcast when…what was it? Talking about his father? Who are those people? Never seen them in Hogwarts before…
Wait…something seriously isn't right. There have been no major attacks by Voldemort so far…wouldn't put it past him to attack now, when most students would be coming to purchase their stuff. By on your guard, Harry. You're endangering all of your friends by being with them, might as well make it up to them by protecting them.
So he carried on mutely with the rest of them towards Madam Malkin's to get some new robes, failing to notice Ginny's gaze on him.
"Oh great, he's shutting himself out again." She thought. "Bloody idiot will probably think of some way to be noble and save whoever doesn't need to be saved."
Just outside the clothing store, however, a red light flew from behind them and missed Mr Weasley by inches. All of them immediately ducked behind whatever object they could find which was large enough, except Harry, who had already whipped out his wand and was dealing out hexes and curses at the dozen or so black cloaked wizards.
"Well, well, we meet again, Potter. Too bad I've killed your godfather, now it looks like I need to dispose of another of your friends." Shouted Bellatrix Lestrange before shooting a Cruciatus Curse at Harry, who jumped out of the way behind a pillar.
"Damn you, Lestrange!" He roared, before spraying stunners, disarmers and nets at the assembled Death Eaters, who were now wreaking havoc in Diagon Alley.
One Death Eater fell as Harry's stunner hit him while he was busy tormenting a passer-by. The Weasleys and Hermione soon entered the fray and sent more spells towards the Death Eaters who had a tough time repelling them. After about a minute of fighting, neither side had any more casualties.
At that moment however, a Cruciatus hit Fred from behind, causing him to howl in agony. Spinning his head, Harry saw that a nearby mew contained another five more Death Eaters heading towards them, spells about to fly from their wands.
Cruel laughter rang in his ears as the voice of Lucius Malfoy infuriated him to the point of uncontrollable rage.
"Ah, how sweet the sound of a tortured Weasel. Then again, I suppose that is what happens to Mudbloods and blood-traitors." Said the Malfoy patriarch.
Fury consumed Harry. He felt like a werewolf, feral and rabid, without a control of anything he was doing. Spells and hexes of all kinds which he had read of in the book he had been reading over the past week flew at the masked figures. If he had been paying more attention, he would have realised that the toe-cooling jinx did serve well; the foe didn't know what it was, so their only option was to dodge, preventing them from attacking.
Spell after spell was unleashed on the five Death Eaters. Harry subconsciously noticed that the fight with the first group of Death Eaters was still going on around him, but his position prevented him from getting hit easily.
To Lucius Malfoy's great misfortune, however, the mew prevented a strategic challenge in the sense that there was little mobility, and dodging was near impossible. This allowed Harry's relentless tirade of spells to press them further and further back.
Harry cast tirelessly. In normal circumstances, he would be exhausted by now, and he could hear friend and Death Eater alike losing their fervour for battle. Yet his own words were shouted insanely from his mouth.
"Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Incendio! Orguati! Petrificus Totalus! Stupefy! Incendi! Impedimenta!"
After another ten minutes or so, Harry numbly realised that all five Death Eaters were down, stunned, and or burned. Not stopping for breath, he spun around to face the half dozen Death Eaters in the plaza, who were facing off twice their number of aurors.
"Forget the stupid thing! Let's go!" shrilled a voice from the centre of the Death Eaters, before he, followed by another three of his companions, took a portkey which took them out of the mayhem, leaving Bellatrix Lestrange with another Death Eater who was barely strong enough to stay on his feet.
"I have failed the Dark Lord before! I will not do so again!" Sirius' murderer screamed, killing an auror in the process with a cutting curse.
The moment the deadly spell reached the auror, Harry's rabid streak took over. Running inside the circle of aurors surrounding the Death Eaters, he began to duel with the woman he had chased down the Ministry so many months ago.
"Expelliarmus!" He yelled.
"Protego! Crucio!" She returned.
Harry leapt away from the curse. "Impedimenta! Expelliarmus! Stupefy!"
"Sectumsempera! Imperio!"
Balls and streaks of different hues flashed between the two, both the other Death Eater and the aurors fearing to help out should their spell accidentally hit their ally. As Harry and Lestrange jumped from place to place, ducking and rolling once in a while, their focus permanently on the other.
It lasted for somewhere near three minutes, before Bellatrix sent a violet ball hurtling towards Harry, who tried to use the Protego charm against it. The complex Strangling curse, however, broke through the shield and sent Harry falling to the floor, groping his neck.
The aurors quickly dealt with the two Death Eaters, who were too spent to deal with the Boy-Who-Lived before the wizards could stun them. Harry was brought to St. Mungo's, while the Weasleys and Hermione were recuperating and being attended to by some Healers.
All around them, shops and houses were ruined as spells and debris flew into walls and through windows. It wasn't completely desolate, but many were injured and the area was walled off with a shield by the aurors.
Ron had procured a bash in the head, among with several wounds on his limbs, as well as a rather deep gash on his back. Hermione was better off, with only a few bruises dealt by stunning curses, though she did have the trauma of being attacked by the Strangling curse. Bill and Charlie were quite bad off, with Cutting curses being used on them several times. They had to be sent to St. Mungo's, and were currently unconscious. Fred had a twisted ankle which had kept him out from the battle, while George had a few fractured bones and bloody scratches while protecting his twin. Mr Weasley was suffering quite badly with a Cruciatus curse being used on him for a brief second during the fight, but was otherwise fine and conscious. Ginny had a broken rib as she was tossed aside by an Imploding spell, and received many cuts and bruises. She, like her two eldest brothers, had to be sent to the Magical Hospital, but was not an emergency case.
Of course, Mrs Weasley, upon hearing the news, was hysterical. When Lupin and Tonks got to the Burrow, she was weeping endlessly on her chair, listening to a report of the attack.
Werewolf and auror both stepped in after failing to receive a response to their knock.
"…and it appears that our young hero, Harry Potter, was more badly hurt than we expected, and is critical condition at St. Mungo's right now…" said a reporter from the radio.
Lupin went to turn the radio off while Tonks greet Mrs Weasley, who startled upon seeing the two visitors. She was visibly shaken, and the auror got her to sit down while the werewolf and she went to a nearby couch.
"Oh! They attacked them didn't they? My poor babies, ambushed by D-D-Death Eaters without me to p-p-protect them…" the red-head sobbed.
"Molly, it's ok. No one died, and quite frankly, they all duelled quite well." Lupin said in a firm voice.
"Bill and Charlie are in critical condition, but they will definitely survive. Ginny and Ron both suffered a few cuts and broken bones, but were mostly healed by the Healer paramedics. Arthur was…quite bad off, but he's a strong man, as you well know, he'll live." Tonks chipped in.
At this, Molly got better control of her voice. "I'm going to see them now. Are you to coming with me?" She asked in her firm yet motherly voice.
The two visitors nodded in agreement, and they all flooed to St. Mungo's where they approached the clerk at the counter, who directed them to Spell-Related Ailments: Critical Condition where Harry, Bill and Charlie were. Ron, Hermione, Ginny, the twins and Mr Weasley were all bandaged and still needed to take some potions but were in the ward as well.
The moment Mrs Weasley saw the whole company in the ward, she rushed to hug her two youngest children and Hermione. She stayed like that for about ten seconds, releasing her flood of relief and sadness through her sobbing. She then proceeded to the rest of the family until she saw her two eldest sons and Harry lying on their respective wards.
She turned to the nurse. "Will they be alright?"
"Certainly. Harry might even wake up later today. They should all be up and about in three days time."
Molly then faced her family. "How did it happen?"
They then recounted what happened in Diagon Alley, filling up for where the other was too busy hiding. Mrs Weasley was amazed by what the raven-haired boy lying on the hospital bed had done.
"Oh hiya guys…" Harry moaned from his bed, after a few minutes of silence from the people gathered around him.
"HARRY!" they all shrilled, before Ginny and Hermione hugged him tightly, and only released when Mrs Weasley gave her famous bear-crush. Harry whimpered slightly but otherwise smiled.
"How long have I been out?"
"Not very. Only about two hours or so. Actually the mediwitches only expected you to be up at about ten or so." Hermione answered happily.
Harry nodded his head slowly, a puzzled expression forming on his face.
"Harry, I don't want to break this nice reunion, but we heard from several witnesses and we saw for ourselves that you did a fancy bit of spellwork there." Tonks said solemnly. "You cast numerous spells at once and did almost non-stop casting for around fifteen minutes. Some aurors can't even do that."
Harry frowned. "I-I don't know. I just saw the five Death Eaters over there and…I don't know. I got so angry that I just shot everything I had."
He looked around. "Where's Dumbledore?"
"Order business." Lupin promptly replied.
"What happened to the Death Eaters?"
"Most were caught. Bellatrix and Rudolphus Lestrange, who were the two fools who remained, were captured. Crabbe and Goyle's dads were also caught, along with some other idiots I can't remember. All have or are being interrogated and will be shipped to Azkaban." Mr Weasley said.
Harry once again nodded, before the gathered company began engaging in conversation about the attack. Harry wasn't particularly interested, and instead kept silent.
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"Lucius…I am disappointed…" The Dark Lord said in a shadowy corner, perched on an ebony gothic-style throne.
Draco was watching his father kneeling in front of Voldemort silently, and felt no hurt or grief towards his father's failure.
"Lucius…you know what happens to people who fail…"
"Yes, Dark Lord. It will never happen again."
"Hmm…is that so? I seem to remember you saying something similar only a few months ago. Yes…the incident at the Ministry…"
"Dark Lord, I beg you, I will not fail you again. If I do, you will surely kill me."
"Yes, Lucius…but do you remember what happened after the Ministry incident? Yes, I used the Cruciatus on you. Now, why don't I make things a bit more interesting?" The faceless man on the throne moved slightly. "Draco, come here."
Draco reluctantly obeyed, fearing the worst.
"Draco, Draco, Draco…your father seems numbed to his own failure. He never corrects his mistakes when he is tortured. Now, the son must pay for his father's failure. CRUCIO!"
Draco shrieked in agony as burning coals were dumped on him, and rusty knives pierced his skin. He could vaguely make out the conversation happening around him.
"Lucius, say the word, and I will stop tormenting your son. Choose, save your son and disobey me, or show true servanthood."
"Dark Lord, I will follow you to the end." The fair-haired man said calmly, even as his son's screams echoed through the halls. "I do not love my wife's son, he is a stranger to me."
The Cruciatus Curse was lifted from Draco, who rolled on the floor pitifully.
"Very well, Lucius, I will hold you to your word. Take care of that child of yours…grow him into an obedient Death Eater. Until I tell you otherwise, that shall be your new quest."
"Yes, My Lord."
"Good, now go."
Lucius Malfoy grabbed his son's arm and dragged him out, where they apparated back to Malfoy Manor.
Draco obeyed his father numbly, the pain from the Cruciatus still stinging his skin. The very air seemed to torment him at that moment, making the slightest breeze and influx of pain.
If that's what you want, Lucius, then so be it. I am not your son. If you love being the Dark Lord's servant so much, even after he has tortured you and your family, then I do not know you. If you want to side with an insane overlord who will never show mercy and sympathy or share power, then you are a fool.
It was time to take a more active role in this war, for Draco Malfoy. Time to gain power.
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