DISCLAIMER: Everything belongs to J.K.Rowling. The part about druidess Cliodna is partly from the Harry Potter lexicon and partly made up by me.
-Chapter Eighteen-
The stars had hid their fires bright,
Gliding came the lamp-less night
Like a shadowy prowler.
The misty cliffs in darkness cloaked,
Below, the moor nightmares evoked,
The breeze breathed of black power.
Upon the Heath
"Do you think we should go back and see…?" Hermione asked anxiously.
Harry could not make up his mind. He should go and help Neville, he wanted to, but what if his going back disturbed the Order? He knew Moody had planted a foe-trapper in the house that would capture the enemies as soon as he cast a charm. He was supposed to stay out of this. But, on the other hand, Neville had not returned, so a part of the plan had already gone wrong, his going couldn't make it worse, could it?
"Listen," he said, turning to his friends, "I am going to get Neville, you stay here."
"But Harry, " Ginny began indignantly, but Harry cut her off.
"You know you are not supposed to be there, Ginny."
"But so are you -------" Luna pointed out calmly.
"I know." Harry replied. "I won't be seen. Accio cloak."
And his silvery cloak came flying down to him from his room. He put it on carefully; making sure no part of him was visible, and then focused his mind on the Burrow.
The aurors had already arrived. Harry spotted Dawlish, the man who had come to arrest Dumbledore two years ago. He was trying to battle two deatheaters at once, and by the look of it, was not having a particularly easy time. Harry sent two quick stunners after the deatheaters and moved away from the spot, though there were so many curses flying around that nobody noticed the two spells that came from an invisible person. Harry ran through the dwelling crowd, ducking people and hexes all the way. There was Remus, Bill and Tonks, trying to hold Voldemort. Harry's throat was dry. Why hadn't Moody cast the charm yet? And where was Neville? He got his answer in the landing below the stairs and what he saw made his heart stop. Neville was lying in a pool of blood, with a group of four deatheaters standing over him. Moody was there alone, trying to save Neville, but his wooden leg has caught fire and he was having difficulty standing. Those four were howling with laugh. Harry had no trouble recognizing their leader-Bellatrix Lestrange. Hatred, wild, blind hatred filled him. Forgetting he was invisible, he ran toward them, shouting curses. The deatheaters heard his voice and easily blocked them.
"Hiding, baby Harry?" snickered Lestrange. Harry threw off his cloak.
" Professor Moody, run! I will hold them."
"Listen to him, this half- blood brat can hold us off!" said a man's voice from under a hood.
"Go, sir." Harry said again.
In a fraction of a second, Moody was gone and Harry fell on his back as excruciating pain hit him. Suddenly the pain stopped and Harry rose on his feet, shaking with anger and pain. Neville had kicked Lestrange with all his strength, making her trip but she sprang back to her feet and struck Neville with a slashing curse.
"That will take care of ------"
A loud bang drowned the rest of her words. Then came the cold voice Harry knew so well, "we must leave Bella."
Voldemort was gone and his servants followed.
Harry bent over the unconscious form of Neville. "Neville, are you okay? Neville? Remus! Tonks! Come here and help."
The order hurried forwards while the aurors from the ministry was rounding up on the deatheaters Moody had managed to capture. Harry stared at the wreckage which had been a happy home a few hours ago. Mrs. Weasley's clock was lying smashed on the floor, dishes were broken, curtains burnt, windows hanging from the frames and Neville------. Neville was lying unconscious in his own blood, and the cream from Harry's melted cake was floating in that blood. Perhaps all of it could be put back in order, Neville would be okay, but it was hard not to feel sick at the sight that lay before them.
"Not too bad." He heard Bill saying, " It needs a little cleaning and repairing. How many did we manage to catch, Tonks?"
Harry turned. A group of hooded deatheaters was lying on the floor, as if bound by invisible chords. Dumbledore had used just one spell to do this, two years ago in the ministry. Moody had used a foe-trapper, one of his dark-detector tools that needed two hours to be planted, for the same.
"I think Voldemort sensed the foe-catcher." Moody said in a worried tone.
"What took you so long to activate it?" Remus asked.
"It was the Longbottom kid." Moody growled, "that Lestrange woman shouted something to him and he ran towards her. When I tried to stop him he pushed me, knocking my wand off."
Nobody spoke for a while. Then Remus kneeled down on the floor and felt Neville's pulse.
"He will be all right." He replied to Harry's silent query.
-XXX-
"What are you playing at, Malfoy?" The question came in a low, deadly whisper.
Draco trembled from head to foot before him.
"Master, ----I don't understand. I told you they were having a Birthday Party."
"You didn't tell me the whole order would be there. You didn't tell me there would be a foe-trapper in place. Six of my servants got arrested due to your fault."
Draco silently cursed Potter. He and his stupid ideas! "Master, I didn't know what security measures they were going to take. I reported what I heard --"
An invisible whip hit his face like lightning.
"Master!" he gasped, " Master, those who have been arrested -----what if they tell the Ministry that I am your spy?"
A high cold laugh filled the room.
"Malfoy, none of those arrested are part of my inner circle. If they had known anything of importance, they would have been dead now. You may leave now. I expect better service in future."
"Yes, Master." Draco murmured, and kissing the hem of his robe, left the room to return to headquarters.
-XXX-
The ballroom at Grimmauld Place had been transformed into DA Headquarters. Harry couldn't help feeling grateful towards Dobby for bringing all the books on dark arts and the Hogwarts founders as well as the dark detectors from the Room of Requirement to this place. It was a huge task, and Harry would never have managed it.
"We stopped at patronuses. Do we begin there, Harry?" Harry turned to look at Neville. He still had a swollen temple and a bruised upper lip, but his face was shining with eagerness.
"We will learn more hexes, but we also need to do some other work." He said.
"Like what?" Luna asked. Ron and Hermione looked suddenly alert. "Harry, are you sure…" whispered Ron from his side.
"We need them to help, Ron, we will never manage all this alone." He whispered back to him. Ginny was watching them carefully.
"Right,' he said, turning back to Neville, Luna and Ginny, "we want you to look up old records and compile a list of every raid conducted by Voldemort or by his deatheaters. You can also mention those cases where Voldemort had been suspected, or cases of unsolved murders. Hermione has got a collection of old Daily Prophets of the last fifty years and we have to divide them amongst ourselves and work."
The three looked taken aback at this.
"Harry, can I ask what this is about?" Ginny asked.
"We are trying to find a pattern of his work, that's all. I think this will help to fight him. " Hermione spoke quickly.
"For that we need to look up fifty years' records?" asked Luna, sounding vaguely surprised.
"Well…" Harry began, but Neville spoke before he had decided what to say.
"If Harry thinks this will help, I think we should try and help him." He said.
"Thanks, Neville. Shall we start, then?" Harry asked.
"And I think we should sign this parchment," said Hermione, holding up a sheet, "to keep this a secret between the six of us.
"It's like the one you made us sign in the first DA meeting in Hogsmeade?" asked Luna curiously. "I think Marietta looked very interesting."
As soon as Neville, Luna and Ginny started working, Hermione pulled Ron and Harry aside.
"Listen, I have been thinking-why did Voldemort kill Fortesque?"
"Well, because he was looking for Ravenclaw's coat of mail and that is a horcrux." Harry answered. He couldn't understand why Hermione was asking this question when they had already discussed it.
"Yes, but Fortesque was a veroudostoff, he would look for it in places where History books would lead him. He couldn't have known where Voldemort had hidden it after stealing it."
"Maybe Voldemort was just afraid…" Harry began uncertainly, Hermione was not suggesting what he thought she was, was she?
"Or maybe Voldemort hid the horcrux where he found it, stupid thing to do, really." completed Ron.
"Which means we need to read up on Rowena Ravenclaw." Hermione declared, brandishing her wand and three heavy books came flying towards them from the shelves.
Rowena Ravenclaw was an especially gifted witch and her special genius was in charms. She invented many new spells, and added charms to various potions….
Rowena had a pet eagle which, like her mistress had great magical powers. Her name was Cealthow…
Her favourite fruits were blueberries and her favourite dish…
Harry was going mad. Who would want to know all this? Sighing, he went back to the book.
Rowena Ravenclaw was a warrior sorceress and was famous for her victories.
Well, he had guessed that. Why else would she have a coat of mail? He needed to find something about the coat of mail, something, anything… he found it:
"Look here," he whispered excitedly, "I found something." The other two leaned their head over the book and Hermione read it out.
During a peace-treaty between goblins and wizards, Ravenclaw represented Hogwarts along with Godric Gryffindor. In that convention, as a sign of friendship, Welland the famous goblin weaponsmith is said to have presented Gryffindor with a sword and Ravenclaw with a coat of mail. Welland's weapons were famous for their invincibility. It was said that no other weapon could stand against a sword or shield made by him. Only a weapon crafted by Welland could match…
"Oh no, this goes on about Welland, and nothing more about the mail." Hermione said in a disappointed voice.
Ron scanned the pages.
"Well, it looks like she took it back to Hogwarts with her."
"It's not in Hogwarts any more." Harry said. "Dumbledore would have known if it was there."
About half an hour later, Hermione found something and read it out to them.
During one of her later travels, Ravenclaw's coat of mail was stolen. The next day, she was seriously wounded in a battle and discovered by a group of druids who carried her to their school which was located nearby. There she was healed by the young and beautiful druidess chief Cliodna. Under Cliodna's order, the druids retrieved the stolen coat of mail and brought it back. Ravenclaw returned to Hogwarts after this.
"Do you think she gifted Cliodna the coat of mail for saving her life?' Ron asked.
"We have to find that out." Hermione replied. "Now where on earth is Bruaria? Cliodna was a famous witch of course, maybe we should read up on her as well."
"Hang on, " said Harry, "I think Cliodna is there on the chocolate frog cards." He ran back to his room and took out his collection of cards from his trunk. Cliodna was there. One of the firsts he had collected. He took that back to the ballroom. They read it together.
Cliodna was a beautiful maiden of Bruaria, of the kingdom of Wessex, the daughter of a famous druid chief. She was known as the Fairy Queen of the Heath.
Cliodna had three brightly coloured birds, one red with a yellow head, one blue with crimson head and the third yellow with a crimson head. They fed on apples and sang so sweetly that they could soothe the sick to sleep and healed their injuries.
"Wessex?" breathed Harry, "that's a large area, isn't it?"
"It would roughly include the counties of Hampshire, Wiltshire Dorset and Somerset." Hermione rattled off. " I don't know, even Oxfordshire, Devon, Berkshire and Gloucestershire could be part of it.
"Where are we supposed to look, then?" Ron asked.
"I think I've read a book that said something about Cliodna. I will look it up." Hermione replied, " We will have to ask Dobby to get us some more books."
But seven days and about hundred books later, they still had not managed to find anything.
"The Druids are a very secretive group. They don't want others to learn about them. No author seems to have a clue about where and how they live." Hermione said on the seventh evening.
"If you-know-who found out, then it must be somewhere." Ron said.
"I know, but there are thousands of books on druids and druidesses, so-----Harry, where are you going?"
"To find out how the others are doing." He replied.
"You want to check our work, Harry?" Neville asked brightly when Harry approached their table.
"We are through the forties and fifties, Harry." Ginny informed him, "and going halfway through the sixties."
"Can I look at the lists?" Harry asked them.
"Of course." Luna replied brightly, and handed him three notebooks.
An entry towards the end of the first notebook caught his eye.
Fifth November 1949, Dorset: Murder of twenty muggles from the village of Winsferth, who were celebrating Bonfire Night on the heath. No one charged. No motive found.
-XXX-
The evening was slowly blending into night. Darkness evaporated from the brown soil and the scattered furze bushes that appeared to be the only vegetation on that desolate landscape. A cold wind swept across the vast heath, like a sigh deep from the earth's bowels, which sent a wave of shiver through the sole representatives of humanity present on that land.
Harry wrapped his cloak tightly around him and gripped his wand. They had arrived at the place where the murders had been committed nearly fifty years ago. Facing them was the mound the local innkeeper had pointed out as the Black Barrow. It was on top of this barrow that the muggles had assembled to make their bonfire. There was nothing else to be seen anywhere on that heath, but Harry's instinct told him there was magic around.
"Muggle drinks are not bad." Ron remarked, "We ought to return to the Red Lion for another drink after we've found the horcrux."
"You better hope you have to drink nothing worse than ginger-ale." Harry replied grimly. He remembered that terrible drink that Dumbledore had drunk, the drink that Harry made him drink… He firmly pushed the thought away from his mind. He had to find the horcrux.
"Ron, Harry, come here and look." Hermione cried. She was observing some stones that lay around the barrow in her wand light. Harry and Ron went forward for a closer look.
"These are druidical stones Harry, I know they are. I can recognize them because I've read all about them."
"Lumos." Harry and Ron said together. They looked quite ordinary to Harry, but-
"What is this?" he asked, holding up his wand.
In the wand-light, they could see three very tiny birds inscribed on the rock
"Cliodna's birds." Said Hermione.
"Does this mean this is the entrance?" Ron asked.
"Reminds me off the chamber of secrets. It had a snake inscribed at the entrance, remember Harry?"
Harry nodded. He remembered it too well.
Hermione started tapping the birds with her wand, muttering incantations under her breath. Nothing happened.
"You don't know bird language, do you, mate?" Ron asked.
Harry did not reply. He was observing the inscription. It was very well done. Even though it was so small, there were an impression of tremendous force and movement in it. The three birds seemed ready to fly. An idea suddenly occurred to him. He took his wand out and whispered:
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
The three birds leaped out of the stone into life and colour and Harry could only make out a blur of blue, crimson and gold encircling them as they sang their unearthly song, reminding him of Fawkes. The fissure left by them on the rock increased gradually, finally revealing a flight of stairs that went downwards. The birds immediately changed position and zoomed into the fissure.
"Well they are leading us." Harry told his astounded friends.
P.S: Well, this all till I finish my university exams- that's till 12th September! Be patient, don't forget my story, or me and take care! Meanwhile, check my new website(link on my profile) and tell me what you think!