Chapter Thirty Nine: Lessons and Horcruxes
Blaise was waiting nervously outside the Ravenclaw common room for Hermione to come out. He had something to ask her and he wasn't sure if it would go over very well. Finally Hermione walked out and stopped upon seeing who was waiting for her.
"Hi Blaise. How are you?"
Blaise swallowed. "Fine Hermione. Um, can we go somewhere less public? I want to ask you something but not here."
Hermione frowned, puzzled, but agreed. The two walked outside in relative silence, although it was a comfortable one. They reached the spot where the Avengers usually sat and flopped down on the grass. Hermione saw that Blaise was nervous about something and put her hand on his, surprised to feel him flinch slightly.
"What is it Blaise? I'm not about to bite you know" she said with a slight grin.
Blaise smiled back and nodded. "OK. Um, you know how Harry and Daphne have been together unofficially for a while now. And Draco has his own girlfriend, Nora Moon." Hermione nodded to show she understood. "Well, you and I are the only unattached ones. And, well, I, I've started to like you as more than just a friend."
Hermione looked at Blaise. "You've started to think of me as a potential girlfriend?" she queried. Blaise nodded, not quite able to meet her eyes. Hermione smiled. "What do your parents think about this? I mean, you're a pureblood, and I'm a Muggleborn."
Blaise looked up at her, a fierce determination in his gaze. "My parents don't care about that sort of thing Hermione. Neither do I. You're a powerful and intelligent witch; don't let anyone tell you otherwise." His gaze softened and he reached out and took her hand, inwardly jumping in delight when she didn't pull away.
"My parents are neutral on the blood issue. They may be supporters of the Dark Lord but they really only care about how magically powerful a person is. They don't mix with Muggles a lot but they don't actively dislike them. They just want our worlds to be separate. To them, a witch is a witch, no matter her background." Looking away for a minute he gathered his courage before looking back at Hermione. "I know you probably don't feel the same way about me that I do about you but I'd like a chance to change that. If you don't feel the same way at the end of next year then I'll step back and let you choose who you want to be with. Is that OK?"
Hermione was in shock. Blaise was the quiet one of the Avengers and he didn't often give many hints as to how he was feeling. She supposed she should have noticed, as Blaise had been looking at her across the Great Hall at meals, had popped up wherever she was, and had sat next to her in classes for a while now, but she had just thought that he was being friendly.
"Um, Blaise, I, I don't really know what to say. I don't yet feel the same way, you're right about that but, I'm amenable to letting you change my mind." She then leaned forward and rather awkwardly gave him a quick hug. She felt his arms go round her and they stayed that way for a brief time. When they pulled away from each other both were smiling.
"Thank you" Blaise said as he rose, before offering his hand to pull Hermione to her feet. Daringly, he gave her a quick kiss before silently conjuring a rose and presenting it to her. Blushing slightly, Hermione took it and conjured a vase, putting the rose in it.
"Thank you Blaise" she said. The two walked back to the castle, neither noticing when their hands intertwined.
They were met at the front door by Draco and Nora. The two of them had got together during Raiden's unfortunate experience with the Draught of Living Death, and their relationship had progressed slowly but smoothly from there. There were the occasional arguments but they got over them.
"Hey guys" Draco said cheerfully. He noticed their intertwined hands and raised one eyebrow. "So the two of you finally got together huh? When did this happen may I ask and has anyone informed Harry?"
"For your information we aren't together yet, I'm going to court her and see if I can get her to fall in love with me by the end of next year" Blaise replied coolly. "As for informing Harry, we haven't had the chance seeing that he's nowhere to be found. I haven't seen him at all today actually, where is he?"
"He's with the Headmaster, having lessons in wandless magic" Nora answered. She blushed slightly under the combined gazes of the three Avengers and continued, "He told me that the Headmaster thinks that he's in danger from our Lord's new apprentice and wants to train him in wandless magic. I don't know why though, isn't Harry as good with wandless magic as he is with his wand?"
Draco shushed her quickly. "Yes he is Nora but you can't let anyone else know that. It's our little secret among the Avengers. As for his being in danger, I predict that if Harry ever meets this apprentice, he'll turn him into dust."
Nora nodded, happy with this explanation, but Blaise, Hermione and Draco all shared a look. It was time to talk to Harry about bringing the secret keeping parchment out again and possibly inducting Nora into the grand secret. She'd shown Draco she could be trusted and with the parchment, she wouldn't be able to betray them anyway.
Up in Dumbledore's office, Raiden was struggling to hold in his power. Voldemort had been right; it was very difficult to make it look like he was struggling with the exercise that the Headmaster had set him, when in reality he could do it in his sleep.
The exercise was to levitate a feather wandlessly, and Raiden was growing frustrated. Suddenly he had an idea. With a small growl he sent the feather rocketing towards the ceiling, and once there it burst into flames. Raiden collapsed forward in his seat, and used his magic to make sweat appear on his face.
Dumbledore looked at the smoking feather now embedded in his ceiling and then back at Raiden. "That's very good for a first attempt Mr Potter, but I don't think that I asked you to set it on fire."
Raiden glared at him. "I lost control of my magic. This is very difficult sir, and as my body is currently preparing itself for my magical maturity this coming summer I'm getting power spikes as well."
Dumbledore nodded calmly. "Very well then. I won't ask any more of you today. Keep practicing your concentration exercises, and focus on your inner magic. Those skills are essential to grasping wandless magic completely. Go and have some food, recover some energy."
Raiden got all the way to the bottom of the staircase before he allowed himself to smirk. He'd accomplished his goal; he'd made Dumbledore think that he wasn't very good with wandless magic. 'Now to just keep having tiny improvements each week, with a setback every so often' he mused as he ran to join his friends and tell them what had happened.
He ran into them in the Great Hall, and flopped down on the bench beside Draco. "Hey guys, what's going on" he panted.
Draco eyed him and Daphne draped an arm round his shoulders. "We're fine Harry, how are you? You seem a bit out of breath" Draco observed. Raiden snorted.
"Yeah well, you try doing wandless magic for several hours and then tell me how you feel. It's exhausting" he complained. He was doing this for Nora's benefit, as he didn't know where she stood on the trustworthiness scale. He noticed the other Avengers looking at each other and scowled.
"OK what's going on that you lot haven't told me" he demanded.
Blaise was the one to answer him as the others wouldn't meet his eyes. "Um, Harry, you remember that secret we all swore to keep, well, we'd like Nora to be inducted into it too."
Harry looked at Draco, who was currently holding Nora's hand, and then at Blaise who had unconsciously grasped Hermione's hand as well. "Can she be trusted?" he asked, looking straight at Nora, and using some passive Legilemency on her. Snape had taught him how to do it during the holidays, and it had greatly helped with discerning who was truly on his side or not.
"Yes I can be Harry" Nora replied, and Raiden withdrew from her mind, satisfied that she wouldn't betray them. Then again, once she signed the parchment, she couldn't betray them anyway.
"Fine, we'll meet in the dormitory tonight after dinner" Raiden decided and stood up. "I'm going for a walk, Daphne, would you mind coming with me?" Daphne immediately stood and when the rest of the Avengers would have stood as well, Raiden gave a minute shake of his head. He wanted to do this properly.
Daphne was confused. She'd seen Raiden receive a letter from an owl that she recognized as her family's owl. He'd seemed pleased at the contents, and the next time they went to Hogsmeade he'd disappeared for a brief period, and when he'd reappeared he'd been holding a nondescript bag which he had not let out of his sight since. Raiden was leading her further from the school and she was just starting to get worried when he stopped.
"Um, Raiden, where are we?" she asked. Raiden looked round at the clearing they were in. It was surrounded by trees that formed a green canopy up above, through which a single ray of sunlight was gleaming. A small waterfall trickled down some rocks into a pool nearby and there were several unicorns that he could spot hiding amongst the trees. He smiled at his girlfriend and led her into the sunlight.
"I spent several weeks deciding how to do this Daphne. I would have written you a poem but we both know I suck at that. My singing is even worse so I looked for a good spot that would be memorable for you, for both of us. That letter that you saw me get from your family, and my disappearance in Hogsmeade, were both leading up to this. Leaving Daphne to stand in the sunlight, Raiden knelt down on one knee and pulled a small box from his pocket.
"Daphne Marie Greengrass, will you marry me when we leave school?"
Daphne was stunned; there was no other word for it. She knew that Raiden loved her, but had thought that his Dark Arts training would have extinguished it. She stood there for long enough without answering that Raiden got the wrong idea. Shoulders slumping slightly he got up and turned away.
"I knew it might have been too soon, but Daph, you could just say that" he muttered. Daphen snapped out of her stupor and realized that Raiden had taken her silence the wrong way. Taking three steps forward she yanked him back to stand with her in the sunlight and then kissed him.
"Yes" she said before kissing him again.
Raiden stood stock still as her answer penetrated his brain. "You, you mean it?" he asked as his arms came up to hold her.
Daphne pulled away long enough to say, "Yes you Gryffindor in Slytherin clothing, I mean it! I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
Raiden chuckled before saying, "Gryffindor in Slytherin clothing? What's that supposed to mean?"
Daphne smirked. "What I mean, my dear Dark Apprentice, is that no matter how close you are to our Lord, no matter what you've done, your parents still shine through in you. You might have been our Lord's apprentice since you were eight but at your core, you are still Light. And that is what our world needs, a leader who isn't Light, or Dark, but one who understands both. And that person, my dear Raiden, is you."
"First my master now you. Both of you seem to think that I'm going to save the Wizarding World" Raiden muttered.
Daphne nodded. "We do. If you hadn't managed to change our Lord's mind on the Muggleborns then he would be running amok, creating chaos and anarchy right now. Instead, your ideas have led him to do a relatively peaceful takeover, with only minimum deaths on either side. Dumbledore is our only real enemy now, with the Ministry slowly falling under our control."
Raiden smirked. "Yes that's true. Do you have any plans for Christmas?" Daphne shook her head. "Well, do you want to spend it at Malfoy Manor with me? Voldemort will also be there, as will Hermione and the rest of the Avengers."
Daphne thought for a minute. "What about my parents?" Raiden smiled.
"We can't have a proper engagement announcement without them there can we?" he replied with a smirk. Daphne merely kissed him once more and arm in arm they began to walk back to the school. Daphne suddenly stopped and stared at her left hand in shock.
"What is it?" Raiden asked. Daphne turned to him.
"In all that confusion over my answer back there Potter, you forgot one important thing." Raiden raised an eyebrow and then winced when Daphne shook her finger in his face and said, "You forgot to put the ring on my finger!"
He blinked, she was quite right. Hastily he pulled it back out of his pocket and put it on, seeing Daphne sigh in contentment as it settled in it's rightful place. They looked up as there was a trill of song above them. Fawkes flew round their heads twice, singing a joyful song before disappearing.
"Well, at least we've got the approval of Dumbledore's phoenix" Daphne joked as they walked back to Hogwarts. Raiden merely smiled, feeling like nothing on Earth could make him feel down at that moment.
Several weeks later, just before Christmas, Raiden was once again "practicing" wandless magic with the Headmaster. He had "progressed" to being able to banish and summon objects, with a few setbacks to give the illusion that he was still finding it difficult. Dumbledore didn't seem too upset however, and when Raiden had lowered the teacup he was levitating back to the table he leaned forward.
"That's enough for tonight Harry. I was wondering if you'd like to retrieve the locket Horcrux with me." Raiden blinked. "I was under the impression that you'd retrieved it some time ago sir" he replied, and indeed it had been a couple of weeks since Dumbledore had first told him of discovering the fake locket. The Headmaster nodded. "I had planned to but then I was distracted by other affairs here at the school, and with the Ministry. Tonight is the first free night I have had since and I do not wish to waste it. Are you coming?"
Raiden nodded, the instructions from Voldemort surging through his mind. He was to let Dumbledore drink the potion and let him take the locket, while keeping the Inferi at bay. He allowed Dumbledore to Side-Along Apparate him to a clifftop, which he scaled down easily with the help of a few sticking charms on his hands and feet. One hand and foot at a time he climbed down, dissolving and reapplying the charms as he went. He looked rather like a human spider, doing this but he didn't care. Dumbledore floated down past him using a levitation charm and Raiden scowled.
"Showoff" he muttered, just as he reached the bottom. Following Dumbledore into the cave passage he had to admire his master's way of hiding the fake Horcrux. It was ingenious. They got to the edge of the lake and stepped into the boat which carried them to the small island in the middle.
"Now Harry, I want you to drink the potion" Dumbledore instructed.
Raiden looked surprised. "Sir? I thought you wanted me to keep whatever's in that lake at bay while you grab the locket."
Dumbledore shook his head. "No my boy. I can keep them at bay better than you can and the potion won't harm you. Now drink it."
Raiden shook his head in disgust. With a mental thought of 'I am so dead once Voldemort finds out' he sighed and began to drink. Almost immediately, he felt the effects. He groaned, falling to his knees and sensed Dumbledore kneeling beside him. "Make it stop sir" he hissed, feeling thoroughly sick. He saw Dumbledore holding a goblet to his lips. He heard Dumbledore telling him that it would stop as long as he kept drinking, and he managed to force down the potion with the Headmaster's help. It seemed to take ages for the basin to be drained and when it had been, Raiden took the locket and handed it to Dumbledore before collapsing on the ground, shivering. He barely felt Dumbledore lift him up, nor did he remember much of the journey back to Hogwarts. He slid into unconsciousness in the Infirmary minutes after arriving back in the school.
Snape had run all the way to the Infirmary when he heard what Dumbledore had done. 'Forcing the boy to drink that type of potion, what was he thinking' he snarled to himself, shuddering as he imagined Voldemort's reaction. He had known of Voldemort's instructions to Raiden and also knew that the Dark Lord would not look kindly on his apprentice's disobedience, however unwilling it had been. Hurriedly he forced the antidote down the unconscious sixth year's throat and prayed that Raiden would be alright and then quickly wrote a note to Voldemort, explaining the situation, hoping that the Dark Lord would accept it.
It was a tense night for the Avengers, they'd heard what Dumbledore had forced Raiden to do and they all hated him for it. Even Hermione, who normally revered the Headmaster, was heard to mutter in the Slytherin common room that she hoped he choked on his lemon drops. Fawkes too, seemed annoyed with him and hadn't left Raiden's bedside, trilling soothingly to the young wizard whenever he stirred and singing him back to sleep.
Three days later, the day before the students were due to leave for the Christmas holidays, Raiden awoke. He was momentarily disorientated, and then his eyes focused on Daphne, who was sitting by his bed, and then the rest of the Avengers, and Snape who were all seated round him.
"Hi guys" he said in a hoarse voice. Daphne immediately gave him a glass of water and once he'd drunk it he felt better. "Thanks" he said more normally.
"What went wrong Harry? We've heard what happened, but why did you allow it?" Draco asked, his eyes shining with worry for his brother.
Raiden shrugged. "I tried to argue but he's Albus bloody Dumbledore, you think I had any chance of refusing him without blowing my cover? I'm fine; it didn't do any lasting damage."
The students felt the tingling sense of magic enclose them as Snape put up a privacy ward. "You're fine now Mr Potter, but how fine are you going to be when the Dark Lord hears of this? You know he cares about you, as much as he can care about anyone that is."
Raiden winced. "I know, but he'll let me explain, and hopefully he won't curse me too much. When do we leave for Christmas?"
"Tomorrow" Hermione said, and Raiden looked at her. She looked awful, like she hadn't slept at all recently. Looking more closely at her, he noticed that her hand was holding Blaise's and neither of them seemed to mind.
"Something you want to tell me?" he enquired, nodding at the joined hands. He smirked when both Hermione and Blaise blushed slightly. "We're not together yet, he's trying to see if he can get me to fall in love with him" Hermione said, staring at Raiden slightly defiantly.
Raiden shrugged. "Hey, I don't have a problem with it. Congratulations and all that. Go for it. Um, where's Nora?"
"In the common room, we didn't want to do that thing we discussed yesterday here in case of prying eyes and ears" Draco responded, before punching Raiden none too gently in the shoulder.
"Ouch! Dray you prat! What was that for?" Raiden snarled, rubbing his shoulder.
Draco growled. "That was for scaring the life out of us you idiot, and for the thought that we might have to watch the Dark Lord curse you for disobeying him and not be able to interfere. We still haven't forgotten second year you know."
Raiden leant back against his pillows with a sigh. "I know. But I can talk to him in private; I can say that my friends won't take it well if he curses me in public. He's reasonable like that, it'll be OK."
"He curses the Death Eaters in front of each other all the time though" Blaise pointed out. Raiden smirked. "Yes he does. But you forgot one thing, we're not Death Eaters. I'm his apprentice, and you're my group, not his, therefore you don't come to general meetings. He will meet with all of us as a full group at New Year's, to discuss our aims for the rest of our time at Hogwarts. As seventh years next year we'll be perfectly placed to start spreading our network larger and start turning people against Dumbledore, making them see that our plan for the wizarding world is far better than his. We have our people in key positions in the Ministry already, poised to act at the right time, and our new policies as it were are ready to be made public, again at the right time. Everything is falling into place."
The Avengers all gave various versions of a smile as they realized that what Raiden was saying was true. They then quietly left him to sleep, Daphne leaning down to kiss him as she left, all of them thinking about their upcoming meeting with Voldemort which would be the first full meeting of the Avengers, albeit without Sirius as he was still trapped in limbo behind the Veil in the Department of Mysteries.
At Riddle Manor, Voldemort had received the note and was thinking about the current condition of his apprentice. He wasn't happy that Raiden had technically disobeyed him; however he could see that Raiden hadn't had much choice. Sighing, he decided to let it go, Raiden hadn't had a choice, and it gave both of them more reason to hate Dumbledore, as well as more ammunition for the degrading of Dumbledore's reputation in the eyes of the public when their plans were unveiled.
Up in Dumbledore's office, Fawkes trilled quietly. The phoenix could sense that the world was changing, and that the changes revolved round the young wizard that he'd taken a liking to. One thing was certain – Fawkes wouldn't allow Dumbledore to hurt his "fledgling" again.