Ch. 16: Plans within plans
Cain Kruspe became a permanent fixture in the room that served as the common area of the islanders. Under the pretence of trying to get information out of them, or keeping an eye on them, he had convinced the headmaster to allow him access to the room, otherwise forbidden to anybody. Only the islanders, Dumbledore and McGonagall, and Kruspe, could step through the door of what the headmaster imagined to be a sort of prison.
Oz didn't particularly mind. He never planned to invite anybody to the only place where he could let his guard down and talk with Gil as though they were friends and not a future duke and a bodyguard. Not to mention that he did appreciate the silence of that room compared to the Great Hall or the Gryffindor common room, or even the corridors and classrooms of the castle. Perhaps he was used to the silence and relative solitude, but the hubbub of the castle was sometimes grating on his nerves.
When they came back from classes, Gilbert was changing the bandages on Break's arm, while the latter was discussing something with Cain. The Defence against the Dark Arts teacher proved to be much nicer than Oz had ever expected, but he still wondered if Break did a good thing telling him all that he did.
'Is it time for dinner already?' Kruspe asked when they arrived. 'I have to meet the headmaster tonight and assure him that I have found nothing extraordinary about you, so we will continue this discussion later,' he added and, saying his goodbyes quickly, left.
'Are you sure that trusting him was a good choice?' Leo asked as soon as the door closed behind the teacher. Break shrugged, wincing when the movement pulled on his wounded arm. According to the man, the Order had yet to realise that he was blind and thus they were amazed that he hasn't ducked that particular curse.
'You're here for dinner?' Gilbert asked, putting away the old bandages and the disinfectant.
'Yeah, since we're meeting with Potter and his little group tonight,' Leo pointed out. 'We wanted to know how the latest mission for the Order went and if you have anything new we can tell to Potter,' he added, sitting down at the table as Reim brought out plates, commenting about how the Order seemed to be testing the limits of the two Pandora agents and how he was starting to get annoyed at that.
'How is it going with your little planning?' Break asked, ignoring Reim's concern, pulling his sleeve down.
'Except for Elliot trying to convince Hermione to not go, it's going as you planned,' Alice replied promptly, glaring at the Duke of Nightray. 'Soon she will start to wonder if there is not more than his concern for the plan behind all that talking,' she added as Elliot glared back at her, refusing to acknowledge the blush on his face.
'Don't you trust my planning, Elliot?' Break asked with a grin. Oz wanted to say that it must have been a rhetorical question but all Break's plans usually worked, so there really was no basis for that statement and Break would call him up on that.
'Do I look like Gilbert?' Elliot asked back immediately, turning to glare at Break. Obviously he was not trusting Break all that much.
'What is that supposed to mean?' Gilbert protested.
'I have found old blueprints of the Ministry in the library,' Reim spoke up, putting the food on the table, before Elliot could reply to his adoptive brother. Break sighed with disappointment, always being one to enjoy arguments. 'They might not be accurate anymore, but they can give you some idea about the distances they have to cross.'
'Because you are not going there,' Gilbert reminded them firmly.
'For somebody who claims that no harm will come to the students, you're awfully insistent on that detail,' Elliot shot back immediately. It seemed like those two were stubborn on having a fight, despite Reim's best intentions. Break propped his head on his hand and smiled.
'The security of those students has nothing to do with the fact that I will not let my little brother and the Duke of Nightray to even step into such a situation,' Gilbert replied. 'You should know well enough that it doesn't take a lot of bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong moment.'
'Aw, come on Gil,' Oz interjected, trying to stop the argument. 'You know that Elliot is just worried about his girlfriend,' he added just when Elliot seemed to appreciate his intervention and the Nightray glared at him. Alice giggled around the piece of meat she was devouring.
'Let us know as soon as you have the time-frame for the stunt,' Break reminded them for the thousandth time. 'We need to start arranging it from our side as well, if we want to make sure that everything is in place on time.'
Oz nodded, hating to remember what the whole idea was. He was itching to go with Harry and try to protect him, but he wasn't sure if he was ready to face the wrath of Gilbert and Break afterwards. Besides, they couldn't quite let the Chains be noticed and the only way he knew how to fight was using B-rabbit's powers, so he would be quite pointless.
'Shouldn't you be going for your meeting?' Gilbert asked a moment later and Oz glanced at the clock, jumping out of his chair when he saw the hour.
'Try to burn that map Potter has,' Break called after him, but Oz ignored the words. He knew very well that Harry would never forgive it if his precious map got damaged. There was no way Oz could use it without Harry's supervision, much less put it on fire.
They arrived in the appointed classroom just one minute after the appointed hour. Because they could not use the amazing refuge of the Room of Requirement, they decided to change the meeting place every time, making it more difficult to find, should some teacher get a whiff of their meetings.
'You're late,' Ron scolded them even as Hermione and Elliot smiled at each other. Or maybe he scolded them because Hermione and Elliot always smiled at each other in that shy, cute way. It wasn't difficult to see that he was jealous of the cautious and fragile thing that was growing between his best friend and the exchange student.
For all his and Leo's teasing, Oz was happy for Elliot and he hoped that it would work out between him and Hermione, even if it didn't seem likely. Hermione didn't strike Oz as the type to abandon her life and become the Duchess of Nightray, wrapping her heart and soul in the darkness. He knew that Leo had told Elliot as much already.
'But we know that there are blueprints of the Ministry in the library,' Alice shot back, angrily. As Elliot was growing unbothered by the rude red-head, Alice started to take his place. Everybody stared at her in shock.
'Why didn't I think to check?' Hermione wondered out loud, looking upset at herself. Oz was close enough to the twins to hear their comment about her being busy with guys instead. He snickered with them.
'Fair enough, you're forgiven your lateness,' Fred said.
'Not only did you bring interesting information, but also you managed to outdo Hermione and that is a feat,' George added.
For a while that followed, they went through everything they knew about the access to the Ministry and the possibilities of travelling. Afterwards, they started wondering about a good time to go with the plan and whether there was a point in waiting any longer. With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, Oz realised that they were close to finalising the plans. Soon they will pick up the time and, even if Oz won't tell Break, Leo or Alice will and Break will start the machinery of his intricate, carefully woven plan.
'Is the Order up to anything new?' Ginny asked when silence fell.
'Oh damn,' Harry interrupted Oz, who was opening his mouth to reply. 'I was talking with Sirius last night and I completely forgot to ask him about stuff like that,' he added. Hermione scolded him for not being careful, even if she sounded like she wished that Sirius realised something was off and raised alarm.
'I've been reading about contemporary history,' said Leo, looking at Harry intently. 'It is written that Sirius Black is a mass murderer. How is it possible that he's a part of the Order if Dumbledore is so much against violence?'
'Sirius is not a mass murderer,' Harry said in a tone that clearly spoke of his annoyance at the very suggestion. He told them how Sirius was the best friend of his parents and his godfather and how he thought he was being smart exchanging places as the Secret Keeper of the Potters. Oz felt sad for the man who had to live with such a burden on his conscience.
'So he hides away in that dreadful place Raven and Hatter said was the headquarters of the Order?' Alice asked, sounding as unconcerned as only she could, faced with such a sad story. Seeing Harry's expression, Oz wished there was a way to explain to Harry that it was Alice's way of coping with sadness. Saying that outright would only embarrass the girl and provoke an argument.
'Exactly how much did Hatter and Raven tell you about that place?' Hermione asked, narrowing her eyes slightly at Alice. Oz fought down a smile, thinking that they told them just about everything that they needed to know, should they ever have to come to the rescue.
'Just that it's a horrible, old house, full of dust and cobwebs and screaming portraits that Raven very nearly shot on their first visit,' the girl answered promptly. 'I would like to see sea-, uh, that guy, annoyed like that,' she added.
'I can't imagine him annoyed,' Ron commented. Oz wondered if they were talking about the same Raven. 'The times we saw him, he was pretty emotionless. Kind of a cold-blooded killer if I ever saw one,' he added. Oz didn't miss Harry's slight shudder. Was he still hung up on that incident in the corridor?
'Did he really? He gets pretty annoyed,' Oz replied, laughing. 'Alice, Elliot and Hatter are the ones that can throw him off balance pretty easily,' he added. Leo snickered.
'So they put him on a mission with somebody that annoys him?' George asked doubtfully and Oz grinned a grin worthy of the Cheshire Cat.
'He's one of the few people who can work with Hatter and restrain their desire to kill the man,' he said. This time both Elliot and Leo snickered, while Alice grumbled about the stupid clown and his stupid ideas.
'Why not send somebody who's more manageable, when you're going to a place where you might upset the diplomatic balance?' Hermione asked. Leo reminded her that there was not much of diplomatic anything to upset yet, while Oz pointed out that Raven and Hatter were the best.
'Good enough to kill Voldemort?' Harry asked, creating a heavy silence. This was not something they wanted to discuss, especially not in detail. However, chance was that Voldemort would take the bait and Harry might see Voldemort's demise, so there was no harm in talking about it a bit.
'Yeah, what was that talking about Raven eliminating Voldemort?' Ron asked. It was obviously a topic that has been bothering the Gryffindors for a while now. Oz glanced at the other three. Alice and Elliot shrugged, while Leo looked away. There was a certain price they had to pay for the trust of the students, after all.
'I don't know what they were saying,' Oz said finally. 'But the core of the trap that did not happen on New Year's Eve was to lure Voldemort out in the open so that Raven could send him to hell,' he explained, unsure on how to elaborate.
'Figuratively of course,' Hermione amended, eyes widening when Oz smirked.
'I think he was going to do it quite literally,' he said, forcing on a careless tone, before becoming more serious. 'It takes a great effort and a talented mind, but one can manipulate the raw magic to open a path to hell and drag a sinner down forever,' he added, ignoring the shiver that ran down his spine at the memories of the cold chains wrapping around him and dragging him down. Alice entwined her fingers with his in a rare display of compassion, reserved almost exclusively for him.
The Gryffindors stared and Oz held their gazes seriously. What he told them was pretty safe, since he was absolutely sure there was no way to open a path to Abyss without a black-winged Chain, no matter how adept a wizard might become in manipulating any kind of magic. What he said was also somewhat true, because contracting one of the black-winged Chains did require talent and using it took effort.
Too late did Oz notice that Hermione was looking more at his and Alice's entwined fingers than at his face. Trust Elliot to pick the smartest girl around, he thought with a mental laugh, wondering if she would ever ask.
'And Raven has that power?' Harry asked, unaware of how adequate his question was. Oz nodded. 'Is it a common power?'
'No, of the people we know only Raven has it,' Leo lied smoothly. 'There are not many who direct their attention into that aspect of raw magic,' he added, somewhat truthfully.