Ch. 19: Puzzle pieces
They did like Harry has asked them. The day following Harry's meeting with Dumbledore, Harry told Oz, during lunch, that they weren't sure if they should go, because it seemed too good to be true. He ignored Alice saying that those things sometimes happened, in favour of observing Oz's reaction. Something alien flickered in Oz's eyes for the briefest moment, but the boy said that he understood and smiled, although somewhat bitterly.
It took until the evening of that day for Harry to realise that Oz understood much more than Harry had actually voiced. The exchange students made no attempt to sit with them that evening in the common room. They went to their rooms immediately after dinner without as much as acknowledging Harry, although he hadn't missed the look Elliot had given Hermione: regretful. He hadn't missed Hermione's sad smile either.
Despite that being what he had wanted, Harry felt horrible. Dumbledore's words forgotten, he could only think how fun it was to chat with the islanders and how much the four kids have helped him, even though they really didn't have to. They were friends and he had rejected them because of some disgusting suspicions.
It was too late, however, as Hermione coldly told him when he expressed his doubts. Harry was not sure if she was upset at him or not. She didn't give him time to wonder, reminding him that they had an escapade to plan.
As they planned their moves for the following night, Harry couldn't help feeling as though somebody was watching him. He went as far as looking around carefully a couple of times, worrying the others with his behaviour. However, there was nobody watching. The exchange students were not even there and all the other Gryffindors were ignoring the small Weasley group as they have started doing this year. Harry even started wondering if it could have been Voldemort reading his mind, but he discarded that thought because it was too frightful. Voldemort was busy with other things for sure.
No matter what he did or told himself, the feeling of being observed didn't leave him until the very end of the day. In comparison, even dreaming again about the prophecy didn't seem all that bad. Since they started planning their stunt, the dreams changed their angle: instead of seeing the room with prophecies, wishing to touch one, he was dreaming about going there with his friends. Every night it was different. This time, it was simply him in the room, picking up a transparent ball and hearing it whisper to him.
When he woke up in the morning, he was grateful for the dream. At least it wasn't like one night, when he had dreamt that he was in the Ministry with Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna. Why Neville and Luna, instead if the twins, Harry had no idea. In that dream, they were ambushed by the Deatheaters and Sirius died, falling through a door, that Harry somehow knew, led to hell. When he had woken up from that dream, he had almost called the whole thing off.
It had taken him a couple of days to recover and he only managed by telling himself that it couldn't become true, because Neville and Luna will not be there with them. Consequently, dreaming about picking up the sphere made him rather happy instead of worried and, since the feeling of being observed was gone, Harry had a good feeling about the day. It would be the day when they would go to the Ministry and find out how to destroy Voldemort.
Sitting through lessons and eating were the last things on his mind, but Hermione said it was essential that they keep the appearances up. If the teachers think that something is wrong, or the students get a wind of their plan, they might be stopped. Thus, Harry suffered through the day, nearly vibrating with excitement as he entered the common room after being kept by Dean and Seamus for far too long at the dinner table.
The twins were already there, laughing about something with their friends. Surprisingly, Oz and Elliot were there as well, playing chess, with Alice cheering on Oz. When Harry looked closer, he also saw Leo sitting with Neville in a corner, a large book opened on the table next to them and Neville obviously explaining something. Immediately suspicions at their presence, he sat down next to Ron.
'I asked Leo and he said that Dumbledore kicked them out because he wanted "a private word" with Raven and Hatter,' Ron said before Harry even had the time to ask. 'I also thought it was suspicious when they have arrived a couple of minutes ago,' he added.
'I would have thought that Raven and Hatter would be with the Order tonight,' Harry muttered, wondering if the islanders have lied to them after all. He didn't like the thought, but it would have excused his behaviour.
'I asked the same, but apparently Dumbledore doesn't trust those two to restrain themselves from killing the enemy. It seems they are quite brutal,' Ron replied promptly. Harry didn't doubt that, but it was not the time to say it. 'But more importantly, how shall we go about leaving the common room?' he asked.
'Unnoticed,' Harry replied with a smile. He saw the twins saying betting somebody that they could cast a spell on Snape and escape unnoticed. The bet was quickly concluded and the two left the common room. Hermione and Ginny were nowhere to be seen, probably already waiting outside.
Suddenly, Elliot cursed loudly and Oz laughed, efficiently drawing the attention of most of the students gathered in the common room. Did they do it on purpose? Harry couldn't help that thought when Alice told everybody that Oz would surely win, prompting the students to take bets.
'Let's go, Ron,' Harry said, deciding to not question the sudden strike of luck. As they reached the portrait, Harry glanced back to see if everybody was still busy with the chess game. He almost missed Neville looking up at him, but now it was too late to go back. He put a finger to his lips and Neville blinked.
Off they were.
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Gilbert glared at the headmaster of Hogwarts hatefully. Couldn't that man really choose a different day to be grilling them about the Chains and Deatheaters and what their true aim was? Next to him, Break was calmly answering the questions, feeding the man the previously agreed-on lies.
They had promised Oz that the Gryffindors would be safe, but there was always a margin of danger and the longer that annoying man was here, the larger that margin became. It took a lot of effort to pretend to not have worries and just glare at the headmaster.
'Why would they send only two people?' Dumbledore asked for what seemed to a millionth time that day. Gilbert rolled his eyes, itching to answer that they were seven and, should need arise, they would all get to serious work.
'Haven't we already answered that?' Break asked back in a careless, almost bored tone. 'This is becoming annoying Albus. Can I call you "Albus"?' he asked, looking like a picture of innocence. Dumbledore looked ready to explode.
'We're wasting time here,' he said. Gilbert agreed with him wholeheartedly. Right now, Harry Potter was probably on the way to London and there was a large gathering of Deatheaters easy to mobilise at a moment's notice.
All that was, of course, a part of Break's plan. Luring Harry Potter to be a bait for Voldemort was easier than Gilbert had ever imagined. It almost seemed like the boy had a death-wish or absolutely no sense of danger. Or, Gilbert thought unwillingly, he was exactly like Oz, always worrying too much about others, when he should be taking care of himself.
Discovering that Voldemort could read Harry Potter's mind made their job much easier, since they didn't need to bother to let the Dark Lord know when Harry was going to make his move. The man reacted predictably: by ordering his Deatheaters to gather somewhere under a false pretence. That way they were easily accessible and ready to fight and, if nothing happened, Voldemort didn't look like a fool, because they met for something else entirely.
That was what Break said, in any case. It seemed to happen like that also, because Snape reported to the Order that the Deatheaters would be having a meeting. Whether Break was right about the rest of his assumptions, they would know soon. Hopefully, Gilbert thought, with another glare at the headmaster.
'Of course we are wasting time,' Break replied in a sweet tone. 'But it is you who insisted that we don't go with the others,' he added. It was the icing on the cake that the Order decided to take out the Deatheaters and thus Oz could supply Harry with a convenient date for retrieving the prophecy.
Harry's sudden suspicions didn't matter, because the information has been conveyed. Miss Sharon, observing the boy from his shadow, reported that they would go to the Ministry, despite having told Oz otherwise. If anything, this was even better, because like that, if something happened to his friends, Harry couldn't blame Oz or the other exchange students.
The only problem was that the Order needed to realise what was happening soon, because Gilbert really did not want to face Elliot after something happened to that girlfriend of his. Not that he wanted something to happen to any of the kids, who were just innocent bystanders, unfortunately involved in something they should not be.
'You do not expect me to trust you, when you hold so many secrets, do you?' the headmaster asked. 'What are those creatures?' he tried again and again Break answered the same: "personifications of raw magic".
'This is nonsense,' Dumbledore growled. 'There is no such thing as personifications of raw magic and you know that very well. There is no such thing as "raw magic" to start with, at least not to the degree that it could be so powerful.'
'Isn't that magical field of yours raw magic?' Reim countered, speaking up for the first time since the headmaster entered their room and chased the kids away. 'Is this really so difficult to consider that you might not understand everything about magic?'
'And I suppose you do,' Dumbledore growled. This was getting nowhere, since they never planned on showing proof to the man and since they would never call Chains "raw magic" anyway.
Suddenly, before the headmaster could continue or Reim could excuse himself, a wisp of white fog materialised in the room and transformed into a ghostly figure of a doe. Dumbledore froze with a frightened expression.
'The Deatheaters are moving,' the doe said in Snape's voice and Gilbert couldn't stop himself from jumping up in surprise. 'The Dark Lord has called us.'
'What the hell was that?' Gilbert demanded when the doe dissolved. Dumbledore seemed to be shell-shocked, but Gilbert knew they didn't have time to lose. This was the weakest point of the plan. 'Dumbledore,' he called harshly, snapping the man out of his trance. 'What was that?'
'That was a sign of danger,' Dumbledore replied, surprisingly obedient. 'Voldemort had some other plan for this meeting. Is this a trap?'
'But if it was a trap, wouldn't your people rather be faced with armed and prepared Deatheaters, rather than those guys leaving?' Break asked, sounding like he was honestly considering the possibility. Where the hell was somebody panicked, saying that Potter and his friends left the castle? As though on cue, the door opened with a bang and McGonagall charged into the room. In the corridor behind her, Gilbert could see a scared looking student.
'Mr Longbottom thinks that some students might have sneaked out of the castle,' she said breathlessly. 'He saw them crossing the grounds,' she added. Dumbledore looked ready to faint. Thankfully nobody was paying attention to him, because Gilbert wasn't sure if he was able to school his face into an appropriate expression. It was essential that they don't bring any suspicions to themselves in that delicate moment.
'This is bad, Minerva,' Dumbledore whispered. 'Severus just told me that the Deatheaters are on the move and if Harry has gone to the Department of Mysteries,' he trailed off. 'Call everybody from the Order and tell them to go to the Ministry.'
'Albus,' McGonagall whispered, but he urged her to go and turned to Gilbert and Break.
'It seems that you will get your action after all,' he said disdainfully. Did he really think that they enjoyed killing? 'If the Deatheaters are headed for the Ministry and if Harry is as well, then maybe they bring those monsters with them. You are to make sure that those things don't kill a single student, is that understood?'
'Crystal clear,' Gilbert growled at him. He had no intention of telling Dumbledore that their priorities lay somewhere else on this one. After all, the lives of all those contractors, if there still were any left, were limited.
'You will need to get us there, headmaster, since we don't know how to Apparate,' Break pointed out with a creepy smile. Dumbledore turned to McGonagall and told her to send the message to the Order immediately, ordering them to go to the Ministry at once. He and the two islanders would go directly and wait for them there.
'Fawkes,' he called afterwards and a beautiful bird flew into the room, singing. 'He'll take us out of the wards, so that we can Apparate directly into the Ministry,' he informed them. 'Please hold my hand,' he added, opening the window with a flick of his wand.
Break looked positively gleeful. We are going to fly through the window, Gilbert thought. Getting a firm hold of the old man's hand and ignoring Break clinging to him excitedly, he closed his eyes. This better be worth the sacrifice.