Hello, and welcome to chapter 13, (smiles wickedly) just wait till you get into it, I'm confident this will be an excellent chapter for 1 reason that shall be given at the very bottom Author Note the reason is…. (you'll just have to read through the chapter first and get to it, otherwise you'll ruin it for yourself). BTW, in case you haven't noticed, MY PEN NAME CHANGED! I am no longer Avada Kedavra 2019, instead, I shall henceforth be known as Xarkun, Lord Xarkun, if you wish, he's one of my fiction characters, evil guy, kinda looks like Voldemort with a nose, but he doesn't do magic... Yeah, anyway, enjoy the chapter.
Chapter 13: A Dark Christmas
Snow was piled up at least a foot upon the grounds at Hogwarts, and one had to be careful while trekking through it outside (which, with some exception, only the younger classes of students did) for there was always the danger of a massive pile of snow falling from the roof onto your head. It happened on rare occasions, but when it did, students returned to the castle immediately, shivering uncontrollably, and in search of a warm fire. Harry had seen it happen several times before, and for some reason he found it slightly amusing, after all, none of the students were hurt, and the idea of it was just that… funny. If that ever got out to the Prophet though, he would pay for it.
Harry did not understand why he would be thinking about that of all things today. After all, half of the school would be gone tonight, the Christmas break was approaching, and Ginny was coming to visit the castle, for Harry did not think it would be a good idea for him to leave.
A feast was to be held tonight, in the next five minutes in fact. Harry had just arrived outside the doors to the Great Hall. He waved his wand casually, and they opened before him, revealing an empty room with tables lined with lavish plates and all matter of eating utensils, but no food yet. Harry took his seat at the headmaster's chair and waited as the other teachers and students began to file in.
Quickly, the entire staff table was filled, save for one chair, and half of the students had arrived. Harry noted the empty seat…. It was Malfoy's. He was deeply tempted to return to his office with all haste, open the Marauder's Map, and find his newest hire, however, his undoable intentions were nullified as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, rather grim looking, stepped into the hall and made for his seat. No one paid him the slightest bit of mind except for Harry, who glanced over him for a minute. Something seemed off… but he could not place it.
XxX
Malfoy mind contained innumerable thoughts racing around, he did not notice his surroundings as he stepped into the Great Hall, and barely registered the polite greeting Professor McGonagall offered him. He sat down, and stared at his reflection in the silver plate before him. He looked pale; as well he should, for tonight was the night. He remembered….
It was the day before the last day of term, or the night, rather, before the Christmas break at Hogwarts. Malfoy trekked uneasily through the deep snow, the Shrieking Shack looming several yards away. Once he reached the stoop before the door, he turned and waved his wand, causing all of his footprints to disappear. Tonight was another irritatingly abnormal night, hopefully one of the last times he'd be called here.
The new professor braced himself, took a last deep breath of fresh air, and entered the shack, once more, an overwhelming smell greeted his nostrils, and became stronger still as he ascended the steps into the bedroom where the rotting form of Avery Smith lay dead, though it no longer resembled Smith much at all. It was indescribable, and it smelled unearthly.
Malfoy waited, as far away from Smith as possible, eyes on the fireplace. He was unsurprised to see green flame shoot up inside, and a spinning, cloaked figure appear within it. Though he was surprised at who stepped out of the fireplace. He had been expecting Bellatrix Lestrange, instead, Lord Voldemort stood before him in the form of his father. Malfoy stared into the eye sockets of Lucius, the Dark Lord's eyes glared back at him.
"My lord," Malfoy addressed.
"It is time," said Voldemort's voice, from the throat of Lucius Malfoy.
"Time?"
"Do not feign ignorance, Lord Voldemort knows, he always knows…."
"Well today you are mistaken, my lord. I don't know what you are talking about." Malfoy returned.
"Fool," hissed Voldemort, a positively venomous look perched upon Lucius' face. "It is time for you to fulfill your part."
"So you're here to tell me just what I am supposed to do?"
"No. I am here to order you to do what I wish done."
"What is that?" Malfoy asked, and added quickly: "My lord."
"You will open the Chamber of Secrets."
"Are you barking mad?! Why would I want to open the Chamber of Secrets, I--"
"Silence! You hear but you fail to listen, as always. You will not speak unless I direct you to. Now, be silent and listen if you truly care for your family's lives. To find the Chamber, you will enter the bathroom of the ghost called Moaning Myrtle. I trust you know where to find it."
Malfoy remained silent, after all, Voldemort had told him to.
"I apologize, that was an implied question. Do you know where to find it?"
"Yes," said Malfoy simply.
"Good. To open the Chamber you must say the simple word 'open' in Parseltongue." Voldemort explained, and he spent the next few minutes instructing Malfoy on the proper pronunciation before he began again.
"Once you enter the Chamber, you will find the statue of my great ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, at its end. There you will see the dead basilisk before it, you will enter the statue."
Malfoy could not contain himself. "Enter the statue?!"
"Are you deaf, Draco? You will do as I command! You will enter the statue, its mouth lays open, and exposes the entrance to the lair of the basilisk, within it you will find a sword, its hilt will be encrusted with emeralds, you will bring me this sword. Those are your orders."
"I will bring you the sword?"
"Yes, and I, Lord Voldemort, may then, and only then, see fit to grant you mercy."
He remembered….
Malfoy snapped back into reality as Harry ended his speech and the feast began.
Draco barely tasted the food as he ate, he was far to preoccupied. Tonight was the night, he had to be ready.
XxX
Well past midnight, well past one in the morning, Malfoy entered the bathroom of Moaning Myrtle, a disillusionment charm cast upon himself, and a silencing spell upon his feet. No sound emanated from his shoes making contact with the slightly wet floor, he could not be seen, he was a wraith, he did not exist here, and therefore could not be caught.
He approached the entrance to the Chamber, and found the snake upon the sink. He concentrated, having repeated the Parseltongue word inside his head hundreds of times. He was ready.
Malfoy opened his mouth, and made an odd kind of hissing gasp, he stepped back as the entrance to the Chamber was exposed. A hole in the floor…. He readied himself, willing his heart to stop beating so quickly, with a deep breath he shut his eyes, and jumped down into the chute. For a very long time, he seemed unable to control his body, he was descending down the chute faster, and faster, until he fell and came to a sudden stop.
The new professor stood up and opened his eyes; he removed the disillusionment charm and said "Lumos" while examining his surroundings. He stood in a kind of cavern; he must be far under the school now. There was only one path, and so Malfoy followed it, past an area that seemed to have caved in long ago, toward a round porthole at the end of his long trek. It was open, another obstacle ridden, but not by him.
He stepped through it, into the Chamber itself. It was a long room, the statues of snakes aligning it on either side, and at the very end, the statue of Salazar Slytherin, mouth open, just as Voldemort has said. The dead skeletal form of the basilisk lay before it; he noticed several teeth missing from its jaws—
Malfoy spun, halfway between the statue and the exit; he angled his wand at the porthole. He was sure he had heard something…. But nothing was there.
He turned and uneasily resumed his stride toward the statue, avoiding the dead snake, he stared at it for a moment… waiting for something? No. Nothing was to come, nothing came…. Malfoy reached out and began to climb up into the mouth. He reached it, and stood upon the stone lip, looking back into the Chamber, as if to catch someone tailing him. Again, nothing, he was the only living organism there, he had to be. Everyone else was asleep, and he was not followed.
The servant of Voldemort turned back into the tunnel that led into the basilisk's lair. It was tall enough for him to walk comfortable through. He extended his glowing wand, and used it to guide his step. It seemed like a trek of eternity, walking down the tunnel, in reality to took only a few moments and he stepped into a large, circular room, still lined with tracks in dirt that the giant snake had carved, and the bones of several animals, all indistinguishable from one another, what was distinguishable was a stone in the center that perfectly balanced a long, untarnished silver sword with an emerald encrusted hilt.
Malfoy made for it, and suddenly halted. A thought had struck him.
This was too easy.
Voldemort had to have had extra protection…. Then again, it depended on the time period in which he left the sword here. Perhaps the basilisk had been its guardian, or else Severus Snape and the Carrows. If he was correct…. Malfoy took several steps further, and reached out to grab the magnificent blade, it fell before he could touch it, and a strange feeling caressed him… as though magic had faded, a ward had been broken…. Voldemort? Could the Dark Lord possibly have removed a protective spell from several hundred, if not thousands of miles away? Why did HE not recover the sword?
It did not matter. Malfoy retrieved the weapon, half of his goal complete; he set out of the basilisk's lair and into the Chamber once again. All had gone according to plan. He felt confident as his feet hit the floor of the Chamber, he allowed them to carry him toward the exit, but stopped suddenly as the form of Harry Potter materialized before him. No, not materialized… was revealed, Potter had been following him under a disillusionment charm!
"What about that cloak of yours, Potter?" Malfoy sneered.
"I'd rather not forget it here," Harry replied coldly. "So, is that why you took the job as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, to get this sword?"
"Yes." Malfoy stated simply, thoughts rising within him. He could possibly… Harry could help… but if it was Voldemort who removed the ward… the he knew….
"Then I have only one more question before I arrest you, because I already have suspicions of who you are working for. Why were you sent to retrieve this?"
"I don't know. Listen Potter, you can't arrest me! I had no choice in this matter, he'll kill my—"
"That's quite enough!" Shrieked a terrible voice, Malfoy lost his grip on the emerald sword and his wand and he was sent flying backward. Both items clattered to the floor. Harry spun, wand at the ready, just as a feeling overtook him… no… more of a sense… magic… magic had been broken. His wards! Dumbledore's wards! Someone had destroyed them. He turned to face the perpetrators and was somewhat surprised, but not unnerved to see Bellatrix Lestrange, Fenrir Greyback, Amycus and Alecto Carrow, Augustus Rookwood (whom he was slightly surprised was still living, though the paper had documented his escape from Azakaban, he'd been in there longer than the others), Yaxley, Avery, Macnair, and someone who he suspected was Nott.
"I knew the boy didn't have the stomach to do what he was commanded to." Bellatrix sneered, staring past Harry at Malfoy's crumpled form. "We've come in his stead. Hello Potter, you're all grown up."
"Nice to see you too," said Harry with angry sarcasm.
"We're not still in a rift because of Sirius now, are we?"
Harry could not help himself, he raised his wand—
"Avada Kedavra!" Bellatrix bellowed. Harry was forced to duck, over him, he could hear the whooshing sound of death as it missed its mark and sped back to make contact with the statue of Slytherin, sending chunks of stone in all directions.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk Potter. If Dumbledore were alive, he'd scold you about your temper." Alecto said as though he were a diligent pupil. Greyback chuckled.
"Accio Sword!" Harry heard Bellatrix snap as he stood up. He watched as she handed the sword to Avery who immediately disappeared with a slight pop.
"You broke my wards." Harry hissed, aiming his wand at her yet again.
"You can take comfort in the fact that it was not easy, we spent several days perfecting it. You know, it was our original plan to let Malfoy retrieve the sword, but I suspected he didn't have the guts for it, honestly. So I elected to come and get it myself, should he run into opposition."
"Yourself? Why's that lot with you then?"
Bellatrix huffed at him venomously with a kind of sneer.
"What is the sword for?" Harry asked instead.
Bellatrix and the other Death Eaters roared in jubilant laughter.
"It's far too late now. It's gone and done with, Potter."
"In that case, I'll have to interrogate you all separately in a secure environment; you're under arrest, all of you."
Bellatrix shrieked with mad giggles.
"You cannot hope to defeat all of us singlehandedly." Greyback said.
"No," Harry conceded. He aimed his wand into the air and muttered a long, complex incantation. His ward was back, weaker than before, but it would serve. "But my staff members will."
"What—" Bellatrix attempted to apparate, but failed. She threw a look of fury at Harry and then turned to her comrades. "Go! Flee! We all must be there, don't raise an alarm, just run! I'll hold off Potter!"
Several of them barked words of protest, but Bellatrix waved them away, they turned to run, find an exit. Malfoy sprang to his feet and retrieved his wand, angling it at his aunt.
"Go," Harry snapped.
"No, I'll help you, nothing matters now, I've already betrayed them." Malfoy replied.
Harry felt an odd sense of gratitude, but then realized he was quite furious with his new hire…. He could have helped him with this matter, if Malfoy had only told him. It was obvious Draco did not willingly work for these Death Eaters; he was forced into it…. And suddenly the picture became clear. One word: spattergroit. A subtle hint, perhaps? Malfoy had said his family was ill with spattergroit. Ron, on their quest for the Horcruxs, had used a decoy to feign illness with spattergroit…. What if the Malfoy's were feigning illness, being held hostage in their own home by Draco's other employers? It all made sense.
"No," said Harry. "Go quickly, raise the alarm, make sure they don't escape."
"Potter—"
"If you really want to help me, prove it! Go!"
Malfoy cast a look at Bellatrix who stood with her arms crossed, an amused expression on her face, then he ran past her, ran after the Death Eaters, perhaps he would catch some with the help of the other Hogwarts professors. His aunt made no move to stop him, though Harry thought she would be wise to do so, the only reason she would not, however, was because of him, she obviously wanted to face him, perhaps to see how powerful he had become. He would help her in that matter.
"Impendimenta!"
"Avada Kedavra!"
They cried in unison, jets of red and green collided, sending molten gold in all directions. Harry found it rather like the confrontation between himself and Voldemort so may years ago, though his and Bellatrix's wand did not connect. The Hogwarts headmaster stood there, putting all his strength behind the attack. Bellatrix was struggling.
In all his years as Head Auror, he had become a force to be reckoned with, and the Death Eater on the other side of his spell was beginning to realize it as his jinx drove back her curse to a point where the line between them was ninety percent red, ten percent green. The wand was now shaking in Bellatrix's hand, it looked as though it would snap any moment, both combatants knew that one had to let go.
So the Death Eater did.
She whipped her wand upward, breaking the curse; both spells flew past her, toward the end of the chamber.
Bellatrix sent a jet of purple light his way, a mere wave and it vanished from the air, he returned with a curse of his own which she knocked away like a weak blow from a sword.
"Excellent job, Potter, though I see you do not indulge in Unforgivable Curses." Bellatrix taunted.
"Look what happened to yours." Harry returned.
Bellatrix's mouth curled into snarl, she pulled back, and hurled forward, launching a jet of fire, thick as a basilisk his way. Harry gripped his weapon with both hands, and practically released a lake of water. If flew forward her in a tsunami wave, swallowing the fire, and its conjurer, Bellatrix, carrying her toward the wall, pinning her there. Harry kept the stream of water flowing at full power, sticking his enemy to the wall, and effectively beginning to drown her.
He could see her move behind the translucent veil of the water. She slashed her wand like a dagger once, but to no avail, once more, and a golden wave magic flew from the water, breaking Harry's concentration, he was forced to duck and allow the curse to fly over him. It hit the mouth of Salazar Slytherin's statue, and collapsed it with a fiery bang.
Harry did not have time to guess how nasty it might have been had the curse made contact with his face, however his enemy had launched another. This one he was ready for, he caught the curse with the tip of his wand, and threw it back at Bellatrix, it was a useful little counter he'd learned from Dumbledore's portrait, as strange as it sounded.
The Death Eater scowled and banished her curse from existence.
"Very good, Potter." Bellatrix snapped, shaking the water from her hair, she turned her own weapon upon herself and muttered an incantation, instantly she became dry.
"You're not all that bad either," Harry complemented, "though I would expect better from one trained by Voldemort himself."
Bellatrix's face contorted to a point where it was unrecognizable, and her form shook with rage, she drew her wand back like a wooden steak, ready to ram through the heart of an enemy.
"YOU DARE SPEAK HIS NAME! FILTHY HALF-BLOOD! AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Her aim was off, murdered by her rage, the Killing Curse missed Harry by a foot, giving him the chance to retort.
"Expelliarmus!"
She gasped as the wand flew from her grasp, and clattered to the stone floor. Seconds later she was on the ground, Harry's wand aimed at her throat.
"It's too late fore you, poor little Potter! Everything is lost now, Avery's already taken it!" Bellatrix cried.
"At least there's one victory here, you, arrested, and I'm sure my staff caught a fair share of your lot." Harry returned.
"You might as well just kill me now Potter! At least I die in serve to my lord's cause!" The Death Eater snapped, laying a slightly romantic emphasis on the words 'my lord'.
"Voldemort is dead," said Harry. "His cause is lost."
Bellatrix shrieked with insane, girlish laughter. "No cause is lost, Potter, if there are those who are willing to fight for it! How depressing… sound's like Dumbledore's rubbish, don't you think?"
"Yes, it does, but we both know it's not rubbish; now, you're coming with me, straight to Azkaban."
"Kill me Potter! I won't talk, and you wouldn't dare stoop to my level… torture…no… poor, moral, itty, bitty, baby, Potter! Hahahahahaha!"
"Aren't we past such childish insults?"
"Dear little Potter has no return!"
"Stand up, let me see your hands."
Bellatrix smiled silkily and did so, exposing the faint mark on her forearm. Harry's eye caught it for a moment and it blacked and burned. The Dark Mark had been activated… and there was only one who called Death Eaters to his cause in such a manner. But it was not possible! It was utterly impossible! He'd been dead, dead for years! Harry knew, he had seen the last glimpse of icy, evil, cruel, malicious life in those terrible crimson eyes.
Bellatrix Lestrange tipped her head back and shrieked in the most insane, jubilant, joyous laughter Harry had ever had the misfortune to hear. Then her eyes met his for a single moment before she opened her lips once more and whispered,
"Goodbye, Potter."
Harry felt his ward, give way, and break once more. Felt it, in his bones, in his soul. He knew it; he knew it when the magic died, just as Dumbledore could trace it in that terrible cave. And… above all, he knew what the Death Eater before him was about to do.
She spun on the spot and apparated, Harry grabbed her arm as she disappeared; a familiar, crushing, suffocating darkness enveloped him once more.
I put off the next chapter of my other fic just to write this one. I couldn't help it, we're so close to the climax, I need to get it done! I have to write it, sadly, for my other fic, expect another update sooner than usual. I assume you know where Bellatrix is going? Anyway, the reason this chapter is great because... dun, dun, dun!... It leads into the next chapter (wtih a great cliff hanger) where all shall be revealed... maybe not ALL, but most anyway. Well... that's all, except, if you are very kind, you might click the review button and just type something...
