Short chapter! Ah, reminds me of the good ol' days. Or not. All my old writing sucks.
So, two things. Firstly that I think that at least half of the last chapter was really bad and I apologize for it. But, hey, I think the first half of this story really sucks (what else do you expect, I wrote 'em nearly three years ago!) and you guys are still bearing with me. So thanks for your patience. I'm thinking that after this chapter, I'm either ignoring Dark Angel for a while or treating it like my own NaNoWriMo challenge. What do you guys think? Fifty-thousand words…Equals sixteen and a half chapters according to my standard of at least three thousand. It's a little more than three and a third times my last chapter :D I have until the end of November but then I don't know how many words in the last chapter counted…If I decide to take Dark Angel as my NaNoWriMo challenge, I'll see if I can finish it by the end of the year. Either way, for now I'll just write the story and then, after I finish Dark Angel, I'll find myself a good beta reader and go back and rewrite all the parts that suck.
Also, you'll see that I posted that list of spells that I was talking later. It's at the bottom. I totally butchered the Latin language but I'm not the first to do so. The tradition began, I believe, with the illustrious JK Rowling herself :D You'll notice that I liked picking on Godric a lot, giving him spells like "Divine Massacre" and "White Slaughter House".
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
::Mindspeech::
-Parseltongue-
Chapter Twenty-Five: Aftermath
Hogwarts was changed after the Hallows Eve attacks, even if only subtly. At first, there was a lot more unity between the houses…Then the names of the captured Death Eaters started to circulate in the school. People who were closely related to Death Eaters that had been caught or killed in the fight were now outcasts, from their houses and from the rest of the school.
The school was also caught off guard by the fact that not all of the Death Eaters had been Slytherins; roughly a fourth of the Death Eaters that had been caught or killed had been Ravenclaws and there were also a few others from other houses. Overnight, the house of Ravenclaw had become synonymous with Death Eaters as Slytherin had for decades. However, Ravenclaw didn't have the house unity and internal support that Slytherin had; already the house was starting to crack under the pressure.
Distrust began to spread throughout the school.
It was the Monday three days after Halloween and Harry was out of classes early due to a free spot on his schedule. The others were still in classes but, having nothing else to do (at least nothing he wanted to do), he started making his way over to the Room of Requirements early.
"Potter…"
The voice behind him made Harry turn, coming face to face with a Slytherin around his age.
"Blaise Zabini," the other introduced himself, "I don't think we've ever spoken, but I'm in your year. Of course, I'm a Slytherin so there wasn't much opportunity. May I speak to you?" Zabini wore his house crest with pride, Harry noticed absently.
"Of course," Harry said, "What would you like to talk about?" There was stress in Zabini's posture, Harry noted, studying the Slytherin. He could also see faint bags under the other's eyes.
"You might also recognize my family name from one of the recent Daily Prophets," Zabini continued, "You'll find my father's name in the list of the dead," he didn't bother to say that the only dead in that battle were Death Eaters, "and my mother's name in the list of captured Death Eaters awaiting trial."
"Ah," Harry said simply, the other Slytherin's purpose becoming clearer.
"The Zabinis have always been neutral in the war between light and dark families," Blaise said calmly, though showing small signs of nervousness, "My father may have gone into that fight under his free will, I don't know; I will not speak excuses for him. My mother, however, would never have participated in such an attack. I am convinced that she had an imperious curse on her at the time. I will…I will do anything if you prevent her from going to Azkaban."
"What makes you think that I have that power?" Harry asked casually.
"You're the boy-who-lived," Zabini said simply, "You stood up to Dumbledore earlier this year with a power than none of us expected you to have. If anyone can keep her out of Azkaban, it's you."
"And you'd rather be in my debt than in Dumbledore's," Harry said astutely, "Okay."
"Okay?" Zabini repeated, confused.
"Okay, I'll do it. If she's innocent, of course."
Zabini wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth (even if he was suspicious of what Harry expected as payment) so he thanked Harry and quickly left. Harry watched him go and then turned back to his original path, thinking. It shouldn't that hard, he thought, Serphenia could deliver some letters for him now that she wasn't busy, having delivered all the Portkeys to the Death Eaters that had planned to dessert. Harry had time to write a couple letters to the Daily Prophet and the Ministry. He might even be able to get the innocent people back to their homes before the end of the week, if he caused enough of an uproar.
The news that some of the people he had killed might have been under the imperious curse wasn't a big blow to him. They had known all along that many of the people that they would kill might be innocents, had even been prepared for it. This was, however, war, and no matter how they might have liked to bring all of the Death Eaters in for questioning, it wasn't a possibility. But Harry could save as many now as he could. No innocent person deserved Azkaban.
"Hey Potter!" With a slight sense of déjà vu that Harry turned around to greet the person who had called his name. It was with some surprise that he recognized Ernie Macmillan the Hufflepuff.
"I was just wondering," Ernie started loudly, "Well, I mean, a lot of us whose families were attacked were wondering…Well, we felt like we should have been able to do something to help, you know? And even though we were all kinda taken aback by how you treated Dumbledore earlier…I mean, I'm sure you had your reasons and we're all fine with that. The point is we need the DA. We really learned a lot of important stuff last year. I'm sure you'd enjoy it as much as we would. And…Well, that's all but we'd all think it was really great if you started the DA again."
Harry watched Ernie talk, a little nonplussed; first of all, was he talking about just himself or other people as well? And then when had Ernie ever gotten the impression that Harry would enjoy leading a club called 'Dumbledore's Army'? Not that he wouldn't enjoy teaching again…
"Um, that's nice Ernie," Harry said, "I'm not sure whether or not I'll reopen the DA but you'll be the first person to know, okay?"
It was a clear dismissal and the Hufflepuff went off in the other direction with only a quick 'Well, I'm sure we'd all appreciate it'. Once more, Harry continued on his way, this time traveling down the passageway quite a distance before he was stopped,
"Potter!" The voice was brisk and female. Harry turned and saw Millicent Bulstrode walking towards him from a perpendicular corridor. Her father had been killed in the attacks but her mother was safely out of the reach of the ministry so the reason she approached him couldn't have been the same as Zabini's.
"Yes?"
"I approach you as a member of Slytherin house but not on behalf of it," Bulstrode started formally, "Everyone's curious as to what you're going to do. You've made it clear that you don't like Dumbledore…"
"Well, I'm not about to start joining Voldemort or Fudge, either," Harry interjected cheerfully.
"…And you don't have any…followers," Bulstrode said the last word with an air of distaste, ignoring Harry's interruption, "Apart from a few tag-alongs."
"Friends," Harry corrected, "I'm pretty sure that's the politically correct term for them. So pretty much you want to know whose side I'm on?" The girl was silent. "Well, I'm not really on either side. Really, I was hoping to make a neutral side but it's really hard work being neutral. I still might, though; I mean, it looks like I'm already heading in that direction. My ultimate goal, I suppose, is to take over Hogwarts." He looked thoughtful.
Bulstrode raised an eyebrow,
"I get the feeling that your reason behind that goal isn't just to take over the wizarding world through the minds of the children. Care to share?"
"Let's just say that I don't think Dumbledore deserves his position," Harry said, "Now, if this interview is over…?" Bulstrode left quickly.
Harry went on his way again, hoping for no more interruptions. In the true manner of one who has bad karma, it wasn't long until Harry was ambused, this time by four people: Terry Boot, Anthony Goldstein, Lisa Turpin, and Padma Patil.
"Let me guess," Harry said, sighing, "You're either representatives from Ravenclaw or you want me to open a study group with you."
"The first one," Lisa Turpin said quietly, smiling.
"Okay, so I know you're representatives from Ravenclaw," Harry said cheerfully, "That's halfway to the point of this conversation. Let's see…You want to hire me as a mercenary, you want me to keep your dear mummies and daddies out of Azkaban, you want me to redeem your house (ignoring the fact that I'm not a Ravenclaw), or you want me to kick Dumbles out of Hogwarts."
"Oh, but you make it sound so silly!" Padma cried, upset.
"A little bit of each, I think," Lisa said with her conservative smile, "Except the last one. But you can do that to, if you want."
"Hold on!" Terry cried, "We're not hiring anybody as a mercenary!"
"That's the problem with representatives," Harry said conversationally, "Is that they never properly represent the people they're representing. Or they never agree on how the people that they're representing want to be represented."
Lisa looked at Terry with wide, innocent eyes (Harry shuddered; she reminded him far too much of Luna and Rowena),
"You don't want Harry to defeat Voldemort?"
"Well yes, but…"
"Doesn't the whole wizarding world expect Harry to get rid of Voldemort once and for all?"
"Well, I suppose, but that's not…"
"Isn't it?"
Twenty minutes later, Harry had gotten rid of the Ravenclaws after liberal assurances that he already had plans to keep any innocents out of Azkaban and that, if it coincided with his schedule, he would give Ravenclaw house a hand with the rumors (they weren't very happy with this feeble reassurance but it was all that they got). If, Harry had said, they needed that sort of help, then they should go to either Luna or Ginny, not him. They had left looking slightly disgruntled.
"Mr. Potter…If I could have a word…?" The words were polite but they were said in the same sympathetic tone as ever. Rolling his eyes, Harry turned to see the Headmaster coming towards him.
"What do you want?" Harry asked shortly.
"Well, as you might remember, there was to be a ceremony on Halloween for you to accept your position as Heir of Slytherin and Gryffindor."
"Yes, and?"
"Well, obviously, the ceremony never happened. It has been decided that there will be a smaller one on Christmas."
"That's nice," Harry said, "If that's all…?"
Slightly put-off by Harry's rudeness, Dumbledore said,
"That's all. You may go."
"Thank you," Harry said sarcastically and left.
He was almost to the Room of Requirements when he encountered his last interruption. Classes had just ended (so much for his free period) and the halls were flooded with students. So when Harry saw Neville, walking away from Divination, the half-Slytherin called him over.
"Hey, Neville!"
"Hi Harry," Neville said, making his way over to Harry. Harry noticed a slightly rumpled, official-looking letter clutched in the other boy's hands.
"I heard your grandmother was attacked," Harry said offhandedly.
"Yeah," Neville said nervously, "But the letter said that she was alright."
"That's good. So I'll see you tonight then?"
"Yeah. Oh, and Hannah says that she can't make it. Her family was also attacked and I heard that her mom was badly injured."
Harry was conducting un-official tutoring sessions in the Room of Requirements (he was practically living in the Room nowadays) ever since Neville had asked an innocent question during potions. "I don't get it…Do you think you could get the same teacher for me as your friend that used to be horrible at potions got?" After nearly falling over laughing at the irony, Harry had been forced to say that no, that had been a special case because that man had been his friend's godfather but if Neville was okay with it, maybe Harry could help out…? Within the week, he had had a dozen pleas from other students that were having trouble with potions. Others that had wanted help with defense were refused, however, as Harry didn't want another DA.
Finally, Harry made it to the Room of Requirements, where Luna was already waiting.
"You're house is conspiring against me," Harry complained.
Luna smiled fondly,
"They do tend to do that, don't they?"
"Anyways, can I talk to you later?" Harry asked, "We really need to…catch up."
"Of course," Luna said.
"Sorry I'm late!" Draco said, appearing at the door. He stopped to hold the door open for Ginny, who arrived just seconds later, "I got cornered by no less than four members of your house," he complained to Harry, "trying to get me to get them on your good side. And then your brother," He directed this comment to Ginny, "telling me to 'leave his best friend alone'. Behind on the times much?"
Ginny sniffed,
"He's not my brother. Even if he is."
Harry snorted derisively,
"Yeah? Well, I was ambushed by two Slytherins, a Hufflepuff, four Ravenclaws, a Gryffindor, and the Headmaster."
"Why did you have to go get into politics?" Draco whined, "It's getting hard to get anywhere in the halls without running into people who want to be your friend."
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"You wanted to talk to me?" Luna asked. Draco and Helga had each gone off somewhere (probably a prank) and Luna and Harry were alone in the Room of Requirements.
"Well, I haven't really got a chance to…Well, explain everything. And I've got something of a problem I was wondering if you could help me with."
When Draco had first remembered his life as Godric, Harry had explained both of his lives mostly from an emotional standpoint. When Ginny had confronted him, Harry had given her a watered-down version of events, explaining his lives as more of adventures and a series of never-ending trials. To Luna, however, Harry did his best to give her only pure facts. He was tired of retelling everything that had happened but he didn't skip over any of the more horrible parts, as he had with Ginny, nor did he omit recent events that he hadn't told the others about (like the shadow that he had seen in the Chamber of Secrets).
Because he had planned to tell Luna all of this, he had layered the already heavily-warded room with even more wards. Last time that he had pointed out inconsistencies between different people's memories, the shadow had appeared. Thankfully, there were no signs of the shadow this time, nor did Luna panic as Ginny had over the strange discrepancy.
Luna looked at him thoughtfully,
"So you're part angel…Huh. Well, I've heard of angels, of course, but not much actual fact is known about them. I mean, everyone thinks that they're a myth so anything written about them isn't considered actual fact. And…Well, I don't suppose that I need to tell you that it would be very bad if you lost all of your white feathers? Balance, of course, is important…But you already know all of this.
"And this wasn't the matter that you wanted my opinion on, was it? You want to know if I know about this shadow-creature or the differences between what everyone remembers, right? Well, now that you mention it…I can remember conflicting events. Two…No, at least three different series of events. And I've no idea which really happened."
"Three?" Harry asked, surprised.
"At least three," Luna affirmed. She looked thoughtful, "If you gave me good resources and a month of time alone, I might be able to figure out what's going on. As it is, I have school to worry about as well as social things; friends, pranks, relations with the school, and figuring out what's happening with Voldemort and Hogwarts. My resources, too, are limited."
Harry narrowed his eyes in thought,
"I can probably get you any books you ask for but time…Is more difficult. You might be able to get a time-turner but the complications behind such a thing…If I were to get you the best of books, how long do you think it would take you to find out what the shadow-thing is, with your usual school schedule."
Luna frowned,
"At least half a year, I would think. Unless someone knew exactly which books I would need beforehand, trial-and-error will be tedious and take several months. And that's assuming that what's happening right now has ever happened to anyone who had a chance to write it down."
Harry made up his mind,
"I have access to hundreds, no, thousands of galleons. It's all a letter to Gringotts away. You're welcome to whatever books I have, and order whatever books you think you'll need from bookstores. Give me a list of books you need that can't be obtained from simple bookstores and I'll find a way to obtain them for you. You don't have to spend every waking moment on this but…please…do your best."
"Of course I will," Luna said sharply, "This is my curiosity as much as yours. And don't think that I'd let a friend struggle like this without doing anything to help. Researching is my specialty, and if you need something researched, I'll find what you need to know. Show me where you keep your books and I'll get started."
"Even the dark ones?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.
"ALL of your books," Luna said, "If I'm already a dark witch by ministry standards, just because I learned some light spells that were later reclassified; I won't let it restrict my resources now."
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Severus Snape had a headache. Maybe it had something to do with the eventful Halloween just four days ago. Maybe it had something to do with the strange dream that had forced him out of bed earlier that morning. Maybe it had something to do with the three cauldrons that had exploded over the course of the day or the class of fifth year brats that were currently brewing potions. Or maybe it was just Potter's fault. Yes, Potter's fault…that sounded about right.
There were only so many things that he could ignore. Coming face to face with his godson in the middle of a battlefield (it was some reassurance that his godson wasn't on the other side, at least) and then a Potter and Weasley in quick succession wasn't something that he could ignore easily. Not that anything that had happened earlier that year was easy to forget (or twenty years ago, for that matter). And the name Evan had been thrown around too often in the last few days for his comfort.
The bell rang and Snape quickly dismissed the class, planning on locking himself in his rooms, maybe getting a couple hours of extra sleep before he started correcting the first years' essays.
"Excuse me, Professor? I need to talk to you about this potion."
Snape frowned. Great, he inwardly groaned, It's one of Potter's group…One of those who've gone through a complete personality change and now eats out of the palm of his hand.
"Make it quick," He said aloud.
"I just wanted to know…I mean, isn't this unnecessarily difficult…?" Lovegood asked. Snape waited with (what seemed to him to be) an enormous amount of patience for her to get to her point. He dimly registered the fact that the last of the students had trickled out of the room and the door had closed with a muffled click.
"…Why don't you just talk to Harry?" That was not Lovegood. Snape looked up sharply to see the Weasley girl standing in front of him next to Lovegood. Then her words trickled into his brain.
"I don't know what you've heard," Snape hissed, "But I have no obligation to talk to anyone and that includes you two! If you've no questions concerning potions, then get out of this classroom!"
The Lovegood girl looked at him with a strangely curious expression, as if she was observing an interesting specimen,
"He's lied to you. And now you're mad at him. I can understand…We did the same thing. But he's your friend as he is ours. If you can't forgive…Harry's hurting, even if he won't admit it. If you were truly anybody's friend, you wouldn't let this continue."
"It's very simple," Weasley said, "You're his friend, or you're not. And I think you are his friend…"
"OUT!" Snape roared. The two girls left without another world.
…If only Snape's doubts would leave so easily.
xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx
…And next chapter, you get to see more on Snape being forced to think!
So, here are the spells. A few don't have effects listed, sorry about that. Please keep in mind that I'm always open to new spell or prank ideas :D And since someone has asked, other people can borrow my spells, though some amount of credit would be appreciated.
Spell Inventory:
Godric's Spells:
Inflammatio: causes something (or someone) to burn really hot very quickly
Ignisduro: creates great stream of fire from the wand
Cadocernuus: causes opponent to fall to the ground
Vulnero: slashing curse
Candidus macellarius: "white slaughter-house" repeatedly stabs enemies with multiple swords of pure light
Aureusacies: creates blade of golden or white light from the end of wand
Divinus trucido: "divine massacre" Obliterates everyone and everything within a certain distance. Kills both enemies and allies
Tempestas aequitas: Creates lightning that electrocutes all targets (according to who the caster wants to be hit by it). Takes up more magic if there are more targets
Truculenter constro: Causes targets to fall to the ground in chains (wrapped very tightly)
Multivinculum: Ties up multiple people in ropes
Salazar's Spells:
Transportation spell: Incantation: none. Can transport multiple people. Appearance: rainbow lights, roaring sound.
Cassesium: Silver spell, creates chains. One spell can bind only one person
Obrigesco constrinxi: "Freeze bind" Bright blue binding spell
Subsistere: Binding spell
Lumen caecus: Creates blinding light. Doesn't affect caster.
Sepelionoce: Destroys/tears at everything nearby
Ingenstremo: Causes earthquake
Vindicto: "Revenge curse" actually a shield (black) that absorbs enemies spells, then sends pieces of itself at those who attacked it
Aerdesolo: Causes air around person to disappear so that they can't breath
Sanctiveritas: Forces person to speak the truth
Collum Angustus: Closes up throat so that victim cannot breath.
Supplanto: trips opponent
Somnodormio: Causes multiple opponents to fall asleep (narrow range, can't hit more than a couple targets at a time)
Scindo: Dismemberment curse
Rowena's Spells:
Onerometuo: Makes the foe blinded by terror
Inferiavaco: "Dead man's call" cruel spell: has people called by dead relatives, friends, people they had killed…entirely mental.
Aerisjaculum: "Air javelin" sends multiple invisible spears at enemies
Letifer offensio: Knocks opponent unconscious
Madide ingravesco: Causes opponent to become drunk
Fierialienus: Makes opponents think their friends are their enemies
Armadilabor: Makes weapons (except for wands) disappear, turn to ash, or simply fall apart depending on the power used
Pluoigneus:Rains acid on battle field
Linguabardus: Causes opponent to forget speech (including spells)
Timeo infelicitas: "Fear curse" causes extreme paranoia
Volatilisiurs: "Winged justice"
Caelumestitia: "Heavens' misfortune"
Aquaonis: "Water tornado"
Multivinculum: Ties up multiple people in ropes
Helga's Spells:
Plurabestia lacerta: Turns multiple people into lizards
Terracapto: Creates large sinkhole that closes up abruptly, trapping those caught in it underground to die
Cealestis calculus: Causes shower of rocks (meteors) from the sky that blast opponent
Laqueus labrusca: Causes vines to grow out of the ground and grab all intended targets
Fioignavus: Anesthetic curse that also works to get someone to "not care" about battle
Desinoutroque: Stops everyone except for the caster completely (effectively freezes time in immediate area)
Atroxequitas: "Terrible justice"
Atterotutis: Destroys opponent's shields
Pluresturbo: Creates multiple tornadoes to be directed by caster
Fungitumulcus: Similar to sinkhole curse; wave(s) of dirt rises up and buries opponents