The Other Sky

Chapter 5: And Lead Me into his Dark Land

A/N-Disclaimer: I realized this story is lucky that its summer and I have a lot of time to write. Title of the chapter comes from I have a Rendezvous with Death by Alan Seeger. As always, I don't own Harry Potter. Thank you to everyone who has review and followed so far. Well, here's chapter five.

Exactly one hour later, a shot of pain burst through my head. Dammit, did they really think I would leave my wards down for any crazed fan to suddenly pop in? I sighed in annoyance as I allowed them in as the pain slowly ebbed from my mind. A few seconds later, there was a knock from my door. I hurried to open it, plastering a fake smile onto my face.

"Hello, Minister." Kingsley was in the front of the group with five others behind him in nondescript black robes.

He didn't return my smile, but nodded in acknowledgement. "Harry, will you lead us to the room?"

I kept my smile firmly in place. "Of course, Minister. May I request though, that my house be kept in order on the way? I wouldn't want to have to clean for hours after you've gone."

He looked at me as if I'd gone mad. "Of course, Mr. Potter." He says his voice completely professional. I nodded, turning on my heel and heading towards the room.

As I was climbing the stairs, I heard whispers coming from behind me. Maybe I hadn't been as inconspicuous as I'd thought in the letter. Maybe, after the Unspeakables- I had no doubt that was what they were now- got what they came for, they would arrest me. I patted my pants, under the guise of wiping my hands on my trousers, to make sure my wand was in my pocket.

We arrived at the third floor and I sensed the exact moment when all six behind me pulled out their wands. I hoped beyond hope that they sensed the Dark magic and weren't about to arrest me. I stopped at the door and motioned to it. "Here it is." I turned to face them and pretended to be shocked to see their wands out. Inside, I was anxious to see if any of them were going to try the direct approach to the door first.

The tallest in the group was the first to step forward. "Well, what are we waiting for?" he said in the type of voice you'd expect from a two meter tall muscle man. And, here I had thought the Unspeakables recruited smart people.

He reached for the doorknob confidently. I barely kept my face straight when three centimeters from the knob, he was thrown back. He hit the opposite wall with a thud and fell to the wall unconscious.

"I would probably suggest you guys not doing that." I said a bit sarcastically. "I'm sorry, King— I mean, Minister. I thought I mentioned the extent of the wards." I tried to look innocent, but I knew that I only told Kingsley the effects the wards had had on me. Not only did the door have the effects it had on me, it had a bounce off protection that was apparently latent when I tried to access the room. Or, perhaps I was more resistant that cocky Unspeakables.

Kingsley raised an eyebrow. "I thought you said all you experienced was a long lasting headache, not a hugging session with a wall." Even though he kept a straight face at his final comment, I couldn't help but crack a smile. He continued, "Would you care to explain this advancement, Mr. Potter?"

So, I was back to Mr. Potter. "Again, I'm very sorry, Minister. This advancement, as you say, just came as a shock to me as well. Last night, all I experienced was the headache. Perhaps I was more able to account for the force of the wards." I hope my phrasing doesn't insult Kingsley much, but I feel like it is true. Despite the bounce off being a surprise, it might put the strength of my magic into Kingsley's mind before my request.

Kingsley still raised an eyebrow, how he still could, I did not know. They almost seemed to almost reach his would-be hairline. He sighed before continuing, "Very well, Mr. Potter. This change of information does make things a bit more difficult though. We'll need a new strategy, as well as having to wake up Clayworth." He motioned to the man that has still been unconscious on the floor. I nodded. "Is there any more information about the room you'd like to tell us before we continue?"

I shook my head. "No, Minister. I don't believe so." I had already explained the setup of the room and the wards in to second half of the room that probably held even more dangerous artifacts in the letter I had sent.

"You'd better hope not, Mr. Potter." Okay, the Mr. Potter thing had started to annoy me.

"Will that be all, sir?" I ask, deciding against saying Minister for the thousandth time.

"Yes, we will not bother you again until the room has been cleared out. And, I will ask you to keep your wards down for the duration of our time here. We will be transporting the objects straight to the Ministry. Last thing, Potter, please explain the effects of the wards inside the room one last time. There is no need for us to be blindsided again." He gave me a stern look.

And, now, I was Potter. "Okay, well it starts as a strange buzzing in the back of your mind, but in you take even one step more, there is a startlingly strong blast of pain that goes throughout your head until you step back. If nothing inside the room has changed, I think that's it."

He nodded and said, "Thank you, Potter. That will be all. I will alert you when we are done and you may return your wards to their original state."

Without another word, I walked back down the stairs. I really was curious to see if they would succeed in extracting the artifacts.

As I sat down at the kitchen table, after putting water to boil, I thought back on the letter I had sent to Kingsley. Obviously, I had written it to convince him I had nothing to do with the artifacts before last night, and make him still be okay with us meeting tomorrow, which I didn't think he'd actually confirmed yet. I'd need to ask him later.

I tried to think back to how I wrote the part of how I was in the room at first, and later it denied me access. I still wasn't ready to let anyone, let alone the Ministry, know that there had been an intruder in my home. Even less, one who tampered with wards on very active Dark artifacts? The more I thought about it, the less I could fathom it. The fact that I couldn't pinpoint what the excuse was, could have been either on account of it being such a good excuse that I never thought anyone would question it. Or, my own stupidity and Kingsley's own wanting to trust and believe me.

Even as I went through possibilities in my own mind, I couldn't help but think that I would never believe any story like the one I was trying to feed to Kingsley. I wouldn't believe that you can go somewhere in one minute, but be denied access a minute later. I wondered if Kingsley really wanted to think the best of me even though all of the evidence pointed against me.

Of course, the other side to this is the fact that I am mostly innocent. Aside from deception and lying through omission, I had yet to commit an actual crime. I didn't even have malicious intent with the Dark artifacts. My investigation of them would have been purely educational, for fun, as idiomatic as that might seem. If they found out I had been planning on hiding the artifacts, they wouldn't have seen it that way, of course. But, regardless, I never made it to that part of the plan and so no there is crime I had committed.

Though, that did make me wonder if wanting to join the Unspeakables for only the intent of investigating the very artifacts that were confiscated from me could be a crime. I couldn't see why, the investigating of Dark artifacts are one perk Unspeakable trainees think of, it would be any different for me. Perhaps it would seem suspicious so soon after they were confiscated, but I could live with that.

I absentmindedly waved my wand at the boiling water, allowing it to serve itself.

I tried to think about the connection between the room and the invader. It's obvious the room was the reason for the invasion of my home. The one thing that was still irritating me to no end was not the fact that my home was invaded, that only pissed me off. What really irritated me was that there was no reason for someone to intentionally come into my home and put up wards to keep me out of something I wasn't even sure of.

I began to wonder if the wards in the room had a connection to my intruder. It had been almost as if the wards had called to my intruder to tell him to invade my home. That train of thought begged the question; what relationship would the wards in that room have with someone I didn't want getting in my home.

Well, it was the Black family home, wasn't it? There was still a huge possibility that the house, and all remnants of magic within it, still didn't accept me. But, if that was the case that means it would have had to have called on another Black.

Instantly, my mind jumped to Malfoy. I nearly laughed out loud as I realize how ridiculous that sound. Malfoy was a Black, though, and he had more claim on the house, despite Sirius' will. The more I thought about it, though, the more the whole idea felt ridiculous. There couldn't any way the house called out to Malfoy. My mind goes back to the conversation with Zabini, just another thing that I was keeping a secret. If Malfoy had been missing or in hiding, there was no way he could have been here two nights ago. If he was hiding, he wouldn't have risked being found by me. If someone had kidnapped him, they wouldn't have let him out anyways. The entire thought was just ridiculous.

I shook it off as I heard a noise behind me. I looked towards the window and realized that there was a significantly smaller amount of light coming through the window. I turned the top half of my body to see Kingsley standing there looking quite worn out, I couldn't believe they'd actually managed it. I offered a small smile that was more sincere than any other I'd given him that day. "Is it done?" I asked.

He nodded very slowly to start off with. Then as he realized who he was talking to, he looks me in the eyes and says, "Yes," he sighs, "that was… mind-blowing. I can't understand how all of that could have been over-looked for so long." He took a few more steps into the room and sat down across from me. "Harry, those wards seemed so old. As if they had been there for centuries. The ones in the middle of the room took us the longest." He met my eyes again. "It's all out, though. They've taken it all to headquarters, though. I only came to tell you." He looked pointedly at the tea, and I served him some, even though it was cold.

Kingsley casted a Heating charm on the tea as I stood to look out of the window. I smiled a bit and turned to look at him. "I'm Harry again, am I?" The look on his face told me that I had finally managed to surprise him. I break out a bright, genuine smile. "I'm just kidding. I know it's all business. Anything give you a lot of trouble, aside from the wards?"

He shakes his head. "Not particularly. I was mainly surprised. Some of those devices could torture as effectively as a Cruciatus, but leave no trace. The Blacks were truly bat-shit crazy, I tell you, Harry."

I smile, knowing he was officially off duty, for now. "I can understand that. Anyways, it's getting late. I was wondering if we could meet tomorrow to talk and catch up a bit."

He looked out the window as if he had just realized the time. "Yes, I suppose I should be going." He downed the rest of his tea in one drink. "Does half one tomorrow work for you?" I nodded. "See you tomorrow, Harry." He Apparates with a smirk on his face.

I rolled my eyes and headed to bed. One challenge was completed… I doubted the rest would be as easy.

*O0o-o0O*

I got up bright and early the next morning of my own free will. I prepared my tea and waited. I waited for the inevitable letters I was bound to receive.

I was expecting it when the owls showed up on the edges of my wards. I allowed them through and went to my cabinet to grabbed treats for the owls before they left. Altogether, three owls went through my house. I returned to my seat and looked through the pieces of mail. Directly on top, was the Prophet. On the cover was some story about Ron and Hermione. Apparently, as much as they'd like to understand, they still enjoyed the fame a bit. I rolled my eyes and tossed it aside.

Well, speak of the devil. The second missive was a letter that was obviously from Hermione. I glanced at the third piece of mail before getting all wrapped up in my 'dealing with Hermione' set of mind. Unfortunately, the third piece of mail didn't offer much solace. It had been just another letter, from another reporter, asking for another interview. I instantly sent it off to the nearest fireplace.

I turned back to the letter from Hermione. No time like the present, I thought.

Harry.

Please respond. I'm worried and we need to talk. Everyone is confused about what happened at the Burrow. Please explain it to us. We all still care about you. We are worried about you. If you ever need anyone to talk to, remember Ron, Ginny, the rest of the Weasleys and I are always here for you.

Much love,

Hermione Granger.

Post Script: I just read over this, and I made absolutely no sense. See, I am desperate to talk to you. Respond, please.

I put the letter down. Well, I'm sure she was desperate, but whether it was out of care for me, I wasn't sure. I went to my study to grab a piece of parchment and quill. Against my better judgment, I wrote back to Hermione.

A/N: Whew, that was a longer one. I'm hoping for them to get longer as they go. Until next time…