Disclaimer: I don't own it! I don't own it! So please don't lock me in a closet!
A/N: Hello all readers! Yes, I am actually back after a week, to give you this chapter. I don't know how long my weekly updates will last, but enjoy it while you can. I will be honest with you that if I had kept my weekly updates from the beginning I would be finished Monday with this story. But now that life got in the way, I am only on this chapter, and I'll try to keep these updates as frequent. But seeing as how I don't have many reviews, I have no idea what any of you think of this story. I just wanted to say thank you to my friend Herbie who I let read the last chapter before everyone else. He just reminded me of something, and I was actually able to fix it before I put up the chapter! Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 11: Aftermath
Restless sleep took over the burrow the night of the 14th. The heavy atmosphere in each room could not be cut with the darkest spell. It was eleven at night, and the only people still awake were Lily and James. James kept looking at the kitchen door to Lily, to his shoes and back again for the past hour. Lily just sat beside her husband with a sorrowful look. James' head was whirling with questions that he knew couldn't be answered right now. His niece was upset by her friend's disappearance. All the order knew was that it had to be a Death Eater attack. They would probably be taking the case in the office, but then again a school aged girl may not be high on the list for the aurors. He also could not believe his niece actually came here and exposed herself to the others. He knew now that he couldn't keep the family from Lily for much longer, but there was nothing he could do about it. With a lift of his head he looked at the door where his niece and sister left through, and then looked at his wife where she actually comforted Holly, and then looked at his shoes. This was just a horrible day.
Lily sat on the couch beside her husband as he sat in a dazed position. She couldn't believe she got to meet Holly tonight of all days. Her best friend was kidnapped, and she was a mess because of it. Lily knew it had to be the work of Death Eaters. This confused her though, because although Hermione was a bright girl she couldn't see what Voldemort wanted with her. Lily's mind moved back to Holly, and her mother. The older members of the order always just mentioned her, not explaining who she is and how she fits in with all of us. They were both likable people, but she couldn't see why Kendra and Holly are such a secret. She looked at her husband still making his rounds with his head. Door, me, shoes; door, me, shoes; door, me, shoes; door, me, shoes. She knew he was just as confused about this entire thing as she was, so she left him to think. We all are going to need to have time to think today. Sunday's were usually happy days in the Burrow, but that wasn't going to be the case today. The clock struck midnight, and she noticed the fatigue setting in.
The couple went to bed shortly after one in the morning to attempt to get some sleep. The first light anyone saw on the 15th was a dull gray sky. The women were up with tired eyes at 8:00. They made breakfast in silence mumbling things like,
"Pass the knife,"
"Pass the egg carton,"
"Can this be washed so I can use it in a minute?"
Nine o'clock came around when the men woke up, and they decided to help their wives get the children up. Everyone made it down one by one seating themselves at the enlarged table. Various newspapers were strewn amongst the adults while they ate in silence.
"Hey, look at this everyone." Sirius said. "I was looking in the obituaries and saw that there were 5 unexplained deaths that police are having trouble explaining to the muggles." The rustling of papers followed so they could see what Sirius was talking about.
"It says that none of the other family members were harmed," Lily observed.
"That must stink to lose those few kids so close to there family. We've lost someone too, but she's older." Joanna commented.
The adults looked at one another with apprehension. Those deaths could be because of wizards, and they had a good idea which wizards were behind it. They would all keep an eye on the Muggle papers to make sure more deaths weren't occurring in large numbers. This is just one more thing that the Order had to worry about. Also because of Hermione's disappearance they tightened the wards on the Burrow. It finally reached 10 in the morning for the residents. It was cleaning day for everyone. De-knoming the garden; washing clothes, walls, floors, carpets; basically, a major wash down for every surface in the place. A complete scrub down is what the burrow needed after having so many people live under one roof. They cleaned until lunch, and cleaned after lunch. By dinner time the place was cleaner than when everyone came to visit. With no time for play all the kids were not the happiest when they came to dinner. The adults kept reassuring them that they would only have to wait until next Sunday to do this all over again, and that there was always tomorrow to play a Quidditch game.
After dinner, all of the kids went gloomily upstairs to get cleaned up and all of the Hogwarts students and alumni congregated in one bedroom to talk.
"I hope the adults will be able to find Hermione," Clayton said.
"Don't we all," Harry added.
"They will find her. It will just take some time though." Bill tried to assure.
"Where do you guys think they took her?" Gracie asked. They all sat in silence.
"Do you think that Holly girl might know?" Dale put out.
"If she did then we wouldn't have to look for her, now would we," Neil chastised.
"That's true," Dale said.
"Is there anything any of us can do to help?" Fred and George wondered aloud.
"Unfortunately I don't think so boys," Bill said, "I know we all want to help, but just let the order take care of it."
"So just ignore that anything has happened?" Jane said, "If Holly gets to help, why can't we? She's still a teenager."
"Dumbledore apparently trusts her with what information she has." Ron added.
"Obviously," Neville said sourly.
"She's blind!" Carianna exclaimed, "He trusts someone who can't see what the world she is doing."
"Have any of you ever met this girl before?" Harry questioned with fury in his eyes. The room was silent except that Bill nodded his head. "Well, I have. Do you guys remember when that blue phoenix came to deliver that message?" They all nodded there heads again, and then Harry continued, "That's when I met her, and she is more smart than she looks."
"Harry is right everyone, we all know that she is keeping something from the wizarding world, and it may be the thing that can destroy Voldemort." Bill interjected before anyone could argue.
"So why doesn't she share it with the order?" Anastasia asked.
"She is." Bill replied.
"Then if she knows this great secret, why doesn't she just tell the order what to do?" Ginny wondered aloud.
"It probably has to do with them getting all the information at once, and then she's afraid that they will try to find another way around it." Everyone was silent for a moment before Kira asked,
"So she wants them to do it how the book suggests?"
"I'm thinking that, and if the Death Eaters are trying to get any information out of anyone, they get it in pieces so it doesn't make sense." Bill responded.
"She wants to confuse Voldemort?" Christopher queried in awe.
"Looks like it."
"So, if he gets the information bit by bit then it will lead him to think the opposite, or something totally different from the truth?" Kevin Asked.
"Exactly," Bill praised.
"Are we the only ones who know this?" Dustin asked.
"We are probably the only ones who see what Holly's doing." Bill said.
"The rest of the adults are completely oblivious?" Nattily questioned.
"Not oblivious, just annoyed that they don't have all the puzzle pieces and Holly does." Bill confirmed.
"Figuratively, they aren't able to piece everything together, because Holly is keeping large bits from them?" Emma wondered.
"They can find the information out for themselves; they have decided to have Holly inform them when she feels they need to be informed." Bill said.
"What happens if she doesn't give the information they need when they need it?" Wen Wei asked.
"I don't know Wen Wei, I don't know." Bill said with a sigh.
It was nearing nine o'clock in the evening, and Harry's scar hurt. He knew that Voldemort was up to something, but he didn't know what. All the other kids were still talking animatedly with Bill, but his scar hurt too much to concentrate any more. As he sat with his scar hurting, he heard Emma ask.
"What happens if we can't find Hermione?" His scar flared painfully.
"We will find her, one way or another." Bill assured. The scar flared again, and he clapped his hand to his forehead. Ron looked over to Harry with concern.
"What's wrong," Ron asked.
"It just hurts badly," He said in agony.
"Do you want anyone to go get one of your parents?" He asked.
"No, it'll eventually pass." Harry said as another burst of pain ripped through his scar, and it was hard for him to keep conscious. Anastasia looked at Harry with concern now, and he fought against the pain.
"Ron," She started timidly, "Shouldn't we go get Lily and James?"
"He doesn't want them, or the attention." Ron said. Anastasia pitied him a little, and she knew that Ron was right. Another burst of pain ripped through the scar, and Harry lost consciousness.
The scene formed around him when a cold chill ran up his spine. He saw two cloaked figures round the corner into a neighborhood. A loud bang issued from one of the wands. Out of fright the parents and children of this quiet neighborhood stepped out of there houses to see what the commotion was all about. A cold voice rang out,
"Good evening all Muggles,"
The people in this place looked to one another in fright, because they didn't know who this cloaked man was referring too, "muggle." Voldemort continued.
"Do you know why Lord Voldemort has decided to grace you with his presence?" He asked.
The residence looked to one another again, they had no idea why he was here, and what this whole Lord business was about.
"I have come here to kill ten people, and only ten."
"Look here mister," One man said, "You have no right coming to our neighborhood and saying that you will kill just ten."
"Crusio!" Voldemort shouted as he brandished his wand, and that was what set the rest of them in a rage of shouts. The other cloaked man raised his wand and it too emitted a loud bang. At once everyone was silent and Voldemort let the curse up.
"Anyone else want to defy Lord Voldemort like this worthless muggle?" Voldemort said with an evil glint in his eyes. No one dared to move. Voldemorts other companion shot a green ball of light toward a mother holding a baby, and before that could sink in he shot another ball of green light toward another mother holding a baby.
"Two down." Voldemort said in a high cold laugh. Both mothers and fathers were crying over the infants they had lost. Sometime during the commotion a man entered his house and emerged with a shotgun. Voldemort eyed it warily, and after the man attempted to shoot, Voldemort blew it to pieces. Another two green balls of light hit two more people in quick succession. They looked to be the oldest kids on that street.
"Four down," Voldemort laughed again in his cold hard voice. More crying followed the deaths of the four lifeless bodies. A woman stood up, and said,
"I demand you leave now!" She was in a fit of tears. Voldemort still laughed, and the other figure shot two more balls of light toward two elderly people. The residence on this street had enough and one was brave to try and knock the second figure out with a baseball bat. The bat was blown to pieces and then two more balls of green hit a boy and a girl on opposite sides of the street.
"Eight!" Voldemort shouted, "I have killed eight of the people I want to kill tonight, and you muggles cannot do a thing about it." He said in his quiet high pitched voice. Again the other cloaked figure shot two, and the final, green balls of light hit a middle-aged woman and man on opposite sides of the street. Voldemort took pleasure in putting up the dark marks over each of the ten houses before cackling with glee and the two figures disappeared.
Harry woke with a raging headache. The thing he just witnessed was terrifying. Ten muggles killed just because Voldemort wanted it. He then noticed that he was lying in a bed sweating madly, and his breathing was irregular. He sat up in bed, but four pairs of hands pushed him back down, and another set of hands was massaging his stiff neck and shoulders. A lamp flickered on somewhere in the room. A figure put Harry's glasses back on his face, and when his vision came back into focus he saw blue eyes, blond hair, and a kind face.
"Holly!" He shouted as he jumped up in surprise. A pair of four hands pushed him down again, the hands of his mother and father. They sat on the bed next to him waiting to see if anything was going to happen.
"Scar hurt?" Holly questioned.
"Yeah," Harry answered.
"You gave us quite a scare," His mother said with concern written all over her tone.
"Yes, you did," James said worried.
"How long was I passed out for?" Harry asked the room at large.
"About an hour…" Someone answered that Harry didn't know. He again lifted his head up to see who it was, but this time Holly gently pulled him back down.
"It was just my Mum," She said. Harry relaxed, and then asked,
"Who else is in here?"
"Molly, Arthur, Bill, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, Sirius, Rochelle, Clayton, Anastasia, Dustin, Nattily, Remus, Joanna, Neil, Christopher, Kevin, Alice, Frank, Gracie, Dale, Neville, Kira, Kendra, Lilly, Holly, Kelly, Nathaniel, Gabriel, Jane, Carianna, Emma and Wen Wei." James answered as he looked to make sure he wasn't missing anyone. Harry just groaned, and covered his eyes before saying,
"Too many people."
"We were all just worried about you," Holly said. There was nothing Harry could say to that. "Do you have a headache still?" She asked.
"No. It and my scar are not hurting any more." Holly stood up, and sat in the chair behind the bed.
"Can you tell us what you remember?" James questioned, and at that moment Harry recounted everything including the deaths.
It was all shocking for them that ten more muggles were killed, and now they knew how it happened. All they could do was wait and check the muggle newspapers in the morning.
"I wonder who the other Death Eater is," Holly wondered aloud. Everyone just looked at her, and then Lily said,
"We'll never know, unless Harry can tell us more about the other person, and sense they didn't speak, it would be pointless to retrieve the memory."
"Very true, it's just..." Holly started to say, but Lily cut her off.
"... Not how any of us expected to find this information out. Oh, and Holly?"
"Yes Lily?"
"Did any of this happen in your source, you know, the one you are sharing with Dumbledore?" She asked in a hopeful tone. Holly looked down at Harry for a moment before replying,
"No, nothing like this happened in my source, although people were killed, it just wasn't in this large amount this soon."
"Huh?" Lily said in confusion.
"In this point in time where my source is concerned Voldemort kept things quiet for the longest time. Actually, he kept things quiet for a year after his rebirth."
"So no killings?" James asked.
"No, there were killings and disappearances, but not this frequent, and they happened over the course of the year." Everyone was silent after those last words. The adults just looked to one another with apprehension, and a short while later Lily Joanna Rochelle and molly suggested that everyone go to bed.
"What are we going to do about Hermione?" Harry asked.
"We will look for her in the morning," James assured him. The task that awaited them in the morning was going to be a grueling one and they knew it. After the children were in bed, Kendra and her family left to give the residence of the Burrow privacy.
A/N: Just reminding you that I may update in a weeks time if I get just one review, and no to all my friends, your "phone" reviews don't count! So, all you fanfiction readers review! Oh, and just a reminder that I'm still looking for a beta for this story, so if anyone is interested, just PM me. Review!