Chapter 26: Grimm Discoveries
Dinner that evening was a very large affair. Since the battle in Diagon Alley, everyone was running on their own schedules and ate at different times in their suites or common rooms. Tonight however, Harry insisted that everyone eat together. The only people missing were Remus, Tonks, and Mad-Eye Moody. After waking up late, the three of them headed over to Malfoy Manor to check it out and begin to clean the place out.
Just as dinner was finishing up, a silver wolf patronus came running thru the doors. That patronus was Tonks', Harry suddenly felt very, very worried. The wolf stopped in front of Albus and everyone heard Tonks' voice, "We found something very, very wrong here. Please send help and Madam Pomfrey." As soon as the words 'very, very' were heard, Harry jumped out of chair and summoned everyone's battles robes and weapons. Ron and Neville began making a plan to get to the manor as the robes and weapons came flying thru the air.
Albus immediately took charge of the situation, "Severus, I am going to ask you to come with us. You know the layout of the Manor better then anyone—"
"Begging your pardon Headmaster sir. Dobby is very familiar with the home of his old master. This way Professor Greasy Head can remain here under cover." Dobby looked up into Albus' eyes as he said this.
"Thank you Dobby. If you and Winky would please help Madam Pomfrey prep a field first aid kit, I would appreciate it."
Dobby nodded and touched Poppy's arm and the both disappeared. At this point Harry took over, "Grandmum Min, please contact whatever order members you can find and have them meet us at the Manor. Luna, Hermione, I want you both to use your animagus forms and give us an aerial view once we get there. Neville, Fred, George, I think we might need some large animals…if you get my drift. Everyone else be ready for anything. I want everyone matched up with a partner, no one goes anywhere on those grounds by themselves. Severus, I am giving you control of the castle. Inform the goblins what has happened, and then lock down the castle."
With a few nods, everyone began to change into their battle robes. Harry and Ginny used their fire elemental powers to flame apparate right into their robes. A few minutes later and Poppy and the elves returned with Mercury, Apollo, and Fawkes. Once assembled, the group grabbed a hold of the table which Albus turned into a portkey and they disappeared.
_________________________________________________________________________________
After finding out that Harry had knocked some sense into Albus Dumbledore, literally, Tonks took Remus and Mad-Eye Moody to Malfoy Manor to check it out. They apparated to the main gates and looked around, the manor itself was dark and gloomy; it felt as if dementors had infused themselves into every rock and brick that made up the manor and surrounding structures. Mad-Eye tried to open the gate with a number of charms and spells to no avail, Tonks then remembered what she had heard Harry did when he claimed ownership of Hogwarts. The metamorphmagus squared her shoulders and raised her hand towards the gate and spoke in a clear demanding voice.
"I Nymphadora Andromeda Tonks, member of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, hereby claim my right as the Heir of the Malfoy Family." A white flash of light flew from Tonks' hand and impacted the gates. The White flash then spread over the gates and poured thru the manor grounds and finally over the manor itself. When the white light had completely covered everything, the light turned blue, then green, then red, then yellow, then pink and then suddenly appeared to be absorbed into the castle. A moment later, the gates opened and an older house elf appeared in the path.
The elf was wearing the normal tea cozy with the Malfoy Family Crest stamped on it. He bowed deeply then spoke. "Lady Malfoy, I is Bobby, head house elf for the Malfoy Family, welcome to the ancestral home of the Malfoy Family, Dragon's Lair." Tonks looked over at Moody and Remus, by the looks on their faces, neither of them knew the ancestral name of the manor either. As they walked towards the manor, Remus noticed that the manor and the grounds were literally changing around them. The gloominess and despair that everyone thought was etched into the very soul of the property had been replaced with a light, fun loving feeling, just like Tonks' own spirit.
"Excuse me Bobby, what is happening to the manor and the grounds around it? It seems to be changing." Bobby stopped and turned towards the marauder. "For the first time in over 200 years, a person of good soul has claimed Dragon's Lair as their own. Dragon's Lair recognizes its new mistress and is changing accordingly. For any other information, I feel that Octavious, the Guardian, will be able to answer your questions. I also feel that you are somehow attached to a Dragon Tamer, as if he is a sibling. If this is correct, then you should speak to the portrait of Octavious Malfoy as soon as possible. Master Lucius silenced him many years ago."
The group entered the manor and was escorted to the sitting room on the first floor where a large portrait hung. In better times this portrait was the center of this room, but this room had become derelict and the portrait had been frozen somehow. Tonks banished all of the furniture in the room and walked over to the portrait. She tapped the frame of the portrait and asked the portrait to wake up. The man in the portrait, dressed in black dress robes with silver and green trimming, smiled at Tonks then took stock of the others in the room. His brow furrowed as if he tried to understand something.
"Mistress…I'm sorry, I have no idea who you are. You are the Head of the Malfoy Family, but you are not a Malfoy…how did you obtain this?" Remus quickly conjured comfortable chairs for the three of them and then sat down.
"I'm sorry…Octavious…My name is Nymphadora Tonks, and I am the niece of the late Narcissa Black-Malfoy. Her husband Lucius and son Draco were killed before her death. So she named me as the heir of the Malfoy family. This older man is Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody, and this man, is the former werewolf and my mate, Remus John Lupin."
Together, the three of them explained everything that had happened in the last thirty years since Lucius became the head of the Malfoy family. They discovered that the Malfoy holdings included a number of flats, homes, and warehouses thru out Europe, Moody and Octavious agreed that many of these locations could indeed be Voldemort's safe houses. Octavious said he would check out the other properties and report back to his Mistress. As they were finishing their discussion with Octavious, Remus began to smell something. It smelled very familiar to Remus, it was blood, and it was fresh.
"Octavious, who else is here in the Manor?" The old portrait thought for a moment, and then he began to pale.
"Oh my…Mistress Dora, the magic contained within the manor and grounds has opened many secret passages and…laboratories. I can sense someone very, very weak in the dungeons. I believe Bobby can lead you to where you need to go."
Tonks and Moody were already racing out of the room; Remus was already gone, following the stench.
The faster Remus ran, the more his wolf instincts took over. Suddenly, Remus transformed into his animagus wolf form and continued towards the source of the smell. Remus was closing in on it; he knew he was, when he ran into a solid wall. He got up and shook his head and sniffed around. The smell was coming from behind this wall. He growled in anger when Tonks and Moody caught up to him. Remus transformed back into his human and looked at the wall.
"The smell is coming from behind this wall! How do we open it?" Bobby approached the wall and used his elf magic to determine how the wall opened, "Mistress Dora, this is not a part of Dragon's Lair. This is made with very dark magic. I is thinking I is able to open it, but I may be injured, so forgive me Mistress Dora…"
Bobby petrified the three wizards and placed a strong shield around them. He then turned to the wall and began to chant in some unknown tongue. His body began to blur and fade in and out of existence until finally he stepped into the wall and made it explode. The resulting magical explosion leveled most of Malfoy Manor and trapped Mad-Eye, Tonks, and Lupin under large amount of rock and debris. Before Tonks lost consciousness, she sent her patronus to Dumbledore; she only hoped he would be able to help them.
_________________________________________________________________________________
The rescue team arrived in the woods close to Malfoy Manor. As soon as the group arrived, Hermione- whose animagus form was a barn owl, Luna whose animagus form was a hawk, Apollo, Mercury, and Fawkes all took off into the skies heading for Malfoy Manor. Bill, Neville, and Ron all transformed into their animal forms and began sniff out scents. Fred and George transformed in a pair of identical cheetahs and took off to the far side of the property where Dobby had told them Draco Malfoy used to practice magic.
The remaining members, Albus, Minerva, Dobby, Harry, Ginny, Charlie, Percy, Arthur, Molly, Winky and Madam Pomfrey all stared trekking towards the front gates of the manor. As they were about to exit the wooded area, Hermione started to scream thru their mental connection. It took a few minutes for Harry and Albus to decipher what she was saying:
'OH MY GOD, THE MANOR HAS BEEN DESTROYED!!!'
Harry immediately changed into his panther form and streaked towards the burning remains of Malfoy Manor.
'Apollo!! Can you flame to Tonks and the others?'
'I'm sorry Harry, but I cannot reach them, there is a lot of dark magic surrounding them. The older man's aura is strong but the wolf man and the metamorphmagus' auras are weak.'
Harry thought quickly, 'Apollo, do you think you can guide me too them?'
There was nothing being said for a moment before Harry felt something on his back. He knew it was Ginny in her Phoenix form. She trilled softly, allowing Harry to relax and transform back into his human form. As soon as he transformed, an idea formed in his head.
'Hermione, I am going to use my water elements to dose the fires, I want you and Luna back in your human forms.'
'Ok Harry, we're on our way to your location.'
As soon as Hermione and Luna landed, Harry and Ginny called forth their water elements and began to put out the fires. Soon Albus joined them and they were able to control the fires. Many of the fires were actually Fiendfyre, which could be controlled by a fire elemental, but not put out. While Harry controlled the fire, Ginny created a spot on the grounds for the fire to burn.
She used her earth elements to clear the ground and then created a moat. She then filed the moat with water, except for one spot that Harry then used to channel the Fiendfyre onto the island. Ginny then finished the moat and started to work with Albus on clearing all the rock and rubble.
Harry continued to handle the Fiendfyre until he was able to summon his elemental phoenix he had named 'Flame'. All wizards who control the elements conjure and name different elemental forms.
'Flame, I want you control this Fiendfyre. It will eventually burn itself out, ok?'
'Yes Master Harry.'
With Harry's attention back on the remains of Malfoy Manor, he began to feel ill. Remus, the last of the Marauders, was in there with Tonks and Moody. Harry started to run back to the ruins when suddenly a large piece of wall flew out of the remains and landed behind him. It was then that Harry saw Ginny bent over trying to catch her breath. He ran over to her and began to help her when he saw what the others were doing. Albus was using his elemental powers to hold back the earth that was surrounding the manor. Minerva and Molly were working with Winky extracting house elves that had been trapped. Bill and Charlie were using some old Egyptian Spells to cut and remove large blocks of material, which were being levitated out of the way by Hermione, Percy and Ron. Fleur and Penny were already put in charge of collected any relics they could find.
The first thing they found was the portrait of Octavious Malfoy. Harry was just getting bits and pieces of the conversation when Penny screamed. Percy, who was basically a floater, ran over to his fiancée and tried to calm her down when Percy spotted what looked like a human leg. As Harry saw Penny collapse, Harry lost control of his magic. Using his wind element, he rose into the air and started to draw magic from the environment.
He kept thinking about Mad-Eye, who had gone through extensive procedures to be back in fighting shape. Tonks, who loved Remus and wanted to have a child with him, then Remus, his father's last friend and his uncle. With an unholy scream, Harry channeled every bit of elemental and magical power into the remains of the manor, causing it all to disappear and then reappear all over the manor grounds. Suddenly everyone saw a strong shield protecting three individuals. As soon as they were visible, Harry fell to the ground unconscious.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Harry opened his eyes and saw a very concerned Ginny along with Molly, Winky, and Poppy Pomfrey. "What in the hell did I do this time?" Everyone laughed a little bit, and then reality set back in. In a flash Harry was on feet looking for Remus, Tonks and Moody. After panicking for a moment, Harry aw the Moody and Remus were both laying next to him. Both a little shook up, but otherwise in good shape. Dora was back in the hole that had been the dungeon of Malfoy Manor with Dumbledore and Bill Weasley.
Harry didn't give anyone the chance to stop him; he suddenly disappeared in a burst of flame only to reappear next to Albus and Tonks. "…Professor, I don't know what was behind this door. Bobby the head house elf said it was attached to the manor's magical signature. Octavious, the Manor's Guardian thought there was something, or someone in there."
"I understand Dora…Harry! Are you alright? You should be resting…"
Harry looked irritated for a moment before continuing, "I'm fine Albus, my power is a little low, but I am fixing that as I speak. By standing on earth, I am using my earth elemental powers to recharge my magic and my body, in a few minutes, I'll good as new. Now what in the hell did Dora and Remus almost get killed over?" Harry stepped over to the only remaining wall just as Bill was able to drop the wards and the other protections.
As Harry stepped in, he conjured Blue Bell Flames and had them float in front of him. It was a combination of potions lab and dungeon. Inside were seven young women ages 15-19 years old. Harry didn't even wait for anyone to check the girls; he used his magic and knew that they wee dead and that they were tortured. With another unholy scream, Harry let his magic rip loose and destroyed the dungeon. The magical force was so strong that even with his strongest shield, Albus and the others were thrown half way across the remains of the manor.
Ginny, who sensed Harry's temper and decided to help, had changed into her phoenix form and flamed back to Harry the moment the magical shockwave dissipated. He was conscious and almost catatonic, but he was alive. The bodies of the seven young girls were magically cleaned and wrapped in what looked like green silk. Harry looked at Ginny, and he collapsed into her arms, balling his eyes out.
"Ginny, I can feel the evilness that occurred in this dungeon. They were all raped, repeatedly. They were starved, beaten, and then raped again and again. I can feel what they went through…"
Harry continued to cry when Albus and Bill finally made their way back to the young couple. They saw the bodies were wrapped, and they both started to feel exactly what Harry was feeling. Albus and Bill raised their hands and wands and levitated the seven bodies out of the dungeons. Apollo landed on Ginny shoulder and flamed them both outside to the others.
As soon as everyone was outside, Albus, Minerva, Bill, Charlie, and Arthur all cast powerful reductor curses and collapsed the remains of the dungeon. Harry sniffed into Ginny's shirt, causing everyone to turn towards him again.
"Albus try and find out who those girls were. Poppy, can I have some Dreamless Sleep Potion please?" Poppy handed the potion to Ginny without saying a word. Harry then turned into his phoenix form and flamed away; Ginny was a moment behind him.