Chapter Twenty One

Anton stood in the Headmasters office as Harry described his dream in vivid detail to the aging man, there were quite a few differences from the first time it had happened.

'…and then Kingsley was knocked out of the way by the Death Eater and the snake bit Mr Weasley!'

'Are you quite sure Harry?' Dumbledore asked calmly.

'Yes!' Harry said his voice rising 'I was dreaming it, but it was so real!'

'Professor is my Dad okay?' Fred said worriedly.

'He is at St Mungo's at this very instant' Dumbledore replied 'and I have every confidence that he will be fine,' (Anton had already told him the cure was found, eventually) 'I want you to take a portkey to Sirius's house, your Mother will be there later as well as Professor Lukyen.'

Dumbledore turned a black kettle from a cupboard into a portkey and handed it to the five teenagers, when they had disappeared shivering slightly from the office Dumbledore turned his attention to Anton.

'You are adamant he wasn't possessed?' he said worry clouding his eyes.

'Please trust me headmaster,' Anton said sitting down in one of the vacated seats 'when this happened to me the first time you were convinced that Voldemort could see through Harry, you distanced yourself in the mistaken belief that it was for the best, because of that I saw something else and went off with my friends into a trap, the end result was the death of Sirius.'

'So I was an idiot,' Dumbledore clasped his hands together in deep thought 'but I feel there is something you are failing to tell me.'

'Is there?' Anton said innocently.

'About the section of soul that resides in Harry,' Dumbledore said seriously 'which I also assume exits within yourself.'

'Oh that,' Anton said grimacing as Dumbledore fixed him with a look 'I was hoping you wouldn't realise until later.'

'I had my suspicions but it wasn't until tonight I was really sure.' Dumbledore answered 'I m upset Anton that you didn't feel you could tell me.'

'I was worried what you would say,' Anton admitted 'and you also didn't know about me being from the future.'

'I am curious though,' Dumbledore continued understanding what Anton had said 'why you didn't have a dream like Harry's, or did you?'

'No I didn't' Anton said squirming slightly as Dumbledore fixed him with a stare 'I learnt to block the dreams out with Occulumency, since I succeeded, I never witnessed what Harry witnessed tonight, however if I really want to I can lower them and get an idea on how Voldemort's feeling, but only if it's a really strong emotion'

He neglected to mention that he also hadn't slept that night, not wanting to risk the chance of reliving the occasion first hand

'So Harry should really learn Occulumency' Dumbledore said thoughtfully

'A word of advice' Anton said quickly 'not with Severus, that ended badly for both of us, we saw to much of each others experiences'

'I will bare that in mind'

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=

Anton had a bag packed before breakfast and was ready to leave before the first student had even managed to crawl out of bed. Pyra was looking suitably annoyed that she wasn't leaving the castle, she was playing with a ball of fire and ignoring him.

When he arrived at No. 12 Grimmauld place things were different and Sirius had filled the kitchen table high with food, no one was eating much and all the teenagers seemed to be in shock. Anton dumped his bag by the door and sat down at the table next to Sirius who had no problem with eating.

Grabbing his own plate of food Anton lifted his head just in time to see Mylee come through the open door, since it was extremely early in the morning and she was wearing a pair of jeans and a shirt that looked suspiciously like one Sirius owned, her hair was mussed and she was smiling brightly despite the gloomy atmosphere.

Anton smirked at Sirius and raised an eyebrow, Sirius winked at him before resuming eating. None of the others had registered what it meant, as they all looked incredibly worried and anxious especially the Weasley's

'Stop worrying' Sirius said gently picking up on the mood 'everything will work out fine'

Anton smiled to himself as he realised how much had actually changed already, it was true that Arthur Weasley had still been bitten but the circumstances had been different and they had the advantage of knowing what the future held.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

After breakfast the Weasley's copied Mrs Weasley's earlier lead and along with Harry they disappeared to the rooms they had used in the summer holidays. Sirius and Mylee were in the living room, Sirius was far less worried than when it had happened the first time, this was thanks to Anton who had reassured Sirius that he shouldn't worry to much about the dream.

Once Anton had dropped his bag off in his room he went to the stairs and climbed them up to the next floor, he could hear Ron's snoring from the landing. Anton crept up to the room and rapped his knuckles lightly on the door, without waiting for a reply he pushed the door open.

Harry was hunched against the cold metal bedstead looking thoroughly miserable, when Anton opened the door he whipped round and stared at him, his face was pale and scared.

Anton gestured his head towards the passageway 'Harry' he whispered 'come here.'

Harry reluctantly climbed off of the bed and followed Anton out of the door, Anton led him downstairs and into the kitchen.

When he got there he pushed Harry into a seat and handed him a Butterbeer, Harry took it still looking distressed. Anton dropped into a chair opposite with his own drink that had quite a liberal amount of Firewhisky in it.

'You didn't attack them.'

Harry looked at him as if he was mad.

'How do you…?'

'Sometimes' Anton continued 'good people see things in dreams and visions, they seem them through the assailants but it doesn't mean that they are the attackers.'

'It felt so real' Harry whispered 'I wanted to bite him, I wanted to hurt him and I wanted to hurt Dumbledore tonight.'

'Do you want to hurt them now?' Anton asked with a tone of seriousness.

'NO!' Harry said as if disgusted at the thought 'I would never want to hurt them!'

'Then there isn't anything you should be worried about' Anton said simply 'and you shouldn't be concerned about sleeping either, it probably won't happen again any time soon.'

'But it will happen again?' Harry said fear edging into his voice 'I'll see through the eyes of…'

'Harry' Anton said 'it isn't you doing the hurting, it's Voldemort, never forget who you are and what you believe in'

Harry looked less troubled by what Anton was saying but he was still looking tense.

-=-=-=-=-=---===

The twins got up first and within five minutes they had burst into the kitchen followed closely by Sirius and seconds later Mrs Weasley. All of the Weasley's looked better and Mrs Weasley was nearly back to her usual self.

This was shown when having been in the room for only a moment she grabbed Anton's glass from his hand and tipped the entire contents down the sink, then she fixed him with a glare. Only Sirius picked up on what had been in the drink and he too fixed Anton with a stare that rivalled her.

Anton shrugged his shoulders in response trying to look apologetic but failing

'While you're still on the potions you can't drink' Mrs Weasley scolded him 'as if we haven't got enough to be dealing with'

'Sorry' Anton apologized again this time looking vaguely remorseful 'are you going to go to St Mungo's later?'

'Yes we're off there soon' she answered 'are you going to come?'

'I think I'll give it a miss' Anton shook his head 'I've seen enough of that place to last me a life time'

-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-

Just before they were about to leave Anton subtly flicked his wand and banished the Extendable Ears that the twin were carrying, he didn't believe that this time they would talk about Harry being possibly possessed by Voldemort, but why take the risk.

Anton spent the rest of the time he had alone finishing up on all the backlogged marking that he had avoided in the past month. When he finally finished everyone had returned back to the Headquarters, Anton had also had chance to change from his robes and into his more comfortable choice of dark jeans and a slim-fitting jumper.

Ginny, Ron and Harry looked pale and shaken, Anton was betting they'd either found out about Neville's parents, heard something related to the dream or something else entirely, which could also mean that the twins had had spare extendable ears.

'I'm going to see Buckbeak' Harry said quickly withdrawing from the room.

'I think I'll come with you' Ron said hastily following him.

When Ginny muttered her excuses and hurried away Mrs Weasley shook her head in confusion and got on with the dinner.

'There's a meeting this evening' Sirius told Anton slouching back in a chair 'things were thrown into the air due to what happened'

Anton sat down opposite him thankful that all the teenagers had left

'What actually happened?'

'Dumbledore instructed that Arthur, Kingsley and Hestia Jones guarded last night and everything was going fine until the snake appeared' Sirius leant forward as he spoke his voice getting quieter 'extra thing was Death Eaters were with it.'

'How many?' Anton asked confused as to why this had changed.

'Only two' Sirius said 'low ranking ones as well, they were probably cannon fodder, but they were effective, one of them was knocked out by Hestia but the other one managed to blast Kingsley, in the commotion the snake bit Arthur, it had been about to bite Hestia but Kingsley was able to stun the other Death Eater and Hestia frightened the snake away.'

'It could have been worse' Anton said feeling cold 'were the Death Eaters any use?'

'Not really' Sirius sighed dejectedly and leaned back 'like I said they were low ranking, Fudge and some other Auror's questioned them but they weren't even able to find out that Voldemort has returned, they're both going to be tried with Assault on Ministry Officials.'

'Great' Anton said wryly 'that makes everything so much more worthwhile'

-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-

'I fail to see how this is relevant!' Snape complained that night 'the fact remains that we need to be more prepared, this can not be risked happening again'

'I would say that was obvious' Sirius drawled loudly 'because otherwise you're saying we want to be attacked'

'Enough' Dumbledore commanded 'Severus has a valid point, though I don't believe this will happen again we will still take precautions, every watch will be undertaken by two Order members at a time so that if one is incapacitated the other can get or take them to help'

'What's going to happen with Potter?' Mad-Eye asked 'shouldn't we be considering the fact he dreamt the attack, are you sure Albus that he is not being possessed?'

'Please trust me Alastor when I say Harry is not being possessed' Dumbledore said seriously 'though I will be taking him for Occulumency lessons in the new term'

'Is that wise' Snape enquired 'I wouldn't, Potter often finds it hard to grasp certain things'

'I'm going to ignore that' Sirius began loudly 'because then I won't have to keep talking to you, or looking at you'

'Trust me Black when is say the feelings mutual' Snape retorted

'Oh for goodness sake' Lupin snapped silencing them both 'is now really the time?'

Anton watched what was happening with considerable interest, it was certainly odd to see what happened behind the scenes, so to speak

'But hasn't there been an attack recently?' Mundungus Fletcher asked 'didn't Lukyen have someone in his head, that lieutenant of his?'

'Are you trying to say there's a possibility I'm possessed as well' Anton said instantly angry at the man who had robbed Sirius's house after he had died and had caused certain items to fall back into the hands of Voldemort 'because I suggest you change your train of thoughts immediately!'

'No one is saying that' Dumbledore intervened 'your shields were checked by both myself and Severus, and Anton was only at such a big risk as he was close friends with Ofelia for a number of years when they were younger and he neglected to tell us that she was proficient in Legulimency'

'If you must know we were trained in Occulumency together' Anton announced his voice calm once more 'we were extremely good friends, but that doesn't mean I'm going to have her popping in and out every so often'

'Well let's all be thankful for that' Snape said icily

'Give it a rest Severus' Anton said with a bored tone 'I think there are more important things to focus on'

'Then why don't we concentrate on them then' McGonagall said her voice silencing the others 'I'm sure that everyone wants to get home for a decent hour!'

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

'Wasn't Hermione coming today?' Anton asked Sirius his brow furrowed

'No' Sirius shook his head looking slightly perplexed 'was she supposed to?'

'Yes' Anton answered 'Christmas Eve the first time round she was here, I don't understand why she isn't'

'You don't think something could have happened?' Sirius said suddenly worried

'Wouldn't we know by now if it had?' Anton said staring around the living room in which they were seated

'We should ask Dumbledore' Sirius announced 'after all it would look weird if we ask anyone else, especially as some things haven't happened yet'

-=-=-=-=-=-

Sirius and Anton flooed to Hogwarts half an hour later and were just entering the Headmasters office as he emerged from his own fireplace. His face was drawn and pale and he looked for once close to his age

'Hermione Granger has been reported missing' Dumbledore pronounced his voice strained

'WHAT!' Anton exclaimed 'How? When?'

'I only just found out ten minutes ago from the Ministry' Dumbledore replied striding from the grate to his desk 'they decided to keep me uninformed until the last minute'

'What exactly happened?' Sirius asked trying to exert some calm into the situation

'Hermione lives with muggles' Dumbledore answered stroking his beard 'that's why it took so long for the Ministry to mobilise, they didn't realise that a Witch was involved even though the attack had been recorded and that in itself should have linked up with records that there was a witch living in the area'

He paused as if trying to gather his thoughts

'At some point yesterday evening Hermione was at home with her parents when they were attacked quite suddenly, witnesses report hearing smashing glass, loud explosions and screaming. By the time anyone had alerted the police or gone to investigate it themselves it was already over'

'What happened to her parents?' Anton asked dreading the answer

'Thankfully they weren't killed' Dumbledore said looking at both men 'however they were seriously injured, they were taken to a muggle hospital which of course meant they weren't treated properly, when they were eventually taken to St Mungo's their conditions had deteriorated, the Healers have said its only a matter of time before things go one way, or the other'

'And Hermione's missing' Anton said quietly.

'Yes, there was no sign of her anywhere' Dumbledore said his eyes clouding with anguish 'the Auror's believe that she may have been taken by a dark witch or wizard.'

'Is there anything that could tell us more about the identity of the assailant?' Sirius asked worriedly.

'There was one thing' Dumbledore replied darkening 'the whole house was flooded, and the windows were covered in ice.'

'Ofelia' Anton said lines of cold fury covering his face 'when I get my hands on her…'

'Anton stop it' Sirius said sternly 'you can't do anything at the moment, you need to leave it to the other Order members until you can actually go outside let alone fight a Water Elemental.'

What's she trying to achieve?' Anton asked angrily 'we have separate souls to our counterparts by taking Hermione she's not going to change her own fate.'

'I believe that Ofelia has darker motives' Dumbledore said softly 'I have wondered for a while why she has not told Voldemort that we are after the Horcruxes, and I have come to the conclusion that she is intending to let us kill him and then rise to his seat in power'

'So, what?' Sirius said confused 'has she taken Hermione to be her follower or something?'

'Yes I believe she has' Dumbledore nodded 'she must trust that if Hermione has become evil once before than she can again'

'We have to get her back' Anton said determinedly 'I won't live through her going dark again'

'That was something I had been meaning to ask you' Dumbledore said suddenly 'what was Ofelia's relationship with her parents?'

'Well' Anton said thinking hard 'I think it was that that really signified her turning dark'

'How so?' Dumbledore questioned

'She obliviated her parents memory of her' Anton answered 'and sent them to Australia believing that they would be safer'

'But they weren't?' Sirius said curiously

'When more people were killed she got really depressed' Anton continued 'she went to Australia, maybe to get comfort from her parents I don't know, but they didn't remember her, they told her to go away, that she was odd and unwelcome in their house. I think that tipped her over the edge because they were killed two days later, we didn't connect it with her, as usual'

'I wonder why she didn't kill them this time' Sirius pondered

'She certainly tried' Dumbledore answered 'but I think her determination to get Hermione meant her rushing away'

'Are we calling a meeting today?' Sirius asked concerned

'It's starting in ten minutes'

--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

The atmosphere was thick, a lot of people liked Hermione so there were a lot of fraying tempers as people argued on what to do, quite a number wanted to attack straight away, but as they were reminded, no one knew where Hermione was being kept, an assault in Albania would only weaken them before they knew more.

The teenagers were panicking, the twins and holed themselves in their room and were refusing to come out, Harry, Ron, and Ginny were in their room the sounds of worried whispers leaking out, as the best friends worried about their friend

Anton retreated quietly from the meeting room and hurried up the stairs to his room, when he got there he paused for a moment before gritting his teeth and pulling the scrying bowl out from beneath his other belongings.

Chewing his lip in worry Anton conjured a ball of fire and dropped it into the bowl where it streamed with light, reaching he grabbed a trio of glass vials from his bag, opening the first one he dropped a twig from it where it swirled along with the fire, next was a vial of wind and then a vial of water which churned along with the others. When this had been added he summoned a small dagger and slit the palm of his hand with it dropping thick blood into the bowl with the elements.

When the blood hit them it turned to glowing white light. Summoning up the motivation Anton took a deep breath and pushed his consciousness into the bowl just like he had done before his detention with Draco.

He sought Ofelia's mind out and after a while her voice laughed into Anton's ear