I tried to sleep but I just couldn't
I saw the rising of the sun
And all along my heart was calling
Why you're the one, you're the one
It was late, very late as he stood still by the fireplace, watching the wood burn and listening to the fire crack. After months of careful recruiting and planning, today was the day they would gather to make the final decisions.
"Come in" He said, at the sound of someone knocking on the door.
"Everyone is here and ready to begin Master" His must trusted man said, with a respectful bow.
"Excellent, move along" He replied, walking out of his study.
They walked in silence from one end of the manor to the other, where all fifteen of his must trusted wizards were waiting. They walked in and everyone hurriedly sat down and as he walked to the end of the table, he greeted them with small nods of his head.
"The wizarding community is fooled by a false sense of security" He began, reaching his place. Every eye in the room was locked on him "Ever since our Dark Lord was murdered by that stupid boy; everyone believes they are safe…. And that might have been true for the past few months… but no more. We will rise from the shadows and claim what is rightly ours; we will honor the Dark Lord's vision of a new Wizarding World"
There were quiet murmurs of agreement and he nodded in approval.
"We will give them all a reason to fear us, but we will not reveal ourselves until victory is at hand. It is much harder to fight an unknown enemy… we will take down Potter once and for all to weaken the Ministry and any resistance…. And then… we will take over the Ministry and finish what the Dark Lord started"
There were more murmurs of agreement.
"Master, what about Neville Longbottom? He was the leader of the Hogwarts opposition… he is a serious threat as well…"
"Mr. Longbottom will be one of the first to go" He consented "We will kill Potter and his closest friends and allies, before making our final move"
"What about his new girlfriend?" The only woman present asked.
Her tone was meant to be flat, but he could detect a hint desire behind it, desire to use Potter's new love interest to inflict pain on him.
"She will be the key to Potter's demise" He acknowledged.
Their meeting continued for a while longer as they discussed many details and made final preparations. By the time people began to leave, he was filled with exhilaration at the prospect of what was to come. Once the room was empty of everyone but his most trusted man, he approached.
"Master, he is here"
"Brilliant"
"What should I tell him?"
"Tell him we are ready…. It is time to set things in motion"
The smell of bacon drifted through the flat, eventually reaching the bedroom. A few breaths in and Harry's eyes opened, his mouth suddenly drooling. The smell of eggs soon joined the bacon and had him jumping out of bed and walking towards the kitchen within seconds. He approached the kitchen slowly, rubbing his eyes and still not fully awake, and stopped when he saw her.
She was moving around as she cooked breakfast, wearing nothing but one of his old Quidditch shirt, which he had not worn since his sixth year and that was a little too big on her, and a pair of her Ravenclaw blue socks that went all the way up to her knees. Her blond hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail and she kept pushing her bangs out of the way, looking rather annoyed by them.
"That shirt looks much better on you than it ever did on me" Harry said, hugging her from behind.
"Thanks" She answered, leaning against her "I guess this means you are not mad I went through your clothes and borrowed it?"
"Not at all, especially since you are cooking breakfast"
Chloe laughed and, turning around, playfully smacked him in the chest.
"I was going to bring it back to bed, but since you came out here, we can just sit at the table…"
"Let's just take it back to bed…" Harry objected, pushing her hair aside and kissing her neck "I like that idea"
"Stop it Harry" She said with a chuckle "I'm trying to cook"
"Sorry, sorry… So, what have you done with Kreacher?" He asked, grabbing a piece of bacon from the plate next to the frying pan (earning a playful smack on the hand from Chloe) and sitting down to watch her finish cooking.
"Over at Ron and Hermione's… he is helping her cook dinner for tonight"
He watched as Chloe bit her lower lip and looked down at the bacon. It had been about a week since the article came out and she had yet to meet his friends, which would be happening tonight. It had been Hermione's idea to have them over for dinner and Chloe had been increasingly nervous as the week went by. Things had calmed down for them in the past couple of days, although she still had people randomly approaching her in the ministry, on her way to work, or any time she was out. Her father being who he is, Chloe was not necessarily a stranger to being in the public eye, but this was different.
Chloe had dealt with the whole thing very well until a poor witch from a not so famous magazine had approached her last night, right after she had left the ministry having just taken a hard exam. Chloe had been so stressed over the exam that when the witch approached her she burst into tears, screamed at the witch to leave her alone, and apparated away. Harry had come home to find her in his couch, holding a mug of tea Kreacher had just given her and trying to control her sobbing. He had held her in his arms until her sobbing stopped and Kreacher served them dinner.
"Why are you smiling like that?" Chloe said, startling him.
"I was just trying to remember how we went from you sobbing in my arms to the gorgeous girl in front of me, wearing my Quidditch jersey…" He teased.
"If I remember it correctly" She replied, blushing furiously "It had something to do with those silly hands of yours…Breakfast is ready, shall we take it to the room?" she added with a wink.
"Definitely" He said, mind no longer thinking about the food.
After a late breakfast and a long shower, Harry and Chloe settled in his study. While he worked on some Ministry paperwork, she read the assigned notes for class on Monday. The afternoon passed quickly as they were both busy and they were soon standing by the fireplace ready to floo over to Ron and Hermione's. Part of me Chloe was very excited to finally meet them, but she was also very nervous and found herself wishing she could be at work helping Ava, though she was off the entire weekend.
"Do you want to go first?" Harry asked.
"No, you go ahead and I will follow"
"Chloe, it is going to be fine"
"I know" She answered, somewhat unconvincingly.
"See you very soon" He said, kissing her cheek before reaching for the floo powder "Ron's flat"
Chloe watched as the flames engulfed him before stepping in. With a final deep breath in an attempt to calm herself, she said the words. In a flash of green, she arrived at their flat and almost walked into Harry, who was waiting for her by the fireplace.
"Ready?" he asked, reaching for her hand.
"Ready"
They walked to the kitchen, where Kreacher was hard at work and Hermione was telling Ron to stay away from the pudding.
"Hey, we are here" Harry said and everyone else looked our way.
"Hi Kreacher" We both said.
"Hi mate" Ron said, shaking hands with Harry "And Chloe, right? Good to finally meet you"
"You as well Ron, I've been told you and I will be very good friends"
"Yes, Harry has mentioned something about your love for sweets. You will have to try my mom's treacle tart sometime"
"I would love that" she replied with a small smile "oh, hi Hermione" She added, noticing for the first time that Hermione was now standing next to her. "Good to meet you"
"You too Chloe, finally"
"Yes… I'm sorry about that" She replied, suddenly a little uncomfortable.
"I can't believe Harry actually thought he could keep this from us… I knew he was seeing someone. Anyway, he said you were in Ravenclaw?"
"Yes"
"Did you know Luna?"
"Only a little, I kept mostly to my two best friends. But she seemed very nice… just a little… err"
"Different?" Hermione offered.
"Yes. Thank you for inviting us to dinner"
"Of course, would you like to help me and Kreacher finish with dinner? And you boys can go in the living room; there should be bottles of butterbeer in there"
Harry looked at Chloe, silently asking whether she would be okay with Hermione. Chloe gave him a reassuring smile.
"I'll be just next door" He whispered in her ear on his way out "Just call if you need me, all right?"
She nodded and the boys left.
"Thanks for the idea of sending Kreacher over" Hermione said as she walked over to the food "I can't cook, but Harry says you are very good at it?"
"I wouldn't say very good" Chloe objected "But I do know how to cook a few things"
"Mistress Chloe can make a very good ice cream" Kreacher joined in.
"Thank you Kreacher. What have you cooked for us tonight?"
"Shepherd's pie with carrots and peas" He said, moving the pie to the table "The food will be ready soon"
"Thank you Kreacher" Hermione said, grabbing two bottles of butterbeer and offering one to Chloe. Kreacher gave her a half bow before turning his attention back to the food "Tell me a little more about yourself Chloe, Harry didn't say very much"
They continued to talk a little longer, and Chloe told her more about how she and Harry got together. Her nervousness and apprehension slowly faded and by the time Kreacher informed them he was ready to serve dinner, the two of witches were in the middle of a serious talk about transfiguration spells. By the end of the night, Chloe was wondering why she had been so nervous in the first place, Harry had been right, Hermione and Ron were great and they made her feel very welcomed. They left with the promise of getting together again very soon and Hermione and Chloe agreed on meeting for lunch on Monday. She was very good with memory charms and agreed on helping Chloe with her studies.
"See, it was alright" Harry said once they were back at his place.
"I know, I know…. You have great friends… not that you didn't know that already"
"I'm glad you seem to like each other"
"Me too. Well, I better head of"
"Are you sure you can't stay?"
"You know I can't, dad should already be back and I haven't seen him since he left for Ireland on Monday"
"I'll see you Monday night then?"
"Absolutely" She agreed before kissing him "Bye Kreacher!" She added on the way out.
Elliot was waiting for her in his study when Chloe arrived home and it was well past midnight when they finally went to sleep. With all the time she had spent with Harry lately, Chloe promised to spend the day with her family and they headed over to uncle Paul's on Sunday. Almost everybody played a Quidditch game as Chloe watched from the ground with Aunt Elizabeth and, eventually, the two headed back inside to cook dinner. They arrived back at the Manor later that night after a wonderful day, and as Chloe showered before going to bed, it suddenly hit her how tired she was. She hurried to bed ready to fall asleep; it wouldn't do well to start the week already feeling exhausted.
Monday morning arrived far too soon. Hoping to see Harry later that day, Chloe endured the long hours of classes, training, and homework with cheerfulness but her hopes of seeing him were in vain. Arriving home Monday night, she found a letter waiting in her room. It was from Harry and it said he had been called back to the Ministry and he would meet her at the Manor once they were done, unless it was too late for him to stop by in which case he would see her in the morning. Thinking nothing much of it, she sat on the couch by the fireplace with a good book and began to read, already looking forward to seeing him in a few hours.
Harry arrived at the Minister's office and was surprised to see he wasn't alone. Hermione, Ron and four other aurors were there as well.
"Good, now that Harry is here I can begin" Kingsley said, his voice very serious. Handing each of them a piece of parchment, he continued "Something terrible has happened. Landon here has been able to keep it secret but it won't be for long. Read the address and apparate there immediately"
Harry looked at both Ron and Hermione, whose uneasy expression mirrored his. He could see the apprehension in their eyes, it was very clear whatever had happened was very severe. Looking down at the address, he found it was vaguely familiar but he couldn't quite place it. All around him people were apparating with a pop and so he hurriedly apparated as well. Arriving at the address he looked at the house, and it finally hit him why he recognized it. The tree of them had been here once, not long ago, to visit Neville and his girlfriend Anna, and it was her house they were looking at.
"Let's go in" Kingsley whispered.
The moment they stepped into the living room Harry heard Hermione gasp and felt as she grabbed his arm with her hand. From the corner of his eye, he saw Ron wrap his arm around her. Then he looked at the center of the room and time stood still. Neville and Ana were on the floor, their bodies twisted in an almost inhuman way.
Above them, glowing in malevolence, was the Dark Mark.
So, I just killed Neville... and it was awful... I'm sorry! I wasn't planning on doing so at first but, as the story's summary says, Dark Forces are at work once again and no one is truly safe.