66
Just a name...
00000
"I never thought I'd ever see the platform this vacant" Hermione said as she, Harry, Neville and Susan got on the train which – like the platform – was also mostly empty.
"There seem to be more aurors than students and their parents," Neville said. "At least they are taking the situation as a serious threat now. Your aunt has our thanks, Susan."
Susan just nodded as the four found an empty cabin and settled in.
"It was kind of expected," said Harry. "Everyone has been terrified since news about Voldemort's return became public. There are mostly us fifth and seventh year students because we have our OWLs and NEWT exams."
"At a time like this, is it really wise to endanger students' lives because of exams?" asked Susan.
"You're only saying that because you haven't prepared enough for your OWLs right?" said Neville. Susan blushed a little. "Don't worry I'll help you as much as I can."
She looked at him and smiled as the train gave its departing whistle and left the station. They all dwelled into normal conversation to pass the time. An hour later Hermione had busied herself with a book which she had borrowed from the library at Harry's place.
Eight hours later and their journey to Hogwarts coming to an end the four got off the train to find Hogsmead Village full of aurors. They knew that the village had aurors patrolling every inch of it but they hadn't expected the security to be this tight.
"This doesn't seem normal," said Neville when he heard Hagrid calling all the students over. "Something must've happened," he said.
"What?" asked Hermione when they were all told by an auror to join other students over to where Hagrid was. They fell in line, forming a small crowd in front of the groundskeeper from where the students were divided into groups of three. Harry went with Hermione while Neville went with Susan. Each of their pairs was joined by on other student before they were escorted by the aurors over to where the carriages were.
Harry noticed that there was an auror sitting in the carriage and understood why the students were asked to form groups of three. The carriage could fit four people and one of those was an auror assigned to each.
The auror who shared the carriage with Harry was definitely surprised to see him and gave the boy a curt nod. Harry nodded back, not knowing what to do as their carriage began to move. Few seconds in and he couldn't help himself as he looked at the auror.
"Did something happen?" asked Harry. "There weren't this many aurors at Hogsmead when we were all leaving for winter holidays."
"We found a death eater two days ago in the village," said the auror. "He was looking for a way to let others into Hogsmead secretly."
"Why wasn't this news made public?" asked Hermione, obviously shocked by what the auror had said.
The auror looked at her for a moment before answering. "The ministry didn't want people to panic. They were afraid that a lot of students wouldn't return to Hogwarts if they heard that a death eater was caught this close to the school."
That had Hermione look appalled as she opened her mouth in shock. "So you endanger the lives of students just so they could come back to school?" she said.
Harry, who had understood the real motive behind this move, then spoke. "They didn't endanger any student." The auror looked at him as did Hermione and the other student who was a second year Ravenclaw. "Right now Hogwarts is the safest place, especially for students. Unlike other places Voldemort and his death eaters won't attack the castle without thinking twice. All those, who didn't return, are the ones in danger. Isn't that right, Auror..."
"Brandt," said the cloaked man before he smiled. "I didn't assume that you would be able to figure it out, Mr Potter."
"I'm still learning," Harry said with a smile.
"You are right," said Auror Brandt. "The ministry understands that Hogwarts is currently the safest place, which is why they wanted as many students as possible to return after winter holidays. Also, with all of them being at one place it becomes easier for us to protect them."
"But isn't the DMLE on a hiring spree for aurors?" asked Hermione.
"Just hiring aurors isn't gonna solve the problem, miss," said Brandt. "Yes, with our new minister the DMLE has received a huge boost in both budget and power to maintain the auror forces, but the new recruits still need to be trained. Also, there's a high probability that a lot of death eaters will infiltrate the auror forces to hamper the security from within. It happened the last time when you-know-who came to power. So the DMLE is not taking any chances. Even with all the new auror recruits, it takes time to find out whether or not they are death eaters in disguise. Then there's the training part which I just mentioned. But we are still a lot better than what we would have if Cornelius Fudge was minister."
"Will the aurors be at Hogwarts too?" asked Harry.
"No," said Brandt. "We have, however, been stationed to patrol outside the castle wards and within the village, as you might already be aware of. Everyone heard about Umbridge's treatment to the students and faculty alike and even if Dumbledore hadn't pressured the ministry, the DMLE wouldn't have stationed any aurors within the wards of Hogwarts anyway."
"So you all heard," said Hermione. The auror nodded. "She and Fudge thought that Professor Dumbledore was going to train an army of students to get Fudge off of the minister's seat. I mean, who would even believe a stupid thing like that?"
Brandt almost chuckled before he looked at her. "Be that as it may miss, but you have no idea how easily people can believe certain things, especially if one can convince them of it using twisted words."
"No one wanted to believe that Voldemort had returned," Harry said having their attention. "No matter what Fudge would've told, people would've believed him because they simply didn't want to live a life of fear once again."
"Exactly," said Brandt as their carriage came to a stop. "Well, looks like we've arrived. Wait here until I make sure it's safe outside."
They nodded before Brandt got out. He came back half a minute later telling them that it was clear. The three got off and joined the other students in one of the three lines as they headed towards the iron gate which marked the entrance of Hogwarts' grounds. They saw Professor Flitwick, Snape and McGonagall at the gate, cross-referencing each student's name from a list in their hands.
Harry and Hermione were in the line which was being checked by Flitwick. Once the Ravenclaw faculty head had confirmed Harry and Hermione's name he let them go. The two saw Neville and Susan in McGonagall's line, a few students ahead of them who waited for Harry and Hermione before heading into the castle together.
"It suddenly feels so weird, having so much security around Hogwarts," said Neville.
"But it's necessary," Harry said as they entered the castle.
"What say we drop Susan to her house tower before going to our own?" Neville suggested as he and Harry were walking behind Susan and Hermione. "She might get targeted because of her aunt."
"Good idea," Harry agreed before they escorted Susan outside the Hufflepuff common room. Just like Neville had assumed, they saw a few Slytherins glaring at her. Luckily, Harry had given Susan a communication mirror when they were on the train. He always carried extra in his trunk after he realised how easy and quick communicating with it was.
After escorting Susan Harry, Hermione and Neville walked headed for the Gryffindor common room where they found McGonagall waiting for them. The three realised that they were the last to arrive and the deputy headmistress didn't look much happy about it. But she said nothing apart from telling them to fall in with other Gryffindors.
"What is going on?" whispered Hermione.
"Probably has some important thing to tell us," said Harry.
McGonagall cleared her throat to gather everyone's attention. "Good evening to you all," she began. "As you might have noticed, things are a bit different at Hogwarts. Although I know a lot of you have an idea as to why that is, I have been told to inform you regardless. It is no new news that you-know-who has returned. Acknowledging the danger that comes with it, Hogwarts has strengthened its security which comes with a few un-debatable conditions. All the Hogsmead weekends have been cancelled for the remainder of the term as are the Quidditch matches." She raised her hand as some students began to groan in disappointment. "All of your owl posts will be checked for any curses before being delivered to you. They will not be opened but checked magically so you can be rest assured that your privacy will be protected. However, that does not go for any packages that have been sent your way, as they will be checked thoroughly. You will not be allowed to leave the school premises without informing either your house head faculty or the headmaster, following which your parents or guardians will be informed to come pick you up. To reduce possible dangers, all the unused classrooms have been locked from accessing as is the astronomy tower after class hours. Once curfew begins you all are to report back to your common room where I will personally mark your attendance. To the fifth and seventh year students you will not be required to give your OWL and NEWT exams. Instead, you will be awarded grades based on your academic performance since the start of this term. The decision was taken by the Education Board after seeing the seriousness of the situation that Magical Britain currently has on its hands. Of course, that doesn't mean that you cannot score more. To those who wise to properly give your OWLs and NEWTs, the Education Board will conduct the exams after this whole situation has been brought under control. I have to tell you though, that it doesn't come with any guarantee. Regarding your classes, if you don't want to attend one or cannot attend one, you will have to inform me or the professors of that class in advance. That is all for now. You can leave for dinner. Curfew will start half an hour after dinner is over. Remember, I will be here marking your attendance. If I don't find any of you here one and a half hours from now, you will be in serious trouble."
With that McGonagall left the common room, leaving behind the crowd of lions murmuring amongst themselves about what she had just said.
"Well, that's a bit disheartening," said Neville. "What does that mean for the defence club?"
"I don't know," said Harry. "I'll have to ask her about that."
00000
Harry woke up and looked at the time. It was a little past one in the morning. His dorm was completely silent except for the occasional snoring of Seamus. He glanced over at his dorm mates to make sure they were all asleep before he quietly applied silencing charms on his foot and the floor below his bed so it won't make any sound. After that he grabbed the marauders' map and his invisibility cloak and left the dorm.
Ten minutes later he was walking into the restricted section of the library as he recalled the name in his head again and again so he won't forget it since it sounded a bit weird. He had little hope that he would find anything on what he was looking for but he still couldn't ignore the books in the restricted section. There were some books here that couldn't be found anywhere else. And maybe one of them was on the man Harry was looking for.
Luckily unlike the actual library, the restricted section was very small, about the size of his dorm. Harry quickly began to look for any book which had the name of the person he wanted to know about – a man who had been a complete mystery to the magical world, ever since he was first come to be known by the magical people. Rumoured to be the very embodiment of evil he had an affinity to torture and kill people just for fun. Known to be completely insane, it was said that this man was also very intelligent and rumoured to know everything there was to know about magic itself.
A man so feared that the ministry itself had restricted all information it had on him, which wasn't a lot in the first place. All that the ministry had allowed for the public to know was that somehow this was the man who had created dementors – the very creatures of darkness and rumoured to be the least horrifying of his creations.
And now Harry had found out that there was a connection between this man and the blood protection magic that Lily had used on Harry.
The name of this man was Ekrizdis.
00000
Thanks for reading...