/Text/ Spirit to Host

/Text/ Host to Spirit

Chapter 39: Progression

Wednesday brought a surprise snowstorm to Hogwarts, starting as the sixth-year class left Herbology and made their way back up to the castle for lunch, and continued to pelt the grounds for the remainder of the afternoon, leaving nothing but fields of white as far as anyone could see. And like the first storm they had encountered not long after the disastrous trip to Hogsmeade, Professor Sprout had to cancel her hands-on classes and start running book-based lessons in one of the empty classrooms on the first floor.

While that didn't mean much for Harry and the others, for Yugi and Ryou, it meant that their evening remedial lesson was cancelled.

"Are you sure, Professor?" asked Yugi, twisting around in his seat at the Gryffindor table.

"Oh yes," said Professor Sprout, rubbing her hands together to get some of the chill off, "We were going to be in Greenhouse Two this evening, but not even the Aurors are patrolling tonight. I saw the last of them bring half the storm inside when they came through the main entrance. We'll pick up again after the walking paths are dug out."

A few heads turned suddenly towards the entrance to the Great Hall, as a few booming stomps could be heard out in the hallway.

"Ah, I see Hagrid's made it in," said Professor Sprout, looking back at Yugi and Ryou. "Well, you boys enjoy your evening."

"That's one less thing we have to do today," said Ryou.

"Yeah," said Yugi. He turned to Harry. "Do you have one of those meetings with Dumbledore tonight?"

Harry shook his head. "Look up at the High Table. Dumbledore's not even here."

Ron blinked. "I'm starting to think he doesn't like being here anymore."

"He's been Headmaster for so long, I doubt that's the case, Ron," said Ryou.

"Well, he's barely been here all year," said Ron, "What's got him so busy that he's maybe here twice a week?"

Harry suddenly became very interested in his dinner. There were too many potential eavesdroppers in the Great Hall to talk about his extra meetings with Dumbledore. He was probably off collecting another memory that had to do with Voldemort's past.

Yugi put down his fork and dug into his pocket as his phone buzzed through his robes. Who would be messaging him now? It had to be the middle of the night back in Domino.

Hermione picked at her food but looked over, eyes wide as Yugi pulled the phone out of his pocket and stared blankly at the screen. "Th-that's not…"

"No," said Yugi, shoulders slumping in a bit. "It's not Kaiba."

"Who is it then?" said Ryou.

Yugi unlocked the device and scrolled through the messages. "Oh, I had messaged Roland about Kaiba's laptop yesterday."

"Did something happen to it?" asked Harry.

Yugi quickly shook his head. "No, nothing like that. But Mokuba was wanting us to try and trace Kaiba's location again, and…" he rubbed a hand along the back of his hair. "It's locked."

Ron rolled his eyes. "Figures. Why give us the thing if we can't use it in the first place?"

Hermione sighed noisily and shook her head at him. "I'm sure that wasn't the intention at the time. Are they going to tell you how to unlock it?"

Yugi nodded. "Yeah. I have to send a message back once we're back in the dormitory."

"I hope it works," said Ryou. "It's been over a week already…."

Hermione closed her eyes, grimacing, and set her fork down. "I can't imagine what he's gone through in that time…."

"I hope it works too," said Harry, and then he turned to Hermione. "But in the meantime…how was that spell you were working on?"

"I think it's about ready to try," said Hermione, "I'm just…very leery to try it on his computer, or to rummage through his belongings."

"We'll figure it out," said Harry, "I'm sure there is something in his trunk we can use. He'll get over it."

"If we can get the tracker up and running properly we may not need that spell at all," said Yugi. He pushed his plate away and swung his legs around the bench. "I think I'm going to get a head start upstairs. Come on up when you guys are ready."

He barely waited for the others to give him any acknowledgement before leaving the Great Hall and heading down the corridor towards the Grand Staircases.

/I'm worried about you, Yugi. You haven't been eating much…/

/I haven't had the appetite, Pharaoh. And there are much more important things going on right now. I'll feel better about eating when we know something – anything – about where Kaiba is./

/Believe me, I'm worried about him too. But you cannot sacrifice your health like this. Kaiba may not be here with us, but you shouldn't have to pick up his bad habits in his place./

Yugi smiled slightly to himself as the staircase he just stepped onto broke off from the wall and began heading up to the familiar landing towards Gryffindor Tower. /Don't worry, Pharaoh, I'm not going to pick up a likeness for coffee or staying up until daybreak anytime soon./

"Baubles," said Yugi, standing in front of the Fat Lady's portrait, and then climbed through the hole in the wall before the door had even finished swinging open. He opened the door to his dormitory with a sigh, and sat down on the edge of his bed, looking across the room to Seto's. The curtains were parted back, the bed pristinely made, untouched from the day they left to start holiday break.

On top of the blankets sat his laptop.

He sighed. Mokuba had texted him every day so far. And he felt awful having nothing to report. Mokuba had remotely tapped into the laptop on the first day, but he wasn't able to ping his brother's phone at all. After trying for hours, Yugi had to call it a failure. It was possible that Kaiba was too far from both Japan and Hogwarts to be picked up. Or, his phone was simply damaged.

When he brought it up to Roland yesterday, he was surprised that there was another option posed.

"Mokuba doesn't know about it," Roland had said, "He also doesn't have access to the program. I'll be in touch."

Yugi set the laptop down on his own bed, and sent off his text message. I'm ready.

A reply pinged back within seconds. One moment. Turn the laptop on.

Yugi stared down at his phone. Was he supposed to get a call?

To his surprise, the computer sprang to life on its own as a password seemed to autotype across the screen. The desktop loaded up and two windows immediately booted up side by side. One looked like a fast running log of gibberish scrolling by, but the other one loaded an image of the office they were in back at Pegasus's secret safe house.

Yugi looked at it curiously and jumped, startled, as the sound of a door closing hit his ears. He glanced up, but no one had come through the door to his room. Settling back against his headboard he heard the sound of footsteps through the computer before Roland sat behind the desk, a glass of some amber liquid in his hand, looking uncharacteristically unraveled. His jacket and tie were gone, the top button of his shirt undone, and without the dark glasses to hide his eyes, Yugi could see the exhaustion engraved onto his face.

"Yugi Muto."

"Hi," said Yugi, as Yami phased out of the Puzzle and perched along the edge of Yugi's bed, well out view of the camera. "Are…um, is everything okay?"

Roland downed his glass. "Peachy. In order to keep up the appearance that we are in separate places, I had to get on a conference call with both the design teams from Kaiba Corp and Industrial Illusions. I spent two hours listening to Pegasus who was quite literally in the room next door."

Yugi cringed slightly as he watched Roland reach for the bottle out of view and pour himself a new drink. "I take it the call wasn't so great?"

Roland fixed Yugi a hard stare. "The call was grating, but fine." He paused and looked off to the side, at what Yugi wasn't quite sure. "Today was Fuguta's service."

…Oh. "I-I'm sorry…"

Roland shook his head. "It was the last of the five. Mokuba insisted on going to it. Fuguta was, first and foremost, his bodyguard."

"I didn't think you would let Mokuba out of that house."

"I didn't want to, but after already having to bury my other four officers, I wasn't going to fight him on it. The Japanese Aurors met us at Kaiba Corp and kept a discreet watch on the service, and Pegasus thankfully did not come anywhere near me when we returned."

Yugi looked down at his lap. He didn't expect the conversation to begin so awkwardly. With all of the trouble surrounding Kaiba's disappearance and keeping up with everything going on in the Wizarding World, it was easy to forget the state of things back home. "Uh…is it okay to ask how the others are doing?"

"Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Taylor are, naturally, living the best lives of two teenagers who don't have to worry about going to school. Despite the circumstances of us all being here, they're taking it rather well, which I'm certain is a ploy to help Mokuba. Miss Gardner is at least attempting to continue some sort of schoolwork to take her mind off, but Mr. Kaiba's disappearance has rattled everyone."

He leaned back in his seat and swirled the drink in his hand. "Your grandfather is here, and if it weren't for the late hour, I'd put him on for you. As it is, it's near three in the morning."

Yugi frowned. "You're still up though."

Roland gave a single dry laugh and took another drink. "I'll sleep after we find Mr. Kaiba. Unless, of course, I down this entire bottle tonight and pass out here at the desk. Believe me, I've thought about it."

Yugi gave Yami a nervous glance.

"Between Mokuba, Pegasus, Kaiba Corp, the corporate memorial service, and five private funerals, it's been a rather long week. And Miss Ishtar and Mr. Weasley returned to Egypt yesterday under escort by both the Japanese and Egyptian Ministries of Magic."

Yugi sat up a little straighter. "Does that mean that the tablet went back to Egypt?"

Roland nodded. "Both tablets. They were switched with other artifacts on loan from the Cairo Museum."

Yugi gave a slight sigh. "I hope that they'll be safer there."

Roland half-heartedly shrugged. "Better than here." His eyes shifted to something else on his computer screen. "Did the other window open when the computer booted?"

Yugi nodded. "How'd that work, anyhow?"

"I've made a connection through mine here, so I can access what's on it without actually being there. Did the second program stop, or is it still logging?"

"Uh…it stopped?"

"Good." Roland leaned forward and started typing into his own computer. "You can sit back and let me work now."

Yugi watched as the black screen that was running a long string of data transformed into a global map. "What are you doing? I thought Mokuba and I already tried pinging his cell phone."

"You did. We're not looking for his phone. I have to assume whoever has him would have broken it. We're looking for something a bit different."

Yami raised an eyebrow curiously.

"Like what?" Yugi asked.

"I mentioned before that our security tracker here can't reach all the way to Scotland. So by running it from your location, I want to see if his laptop shows up." Roland kept typing. "If it does, then it means that magic doesn't interfere with the signal, and I can then search for the pin."

"That's right," Yami said softly, so only Yugi could hear. "He did say Kaiba was wearing his communicator pin…"

"Do you think it'll work?"

"Not a clue. But only the laptop you have will be able to find a signal that far out. And that computer is working amidst a magical environment."

Yugi continued to watch him type as a blue dot suddenly blipped over the UK on the map. "Oh!"

"Did something happen?"

"Yeah!" Yugi leaned in closer to the screen. "Something popped up, and then disappeared." He watched as the map half of the screen zoomed in, making Scotland larger and then the blue dot blinked in and out again with slight shifts in its position.

"The signal doesn't seem to be consistent," said Yugi. "Is that normal?"

"The satellite is having a bit of trouble pinpointing down your exact location," said Roland, "Could be the magic at the school."

"It's also been snowing," said Yugi, "We're in the middle of a storm right now."

"Ah. That would interfere as well. The company satellites are far more advanced than your typical cell tower, but they're still not perfect."

Yugi shifted on the bed to get more comfortable, frowning slightly. It had been a long week for everyone, and he was tired. He felt guilty for agreeing to call on Domino at such an hour, especially after hearing how wonderful a week Kaiba's right hand had in their absence. It wasn't right for him to be doing all of the work, not when he really could use a good couple of nights' rest. "Is there anything I can actually do from here to help?"

"Not particularly," Roland mumbled. "Just keep the computer on."

Yugi drew his mouth into a thin line and nodded slightly.

"There should be a window popping up on your end in a minute…."

"I see it." It had the same look as the map program did when the laptop first started booting. Lines of code flew by before a new global map appeared. "What's this one?"

"His pin works on a different frequency, and the tracker for his phone or the laptop can't pick it up," said Roland, "It was meant more or less just for communication, but after an incident in the States while building Kaiba Land, I added a tracker to it."

"So…is this the one Mokuba doesn't quite know about?"

Roland made a slight guttural noise as he worked that Yugi took as 'yes'. The global map then shifted wildly around and Yugi glanced up, distracted, as Ryou led the others into the dormitory.

"Any luck?" asked Hermione.

Yugi shrugged and pointed to the screen. "He's working on it."

Roland's gaze shifted to the video call open on the second monitor. "Who's in there with you?"

"Bakura and the others. No one new."

"What did we miss?" asked Harry.

Yami sighed from the end of the bed. "Nothing much, to be honest," he said, "They managed to locate Kaiba's laptop on some sort of map, and are using that to somehow find Kaiba."

The map suddenly blinked and Yugi looked back down in time for a red dot to blink somewhere in central England.

Roland straightened up in his seat. "Got him."

Despite the obvious fatigue that was earlier etched onto his face, Yugi could only watch as Roland did a complete 180 – and started punching at the keys, reminding Yugi of Seto when he would work while in a terrible mood, and he wondered if either of them had ever used so much force that their fingers ever broke a keyboard. He wasn't sure what sort of magic the computer was churning out behind the scenes, but a number of windows opened all at the same, a few of them disappearing again a few moments later, leaving a new satellite image of what looked to be an open field.

"Err…"

Roland froze and he stared hard at the image on the screen. "That's where it shows the pin to be."

Ron shuffled around to look at the screen beside Yugi. "Huh. I dunno…I was sort of expecting a building."

"Yeah…" said Harry. "Unless, he's not wearing it anymore."

"That's possible. Not ideal of course, but it would be the smartest form of action if the Death Eaters discovered what it was."

"There is another explanation," said Hermione. "Perhaps wherever Seto is being kept has been enchanted to hide Muggles from stumbling upon it. You're able to find his computer, right? Can you see Hogwarts on this same map?"

"Hm…." Roland hit a few more keys. "It doesn't look like it. The laptop pings over some sort of…abandoned ruin."

"It's of the spells protecting Hogwarts from Muggles," said Hermione, "I would imagine V-Voldemort would have done the same thing to wherever he's been hiding."

"But…" Ryou frowned. "If we can't see where he is, then how can we truly find him? All we have is a picture of a field."

Harry glanced out the tower windows and off towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest. There was one way he could think of, but the circumstances that they were used the last time was not quite the same. "I wonder…if we showed a picture of that spot to a Thestral…if they would be able to find it and take us there."

"I dunno," said Ron, "It's not as easy as telling 'em to go to the Ministry of Magic…."

Roland raised an eyebrow and stared questioningly at Yugi through the camera. "You can't be thinking of going after him…"

Ron leaned over again to peer directly into the camera. "You did back in Domino…"

"That was different. Even if we knew at the time that Death Eaters might have been still in Kaiba Corp, I knew where we were going. There was an edge of familiarity that you don't have here. All you see is a patch of land. You don't know what's truly out there, and for all you know – it could land you right into a trap."

Harry shrugged. "I'm still not seeing the difference."

Roland shook his head slightly and huffed. "The difference," he said again, narrowing his eyes, "Is the fact that you don't know what's on that spot on the map. Mr. Kaiba has been gone for over a week now. You can't rule out the possibility of the Death Eaters expecting your arrival. Rushing headfirst to save him might land you – and him – into an even bigger crisis."

"We just can't stay here and do nothing," said Yugi, 'If we know where Kaiba is we have to do something!"

"We need to tell someone," said Hermione. She perched herself on the edge of Ryou's bed and hugged her arms close to her chest. "Going in without thinking isn't a smart idea, and we already did that once…and it – it didn't turn out well for anyone."

"Tell someone?" Harry snorted. "Like who? Dumbledore? The Ministry? They already screwed Kaiba over once already."

"We don't know that for certain," said Hermione, "Just because the Ministry made a few questionable decisions in Domino doesn't mean they can't be trusted to mount a rescue. The Aurors aretrained for this sort of thing."

"It was the Aurors that might have inadvertently given him away in the first place," said Ryou.

"I don't place much faith in your government at all," Roland scowled. "But if there is anyone who can probably go in and get him out, it's Dumbledore. Emmeline Vance may have been tortured to give out information to Voldemort, but the Order doesn't seem to work fully in tandem with the Ministry of Magic. Let them know. And stay in the school."

"But –"

"Yugi Muto," Roland said darkly. "The three of you went off to that place to get protection from Voldemort. He's already gotten one of you, as well as one of your Millennium Items. You can't afford to be lost as well should a rescue plan go awry."

"If you were here, wouldn't you do whatever it took to get him back?" asked Harry. "You were ready to go in guns blazing back at the office."

"And if I were at that school with you, I would be the first one to sign up," said Roland, "But I'm expendable. I don't have a magical weapon or a Pharaoh residing in my head. What's important is that you stay safe."

"But –"

"After all this time, you know what still remains a mystery? It's who initiated the data breach. It's possible it originated from within Hogwarts and someone there is spying on you all as we speak. If you all just up and left, the wrong person could tip off the Death Eaters, and you might just make matters for Mr. Kaiba even worse."

"Dumbledore's not here right now though," said Harry. He knew the Headmaster was returning to the school on Friday for their meeting in his office after dinner, but there was no guarantee that he would be back beforehand.

"Is there no one else there you can bring it up to? No one else in the Order?"

"Professor McGonagall is here," said Hermione, "And Professor Snape."

"Surely one of them can spread the word to Dumbledore, and a plan can be formed." Roland eyed the timestamp in the corner of the screen. "I need to get off for a while. If you can't get in touch with anyone, I'll head back to Domino in the morning and find Sturgis Podmore. He should still be watching over the Game Shop. Leave the laptop on so I can continue to monitor the signal while you're in class."

Yugi nodded. "Okay."

"I'm serious – don't do anything reckless. We're already on edge here. Don't give your friends any more reason to panic."

"Right," said Ryou. "We won't. I promise."

A quick nod, and the call shut off.

Yami Bakura phased out of the Ring in the middle of the dormitory and looked right at Harry. "So. How smart are those Thestrals?"

"We only had to tell them to take us to the Ministry of Magic, and they just knew where to go," said Harry. "…Why?"

"Don't tell me you want to sneak off the grounds…" said Hermione. "Roland was right – there could be someone here watching us."

"Yeah," Harry said bitterly, "Like Umbridge…"

"I didn't say we'd just up and leave in broad daylight," Yami Bakura rolled his eyes. "But with Dumbledore out of the castle, someone is going to have to make a move. And soon."

"We can't risk sneaking out the castle tonight," said Harry. "But maybe we can over the weekend. Umbridge usually leaves after Friday's classes, so if she is some sort of mole, she won't be able to alert anyone."

"That's still a few days from now," said Yugi, "We can surely come up with some sort of plan by then…."

Hermione pursed her lips. "So we're not going to tell a Professor?"

"What if they bring up how we know?" said Yugi. "Kaiba's not here to defend his technology like in the beginning of term. We can't risk the Ministry taking the laptop. It's our only way of keeping track of where he is."

"Dumbledore gave the okay for it to stay though," said Ryou.

"And Dumbledore also isn't in the castle," said Yugi. "What if someone else confiscates it in the meantime?"

"We can't take that risk," Harry said, with finality. "Our best bet is to use the Thestrals."

"And how will they be able to lead us?" said Ron.

Hermione sighed. "The locater spell. We can take something of Seto's with us and use the spell to guide them. But I won't use the laptop. It's too important, and needs to stay here."

Harry walked over and opened Seto's trunk. "Wow," he said, glancing up at Yugi, "You were right – there isn't a lot in here." He shifted some of the books around, and picked up a small piece of broken metal. "Hey…isn't this part of that dueling emitter thing?"

Yugi's eyes lit up. "Yeah! That's from the one Umbridge shattered out on the Quidditch Pitch!"

Hermione exhaled noisily and held her hand out for it. "I still think this isn't the surefire way to go about this, but I'll work on the locater charm. And I'll try and charm another coin to contact the Order if something goes horribly wrong. I'm okay going along with this, but we have to have a backup plan."

She closed her hands around the emitter and stared down at her feet. "I-I can't go through last year again."

Harry closed his eyes. Hermione was right, in a way. This did have a similar feel to their run on the Department of Mysteries. But there were definite differences between the two scenarios. And he learned a lot from his past mistakes.

They wouldn't be flying in blind like before. This time, they would do it right.

I cannot believe…that after all of the time and energy spent to acquire him, that this is your plan.

Voldemort looked up at the Shadow Magus, and turned Seto's cell phone over in his hands from his seat in the study Seto had previously occupied. He expected Bellatrix to report to him by now, but she hadn't surfaced in hours. She must still be down the hall with Seto.

"After his second bid for freedom, the plans needed to change."

If you had given him to me from the start, this wouldn't have happened in the first place.

"And ruin his mind before I had the chance to probe it?"

You spent four days doing absolutely nothing. The only reason you chose to act was because he got out. And even then, you did not hold him properly.

Voldemort raised his head haughtily at him. "Even you have to admit that none of us saw the second escape."

The Shadow Magus snorted. Knowing the company you chose to watch over him? I'm surprised he lasted an entire day in the basement.

Voldemort tapped at the phone absentmindedly. The screen came to life, showcasing all of Mokuba's missed calls from the previous week.

This plan of yours is a mistake. It will fail.

"If it was cast by one of my men, perhaps," said Voldemort idly. "I plan on performing the spells myself."

Even so. You are interfering with my own desires and this ridiculous plot you've fabricated will not succeed.

"I fail to see how," said Voldemort, "I have gotten you the Millennium Rod. That much will not change. You expressed how the information you need comes from the Priest's memories. You have no more use for Seto Kaiba."

The Shadow Magus bristled. If I didn't need him, I wouldn't have gone through the effort of recapturing him when he escaped the first time.

Voldemort waved a dismissive hand at him. "The decision has been made. It is time he returned my generous hospitality, and I cannot have him constantly running away."

If you think this extended leash is going to –

"My Lord," said a voice from the doorway. The Shadow Magus slowly turned towards the source of the interruption.

"Bella," said Voldemort. "How is our guest?"

"He is ready for you," she said, bowing her head slightly.

"I expected you to finish some time ago." Voldemort didn't bother giving the Shadow Magus a parting glance and swept from the study, following Bellatrix into the room at the far end of the hall and to the long table standing in the middle of it.

"As did I," she said, running a finger alongside the edge of the table. "He was much more resistant than I thought, considering…"

Seto was sprawled out on the table, unconscious. His arms were bent up and behind his head, and wrists held down by two conjured chain links coming off the table legs. If it weren't for the slight rise and fall of his chest, Voldemort nearly thought him dead.

Voldemort circled around him and stopped by his left leg. "What happened here?" he asked, tapping it slightly with his pale fingers.

"I broke it," she said simply. "He won't escape again."

Voldemort raised an eyebrow. There was definitely more than one break in there. "That's quite an understatement."

Bellatrix shrugged. "He showed an uncanny resistance to both curses. I have never seen one manage to push their mind to fight the Cruciatus Curse before under such pressure."

"Well, he is a rather gifted individual," said Voldemort, "I am curious as to how you managed to wear him down."

Bellatrix smiled gleefully, and dragged the tip of her wand down Seto's leg, glancing back towards his face as she moved along. Seto didn't even flinch.

"I just kept going," she said, admiring her handiwork. "If, after three days, he managed to convince his mind that the pain inflicted by the Cruciatus Curse was not real, then I needed to try something else." She patted his mangled knee proudly.

"I take it that was the scream we heard earlier," said Voldemort.

"I think that one was four bones at once," she said thoughtfully. "But it did it's job. He's been broken."

Voldemort chuckled. "I can tell."

She sighed and moved along the table to brush a few stray bangs away from his eyes. "It's such a shame – he was much more fun than the Egyptian. Much livelier. I almost wish he held out longer so I could go to work on his other leg. Give him a matching set."

Voldemort's lip curled upwards. "Was he?"

"Oh yes," said Bellatrix, pouting, "This was such a fun challenge. If only I could do it again."

"Patience, Bella," said Voldemort. He drew his own wand from within his robes. "If he does what we wish for him, you'll be able to have that chance again. But in the meantime, there is work to do."

She bowed her head. "Of course."

He traced a path across Seto's forehead, leaving a faint green light trail that faded away within seconds, and then repeated it again two more times.

"That takes care of the first task," he said, and then reached back into his robes, and pulled out both Seto's wand and cell phone. He tapped his wand against the phone, letting it glow brightly from the silent spell cast upon it, and then turned his wand back onto Seto again. "And now, for part two…."

"…So you see, Harry, the Gaunts were incredibly proud of their heritage, despite the conditions surrounding them. Their name for fame, as it were, was all they really had left."

"They were really Salazar Slytherin's last descendants?" asked Harry.

"Indeed they were. Any family wealth that had passed through the generations was long gone, but if you recall the locket that Merope were – that was one of the last surviving relics that belonged to Slytherin himself."

Harry blinked. "…and their daughter openly fancied a Muggle?"

"Tom Riddle and his family were very affluent in the nearly town of Little Hangleton. Now, you have just witnessed some of the Gaunt home, through Mr. Ogden's memories. Would you blame her for wishing of a different life?"

"Not really…" Harry admitted.

"And you can remember through your journey into the Chamber of Secrets that Voldemort, in his youth, was a rather good-looking gentleman, and used his natural charm to his advantage."

"Yeah," said Harry. He guessed he couldn't exactly blame her for falling for a pretty face. "Okay. But…Tom Riddle – Senior, I mean – didn't…"

"Oh no, as far as he was aware, Merope Gaunt didn't even exist."

Dumbledore waved his wand and siphoned the memory back into the bottle, then reached into the cabinet for another vial. "Next, we will be jumping ahead a bit to –"

He paused, his withered hand just over the basin to the Pensieve as a thunder-like boom rattled the various silver instruments around the office. Fawkes shifted his wings, resettled on his perch, and went back to sleep.

Harry quickly turned back towards one of the tower windows in time to see a strange light pattern, almost light lightning, move in an odd arc towards the ground, as if it were following the rounded edge of a very large bubble.

Dumbledore also watched through the window, pensive, before returning the new memory back to shelf and closed the cabinet.

"Professor?"

"Back to your dormitory, Harry," said Dumbledore, "We will pick this up again another time."

"But –"

"Listen to me very carefully," said Dumbledore. His voice left no room for argument. "Use your cloak to return directly to Gryffindor Tower. Do not go anywhere else. Do you understand me?"

"Uh, right," said Harry. He reached for his bag and pulled out the silvery cloak. "But what was –"

"Another time, Harry," said Dumbledore. "But I believe it will become clear in time."

What did that even mean? Harry said to himself as Dumbledore escorted him down the spiral steps and out of the tower. They stepped into the Grand Staircases chamber, and as Harry took the next set up, Dumbledore went down. Harry paused on the top of the seventh-floor landing, looked down, and watched as Dumbledore continued on towards the Entrance Hall.

Harry shed the Invisibility Cloak as he climbed through the portrait hole and crossed the common room. All of his roommates were huddled around their dormitory window.

"What happened?" asked Harry.

Neville turned around. "We were wondering where you were, Harry. Curfew ended a while ago."

Ron quickly glanced at Harry and gave a quiet cough. "Oh, he was up with Yugi and Ryou upstairs. Weren't you playing that card game again?"

"Oh, yeah. Duel Monsters." Harry ran a hand through his unruly hair. "I almost had Ryou beat this time, too."

"They didn't hear the boom?" asked Seamus.

"We did," Harry lied, "But I thought maybe you guys saw something we didn't."

Dean shook his head. "Aside from the crazy lightshow, nothing."

"It's hard to make people out from this part of the castle," said Seamus, "But I think the Aurors and the teachers are searching the grounds. Just saw what could be a cluster of wand lights fan out from over that way."

Neville's eyes widened. "Searching for what though?"

Dean shrugged. "Who knows."

Ron pointed down towards one of the paths leading towards the forest. "One thing's for sure," he said, "I don't know who those other guys are, but that is definitely Hagrid."

"Oi, Fang, I know it's cold, quit yer whinin'," Hagrid muttered.

"Tonks and Shacklebolt just arrived, and are off searching by the Lake, and I heard more Aurors are on the way," said Professor Sinistra. "In all my years here – never have I seen something hit the barrier."

"Question is, did somethin' pass through it," said Hagrid. He held the lantern higher. "Or did someone?"

"I don't see how," said Professor Sinistra, "We canwalk off the grounds and back. Birds can still fly through. The wards are clearly still up, so whatever hit it was not allowed entry."

"Someone might've tried to apparate in," Hagrid guessed. "And hit the walls. With all the Death Eater activity aroun' here, I wouldn' put it past 'em."

They paused as a few shouts were heard over near the Greenhouses.

"Did you catch any o' that?" asked Hagrid.

Professor Sinistra shook her head. "I can go see."

Hagrid nodded. "Fang n' I will continue down this way. The hills get steeper an' with all this snow, it'll be easier for us, and we can handle the forest edge jus' fine." He stood by and waited for Professor Sinistra to get closer to the castle before shining the lantern forward. "Alright Fang, let's go."

They continued on, abandoning the somewhat cleared walking paths for the deeper snow blanketing the grounds. The forest seemed unusually calm for the late hour. Perhaps whatever had struck the protective barrier had spooked some of the creatures living along its edge.

They reached one of the farther edges of the school grounds, past the borders of the forest. Hagrid wasn't sure how long they were out, and eventually he even couldn't hear the sounds of his colleagues and Aurors checking the area. The night was eerily silent.

"I don' think anythin' is out here, Fang," said Hagrid, taking a sweeping gaze around. "We ought to check in with the others."

Fang put his nose to the snow for a minute and started off a few steps.

Hagrid rapped a hand against the side of his leg. "C'mon Fang."

Fang barked once and tore off along the edge of the school boundary line, causing Hagrid to sigh and hurry along after him.

"What d'you see?"

Fang slowed down, sniffing the ground before trotting off again, stopping beside a dark shape in the snow. Hagrid stepped forward, then stopped as he heard something crunch beneath his feet.

"What th' –"

He moved his foot and knelt down, bringing the lantern closer to the ground. Puzzled, he picked up a small rectangular device. It was light, with a small "KC" etched into the back. He turned it over to see several large cracks across the glassy top surface. It was nothing like he had ever seen before, and wondered how it came to rest just outside the castle boundaries. When he heard Fang whine up ahead, he pocketed the strange item and continued on.

Fang nudged at the shape on the ground. "Alright Fang," he said, "What d'you have there?"

Fang made another quiet whine and it took Hagrid a moment to realize that the thing his dog was nudging and licking was actually a human face.

"BLIMEY!"

Hagrid quickly reached for his umbrella from where it sat hooked over his arm and shot off a volley of red sparks into the air. He quickly then dropped both the umbrella and the crossbow, shed out of his huge overcoat, and carefully tried to wrap it around the unconscious body on the ground, gently pushing Fang out of the way as he kept trying to paw at him.

"Hang on," said Hagrid softly as he heard voices and footsteps rapidly approaching. "Yer safe now…"