I certainly have no rights to Harry Potter, but this won't stop me writing this story. However, you probably already know this. As it is my specialty, and as in my other big stories, this shows how things go if something went different right at the beginning. Please note that I'm not a fan of bashing and also don't expect the two main pairings to differ from canon. However, the path to them certainly will be quite different. I also want to try and subvert certain plots and things that became common in the fandom over the years.
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Chapter 77: The Burning, Part I - World in Flames
The Granger house looked kind off eerie in its current state. Whereas before it had the feeling of a home where its inhabitants had lived within it for years, it right now stood half-empty and resembled more a packing area than anything else. Most of the big furniture had already been transported away into storage and the Grangers right now were being busy with looking through all the small things and put what they wanted to keep away into transport boxes.
"I honestly had no idea we were even keeping that stuff..." Jean said while shaking her head before throwing said item onto a pile that would go to the garbage. "I'm still amazed how much useless things we did amass over the years."
"I for my part had no idea I was still having that old collection of crown corks. Especially since they have corroded beyond any worth. Dumb idea of me to store them under that water pipe." Ian then looked around. "Kind of scary how the house now looks."
"Yes, but Jonathan doesn't care," Jean observed, watching their almost three-year old son run around the mostly empty house on his short legs, seemingly enjoying that there were no obstacles in the way.
"Mum! Dad! Look!" Jonathan said excitedly, showing of how fast he already could run.
"He is way too young to understand any of this and probably thinks this is just one big adventure." In a way Ian envied their son's innocence and how he was free of worries. "We are doing all of this so that he doesn't have to go through all of what Hermione has gone through."
In a way what was happening now was the same old story.
Countless times in history in a country, those that hold all the power and money would try everything in their power to make this state of affairs last forever. That of course is impossible, as despite all efforts the world does continue to go on. Once those groups are no longer in denial that their power is in decline, they generally become nasty, violent and can reveal the worst in humanity. However, those actions at best delay the inevitable and in the end always would make things worse for them.
The Death Eaters and those allied with them were a wonderful example of that. They had seen that the base of their power was starting to erode and then got spooked by what had happened in America. That had made them throw in their lot with Voldemort to preserve the 'good old days'. The irony of course was, that the wars had reduced their numbers significantly and had started the collapse of the very society they wanted to preserve and rule over.
Even if they do win, they won't have much left to rule over, Ian thought, finding that like all fanatics, the Death Eaters were short-sighted.
"Speaking of our daughter, at least Hermione knows perfectly well what we are doing. In her recent letter she told me what to do with some of her things and to make sure her important books are all stored safely," Jean said while throwing what looked like a decade old mail order catalogs into the garbage.
That actually made Ian chuckle a little. "It's reassuring to know that some of our girl's priorities never change. How fast time has passed... It feels like yesterday when she first held a book in her tiny hands, long before she could read, and now she's got a boyfriend and is about to become an adult."
"I know, but we have to accept that time has moved on and adapt. It's not like we are losing her," Jean reassured her husband while starting to look at something else. "You know, it's not like we are alone with this. The Backs, Lovegoods, and Evans also have to pack up."
"Yes, and they probably don't like this any more than we do. Though the Weasleys and Longbottoms turning their properties into little fortresses also isn't much better. Molly outright said that it diminishes the feeling of their house being a home," Ian reminded his wife.
"Sometimes we have to do things we don't like..." Jean said with a sigh.
-riiiing- That was the phone, though it sat on the floor. They would only disconnect it once they were ready to move out - which was right after Hermione had returned from school. Using the phone was perfectly safe, since the enemy was very much technology-blind. Considering how utterly clueless many adult wizards and witches were when it came to anything non-magical, then the fanatics either had no idea about phones, or even if they somehow did, would have no idea what to do about it.
Ian answered the call while Jonathan observed him, the young boy being fascinated by things that were very much mundane. "Ian Granger speaking. ... Ah yes. Yes, we are almost done. ... Of course you have agents watching our house."
Strange how that has become our new normal, Jean thought while guiding their son away from the packed silverware before he could get his tiny hands onto the forks.
Ian meanwhile was almost done with the call. "... so you do have a car following us just in case. Good." Then he looked a bit weird while listening to what was being said at the other end. "My weapon permission? Well, I am certified for a rifle, but of course I'm not storing it or the ammo at home. ... You honestly expect that to be necessary? All right, as long as you can arrange that I can have it close by without too much of a hassle."
The call didn't go for much longer. As soon as Ian had hung up the phone, Jean asked him "I can already imagine that was one of the MI-X agents. Most of it I understood, but what is that about your hunting rifle?"
"Once we have moved to the safe house, he wants me to always have it close by to make sure. He even called me by my military rank to remind me I'm perfectly capable of using lethal force," Ian told her.
Jean knew that was true. While they both had been in the medical corps of the military, it still had been military and for everyone in it there were certain basic skills required, and one of those was the ability to actually use a weapon - if needed with intention to kill. She herself had not touched a weapon in almost two decades, but her husband was a member of a hunting lodge - a fact which Hermione had needed years to accept.
Ian now being told to have a weapon nearby made Jean hope that this new normal would be over rather sooner than later. "And they think it's best for you to always have a weapon nearby?"
"Some years ago I would have call it paranoid, but considering what's going on now." Ian then looked determined. "I never in my life actually used lethal force, but if the family is threatened..."
Holding their son close, Jean knew her husband was serious about it. Seeing him this determined to protect them even with lethal force reminded her why she had felt attracted to him in the first place.
Though, she still hoped he wouldn't get into a situation where he actually had to shoot someone dead. After all, something like that never left you, even if it was fully justified.
...June 11th, MI-X HQ in London...
The table in the big conference room of MI-X headquarters was fully occupied - not a single seat was empty. Not didn't happen often in previous years, but with the current war situation, such meetings have become a regular thing.
Tony Blair for his part wished there wouldn't have been the need for those. Being Prime Minister for only a short time, he had been thrown into the cold water right away when being confronted with the violent conflict taking place in British soil - not to speak of the fact that magic was a very real thing. Instead of the great start into his term as imagined after winning the elections, he already felt the burden on his shoulders and understood why Major had looked like death warmed over the past several months.
Speaking of Major, the man was being present as well and Blair was not too proud to admit that without his help, he would have been lost in all of this. He also kind of envied the man, since he now looked less worn-down compared to when he was still Prime Minister. No longer having those responsibilities must have been a relief for the man.
Blair also thought of the upcoming G8 summit in Denver at the 20th. He knew the other high-ranking politicians would see him as a novice regarding dealing with the whole magical matter thing. He also knew they would pity him for what was happening in his country.
Not to speak of the hard decisions that had to be made for the case that things did go to the worst case. Considering what the magical side had told them, that pretty much now only was a matter of time and Blair worried what the world would look like after that had happened.
Right at the moment however, everyone's attention was on a topic that had arisen over the past days.
"No activity at all?" Mr. Clifton asked, hoping he had heard the report correctly.
"Indeed, Sir," the man, who had presented the facts, said. "It's been over a week now and there is no activity at all from the enemy. No attacks on either magical or non-magical targets, no terror, not even overt activities in weakening the Ministry. It also was concerning that there were no activities from Fenrir Greyback during the last full moon."
"I'm not yet fully up to speed with the situation, but that can't be good, right?" Blair asked Major when discussion broke out at the table.
"No, it is not. If there is a sudden lack of activity from the enemy, then it is a sure sign that they are planning something and put their full attention to it," Major replied, having a bad feeling about the matter.
Finally, Mr. Clifton called for silence. "I know, this is highly suspicious. What are our allies on the magical side saying about the matter?"
"They are confused as well." That was Agent Morden speaking. "They think the sudden lack of activity can only mean a major attack has to be imminent. However, there is no indicator what the target could be. That uncertainty is, what makes the sudden lack of activity this dangerous."
"Wonderful, that means there is no telling on which side the target will be. The death toll already is unacceptable."
Everyone at the table knew why Chairman Clifton was struggling to keep his composure. Besides their war against the Ministry of Magic, the Death Eaters had an attitude towards attacks on the non-magical side that could only be described as monstrous, since it seemed to them it was a fun activity. Such a complete disregard for human life reminded everyone what kind of fanatics they were dealing with.
"That means we need to consult with the other side," Mr. Clifton concluded.
And that of course will be my job, since it means speaking with the leadership... Both of them. Blair knew perfectly fine that he couldn't share the actually sensitive stuff with Bones, but Dumbledore was a different matter.
Granted, he had met the man only one time, but that meeting had been quite memorable. While the man had looked fairly ordinary - though he'd admitted he was wearing a suit since wizard robes would be highly unfitting in Downing Street - he'd carried an aura of an experienced leader and of someone who already had gone through too many conflicts in his life. That was a man not to be underestimated.
Meanwhile the next topic was being breached.
"Next point on our agenda is the enlargement of of magical forces. What is the report on that?" Mr. Clifton asked.
A woman took the word. "We did manage to expand our magical forces by fifteen percent. The war situation caused us to gain new recruits more easily, since most of them come from families with a non-magical background. A good number of them joined due to how the Ministry is failing utterly with ensuring their security. Even some werewolves came out of hiding to join us - perhaps due to the fear that otherwise Greyback would find them."
"Only fifteen percent?" Mr. Clifton sounded like he had expected more.
The woman did have the answer to that. "It would have been more, but we did suffer several losses, though we did manage to kill the attackers in all cases. Sadly, all of the enemies were cheap lowlifes that were only in for it for the money and held no rank among the Death Eaters. The worst loss was three people in one go due to a surprise dementor attack."
That's another thing I have to get used to, Blair thought. Though he'd known perfectly well that there would be losses on their side, experiencing the news first hand made the burden of command feel more real.
Blair then remembered something. "I forgot to ask last time, but what is the status of those monsters? It is pretty obvious we can't let soul-devouring bests roam the country."
"I understand you concern, Prime Minister," Mr. Clifton told his boss. "Hunting dementors is a dangerous task and even tough we already have destroyed a number of them, they are also breeding. We estimate that we decimated their total number by about 10%, but it still is way to go."
"Only 10%..." Blair knew it would result in further horrible scenes.
"Those beasts are one of the most serious threats we are facing. The Ministry had been insane to keep them around," Major told his successor, making no secret of how disgusted he was at the Ministry's past decisions.
Some more facts were exchanged, before the next point on the agenda was called.
"Agent Morden, how are things proceeding concerning Little Whinging?" Mr. Clifton asked.
"Everything is proceeding according to plan. Since it will happen in less than two months, all preparation by this point are done and all parties involved are up to date. We will be ready once Day X arrives," Morden reported.
"These people must be interesting. Sadly, I have not met any of them in person," Blair mused at the sheer affort being put into this.
"Sadly, there also is a horrible story behind this. Remember that this all is due to the enemy leader putting a death mark onto someone at birth," Major reminded Blair.
Blair did remember. We don't know the exact backgrounds, but whatever it is, the sheer amount of effort Tom Riddle is putting into killing Harry Potter makes me wonder about the reason.
The meeting continued like that for longer. Good news being mixed with bad news.
...at the same time...
Fenrir Greyback was many things, but being an idiot was not one of them. He knew perfectly fine that he was being used as a tool by Voldemort - a weapon for death and destruction - as he had told the man himself right to the face. While he of course didn't mind doing those things, it was no secret he was only taking orders from Voldemort because he had him by the balls. Back in Azkaban, Voldemort would have left him and his pack to the dementors, had he declined. And now, he would be a dead man, should he act against Voldemort.
That of course also meant there was no actual loyalty to the man or his cause from him or his pack.
In fact, Greyback was just waiting for either the whole thing to blow up in Voldemort's face - meaning he wouldn't have to care about the man's threats anymore - or for Voldemort to drown in the shit show that was Magical Britain once he had conquered it - which was when he and his pack would make their exit. Either way, they were not planning to go down with the sinking ship.
But of course, there are things that we have to do first... Greyback thought, then touched his destroyed eye. That little shit Lupin has to pay. No one does this to me and gets to live.
It was a personal thing for Greyback to get even with Lupin, now even feeling he should just have killed him all those years ago instead of giving him the bite. Lupin using his werewolf powers against him was a huge insult to Greyback and felt like a rejection of his gift. It was a twisted way of thinking, but to Greyback it was perfectly reasonable.
Not only him, but also his mate and kid. Shameful anyway that he didn't even get himself a proper bride, Greyback vowed silently.
He of course knew of Lupin having married that woman who could alter her looks and had a kid together with her. After all, he not only kept in the loop but also had heard Bellatrix bitch about it often enough. As much as Greyback didn't care about the blood cause, he did feel disgusted at the idea of Lupin not taking a werewolf bride - and that was even if you disregarded his hatred of the man.
"Hey, boss. You got a moment?"
Greyback looked up from what he was doing, seeing one of the veterans of his pack. After losing half of his pack in the disastrous attack on Hogwarts - and especially the punk with her nudity fetish - it had proven to be a challenge to put everything back into order after getting out of Azkaban. By now however, things were back in order.
"You wouldn't interrupt me if it weren't important. What's the matter?" Greyback asked.
The man saw this as his sign to continue. "The pack is itching to do something - anything. The inactivity of the past weeks is getting to them."
"Ah yes..." Greyback understood. Voldemort had forbidden them any activity in the past weeks, even making them miss the last full moon. He had not told them the reason for the order and the whole thing had caused unrest in the pack. "I get why they are itching for some action and I don't like being idle, either."
"I don't like taking orders from the likes of him. It was bad enough during the previous war, but now he's treating us like servants," the man complained looking quite annoyed.
Greyback snorted, also making no secret of his own feelings on the matter. "Wouldn't I know it? However, I can recognize the power balance being in our disfavor, meaning we have to bide our time for the moment."
They both didn't like it, but that were the facts.
Right then another member of the old guard entered. "Boss, Crouch is here to speak with you. He says that it's important," she told Greyback.
"Finally. Of course the big cheese sends his messenger boy instead of lowering himself to speak with us. In with him," Greyback ordered, looking a bit impatient.
Moments later Barty entered the room. If he was intimidated by no less than three unhappy werewolves, he didn't show it. "There you are, Greyback. I have new orders from the Dark Lord."
"Spare us the fluff and get straight to the point." Greyback honestly was not in the mood for any bullshit.
Again, Barty didn't seem to be intimidated. "So impatient... All right, you'll probably happy to hear that your inactivity will soon be over. You have to wait until after the 14th, then you will be called upon again. Until then you are told to stay put."
Greyback arched the eyebrow over his good eye at these rather odd orders. "What happens at the 14th that we have to wait until it is over?"
"You don't have to bother yourself with the details, just know that until then the Dark Lord does not want anything to happen that could distract from the impact." By now it was unnerving how calm Barty was.
"As long as we stop doing nothing, I'm not picky. Was that all?" Greyback honestly didn't want Barty to be present any longer than necessary.
"Yes, that was all, so I'll take my goodbye." Barty then left, congratulating himself.
Taking that very strong calming potion before coming here had paid off. He could see that he had managed to unsettle Greyback with his unusual calmness. Greyback and his kind were a blight to be eradicated as soon as Lord Voldemort had consolidated his power, thus he felt it was in his right to mess with him as he saw fit.
After being sure that Barty had left, the woman decided to ask Greyback a question. "Something is weird to me, boss and makes me wonder."
"Questions are good; helps you to learn from your errors. Is it about our orders?" Greyback asked her.
"No, it's about something we haven't done for Voldemort's ilk. I mean, we know perfectly well how the non-magical world works, yet we haven't helped them at all with that. You ordered us not to. Why is that?" she wondered. It was weird to her how the pack had decided to let the Death Eaters stay ignorant.
"Ha ha ha!" Now Greyback had to laugh. "It's honestly two reasons. For one thing, do you honestly think that those arrogant bastards would even want to listen? They think they know all that's there to know, after all, and even pride themselves of their ignorance."
The other two in the room looked at each other. "That makes a disturbing amount of sense, boss. What is the second reason?" the man then asked.
"Very simple, I see no need to be actively helpful to them." Now Greyback's expression turned quite nasty. "Considering our situation, there is no reason at all to make things easier for them. After all, we're only working for them because we are forced to do so."
Greyback saw that his explanation was being understood.
...June 14th, Hogwarts...
The students of Hogwarts were letting out a breath of relief.
Final exams, OWL-exams and NEWT-exams had all gone by without anything having happened. Considering the times in which they lived in, that was nothing one could take for granted. Today also was the final visit to Hogsmeade - strategically placed to allow students to unwind after the stress of the exams - and the students at least for several hours would be able to forget the growing troubles of the world surrounding them.
Everyone who could do so also was going to Hogsmeade - much to the ire of the youngest two years who had to stay in the castle - which of course also meant that most of the available security would be in Hogsmeade to protect the students from any kind of danger.
The students were leaving Hogwarts in one long column, protected by the security guards always being on the lookout for danger. While no one could imagine the Death Eaters being this bold, after the past year of terror, also no one would make a bet on it. Especially the current silence from the enemy made everyone nervous.
The Six were somewhere in the middle of the column, talking among each other while walking towards Hogsmeade.
"Up to now, nothing has happened," Neville thought aloud, having to think about the warning the stars had given the centaurs. "But then again, there is still a week left in the school year."
"As much as I want to warn you..." Luna said little more, having said it often enough by this point. "However, Harry's nerves have become rather strained by now."
Ginny sighed, looking to were her boyfriend was walking some meters away. "He's sick and tired of all of this, and I can't blame him. I think the whole waiting for whatever will happen is really getting to him. You know what he's saying."
"Who can blame the bloke?" Ron agreed with his sister. "Harry would prefer a direct confrontation. This constant unknown threat is something he can't deal with very well. Yes, we've heard him wonder what we are even still doing here and it's starting to make him really ticked the more he's thinking about it. Let's hope Hogsmeade... and Ginny, can distract him a bit."
"Oh, I'm a distraction? Perhaps you want to re-phrase that?" There was no real heat behind Ginny's words, since she essentially knew that she had to do her best to distract Harry from his worries.
"Don't act like you think that's a bad thing to do. I know you would do it in a heartbeat to make Harry feel better," Ron reminded his sister.
"Hmph..." Ginny honestly couldn't deny that, so she said nothing.
Harry for his part had heard everything, and couldn't blame his friends. In recent days he had become more and more convinced they were wasting their time staying in school while the world around them was going to shit. However, fact also was that only those of them who were legally adults as far as magic was concerned could do something about it.
Only Ron and Hermione had reached that point, while Neville and himself would have to wait until the end of July. Not to speak of Ginny and Luna, who would have to wait for quite some time, the trace on them starting to feel like a dog leash to the girls. Also, just striking out without a plan would be dumb, that Harry knew for sure.
I can hear it in their voices. Though they don't say it out in the open, in their hearts they already know us doing nothing, despite how prepared we are, is stupid. One more disaster, and they won't hold back their opinion about it anymore. Is this how growing up feels?
Harry didn't want disaster to strike, but he knew, if whatever the centaurs had foreseen did happen, his friends would see his point fully.
When the column reached Hogsmeade however, it was being watched from a window by two specific students who were of course unable to go to Hogsmeade.
Not that Draco and Pansy wanted to do so even if they could, since today was the day. Their role would be limited and they had no idea what would happen after they were done, but they had a feeling it that the day would end miserable for someone else and hoped it wasn't them.
"All right, we only have to get there. The orders say no more than that," Draco said while they both readied their invisibility cloaks.
Pansy still wondered why they knew no more than that. "I know the Dark Lord has his reasons, but it only makes me more nervous..."
Alastor Moody meanwhile was rather annoyed that he had such limited forces available. His current number of subordinates was not enough to ensure adequate security, especially with the current Hogsmeade visit. Alas, getting more help was not a problem of money or political interference this time, but the simple fact that wizards and witches competent in combat were now in high demand. He had managed to recruit a few more people over the year, but not nearly enough for his taste.
He had selected himself to stay at the castle so that he could keep a close eye on the two junior Death Eaters. It only was days now, before they would go to the slammer and he held no wish for them to slip away at the last moment - he after all knew their kind.
Speaking of them... Moody again checked - he after all couldn't keep his eye on them all them time - and noticed they were not in their rooms anymore. Of course... Let's see where they are.
Searching quick and methodically, he spotted them just slipping into the castle under invisibility cloaks. Moody wasted no time to give chase - something that of course was made more difficult due to him not being as fast as he used to be when still having both of his natural legs. He did continue to observe them, despite his view starting to get hazy due to all the magic in the walls, and understood where those two were going.
"The Room of Requirement... of course. Well, once they are in there, they can't escape..." Moody then sent a Patronus to Dumbledore, explaining that he now would nab those two, since he didn't want to risk anything anymore, and to alarm the teachers as well.
That room is a dead end, so there will be no escape. This was the final straw for him, plans be damned.
He had no idea it would be too late.
Draco and Pansy were breathing heavily, their running towards the Room of Requirement while under heavy invisibility cloaks had exhausted them a lot. However, there was no time to lose, since they were sure Moody was alarming the entire castle that they were on the move. It would only be a matter of minutes before the teachers would corner them.
It seemed to took an eternity until the door appeared and they both stormed in, slamming the door shut behind them.
"We are on time. Let's close the cabinet on my sign," Pansy said. She was talking about the massive cabinet standing in this otherwise empty room. The only other things in the room were some of the things that they had acquired from Borgin & Burkes and hadn't been able to use.
This was the key to all their activities over the year.
The Dark Lord had told them about this room, which can take any shape they desired. He also had told them of the vanishing cabinet in Borgin & Burkes - which was collecting dust for decades - and that its counterpart was in Hogwarts. (He of course had not told them that he had gained that knowledge during his school days and while working at the shop). Linked vanishing cabinets were essentially unstoppable magical teleporters.
Thus after the start of the school year, they had located the cabinet in Hogwarts, and after sending a note through it, a house-elf had returned through it. With the help of the elf, it had been child's play to relocate the cabinet to this room and the elf then had again left by cabinet, not triggering any alarms. Thanks to this being a very specific room, the 'room with the vanishing cabinet', their secret had stayed secret, as no one else knew what to exactly ask for.
The second cabinet had been moved to a safe Death Eater location and it was with this pair of linked vanishing cabinets that they had been able to get the items they needed, as well being able to smuggle out information without anyone being the wiser about how they'd done it. Now their orders were to close the cabinet at an exact date to allow for a transfer.
Pansy looked at her pocket watch. "All right, close the cabinet now," she told Draco.
Draco did close the cabinet door. There was no sound, just some light emerging from the cabinet, then the door was opened from the inside and no one less than Dolohov walked out of it. "Well, I will be... You followed the instructions to the letter. Proof that the two of you have some worth after all."
They both knew how dangerous Dolohov was and tried hard to not annoy him. "What are our new instructions?" Draco asked, feeling scared by the man's presence.
Dolohov took something out of the cabinet, which looked like some kind orb. "Open the door to this room and leave it open, then go into the cabinet. I'll do the important part."
They did as told, then Dolohov threw the orb through the open door into the corridor before jumping back into the cabinet and close it from the inside, causing all three of them to leave Hogwarts that way. Thus they didn't see what the orb was causing.
o
Down in Hogsmeade, students were trying to enjoy themselves and ignore the heightened security - which only few knew was thanks to what the stars had told the centaurs about a looming danger over the Six. The sad matter of fact was, that Moody didn't have enough forces available for a full security and the Ministry of course was so utterly stretched thin now that they couldn't spare a single auror.
"Harry, is something wrong?" Ginny wondered when seeing how he was still distracted while both of them were walking down the main street of Hogsmeade. "It's like something is distracting you. No, don't give me that look! When I needed to repeat myself three times to get your attention, I know something is not right."
"Perhaps it's nothing, but I'm still thinking about what Celestra told us," Harry admitted to Ginny. "I know we want to enjoy the day, but it refuses to leave my mind. Being outside of the castle makes me uneasy."
"To be honest, it's always lingering at the back of my mind as well," Ginny admitted to her boyfriend. "It was vague enough that I think we are starting to get suspicious of every shadow. Gods, we are starting to act like Moody and his constant vigilance..."
"I don't think it's quite there yet, but I think you understand how I feel about not only that but the whole situation. We are just sitting here, waiting for disaster to strike..." Harry looked quite frustrated with that fact. "The whole thing hanging over us actually makes me wish Voldemort would get over with whatever he's planning."
Ginny gave Harry a look that made him flinch. "Harry Potter, remember that Luna warned us to never dare fate! That never worked out well for us."
"I know, but being forced into doing nothing..." Harry however couldn't finish the thought. "We really need to bring the battle to them instead of allowing them to dictate the terms."
Ginny understood Harry's frustration, having watched it fester and him talking at length with them about it. "Don't get me wrong, Harry, I know where you are coming from. But it's never easy, like the fact that Luna and me, we are y year younger than you and that damn trace is on us like a bad smell until then."
"I know, but still... I don't want to do anything without all of us agreeing, but things have to change. I don't care if the adults don't like it..." Harry sounded quite determined.
"You know, seeing you being so determined is quite sexy..." Ginny said with a slight blush.
That lifted Harry's mood a bit.
-Broooooom- -Dong Dong Dong Dong- All of a sudden something that sounded like the eruption of a massive fireball silenced Ginny. That was followed by a bell at Hogwarts sounding the alarm signal. Everyone in Hogsmeade stopped what they were doing and then looked up to the castle, only to freeze in shock.
Hogwarts had been set ablaze!
Massive flames were bursting through the windows and out of holes in the roof! Even worse, there were black dots circling the castle and raining spells down onto it, which had to be broom riders, which in turn made it clear that this was no accident and instead an outright attack.
"Oh no..." Part of Ginny felt that Harry indeed had made fate do its worst.
The whole thing had come out of nowhere. One moment everything had been peaceful, and then suddenly it was like the gates of hell had been opened. Numerous students screamed in terror, fear gripping them at the thought of what must have happened to those inside the castle. The utter shattering of the peace had caught many of them on the wrong foot.
"How... how did they do that? It's like they appeared out of nowhere!" Harry was confused about the entire thing.
The security at Hogsmeade however reacted fast. "Quick! Quick! Apparate to the borders of the grounds! We have to help them!"
They felt it to be an acceptable risk to leave the students in Hogsmeade, since the attack obviously was centered around the castle and thus they hoped to prevent it from spilling to the village as well. Apparating to the edge of the castle grounds - the closest they could get to the castle since everything beyond that was blocked - they started to make a run towards the castle, hoping to help the teachers to save what could be saved.
However, the closer they got to the castle, the more they got the feeling that something weird was going on.
While they could smell smoke, there strangely was no heat from the fires. Also, the attackers on the brooms looked a bit weird - as if they were all the same person - and also didn't react to them at all. Also, despite an explosion having blown a massive hole through the roof, there was no debris anywhere. The confusion was complete when a spell fired at one of the attackers just went through without any effect at all.
"What the...? What is this?!" the group leader gasped, trying to understand what was going on.
"Stop, lads! STOP!" That was Moody, quickly making their way to them. "This is all not real!"
Moody's words left them baffled, but then all their weirdness all of a sudden made sense. "This is all fake?"
"Yes, it is..." Moody looked highly annoyed. "Only the smoke is real, everything else is just a massive illusion spell we are still trying to stop. The teachers are having their hands full with trying to calm down the panicking young students that nothing of this is real, making it a total chaos in there."
"But... what is the point of all of this?" one of his men asked Moody.
"That's what I wanted to check..." Finally getting out of the smoke, he stopped. "Oh, wonderful..."
They saw what he meant when seeing a smoke cloud rise above Hogsmeade. The smoke was coming from the buildings of the village being set ablaze, fire coming out of roofs and windows. They knew right away that unlike the illusion, that devastation was very real, especially when seeing the light flashes of spells being fired off inside the village, while underscored that fighting was going on in that inferno.
All of a sudden the reason for the illusion was becoming clear.
"A diversion!" Moody cursed that his men had fallen for the oldest trick in the book, though the effort put into it was considerable. "We have to get there now!"
"Sir, they are sure to have put up anti-apparition wards and running there would take way too long. We need to take brooms."
"Have you forgotten your basic lessons? We would be open targets and shot down without much effort!" Moody cursed, wondering himself how to solve that dilemma.
That was, until the solution actually came to them - literally.
o
Moments after the security forces had apparated to the edge of the Hogwarts grounds, the mood in Hogsmeade switched from horror to panic, and the reason was, that the village got invaded by Death Eater forces. And the entrance couldn't have been more dramatic, since the first thing they did was to create a rain of fire that descended onto the helpless village, setting all the buildings ablaze. In mere moments Hogsmeade had turned into a hellish place.
Panic gripped inhabitants and students alike while they tried to flee the burning village in the direction of the school - or just away from the inferno and those who had caused it. However, it was strange that the Death Eaters didn't bother with the fleeing masses. No, instead, they seemed to outright ignore them, and instead were concentrating on actual objectives.
"We're just letting them run away?" Goyle Sr. asked, still not understanding what this was about.
Alecto Carrow sighed, wondering why she had been put together with this moron of all people. "Don't question the Dark Lord's orders! He wants Potter, and our job is to keep away certain unwanted interference... And looks like we've just found part of said interference."
In the middle of the chaos, Ron and Hermione were trying to find their friends, already knowing that Harry had to be the prime target in all of this. That was easier said than done however, since circumstances made it very difficult for them to reach Harry in the first place.
"Damn it! Let us through!" Ron cursed, trying to move in one direction, while the fleeing people moved in the opposite direction. "Move aside!"
"This is a nightmare..." Hermione whispered while trying to stay focused.
They both had been in the Three Broomsticks when the attack had happened and now she saw in terror how Hogsmeade had been set ablaze, the buildings burning like huge torches. It was a terrifying display of senseless destruction and most certainly worked exactly as intended. It also was impressive how many people were present in Hogsmeade and were now running for safety, causing this complete chaos.
Suddenly Ron noticed something. "Watch out!"
Hermione's training kicked in and she jumped aside. -zomm- Just in time when a spell ripped open the place where she had stood a moment ago. "Death Eaters!"
Hermione had the distinctive feeling that those Death Eaters had orders to keep them away from Harry. If anything, this only made the panic around them worse and they had to be afraid that the Death Eaters would not care about stray spells hitting innocent people.
A different spell flew towards her, but this time she managed a shield that blocked the spell from reaching her. "Ron!"
"I'm on it!" Remembering their last confrontation with Death Eaters, Ron was confident that they had improved a lot since then. However, this did not mean they would fight dumb. "Otter to the rook!"
That was a private code they had made between themselves. The otter meant Hermione due to the form of her Patronus - just like Ron was named the bulldog - and each of the chess figures was a code word for what the plan was. In the heat of battle, their enemies would be unable to understand what that was about. In this case, a rook meant to take cover.
She did that, just when Ron, instead of attacking directly, sent an explosion charm to the roof above where the Death Eaters would be in a moment. -Boooom- The explosion caused an avalanche of burning wooden roof tiles to rain down, forcing the Death Eaters to seek cover. When they tried to locate their prey again, both Ron and Hermione were gone.
"Shit!" Alecto cursed.
"That was close," Hermione said, while they both tried to win some distance. "Ngh!"
"Hermione?" Ron saw her suddenly look pained, before he felt it himself. "The bond... Harry!"
"We need to find him! He is in serious danger!" Hermione said, before they both ran deeper into the inferno that Hogsmeade had become.
In a different part of the burning Hogsmeade meanwhile, Neville and Luna were in a rather similar predicament.
"Duck!" Neville called to Luna.
Luna did so just in time and the spell intended for her only hit a rain barrel, which was neatly being cut in two by the severing charm meant for her. Luna then sprinted away from her hiding place when burning debris started to rain down from the building next to it. She did reach Neville and they both ran for a better spot where they could defend themselves.
"This is horrible..." Luna gasped, showing none of her normal behavior.
She had thought that they were no longer being surprised by the atrocities of the Death Eaters, but the sheer level of destruction around them was a harsh reminder how wrong she had been, and it horrified her. Maybe it was an effect of her maturing psychically that she now felt much more connected to the world around her than she did in her childhood. That sadly came with negative sides, as shown right now.
"We'll get out of this... I won't let them hurt you." It was in a crisis like this where it showed that the sorting of the otherwise modest and polite Neville into Gryffindor was not a fluke.
"We know you are there!" one of the Death Eaters mocked them, actually laughing. "You have to get by us if you want to escape."
"Crap, he's right..." Neville cursed, trying to find a way out of this.
"Neville... the beam..." Luna said, pointing to something next to their enemies.
Neville seeded a second, but then understood when seeing that the Death Eaters were standing right next to a wooden beam that was holding up an already burning patio roof. "That's a good idea!... Diffindo!"
The Death Eaters put up their shields to protect against the severing charm, but Neville had not aimed for them. Instead, the support beam was cut and... -craaaack- -bromommom- "Argh!" "Urggh!" Robbed of its support, the patio roof ripped out of the weakened wall and fell forward, directly onto the Death Eaters, burying them underneath.
"Let's leave, before they get out from under there!" Neville told Luna and both teenagers made a fast exit.
They had reached a safe spot when suddenly they both felt like something horrible was looming. They did know the feeling all too well. "Harry... The bond is screaming that he is in danger... Voldemort!" Luna gasped.
"We need to find him now!" Neville knew Luna was on the same page.
Yet however in a different part of the burning village...
"Harry! Harry!" Ginny called, but it was to no avail as she was swept away by the fleeing people and had to be more concerned with not getting trampled in the panic.
Harry was trying to get to Ginny, but it proved futile, especially due to everyone else being in a panic when Death Eaters swooped in onto the main street. The area cleared very fast and Harry lost sight of Ginny, having no idea where she now was. Harry saw fast enough why everyone had fallen into panic - and it proved to be a very good reason.
At the other end of the street, flanked by several Death Eaters, stood Voldemort. The Dark Lord was giving Harry greedy looks, like a wolf ready to rip his prey apart for dinner. And yet, some of the arrogance of previous encounters was missing, like Voldemort was taking the whole matter more serious now.
"So we meet again, Harry. You can imagine how much I've looked forward to this," Voldemort told him.
It seemed Voldemort's approach to him had indeed slightly changed since last time. Voldemort now seemed to be less condescending and he now saw him as an actual opponent. Harry didn't know if that however was better, since Voldemort being more serious about killing him instead of playing any games was not a good thing in his mind.
Harry for his part, while knowing to treat the deadly powers of an opponent like Voldemort with respect, was after multiple confrontations no longer blind with fear. "Why? Why all this destruction just to get to me? This is so utterly pointless."
"Wrong, it does have a point, because it fulfills an important role. An example had to be made to show how serious Lord Voldemort is about his ambitions. All of this is a warning to better chose the correct side when the time comes." Voldemort then looked condescendingly to Harry. "You don't honestly think everything is about you, right? I only decided to connect the useful with my task."
That was a reminder to Harry how the only person that mattered to Voldemort was himself. "You are a psychopath..."
"You should be more careful with your words..." Voldemort then looked to the Death Eaters. "All of you, stand back. As far as destiny and me are concerned, Potter is mine alone to finish off."
In a way it was bizarre that the only reason Harry was still alive was due to Voldemort having made himself a slave to a no longer valid prophecy. Not that he would complain about that while holding his wand tighter. "I see... I won't make that easy for you."
"I underestimated you before. Not anymore..." Voldemort took a quick look around. "Everything is in my favor this time. No one will help you in this inferno. Your friends are far away and won't come to your rescue. As for what happened last time..."
Harry held his wand tight when watching Voldemort... pull out a different wand from his usual one. "So that's why Ollivander's shop was ransacked..."
"Very observant, Harry, his notes on your wand were enlightening. This wand is a gracious donation from Lucius Malfoy. I won't make the same mistake as in our last encounter:" Voldemort's cold eyes then gave Harry a greedy look. "Let's skip the formalities and get right away to the meat of the matter, shall we?"
I can only pray someone comes to my help. I have no hope to survive a prolonged direct confrontation against someone with decades of experience, Harry thought, not waiting for Voldemort to make the first move.
While that happened, throughout Hogsmeade at the same time the Death Eaters were also met with fierce resistance. Resistance they had not anticipated, or they would have brought along more forces.
While other students panicked and tried to run away, the Defenders quickly understood that it now was up to them to prevent the worst from happening. They had little illusion that they could prevail if each if them fought for themselves, but banding together, their power was increased significantly and allowed them to fight back more effectively.
Of course even then a direct confrontation was out of question, but they knew that as well and instead used every trick and dirty tactic in the book to avoid one.
-WAM- An explosion ripped apart part of a corner of a burning house, However, it had missed Millicent, who had quickly sought cover behind the wall itself and thus escaped injury. "You damn harlot! I'll stuff your head up your ass for setting me on fire!" the female Death Eater shouted, already gearing up for the next spell.
"Don't act like you didn't deserve it," Millicent hissed before countering with a spell of her own which conjured a massive iceball and threw it at her enemy. The Death Eater did managed to get blast it apart, but was distracted for a crucial moment.
"Hey you!" Oliver Rivers from Ravenclaw shouted from his cover, before casting a spell that threw another projectile at the Death Eater. She managed to destroy that one as well, but the effect of that action was very different.
"Ah, what the?!" The projectile had exploded into countless splatters of grease, coating her with that stuff. Barely holding onto her wand, she was quite distracted while casting a counter-spell to remove the grease, but just as that one was done...
-Wummm- In her haste to get the grease off, she had not noticed Dudley coming up from behind her with a rain barrel, which he held high with Wingardium Leviosa and then slammed down. The Death Eater was knocked out instantly and Dudley then flipped the barrel around with the spell, so that she was trapped in it.
"I thought we would never get rid of her..." Dudley then saw their small group gather again. "Everyone all right?"
"Nothing more than a few splinters I've had to pull out of my side," Millicent said, pointing at some faint red spots on her shirt.
"No injuries, but I honestly can't believe we actually managed to defeat a Death Eater," Rivers said, still astonished at the feat. The other two with them also had nothing worse than some nasty bruises.
Dudley knew this was basically unheard of from school students. "Not that it should make us overconfident, many of them are just the small fry. Come on!" They then moved on.
Elsewhere in the burning village, Daphne was in a bit of a predicament.
"Don't think I didn't recognize you! The Greengrasses threw in their lot with Black, so now there will be a price to pay!" the Death Eater called before sending sharp shrapnel her way.
Daphne barely managed to dodge, cursing the entire time to have been caught on her own by him. She had been separated from the others when some burning debris had fallen and blocked her path and now she was in quite a fix. Being on her own, she could not strike back without risking to get hit, since she was at the disadvantage.
Suddenly she stumbled and fell. Crap, no!
"I have you now!" The Death Eater was about to do something nasty to her, when suddenly... -Wham!- A piece of wood slammed into his head with considerable force, shattering his mask and knocking him out instantly.
"Girl, don't sit there and get up!"
Daphne looked to the man who had saved her and for a moment thought that was Professor Dumbledore, before realizing that while the man looked very similar to him, there were differences as well. Seeing the man waving his wand to indicate to her to hurry, she got back to her feet and then quickly followed him.
"I thought he would kill me now. I..." Daphne only now truly realized how close that had been.
"Don't thank me, girl. I'm simply doing the right thing." The man told her.
In his head however, Aberforth Dumbledore was still reeling. He had barely managed to escape the burning Hog's Head - his life's work now burning down to cinders - and was cursing that on his old days life was throwing this at him. He had resisted taking any active role in his brother's efforts against Voldemort, but now the choice had been made for him, if he liked it or not.
Somewhere else in the inferno a bigger engagement was taking place.
"Aaarrrgh!" Padma Patil cried out when a spell got her good. She was thrown back, the front of her shirt shredded (though by a miracle her bra survived) and she started to bleed from many cuts, as if she had gone through a shredder.
"Padma!" her sister Parvati cursed.
Both of them had banded together with a number of DoH members to push back against the attack, but their group had been ambushed by three Death Eaters, resulting in a wild battle. They had managed to nail one Death Eater with a nasty curse by using surprise, but the remaining two were a huge problem, since Padma was already their second casualty to injury.
"We need to do something, or they'll overwhelm us!" said none other than Colin, who right now was very different from his normally carefree persona.
"But what? We can't away with two of us as injured as they are," Astoria added, quickly conjuring a shield to deflect a spell - which turned out to be an explosion charm - somewhere else.
"I'm thinking about it!" Parvati was cursing. Her sister in general was better at having good ideas, thus Parvati was frantically trying to find an out from that mess. She then spotted a cart filled with empty bottles and finally got an idea. "I'll get rid of them. Colin, use you specialty and make the cart blast towards their hiding space."
"You can count on me!" Colin was really good with spells of movement, and it was proven right away.
The cart zipped towards where the Death Eaters were hiding, and just when it was about to crash there, Parvati shouted "Bombarda!"The cart and the big number of bottles in it exploded violently, and judging by the following cries of pain from the Death Eaters, the hailstorm of sharp shards had hit them hard.
Their attackers, now riddled with countless injuries and glass shards being stuck in them, finally fled and Parvati knew they could get their injured to safety to give some basic first aid.
...back at the duel of Harry and Voldemort...
"Impressive," Voldemort admitted when seeing Harry manage to deflect another of his attacks.
Even though the duel itself was only going on for about three minutes, Harry already was feeling hard-pressed, which was little wonder with an opponent like Voldemort. For the moment however he was still holding his own, feeling that even now Voldemort was not fighting him at full power. It still was much more difficult than last time and Harry knew with time he would lose.
Voldemort then evaded an attack sent by Harry. "Most impressive."
"And? It's not like I can buy something from that. What is it with that flattery?" Harry knew Voldemort wanted to kill him anyway, so he felt no need to censor himself.
"Oh, don't be foolish. You should feel honored that Lord Voldemort is impressed with your skill. No doubt the work of that old goat Dumbledore," Voldemort said, and it was unclear if that was mockery, or not. "Compared to last time, I now do have to put in an effort, which makes it give me all the more satisfaction."
"And still, I don't get anything out of that," Harry returned, while attempting to detonate the ground underneath Voldemort. However, his opponent evaded.
"That was never in the cards. The spoils of war for me - death for you. That is how it was set up right from the start," Voldemort said cryptically.
Harry knew right away that Voldemort was baiting him with the prophecy, so Harry decided to act dumb. "Eh, what?"
"Oh, don't be coy, Harry. I have already concluded that Dumbledore told you the prophecy that connects both of us." It was scary how calm Voldemort was despite being in the middle of a duel.
It was right then when Harry realized that lying was pointless, though he also knew he couldn't reveal that he knew the entire prophecy, or Voldemort would try to crack open his brain with Legilimency. Thus, he settled on a half-truth. "Oh, he told me, but only half of it, which still was enough."
"Not even all of it. Tsk tsk, that makes it sound like he doesn't really trust you to handle it." If anything, the whole thing was confusing. What was Voldemort aiming for?
Harry protected himself from another spell. "You say I've become strong, but you are still not fighting at you best. You don't even throw around the Unforgivables you love so much. What gives?!"
Voldemort actually laughed. "Then it would be too easy. Just because I won't underestimate you anymore doesn't mean I right away go for the kill. See it as a form of respect. You were not worthy of it before, but you have improved a lot, I'll enjoy taking you down in an actual duel."
Shitty kind of honor... Harry cursed internally while trying to get some distance.
While that was going on, someone else was watching.
Harry is dueling Voldemort, and I'm unable to do anything, Ginny thought while watching from her hiding spot.
When Ginny had been swept away by the crowd, she had been forced to actively prevent herself from getting trampled; a goal which she had barely accomplished and not without several bruises. It was to her advantage, that the Death Eaters close to the duel were all way too busy with watching said duel and being in awe of their Master. Nonetheless she constantly checking if anyone was trying to attack her from behind.
There was no way Ginny could try to help Harry without being struck down by Voldemort's troops. There simply were too many of them to take on her own, thus she was forced to helplessly watch the duel. From her perspective it was clear Voldemort was not going all out, still being arrogant about the issue, though he most certainly was at least taking Harry serious enough this time.
-crrtsh- That small sound made her whip around and point her wand at...
She barely stopped when seeing Ron and Hermione, both looking startled by the fact that Ginny had almost cursed them on instinct. Ginny for her part wondered about herself as well. "Stay quiet, or we have all of them on our heels."
Ron looked around the corner and saw what his sister meant. "Crap, that's a whole lot of them... Shit, Harry is dueling Voldemort."
"He is?" Hermione took a look herself. "Now we know why the bond is screaming at us."
"Wouldn't I know it? The bond is really urging me to help Harry, but there is little I can do." Ginny sounded quite desperate.
Strange, that for her it sounds much stronger than with us. Maybe it's because she is so close to Harry? Ron wondered, though he's didn't want to imagine his sister doing those things.
That moment they heard more arrivals and save Neville and Luna join them. "Guys, it's like a madhouse. The village is burning down and the Defenders are actually managing to stall the Death Eaters. I... oh-uh!" Neville of course had taken a look and seen the duel. "Not good!"
"How can we get him out of this?" Luna looked quite alarmed at what she was seeing. "No way he can survive a direct duel with Voldemort, who has decades of experience. Too bad we can't also hear them."
"If only for a distraction..." Ron said, already making a plan. "The hard part is reaching Harry..."
Harry meanwhile felt the first signs of exhaustion.
Shit, he's over 70 but doesn't look winded. That's surreal. Harry was honestly hoping that he could find some way to make a run for it.
"Good, good! Dumbledore has taught you much. You must be trusting him a lot." It was strange how Voldemort was sounding serious and yet not at the same time. Also, they way he was speaking reminded Harry of the young Tom Riddle.
"And why shouldn't I?!" Harry was getting unnerved by whatever game Voldemort was playing.
"Indeed, why shouldn't you trust him?" Voldemort's spell then barely missed Harry, splitting a tree in two. "Have you ever wondered how I learned of the prophecy?"
Harry hid himself behind a shield, needing to gather himself. "I already know of your spy reporting it to you."
Voldemort laughed, then did a spell that didn't seem to do anything. "To make sure this stays between us... Has Dumbledore also told you that the Death Eater who informed me of the prophecy is no other than your respected Severus Snape?"
Harry froze when hearing that name. "What...?"
"Oh yes, Harry, it was him who told me of the prophecy. He had been very eager to report it to me so that all and any opposition is to be eliminated." Voldemort gave Harry a slasher smile. "Of course once you were in the picture he realized that it could damage the mudblood he desired so much and started to sing a different tune."
"My mother...?" Harry was so beyond shocked by this revelation that he had trouble to put things into words.
Voldemort looked pleased by the reaction. "Oh yes. Severus desired her for a long time and would do anything to have her. Of course he petitioned me to spare her, in the hopes that once you and your father were eliminated, she would come running into his arms. He should have known better that Lord Voldemort makes no such promises. The best promise he got was, that I would try to spare her, but her foolishness made that a moot detail anyway."
Hearing those hurtful words, a very nasty picture came together before Harry's mind's eye. He felt numb, like the rug had been pulled from under his feet.
However, Voldemort continued heartlessly, actually finding amusement in Harry's pain. "And the best part is, that the fool Dumbledore knew all of this, yet believed the sob story Severus gave him and even before my fall worked hard to wash him clean of all his deeds. Imagine my surprise that he even made it to a Hogwarts teacher. The worthy indeed gets rewarded."
Harry however said nothing, too shocked at the revelation.
The Death Eaters couldn't hear what was being said, but neither could Harry's friends.
"Look at Harry... He looks like something has shaken him to the core," Hermione said with worry.
"I'm more concerned that Harry is making no move to defend himself any further. What did Voldemort tell him? There is only silence coming from them," Neville wondered.
The suddenly Harry's wand fell from his limp hand to the ground, like he didn't have the strength to hold onto it any longer and this friends barely held back a loud gasp. Harry did not even seem to have noticed that fact, being way too much taken aback by whatever Voldemort had just told him.
"Oh no... Screw that, we need to..." Ginny knew they had to do something now.
However, before they could make their move, the silent bubble vanished and Voldemort's high-pitched, cruel laughter emerged from the former silence. "You disarm yourself in battle, Harry? That is a fatal mistake! ... Avada Kedavra!"
Ginny's eyes widened in terror. "Harry...!" she gasped at what she saw.
to be continued...
Next Episode:
"The Burning, Part II - Destructive Truth"
Notes:
Here the notes.
First off, I have to reveal that this originally was not planned as a two-parter. Yes, it wa sintended to be a single chapter. However, the whole thing grew, since it needed so much complexity, that in the end I was forced to admit it had to be a two-parter. That of course also forced me to write additional scenes, which in the end was a good thing, as it helped to fill the story with much needed detail.
We do things happening away from Hogwarts (most of which I added after making this a two-parter). We see the Grangers having their lives impacted. We watch MI-X and how Tony Blair is still struggling with all of this, getting somem more information in the process. Greyback meanwhile is showing that he's holding no loyalty to Voldemort, only himself.
Now, most of you suspected the cabinet, but you clearly were not spot on on how Draco and Pansy were using it. Those two are using it to take their leave.
I know, the burning of Hogsmeade is terrible and at first you might wonder why the Death Eaters would do that to a purely magical settle ment. However, remember they are fanatics. They really think that it is worth it for getting their promised land.
The DoH are standing up but I wanted to be clear that them against battle-hardened Daeth Eaters would be suicide in a direct confrontation. Thus why they do heavily rely on trickery and using their environment. Even then...
I have to admit, I did lift several of Voldemort's lines directly from Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. I simply couldn't resist, since I felt it would fit so well.
I also had to admit that I only got the idea of Voldemort using that knowledge against Harry after having written a third of Year Six. Then it all clicked however and it all makes sense in a perverse way. Voldemort is a sadist and likes psychological warfare after all.
Of course Harry won't die, so not much of a cliffhanger, right?
