Harry Potter and the Infernal Plan Part XII
by Jori
e-mail: seeker07@gmail.com
FINISHED September 2013. Ten years, people. Ten years. I'm slow but I don't give up!
Set during and after their sixth year at Hogwarts, Hermione asks something of Harry that will change their lives forever.
NC-17
Spoilers for all books but probably not Pottermore. Most of this was originally written WELL before Order of the Phoenix came out but I decided to go back and do some edits. Some were very necessary while others were more cosmetic.
H/Hr story
This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
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Harry finally found his words. Or rather, one word. "Run!" he shouted to Hermione, backing up and taking her
hand in his as he tore off down the hallway and back toward the staircase. He wasn't going to take a chance on any
of these rooms.
Hermione almost stumbled going down the stairs but he caught her in his arms and when they reached the bottom, they both tried to get lost in the dancing crowd. He could barely catch his breath to tell her what was going on.
"The girl... did you see her? She is Elladora Black or at least a painting of her. I'm sure you know Mr. Rowntree since you once wanted to sleep with his kid," Harry said, keeping his eyes on the staircase. Mr. Rowntree was now standing on the top step, scanning the crowd.
"That doesn't really matter now, does it?" Hermione asked. "Move in that direction. I think I see something."
Harry spun them around so he could see what she was talking about. The walls of the ballroom were lined with massive paintings and with mirrors, all in ornate gold frames. It was hard to tell them apart since the paintings were also of a ballroom with dancers circling around. A painting in a painting.
"You think this will work?" Harry asked Hermione.
"Do we have any choice?" she said. Harry looked back at the staircase to see Mr. Rowntree rushing down, his eyes looking in their direction. He knew they had no choices. Rowntree was certainly in this with Voldemort. He had to be close but Harry couldn't sense it. He couldn't feel him. Were things different in here? Was that connection lost in this world?
"Whatever happens, I won't let them hurt you, Hermione," he said and she looked at him wide-eyed.
"We're doing this together," she said, holding on to him tightly. "We either stay here together or find a way out together but you aren't going to face them alone."
"I don't want you to get hurt. I won't let that happen," he said.
"Then we better hope this works," Hermione said, grabbing him by the hand and making a mad dash toward one of the paintings on the wall.
"Stop them!" they heard cried out over the crowd but no one stopped. No one seemed to care about anything but their endless dance.
They hit the painting hard and ending up slipping through, but this time there was no vortex. They just slipped through and into another room nearly like the last one they were in. This one had fewer people and a lot less detail.
"Over there! Keep running!" Harry ordered, and Hermione did as he said. "The doors don't work but this does."
He turned around to see a painting of the last painting. He could see the dancers and he could see Mr. Rowntree moving toward the canvas. This wouldn't last forever but it gave them time. Or maybe not...
Elladora was approaching them quickly from the other side of the room. Obviously she knew how everything worked in here. She was part of this strange world. They reached another portrait and slipped through again. This world was even less detailed than the last one. People were moving past them but it was hard to tell one from the next.
"We're running out of options," Hermione said, stating the obvious. This room had no paintings on the wall. Instead, this room was solid all around.
"There has to be something," Harry said, refusing to give up. He hadn't come this far to let them get him like this. It was then that he noticed a girl striding rather purposefully in their direction. She looked familiar but he couldn't quite place her. She was wearing Quidditch robes that fell off her shoulders and she was carrying a broom that towered over her head.
Harry looked around, thankful that Elladora or Mr. Rowntree hadn't found them. So far.
"Harry, Hermione, come with me. Quickly!" the little girl said as soon as she reached them. She turned from them, her Appleby Arrows robes swirling around her tiny frame, and it was then that Harry knew who she was.
"Zoila!" he said, racing to keep up with her.
"What?" Hermione asked. "Who? How?"
"Zoila... oh, you know Zoila Witherite! This must be her... this must be a painting of her when she was younger," Harry said, struggling to catch his breath and keep up with the girl. They reached a rather unremarkable spot in the room and Zoila stopped and turned to them.
"Hold on to me and to each other," Zoila told them and they did as she instructed. Harry took Hermione's hand in his and held onto Zoila's robes. She took a step and Harry felt the vortex start up again, ready to take them elsewhere. He had no idea where they might end up next but he trusted the young girl. He had no choice at this point.
After the swirl and pull was over and Harry made sure Hermione was still with them, he looked around, trying to figure out where they were. It was some grassy plain, with large animals all around them.
"Come this way and hurry," Zoila said, and they did just what she said. They hadn't gone far when she stopped. "Hold on again. We're going through."
This happened several times until they went through one last vortex and where obviously where they needed to be.
"Hogwarts! We're home!" he said. Except they couldn't be. Zoila in her painted form was still standing beside them.
"Home if you went to Hogwarts in 1490," Zoila said, walking purposefully toward the castle. Harry and Hermione hurried to keep up with her. It really didn't look that much different than it did now, Harry thought, noticing the students milling around the outside in the painted sunlight. They were dressed differently of course, but they still wore robes and many had an armful of books.
Books, he realized, that very few other children their age during this time period would have been holding. The wizarding world did have a few advantages. If you had to make a potion, you needed the directions.
They entered through the double oak doors and immediately went to the staircase leading to the dungeons. Zoila was racing before them, not bothered by the darkness that seemed to envelope the interior of the castle. Harry held Hermione's hand as they carefully made their way down the stairs.
Harry noticed that the dungeons were nothing like what they were at his Hogwarts. They were still just as dim and cold but none of them seemed to serve as classrooms. It looked more like an actual dungeon and he could only imagine what Filch would do in a place like this.
"Where are we going?" Hermione asked as Zoila led them down a darkened corridor.
"Here," she said, stopping in front of a rather formidable door. Harry expected to find more darkness behind it but when Zoila knocked and then entered, he was surprised to find a bright room decorated in flowers and unicorns. It looked like Hermione's bedroom. Obviously something strange was going on or the artist of this painting had some sense of humor.
It was then that Harry noticed Remus Lupin standing at the other side of the room. And next to him stood Ron.
"We were wondering if you were ever going to show up," Ron said, smiling.
"Ron!" Hermione cried out, running to him and giving him a huge hug. Harry joined her, hugging not only Ron but Lupin, too.
"Thank you, Zoila," Lupin said. The girl nodded and smiled before moving away to stand with the others in the room. Harry recognized a few of them but many more were unfamiliar to him.
"I was afraid we had lost you forever," Hermione said to Ron and he shrugged, embarrassed by her overwhelming display of affection.
"Zoila... or rather, her painted form... has learned well how to make her way around this world. As soon as Ginny reported what we had done, Professor McGonagall somehow got a message through and she found me. You and Hermione weren't so easy to find since you started moving right away," Ron explained.
"Professor McGonagall knows about this?" Harry asked, turning to Lupin, who nodded. "Do the other members of the Order know?"
"There have been plans in place for a while now. Part of that was you staying at Hogwarts... the real Hogwarts. Why did you come back here, Harry? I told you not to when you left," Lupin said, giving Harry a disapproving look. "I warned you that you would be far safer out of here."
"Don't blame him," Hermione said, defending Harry. "He didn't remember anything that had happened here. He wanted to come back to help you."
"I'm sure Elladora Black had a lot to do with my memory," Harry said. "She's the one who lured me back to this place."
"Ah, yes. Ella. I should have known she had something to do with this. She knows her way around this world as well as anyone," Lupin said.
"What's going on here, anyway?" Hermione asked, looking around at the people filling up the room.
"They didn't manage to freeze all the portraits and paintings everywhere, Hermione. Many wizarding families have portraits hanging in their homes or tucked away in attics and cellars. Many more of the people in those portraits are on our side than on theirs but they do have supporters, too," Lupin explained, never really answering the question. Harry looked at him, trying to work it all out in his head.
"An army! You're creating an army of sorts!" Harry blurted out.
"Of sorts," Ron said with a snort. "Not of sorts, mate. This is the real thing."
"But they're creating an army also, right?" Hermione surmised.
"I'm afraid so. They have some powerful and dark magic behind them but we have quite a bit of determination," Lupin said. All around them, figures were scurrying about, doing jobs and gathering supplies.
"What is the plan? How are you going to stop them from getting to me? And Hermione and Ron?" Harry asked, looking down at his feet. He felt rather stupid for walking back into this trap now that he realized he didn't have to help Lupin to escape. Lupin was doing just fine on his own.
"Yes, Harry, it would have been easier if you and your friends weren't here. We had managed to block their methods of escape. We also have been blocking off their passageways through the paintings. Of course, that closes off our way around the paintings, too. A few of the portraits, like Zoila, can find openings between painted worlds that aren't commonly used. I'm not sure how she can sense them, but she can and she can do it very well. There are others who are good at is as well, like Ella. And there are other things you need to know," Lupin said.
"You can say that again," Ron said, but before Lupin had a chance to explain, Hermione started asking questions.
"How do you explain all of this? This world is brilliant! How was it started? How does it flourish and grow?" Hermione asked and Harry could tell she had a thousand more questions behind the ones she asked.
"Magic?" Lupin answered with a slight grin. "Hermione, we'll probably never understand all of it. The artist somehow infuses the portrait with an essence of the subject. They are something like that person at that moment in time. They know what's going on outside their frame but they never really change. Take the Fat Lady for instance. She's been guarding Gryffindor tower for years and she knows that students come and go and she knows what's going on but she is still the Fat Lady from the moment she was painted. It really is hard to understand. I'm not sure anyone ever will."
"The Rowntrees seem to understand it just fine," Harry said.
"Dark magic, Harry. That is how they're doing it. That, and from what we can tell, they have the help of Voldemort," Lupin said. Harry noticed how everyone around them quieted down at the mention of that name. "He's been in here the last few weeks, causing quite a lot of damage. That is why I wanted you to stay out. I was hoping to trap him in here forever."
"Why can't we now?" Hermione asked and Lupin sighed.
"I can only do it if I get the three of you out of here first and I'm not so sure I can manage getting anyone out again..."
"That's why you sent me away! Why couldn't I remember that! I'm so stupid!" Harry said, mad at himself now.
"I still don't see what the difference is. We can still trap Voldemort in here, right?" Hermione asked.
"Only if you want to spend the rest of you life in here, too. With Voldemort," Lupin answered.
None of them said anything else for quite a while. Harry was trying to work this all out in his mind. He remembered much of what happened the last time he was here but it was still fuzzy. He had been with Elladora most of the time and then Lupin found him. She must have been keeping him away from any other portraits or any source of help. She must have been taking him to Voldemort. Then Lupin showed up and he probably ruined whatever plans everyone had for him. Ella had to lure him back in knowing he'd never be able to get out if Lupin's plans went forward. But if he couldn't get out, then Lupin...
"You never planned to get out of here again, did you?" Harry demanded. The look on Lupin's face was the only answer he needed. "What! You can't be serious?"
"There is no other way, Harry. I have my reasons. I need to protect you, I need to protect Hogwarts and I need to stop Voldemort. I am a member of the Order and that is my duty," Lupin said.
"There is something else, too, isn't there?" Hermione asked. She stood between Harry and Ron, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Always so clever. Yes, Hermione, there is something else. In here, depending on where I am, there necessarily isn't a full moon. All this time, I haven't had to worry about anything. I've been myself again," Lupin said, wistfully. "It's all I've wanted for years and now I can have it."
"But... but you..." Harry tried to come up with a good reason why Lupin needed to come back out with him and Hermione but every reason was a selfish one. He has already lost Sirius. He didn't want to lose another friend.
It was then that Harry noticed another portrait come through the door. The reason he noticed it was because it was... Hermione? Someone followed her through the door and it was him! The portrait was a little younger than he was but not by much. He had never sat for a portrait. Living with the Dursley's, he never even has a photographic portrait done let alone a painting. He nudged Hermione and her jaw dropped at the sight of the two of them walking in the direction of Lupin.
"Drew! He liked to draw and paint. He painted me and sent it to Hogwarts. I sent it back to him. Oh no! I can't believe it," Hermione said, her face in her hand. It was an amazing likeness, Harry noted, and then looked at himself.
"And Drew made a painting of me?" Harry asked. The two portrait versions of them stopped next to Lupin and looked Harry and Hermione over before smiling brightly.
"I see Zoila found them," portrait Hermione said.
"She is good," portrait Harry said but it wasn't Harry's voice. It wasn't even Harry, Harry realized on closer inspection. Lupin looked at Harry and then at the portrait figure who was smiling so brightly and focusing intently on Harry. He could feel the world start to spin faster around him and his knees went weak. Lupin put his hand on Harry's shoulder before replying.
"Yes, James. She is good. But not as good as you are."
-^-^-^-
Harry found the best thing he could do was hide. He had plenty of things to hide from but he never imagined one of them would be his father. It was just easier this way. At least for the moment. He peered around the corner to find Hermione talking to his dad while Ron was chatting up the other Hermione. It was all too much for him. He stopped watching them and went back to staring at a blank wall. He sighed and buried his head in his arms, working through all the emotions coursing through him.
Someone walked across the room and was standing over him and he almost told them to leave him alone until he realized it was Lupin. He looked up at him briefly before putting his head back down.
"You should really get to know him," Lupin said, kneeling down beside Harry.
"He's not my father."
"No, not exactly. But he is a version of your father. He is, perhaps, the closest you'll ever get to meeting the real James Potter," Lupin said. He reached out and put his hand on Harry's arm.
"I don't know what to say to him. Who does he think I am? What does he know?"
"He knows more than you think. He knows who you are and he is thrilled that you are here. James already knew Lily when this portrait was done. He... this image of him... was happy to find out that he and your mother had you, no matter the end results. And Harry, he knows what happened when you were a baby. I told him already so you don't have to worry about that. He's more concerned with protecting you than he is about what happens in his future," Lupin said soothingly.
The two remained silent for a while, Harry still not sure what to say to a version of his father that didn't look much older than he was now. He knew Lupin was right and this was his best chance to at least get to know a part of him but the thought terrified him as much as it excited him.
"Are you two working on some plans I should know about?" a vaguely familiar male voice asked.
Harry glanced up to find his dad standing next to his girlfriend and it was like looking at a photograph of Hermione and him together.
"I have had a few ideas, James. Now that Harry and Hermione are here along with you and Hermione's twin over there, I do have some ideas on how we might just be able to use the fact that we have doubles to our advantage," Lupin said. He stood up and Harry scurried to his feet, too. He looked into his dad's eyes and struggled to swallow the lump in his throat as James smiled at him. This could be interesting after all.
-^-^-^-
"She's a lovely girl, Harry. And I never knew there would ever be someone as bright as Lily, but I do believe you found her," James said. Harry could feel his ears turn pink and yet he was happy. He never imagined that he'd ever be carrying on a conversation about his girlfriend with his dad. Never thought he'd have the chance to share just what a wonderful person he found with anyone other than friends.
He looked toward Hermione, who was bickering with the painted Hermione. He had to laugh a little at how the two of them fought about the best way to do things. Hermione had finally met her match, and it was Hermione. Ron had his work cut out for them breaking up their squabbles.
"How did you know mom was the one?" Harry asked, hoping his father had come to that realization at the point this portrait was made.
"I just knew there wasn't another woman who would put up with as much as I made her put up with. I knew that she would follow me to the ends of the earth even if I didn't deserve that much. Don't get me wrong, I don't know why she would do that. Other... boys... were interested in her. But we just belonged together," James answered.
Harry wasn't sure if he was going to be with Hermione for the rest of their lives. He wasn't even sure how long the rest of their lives might be. He knew they both had things they wanted to do and what if there were other people out there? What if she came to realize just how beautiful and wonderful she was and that should could do better?
He shook his head and looked his dad in the eyes. "You were lucky you were so sure. I still don't know most days what tomorrow will even bring."
"No one knows, Harry. No one. You just have to live one day at a time and not take it for granted. Not one bit of it," James said, nodding towards Hermione. Ron was pulling the painted Hermione away from the real one, calming town the turmoil for now. His Hermione had her arms crossed over her chest as she huffed and glowered about something.
"I better go see what's going on," Harry said, leaving his father's side and walking cautiously toward his girlfriend. "Anything wrong?"
"She is so stubborn!" Hermione said, pointing at the image of herself walking away.
"No, really? You're joking?" Harry said, trying to hold back a smile.
"No, I'm not! She thinks she knows everything and is always trying to show me something from one of my books and she wants to change all the plans... oh, stop it!" she exclaimed when Harry couldn't hold his laughter in any longer.
"I think I'm falling in love with her. She is my type of girl," Harry said and Hermione pursed her lips. "Oh, wait. I already have one like that."
"Ron never leaves her side, though," Hermione said, nodding in the direction of the two of them. "He never paid that much attention to me."
"Jealous?" Harry asked, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.
"I don't really know," Hermione answered quietly before turning her full attention back to Harry. "I'm not too sure about some of these proposals. They want us to hide out while James and... that... that other Hermione lure out Voldemort. Lupin thinks that's the best way to try to trap him in here and get out us safely. I think he already knows he won't be able to keep him in here forever but it will give you time to be able to defend yourself against him properly. You aren't ready to face him yet."
"Don't you think I should decide that?" Harry asked, upset that this had all been decided for him while he had been spending time with his father.
"You think you are?" she asked, not covering the doubt in her voice.
"You don't think I am?"
"I don't know. If we're together, I suppose..."
"Thanks."
"Oh, Harry. Don't pout about it. He's so powerful and Lupin is trying to keep you safe. We all are," Hermione said, placing a gentle hand on his arm. He pulled away.
"I'm going to have to face him someday. Why not now?" Harry asked. He wasn't sure what he was getting so upset about. He knew that facing down Voldemort wasn't going to be easy. It never was. He just didn't want to hear that she doubted his ability to keep them safe and to get rid of the one person who came between them and any future they might have.
"Voldemort will probably see right through this and you'll get your chance, but we have to try this first. I think James really wants to do everything he can to keep you safe. So does Lupin. I think they feel as if they have failed you all these years..."
"No one has failed me. I'm the one who has made life unsafe for those around me! I'm the one who is the reason this is all happening in the first place," Harry said a little too loudly. Everyone turned to look at them and Hermione pulled him closer to him.
"Always going off and being the chosen one, right? The Boy Who Lived and all that? I don't think so. We're all in this together and it's not just about you anymore, Harry. It's about this way of life. It's about what we are," Hermione said to him in hushed tones. "It's about having a life worth living once we get out of here. We'll try their plan first. If it doesn't work, you and I will come up with another plan. We always do."
-^-^-^-
To Be Continued...