Chapter 1
The Looming Storm
Harry Potter sprang awake on top of his homework at his study table in the Gryffindor Common Room - he hadn't realized it but he had dozed off for a few minutes just after he decided to start doing his homework in earnest. Just across the table was his best friend Ron Weasley, who still had detention to serve after homework (because of his recent work in disguising Neville Longbottom's toad Trevor into a chocolate frog). He muttered something indistinguishable under his breath while writing a thirteen-inch essay on Animorphus Squibs; his quill seemed to be at the breaking point and would give in at any moment.
"Ron, I think you need to take it easy there," said Harry, yawning. He dipped his quill and started writing his essay. "You're practically writing your essay on the desk surface."
Ron banged his own quill in the inkbottle, splattering some blue liquid on the desktop and smearing his parchment. "I don't believe them - I just don't believe them!"
"Who?"
"The professors!" said Ron, tearing up the parchment with gritted teeth. "We've almost been murdered by You-Know-Who just a week ago and they give us a whole two week's of missed homework like we were just out strolling around the park or something…" He threw all the bits and pieces of parchment everywhere in disgust.
"That's why they're giving us so much work - we got to catch up with the rest of our classmates," said Harry's other best friend Hermione Granger, who had just returned from her Arithmancy class. She sat down beside Ron. "They kept classes going while we were out there…"
"They've got no consideration whatsoever!" interrupted Ron.
Hermione paused for a moment and then stared at Ron. "Why, what did you think they'd do for us when got back, roll us a red carpet?" she said.
"Yeah, that's right, something like that," replied Ron, looking away dreamily. "It would be cool to have some time away from schoolwork…a real long time away, huh?" Hermione made a face not like hers out of sheer revulsion.
"Elves feeding us with grapes sounds good," added Harry, but he abruptly stopped grinning upon seeing Hermione throw her sharp stare at him.
"Yeah, cool!" seconded Ron. "While we're asleep."
"You two are so full of it!" Hermione said in disbelief, but she could not hide her bemusement from her two best friends, who at the moment had wild fantasies about being revered by the whole school as heroes. Hogwarts had celebrated for their victory at least once, of course, when they had returned to the Great Hall for the first time since they made an unscheduled excursion into the unknown. Harry and Ron liked it and kept looking for some more! Hermione found that enormously nauseating.
Regaining her self-control Hermione then said "Have you ever thought what happened to us back there was nothing compared to what other wizards had probably experienced against Voldemort?"
"No, it's because they're dead," said Harry just as Ron took his fingers off his ears. Ron had recently developed a good sense to avoid hearing Voldemort's name just in time.
Hermione paused for moment after realizing that. "Well, I admit we're lucky - I mean you're lucky because I wasn't there - but that doesn't make us any more special, you know?"
"Correction! That makes us even more special!" said Ron, his eyes brightening. He pushed a new sheet of parchment in front of Hermione.
"What's this for?" said Hermione. "Oh no…"
Ron did his darndest to look cute in front of Hermione. "Just twelve inches, please? I'll do the last inch - for real!"
"After arguing with me? Uh-huh, no way! You got to be taught a lesson - you do your own essay, Ron!" said Hermione irritably, pulling out her Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5 from her bag and hiding her face from Ron's sight. Ron returned to mumbling under his breath while rewriting his essay.
Harry smiled, shook his head and returned to his homework. He was actually glad that things were slowly returning to normal after their last terrible encounter with Voldemort in Xanthius. Well, for him, Ron and Hermione arguing and bickering all the time were considered normal. He didn't like it before but strangely he had thought of it now as a blessing. He couldn't imagine life without two of his best friends, and it got to a point where he believed they had already lost Hermione forever, which would have been devastating for them. Fortunately lady luck seemed to smile at them all day in that fateful episode in Voldemort's fortress, and the dragon that took her away was none other than Hagrid's former pet, Norbert. Similarly, both Ron and Ginny's courage also helped saved their lives that day in Xanthius.
The whole thing didn't come as an accident, and it was the result of a well-plotted conspiracy to kill Dumbledore, bring disgrace to the Weasley family, and deliver Harry to Voldemort at the same time. Harry and his friends were quite certain beyond any form of doubt that Draco Malfoy's father, Lucius, had been the mastermind of it all under orders from Voldemort. His beneficiary, Jack Chadron, the recent and now deceased Head Boy was the main instrument to put that plan into motion. He was killed when he tried to redeem himself for giving lots of injustice to the people he respected too many times. Harry and his friends still bore the inner scars of their encounters with the Death Eaters and Voldemort, but those have not dampened their determination and their hope to live on with a relatively normal life. The whole affair also strengthened their already strong bond, but sometimes old habits die hard, as Harry saw in front of him in the form of his two best friends back into their usual love-hate relationship.
Ron suddenly gathered up his things and stood up.
"Where're you going?" said Hermione, frowning. "You've not even started your essay yet…"
"Detention, remember?" Ron groaned. "I'm expected to serve detention in Dumbledore's office in a few minutes. I'm helping him re-catalogue his books. He says it was a good thing most of them fell off from the shelves - he was looking for a real good reason to do that for fifty years - can you believe that?"
"Oh, that's great," said Harry absently; Hermione looked away with a wide grin. (She had caused those books to fall off on the late Head Boy and his Death Eater accomplice in order to escape them.) "I mean, that's too bad, Ron… but great. I'm sure it won't be bad doing detentions for Dumbledore, and it was supposed to be Filch giving you the dirty work, right?"
"Yeah, I suppose," said Ron uncertainly. "But no matter how you look at it, it's still detention. See you guys later." He slouched off towards the portrait hole and got out of sight.
"Classic Ron," Harry said closely to Hermione. "I suppose he expects us to cry buckets for him in sympathy every time."
Knowing Ron, Hermione laughed. Later she stood up after returning all her books in her bag. It was now Harry's turn to ask, "Hey, and where're you going?" He was kind of enjoying being alone with her.
"Prefect duty, Harry, and a meeting tonight to help the faculty select a new Head Boy," she replied brightly. "The first years are little monsters, but they seem to behave while I'm around…"
"Planning something what to pelt at you, more like it," said Harry, wearing a mischievous look on his face.
"Let them try," she said naughtily. "Look, I wish I could visit Hagrid with you later - we haven't met ever since before I slipped away to Hogsmeade - could you say hi to him for me and ask if he really caught all those galloping unicorns at all?"
"Sure," said Harry, remembering his meeting with Hagrid. "He'd be disappointed without you two, I wager."
"Yeah, I know," Hermione said, with extreme disappointment. "I wish I could see the look on his face after he learns about what Norbert did…"
And later, if she had indeed been around, Hermione would have become busy mopping Hagrid's floor. After Harry told Hagrid the story in his hut, he drenched his gigantic hanky with happy tears, squeezing it occasionally to take the excess off. "Oh, Norbert, he makes me so proud…imagine helping Hermione find yeh and bring yeh all to safety," Hagrid sniffed. He ran over to his closet and took out a whole blanket expecting to cry the whole night. "Oh, my very own Norbert!!!"
"And he has a new girlfriend - we named her Sarah," said Harry happily, setting his rock cake aside. He knew better than to try every little condiment Hagrid offered him. The last time he accepted one, his jaw ached for a week.
Hagrid again howled with delight. "Norbert's a teenager now, too! Bless him! If he'd ask to raise his family here in me hut soon, I'd agree in an instant."
Harry slightly choked drinking his tea. If ever that would have happened, he didn't have a clue how to keep two fully grown dragons away from being noticed by the whole school. Norbert as a baby was big trouble enough aside from it being illegal to keep as a pet.
"Uh, can dragons do that, too?" Harry asked, looking up at Hagrid hoping that he was only making it all up. Hagrid really believed all monsters could be human if they wanted to.
"Well, er, no, but it's Norbert…" Hagrid shrugged. "Harry, I'm happiest to see yeh here back alive an' well, y'know. I've got te see Hermione `n Ron sometime, too." Hagrid patted Harry gently on the head, which caused the chair he sat on to collapse, and Hagrid apologized profusely.
"It's nice to hear the whole story of wha' happened the last week from yeh, because Dumbledore told me I was subjected to a memory charm an' I cudern't remember anything for the last week," Hagrid said while Harry massaged his own aching head and repairing the broken chair with magic. "I din' believe it at first but it was Dumbledore telling me it happened…"
"How much don't you remember, Hagrid?"
"The whole affair, unfortunately," Hagrid sighed. "And you said I warned yeh abou' Jack Chadron, right?"
"Yeah, you did."
"Then suppose' I did - not like me not to tell yeh abou' what I thought about him…"
"He turned out the way like you suspected."
"Har, I've got in me a nose of a niffler, eh?" Hagrid said proudly. He blew his nose in his blanket with a deafening snort. He got up from his chair and poured Harry's cup with some more steaming tea.
"Yeah, I think you do. Oh, before I forget, Hermione's asking how the unicorns are doing, Hagrid," Harry said next. "She wants to know if you really succeeded rounding them all up back in the paddock." Just then, something white passed by Hagrid's window.
"So it's true I had my own unicorns then? That'd be great if it were…" Hagrid said distractedly, snatching glances at a window and moved over toward it.
"Yep, Hermione said you did. Jack let them loose to distract you from helping her find out about why Dumbledore wrote to you like she said."
"Oh, so that's why there'd been unicorns comin' and goin' from the forest…" Hagrid said as it dawned upon him, now looking out the window. Harry laughed thinking at how off Hagrid was with the current events. "Anyway, I'm goin' to catch `em all soon, if I really were herding them up fer lessons. Blimey, I got a lot to catch up…" Hagrid returned to his seat and rubbed his forehead with his hand.
"And have you heard about Xanthius, Hagrid?" asked Harry carefully. "You know, You-Know-Who's new fortress?"
"Oh, yeah," said Hagrid, noticeably shuddering. "Dumbledore also told me about You-Know-What yesterday. He was grim about it."
"You-Know-What?" Harry repeated.
"Yeah, unfortunately I can' say the name, too, like anybody else," said Hagrid, shrugging again.
"Then I suppose this is what the rest of the wizarding world calls it now, huh?" Harry said, torn between humor and disbelief.
"Well, sort of…" said Hagrid.
"What does that mean, sort of?"
"That's the problem, Harry," said Hagrid gravely, shifting on his seat. "Dumbledore noticed everybody else seems to want to deny it ever exists - people are tired of being scared of You-Know-Who for years, y'know, and here now comes of another reason to be afraid of - You-Know-Who's next terror weapon, a dark fortress of all things! You- Know-Who apparently hasn't done anything with it yet but look how it causes quite a big impact now, if yeh look closely. Wha's more, nobody even wants te call it You-Know-What as a matter of fact."
"But I've seen it!" said Harry severely. "Ask Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. We were in and out there… you believe us, don't you?"
"If you say yeh'd seen it, I believe yeh without question," said Hagrid, smiling broadly. "But the other problem is, is that only you lot had seen it, nobody else had, ar?"
"I see," Harry said. This reminded him of his current situation where practically no one also believed Voldemort's back. It seemed to make sense, he admitted to himself, because how would anyone believe Voldemort could have built his own fortress if he wasn't back in the first place? "Do you suppose Dumbledore warned the Ministry about it already?"
"Yeh, he might've," replied Hagrid. "I'm not sure if Fudge is ready te accept that, if yeh know wha' I mean. But if yeh ask me, I'd be a little happier ter know that You-Know-Who had built You-Know-What at all."
"Why's that?" asked Harry, baffled.
"Yeh see, Harry, the way I look at it, it's like a war between two camps: Hogwarts here an' You-Know-What right there," Hagrid said, dropping the idea of pointing the location of Xanthius with his finger because, like everybody else, he didn't have a clue where it was. "An imaginary line drawn somewhere, so to speak…"
"But Hagrid, look, we still don't know where to find Xanth - I mean, You-Know-What. How could that be a good thing? Anybody could find Hogwarts - it's no secret if you know how to get here - but Xanthius, it's a different story…"
"Well at least we know You-Know-Who could just stay in one place rather than moving about from one unknown location ter another. S'Better that way, I guess. I know it's frustrating all the same, but it seems that's all we have best at this time…"
"I guess that's right…" said Harry. He thought about Hagrid's point very deeply. It seemed encouraging, but no matter how anybody would look at it, it didn't make the wizard world's stand against Voldemort even much better. Voldemort roaming around without an address causing mayhem was bad enough to start with, but with a secret fortress - it was unthinkable. "But You-Know-Who could still go to other secret places where and when he wants to…"
Hagrid grunted, knowing that Harry was correct. "But I bet me hut Dumbledore's doing all he can to find You Know What, at least…" he said, with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
"Have you heard of any new attacks yet now that You-Know-Who's back?" asked Harry after a few seconds of silence.
"Aside from killin' Cedric Diggory last year and the `mysterious' deaths of those Death Eaters yeh faced off with, Harry, not yet," said Hagrid with unease. "But now that You-Know-Who has some fancy place ter hide in, I `spect we'll hear about new ones soon. I don' imagine him fightin' the urge much longer to kill someone or create chaos…"
"If it isn't terrible to say this, I wish he'd do so very soon," said Harry darkly; Hagrid dropped his breath in surprise that Harry could say such a thing. "At least it'll be a good excuse to slap Fudge and all other wizards who don't want to believe me back into reality."
"I think that's kind of drastic," said Hagrid slowly, getting Harry's point, "but we can' have it both ways, y'know."
"I know, Hagrid," Harry said, sighing, and standing up to leave. "I know…I'm sorry for ever thinking that way. Well, I think it's time for dinner at the Great Hall so thanks for the tea and rock cake."
"Oh, yeah, thanks fer visitin', ar? If somethin's botherin' yeh three just holler all the way teh my hut - yeh know you're always welcome here." Hagrid beamed and attempted to pat Harry once more on the head, which he fortunately dodged in the nick of time.
"I know you love me, Hagrid, but I'd rather not have another severe headache tonight," Harry said, laughing.
-o0o-
As Harry walked back halfway toward the castle he felt a light piece of pebble bounce off his already aching head. Looking around to see who made it, his eyes caught Draco Malfoy and his goons Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle following him from behind. Harry felt the usual surge of hatred rise up from inside him each time he saw that pale and pointy face with the greasy white hair of Malfoy. He has had too many encounters with him since their first year that he had made it a habit to place his hands inside his robe pocket where his wand was, just in case.
"Oh, it's you," Harry grunted, and kept on walking. "What do you want this time, Snapperhead?"
"I'd be careful where I want to go from now on if I were you, Potter," Malfoy sniggered, shadowing Harry a few feet away.
"I'm so scared!" Harry mocked. "You've been saying that to me for, what - five years now? And nothing happens, so shut up or put up, Malfoy." He tried to pick up speed ahead before he'd do something he'd probably regret later on.
"Now that the Dark Lord is truly back, and nobody believes you," Malfoy pressed on as if Harry hadn't talked back, "you'd only want to be with the people who you're sure to trust."
"Yeah, and I suppose it took you five years to figure out I had real friends, not baboons like you got there," retorted Harry. Crabbe and Goyle blinked stupidly upon hearing this and then proceeded to brandish their fists in the air, trying to look menacing. "Ha, five seconds, that's an improvement…" Harry muttered, walking his fastest to end his unpleasant meeting with Draco. Malfoy always looked for ways to torment him, Ron, and Hermione even if he was making no real sense at all.
"Have it your way then, Potter," guffawed Draco. "Mark my words, trust no one, woooo!" Crabbe and Goyle quickly returned to laughing beside Malfoy as if what he said was the funniest joke in the world, though it was obvious they had not an idea in the world what that was all about.
It was little miracle for Harry that he had not lost his temper back there; he had a special sensitivity on how people regarded his friends - Draco knew this was one of his weaknesses that he always liked to take advantage of. Harry and his friends had been together through thick and thin all these years. Who was Malfoy to lecture him about his choice of people? He was sure Malfoy referred to anyone besides Ron and Hermione, whom he had been through thick in thin, and he had trusted so much. Additionally, Harry had always felt he was blessed for being close to some of the coolest people in the wizarding world: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, his friends in Gryffindor, Dumbledore, the Weasleys, and some Aurors particularly Olga Gargarin (the Bulgarian Auror who helped him save Hermione's life from being consumed by an evil creature called an Oarling). Though he accepted that it was a mixed bunch with some having blemished histories behind them, but for him, they were the best people in the planet. He could not imagine any of them to be untrustworthy.
"Draco was just pulling your leg, Harry, don't let him get to you," said a voice inside him with a striking resemblance to Hermione's, and he readily agreed it wasn't worth fuming about further.
"Harry, what's the matter," said Hermione, catching up from behind him inside the castle. "You look furious about something - "
"I had a little run in with Malfoy on the way here," said Harry, exhaling deeply to release his anger.
"Oh," Hermione said anxiously, raising her eyebrows. "You didn't curse him, I hope…"
"Then, you can turn me in, prefect," Harry joked as they both turned around a corner. "No, he was just trying to make me think you're not to be trusted along with Ron, and everyone else - he didn't say who exactly. Knowing that's how Malfoy works all the time, it's nothing, really." Harry then told Hermione about the rest of what Malfoy had said to him.
Hermione snorted. "As usual, he's not making any sense again, is he? Besides, what does he know about friendship anyway? Like he's lucky he has pug-faced Pansy, big deal!"
"Yeah, I thought so, too."
"Look, forget about it, Malfoy was just pulling your leg, Harry, don't let him get to you," advised Hermione.
"Funny, that's exactly what my mind's been telling me not a long time ago," Harry laughed. "And it sounds just like you, y'know!"
Hermione then playfully pinched and twisted a huge chunk of skin from Harry's back, making him whimper in pain all the way to the Great Hall as she pushed him all the way there. Ron was already eating his supper when they both arrived at their places.
"Sorry, I'm so hungry I couldn't wait for you two," said Ron stuffily, with large chunks of chicken flying off from his mouth.
"I thought you had detention," said Hermione, revolted, and placing mashed potatoes and corn on her plate. "And, Ron, when can you ever start learning good table manners?"
"This is probably the best detention anyone could have!" said Ron, ignoring Hermione. "I can have breaks, can you believe that? What's better, I can do my work at my own pace. I've been rearranging the same ten books for an hour and Dumbledore didn't seem to mind at all." Ron sat upright and acted out a good impression of Hagrid saying, "Great man, Dumbledore…"
"Then that defeats the purpose of detentions - he's being too lenient!" Hermione protested passionately. "You're supposed to be punished, Ron! Puh-nished! How would that teach you not to disguise Trevor as a chocolate frog anymore?"
In a split second, Hermione stood up.
"What, now going on a hunger strike, are you Hermione?" said Ron, sniggering.
"For you? No way, I'm hungry - but I'm going to talk to Dumbledore first about you. He's here." Then she walked away towards Dumbledore, who was selecting what to eat for supper at his chair.
Ron's snigger vanished instantly. He looked at Hermione - open mouthed - as she walked away and then to Harry, who was equally astonished how Hermione could be so sensitive again with the rules. Ron glared at her darkly while she conversed with Dumbledore at the teachers' table. He literally snorted hot steam out his nostrils when he saw the Headmaster pat her on the shoulder.
"I'm going break her neck…" growled Ron as Hermione walked back to her seat. "Ohhhh, she's got the nerve to…"
Hermione sat down with seemingly forced dignity; Harry noticed she looked slightly disappointed.
"I bet you'll have a good gloat tonight," said Ron indignantly without looking at her. "50 points to Gryffindor for making my life difficult; Fifty books a minute…"
Hermione seemed to be struggling with herself and said "Dumbledore says that not only you could arrange ten books an hour, you could also do it with magic…"
Ron and Harry made loud whooping sounds while Hermione managed to give a little smile for them amid her disastrous defeat and returned to eating her potatoes in silence.
"Thanks for the trouble, Hermione," said Ron triumphantly. "I could even give you a kiss…" Ron mocked bending closer to Hermione and she jerked back abruptly to avoid him, splashing Neville Longbottom with the whole contents of his goblet.
"Yuck!" shrieked Hermione. "Ron!"
"Are you really going to stay in Hogwarts at Christmas, Harry?" asked Ginny Weasley, who was helping wipe Neville's wet face with Hermione, just as Draco and his cronies went past them. "I've been helping Professor McGonagall go around getting names of anyone going home and I haven't seen your name in the list up to now. I mean, just about everybody's going home this year despite…you know… "
Harry almost completely forgot it was only few days before the start of Christmas vacation. It was the first time he had not been looking forward to Christmas, because he had found out just lately that Ron and Hermione planned to spend theirs out of Hogwarts. Privet Drive was out of the question - he would rather be alone in Hogwarts for more than two weeks than languishing in his own room with nowhere to go but the toilet. He had not asked Dumbledore if he could spend Christmas in other places other than Hogwarts or Privet drive because he expected all along that Ron would be staying with him like he had for the last four years. He felt slightly hurt that he and Hermione had not told him about their plans.
"You could come to the Burrow with us, mate," said Ron slowly. "Mum's going to be glad you'd come…"
"Okay, that would be cool," said Harry, now excited. "Let's talk about those later - there's McGonagall - I'll let her know I'm leaving first." Harry stood up from his stool and walked over quickly to Professor Minerva McGonagall, the Gryffindor Head of House, who was already sitting on her chair for breakfast at the teachers' table.
"Good morning, Professor," said Harry merrily. "I just wanted to let you know I already decided to spend Christmas with my friends and I'd like to be on the list, too."
McGonagall smiled at first but turned serious when she said, "Potter, before I would allow you to be included in the list, you need to talk to the Headmaster first. He personally instructed me to tell you to talk to him when you volunteered to go home."
Harry's smile flickered. It seemed to him at the moment that Dumbledore might be preventing him from leaving Hogwarts this year for reasons he could not think of. "Professor, did he give a reason why?"
"I'm in no position to demand any explanation from the Headmaster his simple instruction, Potter," said McGonagall sternly. However, she loosened up and moved closer to Harry and whisper sympathetically "But I suspect it's about what happened last week and You-Know-Who. I want to know what transpired with your meeting. Tell me as soon as you can, okay?"
"Do you think he'd allow me to go?"
"I have no idea, Potter," said McGonagall. "I don't even know what he wants to talk to you about, but if that's the case, it's up to the Headmaster to decide. Off you go now."
Harry walked back to his seat robotically. He thought he had a Dementor at his side he would never feel happy again in the next few weeks. The thought that everyone enjoying their holidays while he'd be all alone with no one to talk to for weeks was unbearable as it was already. He never felt so pessimistic in his whole life.
"Harry, what's wrong?" said Hermione, very concerned, as Harry sat back down on his stool. "What did McGonagall say?"
Harry told Ron, Hermione, and Ginny what McGonagall said to him at the teachers' table. Hermione looked compassionately at him, while Ron snatched furitive looks at McGonagall, and cowered when the teacher seemed to look at their direction.
"That sounds like he doesn't want you to go," said Ginny.
"Yeah, it does, isn't it?" said Harry miserably. "D'you think he'd allow me to go? I mean, I really want to already."
"Why not?" said Ron. "I see no reason he wouldn't."
Harry bent over closer to Ron, Hermione and Ginny to say at an undertone, "Well, McGonagall said because Voldemort's out there…" With the sound of Voldemort's name Ron coughed and Ginny cringed.
"You're right, it might the reason why he wants to talk to you about it," said Hermione seriously. "If you ask me, he couldn't force you to stay here if you didn't want to - he'd just ask you to, but if you don't want to, he probably can't stop you."
"Yeah, that makes sense," said Harry, nodding and thinking deeply. He now had a new sense of hope he could get out for Christmas after all.
Shortly, however, after thinking about it even more carefully, Hermione had a sudden change of heart. "But knowing that, please don't be difficult for him at the same time, Harry," she said, with a slight pleading look now drawn on her face. "If he really asks you to stay, I hope you won't argue with him. He might have very good reasons to keep you at Hogwarts. I mean, he's just protecting you, isn't he?"
"Thanks, but I think you know we're old enough to take care of ourselves now, we're already fifteen, aren't we?" Harry reasoned, readily preferring the other option that was available for him just to escape two weeks of loneliness. "We're not babies anymore, right?"
"That's right, but neither are we legally adults," said Hermione wisely.
Harry sighed. Hermione was right but he knew what he wanted. "Well, I'm no more different than everyone else here. Voldemort's back, and everyone else is fair game if he chooses to murder anybody like me. I won't let Voldemort ruin my choice to have a good Christmas - I'm going whether Dumbledore likes it or not."
"Hear, hear!" said Ron. Hermione, however, didn't seem to be showing any signs of gladness.
"Well, okay," Hermione said slowly, looking worried. "If no one wants to listen to me for reason anymore around here, I'm off to bed," She got up and walked out of the Great Hall, obviously hurt, leaving Harry stunned.
"What'd I say?" Harry asked Ron, who appeared to be indifferent to Hermione as usual.
"Don't mind her, you said nothing wrong…"
"Oh, you boys are so thick sometimes," Ginny said, rolling her eyes.
"How can you say that?" Ron snapped at his sister. "You're the one who brought this up…" Ginny just rolled her eyes once more, shook her head, and took a bite off her apple.
"I'm sure Dumbledore isn't thinking what you're thinking," Ron said optimistically, turning to Harry. "You're just making up your own problems, mate. Besides, you've stayed at Hogwarts every Christmas for the last four years - it's ripe for change, eh?"
With Ron's words, Harry felt new hope he could avoid loneliness during the holidays and continued on with his dinner slightly happier.
After stuffing every air space their stomachs had with chow, Harry and Ron walked back to the Gryffindor Common Room feeling rather sleepy. Seeing Hermoine walk off very sadly away like that had a striking effect on Harry. He hoped to see Hermione at her usual place of study so that he could apologize to her for reasons unknown to him before they'd turn in for the night. He thought he should have not brought the subject about Dumbledore at dinner, and he felt deeply disappointed that she wasn't there.
"You could still talk to her tomorrow if it's still bothering you," Ron told Harry, after sensing his troubled mind. "As for me, I don't have to put up with her each time she has a fit. She'll get over it by tomorrow morning, I promise you."
Harry walked up to his dormitory and changed to pajamas, and opened the daily planner (a birthday gift from Hermione this year) to write down what he had to do immediately the next day. "Do what you write, or you won't rest the next night…" the quote of the day said. He ignored it, but wrote something that oddly rhymed:
"Talk to Dumbledore/Talk to Hermione - they may be right."
-o0o-
"Sir Lucius, I have the latest report from your men, specifically from the first Group," said the visiting Death Eater in Lucius' study at the Malfoy Manor later that same night.
"Well, let's hear it, then" said Lucius, looking at him, expecting some progress to his plans. He had been waiting for some concrete news like what the enemy might be planning to do, even as the most trivial of plans that they might be doing for the next vacation was important.
"They're on the move as we speak. We'll have the third subject you want very soon."
"Good. How about the other tasks?
"The persons you've identified have been pinpointed. The other groups will do their work at the right moment. We shall know how everything went in a matter of days."
"Thank you, Campion, you're dismissed if you have no other news to report," Lucius said in an expressionless face, and the Death Eater did not say anything more and left the study. Lucius leaned back on his chair, smirking in an extremely satisfied way.
He was particularly proud of the fact that he had successfully gathered all the people he needed for the job, amazingly on short notice. The plan was top secret and is privy only to him, the Dark Lord, and people he had employed. The success of ultimately snatching the boy directly from Hogwarts for dead would be a marvelous feat and a heavy blow to those who opposed the Dark Lord. At least, this was the next best thing after Potter slipped away from their full grasp the last time. The snatching would not happen this Christmas, though, but in due time in the middle of the term using his mole at Hogwarts.
On top of the Death Eater's report, Draco had notified him a few minutes earlier that Harry Potter will be staying at Hogwarts for the holidays. He was expecting Dumbledore would not let Potter out of the safety of Hogwarts, and he wasn't disappointed with Dumbledore's predictability. In fact, Potter's holiday in Hogwarts set the conditions right for his plan to work, which was scheduled to commence shortly after the Hogwarts' students Christmas vacation started. He had made plans to ascertain that Potter would stay back at Hogwarts, or if that can't be done, to be away from his targets. Lucius had a surprise of his own, which he expected some Death Eaters to perform at the dead of the night.
"Dead of the night," he laughed, "quite fitting."
Of course, the Dark Lord had approved mostly Lucius had proposed, including the tasks he committed for the next few nights. What a terrible surprise the Wizard world will have in the morning, a taste of what's to come. His Death Eaters have been chomping at the bit for this kind of action, which they missed doing ever since Voldemort disappeared during that fateful encounter with the Potters at Godric's Hollow. Oh, the joy it would bring back to the Death Eater ranks. Muggle torture, Muggle slaughter! Thankfully, the Dark Lord thought that being secretive have outlived its uses since he had built back his small army of Death Eaters in just a short period of time, and this magnificent new Fortress that the Wizard World will learn to fear.
However, wonderful the feeling of being back as it was more than a decade ago, this time it was slightly different for Lucius.
Lucius had already given up with his personal vendetta against the Weasleys, as the last fiasco had caused him great pain. The only thing that was important to him now was to keep himself alive by not failing the Dark Lord's every command from now on. Nothing was now precious but his very own life, praises from the Dark Lord be damned. He had been blundering ever since, and the Dark Lord had not failed to punish him for every disappointment he had brought him, but he was considered a statistical anomaly among his fellow Death Eaters. He had been spared from death so many times when most other Death Eaters had not been lucky to have lived after more than one failure in their record. He was a dead man walking. Such was the terror of serving and defying Voldemort, and Lucius felt that his luck was quickly running out. It was only logical that he'll do everything what Voldemort asks him to do - for Lucius.
Finally, he stood up from his chair, took his white robe from the closet, donned his grey mask, and disapparated to Xanthius to inform Voldemort of the news. It was all systems go and no turning back for Lucius Malfoy. After all, he was left with no choice but to do it.
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