A/N: Thank you all for your reviews. Your words really do inspire an author to write! They're greatly appreciated!
Chapter 18
A Plan for a Plan
Harry woke up panting, unsure if he was still in a dream or if he was in his own bed; everything seemed blurry. Then, he remembered that his glasses were on the bedside table. He reached for them and put them on hurriedly, still breathing deeply. They were going to take a hostage...someone was in danger...Voldemort was coming for him...Harry felt so lost that he had not idea what to think. He suddenly realized that it was still dark and he could now hear Ron's snores from the four-poster next to his.
"Ron! Ron!" Harry called. He knew that it wouldn't be that easy to get him to wake up, so he unraveled his bed sheets and came over to where Ron was sleeping.
"Ron, get up!" he hissed in his ear. Ron's hand moved around and hit Harry hard on the face.
"Urgh....wha -? Who happened?" said Ron, whipping his eyes and getting up. Harry was rubbing his face.
"Oh, sorry, there, I didn't mean to - oh, it's you, Harry, that's okay then."
"Thanks, Ron," said Harry, still rubbing his face furiously. "Listen," said Harry, stopping and turning to him in the dark, "I'm sorry about before, but you're my best friend Ron, and I really need your help. I've got to tell you something. Come on!" Ron raised and eyebrow as if unsure if he should trust him but then nodded and got up, following Harry downstairs to the common room.
As they made their way toward the couch before the fireplace in the common room, Harry was surprised to see Hermione sitting there with a blanket on her lap. She turned her head toward them and he saw that her face was blank with misery and she mumbled, "I couldn't sleep," at the two boys.
Harry walked over to her and said, "I'm sorry, Hermione," apologetically and, taking both of her hands, he kissed the top of her head. "I was acting like a real jerk before. To both of you. I was just really stressed out with everything."
"I know, Harry. I guess we were too," said Hermione, smiling. "I guess that even we sometimes forget how hard it is for all of us at this time. Especially, you, Harry. I shouldn't have gotten mad at you."
"But I shouldn't have said what I said. I didn't mean it," said Harry. "You and Ron do so much for me that, if it weren't for you, I'd probably be dead."
"Yeah, probably," said Ron, sitting down and grinning.
"Is everything all right, Harry?" asked Hermione, looking at him.
Harry knew that he had sweat on his forehead and was probably looking extremely pale, so he said, "Of course everything isn't all right. When has it every been? I had another night mare."
"Why do you think I couldn't stay in the girl's dormitory? Ginny kept muttering in her sleep again," said Hermione furiously.
"Aw, damn!" said Harry. He had forgotten about that.
"So did you want to say something, Harry?" Hermione continued.
"Er - yeah. I - it was so strange, I mean, I kept seeing my mother and then Sirius and then - it was all a real blur. And Malfoy was there - "
"Harry, what are you talking about?"
"And then the dream changed and I was Voldemort again. And he - he said that he was coming to get me. He knows that there's something that we're planning and he's going to take a hostage - "
"A hostage?" shrieked Hermione.
"Keep your voice down," whispered Harry.
"Right, sorry," whispered Hermione.
"Who's it going to be?" asked Ron.
"I don't know, but he said that he couldn't take anyone from Hogwarts, obviously, because it was so well protected, but he mentioned something to get at his heart.."
"Who's heart?" asked Hermione anxiously.
"I'm not sure," said Harry. "Mine, maybe."
"Harry, you don't know anyone outside of Hogwarts."
"You don't think...?" said Harry suddenly.
"Not Cilia, surely?" said Hermione.
"Oh, man, that would suck," said Ron.
"I don't think it's possible," said Harry, denying it. "No - they couldn't. Cilia's on the other side of the world. How could they - ?"
"Harry, they have their ways, but you also have to remember that Cilia is the only person that you have - "
"He wouldn't," said Harry, shaking his head. "He wouldn't dare."
"Harry, this is Lord Voldemort. He would do anything to - "
"No," said Harry defiantly. "He wouldn't."
"Harry!"
"I can tell."
"Harry, you can't pretend like this is - "
"I just know, Hermione. Trust me on this," he said and she suddenly stopped and nodded slowly.
"I trust you, Harry," she said in a small voice.
"Good," said Harry. "And I trust you. I trust both of you. But I need your help."
Ron and Hermione both nodded.
"Look, there's this other new Death Eater. Her name is Tetra."
"Tetra?" said Hermione. "Are you sure it's a she?"
"Well, it sounds like a girl's name."
"Yes, but - "
"But what, Hermione?"
"I'm just not sure, is all."
"Well, Tetra's going to be given some assignment by him and I have no idea who she is or what it is."
"Tetra...that's four..." Hermione mumbled. "..Four...four of what?"
"Hermione? What are you going on about?" asked Harry.
"Tetra is the prefix for the number four," said Hermione dreamily. "What would be a four?"
"It's probably just her name," said Ron.
"No, no," said Hermione. "It sounds significant."
"Well...whether it's significant or not, I'm not sure how important that is right now, but we just have to watch out for her or him or whatever."
"Right, so what do you want us to do?" asked Hermione.
"Take care of yourselves."
"What?" said Ron and Hermione at the same time.
"You heard me, I want you to watch out for both of yourselves. No matter what, you come first."
"Harry, this is - "
"No," said Harry, shacking his head and stopping her mid-sentence. "I mean it. You're pretty much all that I have left. All I need you to do is watch out for each other. Not me, not anyone else, but you. I don't know about my future. As far as I'm concerned, I might not have a future at all, but you should. I want you two to have a future. Hermione, if something happens to me, move on."
"What?" said Hermione, her face aghast.
"Move on. As long as it's not Draco Malfoy, I want you to have a life, I - "
"Harry, I don't think you realize what you're asking me - "
"I know," said Harry. "Ron, you two. You have a family and you have Luna. And you have Hermione. You two are great friends and cousins and I want you to look out for one another. Just do me a favor and if anything happens, promise me that you will move on."
"Harry, we can't - " said Ron.
"I don't care what you can and cannot do, Ron. The both of you. I need you to swear to me. Right now."
Both Ron and Hermione seemed as if they were looking at a ghost.
"Swear!" barked Harry.
"We promise, Harry," said Hermione with tears in her eyes. "We- we promise - "
"- That you'll move on."
"Yeah," said Ron gloomily.
"Good," said Harry. "Well, I'm glad that's settled," he said sounding as natural as he could make it.
Hermione shook her head, looking away from the two boys.
"Hermione..." said Harry, putting his hand gently on her arm as the firelight danced on his skin. "I'm sorry.."
She freed her arm of his touch and got up, looking furious with tears streaming down her face. "No, you know what, Harry, you're always sorry, but what about me? Did you even think about the effect that this would have on me? Or Ron? What about my heart? Do you even have any idea the pain that it's going through right now - "
"Hermione - " he reached for her hand.
"NO!" she yelled turning away from him.
Harry suddenly grabbed her by the shoulders furiously and turned her around, kissing her angrily on the lips. When he let go, both of them were breathing very heavily. Harry caught a glimpse of Ron and saw that he was looking away humbly.
"Don't do this to me, Harry..." she whispered. "Don't ever leave me," she said as she pressed her nose against his face and passed her fingers through his hair.
"I won't," Harry said. "I won't leave you, Hermione. But this is just so unpredictable that - "
Hermione silenced him by putting her fingers over his mouth.
"Shh," she whispered. "Don't speak. You tend to make things worse that way, Harry."
"Does it really matter that much?" he asked her softly.
"You have no idea," said Hermione, grinning.
"Well, this is all very exciting," said Ron over enthusiastically, getting up from the couch and clapping his hands together.
"You're breaking the moment, here," said Harry.
"Yeah, well, someone's gotta do it. It just happens to be the job of the sidekick, eh?"
Harry and Hermione laughed.
"Oh, Ron, what would we do without you?" asked Hermione, still laughing.
"Probably a hell of a lot more than your parents would call for, Hermione," said Ron teasingly.
"Oh, shut up!" she said, though still laughing.
She hugged Harry deeply and buried her face in his shirt.
Ron came up and hugged to other two.
"Roooon!" moaned Hermione.
"What? Am I supposed to believe that I have to be left out of this? Fat chance."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione hugged for the next couple of minutes and then all decided to stay up on the couch and sleep there, Hermione in the center with the two boys leaning against her and sleeping as soundly as ever.
That day, Harry gathered anything that could help him make his plans with Matt, though he wasn't sure what good anything besides a parchment and some spare ink would do. Hermione wished him good luck as Harry went off to the library and gave him a spare kiss on the cheek and Ron gave him a pat on the back. "I'm not going off to war yet," he reminded them.
"There's my Keeper!" said Harry as he saw Matt approach him in the library.
"Yeah...let's not get sentimental, here," said Matt seriously. "Now, Potter, you've been pretty much slacking off so we're going to have to work extra hard to catch up to where we're supposed to be. Which is finished."
"Slacking off? Hey, just wait until you get to your sixth year, Thompson, and then we'll just see who'll be `sacking off.'"
"Thankfully, I won't be because the war will be over by then," said Matt casually.
"What do you mean?" asked Harry. "Just how do you know that it'll be over? And just how do you know that you'll survive?"
"I have a hunch," shrugged Matt.
"Right..." said Harry suspiciously.
Matt and Harry both sat down on one of the tables at the library and Matt spread out a rather large piece of parchment on the desk. Harry looked at it and saw that it had the mapping of Hogwarts and the Quidditch stadium on it.
"Where d'you get that?" Harry asked him.
"Nicked it," he said.
Harry raised his eyebrows and Matt looked up at him. "I'm kidding, Potter. I got it from Dad," said the boy simply.
"All right," Harry began. "I was thinking that we set up our position as Slytherin sixth and seventh ears on the south east end of the field, Gryffindors on the northwest end of the field , Hufflepuffs on the northeast end of the field, and Ravenclaws on the southwest." He finished pointing at the map as he mentioned each House and looked up at Matt.
"Why?" asked Matt in a strange tone.
"Why?" Harry repeated. "Er...because I said so..."
"No, why are we on the northwest end of the field diagonal of the Slytherins? I mean, why are we all positioned like that?"
"So that we can have a proper balance at that."
"Do you honestly think the Slytherins will be willing to fight for our side?"
"Oh, I'm sorry," said Harry sarcastically, "so what you're saying is that they're just going to run off to their mummies and daddies and help fight with Voldermort, is that it?"
"Good's not in everyone, Potter. Only you seem to think that."
"Fine! Fine! So what's your idea, broom boy? Your father deals with Quidditch, you should know."
"One thing, Potter: don't call me `broom boy'. Ever. Another thing: I'm not the one to do this, I'm just helping you out here, you're the mastermind behind this whole thing, not me."
"Mastermind?"
"You're right, that's giving you way too much credit."
"Hey, I'm your captain, all right!"
"And Draco Malfoy is Slytherin's captain. Do you honestly think that he's going to sit around with nothing up his sleeve? He's going to try to mess you up, Potter, and you know it."
Harry's heart sank and he took a really deep breath and tried very hard not to slap himself right about now.
"So what do we do about the Slytherins? We can't just tie them all up and throw them in some pit with a bunch of hungry lions."
"Actually, that wouldn't be too bad of an idea."
"Matt!"
"Well, you asked!"
Harry frowned.
"I suppose we could - no they would never, I know they wouldn't. We would be kidding ourselves, Potter, if we wanted to convince any of them to help. You know them, you know Slytherin. He broke Hogwarts and they would do the same."
"How do you know Slytherin?" asked Harry calmly.
"I don't know him, Potter, but you would think that someone who cares for only power and talks to snakes - "
"I talk to snakes."
"Oh," said Matt suddenly, furrowing his eyebrows. "Well that's weird, because I don't remember hearing that you were an evil sorcerer planning to take over the world!"
"All right, all right, I get your point," said Harry.
"We could always leave them at the castle."
"Oh, yeah?" said Matt. "And wait for them to come up with a nice little plan to slice all of our throats at once? Wake up, Potter, this is a freaking war we're talking about!"
"Oh, would you just say it!" snapped Harry.
"Say what?" asked the boy, looking confused.
"I know there's something you want to say, so out with it. Don't wait for me, Matt, just say whatever it is that you've got to - "
"Okay, all right, I get it," he said furiously. "What if we...if we - I know you're going to hate this - but what if we use a curse on them?"
"A curse? Like what? There's like a million curses we could use."
"The Imperious Curse."
"What? Matt that's against the law."
"Law? Law, Harry? What law? Would you look around you! The world is being destroyed! Chipped away piece by piece, and you're concerned about the law? There is no law at this point. There is only right and wrong."
"And this is right?"
"It is if you want to save our lives."
Harry sighed.
"It would take an adult to do that. Someone who's experienced in it."
"Ahem," said Matt. "Harry, you're at the headquarters of the Order. This is kind of not an issue at this point."
"And you think they'd agree?"
"Hell yes," said the boy.
Harry didn't want to do this. He felt like is was a crime, yet what if what Matt was saying was true? Was the only way to defeat the Slytherins was to force them along? After all, it was all for their own good.
"Look, Harry, either we Impediment them, or they kill us, so take your pick."
Harry breathed and thought once more about it.
"All right," he said.
"Yes!" said Matt to himself.
"But only if the Order agrees. This is not something I would favor, exactly."
"Whatever," said Matt, brushing his comment away.
"All right, so here's what we're going to do starting at this position..."
Harry and Matt had sat up in the library until ten o'cklock setting up plans on the map and figuring what spells were going to be a priority. They worked out escape routes along with where almost each person would be at what percise minute in time. It took so much work that Harry felt that even Hermione had never made him do that much in one night, but when they were finally finished and Harry shook hands with Matt, he felt like he had really accomplished something. Rolling the map up and sealing it with an unbreakable charm by none other than himself, Harry placed it under his robes and both boys headed for Gryffindor tower where Harry found Ron and Hermione waiting for them. Matt went up to his dormitory and Harry sat down with his friends, although he felt so exhausted that he didn't deny the slightest temptation to gather himself and go to sleep right at that instant.
"How'd it go?" asked Hermione, gently, moving some homework over so that Harry could put his elbows down and rest his head. "Did you finish?"
"Yeah..." Harry croaked.
"That's great!" said Hermione enthusiastically smiling at both him and Ron.
"Listen, mate," Ron began, looking at him and then at Hermione as if searching for her sign of approval. When she nodded, he continued, "We though about what you said last night and, well, we reckoned that you were right and all. We really don't want you to feel responsible for us because, I mean, well, you've got enough to deal with, but we promise that, no matter what, we'll look out for each other."
"But we also agreed," said Hermione, "that we will be looking out for you as well - no let me finish, Harry. Until the prophecy is fulfilled. We need to look out for you and you know that. We get the `we come first' part, but you need us, Harry, let's face it. You really do."
Harry smiled at her and nodded.
"So what did you decide on with Matt? Anything specific?"
"We just laid out some plans," Harry shrugged.
"And?" said Ron.
"Erm...well, I'll tell you later, I suppose. I'm just too tiered at the m-moment," said Harry.
Hermione patted his arm and said, "That's all right, Harry, we understand. Why don't we all go to bed. It's right late."
"But - I've still got homework," said Harry sleepily.
Hermione shook her head, smiling. "Don't worry, Harry, we did that for you."
"You - you what?"
"Did you honestly expect us to let you suffer thorough this alone, mate?" asked Ron, grinning. "Besides, Luna taught me this really useful spell - and not that I'll ever use it - but - "
"Oh, just forget it!" said Hermione maddingly. "I can't believe she would tell you something like that, Ron! That is cheating, that's what it is!"
"It is not cheating, it's just dead useful - "
"Useful? I'll tell you what's not useful is your lazy bum. How do you expect to become an Unspeakable with no knowledge."
"Hey, that's the point - they'll never know. I just won't speak."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "I'm off to bed. `Night boys."
Ron suddenly dived for something on Hermione's bag and she nearly shrieked as he pulled out a small brown feather and said, "Oh, look, Hermione's shedding."
"Give me that!" she snapped and grabbed it out of Ron's hand. Pocketing it in her robes she muffled, "It's probably from owl post."
"That doesn't look like owl feather to me, Hermione," said Ron.
"Well, if it's chicken, then it probably came from you, Ron," she said stiffly and continued to pick up her books and stuff them in her bag.
Ron mocked her under his breath in an annoyed tone and Hermione threw him a furious glance. "What?" he shrugged and looked at Harry meaningfully as if noting that Hermione was going mad. Finally, still wearing a scowl, Hermione managed to gather her things and climb the stair case that led to the girl's dormitory.
As the week past, Harry kept his eyes peeled for any signs of Mr. Thompson. Now that he was sure of what he was about to do - at the thought of which he nearly gulped every time - he believed all he had to do was get his approval. Then again, he knew that adjustments would probably have to be made anyway.
They continued to study the Eternal Spells in Defense class and had quickly finished covering the Astral Spell and moved onto one which was called the Adjunction Spell. The previous lesson, Professor Malfoy had kindly forgotten to mention what the spell had been about, and Harry found himself, and all others in the class, blushing madly when she told them that it joined two souls as one. When she told them that it most definitely did not mean what many of them had in mind, much of the class breathed in relief, only to find her shaking her head and scowling at them.
"This Spell is nothing of the sort. Although it may be considered as a certain love spell for those who had maddingly fallen in love with each other - and believe me, some people would be head-over-heals enough to perform this spell only to spend the rest of eternity with the soul of another - it was used as an ancient punishment. The worst of enemies that could not get along no matter what would have the Adjunction Spell performed on each other so that they could only be one and would have to get along. They would share each other's thoughts, pain, even emotions. Dreams, nightmares...everything. When one died, the other would go down with him or her. It is a most powerful Spell but one that also had to be performed by wise men alike. It definitely took a lot of power to create such a powerful seal between two souls - not even people, simply."
Harry was deep in thought and wondered what would happen if someone like Voldemort and Dumbledore were joined together by this Spell. He shuddered and decided that he rather did not want to know.
"Now, this Spell can most definitely be only performed between witches and wizards, of course. It requires magic blood for this spell to work. As it does for most of the Eternal Spells. And, today, we will be practicing it on one another. You will be allowed to choose your partners, simply because I would not desire for you to be paired up with people that you would not favor to have that much privacy with, and we will temporarily try out what it feels like. You need to know. This Spell could be performed on you and you wouldn't even realize it. Twins are often given this gift early at birth, so you truly have to know what it looks like, it's symptoms, and how to fight it. Yes, it is Eternal, but that does mean that you cannot try to fight it in any way that you can."
Harry turned to Hermione, who was sitting next to him, and raised his eyebrows.
"Do you dare, Mr. Potter?" she said to him.
"It depends," he smirked. "Do you?"
Hermione grinned.
"The incantation is `Adjunctus Deubleve'."
"Can't make it easy on us, can she?" Harry whispered and Hermione giggled.
"Note that this isn't a fun trip. You will see into each other like you have never before. You will know each other's deepest secrets of the heart and you may feel somewhat elated during the procedure, but you must be attentive for the symptoms of this Spell. Please find your partners and begin."
Harry watched as Lavender paired up with Parvati, Dean Thomas with Seamus Finnigan, and so on. He turned to Hermione and was startled to see that she looked a bit foreboding.
"Hermione, is everything all right?" he asked her, touching her arm with his hand gently.
Hermione jumped and said, "Oh. No. Everything's fine. I just...um...maybe this isn't such a good idea."
"What do you mean?" asked Harry, feeling his stomach drop. "Don't - don't you trust me?"
Hermione looked shocked. "No - no, of course I trust you, Harry, it's just that, um...well, all right. It can't hurt, can it?"
Harry couldn't see what Hermione was afraid of, but it definitely seemed as if she had second thoughts on the whole spell idea. Was it something about him? Harry shuddered at the thought. He would never want to scare Hermione away...
Then again, he though, there wasn't exactly anything wonderful about him to find out. He was linked to Voldermort, he had horrors in his past, present, and probably his future, and he was prophesied to kill a Dark Lord. But other than that, he was the perfect guy, right?
Harry's stomach sunk even further.
"Er...let's get this over with, I guess," Harry sighed. He felt as if all of the happiness had drained out of him.
Hermione looked rather hurt at what he said.
Harry and Hermione both raised their wands at each other and shouted the spell at the same time.
At first, Harry thought nothing had happened. There was a very dim flash from both of their wands, but it looked practically meaningless. Suddenly, however, he began to feel fear. He wasn't sure why, but he was scared. He wasn't scared...of something, but more of keeping something from someone. Yes, that was it. Someone was about to know a very deep secret of his. Well, it wasn't that deep, whatever it was, but he knew that he had sworn not to tell. Oh, yes, he could not tell anyone no matter what and Harry knew that it was of great importance. Then, his thought shifted and he felt a very warm feeling, kind of what he felt when he was close to Hermione. He turned his eyes to her and smiled, but saw that Hermione was doing anything but that. She was on the verge of tears and suddenly dropped on her knees. Harry ran up to her immediately and asked, "Hermione, are you all right? Hermione, answer me, is everything okay?"
Hermione looked up at him, sobbing through her tears and said, "Is - is this what you f-feel all the time?"
"Oh no..." Harry whispered. "Hermione, I'm so sorry." He felt the Spell begin to wear off. The feeling that he had moments ago was vanishing and he now felt his own guilt and worry for the sake of the girl that was in front of him. Harry looked around and saw that everyone else was mostly too preoccupied handling the Spell to pay any attention. Professor Malfoy was walking around the classroom checking on how the students were reacting to it.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Harry whispered, hugging her head toward his chest.
He now remembered. Now, of all times, after they had performed the Spell, he remembered that Safari had warned him not to meddle with Eternal Spells. They were a trouble to him...why hadn't he listened? Why couldn't he have remembered to just leave them alone?
"F-First Sirius, and your parents, and then V-Voldemort...oh, Harry, I - I never knew you felt like this. It - It's just so horrible."
"Shh, Hermione, I'm so sorry."
"Sorry? Oh, Harry, y-you're not the one that should be s-sorry. I'm sorry. All those times I y-yelled at you a-and - "
"Hermione, this is anything but your fault. Do you remember Safari?"
"W-What?"
"Safari Makinagi, the Afrenthologist, he - "
"No, no, I remember him - "
"He warned me not to do any Eternal Spells and I guess I just forgot about that. I'm sorry, this is all my fault."
"Is everything all right?" asked Narcissa's voice.
"Erm...well," said Harry, looking at Hermione and then back at her, "If you could call it that, Professor. See, I don't...think this was generally a good idea."
"I see," she said calmly. She looked at Hermione. "Such a bond between two people such as yourselves might reveal more powerful things than through any other of the students. While others were finding out what each other's favorite joke shop catalog was, you two might have been experiencing a bit more secretive thoughts and feelings. You are a brave girl, Miss Granger. You two are quite powerful magicians. Frankly, I'm amazed that the Spell wore off so soon."
Hermione looked at her and Harry noticed that she was looking at Narcissa as if she had seen her for the first time. "Yes..." she said slowly. "Th-Thank you," she finally spoke, snapping out of it. It had seemed as if Hermione had been in a sort of trance for a moment.
Naricssa walked away and Harry stared after her. As he turned around to Hermione, he found her watching him as well.
"Harry..." she began, "Did you, by any chance, um - ?"
"What is it?"
"No, nothing, never mind."
"Are you sure you're going to be all right?"
"Me? Harry, what about you? After what I just felt - it just must be so horrible."
"Some of the time, it is, but not all the time," Harry assured her.
Hermione tried to smile, though Harry saw that she was doing a very poor job of it.
As they left the classroom, Harry decided to stay back and speak to Professor Malfoy.
"Erm..Professor, would you mind if I had a word?"
"Certainly, Mr. Potter. Something troubles you, I presume?"
"I was just wondering, are we, er, going to be doing any more Eternal Spells, you know, ourselves."
"There is but one Spell left that will be performed manually by the class, and that is all, I assure you. The last two Eternal Spells are too great for anyone to accomplish even in a secondary stage."
"Professor...I don't think it would be a good idea for me to do any more of the Spells. Safari warned me about something like this and I - "
" - will do well to not receive a single failing grade in my class. I assure you, Mr. Potter, that this last Spell will not be a burden to you in any way. The Verity Spell is probably one of the simplest of the twelve."
"Verity Spell? Why does that sound familiar?"
"Probably from Veritaserum. It's a truth spell. Makes whatever a person says come true. Now, if you would, Mr. Potter, I will see you next class, or perhaps sooner."
"Sooner, Professor?"
"You were planning to help out with the Order, is that correct?"
"Well, yes, but - "
"I will see you then, Mr. Potter. Good day."
And with that, Harry found his way slowly out of Professor Malfoy's classroom.
Later that day, as Harry was about to make his way into the Great Hall, he met Mr. Thompson, who immediately stopped at the sight of him and made his way through the crowd to speak with him.
"Mr. Potter, Matt has informed me that you have worked out your plans. Is that so?"
"Er, yes," said Harry. He had been dying to tell him about what they were planning to do, yet part of him feared that he wouldn't exactly find it that favorable as he did not himself.
As he followed Mr. Thomson away from the Great Hall, down a flight of stairs that he had never been through before, and through a portrait hole with the painting of a man holding a cockatrice, he found a very dark dungeon that they had approached and Harry had never been in.
"Is this where the Or - "
"Not now," snapped Mr. Thompson.
They approached a heavily bolted door and Mr. Thompson took out something that looked like a very bright phoenix feather from his robes. Placing it upon his wand and into the key lock, he shouted, "Phoenixium Entrer Voilit."
The feather glowed, bursting into flame as Mr. Thompson removed his wand and the door creaked open. Holding it out for him, Harry walked in and saw an enormous chamber in which stacks and stacks of books occupied ancient-looking tables. Strange writing resided on the walls and chandeliers that had a lion, an eagle, a serpent, and a badger on them, while several members were bustling about. A giant golden phoenix stood at the very far end of the room and held several torches which brightened the room excessively. Harry witnessed as Mad-Eye was performing an experiment with something. He realized that he must have gotten back from his mission. Tonks was next to him and flipping urgently through a book. She was back as well. And there was Kingsley and Mrs. Figg and a whole bunch of other people including some of the Weasleys. After all, the place was huge.
Harry turned his head and saw Remus Lupin leaning casually against one of the desks and flipping through a book. As he looked up and saw Harry as well as Mr. Thompson enter, he closed it and Harry realized that it was, in fact, a magazine, and, for some reason, it had Sirius's photograph. He felt a lump in his stomach, but the feeling was briefly interrupted as the door behind them opened once more and Narcissa Malfoy walked in.
"Evening," she announced and her eyes turned to Lupin.
"Ah. Remus. We meet again."
"Well, we're both in the Order. I would think - " he began rather uncomfortably.
"Yes, but what with one of us being away on a mission, we've never really gotten the chance to run into each other. Or, rather, perhaps it is that you've been avoiding me - "
"If you want to know about Romulus - "
"I would very much," she said very rapidly. Her voice suddenly turned soft and gentle and she said, "How - how is he?"
"Why don't we go outside for this? Mr. Thompson, Harry, you will excuse us, won't you?"
Harry looked puzzled and watched as both Remus and Narcissa walked out, but he noticed that the door remained slightly ajar. As Mr. Thompson went over to Mad-Eye to speak with him about something, Harry casually stood at the foot of the door and looked through the opening, pressing his ear to the wall.
"He's dead, Narcissa."
"Wh-what? D-dead? When did this - I never heard - "
"I'm sorry, but believe me, I do miss him dreadfully."
"NO!" she cried. "No - you - you lie!"
"Of course I would never lie to you about something such as that, Narcissa. It's been - "
"Eighteen years!" she cried hysterically. "Eighteen damned years and no one told me a thing!
"Narcissa - I - "
"Damn you too, Remus! He - he shouldn't have g-gone. He d-didn't deserve it!"
"Shh...I know, I know, sometimes I wish I'd been taken in his place - "
"You do no such thing, R-Remus. Y-you do no such thing. H-He loved you."
"Yes, he did. I'm so sorry."
Harry had sensed as if there was something about Narcissa, but it was as if he had just seen it for the first time with his own eyes as he looked at her through the small crack in the door. He looked into the small glimpse of her eyes that he got and he saw it. There was something different about her that made her unique. It was as if Narcissa wasn't even herself...but then...who was she? Why was she so different from the person that he had been expecting to have known all along before he had even met her? She was now sobbing into Lupin's neck as he embraced her and was whispering something to calm her down.
"Harry?"
He suddenly jumped and closed the door as he saw Mr. Thomson approach him along with Moody and Tonks.
"Have you worked something out about this, boy?" growled Moody.
"Well," said Harry, trying to get his though away from what he had just seen, "Um, we were thinking that the Slytherins might interfere with our plans."
"And just what are you planning to do about that, eh, boy?" asked Moody, looking at him with both his real and magic eye.
"Matt suggested...the Imperious curse."
"Harry, you can't just Imperio one-fourth of the school!" said Tonks.
"But then what are we supposed to do?" said Harry, clapping his hands to his sides. "Voldemort said he was going to work from inside out!"
"Don't say his name..."
"There might be another way.." said Moody.
"Mad-Eye?" asked Tonks. "Just what are you thinking?'
"There is a charm...an ancient Hogwarts charm that we could use. Dumbledore told me about it. It binds all four Houses together so that none can be disloyal."
"There's a catch, though, isn't there?" said Mr. Thomson.
Moody continued. "Well, they do have to be willing."
Harry nearly laughed.
"It's either that, or the boy's right - we use Imperio."
"We can't use Imperio, Mad-Eye," said Tonks, sounding rather annoyed.
"Oh, yeah," he said, "just you watch us. It just might be the only way if the charm doesn't work."
"Well, that's just evil," said Tonks, putting her hands on her hips and scowling.
"Oh, really? And Voldemort's a sugar plum fairy, is he?" said Harry angrily.
Everyone turned to look at him and he knew that he shouldn't have said his name again, especially in that sentence.
"Sorry," he whispered.
Moody raised an eyebrow and said, "Right."
"So how does this Hogwarts charm thing work?" asked Harry.
"Rather simple," said Lupin, who had just walked in with Narcissa and Harry saw that her eyes were slightly blood-stained. "It was a spell created by the founding fathers of this school, obviously, so all we have to do is agree on this. We also need the ingredients of a basilisk, a veela, a dragon, and a griffin. And the potion for the spell, I believe, has to be performed at the graveyard. At their graves."
"Snape's one to do this," said Moody. "Is he back yet?"
"You mean he's alive?" said Harry suddenly. "Wait, since when has there been a graveyard? Of what?"
"Er...best we not get you into this whole mess, yet, Potter. Yeah, he's probably alive and out there. He just messed up with his report."
"So why did you tell everyone that he was dead"
"We've gotta say something," said Tonks. "The man hasn't been to his classes for ages. Yeah, we all know we're out on missions every now and then, but we do have to explain."
"Oh," said Harry dully.
"You'll get used to it, Potter."
"So who's supposed to perform this spell?" he asked everyone.
All eyes were suddenly on him. "You are."
A/N: This chapter was actually longer than usual, but that didn't stop me from writing it. Next time, we'll find out just who in the world they're kidding about the spell, how Harry's supposed to perform it, and whether or not Draco Malfoy is as evil as he seems. Ron and Hermione will be helping out Harry once more and Ginny's acting weird again. Well, sort of. Stay tuned and please leave a word or two to let me know that you read it at least! Thank you!
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