I still own nothing, especially the characters. JKR still does though.
Chapter 36 Ferret Training.
****************************Room of Requirement**************************
March 28, 2006
2:00 am
"What the hell am I doing standing in this cold arse hallway at two in the bloody morning?" Draco Malfoy snarled as he stood leaning against the wall next to an odd old tapestry. The tapestry currently showed several trolls in tutus chasing an old looking wizard around a dance hall with clubs. The tiny wizard dove out of the picture, followed by several trolls in hot pursuit. He blew a loose, pale lock of hair out of his eyes as he stared at a blank section of wall across from the tapestry.
"Your arse is here to learn." Came the unexpected response from next to him. Suddenly Harry Potter appeared, looking no happier than Draco to be at this particular place at this particular moment. "Come on." Harry waved, and walked towards the blank section of wall. A door appeared suddenly, and opened from within to reveal Hermione standing there. She had a cup of coffee in each hand, and without a word handed one to Harry. A brief smile of thanks flitted across his lips. His face grew stony as he turned back, "well come on."
Draco glowered at him, but entered the room anyway. The Room of Requirement had decided that it needed to be a training salle tonight. "Well don't I get a cup Granger?" Draco asked, in a mock, sweet tone.
"You're a wizard, get it yourself." She snapped back and paced over to a table across the room and leaned on it. Harry joined her and she looked at Draco like he was a small rodent and she was in her animagus form, as she sipped her coffee. Which on further consideration was pretty much the case.
"You are here Draco, because while your Dark Arts skills may be up to scratch, your Defense against those Dark Arts is not." Harry pronounced with absolutely no visible emotion.
"And you expect me to learn to fight the Dark Lord with what you teach me in the middle of the night?" Draco shot back, his aristocratic drawl thicker than ever.
"Honestly, no." Hermione said with a small, odd smile. "There are few who could stand against him, and you are not now, nor for the foreseeable future one of those. You can however learn enough to fight his Death Eaters, or his minions. For instance can you perform a patronus?"
"No. And most of the rest of the seventh years can't either." Draco objected absently.
"Actually quite a few of them can." Harry replied softly, "Some of them like Hermione, since their fifth year. They have also been trained to fight as a team or individually, to use stealth or misdirection when necessary, to think on their feet, and to expect their plans to be buggered up." Harry stood up and slipped fully into his Professor mode as he paced back and forth. The other two in the room followed him with their eyes as he strode in front of the table. "Actually I need for you to be in the with the DA or Order training, but I can't. Most of them, even those who are in the know, would probably Kedavra your arse as soon as look at you. And so, Hermione and I are here giving up our sleep to try to help you survive. Voldemort has not yet given you the mark, but I know that your parents think you tried to execute on their plan. The Order has been intercepting your communications with him."
"WHAT!" Draco sputtered.
"Interesting being on the other side isn't it Draky?" Hermione quipped, but stopped at a glance from Harry, he smiled slightly at her, before blanking his face as he turned back to Draco.
"Yeah isn't Draco?" Harry sighed as he summoned a pair of wooden swords; he tossed one to Draco. "Tonight we will start with your weapons work, I've already seen your spellwork. I assume that your family still uses steel as well as a wand?"
"Of course" Draco replied heatedly.
"Fine." Harry flipped the wooden sword underhanded to Hermione, "Mione. I want to watch for a moment."
"Ohhh fine." She finished her coffee, "Protego Duelus" She walked to the center of the room, about six feet from Draco. She raised the sword one handed to her forehead and saluted. "Salute Draco." She growled. He glared but complied. She smiled and MOVED, snapping in a cut at his side. His sword moved, but far too late to prevent the strike. She pulled it at the very, very last instant, but it still stung despite the wards.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT." Draco stomped a foot as he attacked her, Hermione easily blocked, one, two, ten strikes. She never budged an inch or broke a sweat. Finally she grew tired of the game, Draco snapped another assault at her head, she ducked the strike, spun, sweeping his legs out from under him, swatting his arse with the flat of her sword for good measure as he fell, flat on his back, to find the point of her practice sword hovering unquaveringly at his throat.
Harry walked up behind her as she stood there and looked down at him. He waved off Hermione's sword she walked back over the table and summoned a refill for her coffee. Harry extended a hand to Draco. Draco glared at Harry's hand until with a great sigh, he took it to be pulled to his feet. "Here Draco" Hermione came over and handed him a cup of coffee.
"Let me guess Draco, your father taught you?" Harry said with a slight frown. Draco nodded, not knowing where it was going as he took a sip of the coffee gingerly, half expecting it to be poisoned. "You do realize that you could be much better than you are, don't you?" Harry summoned Draco's fallen wooden sword, and handed it back to him. "Your magic, your swordsmanship, everything has built in errors, almost like your father was making sure he could always beat you. Here's the deal Draco. Hermione and I are not going to train you full time, we don't have the time, or frankly the patience. We also can't put you in with the rest of the DA sessions, and the Order members are obviously operational so we can't risk you there. The deal for your continued survival and ability to stay in school and out of Azkaban or worse; is that you feed Voldemort information that we provide. Unlike Snape, we are going to do all we can to keep you as far apart from Voldemort as possible. You plainly do not have the Occlumency skills to keep Tom from raping your mind.
Dumbledore by all rights should have been here tonight, but he pawned this off on us. You will train at odd times such as this," Hermione flipped Draco a galleon. "That coin is under a protean charm. The coin will grow warm and the numbers will change to show you the time and date of your training secessions. At the same time, whichever Order member that has drawn the short straw for that evening will help you with your training, along with learning anything that may have been passed along to you by other means than owl. I warn you Draco, despite your not being directly responsible for the deaths of Hermione's parents," Hermione carefully looked away at that moment, "or the other myriad assaults that have occurred, you are on very thin ice, don't forget. Any information that you receive and don't pass on, any unexplained action, could very well lead to your termination in the most literal sense. Right now we all know you are here, because we are more dangerous to you than Voldemort."
Harry crossed his arms and the temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees, even though a fire was roaring in a corner fireplace, "Please believe me Draco, I...we have lost too many of those we care about in this war, we will not hesitate an instant if we think you are remotely threatening anyone we care about though conscious action or inaction." Harry uncrossed his arms, as Draco gulped despite himself, "Now that that is taken care of, let's work on your blocks, shall we, on guard."
******************************Riddle Mansion*****************************
Hundreds of miles away, the darkness was emulating the light. Meetings were being held, that were such that Voldemort did not want known in any fashion, even his emotions, by a certain young nemesis. For the first time since his return, Voldemort concentrated on his Occlumency, carefully blocking any sign of this meeting from Harry. Voldemort sat at the end of a long, dim room, the throne-like chair he rested on was a dark, twisted copy of Dumbledore's chair in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, instead of his usual army of Death Eaters attending him, only his most trusted minions were present. Lucius Malfoy stood at his left hand, while Bellatrix Lestrange sat at his feet to his right. Behind the throne a bit, Peter Pettigrew cowered. Once Antonin Dolohov might have been included in this gathering, but he had died at the hands of Potter's mudblood. Voldemort blanked that angry thought as well, and peered into the darkness, his cat-pupiled eyes dilating as if to gather more light. After another long moment, Voldemort coughed, and spoke over his shoulder, "Very well Wormtail, let them in."
Peter did not look overly enthused at that command, in fact he looked absolutely terrified, but he scampered to the end of the hallway nevertheless and opened the entrance door. As soon as the door opened, a terrible sense of artic cold was felt in the room, and a trio of black, cloaked figures swept into the room. The three all appeared to be at least 6'5", and almost glided over the old, worn stone floor, not a sound marked their passage as they passed the length of the room, and stopped before Voldemort. The dark cloaks hid the faces of the newcomers, and their hands were hidden in voluptuous sleeves. The trio held a striking resemblance to the hated Dementors, with the exceptions that these dark ones walked, their cloaks were pristine and suddenly with a harsh rasping voice, the lead one talked. "Riddle, our bargain."
"You dare to call the utter the dark lord's na...URKK" Bellatrix's protest was cut shot, as with a negligent wave of a still hidden hand, the dark creature on the right flung her across to crash into the stone wall, scattering a low table holding a tea set. Malfoy and Wormtail both reached for wands, Voldemort however laughed coldly and did not move.
"Please. Do not abuse my followers...that is my job." Voldemort hissed, and steepled his fingers in front of his face, so that his searing red orbs peered out from either side of the point they made. "Now, as to business. I have let your cousins roam free, and have freed them from the control of the Ministry. When will I expect your assistance?"
"When we wish, Riddle. Do not forget that we helped you in your days wandering the wilderness; it was us who showed you the way." The leftmost one responded darkly, a warning in its tone.
"Be gone then until you learn your place," Voldemort growled, "I am much more than you could ever imagine."
"Beware yourself...human." The center one snarled and turned to leave, "Your enemy grows powerful, and as to ourselves, you have no idea of our true power. The dark trio strode from the room, the large doors booming shut behind them without a command or a person at them. The center dark one looked at the other two, their faces and bodies still completely hidden, "We must look for one more tractable...our brethren have waited far too long, and the ones beyond still wait for our signal, after all of these years." The other two nodded and all three vanished between the space of two heartbeats with three identical ripping sounds, like someone was tearing a vast roll of cloth.
******************************Hogwarts**********************************
March 28, 2006
4:00 am.
Harry watched the door close behind Draco, and sat down heavily on the couch that the room had just conjured for him. It wasn't the training for Draco that had tired him, but the fact in about a half hour, the both of them will have been awake since yesterday at this time. Hermione simply flopped down, trusting him to catch her in his lap. "Can we skive off classes today?" Harry asked softly, tiredly.
Hermione looked as if she were seriously considering the question, then with a small smile she asked, "it's Tuesday right?" She yawned as Harry nodded, "Ok, we are officially doing self directed studies. I officially don't have the energy to go to class. I think that this couch is just right." She stretched out on the couch; her head cradled and closed her eyes. "Harry, remind me when I wake up to dock us points for skipping classes."
"Ok, Mione." Harry muttered back as he summoned a silk cushion from the floor to serve as a pillow. It flew to his hand and he tucked it behind his head, careful to not disturb the sleeping witch.
*************************Hagrid's Hut********************************
8:00 am
"'Ello Class." Hagrid shouted as the assorted seventh years clustered around. Spring had sprung at Hogwarts, and the trees were blooming. The cry of a thestral echoed over the grounds as it flew to its home in the forest and above them, a squadron of school owls wheeled, heading towards the Owlery and sleep, all nice, normal, well relatively normal occurrences, and not one to cause anyone any discomfort.
No what sent a quiver of fear through the lion's hearts of the seventh year Gryffindors, along with their fellows from other houses, was the expression on Hagrid's face. It wasn't scary, or wild, no. No, today Hagrid was very possibly the happiest any of the students had ever seen him, well possibly discounting the time the trio had seen Maxine leaving Hagrid's first thing in the morning and him standing at the door, a curious expression on his face. Pavarti and Lavender edged closer together, Neville nervously twirled his wand in his fingers, while Seamus and Dean carefully took turns scanning the treeline of the forbidden forest and the sky. Ron looked over at them and Neville shrugged. Hagrid looked about the class and squinted as if not seeing something he was used too. "Ron where's 'arry and "ermione?"
"I don't know sir, sick perhaps." Ron replied easily, he really didn't know.
"Oh...Oh well they will be sorry they missed this." Hagrid said as he turned to get something from his cabin.
"I think they like their limbs too much to be terribly sorry." Seamus shot to Ron in an undertone. Ron nodded and resumed his search. Suddenly, a vast, terrible roar echoed over the trees, and as one, all of the members of the Order and or DA who had been at Hogsmeade last June reached for wands. Ron's wand quested for a target; he had heard a roar like that three times in his life, first at the first task of the tri-wizard, then in Romania with a visit to his brother Charlie, and finally, in the desperate fighting at Hogsmeade. He remembered quite well diving for cover as that roar preceded the twin fireballs that had devastated Honeydukes and Zonkos, and had cost too many young lives.
Hagrid did not flinch, only smiled wider, "ah there he is." He turned and pointed into the edge of the forest where several trees were quaking, and then as they watched, four huge pines fell to the earth to reveal a huge, green form. "Today, we will look at old Norbert."
"Norbert" Ron hissed disbelievingly as he took in the Norwegian ridgeback. Norbert was almost twice the size of the horntail Harry had tangled with in their forth year, which made him...absolutely humongous. Last time Ron had seen the dragon, he could have picked him up like a kitten, but now the dragon might very well be a hundred feet long. Norbert's huge head turned and looked at them all, his ice blue eyes glowing with an odd light as he looked at Ron, like he recognized Ron after all this time.
Hagrid smiled even broader at them all as he noticed the pointed wands. "Don't worry, Norbert here is as much a part of Hogwarts as you are. He won't hurt a student. Now who can tell me about Dragons?" A stunned silence responded to his inquiry. Hermione wasn't here, and no one else had thought to look up dragons, though honestly if they weren't all shocked speechless someone would have probably known more than a little about the subject. Almost all wizards were interested in dragons, and Ron in particular had a brother who worked as a dragon-keeper at times. But they normally weren't standing fifty feet from the most lethal, and at the same time, most majestic creature in the wizarding world. Hagrid shook his head in disbelief, as he couldn't imagine that everyone wasn't as impressed as he was. "Fine since no one seems to know anything...Dragons are currently rated XXXXX as some folks think they are dangerous. But they merely can take care of themselves. Dragonhide is particularly spell resistant, and their blood has many uses as Professor Dumbledore is noted for discovering. Actually almost every part of a dragon can be important for some use. So...everyone please give me three feet on the uses of Dragons along with a labeled diagram of those parts by next week. Now...'Arther round, 'ather round, and old Norbert here will let us examine him."
The class crept towards the dragon at a speed that could have easily been beaten by a frozen flouberworm. Hagrid ignored this too, and started using a stripped tree branch to point out important parts of the dragon, occasionally using the branch to scratch the dragon behind the ear holes. After an hour of the class taking turns hiding behind each other and fighting off urges to volley reductos at the dragon they headed off, back to the castle and their next class. Ron turned to leave, but at a yell from Hagrid, he turned back.
"Good luck mate" Dean muttered in passing as he and the rest hurried as far away as possible.
"Ha Ha" Ron muttered under his breath as he headed back towards Hagrid. Norbert had lain down and was currently sunning himself in the morning sun. "Yeah Hagrid."
"You'll tell 'arry and 'ermione about the assignment?" Hagrid asked unnecessarily.
"Sure" Ron said, obviously wanting to leave.
"Ron tell them...they already 'ave the keys" Hagrid shrugged, "I don't know either." And with that he spun and headed for his hut, totally ignoring the snoring Dragon on his way.
*************************Headmaster's Office**********************
10:00pm
A roaring fire crackled in the grate as Severus Snape settled into a comfortable armchair facing the headmaster. Dumbledore sat behind his desk, a mug of something in one hand while he read over several parchments on his desk. Over to one side, McGonagall was sipping a cup as she watched out the window and saw a huge shadow wheel past the castle. Shaking her head she turned to Dumbledore, an odd expression on her face, it wasn't fear precisely, but more one of apprehension. "Albus are you sure it was a good idea to let Hagrid have the dragon back?"
"It will be fine Minerva," Dumbledore replied without looking up from his work, "Norbert has agreed to the position, and the binding geas. He can not harm a student." The fire in his hearth turned a vivid emerald, and a second later, the bespectacled form of Arthur Weasley appeared, followed closely by Mad-Eye, Lupin and Tonks. "Excellent, we can begin." Dumbledore waved them to seats, and summoned a cup of coffee at each of the newcomers' elbows. "Severus if you will."
Snape looked around at those in the room, but was interrupted by Lupin before he could begin. "Albus I thought this was an intelligence briefing, shouldn't one of the student members be here, Harry, Hermione, Ron perhaps?" Snape visibly bit back a response to that question as Dumbledore shook his head slightly.
"No, that will not be necessary, I will let Harry know what he needs to know." Dumbledore did not quite meet Remus' eyes as he responded.
Lupin was obviously not happy with that retort. He and Tonks shared a look; he leaned back in his chair and stared at the Headmaster. "Your promise Albus."
Dumbledore frowned, but nodded, "fine you may tell him, and by extension Hermione, if you choose. There are reasons." Dumbledore took a sip of his beverage as he set the last of his parchments down on his desk.
"Let's hear what Severus has to say then, Albus" McGonagall put in to stop the argument; she turned back from the window and adjusted her glasses as she looked at him.
Snape took this as a command and began, his tone was a little annoyed as if he were performing a task that he thought arduous, or beneath him. "Our remaining sources have given us some new information. First, Potter." The name came out in a snarl, he took a calming breath as the werewolf glared at him, and yawned so as to show his fangs. "Potter, did get some information from Draco this morning during his training session, it seems his father mentioned something in a recent communication about a meeting last night. But he did not know what it was. It appears that the Malfoys have a set of secure communication mirrors like the Order has. Potter evidentially threatened him with death if he held anything out."
"I'd give the lad more credit than that Severus," Mad-Eye said with a chuckle, "I'd bet it was more of a promise. Makes me proud."
"Ah-hem" Dumbledore coughed, "please continue."
"As I said Potter got the information from Malfoy that his father was supposed to attend a meeting early this last morning, however he did not know what it was about. Of course Lucius could have already assumed that his son has turned and is planting false hints, but if so we will have to deal with that. Putting aside the absolute veracity of that report, for now, there are indications of some sort of falling out between the Dementors and the Dark Lord's forces. Perhaps they sucked the souls of some of his followers. It should be noted that there have been very few reports of their use in close concert with Death Eaters since they were fought off Christmas before last."
"Wotcher Snape, you mean before Hermione fought them off in that botched raid of the Death Eaters on Canton don't you?" Tonks smiled through long green hair that fell down in front of one side of her face.
"Ur...yes" Snape agreed reticently, "Since then the Dementors have mostly been seen to operate independent of any Death Eater support, such as the attack on Potter at Diagon Alley in January. As to the other information, Headmaster, we have identified the Death Eaters present in the attacks at the Burrow and the Grangers' last summer." Several more looks were shared at that revelation, Arthur looked particularly anxious for this information, even though he already had his suspicions. Lupin's eyes narrowed as he focused his attention on the Slytherin Head, he suddenly knew why the teens had not been invited.
Dumbledore surveyed the room before waving for Snape to finish. "As to the Burrow, it was as we suspected, Bellatrix was the leader, and Dolohov was with her inside. We are not sure who killed the Aurors on duty; it is probable that more Death Eaters were present. Now as to the Grangers, Malfoy was there and left, and we have found out that Xavier Hamilton was the one, who umm, led the 'entertainment' of the Grangers. Even though Dolohov took the credit more or less at Privet Drive, he was most likely not there. The list," Snape tossed a parchment on Dumbledore's desk, "gives the names of those we think were there, it does include the ones Granger killed escaping and the two Potter did in when he went back afterwards. I am not sure why you had our sources getting this information Dumbledore, unless you plan on giving it to Potter and Granger, and if that was the case, why aren't they here? I assure you my talents could have been better utilized..." Snape's last utterance was utterly condescending, but his mouth snapped closed as a pair of cold, ancient, blue eyes glared at him over the top of a pair of half-moons.
"Actually yes, Severus" Dumbledore was suddenly icy with his Potions Professor, and everyone in the room, felt a faint twinge of fear. "I will eventually share this with them, but that was not the sole reason I had you gather this information." Dumbledore did not elaborate, and no one here felt the stones to ask just why.