OK here we go. Warning for the kiddies, there are scenes of torture in this chapter, be aware. It is rated R for more than the cursing and sex.
Chapter 13: A Question of Divided Loyalties
*************************Dungeons of Malfoy Castle************************
August 10, 2012
"All is ready Master" Bariss said sycophantically as he bowed Lucius into the cell. The door opened to find a small, red-haired form curled in a corner. Her hair was matted and stained, and the robes she had been wearing were shredded to little more than rags hanging loosely around her frame with more than a few patches of bare skin showing through. The polyjuice had long since worn off, disposing of the dark-haired form of the late Pansy Parkinson. Slowly, Ginny's head turned up; she glowered at him through the tangled fall of her hair. Half a dozen masked Death Eaters filed into the room behind Lucius and took positions around the room.
"Hello Ginny," Lucius whispered almost lovingly, "how are you today?" His hands rose to his hood and lowered it. His pitiless gray eyes took in the scene and he smiled darkly. A black, silver-chased wand appeared from beneath his robes, and pointed at her. Ginny rose into the air slammed back into the wall and hung there, as if behind held up by invisible chains.
"Fuck You." Ginny snarled. Lucius laughed and held up one bent finger. A Death Eater took two strides and backhanded Ginny across the mouth. Ginny glared at him, and spit blood on the floor. "Is that all you have Lucius? My mother hits harder than you people." She cocked her head, "What now, the imperious, crucio, maybe some more muggle torture...
"No Ginerva, no...rather I would give you one last chance...all you have to do, is call in Potter and his minions. Call them here...don't you want to be rescued? I know you had some little schoolgirl crush on him at Hogwarts...him rushing in and saving you from the basilisk." Ginny laughed.
"I got over that a long time ago." She laughed at his pitiful attempt. It wasn't worthy of a Dark Lord. She was right.
"Oh yes," Lucius replied in a thoughtful tone, "You took up with the blood-traitor Longbottom, instead...your families deserve one another, I will admit." A high-pitched laugh echoed from Malfoy's throat, sending chills down Ginny's spine as the last time she had heard its like was on the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch the night Voldemort was defeated. Lucius turned to the door and gestured at the guard nearest the door. He bowed and left the room. Lucius turned back to her. "Never let it be said that I don't cherish young love..." Behind Malfoy, the door opened again, and a stretcher floated in accompanied by Xavier Hamilton and Millicent Bulstrode.
Ginny's heart fell as she saw the form laying motionless on it. Neville was lying there, totally unmoving, barely breathing. The same as he had been for all these years, "leave him alone you bastards" She strained against her invisible bonds to no avail. A pressure like a tidal wave held her against the wall, and she fought not to cry as Lucius waved for Neville to be positioned so Ginny could see him easily.
"You see, Ginerva, as he is, Mr. Longbottom is somewhat unentertaining, I know that your healers have tried and failed to revive him. Even the great and powerful Albus Dumbledore was unable to do anything for him." Ginny looked shocked, "oh yes, I still have many sources in the Ministry. However I am not so limited as that old fool," he pulled a sullenly glowing red orb from beneath his robes. Ginny held her breath as Lucius walked over to the stretcher bearing Neville. Holding the orb above Neville, his eyes never leaving Ginny, he chanted something under his breath. A flash erupted in the room, and Malfoy's eyes glowed red. A rush of sickly green tendrils of light flowed from Neville's body to the orb, and a heartbeat later, the tendrils reversed themselves becoming bright, shining white. Neville's chest expanded suddenly, he took a deep, deep breath as if he were coming from a great depth underwater.
"Wha...what..." Neville croaked in a voice that had lain unused for years. He looked frantically around, his vision cleared as his eyes found the Death Eaters surrounding them, Malfoy standing over him and Ginny splayed against the wall opposite. "Ginny" He whispered hoarsely, and tears finally fell from her eyes.
Malfoy smiled, "Now isn't that better. All I want Ginny, is for you to call in your rescuers" He held out the mirror she had been captured with. She shook her head. The Dark Lord nodded sadly, "As I had expected, a hero to the end. Of course the real reason I had Longbottom retrieved was this very situation. I know you would rather die than betray Potter. But as that old fool Dumbledore is so apt to mention, there are things worse than death. Would you rather see your lover, the father of your son die, or better yet be driven mad, instead?" The tip of the silver chased wand snapped to Neville, "CRUCIO." Horrible screams ripped from Neville's throat as a thousand searing knives dug into his flesh. Malfoy flicked his wand, and the screaming stopped. Neville lay panting, barely breathing.
"YOU BASTARD!" Ginny screeched, veins popping in her neck as she strained against her bonds. Her brown eyes were lit with fire as she glared at Malfoy.
"CRUCIO" Neville screamed again. A wand flick and silence reigned. Malfoy cocked his head at her; she shook hers fitfully. "Very well, Silencio, Crucio." Neville's mouth hung open in a silent scream, writhing and thrashing on the stretcher... "You know Ginny," Lucius said conversionally, "this is exactly what happened to his parents. It is a shame that Bella did not live, she was always so much better at this than me. All I ask is that you call in Potter; call them in for a fair fight between me and them. Is that so much?" Lucius flicked his wand, canceling both spells at once.
"No Ginny..." Neville croaked, "don't give him anythi...."
"Crucio."
"Stop...Stop, for the love of Merlin stop.... damn you, son a bitch" Ginny cried, her tears falling freely now. Neville tried to scream no in the background but it was too late. "Bring me my wand and that damn Death Eater brooch thing." Lucius nodded to Hamilton and his apprentice ran out of the room, to return several minutes later with the requested items. Lucius flicked his wand at her; she fell limply to the floor as Hamilton tossed the items at her. Lucius and Xavier both held their wands to Neville's head. Ginny mouthed, "forgive me," at Neville. Shakily picking up her wand, she touched the Dark Mark brooch and whispered, "Call the cavalry."
Lucius laughed and flicked his wand at Ginny, her wand flew to him, along with the tracker. "Let us leave the blood-traitors together." He paused as he reached the door, "if you behave I will let you die last." Ginny cried openly as the Death Eaters attending Malfoy laughed and filed out of the room. She crawled to Neville and held his head in her lap as the door closed shut with a boom.
Outside in the corridor, Malfoy turned to his lieutenants. "Bariss, Dawlish is in place?"
The short Death Eater nodded. "Xavier, take your team and leave now, I will meet you at the agreed on
location." He looked directly at the dark-haired Death Eater, "remember on pain of your own death they are to
be alive and unharmed, it won't work otherwise." Hamilton did not look as if he liked that order, but he
nodded nonetheless and left at a trot. Malfoy turned to the guards, "I will send you word when it is time for you
to leave."
"Yes sire." They replied together, and Malfoy turned back to Bariss, the Death Eater held out a portkey and they vanished in a fall of color.
***************************The Burrow*******************************
5:45 pm GMT
CRACK, the sound echoed over and over in the house and Harry, Hermione and Ron all turned to look to see who had just arrived. Even with the never-ending disasters befalling them, Molly had insisted that they all have a meal together at least once a week. So tonight the Burrow was crowded with almost everyone currently in the country, minus the twins, who were scheduled to be here any moment and Ginny, of course. The kids were running around in the back yard, while everyone was waiting for Arthur to return from work in a couple of hours.
"OI" Fred yelled, as he came running into the kitchen, sliding to a halt on the old, worn hardwood floor. He never even looked around at Molly cooking or Luna sitting at the kitchen table chopping vegetables. He didn't have time for small talk anyway. "Ginny just triggered her come get me now beacon." Harry, Hermione and Ron stood immediately and reached for comms crystals. Luna gaze sharpened noticeably as she slowly set down the large knife she had been using to chop vegetables. She caught Ron's eyes and he frowned, but nodded anyway. From out in the yard, Tonks, Sirius, Remus and Cordy ran in at the commotion, their eyes snapping about almost as fast as Moody's was apt to do as they looked for the cause.
Harry looked slowly and specifically at each person, and sighed as he agreed with Fred, "Okay lets go. Go to Hogwarts to get our gear, and then...."
"Harry," Hermione hissed, "the kids..."
Molly snapped, "get my daughter back, I'll watch the kids. We'll be fine, there is a full security detail here after all." Neither Harry nor Hermione looked terribly happy at that, but nodded and a second later everyone except Molly was gone from the kitchen in a crash of sound.
****************************Hogwarts, SG1 Headquarters********************
6:20 pm GMT
Witches and Wizards were already running as Harry and Hermione walked into the hidden headquarters, pulling on battle gear as they went. George was in a corner tossing out communication beads and weapons as they passed, he paused to nod at Harry and the others and kept on handing out gear. Harry strode briskly into the briefing room, and with a flick of his wand, the room expanded to hold the entire group. Forty wizards and witches stood, sat and perched about the room waiting on his words.
"Ok guys." He said quickly, "this is what we know, from the location of the beacon, we now know Malfoy's hideout is Malfoy Castle. According to Ministry records, it was reported destroyed in a feud in seventeen ninety five...I guess they lied." He flicked his wand at the screen behind him; a projection of a very old set of blueprints came up. "This is what the castle looked like then, we don't know if he's done anything with it since. This is a smash and grab; we don't have time for a real plan so be ready for anything. Lupin, take your group in here." Harry pointed at a point next to an old drawbridge. "The plans say there is a secret entrance there. I will be taking the rest in from the top, so we will be doing a broom insertion."
Harry glanced at Hermione, their eyes met and a world of words passed silently, "be ready for X'Sheen, Dementors and werewolves at anytime." He continued grimly, "Our operative has been out of contact for a very long time. It is unknown exactly how she triggered her beacon, and if she did so under her free will. This may be a trap, so act accordingly. However, we will keep covert as long as possible, we aren't going there for a fight." He looked out over a sea of faces, all hard and set. "Let's go, good luck."
**********************The Ministry of Magic, London***********************
11:15 pm
A security wizard was sitting at his desk, leaning back, a paper in his hands. The Ministry was mostly empty at this hour, the only ones present were a few security officers, various Aurors and Unspeakables working at this hour and the Minister himself. He had come in several hours ago, clearly in a rush accompanied by his security detail and Alastor Moody. Mad-eye had barked at the desk guard for his inattention, and the poor bugger had snapped to attention until the old Auror disappeared out of sight.
"Any word, Alastor?' Arthur asked tiredly as he witnessed his head of the MLE walking into his office. Jacob gave Mad-Eye a quick one over, and satisfied relaxed somewhat at his post near the door. The room was dim as Mad-Eye entered, and sat in an empty armchair near the fire. He pulled a small flask from somewhere inside his robes and took a slow sip before answering.
"No, not yet," he glanced at an odd, black faced watch that flashed various colors as he took it in, satisfied, he returned it to his robes. "Harry did not have time to properly brief me, however, if they are still on their preliminary timeline, they should be going in about now.
"I wish we had been able to contact Albus?" Arthur asked hopefully, but Moody just shook his head noncommittally.
"No we have sent Owls after him, but they all returned without delivery. We also have not been able to communicate with him over the old Order channels."
*****************************Malfoy Castle**************************
"Oi Greg," A dark cloaked and hooded figure cried out over the top of the battlements. Hearing no response, he turned, a puzzled look on his face. A shimmer of movement, and a black blade appeared from mid-air behind him. A gloved hand appeared at the end of an invisible sleeve, snaked around his mouth and pulled his head back sharply, a spray of blood wetted the stones and the Death Eater crumpled.
"Clear" a harsh whisper sounded on the roof, and soft, hushed footsteps loped to the door to the lower floors of the castle. It flew open with a bang, and black shapes appeared as invisibility cloaks were whipped off and stowed. Footsteps thundered as the group of twenty ran down, through the castle. Half a dozen masked figures dove out of a room, only to crash back into a wall at a gesture. Harry straightened and waved the rest past him. Crashing sounds were heard as doors were kicked open and spells shot inward to cleanse the rooms.
***************************London, Ministry of Magic********************
Large silver-gray shapes slipped from shadow to shadow outside of the run-down facade that hid the Ministry of Magic from prying eyes. Silver light from the shining moon, on this rare, clear London night, caught the white glint of teeth and claws. A tithe of dark ones joined them as they stood, waiting for some unknown signal. A high-pitched scream cut off suddenly as a Muggle made the mistake of taking an evening stroll at the wrong time, and most definitely the wrong place.
Five cloaked and robed figures crept towards a run-down telephone booth. The wizard in the lead exasperatedly jerked open the sticking door, and stepped in. He picked up the receiver and dialed a specific number on the dial.
A feminine voice echoed from the very air in the booth. "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic, visitors' entrance. Please state your name and purpose."
"McAllister, Visiting a friend" the Death Eater replied, grinning, and a silver badge clattered from the change tray. He picked it up and laughed as the booth started sinking slowly through the street. The badge read: McAllister, Personal Business.
"Please report to the security desk for registration of your wand," The voice continued happily, "Have a nice evening."
"I certainly will."
***************************Azkaban, North Sea**************************
The dark cliffs overlooking the ancient stone fortress were filled with dozens of X'Sheen, with more and more exiting a shimmering silver portal with each passing moment. A fall of color, and a brief rushing sound erupted in the middle of the gathering army and Lucius Malfoy and his majordomo suddenly stood looking down at the black stones. He nodded and walked away from the ledge to an X'Sheen standing in the midst of ten others. This one was different from all the rest, a foot taller, and with dark steel armor worn over its robe. It turned its hooded face towards the Dark Lord.
"Are you ready?" Lucius asked, as he held the Orb of Maccabus lightly in one long fingered hand. The X'Sheen leader nodded, as its eyes presumably never left the orb. Its head did not move in any case.
"Yes, human..."
"Then go, and bring forth the time of my reign." With his words, a black horde of Dementors fell upon the fortress. Screams echoed in the night and a few Patronuses lit the darkness with a silver light, until slowly they faded to nothingness. More screams greeted the arrival of the rest of the Dementor horde, and far below, the ancient, black steel gates of the castle grated open at a silent command from the lead X'Sheen.
**************************Malfoy Castle**********************************
11:45 pm GMT
Shadows danced down the dark corridors of Malfoy's refuge. A soft squeak of a trainer on stone, and another Death Eater fell. Harry glanced across the hall at Ron, who gave him a quick thumbs up towards were he knew his best friend was, even though he was invisible, and levitated the Death Eater he had just taken out into a convenient broom cupboard.
Harry let himself be visible for an instant. He held up two fingers, pointed at Ron and Luna, and beckoned them. The pair slipped across the hall to join Harry, Hermione, and the rest of the command group. The remainder of the team dropped to a knee at either end of the hall and silently took up covering positions. Hermione flicked her wand around the gathered group, and the sounds of the castle faded away. "What's up?" Ron whispered, even though Hermione had cast a cone of silence around them. Moody embedded habits kicked and screamed before dieing.
"This is too easy." Hermione stated for the both of them. Her wand flicked idly in her hand. Harry nodded. She glanced at him, crooking an eyebrow, and he gave her a slight shake of his head and glanced around the hall, back where they came from, the hall ahead and the floor and ceiling before looking back at her. He shrugged. She held up her left hand and waggled it back and forth in front of her. Hermione returned the shrug, cocking her head at a slight angle. Ron rolled his eyes.
"What are they doing?" Cordy whispered out of the side of her mouth. She hadn't been around as long as everyone else. She wasn't used to the silent conversions.
"Ignore them." Ron replied with a sigh, "they do this all the time." Lupin, Sirius and Luna nodded. Lupin's team had met up with Harry and the rest on the second floor and together the teams had dropped ten Death Eaters, with barely a whisper to mark their passing.
"For your information, Ronald," Hermione hissed exasperatedly, "I was discussing the possibility of this being a trap with Harry. He said he didn't feel Malfoy's presence and I was agreeing with him, though we both agreed he could be masking it. We then discussed spiting the team back up to cover more ground, and decided that we couldn't risk it in case this was a trap...satisfied?" He eyes glinted dangerously in the light from the torches sporadically lighting the hallway. Ron just nodded; Hermione annoyed was dangerous. Hermione annoyed while engaged in an active operation that had the possibility of getting Harry hurt was closer to a force of nature.
"Where to then?" Lupin asked, but not before flicking a sidelong glance at Ron. Behind them, a Death Eater blundered around the corner. He opened his mouth to shout, but before he could get the sound out, a blade flashed and he was being dragged behind a pillar before his body was envesco'ed.
"Dungeon I guess." Harry muttered, "most logical place to keep a prisoner." He glanced down at his watch, and pressed the button that activated the light charm. "Ok, let's go...Sirius take Cordy go on ahead, check the passages to the side so we don't get jumped. The pair nodded and SHIFTED. A large black dog faded into the gloom, a large raven flapping silently above him. "Moony, can you and Tonks keep our backsides clear?"
"Yeah, Harry...they won't get through." Lupin and Tonks, slunk off to the corner they had just past. They tapped four agents on the shoulder as they went and the SG-1 operatives fell in with them.
"Luna?" Hermione inquired, waving around the hall. Luna shook her head, indicating her talents hadn't sensed anything either. Not surprising since she hadn't been able to even find the place with her particular talents. "Fine then, lets go." The group set off again, Lupin and his team trailing quite a bit behind so as to discourage any visitors from the rear. Off to the side, Harry heard a brief rustling sound, followed a second later by Sirius' hushed voice on the wireless reporting another two Death Eaters incapacitated.
Mione? Harry shot over, not stopping in his furtive movement forward.
Yeah? Hermione replied as she held her wand on the palm of her hand and whispered "point me down." The wand spun for a second before indicating the way to the stairs to the dungeon.
This still isn't right...Harry whispered, his eyes flicked to his left and met hers for a moment. You and I together, maybe just one of us, could have handled what we've seen so far. Blimey, Dumbledore could have walked down the center of the hall, whistling Weasley is our King. Where are the front line forces...the X'Sheen, Dementors, werewolves...most of these guys would have been a match, maybe, for a DA member in fifth year.
Hermione just returned a noncommittal gesture as they reached the stairs to the dungeon. The group slipped down them, the silence only broken by the occasional squeak of a boot on damp, polished smooth by the centuries, stone or the scrape of a piece of equipment on the stone walls. The dungeons were even dimmer than the halls above. All of the cell doors they passed were dark and abandoned, with neither guard nor prisoner present to contest their passage.
Finally after several long, tense minutes, Cordelia's raven form appeared at Harry's shoulder and SHIFTED into her small frame. "Up ahead," she whispered, as she crouched next to Harry, Hermione and Ron. "Around the corner, a cell with two Death Eaters outside, we couldn't get close enough to see inside, but it is lit. Sirius is watching." Harry nodded.
"Hermione and I will take care of this." Harry decided quickly, Kitty time. Hermione rolled her eyes. A blue glow flickered in them, and she SHIFTED. It had been a shock to her one day, when she had been messing around with Harry, tickling and rolling on the floor, when she had meant to shift to her animagus form, and ended up as a...lioness. Years ago, Harry had speculated during the aftermath of Arthur's attack by Nagini, that he had become a snake because of his link to Voldemort, and Voldemort surely was a snake as an animal. In that particular case, he hadn't been correct, Harry's link wasn't that tight to the late Dark Lord, however his link to Hermione was and hers to him.
Ron's jaw dropped as he saw Hermione's dark chestnut lion form looking expectantly at Harry. Harry shrugged at his friend and SHIFTED. A pair of brilliant emerald orbs flicked up to Ron the pair of big cats vanished into the hall. Soft footpads slapped the stones, and eased up to stand on either side of Sirius' Grim form. The giant black dog did a slightly comical double take as he found a lion on stationed off either shoulder. His dog head indicated the two Death Eaters and nodded. A giant, black-furred and maned head repeated the gesture.
Synchronized to the millisecond, Harry and Hermione took one, two, three bounding leaps, their cat paws slapping the stone floor almost silently and bounded once more. Three-inch claws extended and both Death Eaters fell to the floor, their throats gone. Harry's eyes glowed blue and the door clicked open. He and Hermione eased in as Harry pushed the door open with his head and froze.
Sprawled on the old stones, which were covered in dirt, straw and dark brownish stains that Harry didn't want to think about, Ginny's crumpled figure was sprawled on top of another; very familiar one. He and Hermione slipped forward, SHIFTING back to their human forms as they went and walked closer with their wands extended. Slowly Ginny raised her head to them, and Hermione gasped as she finally recognized Neville, unconscious under Ginny. "I'm sorry" Ginny croaked and passed out.
***************************The Burrow*********************************
11:30 pm
Molly Weasley walked into the front room of the Burrow trailed by a floating tray carrying several mugs of hot chocolate and a plate of freshly baked cookies. She smiled to herself as she took in the scene before her. Normally she would have sent them to bed long, long ago, and chastised their parents for letting them stay up this late, but tonight she hadn't the heart. Six children with a sea of black, red, blonde and brown hair filled the room, all crowed around some odd construction they were building with a set of magical tinkertoys. The slightly glowing knobs and pulsing orange joints were currently being put to use making a cage for Crookshanks and Spooky. Both kneazles seemed to be rather reluctantly tolerant of the situation. Hedwig and Pig were perched near the top the room, both looking as if they could, they would laugh out loud at their fellow familiars situation.
She set the tray down and as Elliot turned to her, his mouth already opening, a horrible klaxon echoed in the house. Molly's stomach dropped and as one all the kids looked up, Lupin and Tonks' kids, Abigail and Xander glancing at each other and jumping up from behind the couch. Emilia and Horatio grabbed Harriet and jerked her from the floor and they ran to stand with Molly, they screamed inarticulately as the door crashed open and Molly pointed her wand shakily at the door. Robert Mulkin fell in the door, he had been on duty as the commander of tonight's detail, "Molly the floo, get them out, they've a ward up..." he slumped to the ground, unconscious.
Molly spun to the fire and tossed a pinch of floo powder in the hearth. Her heart stopped in horror as it did not light. OH GOD, she thought as her lip trembled and her knees shook slightly. "Children come here..." Her sentence did not finish before the door exploded inwards. The children screamed as one as black-hooded figures came though the door. "STUPEFY" Molly snapped, the spell whined off into ceiling as it was blocked almost absently by the lead Death Eater.
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS" the searing bolt snapped out, freezing Molly and knocking her from her feet. A ginger streak hurtled from the side; Crookshanks hit the back of a chair and launched into the second Death Eater through the door. He fell back, blinded. Crookshanks used him a springboard, and launched at a third Death Eater, maiming that one in his surprise. He sprung again, and went flying into the back wall with a loud crunch as a red bolt came from the next room and knocked him back. Another red bolt skeeted Hedwig out of the sky as she dove on a Death Eater.
Xavier Hamilton strode into the room, pausing at the Auror, "AVADA KEDAVRA" the green bolt slammed into the Auror with a rushing sound; he stopped breathing and went utterly limp. He smiled darkly at the children, the defenseless children of his greatest enemies and laughed. He pointed his wand, "SOMNUS" All six collapsed to the floor. "Take them away." He snapped at the Death Eaters following him, as he walked over to Molly, "Tell Potter, it was good of your daughter to lure them away for us." He laughed harshly as Molly's eyes bulged in her sockets and with a further dark chuckle he walked out of the room.
A/N: I know it's a cliffhanger. It won't be the last. Its my fault really, I made it so that their biggest
strength was also their biggest weakness. Next Chapter: we find out, just where the hell Dumbledore is and maybe why.
The Ministry, the burrow and a flashback to a happier time. Stay tuned.