Unofficial Portkey Archive

Harry Potter sat tensely in his dark bedroom at Illustris. His fists were clenched on top of his knees and his eyes were shut tightly. Bitter thoughts flew through his mind and the urge to scream at the top of his lungs kept coming to him.

Only the night before, Professor McGonagall had come to the Heirs' Common Room and had broken the terrible news of Ron and Hogwarts to them all. When she had finished, Ginny had burst into tears and fled into her room. Draco had made to follow her but thought better and retreated to his room as well.

Horrorstruck, Hermione had turned to Harry for comfort but had found none. He sat motionless and coldly shrugged her off before standing up. A few choice words had been shared between them before Hermione left angrily.

Now Harry was all alone and awful thoughts of what was being done to Ron kept racing through his head. He had been up the whole night, tossing and turning before giving up and getting ready for classes. Dawn was just starting to break through the clouds, which was obvious because of the gray light now filtering through his window. It was another day, a new day, but all Harry felt inside of him was blind rage. The last time he had felt this angry was just after Sirius had died.

Harry couldn't stand being in his room any more. He rose quickly, grabbing his bag full of books and scraps of parchment, before he left his room, walked through the Common Room, and exited through the portrait entrance. He was headed for the Main Hall for breakfast, knowing most of the teachers would already be there.

As he entered the Hall, he saw Professor Dumbledore seated at one of the tables with Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall. A deep annoyance filled Harry at the sight of the wise wizard, who looked up and smiled at him. Ignoring Dumbledore, Harry sat down in his seat and grabbed some toast, reaching for a copy of the Daily Prophet at the same time.

A loud noise of disgust rose up in his throat as he read the headline: Mysterious Disappearance of Hogwarts Student Leads to Questions.

Harry threw the paper down without even reading the article, suddenly losing his appetite. He shot a glance at Dumbledore, who was looking grim as he read the paper Harry refused to look at. As the wizard simply lowered the paper with a sigh and no comment, Harry felt a strong surge of anger that was double of what he had felt in his room.

He shot out of his seat just as the other three Heirs walked into the Hall. In a loud voice that echoed off the stone walls, he caused everyone to freeze in place and stare at him.

"How could you?! You swore you would do everything to protect him and where is he now? With VOLDEMORT who is most likely torturing him! Why, Dumbledore, WHY? Is it some plan you have, to make the Heirs suffer as much as possible? How dare you! First you allow Sirius to die and now Ron will most likely die! How can I trust you anymore? I don't think I want to!"

A gasp from Hermione made Harry whirl around to stare at her angrily, his green eyes flashing.

"Don't say that, Harry," she whispered, clutching her bag to her side.

"IT'S ALL HIS FAULT!" Harry screamed, pointing an accusing finger at Dumbledore.

When Harry spoke those words and flung his hand out, a spark of energy erupted from him and the windows around the Hall shattered from the magical intensity within the room. A great gust of wind suddenly entered and almost knocked everyone but Harry over, who merely stood still and continued to glare, his eyes a very unnatural shade of green.

"Stop, Harry, stop!" Hermione cried desperately as she tried to run toward him.

Harry shut his eyes and slumped his shoulders, the wind coming to an abrupt end. He finally looked up at Hermione, tears shimmering his eyes. She took a tentative step forward and reached out her hand.

"Harry?" she said quietly.

He shuddered and looked away again. His gaze fell on a shocked McGonagall, a seething Snape, and a very disappointed Dumbledore. Not being able to stand their looks, Harry waved his hand and immediately the shards of glass replaced themselves in the windows. Hermione's jaw dropped open at her boyfriend's display of wandless magic and she spoke again.

"Oh, Harry, how…."

"Leave me alone, Hermione," he snapped before walking around her and marching out of the Hall.

Draco and Ginny gaped at him as he left, completely speechless. Hermione put her hands to her face and fought the urge to cry. She lifted her head and looked at Dumbledore for answers.

"Be strong," Professor Dumbledore said, rising from his seat. "You must all be strong. The very Key that is almost within your grasp is being threatened."

And he left them all to ponder his words.

………………………

Harry stormed through the corridors of Illustris after his breakdown in the Main Hall. He wanted to be as far from everyone as he could get. As his anger began to recede, sadness and despair settled into him. He felt the need to just curl up and cry, his shoulders slumping further the farther he walked.

As his eyes drifted to the windows lining the corridor he was walking though, Harry suddenly realized where he was. The Hall of Mirrors.

He stopped in front of one of the ornate mirrors, shuddering a bit at how menacing the liquefied glass was. He couldn't stop himself from reaching out a tentative hand though, somehow drawn to the unique beauty of the mirror.

"I wouldn't do that, Potter," a low voice drawled to his left.

Harry's hand shot backwards and he turned his head to see Draco walking towards him. Sighing deeply, the black haired wizard gazed at the mirror once more.

"And why not?" he said shortly.

Draco finally reached his side and said, "Because, they're dangerous."

"Like you would know," Harry sneered.

"Oh, I do know. You don't want to touch that, Potter, bad things will happen."

Harry took a few steps away and looked at Draco once more.

"Why are you following me?"

"You put on quite a show back there, Harry. You have Hermione and Ginny reduced to tears, Snape in a raging temper, McGonagall speechless, and Dumbledore, well, he's harder to read. What were you thinking, blowing out the windows like that?" Draco raised a curious eyebrow.

"I didn't do it on purpose," Harry snapped. "Now why don't you act like everyone else and leave me alone?"

Draco glared at him with icy eyes. "Since when do I act like anyone else or when do I take orders from you? You may be the bloody leader of us Heirs but you don't rule me, Potter. Get your head out of your arse or I'll be forced to say Dumbledore was right, you're jeopardizing our chances of winning this War."

Harry snorted. "Me? I'm jeopardizing our chances? You're the one who's so bloody fascinated with these Passim Mirrors. What's to say you don't have a plan to betray us all?"

Draco's eyes narrowed into slits and his breathing came out harsher. He took an intimidating step toward Harry, who stood his ground.

"Shut up, Scar Head," he spat. "We may have a truce but keep saying things like that and all the trust we built up will be broken. For your sake, I'm sorry about Weasley's kidnapping but it's no one fault except Voldemort's. You want to risk everything we've worked on in the past months, fine, go ahead. I thought you were better than that though."

Harry's jaw fell open in shock before he turned on his heel and marched away. Draco stared after him, feeling slightly sad. He looked at the Passim Mirror before him and a discomforting thought crept through his mind.

"Soon," he whispered, "they will think me worse than Potter. How funny it is that he guessed the truth. I hope they will understand."

…………………………

Several hours later, Ginny found Harry up on the balcony of the West End Tower. She had suspected he had gone there after not showing up to any of the Heirs' classes that day. He was leaning against the stone wall, his eyes closed and dried tear marks shining on his cheeks.

Ginny immediately thought of how wrong the whole situation was. Ron wasn't supposed to be kidnapped by Voldemort. Hogwarts wasn't supposed to divide. And Harry wasn't supposed to be separating himself from the others, becoming angry and hateful. He was threatening so much, everything the Heirs had fought for. Ginny was determined to not let him break them.

"Hello, Ginny," Harry's tired voice broke through her thoughts. "I had a feeling you'd find me here."

"Yes," she said softly, sitting down next to him.

Harry opened his eyes but didn't look at her. "I was quite a prat today, wasn't I?"

"Well, at least you can admit it," she said.

Harry laughed bitterly and continued looking at his hands. "I'm sorry. I'm just so…hurt. Ron's my best mate, the first one who befriended me at Hogwarts, after Hagrid. Voldemort's using him to get to me, us. He's in danger and I'm just so angry. I can't lose him like I lost Sirius."

Ginny laid a hand on his shoulder. "It hurts me too, Harry. He's my brother and I love him. But you can't let that anger control you nor can you take it out on everyone. It could destroy the Key we're working so hard to achieve."

"You're sounding a bit like Draco," Harry said in amusement.

Ginny smiled. "I guess I'm starting to rub off on him. But he was right, we have to stay strong. Don't you remember everything Dumbledore told us before we arrived here?"

It was the wrong thing to say. At the mention of Dumbledore's name, Harry stiffened and pulled away from Ginny. She dropped her hand and stared at him in disbelief.

"Don't say his name," Harry said coldly, standing up.

Ginny's eyes flashed. "Harry Potter, don't be a prat again. It's not Dumbledore's fault, whatever you may think."

"Yes it is!" Harry yelled, gripping the stone ledge hard, his knuckles cracking.

"No, Harry, Dumbledore caused nothing. You trusted him when we first became Heirs, why can't you trust him now?"

"Because he's taken everyone I've ever loved away from me," Harry whispered, bowing his head.

Ginny sighed and somewhere within her, she felt a deep pain settling. It was like a strain was being put on her mind and body. Not knowing how she knew, Ginny understood what it meant.

"Oh, Harry," she said, standing herself. "Don't you feel it? You're straining the bond we have by doing this. I know you can feel it. The more you fight with each of us, the more you will stretch the bond until it breaks and we have to start over again. Don't, Harry, please don't. Don't let Voldemort win."

Tears splashed down her cheeks as Harry didn't answer and giving up, she descended back into the Common Room. She saw Hermione and Draco sitting in chairs opposite of each other, both of them looking as if they were under a great strain as well.

Hermione looked up at the red-head as she entered the room. "What's happening?" she gasped.

"Harry's anger is threatening the bond we've formed. It started with his display in the Main Hall, kept up with Draco, and now with me, we're all starting to finally notice it. Dumbledore explained the whole thing to me awhile ago. If one of us no longer trusts the others, the bond becomes strained. It can be repaired if that one regains the trust before it is too late."

Draco was frowning at her words and Hermione looked frightened.

"But, if it breaks, then everything we've built up will be lost," Hermione said.

"Exactly," Draco nodded. "Potter better get his act together or we'll all fail."

"No, we won't fail," a voice said behind them all.

Draco, Ginny, and Hermione turned their heads to see Harry standing by the door leading to the balcony, looking exhausted and pale. Hermione shot up from her seat and rushed to his side, leading him to a chair by the fire. Harry collapsed into the chair and the others sat around him, waiting for him to speak.

For many minutes Harry said nothing, only staring unblinkingly into the fire. He then started to speak in a low voice.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to put such a strain on our bond nor did I mean to hurt any of you, especially you, Hermione. I was just so angry, I guess mainly at myself for putting Ron into such danger by just being his friend. I blamed Dumbledore because he said he would protect Ron and now he's gone. I didn't have any right to do what I did and for that, I am sorry."

He looked at them all, sadness etched in his green eyes. The others watched him silently, waiting for him to say more.

"I hope I didn't cause too much damage," he said quietly.

Hermione shook her head before wrapping her arms tightly around him. "No, love, it's ok. We'll all be fine."

"Yeah, Potter, no hard feelings," Draco said with a smirk.

Harry laughed a bit and hugged Hermione to him before nodding to Ginny.

"Thanks, Gin, your words got through to me."

"Well, you were being an arse," she replied, smiling.

Everyone laughed as Draco slung an arm around his girlfriend's shoulder and said, "That's my girl."

And though the bond of the Heirs had been strained, the Key was not completely lost. Dumbledore smiled to himself as he sat in his study. All hope was not gone yet.

……………………

Ron struggled helplessly in his bindings as Voldemort inched closer to him, that cruel smile never leaving his thin lips. He felt weak, sore, and hungry. Days were blending into each other, each one filled with pain and loneliness. Torture seemed to be Voldemort's favorite past time for Ron had lost count of how many times the Cruciatus Curse had been performed on him. What was so strange was that no questions had been asked of Ron, no information forced out of him, it was simply torture.

Voldemort paused a few steps away from him, the tip of his wand centimeters from Ron's forehead. Ron fell motionless and shut his eyes quickly as the wand waved in front of him. But the gag in his mouth merely fell loose and he spit it out in relief, licking his dry and cracked lips.

Staring bravely up at the most evil wizard in history, Ron croaked out, "What do you want…..with me?"

Voldemort laughed sharply, causing the hair on the back of Ron's neck to stand on end. Pointing his wand once more at his forehead, the Dark Lord answered.

"I need you for a very important mission, Mister Weasley. A certain Prophecy must be within my grasp so I can learn how to control and defeat the Heirs. And only you are able to help me in achieving this goal."

He paused and stepped even closer to Ron, who tried to scoot away but found it impossible to do.

"And you will help me, Mister Weasley, or you shall die like your pitiful excuse for a brother."

Ron gave a yell of anger and started to struggle against the black cords again. Voldemort laughed and stood up straight, backing up a few paces.

"I think a little more torture is in order, what do you think?"

And the curse was upon Ron before he could realize it. His screams of agony filled the air, only overpowered but Voldemort's high, cruel laughter.

.....................

Author's Note: Thank you for all the amazing reviews I keep getting! You guys are wonderful! Thank you, thank you! I hope you liked this update, I didn't want to break the bond of the Heirs after all the work they went through but I wanted to show a slight strain because of the anger Harry possesses. I'm not sure if it's my best chapter but I'm happy with how it turned out. I'm sorry about the lack of H/Hr and D/G action lately. This story is now getting into the action/adventure stuff more and I'm finding it harder to fit in the romance. I will have more coming though in the future, so bear with me for a while! I hope not many of you were diappointed with Ginny going to talk to Harry in the chapter. I didn't want it to be Hermione because it's very cliche with her going to help him ALL of the time. Harry and Ginny are friends and I wanted to show her helping him as well. So, that's why it was written like that. :)
I do hope you found this chapter enjoyable and I hope I updated quick enough for all of you! The next chapter will be out soon and is centered around the helpers from the different Houses finally coming to Illustris like Dumbledore promised. Be on the look-out for that sometime in the next couple of days! Please review this chapter!!
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