Unofficial Portkey Archive

Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the 'Harry Potter' universe, nor do I make any claim to the lyric bits that I use.

A/N: I told a few reviewers that we'd be getting to the confrontation with Ginny this chapter. Unfortunately, my mind wandered into a totally different direction as I was writing. We do find out a bit about what's going on with poor ol' Tommy Riddle, and we have some nice interaction between Harry and Kotone. I know a lot of you love the little half-witch, so this should give you a nice demon fix! There's a bit of a cliffie here… sorry about that, but the chapter was getting a but lengthy, and the resolution to the situation would take many more pages to resolve. Again, I'd like to remind the readers that I do not answer the reviews on FFdotNET… there are simply not enough of them… there was a stretch of three chapters where I didn't even get one! I'll continue posting chapters there, but that's it. For those who don't know the proper pronunciation of Kotone's name, it sounds like 'Cotton-Ay' but most English speakers feel more comfortable pronouncing it "Ko-Toe-Nee.' Just don't pronounce it 'Ko-tone'

-----~-----

Chapter 32: The Koi Pond

Home… is where I want to be, pick me up and turn me round.
I feel numb… burn with a weak heart, I guess I must be having fun.
The less we say about it the better. Make it up as we go along…
Feet on the ground, head in the sky…
It's ok, I know nothing's wrong. Nothing.

We drift in and out…
sing into my mouth…
Out of all those kinds of people, you got a face with a view.
I'm just an animal, looking for a home… share the same space for a minute or two,
and you love me 'till my heart stops.
Love me 'till I'm dead.
Eyes that light up, eyes look through you
Cover up the blank spots, hit me on the head.

Excerpt from the song 'Naïve Melody' by The Talking Heads.

-----~-----

Peter Pettigrew, known to most of his colleagues as 'Wormtail,' was sitting in an antechamber just off from the entrance to his master's quarters. His eyes were trained on a spider in a corner near the ceiling, who was busy spinning a web in order to hopefully catch a large enough meal to maybe produce some eggs for a new clutch of spider hatchlings. Wormtail thought that it's whole endeavour was futile… he hadn't seen another insect, flying or not, any of the times he had visited this place. That spider would remain hungry.

He had been sitting on the cold, hewn-stone bench for so long that his haunches felt painfully numb, but he dared not move. The sounds he was hearing from the main chamber caused him to remain seated, frozen in fear.

-~-

Earlier in the day, the Inner Circle of Voldemort's Death Eaters had been summoned to this dreary place. Much to Wormtail's surprise, he was counted amongst them. This was the very first time since his master's return that the entire Inner Circle had been gathered in one place. The many gaps in the ranks of the veteran Death Eaters left by those who had been captured during the recent raids, and most conspicuously, the fugitive Severus Snape, were left unfilled, a reminder to those present the price of failure, carelessness, or in Snape's case, foolishness. All of the Death Eaters present remembered the fate of Igor Karkaroff. Many who were present in the room were the ones that eventually tracked him down.

It was at this meeting where Voldemort finally realized that Snape must have absconded with the younger Malfoy, as evidenced in the ill-fated raid upon the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. As it turned out, the information that indicated the whereabouts of the minor Malfoy was supplied by Snape, but relayed anonymously through a lower ranked Death Eater. The attempted raid on the Headquarters was viewed as a trap, because according to that morning's Daily Prophet, the Ministry's aurors captured the entire group just outside of… 'the place.' None of those present, not even Voldemort himself, could remember the name of the place, or even where it was located, save for that it was somewhere in London.

Many of Wormtail's gathered comrades were visibly subdued, namely, the ones that had their children accompany the raid, which was supposed to be a simple initiation mission. None of those present dared inquire about that was to be done to retrieve their children. He noticed that Lucius Malfoy was particularly distressed, although he tried very hard not to show it. When it was his turn to give his report on the search for Snape, his voice carried none of its' usual fluid silkiness, but seemed rather tense and distracted. Wormtail couldn't really blame the man, having his son missing, and then finding out about the presumed capture of his wife.

After each Death Eater gave their respective reports and received their new commands, they hurriedly left the chamber, anxious to leave their master's presence. Wormtail tried not to pay attention to what those particular orders were… the less he knew, the less trouble he could get into. The less he knew, the happier he usually turned out to be.

He was the final Death Eater to give his report, such as it was. When he was called forward, he approached Voldemort in his usual stooped gait. He tried to keep his eyes averted, but he had to lift his gaze momentarily as he approached and was shocked to see that the skin on his master's face was looking rather scabrous, as if it were about to start peeling away from his bones. He dared not let his gaze linger and quickly returned his eyes to the hem of his master's robes.

Little did either of them know that at that exact moment in time, a hundred miles away in a hidden house in the middle of London, a young Necromancer was just completing a complex exorcism ritual.

Without lifting from his bow, he began to speak, "Master, I have been at the blood traitor's home this entire time, as you ordered… I'm afraid there is little to add since my last report when the Weasley girl was taken away by her brother and her friend. The parents have spent very little time at the house since then and when they are… M-master?"

Wormtail happened to glance up again to try to gauge his master's reaction to his pitiful report when he saw Voldemort's crimson eyes wide open and staring up towards the ceiling. His pale, bony hands tightly gripping the armrests of his chair and his back was arched into an unnatural position. The slits that were his nostrils were flared and his mouth was gaped into silent scream. He looked as though he were being placed under the Cruciatus curse.

Wormtail's head spun around, looking for the offending wand, but he quickly saw that nobody, save for Voldemort himself, was in the room. With a shaking voice, he asked, "Master! What is happening? Tell me what to do!"

A strangled groan escaped Voldemort's thin lips, then a moment later, he let out a gasping breath as his body seemed to ease slightly back into the chair. He rasped out in a voice that was higher than usual in tone, "Wormtail… send Severus in, quickly!"

Wormtail blinked stupidly for a few heartbeats, then let out a surprised gasp, followed immediately by a despairing groan as he realization struck him. With a barely audible squeak of a voice, he said, "But… but, Master… we haven't been able to find Snape yet!"

Voldemort's eyes seemed unfocused, blankly looking around the room, not even once focusing on the cowering rat-man before him.

"Yes, yes… of course, he's still at Hogwarts… then fetch Bella, quickly! Have her come to my chamber… tell her it has happened again…"

Wormtail watched in horror as the taut skin on Voldemort's face began to crack and peel, taking on the appearance of an arid, drying riverbed. Dark brown blood began seeping from the splits in the emaciating skin, but he saw that Voldemort didn't appear to notice.

Wormtail's stomach dropped and he began trembling uncontrollably as he replied in even a more subdued tone, "But… but Master, the… the Ministry has Bellatrix… she was captured at that orphanage… She… she's not here…"

Voldemort's eyes narrowed in confusion as he processed Wormtail's words. A moment later, a look of realization appeared on his face as he jumped unsteadily from the seat and stared at some point beyond where the rat-man was standing. He didn't seem to be aware of Wormtail, who was now looking up fearfully at him while still bent into an uncomfortable bow. Voldemort absently brought his taut, bony hands to his face, feeling along the lines of the cracks that had appeared there.

"I'm running out of time…" he whispered, apparently to himself, "He has my source… He has it… he must have it… and I must get it back. How could I have known back then? How could I have known that he would get the source and leave me clinging to the shard?"

Wormtail had no idea what his master was talking about, but whatever it was, he was sure that he wasn't supposed to hear it. Ignorance is always bliss, but it was too late now. All he could do was to feign deafness and hope his master didn't have the wherewithal to peer into his mind, "What was that, Master? Is there something you need me to do? Whatever it is, I'll do it! Command me, master!"

A scowl shadowed Voldemort's face as he glared down at the sniveling Death Eater, looking as though he just noticed him there. He narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a harsh rasp, "Wormtail, wait outside, there is something I need to attend to."

-~-

Wormtail shifted uncomfortably upon the hard, stone bench and looked back up to the spider that had been building the web. It seems that as his thoughts drifted back into Voldemort's chamber, a wayward wasp stumbled his way into the antechamber and got himself trapped within the newly constructed web. Apparently, the hungry spider was desperate enough to try to take on the trapped wasp. The now motionless spider was hanging from one of the strands by one of her stiff, crooked legs. The wasp, while able to sting the spider before it was bitten and paralyzed, was still trapped within the sticky filaments, becoming even more entangled as it struggled to avoid its inevitable doom.

Wormtail sympathized with the wasp's plight… and he certainly understood the meaning of the word 'Irony.'

-----~-----

Harry sat at the desk in the living room of his quarters at Hogwarts, absently leafing through the various rolls of parchment, old DADA essays that had been abandoned by Snape during his retreat from the castle after killing the Headmaster. He wasn't really reading them, as his concentration was on the little half-witch lying in his bedroom being attended to by the school's resident medi-witch, Madam Pomfrey.

When Kotone had collapsed in the study of Grimmauld Place, he forgot all about Hermione's Necromancy and his cooling breakfast as he scooped the little girl up into his arms and Flooed directly to his quarters at Hogwarts. He set Kotone on his bed, and then ran through the castle to summon the kindly, but certainly much harried medi-witch from the infirmary. He would have carried Kotone to the hospital wing directly, but he still felt weakened by his ordeal with the horcrux, and even in her emaciated state, he wasn't sure he could have made it all the way there with her in tow. There was also his concern about the other occupants of the hospital wing, knowing first-hand of their prejudice and intolerance of beings that are 'different' from them. When he had entered Madam Pomfrey's office, he had to restrain himself from saying or doing anything he would later regret to the youngest Weasley who was still there under medi-witch's care. He would deal with her after Kotone's illness was addressed.

Harry was startled out of his thoughts when his door burst open and Headmistress McGonagall stepped briskly into the room. Harry could see the relief in her eyes the moment her gaze met his, but it was quickly replaced with her standard stern demeanor when she realized that her composure had slipped.

"Mister Potter, I daresay that you and your companions had us all quite concerned. Would you care to tell me what you have been doing these last few days? Has it never occurred to you that there might be a few people who would have liked to know your situation after risking their lives to protect you?"

Harry knew that was true, of course. Hermione had explained to him how, if it weren't for the timely arrival of the Order, and, though he was loathe to admit it, the Ministry's aurors, she wouldn't have had the time to finish the Fidelis at Grimmauld place before the Death Eaters-in-training had overrun the place.

His thoughts turned to Hermione. Maybe he should have left her a note telling her where he'd gone, but that was the last thing on his mind at the time. His only concern was Kotone. Why didn't he notice her condition earlier when he had lifted her from the floor in front of the library? He should have known then! What was he thinking? He had no business being her guardian if he couldn't even tell if she was sick. What on earth ever led him to believe that he could be a good father figure for the little girl? She deserved better than him. Maybe Mrs. Weasley was right… what did he know about raising a child? With every passing thought, his heart sank deeper and deeper.

"Mr. Potter! Have you heard even one word of what I've been saying? You must leave here as soon as possible!"

Broken out of his bitter thoughts by McGonagall's voice, his focus returned to her, "What? I'm sorry, but…"

With an exasperated glare, she urgently said, "You waltzed through the hospital wing not an hour ago! Did you not notice all of those people in the beds there? One of those patients works for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement… and he was seen sending off a messenger spell shortly after you left there with Madam Pomfrey. I'm quite confident that he wasn't sending off a birthday greeting to the Minister!"

Grasping the seriousness of the situation, he said, "Can't you make me Professor Buck again? It wouldn't be strange to have him walking around the castle."

"That transfiguration only lasted a few hours last time, and we haven't had the time to investigate why it wore off so quickly. Do you really want to take the chance and have it wear off in the middle of a conversation with an auror?"

McGonagall gave Harry a pointed look and she saw him just morosely nod in agreement. She watched as his distressed gaze drifted back towards his bedroom door where the little half-witch was being tended to. She felt an ache in her heart as she saw the despairing look on the young man's face.

The door to his bedroom opened and Madam Pomfrey stepped into the room, followed by Kotone, who had her mask tucked under her arm and looked extremely weak.

"Did you find out what's wrong with her?" Harry asked anxiously.

Madam Pomfrey looked ill-at-ease as she spoke, "I believe I have. Her physiology is quite different from what I'm used to, but according to my examination, she hasn't eaten anything in well over a week, although she assured me that she had… 'something…' a few days ago, but even still, going days without eating is something that should be avoided for someone her age."

Harry looked surprised at the matron's words, "You mean that she's been starving?"

"That's exactly what I mean," stated Madam Pomfrey. She paused for a moment, and then continued with a strangely disturbed look on her face, "I gave her a strengthening solution, but that is hardly a cure. I now know that she has 'special' dietary needs, so we can't pop down to the kitchens to get her a bacon sandwich. It seems that she feeds off the life forces of living animals, but I'm afraid that our house elves do not stock hedgehogs and the like in their larders. Since it would be ill-advised to bring her hunting in the woods near to the castle, I'd suggest that you take her somewhere where she can hunt easily. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other patients to attend to."

McGonagall noticed that Harry had only heard half of what Poppy was saying. She saw the surprise and anger in his eyes when he discovered what exactly was wrong with the girl. She was about to offer a word of encouragement for him when he suddenly spoke.

"Professor, is there any way the Order can watch over Kotone for me. I don't want the ministry getting her again, but I'm not… I… I don't think I'm such a good parent…" He said this with an odd, monotone voice with a look on his face that suggested that his heart was being ripped from his chest. Kotone's eyes widened in surprise as she let out a distressed growl.

McGonagall certainly didn't expect that request from Harry. She understood why he asked, but also knew that it would be one of the biggest mistakes of his life. At one time not long ago, she would have agreed with him, but she had seen first hand how much he cared for Kotone, and more importantly, how much Kotone cared for him. It was clear to her that they needed each other. She also knew what he was going through with Misses Granger and Weasley, and the last thing Harry needed was yet another loss in his life.

Pushing down her emotions and hoping they didn't sound through her voice, she said, "I'm sorry, Mister Potter, but the Order has far too much on their hands already, and I'm afraid that 'playing babysitter' is an activity we can hardly spare resources on."

Harry had to suppress a bitter retort about how they didn't seem to have a problem finding 'resources' to 'baby-sit' him for years, except when he desperately needed babysitting when he was being tortured by the Dursleys. Instead, he just pretended to understand and simply nodded in reply.

Noticing the wetness building in Kotone's eyes, Harry bent down to her and said, "The only reason I asked is because I don't seem to be taking very good care of you. I care for you very much, but I believe you deserve better than what I can give you. I spent years being starved at Dursley's, so I know… nobody deserves that, especially someone as sweet as you."

"What are you talking about, Potter?" said McGonagall, clearly shocked by his statement, "Are you saying that your family didn't feed you properly?"

Harry turned to McGonagall and let out a derisive laugh, then said, "Well, they fed me table scraps, mostly… whatever by uncle and cousin left on their plates, which usually wasn't much. My uncle didn't like the charred fat on his meats, and Dudley used to trim the crust from his bread, so that's what I'd be given to eat while I washed the dishes and cookware before they'd shove me back in my cupboard for the night."

"Cupboard?" asked McGonagall, looking as though she were about to be ill, "They… they made you sleep in a cupboard?"

"Yeah, the small one under the stairs to the second floor. They'd only let me out to do chores or to go to school. I thought you people would have known all about that… you've had someone watching me all those years, haven't you? Surely Dumbledore knew, he even scolded my relatives about it when he picked me up from my house last year."

"I… honestly, Harry, I had no idea!" McGonagall continued in a whisper to herself, "I told him. I told him they were the worst kind of muggles! He never should have left him there!"

It wasn't often that McGonagall wore anything other than her usual stern expression, so seeing the appalled look on her face made Harry turn away in embarrassment. He hated the idea of people pitying him, but he honestly thought she knew how he had lived at the Dursleys. He thought that all of the Order members knew.

Wanting to get off the topic of his former life, Harry spoke, "Please… do the transfiguration for me. I need to be here for a short while longer, and I need to speak to… Professor Dumbledore… after I take care of Kotone, that is."

McGonagall gave Harry a wary look, but relented and drew her wand to change him into Professor Buck. Again, the transformation was flawed, just as it was the time before, but it was certainly enough to conceal his identity. McGonagall just shook her head and said as she headed out through the door, "I'll be in my office, come along after you've sorted out your charge. In the meantime, I'll be having a few choice words with Albus, myself!"

After McGonagall left, Harry knelt before Kotone. He was feeling quite perturbed at Ron and Luna, and even at himself, but especially towards Hermione, partly from of the elixir's lingering effects, and partly because she should have known to keep watch over the little girl while he was incapacitated. He tried not to show his anger as he asked Kotone, "Why haven't you been eating?"

Kotone looked down at her feet as she answered in her deep, gravelly voice, "I'sa so sorry, Shishi-san, but not to find any to eat in house. Rat and mouse not to find food in house, so they do not enter… and they have fear of me, so to keep away."

Harry thought for a moment about where to take Kotone to eat. She didn't really look like she was up to chasing rats around the castle's dungeons. A thought occurred to him, and he wondered if the 'come and go' room would be able to produce what she needed.

Several minutes later, Harry and Kotone were standing in front of the blank stretch of wall opposite from the moving tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy. Harry explained to her, "Just think of a place where you can eat while passing this spot three times. A room will appear giving you what you want."

Kotone paused in thought for a few moments before she did as she was told, and on her third pass, the familiar door appeared. Harry smiled at her and said, "Go ahead… open it."

When Kotone opened the door, she let out a loud gasp and exclaimed, "Yokatta koto!" (My goodness!)

Kotone immediately shoved the mask that she was carrying into Harry's hands, dropped down on all fours and darted in through the doorway. Harry stepped in front of the open door and looked inside to see a rather large room, with thick, amber-coloured rice paper walls that had decorations of tapestry-like hangings and tastefully made drawings of birds and flowers. The floor was covered with an assortment of beige tatami mats, with elongated, pillowy cushions resting along one of the walls. There was an open sliding door on the opposite wall that appeared to lead out to a scenic water garden. He could just see the large stone water basin with a nearby 'deer chaser,' a water-driven device that makes a rhythmic knocking sound as the water flows into a small reservoir, then empties causing a lever to strike a bamboo tube.

The most noticeable thing about the room was the throng of scampering, squealing rodents that were scurrying all over the place, trying to escape the small half-demon who was happily darting after them. There was an assortment of rats and mice, but also hamsters, guinea pigs, squirrels, and a bunch of other rodents that he couldn't readily identify, all chaotically dashing around on the floor.

Harry entered the room and closed the main door behind him. Not really wanting to watch Kotone while she ate, he crossed the small room and went into the garden, sitting on a large rock that was set next to the koi pond. He marveled at the detail that the Room of Requirement provided. There were large water lilies floating in the pond, and just below the surface, he could see several large goldfish swimming lazily by. Even the trees surrounding the pond made a pleasant rustling sound as a soft, warm breeze glided through the leaves. He could even hear the chirping of the birds that were nestled in the branches, giving a serene atmosphere to the area.

Harry could also hear the terrified squeals and the loud crunching of Kotone's breakfast. He tried to ignore those sounds as he stared at the unfamiliar reflection of himself in the pond for a few moments before he slid down from the rock and laid back on the soft grass. He laid Kotone's mask in the grass by his side and closed his eyes, listening to the breeze rustling the leaves, the trickling of the many bamboo water spouts, and the rhythmic knocking of the deer chaser. Soon, his body and facial features relaxed as he fell into a peaceful sleep.

-----~-----

Kotone was sitting on the floor inside of the room with a large brown squirrel in one hand, a pair of hamsters in the other, and a particularly delicious looking rat wrapped securely in her tail. She popped both of the squirming hamsters into her wide mouth as if they were marshmallows and began happily chewing, feeling the energy given by the animals' life forces coursing through her.

When her Shishi said that the room would become whatever she wanted, she naturally thought of a place loaded with food, but she couldn't help adding that she needed to see her home in Japan one last time. She was happily surprised that the room gave her exactly what she asked for.

She sat relishing the taste of the squirming morsels as she looked out through the door at her Shishi, sleeping peacefully in the grass outside. She was mildly surprised when she saw his physical appearance slowly reverting back to how he normally looked, although the bison's transfiguration did nothing to change his soul's lion form. Apparently, the changes the bison had made to his appearance become undone whenever he fell asleep.

She looked around the very familiar room she was sitting in. As she stuffed the wriggling squirrel into her mouth, her eyes fell on a small table in the corner, upon which sat a set of pictures that she hadn't seen in years. She was amazed that the room could so closely duplicate every detail of her former home. She stood and walked towards the table, snatching a panicked gerbil from the floor on her way.

She lifted the first picture and looked at it longingly. It was a larger, cleaner copy of the same picture that she kept in her trunk. She watched her mother standing motionlessly beside her husband, and could just see the younger image of herself peeking out from behind her mother's kimono. She placed the photo back on the table, and after munching down the gerbil, she lifted the second picture from the table.

This picture was of her mother, looking down lovingly at the infant Kotone in her arms. She couldn't help but smile at her mother's caring expression, similar to the way her Shishi looked at her at times. Her heart fell just a little bit as she thought of his words to the bison about having someone else take care of her. She knew that he felt guilty about her not being able to eat, but it wasn't his fault, or anybody's fault, really. Things were just how things were. She understood the danger that they were in. She wasn't stupid, even though she tried very hard not to allow others to discover exactly how much she really knows about what's going on around her. She knew what she was, and knew of her inherited Oni responsibilities, no matter how much she wished that she wasn't saddled with those responsibilities. She hoped that her Shishi would understand when the time comes… a time that was rapidly approaching.

Her eyes finally fell on the third picture. She set down the one in her hand and picked up the last photo, which appeared to be an image of a rural road lined with blossoming cherry trees. She reached down the front of her ragged gray nightdress and grabbed her wand that was nestled between her breasts.

She tapped the tip of her wand to the picture, which in turn shimmered for a moment before revealing a figure standing in the middle of the road. The man was impossibly tall, wearing long, pure white robes made of some unknown type of fur. His flowing white hair swayed in the breeze, partially covering the roguishly handsome features of his face. She could also see portions of his white, feathery wings that were folded behind him, the tops of which loomed over his shoulders while the tips just barely touched the ground beneath him. This was the only photo of her father in existence… her Oni father… the father she had never met in person, only in her frequent dreams.

Only in her dreams… where she gets her advice and instructions. She was foretold of the sacrifices that she was expected to make, and wasn't looking forward to them at all. She was told to stay near her lion, to guide and protect him, but she felt that she was doing a miserable job of it, much in the same way she knew her Shishi felt about his caring for her.

The apoplectic wriggling and squealing of the terrified rat that was bound by her tail finally distracted her from staring at her true father's picture. She didn't bother masking the figure in the photo as she placed it back on the table… her adopted father was no longer alive to see it. That realization reminded her that this wasn't her real house, just an illusion created by this wonderful and terrible room. She finally lifted her tail to her mouth, putting an abrupt end to the rat's pathetic wailing.

Kotone replaced her wand under her nightdress between her breasts and then absently rubbed her distended belly as she walked to the sliding door that led to the water garden. She sat next to her Shishi and watched him sleep. She studied his relaxed features and smiled to herself. He wasn't handsome, but he certainly wasn't homely. He had a small, wiry frame, and eyes that always seemed tired, as though they had already seen far too much of life's trials. He was very thin, his hair was always a mess and he rarely smiled.

However, nobody knew better than she that physical appearances had nothing to do with a person's soul, and the soul of the person sleeping in front of her was simply beautiful. Even with the presence of the dokuja, (poisonous serpent) the essence of his true soul was pure, without a trace of evil.

Kotone was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice that Harry had awoke and was looking back at her. She was actually startled when he spoke to her.

"Have you finished eating already?"

Kotone picked up her mask and affixed it to her lower face before answering with a bow and a smile, "Yes, I cannot eat another bite! Thank you for bringing me here, the hamsters were especially delicious… and thank you for letting me see my home again."

Harry looked back at the building for the first time and instantly recognized the pagoda-style house from Kotone's photograph of her and her parents.

Harry stood up and said, "Well, we can come back here later if you get hungry again, but we're going to have to find another way of feeding you when we're not here at Hogwarts."

Kotone smiled and nodded, then reached up to Harry, who instinctively lifted her up against his side and walked into the house. Seeing that there were still a small army of scurrying rodents darting all over the room, he drew his wand and transfigured one of the cushions on the floor to a metal cage, then began stunning some of the rodents. Once the cage was filled with a variety of unconscious animals, he pocketed his wand, lifted the cage and carried it, along with Kotone, to the exit.

"We'll make a quick stop at the headmistress's office so I can talk to… the former headmaster, then we'll head home."

Kotone snuggled even closer to Harry, slightly tightening the grip of her various appendages. She sighed, and then quietly breathed against his shoulder, "Home…"

A smile appeared on Harry's face as he opened the door to return to the castle proper, but it instantly fell when he saw the people who were waiting just outside the Room of Requirement. He silently thanked Professor McGonagall for performing the transfiguration on him before he left his quarters.

Standing in the hall were two Hit Wizards, who had their wands pointed menacingly at him. They were standing next to a short, plump woman with hair the color of rusty iron and a wide, toad-like face.

"Ah! Just the person we came to see!" Dolores Umbridge simpered before she turned to the wizards beside her, "See? I told you that Potter would be in that room!"

'She called me 'Potter!'' he thought in a panic, 'The transfiguration must have failed!'

He let the cage in his hand drop to the floor and made for his wand, but the Hit Wizards already had their wands at the ready and petrified him before he could even reach the handle. Harry fell heavily to the floor, bringing the frightened Kotone down with him.

Kotone jumped to her feet and ripped off her mask. Standing in front of Harry, she put on the most vicious scowl she could muster and began growling loudly at the Ministry personnel. Umbridge cowered back, obviously terrified of the little half-witch, but the two wizards with her similarly petrified the little girl as they had done with Harry.

The hate shone clearly in Harry's eyes as he glared at Umbridge, who was emboldened by the takedown of both the 'Chosen One' and the dirty half-breed with him. He watched as she reached into his pocket and retrieved his wand.

With a look of extreme satisfaction, Umbridge held Harry's wand in her hands and, with a wheezing grunt, snapped it in half against her meaty leg, saying with a laugh, "No more magic for you, 'O Chosen One!'"

None of those present in the corridor noticed the pair of brown eyes watching the scene from the around the shadowed corner at the end of the hallway.