2003 Normal 2003 1 1 2003-07-14T18:56:00Z 2003-07-14T18:59:00Z 1 7814 42197 351 99 49912 10.2625 21 MicrosoftInternetExplorer4
Title: Forever a Secret (04/?)
Author name: LittleWitch
Author email: littlewitch_br@hotmail.com
Category: Romance
Sub Category: Angst
Keywords: H/Hr Ron Draco Sirius
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF
Summary: The Wizard World was a mysterious place -- full of secrets. Three years after the fall of the
Dark Lord, darkness was still spreading over. A secret was held. A secret that was killing their souls. But they had to
pay the price -- or else the rest of the world would. No matter what, it had to be forever a secret.
DISCLAIMER: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various
publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc.
No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The lyric of the song that appears on
this chapter isn't mine. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The song is
'Weathered' by Creed.
Author notes: Thanks for all the kind reviews. I loved them!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 4: Just a Glimpse
"Knowledge is experience; anything else is just information."
Albert Einstein
**************
"Uh huh... yes, Mum... uh huh, I know... I'm sorry, Mum, but I've been kind of busy lately but I promise..."
Ronald Weasley had just arrived home, carrying a broom over his shoulder and looking all dirty and tired after a hell of a Quidditch practice to find Hermione talking on her annoying little ringing box ...
He still couldn't understand how such a little box could make so much noise without magic...
" ...right, you are right, Mum..." Hermione rolled her eyes at whatever her mother was saying and turned. Noticing him there, she smiled.
Ron loved her smiles. For him, there was nothing better after a tiring practice than coming back home to find Hermione's warming smiles there.
He put his broom down and smiled back at her.
"I know it's family, Mum, but I can't just go to Paris like this..."
He was really glad she was at home and not any other place... he was so tired that he didn't think he would be able to follow her tonight...
After all tonight was supposed to be Harry's turn...
But in the middle of his practice Hedwig had brought a note from Harry, saying that he couldn't make it because he had to stop some dark wizards before they brought the darkness back -- ??? -- Whatever that meant Ron didn't really want to know about it. Harry could deal with the Order of the Phoenix on his own. He had been doing a great job without him and Hermione so why bother. For Ron, those times were over. His last battle with You-Know-Who had been his last battle as a member of the order. Now, his battle were only on the Quidditch Pitch, defending the colours of the Chudley Cannons as a Keeper and as the captain of the team, a position that he owned seeing that his strategies in the Pitch were as good as his strategies on a chessboard.
"... Oh, honestly, Mum... I know that before I was a witch I was a Muggle...no, sorry, Mum, I know you don't like this word...but...yes, Mum..."
In his note, Harry had asked him to not tell Hermione a thing about it. Like he would tell her... Ron would do anything to keep Hermione out of these kind of things...He remembered when she visited him on the hospital wing that time, three years ago, how surprised he had been when she said that she had left The Order -- how surprised and relieved -- He knew that he himself didn't want to stay in that kind of business but if she had stayed in The Order he would, too, for her, to protect her...He would have stayed for Harry, too, but You-Know-Who was finally gone and Harry didn't need his protection after all he was bloody Harry Potter and to tell the truth Harry never really liked the idea of his friends in The Order for the first place...Actually Harry seemed more relieved than him when the two of them were officially declared out of The Order.
As for Hermione, she never really explained her reasons to leave... At the time, Ron presumed she just wanted to stay out the danger and live a more peaceful life as he wanted, but during these last three years, in one way or the other she always ended up helping Harry in his most dangerous crusades, sometimes even getting herself in the middle of the battle field...
"...I'm very proud to be a Granger... of course a Dalloway, too...but..."
So Ron had no intention of letting Hermione know about Harry's problems -- Besides, by now Harry probably had already captured all the bad guys and was most likely celebrating it.
" ...the Burtons are going to be there, aren't they?"
As it was, all Ron needed was a good bath, a hot meal and some anti-sleeping potion so he could spent the rest of the night making sure Hermione stayed at her own bed all night - no escapes...
"Do I really have to go? Can't I just send a card?"
Because of that change of plans, he and Harry would have to rearrange their timetable again... Spying on Hermione sure wasn't an easy thing - he was missing really good parties and possible dates because of that - not to say hours of sleep.
"Okay. Okay. Can't we just discuss this later? We still have a whole month ahead of us. I'll see --"
Hermione froze. The little box slipped away from her hands.
Ron stared at her surprised. He could hear her mother's voice still echoing through the little box but Hermione didn't seem to notice it though. She was staring out of the windows - her eyes were fixed at some unknown place on the horizon -- She was seeing something that others could not see; she was feeling something other could not feel.
"Harry?" she had whispered so low that any one would have missed it.
But Ron heard it. He was about to ask her what was wrong when it happened.
The floor trembled below their feet.
Crookshanks, who had been sleeping till then, let out a loud 'meow' as the picture of the trio that was hanging on the wall above the fireplace crashed on the floor. The sound of plates and glasses breaking traveled through their small flat reaching their ears.
"Hermione!!!" Ron screamed.
"No!!!"
A shelf full of books collided. A part of the ceiling fell down. The pieces of glass from the broken windows were flying everywhere. All the lamps blew up leaving them in a complete darkness.
And at that moment, Ron thought that the world was ending...
****************************
TWO HOURS EARLIER...
"'You already know the answer,' she had said."
"What did she mean with it? He certainly knew nothing of the kind. Did she mean that he already met the one she was in love with? Maybe it was someone he already knew. Some acquaintance. Someone he bumped into everyday. Someone --"
Harry Potter was crossing the long and dark corridors that lead toward the dungeons of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"I'm starting to sound like Ron," he pondered to himself.
But the truth was that Harry Potter couldn't get those five words of his head: 'You already know the answer.'
But he didn't. And why did it bother him so much that he didn't?
In a way he felt like he should know...like he did know... but he didn't. He had been thinking about it the whole week and - Oh! And what a hell of a week...
After their interesting talk by the lake, Harry and Hermione had Apparated back home. There they had found a hysterical Ginny; a crazy Ron trying to stop Crookshanks, who was enjoying himself playing with Ron's chess' pieces; and an exhausted Hedwig carrying a big and suspicious package.
How had this picture ended?
Badly...
Let us just say that in the end Harry was left to deal with hysterical Ginny alone, and hysterical Ginny become more hysterical when she heard all that Harry had to say. Alas, thanks to her screams, Harry ended up with a strong headache - worst than the ones Voldemort's presence gave to him.
The days after that were a blur of pure misery. Harry had to face all the angry Weasley males, including Ron. And worst of all: he had to face Mrs. Weasley. His meeting with her was so frightening that it got him thinking to go back in his decision and actually marry Ginny and live unhappily ever after -- Who needed to be happy, anyway?
But the bad things didn't stop there - No, there was still that strange package that Hedwig had brought him that unforgettable night - He had no idea who had sent it to him. Who could have gotten Hedwig to bring a mysterious package for him? His owl didn't usually take other people orders, unless it was someone Harry had authorized Hedwig to do so...
But whom?
And why couldn't he open the damned package?!
He, with the help of Hermione, - whose first suggestion was, 'You should destroy it. Who knows who sent it? What if was one of your enemies? I don't want to find out the hard way. Destroy it and then you can see what it was.' (Words that immediately brought him back memories of the Firebolt incident in his third year.) - had tried everything to open the thing: unlocking spells, revealing charms, Finite Incantatum and a lot of other spells Hermione cast which sounded very unfamiliar to Harry. (He had probably slept in those classes.) However, nothing could open that damned package.
In the end, Harry - admitting that though the protection wards hadn't indicated any kind of danger; there was still the slight possibility that the package could be a well disguised threat to his life and the life of his friends - decided to listen to Hermione's advice and blow up the thing.
But he discovered that he couldn't destroy it either.
He tried all kind of hexes...he tried to put it on fire...he even tried to tear it up in the common Muggle way...
But the package remained. The package, which consisted of a simple cardboard box and was the same size as Ron.. The package, which was as heavy as a rock. (Only Merlin knew how Hedwig was capable of carrying it) The package, which had the initials 'H.P.' on it, was still untouched.
So as a last resort, Harry sent the mysterious box to the Order of Phoenix's headquarters. The box was now in a sealed room and would be there until the members of The Yellow Team could figure out what was that thing.
Then, in the short period of a week, Harry had to face a hysterical Ginny, a team of pissed off Weasleys, an indestructible box and...
Yes, there was still more... the worst actually...
I lie awake on a long, dark night
I can't seem to tame my mind
Something that Harry had to deal since he was eleven - perhaps even before that - Something hollow... dark...evil...
Sometimes he did think that was all his life was about...
An endless fight...against an endless enemy...
And he was losing...
He lost his parents and what could have been. He lost Cedric and with him his innocence to the world. He lost his first friend ever, the one who opened the doors of the magic world for him...he lost a friend, the best teacher he ever had...he lost his childhood...he had lost so many and so much...
But what scared of him the most was that, perhaps, he had lost himself in that battle...
Slings and arrows are killing me inside
Maybe I can't accept the life that's mine
No I can't accept the life that's mine
Death and darkness was always around him, would always be.
While he was not afraid of his own death. The darkness would be something that he would always fear.
He was afraid that he might stumble.
When he was eleven, living his first adventure -- or his first nightmare -- Quirrell told him that: 'there is no good and evil, there is only power and those too weak to seek it.'
Quirrell's words had been engraved in his mind. There is only power.
Harry never wanted power, never sought it, yet power he had. He never wanted anything but the ordinary, yet extraordinary he was.
Harry had learned that power was a dangerous thing. Giving the power, a single man could destroy so many ... Muggle's history was proof of that. And so was Wizard's. So was Voldemort's.
Harry would never forget Tom Riddle's words in the Chamber of Secrets saying that they were alike...or what the Sorting Hat told him about Slytherin...what Dumbledore told him about the choices showing who you really were.
But what if life didn't give you a choice? What would he have done if the hat had put him in Slytherin? What would he have done if he didn't find a mentor in Dumbledore or a father in Sirius? What would he have done without his friends? What would have he done if he didn't find kindness in Hagrid, life in Ron and faith in Hermione?
Simple living is my desperate cry
Been trading love with indifference yeah it suits me just fine
Death and darkness was always around him, would always be.
And he was afraid he might stumble.
That week, there were two occurrences of attacks from the dark ones. In the first one, Harry and the other members of The Order of Phoenix successfully stopped the dark wizards before they could go on with their plans to use a forbidden potion to infect a Muggle reservoir of water, killing a whole town of Muggles in the process.
But in the other attack they had no such lucky.
Two Muggles died.
It shouldn't have happened...How could he let it happen? They had spies everywhere... The Blue Team - the Order's surveillance team - should have anticipated that attack...But they didn't... not until it was too late... They saved hundreds of lives that day ...but it didn't matter...they lost two precious lives...every life was precious...
It was horrible...
Their screams...their prayers...
Wasn't he supposed to be a hero? Wasn't the hero supposed to save the innocents?
Harry had doubts.
I try to hold on but I'm calloused to the bone
Maybe that's why I feel alone
Maybe that's why I feel so alone
Death and darkness was always around him, would always be.
Harry had doubts and he was tired.
Was it worth it?
He had already seen so much...felt so much...cried so much...
It was an endless battle... and he wasn't sure he wanted to keep on fighting it... others could fight it on his place...a new hero would rise...people were always choosing new heroes to fight their battles...maybe people could fight their own battles, for instance...maybe the battles could end...
Death and darkness was always around him, would always be. He was afraid he might stumble. He had doubts. He was tired. But for some reason he was still there, walking down that corridor, opening a door at the end of it, knowing full well that in that place he would only find two things: more problems and more battles.
What was his reason? He didn't know...
Me...I'm rusted and weathered
Barely holding together
I'm covered with skin that peels and it just won't heal
But Harry Potter had just arrived at the headquarters' of The Order of Phoenix.
And there all his doubts were gone. All his fears were gone. He was no longer tired. There he was the leader; he was the hero; he was Harry Potter. He didn't need reasons to go on; he just has to, and that was all.
There all his worries were forgotten, or at least, should have, because five words still haunted him: You already know the answer. He should have but he could not forgotten about his worries about Hermione. How could he? She was always there for him...Two days ago when he had come back home after that awful attack to the muggles he didn't even open his mouth to tell her what happened -- he didn't have the strength back then -- But it wasn't necessary. Never was between them. Just one look. One look and she hugged him. One look and she told him all he needed to hear. One look and she was there for him, all night, till he fell asleep in her arms.
She was always there for him and now he needed to be there for her too. Harry and Ron had been following her every move for a week by now but till then they had no idea of what she was hiding. There was no more night escapes during the night and she seemed perfect normal...but still Harry couldn't let go of that uneasy feeling that there was something that he was missing...that there was something there...something he should know.
You already know the answer.
The sun shines and I can't avoid the light
I think I'm holding on to life too tight
A loud shriek echoed and a dazzling light covered the room.
Harry turned around and chuckled at the sight of a pile of ash in the middle of the empty ballroom.
"It was about time, Fawkes --"
Slowly, Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix, was reborn from the ashes.
When Dumbledore went away, he had left Fawkes in Harry's care. Harry was glad the Phoenix had finally 'reborn' and couldn't wait to see him back to his better form. Fawkes was some kind of guardian to him -- The bird had saved his life more than once and Harry felt safe in his presence.
Harry couldn't help thinking that if the Phoenix had been there two nights ago, things could have - would have been different...
Ashes to ashes and dust to dust
Fawkes seemed to recognize Harry's feelings and understand it...because the magic bird let out a sad cry ...opening his still fragile wings and trying to fly...but Fawkes couldn't take off...he was still too weak...
"It's too soon, Fawkes...Just rest. We will need your help later."
But Fawkes didn't look like it was listening Harry's words...he was still shaking his wings...trying to fly...it started to sing anxiously...
Harry frowned. He took Fawkes in his arms and landed the bird on his shoulder. "What is it, Fawkes?"
The phoenix stopped singing and Harry saw a tear rolling from the corner of his black eyes...all of the sudden, the phoenix jumped off his shoulders... and using his little claws the bird crossed the room in a fast speed...
Fawkes came to a halt at the edge of a fountain, letting out a loud cry.
Harry stood at the side of the phoenix. He raised his hand and the water in front of him shimmered. Images started to flash in the water, flashing in his eyes.
Harry's frown deepened.
"Harry?" Sirius, who had just arrived in the room, looked at him concerned.
Harry dropped his hand and turned to face his godfather, a deadly look on his face.
"Call everybody, Sirius. I want all the teams ready."
A look at Harry's face and Sirius' blood ran cold. "What did you see, Harry?"
Harry eyes flashed a deep green.
Sometimes I feel like giving up
*************************
BACK TO THE PRESENT...
"No. Let go of me. You don't understand. I have to see him. Harry!!!"
Ron was holding a restless Hermione, his strong arms around her waist as she was trying to struggle free.
"Calm down, Hermione...there's nothing we can do now...they are taking care of him..."
When Ron said 'they' he was referring to the team of Medical Wizards who were taking care of Harry in that exact moment... what they were doing with Harry - what was wrong with Harry in the first place -- he have no idea... right now Ron couldn't even remember how he and Hermione got in the hospital...
He thought the world was ending...he thought he was going to die...and suddenly...it was all over...Sirius was there... Hermione had Crookshanks in her arms...she was talking on that little box again...and suddenly... they were all running through St. Mungo's halls...in every corner of the hospital there were Aurors protecting the entrances... which were filled with reporters trying to get in, asking what was wrong with Harry Potter...
Ron had the same question himself...What was wrong with Harry? All he was able to see of his best friend till now was a quick glimpse of him as the doctors closed the doors on their faces...He had seen Harry in a bed surrounded by a lot of floating crystals emanating a silver energy... if this is good or bad, Ron had no idea... For once he wished he had listened to his mother and studied to be a doctor...he felt so hopeless... What difference could a Quidditch player do in a time like this? None.
All he could try to do now was console Hermione...tell her that the doctors were going to take care of Harry...that Harry was going to make through it as he always did before...even if he himself wasn't so sure of that... He would take care of Hermione...Harry would probably just wake up to kill him if he didn't...
"Take care of Hermione," Harry had said in their fifth year, when he had left them behind so he once again could face the danger alone. "Take care of Hermione," Harry had said about a thousand and one times during their sixth year and seventh year put together... "Take care of Hermione," Harry had said a week ago when he had told him about Hermione's strange behavior in the middle of the night... Take care of Hermione, Harry had written in the note he had sent this afternoon...the note telling him to take care of Hermione tonight because he wouldn't be able to... because he had to save the world again...
Save the world again...Was that what happened? Harry saved the world again? That would explain the strong magic energy that he felt...the earthquake...the fact that the Minister of Magic was there, talking to Snape...The journalists...The Aurors... The two sinister figures in the corner wearing black cloaks...Hey, what was that moss of red? Oh, yes, he almost forgot that his whole family was there too...
"No, Ron, let me go... you don't understand...he needs me..."
It was killing him to see Hermione like that...Maybe he should let her go...maybe she was right...maybe what Harry really needed now was his friends...After all it had always been like that...He would take care of Hermione... Hermione would take care of Harry... Harry would take care of him... Wait...that was wrong... He would take care of Hermione... Hermione would take care of Harry...Harry would take care of Hermione, too...Yes, that was it...Wait... Who would take care of him?
Oh, Merlin...why was he thinking of things like that in a critical moment like the one they were facing now? Where was his good sense?
"Hermione, Ron is right. There's nothing you can do. Harry will be fine."
Oh, Sirius...Ron almost forgot that he was there, too.
"No. I--"
"Listen to me, Hermione..." Sirius grabbed her by the arm and made her face him. "You are the last thing Harry needs right now."
Oh, that seemed rather harsh...Wait...Why was Sirius grabbing Hermione like that and being mean to her? One thing was certain...Ron wasn't liking it one bit...That was it...He was taking care of Hermione...and as so...he had to push Sirius in the face because of his mean words and stupid act... Harry wouldn't mind if he beat his godfather a little... at least not when the purpose of it was take care of Hermione...
"Black. We need to go." Snape approached them.
No...Ron thought that for the first time in his life Sirius should be thankful for Snape's presence...it saved his pretty face...Or maybe Ron himself should be thankful to Snape...his mother was there...imagine what she would have done with him if he pushed Sirius Black in the middle of the hospital... while his godson was lying in a bed...
Oh, Merlin...why was he thinking of things like that in a critical moment like the one they were facing now? Where was his good sense?
"How is your arm?"
"Fine."
"Okay, let's go then."
Wait again. Ron was lost again -- not that this was a huge surprise. What was wrong with Snape's arm? Did he, too, hurt himself saving the world? Wait again. Wasn't that the arm where Snape got the Dark Mark?
"Where are you going?"
"Where do you think we are going, Miss Granger? Fix Potter's mess, of course. We need to find a good excuse for this one - all the attentions are on Potter right now. There's no way The Wizard World is going to see a strange magical phenomena and the fact that Harry Potter is on a hospital bed as just some coincidence. Professor Trelawney is probably writing a tragic prophecy right now. I talked with the Minister. Things are pretty bad and we'll probably have problems with the Aurors."
"What about the Muggles?"
"I don't know. They felt it, too, and that's bad...but there's no way we can erase all those memories... the good thing is that they will just see it as a common earthquake, though I would like to know how they are going to explain the fact that the earth trembled all around the world."
Sirius nodded.
"Wait, you two. Sirius - You didn't tell me what happened?"
"Hermione --"
Now, Ron was thinking why Sirius was giving Hermione a look and glancing at him like he couldn't know what he had to tell her...Ron, hated these looks they shared...He still couldn't believe that Harry never noticed it...
"No, Sirius. This wasn't supposed to happen... but it did... Now you are going to tell me, Sirius. I have to know. How? And Why?"
Ron had no clue what was going on there.
******************
"Malfoy!!! You filthy bastard!!!"
Hermione was fuming. Her face was red. She was tightly clenching her fist around her wand. She looked around...The same white sheets covering the rich furniture... Ron's little friends spinning their webs...the dust in the air...
Yes, she was in the old Malfoy's Manor...A place that everybody believed to be abandoned...uninhabited...a place that most believed to be jinxed...a place that no one wanted to buy...not even to build a giant mall...the place where she knew she would find him...
"I know you are here. Be a wizard just once in your life and show yourself...show yourself so I can hex you with curses that not even the Dark Lord himself had the courage to use," she yelled, panting.
"Looking for me?"
Hermione gasped as she felt Malfoy's breath on her nape. Before she could turn, an Expelliarmus sent her wand away. They were now staring at each other Malfoy with his wand an inch of Hermione's face.
"Malfoy grinned. "I knew that you would come running after me. Witches just can't resist my charm, not even you."
"You'd better know how to pray Malfoy, because when I'm done with you, you'll be knocking on the Hell's door," Hermione hissed.
"Tut...tut...Are you sure you are supposed to be the smart one? Because unless I'm wrong, I'm the one holding the wand here."
"I don't need a wand."
"Oh, so now we are Harry Potter, are we?"
"No. I'm not Harry ...but I have my own tricks..."
Hermione opened her hand, showing a small flask on the palm of her hand.
"What the hell --," was all that Malfoy could pronounce before the small flask, full of a orange substance changed into a sphere of pure energy...with a blindly intensity. Malfoy put his arms over his eyes in a defensive manner as Hermione began to chant.
Eso Fromatemmea Igrene
Aigam Memim
Aigam Mesmif
Euqilpitlum Arode Taomif
Hermione threw the sphere on Malfoy. It hit his chest and exploded...
When the light was finally down, Malfoy was able to see again...only he saw a world in orange... he was trapped in a giant floating orange bubble in the middle of his living-room...
"Have you ever been under a Cruciatus Curse, Malfoy?" Hermione's words called his attention back to her. He didn't like her tone of voice. "Because I can guarantee you that this is ten times worse."
Hermione raised her hand in his direction and he immediately knew that she was telling the truth...he immediately felt the pain...
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"
Hermione was furious, her eyes glowed with angry. She kept chanting unknown words as Draco kept screaming...
"How could you? After WHAT HE had done for you...after all I have done...I trusted you...how could you betray us like this..."
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!! NO. STOP. PLEASE!!!! I didn't do anything. I didn't betray you...Aahh!!!"
"LIAR. Sirius told me you were there. INSTEAD OF STOP THEM, YOU JOINED THEM..."
"NO. HERMIONE...PLEASE. LISTEN TO ME. I WOULD NEVER BETRAY YOU... YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE IN ME."
"I DON'T."
"YOU HAVE TO. WHY WOULD I WANT POTTER TO BREAK THE SPELL...we both know what this would mean...it wasn't me, Hermione...it is you...he almost broke the spell because of you," Draco's words trailed off. He didn't have more strength to yell. The pain was intolerable...
It's you, Hermione. Always you.
Hermione blinked as Harry's soft words came back from her past. She looked around her, looking like a frightened and lost child...she stared at her own hands, then she looked up. Her eyes widened as the sight of Draco trapped in the orange bubble, screaming in pain. She gasped, bringing her hands to her mouth. She looked like she could throw up... disgusted with herself.
The bubble disappeared and Draco slowly floated, till he was safely at the ground again.
Hermione collapsed on her knees. Collapsed in tears.
Sweating, panting and feeling the aches of all his muscles, Draco got all the strength he had left and crawled painfully to where she was, holding a crying Hermione in his wounded arms...
*****************
EARLIER...
The scene was really amazing. Thirty wizards and witches were risking the cloudy sky with their brooms.
Who were they?
They were shadows in the sky.
They were wizards ready to fight.
They were warriors prepared to die.
They were The Order of Phoenix.
They didn't have names or faces. Their identities and lives were left behind, were hidden below the black cloaks that now covered their whole bodies and souls.
The brooms came to a halt in the mid-air.
They had arrived.
Bellow them was The Wizard's Cemetery.
Sometimes I feel like giving up
************
"I swear to you I don't know how they got there...I swear I stuck to our plan...During this week I did nothing else than feed them fake evidences about the dark ones' plans to bring He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named back..."
************
Darkness.
There was no moonlight. No brightly twinkling star in the sky. It seemed that the night knew what was about to take place there, and being so, the night, too, was afraid...the night, too, didn't have the courage to show the ritual...the battle...the destruction...
Me...I'm rusted and weathered
***********
"Harry saw it through the Phoenixes' Tears. Sirius told me that's how they knew...that's how the Black Team got there..."
"Wait-Wait. What are you talking about? Phoenixes' Tears?"
"Not now. You are the one needing to do the explaining here. I know that you are not responsible for Harry's presence there. But this doesn't change the fact that you were there. Why? Why were you there, Draco?"
***********
Light in the darkness.
The curses that missed their targets and ended up reflecting themselves in the gravestones were the only light that once in a while illuminated the creepy scene.
One should be lost in that scene...one couldn't see your own nose in that scene...yet they have found one another...
When another missed cursed hit the gravestone of 'Mr. Archibald Broom: Brave Wizard and Auror' at their left. Blue eyes and green ones met. The first look held surprise...the last, fury.
"Malfoy. I should have guessed that you would be behind this..."
"Potter? How? Wh--You shouldn't be here -- "
Before Malfoy could say another word a lighting bolt came out of Harry's hand throwing him away. His back crashed against a nearly three.
Ouch.
Harry stepped in front of him and grabbed him on his collar.
"This time I'll make sure you spend the rest of your days with your friends in Azkaban."
"Don't be stupid, Potter. Listen wh--"
"Harry!" A tiny light came closer to where Harry and Draco were. A tiny light emanating from the tip of Sirius's wand. "Most of them ran away...we got t-- You?!" He frowned when he raised his wand and came to face Draco's face.
"Sir! Over here." A new point of light appeared. Harry shoved off Draco and followed the light.
Draco looked at Sirius who had his wand pointed to him.
Sirius glared at him. "I knew you would do something like that. I knew you would betray us. I don't know why I listened to Severus and Hermione. You never deserved a second chance. You never deserved anything."
Draco chuckled. "You know...this is a pretty good speech. I wonder how long you have been waiting to use it. But you see, Black, I don't care what you think."
"You will change your mind when in Azkaban. Now move."
Sirius grabbed Malfoy and cast a binding spell on him; the two followed through the same path Harry went.
Barely holding together
I'm covered with skin that peels and it just won't heal
***********
"Why do you think I was there? Do you think that Black was right? Do you think that I was there to help them? I was there to stop them, Hermione."
"Stop what? I don't understand, Draco. You know that they can't bring You-Know-Who back from the dead...only because he was never dead...So, why were you there?"
"You still don't trust me, do you?"
"I'm sorry, Draco. But I don't trust anyone anymore. The people that I trusted in the past are the same ones that sentence me to this life that I'm living now. And we also have to face that you don't have a very trustful past."
"Trust me, Hermione. Just this once. Just listen me carefully. Someone on their side knows what we've been trying to hide."
"What do you mean? They know?"
"As I told you, I stuck to our plan. However, in order to prevent Potter from finding out the information about the ritual the dark ones were planning, I ended up in the middle of something that I didn't expect. I ended up in the middle of a group of Death Eaters."
"That's not possible. The Death Eaters no longer exist, they were all dead or in Azkaban."
"Oh, yes, they sure are. But you should meet the new generation."
"New generation? Of Death Eaters? New followers of You-Know-Who?"
"Yes, you can see how surprised I was when I found out. And I can tell you this: the old crew...huh...they were nothing compared to these guys...these guys are creepy...the only reason they didn't kill me when I found about them was because I'm Draco Malfoy. I'm one of them, or so they think. You should see them asking me questions like how was Voldemort in person... like he had ever been a person..."
Hermione, who had winced when Draco had said 'Voldemort', couldn't believe what she was hearing. "No. Nooo. This doesn't make any sense....All The Dark Wizards along the globe celebrated You-Know-Who's supposed death as much as we had. They didn't have to follow or fear a Dark Lord any longer. They could practice their own Dark Arts in the way it pleased them... They spent the last three years trying to show us that they could be worst than You-Know-Who...And they had succeed...Because, for them, Harry Potter is just a legend...Harry Potter is just one...and they were a thousand...They don't need a crazy leader...they don't need a huge evil plan to destroy the world...all they needed was one of them and a wand and then the damage was done... Harry can't be in all the places at the same time...With You-Know-Who it was personal...this...this almost drove him crazy in the beginning...No. This doesn't make sense...Why would anyone want HIM back?"
"Isn't it obvious, Hermione? Power. It's all about power."
"But if they know the truth..."
"They don't."
"You said that they knew."
"No, what I said was that there is someone who knows the truth. They had a leader that they called IT. I didn't have the pleasure to meet this IT person but..."
"You think that this IT knows the truth and yet he still wants to bring He-Who-I'd-Rather-Not- Name back from the limbo that the spell created? Who is this IT? Some Homicidal Maniac?
"Exactly, but the important thing is that this IT is using these new Death Eaters...and their hunger for power...just like Voldemort did with me and my father and all the others..."
"They are all fools. They won't find power...only destruction."
"I know...I was a fool once...Hermione? There is something more that you need to know..."
****************
Light.
Twenty-eight wands illuminated the place before Harry's eyes. Harry sighed relieved. Because although for the world those people had no identities. Harry knew every single one of them. Together these brave wizards and witches were an unstoppable team. They were the Black Team... the elite squad of The Order of Phoenix...The ones that always came out from the shadows when needed...the ones who were ready to die for their cause. Most of them were as old as Dumbledore...some older than his old mentor...some as young as himself...some younger...
And all these people relied on him to guide them...it was a lot of responsibility...to have other people's life on his hands... it was very difficult to him to have to ask these people to risk themselves...to risk their lives...to go to the battlefield and face the devil...knowing that someday one of them could not make it back home...could leave a family behind...a happy family...
So, someday he could destroy a happy family...wouldn't that make him as bad as Voldemort? Was there a difference between killing and sending them to their deaths?
Hermione would probably kill him or send him to his death - which, in this case, as he was trying to point out, seemed like the same thing- , if he asked her that. Then, she would carry him to a library and make him read all the books about leadership, war, responsibility, life, death -- not to say all that self-help crap...And of course, after he had finished all the reading...she would sit with him to have a good talk about the subject at hand...she would make him understand that it was not the same thing...that unfortunately that was how their crazy life worked...he would feel better...lighter...she would make some joke...he would laugh and they would start to talk about the craziest, silliest things in this world...he would forget about all his doubts...it would be a wonderful world again just because of her...yes...she made his world more beautiful...that was how he loved her so --
"Sir?"
"Huh?" Harry touched his scar...What was it that he was thinking?
He looked at his side and saw some dark wizards stupefied on the ground...but what --
"Over here, sir."
Harry shook himself off and blinked... There was something wrong...
He stepped over and what he saw got his complete attention. A circle formed by white roses scattered on the cemetery's ground. Inside the circle were craved symbols.
"What is it?" he asked.
"We don't know," a black cloaked figure said.
"It doesn't looked like any resurrection rituals that we have seen before", another member of The Order told him, "actually, I have never seen these kind of symbols before."
"They look... familiar..." said Harry.
"Do you recognize it?" a female voice asked him.
"No."
"But they look familiar?"
"I don't know," Harry replied.
It looked familiar but... Hermione would probably recognize it and lecture all of them about the first origin of these symbols...not to say give them a manual of how to do a proper ritual with them... She should be here with him...He was starting to feel something strange, starting to feel a little dizzy...
Harry glanced at the stupefied men. "Did they say anything?"
"No. They don't want to cooperate. We will need some Veritaserum. All we found out is that they call themselves: Death Eaters," said someone with a strong French accent.
Harry grimaced. "A very original name, that's for sure."
Another cloaked figure, holding a crystal in his hand, approached them. "Well, whatever they were about to do, it looks like we stopped them before they did. I can't find any trace of dark magic around here."
"Harry." Sirius, still holding Draco as his prisoner came out of the shadows. He looked down to the symbols on the ground and his grip on Draco's arm got tight. He looked nervously at Harry. "We should better go, Harry. There's nothing more we can do here. We stopped them - our mission was accomplished."
"He is right, sir. Strange rituals are not in our department. We should get back to The Order. We can send the 'Yellow Team' to investigate this symbols while we interrogate the prisoners..."
"Alright. This is what we are going to do. I want two volunteers to stay here and make sure no one comes close to this cemetery... I'll send two members of the 'Violet Team' together with the 'Yellow Team' to replace you later. Right. The rest of you can go back to your homes..."
"But what about the prisoners?"
"Sirius and I can take care of them. We'll use a Portkey to take them to The Order. Tomorrow the 'Orange Team' will have the Veritaserum ready and we can interrogate them."
"But, sir? What if -"
"It's late...all of you have someone waiting at home... as always you did your job...as always you were heroes... you have my respect and my thanks for that...the Wizarding and Muggle World can rest in peace tonight... and so can you...Go home. It's an order."
Twenty-six heads nodded. Their arms stretched up and their brooms answered their calling... they disappeared in the sky...
Sirius took a pen of his pocket and threw it in the air. A portal was opened. One by one, he levitated the prisoners and made them pass through the portal...
Draco frowned at this. It sure wasn't in his plans to be arrested by Harry and his Phoenix Gang. Hermione would freak out when he told her what almost happened here... she would probably curse him for the rest of his life for not warning her before... Well, at least she was safe...they never finished the ritual...never would really...even if The Phoenix Gang hadn't arrived...he would have stopped them... that had been his plan before the surprising apparition of The Heroes... Great... the only opportunity that he had to show to the world that he, too, could be one of the good guys...and Potter got in his way...Why is that Potter was always in his away? Damned Potter.
Draco glanced at Harry who seemed to be given the last instructions to the two members of The Order who would be staying. Draco sighed, thinking that, at least, nothing of this seemed to affect Potter as they were all afraid. One thing was sure: the spell was really strong; if this place couldn't cause a rupture in it, nothing could.
The day reminds me of you
The night hides your truth
The earth is a voice
Speaking to you
"Harry," called Sirius.
Malfoy was the only prisoner left because Sirius didn't trust him to pass through the portal alone. Only Merlin knew the tricks that Hermione must have taught to him during all this time (and Sirius knew that Hermione was one of the few people who could redirect a portkey portal, since she helped in the development of this new kind of portkey). And, Malfoys were never to be trusted.
"Just a moment," Harry yelled, as he turned his attention back to the men before him. "Now, remember, be careful, they may be crazy enough to came back and take what they left...If anything happens, don't hesitate, you now how to reach me."
"It will be alright, sir. You can go in peace. You know that nothing crosses our way."
Harry nodded at them, turned to leave... then he felt it again; that strange feeling that made him dizzy...But that time he could do more than just feel it, he could taste it...it was stuck on his throat...He could touch with his fingers...see it with his eyes...smell it in the air...
Magic...magic was all around this place...all around him...a pinkish smoke of energy seemed to emanate from the earth...it hummed in his ears...
Harry touched his scar... there was something strange... he looked around... confused... lost... there was something wrong...
"What is wrong with him?" Draco, noticing that Harry had stopped walking, asked Sirius.
Sirius ignored him and called Harry again. "Come on, Harry."
Harry woke up from his trance-kind-of state. He shook all that feelings away. He was probably just tired. "Yeah-yeah. I'm coming."
However, on his second step forward, Harry stopped again. He had stepped on something. His eyes came down to meet a white rose.
He leaned down and took the crushed rose on his hand...He looked at it with narrowed eyes... and for a moment he could swear he had seen a little rainbow in one of its fragile petals...
You already know the answer...
And then it came. A whisper; a prayer; a calling; the answer.
"Hermione..."
And with the answer came the consequences.
Harry screamed as his scar burned. As he collapsed - in pain - on the ground, all the earth trembled...pink blasts of energy emerged from the soil, reaching the sky, destroying everything in its way...
The two cloaked figures were petrified, the energy was too intense, too strong...too much.
Draco was more than petrified, he recognized the source of energy... he had felt the same energy three years ago... but this time it was stronger...how could it be stronger? He couldn't believe that the same magic that saved them in the past would be the end of them now...
If Sirius could, he would be petrified...but he had to run...he had to stop Harry...if he could... more and more holes erupted on the cemetery's ground....more energy was being released...
"Oh my, Harry, stop...Please, Harry, don't fight against it..." he yelled as he keep dodging the bundles of energy as he tried to reach Harry. "STOP! YOU ARE GOING TO KILL US ALL."
Take all this pride
And leave it behind
Because one day it ends
One day we die
*************
"Why didn't you tell me all this before? Why didn't you warn me about the ritual? About the Death Eaters? I would have gone with you...I could have --"
"What? Put yourself in danger?"
"I could have stopped all this. I could have stopped Harry."
"No, you couldn't. Damn it, Hermione. Didn't you listen what I told you? It was you, damn it. It was not me or their stupid ritual...it was you...I heard him whispering your name before all went loose...You are the reason he is breaking the spell..."
"What are you trying to say, Draco? Are you trying to tell me that this is all my fault?"
"If I say yes, are you going to try and kill me again with one of those freak spells of yours?"
"I may be tempted to."
"No. It's not your fault -- never your fault -- but you are the only one who can stop it...You know that they are coming after you, don't you?"
"Let them. Maybe, if I'm lucky, they will succeed where you have failed so many times before."
************
"Nooo...No... AaaaHhhhh..."
Harry couldn't take it anymore... he couldn't breath... the pain was too intense...his scar was burning even his soul...he was breaking...
Millions of images flowed in and out of his mind...like a giant wave...
A RAINBOW.
"It's you Hermione. Always you"
A HUM.
"I love you. Always have. Always will."
A SCREAM.
"No, Ron. Stop!"
A ROSE.
"Will you be mine?"
A DROP.
"No. My answer is no. Do you hear me? Never."
A PROMISE.
"Forever."
A LAUGH.
"Can't you see that this is a mistake, Harry. You will regret this. We all will."
A RING.
"Harry!!! Noooo!!!"
A MEMORY.
"I will remember you, Hermione. I will remember."
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"
" No, Harry!" Sirius grabbed Harry's shoulders and started to shake him, tried to bring him back before it was too late. "LISTEN TO ME...HARRY!...YOU CAN'T...HARRY! OPEN YOUR EYES... HARRY... YOU ARE GOING TO DESTROY EVERYTHING... HARRY!!!"
Harry opened his eyes...but his eyes were pure energy...they glowed like two jade stones... his scar stopped burning and began to glow as the same color as his eyes...his body levitated...and a green aura covered him...
Green lighting bolts came out of his body and began to circulate around the pink blasts that came from the earth...slowly...the pink energy was sucked back to the soil... the cracks on the cemetery's ground disappeared...like nothing had happened...
Harry collapsed unconscious on Sirius' arms... the two cloaked members of The Order ran in their direction to help...
None of them had the mind to remember Malfoy's presence ...or that he was escaping...
Believe what you will
That is your right
But I choose to win
So I choose to fight
To fight
***********
ON THE DAWN OF THE FOLLOWING MORNING...
He was soundly sleeping when she came back to the hospital. 'They said he is going to be okay,' Ron had told her and she had sighed relieved. He was going to be okay. The spell hadn't been broken. It was all just a glimpse of what could have happened. She ought to be happy... but all she felt was numbness...
Alone, she walked into the room he was in. Sleeping there, covered in white sheets, he looked so fragile... he looked like the little Gryffindor hero she once met, who always ended in the hospital wing - whether it was for a Quidditch game or because of a fight with the Dark Lord - he always ended up there.
Sitting in a chair beside his bed, she tenderly caressed his forehead and instantly it glowed in a greenish color.
She smiled sadly at that.
"You are still fighting..." she whispered.
A falling of a tear.
"Oh Harry...I don't know what to feel anymore...You almost broke the spell today... I should be glad that you didn't ...but I am not...deep down I wished you had broken it...for a small second today I thought that it all had finished...and I was happy... It is so selfish, I know...but I'm glad you're still fighting..."
A holding of hands.
"I'm trying to not lose hope, Harry...but I feel like I'm changing...like I'm hollow...God, Harry...I almost killed Draco today...What did they do to us? What did we do to ourselves? I need you here with me Harry, all of you..."
A sobbing.
"I'm trying to hold on but it's so difficult...and I know that you wouldn't approve of what I'm doing, Harry...that you would be the first one to tell me to stop... to let it go...you would try and protect me from of all this...you would try and keep me away from all this pain...but I..."
"But I still believe in you, Harry...Forever, remember? I still believe in you...still believe in us...I still believe that someday I will look into your eyes and see it there again...see what they took from us...what they took from you..."
"What am I going to do now, Harry? There is no answer in the books...I have no answers...I am so lost without you, Harry... I don't know what to do...I'm so sorry, Harry...I don't know...I don't know..."
A soft hand touched her shoulder.
"I'm sorry, my child."
A familiar voice rang in her ears.
Hermione's eyes went wide.
It couldn't be him.
Not him.
She prayed to every God that she knew for it not to be him.
But it was too late.
She already knew.
Standing there, behind her, was him.
Albus Dumbledore.