A/N: Once again I must apologize for making you wait so long for this next chapter. If I didn't have a life, this would go so much faster! Thank-you for the many reviews! Wow, we are over 500! We are coming to the turning point in the story, hence the title name. Things are beginning to fall into place, and the action is starting to heat up. Just a few more twists and turns for you. Thanks to all of you who have read this far, and of course to my wonderful Beta, Dementor149 for sticking with me through all of this. And now, on to the show!
Even though I don't own these characters, I love them as though they were my own.
Chapter 47
Turning Point
Harry was sitting in the Gryffindor common room chatting with Neville. Harry had been socializing with many of the Gryffindors, much to their surprise, since he had been keeping aloof for most of the year. He had an ulterior motive, though. Ginny was missing. He was the only one at this point that was aware of it. He had scanned the Marauder's map about an hour ago, and was unable to find her. He was trying to glean any information he could about her whereabouts, but he wasn't having much luck. Ginny had been keeping to herself these past few months. He felt a slight twinge of guilt for not including her in their adventures, but he just didn't have the same connection with her as he did with Ron and Hermione. He was, however, extremely worried about her disappearance. He knew she was taking a risk by gathering information, he had always thought it was from someone inside the safety of the Hogwarts grounds and castle.
Harry nodded farewell to his fellow housemates as they passed him on the way down to supper. The common room became quiet as the last of them left, and sighing, Harry pulled out his map again. He had hoped that Ginny would come back before dinner. He was scanning the Great Hall on the map looking for her, when he saw her solitary figure enter the front door of the castle. He watched as she approached Lavender, and then head towards the stairs. As soon as he saw she was headed back to the Gryffindor tower, he folded the map and put it away. He would wait for her here.
The door opened, and as Ginny emerged from the shadows Harry heard her sniff and saw her wipe her eyes. He felt anger build in him as he realized that whomever she had been with had upset her.
"Hello, Ginny," he said.
Ginny stopped and looked up, startled. Harry could see her trying to compose herself.
"Why aren't you at dinner?" she asked.
"I was waiting for you," Harry said.
"Well, I'm not very hungry right now, so you may as well go ahead,' she said as she headed for the stairs.
"You left the grounds, Ginny," Harry said.
Ginny froze, and slowly turned around in shock.
"You've been spying on me?" she said angrily.
"Just keeping an eye out for you," Harry said. `That was a very dangerous thing to do."
Ginny let out a huff of air and folded her arms across her chest.
"And you don't put yourself in any danger?" she scoffed.
"That's different," Harry said.
"How so?" Ginny asked.
"This is my battle. Something I have to do. You're risking your life to meet with some idiot who obviously doesn't care about you."
Ginny flushed. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Ginny, the information isn't that important. We can still defeat Voldemort without it," Harry said.
Ginny shook her head as she felt her eyes begin to tear again.
"Who is he, Ginny?" Harry asked suddenly.
"None of your business," Ginny snapped.
"I don't want you to meet with him anymore," Harry said.
Ginny looked at him incredulously.
"What makes you think you have the right to decide who I see?"
""Because I care about you," Harry said.
Ginny gave a short laugh. "You had your chance, Harry, and you threw it away! You can't tell me who to see, so keep your nose out of my business!" she snapped.
"But…but I thought-" Harry stammered.
"You thought wrong," Ginny said; glad to see she had unnerved him. "You are so self-centered that you don't even care about what's going on around you. It's all about `The Chosen One'! You think you're the only one who has been affected by You-Know-Who!" Draco's face flashed through her mind and she felt a tear slide down her cheek. "Everyone has something to lose if he comes to power, not just you!"
"Ginny-" Harry said as he moved towards her.
"Don't touch me!" she cried, backing away, the tears falling freely now. "Leave me alone!"
She fled up the tower, and Harry felt sick. He hadn't realized that she was still hurting from their break-up. He sighed as he turned and left the tower. That definitely didn't go the way he had planned.
For the next couple of days, Ginny avoided Harry, which suited him just fine in the beginning. He was feeling guilty about his earlier actions anyways, and he wasn't too sure how to approach her again. He sometimes wondered how he managed to become a Gryffindor. He certainly didn't feel very brave when it came to dealing with women and their emotions. On the morning of the third day, Harry and Hermione were coming down the stairs when they saw Ginny leaving the Great Hall. She looked their way, and then turned and left out the front door.
"How does she do that?" Harry asked. "She has managed to avoid me for the past two days."
"Maybe she has someone spying on you," Hermione teased, referring to his earlier conversation with Ginny.
"Not funny," Harry said.
Hermione just laughed. "Give her time," she said.
They joined the Gryffindor table, and Hermione paid the owl that was sitting waiting to give her the morning paper. She flipped open the paper and gasped.
"What?" Harry said, leaning over and fearing the worst.
She turned the paper so they could all see the headlines.
`GRINGOTT'S CLOSED, GOBLINS KEEPING MUM'
Hermione turned the paper around and read out loud.
"The Wizarding world is in an uproar today as the vaults of Gringott's are kept firmly shut. A goblin representative stated that due to a recent attempted attack on the bank, the doors would not be opened again until the perpetrator is found. The representative refused to elaborate on the nature of the attack, only stating that it had occurred last night. Most banking clients, when questioned about the chance of a successful attack, reminded this reporter that any such attempt would be fool-hardy and suicidal, not to mention just plain stupid. For further information and history of Gringott's, go to page four. For information on account access, go to page six…"
Hermione put the paper down and frowned at the picture of the goblins refusing entrance to the many wizards and witches shaking their fists at them.
"This is not going to be good," she said. "It's going to cause a rift between us and the goblins."
"That's probably what Voldemort wanted," Harry said. "You know, divide and conquer."
"Well, it changes our plans, Harry," Neville said as he read the letter a large barn owl had just delivered to him. "The reading of Gran's will has been moved to the Ministry of Magic building."
"Great," Harry grimaced. "My favorite place."
"Don't worry," Ron said. "You'll be in and out of there before anyone notices,"
"What time do we have to be there?" Harry asked.
Neville scanned the letter again. "Three o'clock," he said. "Level seven. It looks like they've created a new department to deal with this. The Department of Financial issues."
"The goblins aren't going to like that," Hermione said. "They don't like anyone being in charge of them."
"How do you know all this?" Ron asked.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"If you had bothered to stay awake during history classes, you'd know too."
"What about Bill? He works at Gringott's," Ron retorted.
"He works for them, not the other way around."
Ron opened his mouth to make another retort when Luna laid her hand on his arm.
"You're not going to win," she said, her big blue eyes appraising Hermione. "The femwits are favoring her today."
Harry hid a smile as he watched Hermione try to discreetly brush away any invisible beings on her clothes.
****** ****** ****** ******
Severus Snape sat still outside the closed double doors, his eyes the only things moving as he watched the agitation play out on the pacing young man.
"What's taking so long?" Draco muttered. "He's had my mother in there for at least twenty minutes,"
"She is the mistress of the household, perhaps she is only discussing tonight's dinner," Snape replied.
Draco scowled at him and kept pacing.
"Then again, perhaps he is doing it to agitate you, so he can break through your defenses."
Draco stopped and looked at Snape.
"It is quite easy to break through your barrier when you are angry. Might I suggest you calm yourself and prepare for our meeting? You wouldn't want to endanger…others with your ineptness."
Draco glared at him for another minute before moving off to lean against the wall. He hated it when Snape was right. When Wormtail stuck his head out the door a few minutes later, Draco was the picture of calm.
"The Dark Lord will see you now," he squeaked before disappearing back inside.
Snape's lip curled in a sneer of loathing as he watched him go. He stood and straightened his sleeves before entering, Draco following behind. Draco scanned the room, looking for his mother, as he entered. He found her, sitting demurely, drinking tea, an air of grace and sophistication about her as usual.
Voldemort was talking to his aunt Bellatrix, who seemed to be fawning all over him. Draco could see the look of disapproval on his mother's face, but she quickly dropped her eyes when Voldemort looked her way. He finished talking to Bellatrix and dismissed her with a wave of her hand. Bellatrix sauntered over to where Draco and Snape were standing. She ran a hand down Draco's arm and squeezed it as she smiled at him.
"Looking good, nephew, have you been working out?"
Draco flushed as he pulled his arm away, and Bellatrix laughed as she left. Voldemort watched the exchange with a small smile of amusement on his face.
Snape gave a short bow to the Dark Lord, before kissing the hem of his robe, and Draco followed suit.
"Ah, Severus, I have need of your services."
How may I serve you, my Lord?" Snape asked.
Voldemort walked over to where Narcissa was sitting, and poured himself a cup of tea. Draco watched impatiently as the Dark Lord sipped the tea. When Voldemort looked up, he quickly averted his eyes, fearing that he would see the frustration that Draco was feeling.
"I feel that I have been a very patient man," Voldemort said. "Now, the time has come to take my rightful place in the Wizarding world. The giants, Dementors and many of the werewolf clans are behind us. The Goblins have put the Wizarding world in an uproar, which suits me, even though they refuse to back us, which I will deal with later. You did well, Draco."
Draco nodded in acknowledgement, but did not speak. He knew it wasn't his place to voice an opinion.
"However, those who seem to hold the power, the ones who should be acknowledging me, are not. It is time to do something about this. I grow tired of waiting for them to come to their senses. You will assist Bella with our plans of attack."
"As you wish. When would you like to leave for the Ministry?" Snape asked.
"You will not be going to the Ministry," Voldemort said smoothly.
Draco glanced over at Snape in time to see a look of confusion dart across his face.
"You will be going to Hogwarts. I will need my most trusted servants by my side," Voldemort said calmly, as though he hadn't seen the exchange.
"However, there still will be an attack on the Ministry, as I'm sure some people are…expecting. I have need of an item there."
Draco felt a sudden jolt of alarm. Did Voldemort suspect what they have been doing?
"An item, my Lord?" Snape asked.
Voldemort drained his cup and waved his hand dismissively.
"Yes, yes, trivial really. That's why I didn't bore you with the details. You will be assisting with the preparation of my insertion as Headmaster of Hogwarts. It is my rightful place. Something that has been refused for too many years…" he trailed off as he seemed to be seeing some inner vision.
Snape and Draco waited patiently while Voldemort reminisced. Snape has noticed that he seemed to do this a lot lately. He had been watching the Dark Lord closely for a while, ever since he had been trying to strengthen his soul by absorbing the life essence of others to his. Snape, however, felt that it was making him a bit more unhinged, which meant that he was even more dangerous than before. After a moment, he seemed to snap back.
"Bella has the plan. You may go," he said with a wave of his hand.
Draco bowed and turned to follow Snape out the door.
"You have not been dismissed, young Malfoy," Voldemort said quietly.
Draco froze, and Snape turned back to look at him. Their eyes met for a moment, and then Snape turned to leave. Draco turned around slowly, mentally preparing himself as he did so.
"My apologies, my Lord," he said as he bowed low.
Draco watched as Voldemort moved back to the table and sat down beside his mother.
"More tea, my dear?" he asked.
Narcissa stiffened and her eyes darted towards Draco before she looked back down at her lap.
"I'm fine, thank-you, my Lord," she said quietly.
Voldemort leaned back in his chair, appraising her, while Draco stood and watched, feeling slightly nauseated by the way the man was looking at his mother. Draco knew better than to approach, his earlier lessons in that area had left him sore for weeks. He focused instead of tamping down his anger. The time wasn't right…
After a moment Voldemort looked up, as though suddenly remembering Draco was there. He smiled slowly at the young man and Draco could feel the hairs at the back of his neck stand up.
"Come sit, Draco, I have need of information from you."
Draco winced inwardly as he moved towards the table. He also knew from past experiences that this wasn't usually a good thing either.
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