Death Eaters Break Out of Azkaban!
Luna was right. The war was underway.
As if things couldn't get any worse, McGonagall was striding down the aisle towards them. He had hoped to avoid too much punishment, but she looked to be in a particularly bad mood.
He would have sighed, but it wouldn't have mattered. Besides, getting to see Radiohead was worth it.
"With me you two," she said, not looking behind her as she led them out of the Great Hall.
"I'll save you some breakfast," Luna called. Pansy smirked at him as Harry just wrapped an arm around her and followed McGonagall. They stopped when she came to the nearest room and showed them inside.
"To keep this brief, I have spoken with the professors whose classes the two of you skipped yesterday. While you may have felt you had your reasons for not wanting to attend yesterday, it was still a violation of the rules. That being said, both of you should speak with everyone whose classes you missed at some point today. They will handle whatever punishments and makeup work you will be responsible for. Understood?"
"Yes professor."
"Good." She walked back over to the door. "Mr. Potter, while I understand your feelings about the day, I hope you will find a more responsible way to handle things next year. As a prefect, I really have to hold you to a higher standard."
"I understand, professor McGonagall."
"Very well. There's still some time if you wish to eat before the first lessons begin."
As they parted, Harry looked over to Pansy with a grin. "That wasn't as bad as I thought it might be."
"True. Let's hurry though before all that's left is whatever Luna has set aside for us."
"I take it you're hungry then? I guess we have been working up an appetite the past few days."
"Shut up, Harry."
"Fine, spoil my fun," he huffed. Pansy clearly wasn't buying his fake distress. "I figured it might help to keep from worrying too much about what's in the paper. I should probably talk to Sirius tonight. See if he can tell me any more."
"Yes, you should. Tell him to get Moody's arse in gear at hunting those bastards down."
"I think you might be scarier than Sirius. I doubt he'd be up to ordering Alastor around like that."
"But you think I could?"
"Your ferocity has always been something I've loved."
"Ferocity? I guess that's a nicer way to put it."
Harry leaned in closer and whispered, "I wouldn't want to call you a cold-hearted bitch in public. Most people wouldn't understand that it was a compliment."
"Moody would though, ironically enough."
"True," Harry snorted. "That should tell you why he was my favorite teacher."
"I think I still prefer dear old Sluggy myself."
"We'll have to see how good of a mood he's in later today."
"We won't have time until after all of our classes."
"Yeah, but stopping by Binns should be easy enough," Harry suggested. "He probably won't even know which Goblin Rebellion he was discussing yesterday."
"They all seem pretty samey the way he tells them. Who'd ever think that war could be so boring?"
They were correct in assuming that Binns wouldn't have even noticed they had been gone, and they also lucked out in professor Vector just giving them the assignment they would need to complete for the next Arithmancy lesson.
Slughorn and Watts both gave them extra work to catch up on as well. For Defense though, Watts also gave them a detention for that evening.
Good old Sluggy just asked that they come by his office some time that weekend. When he remembered that the first quidditch match was the coming Saturday, the Potions master decided to make it Sunday after lunch.
For some reason, he seemed even more anxious than the two students who were supposedly in trouble. Harry just chalked it up to nerves due to the news about the Death Eaters. Harry would never call the old man brave per se, but he certainly didn't seem to be a fan of the violence that Riddle and his followers had unleashed.
Classes were tense that day as well. Teachers and students alike were on edge.
At lunch, the Carrows came over asking for another meeting as soon as possible. Harry agreed to run one that very night, and when he mentioned this to the Defense professor, Watts said not to cancel it. He would prefer to come along and handle the detention he scheduled that night after observing what Harry was teaching his group.
Harry wasn't sure if that was ominous or not, but the retired auror generally seemed pleasant enough and he had approved of Harry's club so far. He decided just to keep his fingers crossed and see what would happen.
"Welcome everyone," Harry began as the others filed into the same large room they had been using for the last few meetings. The contingent of Slytherin girls was particularly tense but no one from the rest of the group appeared to be in the best of moods either.
"I know we've got more reason now than before to start worrying about things. I know this might sound silly, but try not to let that bog you down too much. Being alert and ready to deal with problems is one thing. Over stressing yourself while waiting for the other shoe to drop won't do you any good. Believe me when I say that keeping your calm can help even when you know that there is danger looming. Okay?"
There were a few murmurs and nods before Flora's voice rang out.
"What's the professor doing here today, Harry?"
"Professor Watts, would you care to answer that sir?"
"I don't mean to intrude," the older man smiled. "I have business with Harry later and wanted a chance to see how well this group was doing. Think of me as nothing more than an observer for this evening. Since most of my best students are gathered here, it is something I'd like to know more about."
"Fair enough," Harry nodded. "Any other questions?"
"Can we meet more often?" Ella Wilkins asked. She was one of the Slytherins that was a year ahead of him. Out of that little group that had banded together, it seemed like she had been assigned as their spokeswoman.
"I'll see what I can do," Harry answered. "I know that we all feel like we need it now more than ever. However, keep in mind, that several members are also working on teaching things to the younger years. While they might not be advanced enough magically to handle the work we've been doing here, I would like to make sure that everyone is protected as much as possible.
"On the other hand, thankfully, the big quidditch match is this weekend and hopefully Angelina won't be scheduling as many practices after that's taken care of."
"I can agree to that, Harry," his captain replied.
"Great. Now then, I guess we should get to work. This week I'd like to go over three similar curses, all of which can be useful if you get into a particularly dangerous situation. However, let me reiterate that these are not spells to use just for fun as all of them can cause some serious destruction.
"First off, we have the Reductor Curse. It is rather simple both in wand movement and incantation. The more power you put into it, the more damage it can put out. I'll demonstrate:
"Reducto!"
A blue light sped across the room and shattered an old unused desk into very small chunks of wood.
"One of the benefits of this spell is that if you don't over power it, you are left with shrapnel that can then be used to deal with any enemies that haven't been damaged yet. Assuming they weren't already wounded in the primary effects of the spell. Like so:
"Depulso!"
Harry threw the shredded pieces of the desk against the nearby wall.
"It's like a grenade," Dean said. Harry turned and saw a few nods from people like Hermione who grew up in the muggle world.
"That is definitely one way to look at it. Of course, at the same time, keep in mind that this spell can harm your friends or yourself if you aren't careful with it. And whatever environment you're in will also take a beating, naturally. Practicing this will likely lead to knowing the Mending Charm like the back of your hand."
He turned back and waved his wand as the fragments once again took shape as a desk.
"Now, this is something we'll need to be a bit more careful with, so let's split into..." Harry looked over the room and judged the space available. "I think we can manage four groups without too much problem. Everyone line up and I'll spread the desks out. Let's make sure to hit our targets and only our targets, alright? I'll go over the spell itself a couple of times and then we'll let you all try it out a few times. We can consider this practice for Reparo too, which I assume everyone knows. It's a pretty basic spell, I know, but it can be useful in a lot of situations."
"Like what?"
Harry recognized Parvati's voice behind him and he had to contain his original snarky response. Sirius wasn't there to tease, sadly.
"Alright, let's imagine that you're at home and the Death Eaters decide to attack your family for one reason or another. They start throwing spells before they even come inside, and your house is coming apart while they're also trying to kill you. Obviously, not getting hit by their curses is a primary concern, but you might need to keep the roof from falling on you at the same time."
"He's got a point," Professor Watts piped up. "I've had to use the spell in a similar situation before, many years ago. The Death Eaters liked to set homes on fire when they went out on their raids. You should have all learned the Flame Freezing Charm in second or third year, I believe. It might be a good idea to brush up on it, just in case. Relatedly, the Bubblehead Charm can be a life saver if you're surrounded by smoke and flames. As I recall, that wasn't a spell that was taught until I was a fifth year though, so many of you might not have learned it yet."
"We'll put those on the list for next time," Harry agreed. "Now, here's a little secret that will make Madam Pomfrey very mad at me. Reparo is meant to be used on things, not people. However, in a last resort, it can be used to close wounds."
Watts chuckled and Harry turned to him.
"Poppy will definitely be mad at you if she hears about that." The Defense professor looked around at the group and continued. "Potter is right, but it will leave behind a nasty scar, so actual healing spells are much better."
"Maybe you can help me convince her to start teaching us more of those actual healing spells then, professor," Harry replied with a smirk.
"I'll see what I can do."
"Excellent. Well, let's get to work on the Reductor Curse then..."
The next half hour flew by as everyone learned how to blow things up. It was a fun lesson to be sure. Unfortunately, Harry saw that he would need to temper some of his friends if they wanted to be able to use everything they could about the spell. Several of them were putting so much into it that there was little to nothing left over after the original explosive effect of the curse.
Flora's Reducto had barely even left dust behind.
That meant that Harry spent almost twice as much time coaching people into lowering the power they were throwing into the spell so that there were enough fragments left to be able to cause injuries.
That was one of the things Harry really liked about the spell. If you targeted something behind an enemy, they could be damaged from behind by flying debris. A shield spell was almost always used to protect one's front- attacks from the rear were much harder for anyone to deal with.
Of course, that also tied into the fact that he could theoretically use a summoner to draw things towards an enemy and strike them in back. However, that required an amount of finesse that could be even more dangerous depending on what you were using, and he didn't want to push his luck. There had already been a few scratches just from learning the first spell tonight.
He was going to have to push the rest of what he had wanted to teach that night to the next lesson. Still, it was good progress over all and definitely something that could be useful in a fight against the sorts of scum that were now loose. Ramping up to more dangerous spells could be done soon enough.
At least, he hoped it would be soon enough.
After the lesson, Harry and Pansy waited behind with the Defense professor.
"That was very good work tonight. You've obviously put a lot of thought into things like that, eh Potter?"
"Yes sir. It's been necessary in the past. And, it could obviously be useful in the future, what with all of these rogue Death Eaters on the loose," Harry replied. Watts snorted at that. "Besides, I'd rather teach them things like that if it could save lives some day. Better to know how to do it and not need it than vice versa."
"Indeed."
The teacher waved a chair over and took a seat.
"You know, I've actually enjoyed teaching more than I thought I would. Now I just have to hope that I don't get called back to active duty any time soon. Of course, if I don't, that could end up even worse in the long run." Watts shook his head regretfully. "It's such a damn mess we're in, and Fudge is just making things worse day by day. The longer he buries his head in the sand, the more danger we're all in. I don't envy Amelia her job."
"Yeah, it does seem like it would be a nightmare to be part of the DMLE right now."
"What do you think we should do, sir?" Pansy asked.
"I am not the right person to answer you. You need someone like Alastor. He's the one who got more done than anybody last time."
"But weren't you one of his colleagues?"
"Pansy, I was one of his colleagues in the same way that a first year is one of yours. True, we were in the same place at the same time, but we were never on the same level. You see, there aren't a lot of us that survived the war in the first place. I don't think anyone came out of it without some scars. Alastor has us all beat, but that's partially because he never knew when to quit.
"But I did."
"How so?" Harry wondered.
"When I first joined the aurors, things were quiet. I grew up in the shadow of Grindelwald and World War II. Afterwards, it was time to rebuild. A lot of us young fools thought that being aurors would be noble work. To help make sure that no more Dark Lords could rise, that our society would be stable. We were idealists. And for awhile, everything worked fine. The Sixties were nice and quiet in the magical world. Now we know that you-know-who and his followers were building their strength in the shadows, but at the time, we didn't have a clue that people could be so stupid as to want more carnage not even a generation removed from the previous Dark Lord. Then the Seventies rolled around and everything went to hell.
"We aurors were on the front lines, of course, as soon as the violence began. But very few of us really had any idea of what to expect. Oh sure, some of the veterans had an inkling, but the auror force has always been more of a younger wizard or witch's calling. Too long in the field can lead to too many accidents, too many curses, and if you live long enough, too many horrible things that no one should have to see.
"I lost my first partner in one of the earliest attacks. His name was Charlie... Charlie Pounds. We had worked together for almost a decade, and other than a murder case back in sixty-five, I don't think either of us had really been forced to dodge anything dangerous since our training. We happened to run into some of those Death Eater bastards trying to cause some havoc and we put a stop to it. This would have been in early seventy-one. I doubt it was anything serious, since they didn't put up much of a fight. They threw a few spells at us and left since they probably didn't want to have to go up against aurors. Alastor always thought it was a training exercise, and he was probably right.
"But Charlie managed to hit one of them with a spell that severed one of the bastards' arms. Left behind their wand and everything." Watts looked ill for a moment. "Sounds like a victory, right? No one was killed and one of the bad guys was severely wounded. Let me tell you, it wasn't worth it.
"Not after what they did to Charlie's family..."
Harry's memory kicked in as he saw the older man on the verge of tears. "He had two daughters, didn't he?"
"How did you know?"
"There was a lot of mail for me to go through a couple of years ago."
"Yes, I remember reading about that."
"One of the letters was from a Mrs. Pounds. It would have been Charlie's mum. She wrote about what happened."
"I'm sorry you had to read that, Potter. I'm even sorrier that anyone had to live it. I... I was one of the ones called into the scene to investigate. I had known those girls since they were little. And his wife-"
Watts stopped to wipe at his eyes and take a deep breath. "Partners tend to get close, and that means our families tend to get close too. Josephine was my Mary's best friend. She was like an aunt to those girls. I had to go home that night and tell her what had happened. That was the worst day of my life, Mr. Potter.
"And it was only the beginning of the war, but I'd already seen more than enough. About a year later, I got lucky. Alastor Moody saved my life. It was an attack out in rural Wales that several of us responded to. But those bastards were waiting for us. They had us outnumbered and we were being bombarded with spells as soon as we arrived. Three good witches and wizards lost their lives that day. I caught a bone breaker in the leg and went down right as a killing curse flew over my head.
"We all would have died if Alastor wasn't there, though. He was the best of us. I know that he took out at least two of theirs. There were a couple of others I saw that were in pretty bad shape too, but by then I was just praying for my own life. Alastor got a portkey into my hands that took me to St. Mungo's. I was there for several days and still limping by the time they let me go."
Watt paused again and looked straight at Harry. "I heard about that lesson you gave with the pigs. I'm very glad you did that, Potter. Hopefully, you scared a few people off from thinking that times like this are anything other than horrifying. That's a lesson I wish someone had taught me. Instead, I was a wounded auror whose nerves had been shattered. There were a couple of old timers that had been working at Azkaban that wanted to get back out there. Maniacs, if you ask me. But they saved my life too. I transferred out to prison duty."
"That's why you said the Patronus was a specialty of yours," Pansy concluded.
"Exactly. I knew it already, but I've had a lot of practice with it over the years. I could have gone back to active duty within a few months, physically at least. But I had three small children of my own. I would have done anything to keep them safe."
"I don't blame you for that," Harry said. "Keeping the people we love safe is what all of us want. That's sort of why I'm teaching people."
"I can see that," Watts agreed. He stood up and stretched. "I suppose that brings up your punishment. I want you to keep working with this group. You've put a lot of thought into it so far, and I don't want to see that end. That will be more important than any sort of detention I would ever set.
"Besides, it's not like I never skipped a class, either."
"Thank you, sir."
"I can see why Alastor likes you so much, Potter. He told me you were his protege over the summer. In my book, that's high praise indeed. It also suggests you might be a little too close to madness for my tastes, but better that than dead."
"Was there an assignment we needed to make up?" Pansy asked.
"Don't bother with it," Watts shrugged. "You're both ahead of most of the class by a long shot. I'll be shocked if either of you get less than an Outstanding on your OWLs. In fact, I have a feeling there will be several high scores in Defense this year. Hell, you might even help me get a bonus."
He started to chuckle as he headed for the door.
"That's a relief, then," Pansy said once he had left. "I wasn't sure about professor Watts before. Yes, he's been helpful so far, but I was still worried about how much we could trust him."
"It would be really nice if we could get Pomfrey convinced to teach us a lot more healing. At least basic first aid is the type of thing that everyone should know, not even counting the Death Eaters on the loose."
"True. We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed that he's as good as his word."
By the next evening, they found out that Gordon Watts succeeded in convincing the Matron to run several seminars on healing magic. Harry was impressed and very thankful. His only problem was that the first of them was going to be scheduled at the same time as one of his quidditch practices.
Pansy, Luna, and most of the others in the group decided to go to it. He'd just have to hope that he could learn some of it second hand.
Skipping practice would have likely made Angelina try to kill him. The match against Slytherin was just days away.
However, before the weekend could roll around, Harry had one more complication to deal with.
After dinner Wednesday evening, he was trying to head back to his quarters, supposedly for a nap before the late night Astronomy lesson. As long as the day had been, he might have even let Pansy get some sleep, although he was obviously thinking more of other activities in bed.
"Hey, Harry?"
With his path blocked by Neville, he stopped and let his friend come through the gateway of the Fat Lady's painting.
"Could I talk to you for a minute?"
"Sure, Neville." Harry's eyes watched his girlfriend's strut as she passed him.
"Don't take too long, Harry."
"Right," he turned to Neville. "What can I do for you?"
"In private," the shy boy responded. "Please?"
"Yeah, come this way." Harry led them down a corridor until they were alone and then threw up a couple of privacy charms.
"Thanks, Harry." Longbottom paced for a minute then took a deep breath and stuttered out, "I... I want you to teach me to f-fight. I shouldn't have given up on your group."
"Okay. Why though?"
"You saw the paper the other day. Those monsters are running loose."
"Oh." Harry stopped and leaned against a wall, realizing exactly what was bothering his friend. "This is about your parents, right?"
"I... yes," Neville admitted. "You told us last year that Crouch was really alive, that he was the one helping you-know-who. Now the Lestranges are all free too. I need to learn to fight. That's all of the... the ones who tortured my parents."
"I understand, but we've got a problem."
"What?"
"The reason I'm teaching that group is not so that teenagers will try to hunt down Death Eaters."
"But-"
"I'm not mad, Neville. I can understand wanting revenge. But would your parents be happy if you got yourself killed? They were both trained aurors, and they still were defeated by these psychos. It wouldn't be very nice of me to let their son get himself killed because he wanted vengeance."
"That's not fair."
"Life isn't fair, Neville. If it were, you and I both would have grown up with our parents." Harry saw that his friend appeared ready to argue some more, so he tried to cut him off in a different way. "Look, I'm not saying no, okay? I just want you to make sure that you're doing this because you want to be able to protect yourself and others. Once you can look me in the eye and tell me that's what you want, then I'll let you in. Just take a few days to think it over. Alright?"
"Yeah, I guess," Neville grumbled. "I just want to make them proud."
"I think they'd be proud of you for a lot of other reasons, Nev. And I'm pretty sure they wouldn't want you in danger."
Harry had left Neville to his thoughts, and he hadn't yet been approached by the time Saturday morning came. He was hoping that maybe after the weekend, Neville would have a better answer about the whole thing.
Meanwhile, the quidditch team was gathered together in the Great Hall. Harry had Fred and George to his left, with Ron further down, while the chasers all sat across from them. Nobody seemed too interested in breakfast; not even the twins were their usual buoyant selves.
Once they were headed out to the locker rooms that Saturday, the tension at the school was the worst it had been since the attacks from the basilisk. Harry knew it wasn't a good sign.
Stepping out onto the pitch, he could only look across at the waiting Slytherin team and hope things didn't get too brutal, too quickly. Madam Hooch had never really proven the ability to keep the matches from spiraling into violence, and based on the size of their opponents, he was pretty sure the fouls were going to be worse than ever.
He did try to take notice of their new seeker, a guy named Harper who was a year below him. He was probably the only one that didn't outweigh Harry by two or three stone, so hopefully that would be one less thing for him to worry about as he went for the snitch.
The opening whistle had them all blurring around the pitch, Harry trying to focus on his job. But within less than a minute, he'd already heard the boos starting as Crabbe had sent a deliberate bludger at Katie, his nearest Gryffindor target despite the fact that the quaffle was half the pitch away. It drew the first penalty shot, and Katie put them into the lead.
Unfortunately, Ron's nerves were worse than most, and even with three more penalties, one by Fred after Goyle nearly took Angelina's head off, the Slytherins had tied things up at thirty.
The snitch hadn't been spotted yet, and Harper wasn't in his vicinity, when a bludger smashed into Harry's side and the whistle blew yet again.
"Penalty, Slytherin!"
He'd been able to hold onto his broom, rolling with the hit, but he was nursing some very sore ribs now.
"You alright, Harry?" Angie called as she flew over by him.
"I'll live. Just put it past that idiot Bletchley for me."
"Will do."
His captain was as good as her word, and Gryffindor had retaken the lead. Harry started flying faster while trying to keep his head on a swivel. He had to make sure to keep moving so that he wouldn't be an easy target, as Crabbe and Goyle were clearly firing their bludgers at whoever they could try to injure, with not even a cursory attempt at staying within the rules.
"Come on, Ron!"
Lee Jordan's voice as he announced the game tended to fade away into the background for the most part when Harry was focused, but for some reason this time it caught his attention. Warrington had the quaffle and was past all the other players. Harry turned and saw Ron fall for a fake and the game was once again tied.
A moment later, a time out had been called and Harry flew down to join his team.
"Are you going to be alright, Alicia?" Angelina asked.
"I'll make it, but guys," she turned to Fred and George, "I need you to keep the bludgers away from them more."
"Agreed," Angelina added. "Don't worry so much about taking the Slytherins out, but try to keep those two ogres from having as many shots at us. It looks like Montague didn't even bother to teach them the rules about playing as beaters."
"We'll do all we can, but that will give the Slytherin chasers more of a chance to score."
"That's on you, Ron," Angie said, turning to their new keeper. "You need to get your head in the game. There wasn't much you could do on the last one, but I know you're better than what I've seen today. That first goal you let in was awful. Get focused.
"That leaves you, Harry."
"Yeah, boss?"
"Find that damn snitch before any of us get too banged up by these bastards."
"I'm on it."
"Good. Back in the air!"
They all lifted off, and play resumed with another foul called almost immediately. Katie scored on the penalty shot, and Gryffindor was back in the lead.
A couple of minutes later, there was a roar from the Gryffindor section of the stands as Ron had finally made a good save. Harry barely heard it though as the little golden snitch had come out for the first time he'd seen.
Unfortunately, Harper was close by too, so the duo began diving for it at the same time. It zigged and zagged, but Harry's Firebolt gave him an advantage.
A bludger flew by, nearly hitting each of them, and there was a distant sound of a whistle, but he paid it no mind as he reached out and grabbed the snitch.
Harry pulled up just as Harper tried one last time to smash into him, and the rest of the team flew in, screaming in celebration.
"Gryffindor wins, 210-40!"
The party back in the common room was delayed by half the team needing to stop in to see Madam Pomfrey. Harry also ran into Sirius, who had come to watch the day's match and congratulated him on the win. But he also noticed something was off with his godfather, who asked him to call him on the mirror later that night when he could.
Harry put that out of his mind for the moment. Soon enough, he was snogging Pansy, drinking butterbeer, and relaxing as for that afternoon, all thoughts of the war were put aside for a little while.
Even Ron had cheered up after the victory. Harry hoped that future matches would be a lot easier on his old friend, as his nerves calmed down with some more experience.
Otherwise, it would be a long season.
But Ron was smiling as much as anyone, talking with Seamus about one of his saves. Harry had even seen Hermione congratulate him with a hug. His massive blush made Harry wonder if Ron had finally noticed that she was a girl- hopefully, the ship had sailed on that potential relationship. The last year had been a lot nicer with the two of them no longer arguing constantly.
Hours later, Harry and Pansy has excused themselves back to their quarters. Dinner was coming up, and both of them wanted a chance to relax with a bit of quiet before heading to the Great Hall.
"I guess I should call Sirius now."
"Want me to give you some privacy?" Pansy asked.
"I don't know if that's necessary."
"I haven't had much of a chance to talk to Luna today. Why don't I go do that while you have some guy time with your godfather?"
"Alright. Tell Luna I'll see her at dinner."
She nodded as she got up and went to their bedroom. Harry reached over to the table and grabbed the mirror.
"Sirius?"
It took only a moment for a response to come.
"Hey, Harry. Nice catch today."
"Don't take this wrong, but you don't look so good."
"I might have had a little drink. Or five," Sirius sighed.
"What's wrong?"
"There was part of the Death Eater story left out of the papers."
"Oh?"
"One of them didn't escape."
"What happened?"
"Remus and I- look, I know you don't like him, but I needed an old friend beside me. We've spent most of the week hanging out together."
"Why?"
"We're the only two marauders left now."
"Oh..."
"Yeah," Sirius exhaled, and Harry saw him reach over for a glass, downing a shot of what was clearly firewhisky based on the steam that blew out of his ears a moment later. "Apparently, old Tom Riddle was none too pleased with Peter. His betrayal might have led him right to your parents' door, but it also led to Tom's downfall. That must not have set well with him."
"I imagine not."
"Right. Plus, beyond that, Peter had hidden away afterwards for all those years. I'm guessing that wasn't something that Riddle was too pleased by either. He was... he was hung up on the wall, with his stomach slashed open. Riddle left behind a message too. I'm assuming Dumbledore didn't say anything to you about it?"
"No. He hasn't said anything to me this term. Why? What did it say?"
"It said, 'Failures and cowards will be punished.' It was written in Peter's blood." Sirius shook his head sadly. "You know, I never thought avenging James and Lily would feel so completely hollow."
"Maybe because you didn't do it," Harry suggested. "There's a big difference with what happened here. It's not like you or I killed him for betraying us. It was just the Dark Lord being a crazy bastard, as usual."
"I know. It still doesn't make things feel any better." Sirius paused to take another drink. "It's made me wonder where we went wrong. I mean, Peter was like a brother to us, Harry. For almost a decade, I would have sworn that he would fight and bleed and die for us if need be. I just can't help thinking about how that boy that had been one of my best friends could have fallen so far. It sucks."
"Yeah, that does suck. I'm sorry, Sirius."
"Thanks."
They sat in silence for a moment.
"But that wasn't all that I wanted to tell you. There was one more piece of the story that's been hushed up so far. The dementors have left the prison too. We think they've joined the Dark Lord."
"Shit. That is really, really not good."
"I know. I'm not sure how Fudge thinks he's going to keep that quiet. It's going to be hard to blame it all on rogue Death Eaters too. You might want to keep that in mind and try to teach your group the Patronus charm. They might need it in the coming months."
"Right. Thanks for letting me know. I might have some help with that, actually."
"How so?"
"Our Defense professor this year- Gordon Watts. He was an Azkaban guard for a long time and said that he would be open to running some extra lessons on the Patronus, although probably not till the spring term."
"That should help. You might mention this to him, though. He might want to move that lesson plan up on his schedule."
"Yeah, I will."
"So..."
"So..." Harry wondered if this conversation would lead to any more bad news. "Moody hasn't by any chance had some luck hunting down the Death Eaters?"
"No, no luck there either."
"Damn."
"Yeah, I know. You should keep your eyes peeled at Hogsmeade, though."
"Why?"
"It's a perfect target to inspire terror. Especially if the kids are out for the weekend. Plus, they've done it before. And with psychos like my cousin on the loose, things could get really bad. These aren't the types who could put on a mask of decency and hide in polite society. Not like Malfoy, for example. We're talking about the worst of the worst, who won't have any trouble slaughtering innocent civilians."
"Right. You should probably mention that in the next order meeting then."
"Believe me, we're all over it. Don't be surprised if you see me, Mad-Eye, Remus, or even little Nymmie on your visits from now on."
"How is little Nymmie? She hasn't hexed you too bad for calling her that yet?"
"I might have a slightly better sense of self-preservation than that," Sirius winked. "I've had the pleasure of dining with my cousin Andy and Ted a couple of times lately, and I've learned a few of their tricks about how to annoy Tonks in ways other than bringing up her hated name."
"You ever think about what will happen if she gets married? I mean, she wouldn't be Tonks anymore then."
"I wouldn't put it past her to try to legally change her first name at the same time. Like, if she were to marry you, instead of becoming Nymphadora Potter, she'd want to be called Tonks Potter."
"Yeah, I don't think that would work, on a number of levels. Other than the fact that Pansy and I are together, I don't think Tonks and I would be a good match. Plus, calling people by their last name always feels impersonal. I couldn't do that with someone I was dating."
"You could call her Dora," Sirius suggested.
"That's a little too normal a name for someone like her, I think. I'd probably go with Nym instead. It's short and cute, but also unique. That would fit better, probably."
"Okay, other than that, why wouldn't you want to be with my dear little cousin?"
"You know, if you're trying to tease me, this is hardly working," Harry replied with a grin. "Anyway, the hair would be a problem."
"You don't like pink?"
"No, the color isn't an issue. But she'd need to grow it longer. I've grown so used to Pansy that not being able to occasionally pull a woman's hair while in bed would just feel wrong."
Sirius barked out a laugh. "Thanks Harry. I needed that."
"So, what did Sirius have to say?"
They were getting ready for bed, and sadly, they were unable to properly celebrate the quidditch victory. Pansy was far too crampy.
"Do you mind if you sleep on the other side of the bed tonight?"
"Why?"
"My ribs are still a little sore."
"Oh. Yeah, sure," she answered as she scooted over. Harry climbed in behind her, and this time it was his left arm that went around her. She arranged his hand to be in just the right spot for comforting her. "I thought Pomfrey would have fixed that."
"She did. It's still just a little tender. I imagine I'll be fine tomorrow."
"Good. So, Sirius?"
"Oh, yeah. Bad news and worse news. For one thing, the dementors have apparently rebelled."
"That's why it was so easy for the Dark Lord to break his Death Eaters out, I guess?"
"Yeah."
"That's fucking awful. We probably need to teach the group the Patronus then."
"Yeah, Sirius suggested that too. I'm going to talk to professor Watts after the next class, and see if he can help teach it too. He did mention doing it next term anyway, and on something like this, we'll want all the help we can get."
"Agreed. What's the worse news?"
"That was the worse part, actually. The other part was more personal... and not necessarily bad, I guess. Just, I don't know... troubling maybe?"
"Well, spit it out then."
"It was Pettigrew."
"What about the little rat?"
"Apparently the Dark Lord wasn't pleased with him. He killed him and left behind a message about cowards and failures being punished."
"I don't really see what's bad about that. He might have been somewhat useless, but it's still one less Death Eater for us to worry about."
"I know, but it rattled Sirius pretty bad. This wasn't justice for James and Lily. It was really rather pathetic. But then again, this is the same man who lived for more than a decade as a rodent. So, I guess pathetic is a fitting way for him to meet his end too."
"No offense to Sirius, but I'm glad he's gone. As a rat, he was a prison escape just waiting to happen. I know the ministry put him in a special cell, but I pretty much expect nothing but incompetence and corruption from them. Call me jaded, if you will."
"You're jaded," Harry grinned. "Then again, so am I. But I don't think everyone at the ministry is useless. Moody, Watts, Bones- I trust them. Too bad they seem like the exceptions to the rule though."
"Yeah. I hope that retard Fudge gets what's coming to him. Fucking useless bastard. They should hang him in the middle of Diagon Alley."
"I don't think they'd want the kids shopping for school supplies to see that," Harry snorted.
"I'm serious, Harry. That fucking idiot is guilty of treason. I don't care if it's cowardice now instead of being owned by the Malfoys. People are going to die because of him. The penalty for treason, especially for the minister of magic, is still death. And that's how it should be."
"Yeah, fair enough. I wouldn't lose any sleep over him getting hanged."
"After everything that's happened today, I think we both need plenty of sleep."
"I can definitely-" Harry yawned before he could finish, "I could use a nice long night."
"Sounds wonderful," Pansy agreed before yawning as well. "Hopefully Dobby won't need to wake us for anything. Let's plan on a late breakfast in bed."
"Okay." Harry burrowed down into the pillow and smiled as he smelled Pansy's hair. He loved whatever that shampoo or conditioner was. He needed to remember to ask her about it someday, but sleep was calling.
"Harry?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm sorry we didn't get to properly celebrate your win today."
"It's okay. I'm a little sore anyway."
"You're not disappointed?"
"Pansy, my love, our sex life could hardly be called disappointing. Between the sore ribs, the stress, and everything else, I am beat."
"Okay, I, I just-"
"What's the matter?" Harry yawned again.
"I don't like to think that what we have is becoming routine. I don't want you to get bored with me. I don't know, maybe... maybe I'm just feeling a little insecure."
"I have no idea why, but I promise you this, as soon as you're feeling up to it, I'll spend all night licking every inch of your body so you'll know exactly how much I still enjoy you. Sound good?"
"Every inch? Even my armpits?" she chuckled.
"Yeah, why not?"
"Harry, don't be ridiculous. That couldn't possibly turn you on."
"No, but you've challenged my libido and my overwhelming amount of lust for you. So I've got a point to make. Get those armpits ready for some licking." They both giggled before Harry yawned again. "Now, can we get some sleep? I'll be sure to worship you more tomorrow."
"Good night, Harry."
They did eventually drag themselves out of bed that Sunday. That afternoon, they had a meeting with good old Sluggy, supposedly about the class they had missed almost a week prior. Almost as soon as they walked into his office, Harry got a feeling that something else was on the Potions Master's mind.
"You wanted to see us, professor?"
"Ah yes, Harry, Pansy, do come in. Have a seat, please," he motioned to the chairs right in front of his desk.
"I assume this is about us missing class the other day?" Harry asked.
"What? Oh, yes, I suppose." Something was definitely bothering the professor. "No, I guess I shouldn't bother with that. You've both already got the assignments for you to catch up on. That's... that's not why I asked you here today."
"What is it, professor?" Pansy's prodding got him to look away for a moment and then a tea set was floating over onto his desk.
"This... isn't really going to be what I wanted to do with my Sunday afternoon, but I made a promise to myself. I take it the headmaster still hasn't spoken to you about anything Harry?"
"No, sir."
"That's what I was afraid of," Slughorn sighed as he waved his wand and the tea began to pour into cups for all of them. "What I'm going to tell the two of you about should be considered as one of the most dangerous secrets possible. I must stress how careful you should both be. That said, I know how close the two of you are, so I assumed there would be no point to only telling Harry when we both know he isn't likely to keep it from you, my dear Pansy. I want you to both understand just how important this is."
"We understand," Pansy answered as Harry nodded in agreement.
"Have either of you ever heard of a horcrux?"
Harry looked over at Pansy, who shook her head. "No, sir."
"I would have been shocked if either of you said yes. It is one of the darkest forms of magic the world has ever seen. A wizard must commit a terrible sin- the cold blooded murder of an innocent, often a child- and they are then able to tear a portion of their very soul apart, and place that portion into an object. As long as that object exists, the wizard cannot be killed. Or at least, they cannot be permanently killed.
"That's what Riddle did then?"
"Yes, Harry. However, even as a teenager, Tom was always one to strive to go beyond what others might. I'm afraid he did not only create one. It is likely that he created several. Probably seven."
"Why seven?" Harry asked.
"Arithmancy," Pansy replied. "Seven is supposed to be the most powerful magical number. Three and thirteen are also very powerful. Three for a number of reasons, like the three Deathly Hallows, and thirteen is usually tied to lunar calendars, but also in ancient pagan ways, it ties to a woman's cycle which usually have thirteen in a year. Arguably, thirteen would be even more powerful for a witch because of that. But seven is traditionally seen as the most powerful number. And I would guess the Dark Lord wouldn't settle for anything less."
"Correct my dear. Five points to Slytherin for paying attention in Arithmancy. Septima would be quite pleased."
"So, we need to destroy seven of these things before he can be killed?"
"Yes, Harry. But, not seven. Not anymore."
"Huh?"
"The diary, my dear boy. Tom's diary that you told me about."
"That's what that was?"
"I'm afraid so. I believe that his murder of poor Myrtle would have been what Tom used to create it. Such a pity," the old professor shook his head mournfully. "I had hoped to never see another murdered student after what happened to her. But Tom wasn't through trying to ruin things. Until Lily's miracle, we were all nearly plunged into darkness."
"So we need to destroy six more of them then?" Pansy asked. "Do you have any idea what else he might have used, sir?"
"Albus believes that Harry actually destroyed a second that day in the graveyard."
"The snake?"
"Correct, my dear boy. A very lucky blow that was, more so than you probably believed." Slughorn reached for his cup and took another sip of tea. "As for the rest, I am not sure what he might have used. Albus supposedly has a plan for dealing with them. But then, Albus always has a plan. Not that he's bothered to tell any of the rest of us what is going on. That is why I had hoped he had spoken to you, Harry. You are at the center of things, unfortunately. You've already done much more than we should ever ask of a teenager. I'm hoping that we won't have to ask too much more from you."
"Why do you say that?" Pansy asked.
"Because, while seven is the most powerful number, Tom would have wanted a seven part soul. Which means one piece would have resided within his body. So he would have only created six horcruxes."
"But you said he created seven."
"I believe- and I am only guessing here, Albus likely knows more- but I believe that he may have created a seventh horcrux on accident."
"How can you possibly create something that powerful on accident?" Pansy blurted out. "That goes against everything we've learned of ritual magic."
"True, but-"
"My scar," Harry sighed. "When else have we heard of something go against the rules of magic? My mother's miraculous sacrifice that somehow stopped the supposedly unstoppable killing curse. My strange connection to him. My parselmouth ability. It explains a lot."
"No!" Pansy yelled. "No way in hell am I letting that crazy old man get you killed. We'll leave the country. The Dark Lord can have it."
"Pansy-"
"No, Harry. You are mine. The Dark Lord can't have you. You've already sacrificed too much. Dumbledore can get off his lazy arse and start fighting this war for real. You and I can run."
"I don't know if that would work," Harry sighed.
"Harry-"
"Pansy, sweetheart, I agree. I have no interest in letting that crazy monster kill me. But it seems like he won't stop coming after me, no matter what."
"And that's why I told Albus that he needs to come up with a better plan," Slughorn interrupted. "However, since he hasn't told me any of his myriad potential schemes, I came up with my own. Give me just a moment."
He opened up a drawer of his desk and pulled out a vial filled with a clear liquid that he then carefully handed over to Harry.
"I don't believe that we should ask Harry to make any more sacrifices either. So, that," he pointed to the vial, "is what I've come up with."
"What is it?"
"The most perfectly brewed draught of living death I've ever created. And as a Potions Master with decades of experience, I can assure you that I've done my very best. We would still have to somehow get Tom subdued so that it could be administered, but then we could lock him away in the deepest darkest tomb possible-"
"And that would give us all the time we might need to track down the rest of horcruxes," Harry added.
"Among other things, yes. Personally, I believe that should be left in Albus' hands. He is much more knowledgeable about esoteric magic than anyone else I've ever met. But aside from that, it would also mean that you could live your life without having to worry about a death sentence hanging over your head. And you could look for other ways to purify that scar without getting killed."
"Is that possible?" Harry asked.
"I don't know. Since Albus hasn't told me of any way, I don't believe he thinks so. But," Slughorn paused for a moment. "Even Albus Dumbledore, as brilliant as he is, would admit that he doesn't know everything. There is a very wide world out there. We can hardly expect to know everything about magic. Who knows what witches and wizards might have come up with in the far flung reaches of the world? I would recommend starting that search in either Egypt or Haiti, personally. The Egyptians have studied souls and death for eons, and while I don't have any personal experience, I have heard extraordinary things about the voodoo magic that is practiced in the Caribbean."
"I still don't understand though," Pansy said. "How can Harry have become a horcrux on accident? That's insane. For one thing, if his mother's sacrifice was strong enough to stop the killing curse- and that same protection was then powerful enough to burn Quirrel to dust when he was possessed by the Dark Lord- then logically that same protection wouldn't have let a piece of the Dark Lord somehow attach itself to your scar. And even if it did, we know basilisk venom is potent enough to destroy a horcrux because that's what Harry destroyed the diary with. Well, Harry had that same basilisk venom flowing through his veins. Wouldn't that have killed the horcrux too? Or would he have needed to have been stabbed directly in the scar? None of this makes sense."
"I must confess, I don't have any answers for you," Slughorn sighed. "I learned about these horrible things long ago, and at the time, even creating one was thought to be the limit. Creating several horcruxes on purpose, or any of them on accident, were not things I knew that could be done. Albus likely knows more, but-"
"But good luck in trying to get him to part with his secrets," Harry finished. "Yeah. I guess this is why he was so hung up on blood protection that he didn't care about any other consequences of abandoning me with the Dursleys. I don't really know what to do next."
"I suggest you keep doing what you would regularly do. Live your life, Harry. That is hardly the only vial I have- I made sure that Albus has some as well- but since you keep running into Tom, I wanted you to have a dose. The glass is charmed to be unbreakable, so I would recommend keeping it on your person from now on. Just in case."
"That's a good idea. Of course, trying to kill the Dark Lord might be easier than trying to subdue him somehow."
"I know, Harry. I'm sorry to have to tell you any of this, but Albus apparently wasn't going to, and I swore to myself that I wouldn't leave you in the dark. You deserve to know the truth."
"Thank you."
"Can I have a vial as well, professor?" Pansy asked.
"Certainly my dear." He got up and went over to a storage cabinet. Moments later, he removed a second dose and brought it over to her. "Having an extra in case of emergencies is a good idea."
"Are we sure it will work on him?"
"That potion has been known to work even on giants and trolls. While Tom may no longer be completely human, it should still be strong enough to knock out anything other than maybe a dragon."
"Sounds good to me," Harry replied. "It's much better than what we knew coming in today."
"Yes, well I suppose I won't have to keep badgering Albus about talking to you now. However, he really should tell someone about the horcruxes one of these days. We can't rely entirely on him. What would happen if he were killed? I would think he could at least trust Minerva, or that old warrior Moody. Neither of them would ever work for a Dark Lord. But, if not them, he really should talk to you about all this at some point. It's been your struggle against Tom as much as any of ours recently. Whether or not you want to try to get the headmaster to reveal more I will leave to your discretion, Harry."
Bedtime was tense that evening. Harry waited until Pansy had settled next to him (and wrapped his arm around her like usual) before trying to broach the subject of what they had learned that afternoon.
"Do you still think we should run?"
"I think that makes more sense than anything else," Pansy answered. "I'll kill the headmaster before letting him try to talk you into becoming some sort of martyr. Fuck that crazy old bastard."
"I'm not interested in dying for the cause, believe me. But, I don't think running would fix anything in the long run. Tom would still try to come after me at some point. And even if you and I just left- what about Luna? I know you wouldn't leave her behind either."
"No, I wouldn't. You're right. I suppose you would want to save Granger and Sirius and several others too."
"Yeah."
"So, what do we do?"
"Nothing, I guess."
"What do you mean nothing, Harry?"
"Nothing unusual. I think Sluggy was right. We just keep on living our lives for the moment. There's not much else we can do. Hope that Moody can track down some of the Death Eaters and start taking out some of the snake-faced bastard's forces."
"And we just pretend that there's nothing to do about your scar?"
"I don't think there's anything else we really can do," Harry shrugged. "Maybe plan on going to Egypt or Haiti next summer. And buy a lot of sunscreen. Summer in the desert sounds brutal. I guess we could go to Haiti first."
"I guess so. You're really not worried about all this?"
"I don't know that there's any point. There's going to be a lot more to the war than just trying to kill Riddle. Especially now that the dementors are on the loose. Besides, at least we now have a reason for why I get those strange dreams every now and then."
"I wish I could be as calm about all this. It seems like we can never get a break. I'm fucking tired of everything that keeps piling on us. I don't want to need to go to Haiti or Egypt; I want a summer vacation where you and I can just relax on the beach. Somewhere tropical. Probably with Luna too. I'm sure we could think of some mythical tropical beast for Xeno to search for while the rest of us relax."
"That does sound fun," Harry agreed as Pansy sighed and pulled his arm a little tighter around her. "We'll get there someday. I promise."
"I hope you're right."
"I hope I'm right too."