Harry Potter and the Summer of Secrets

Chapter 3: Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes

She found herself in a dimly lit room lined with shelves, a single candle flickering on the desk. She looked curiously around the empty room, on the shelves were wands; hundreds of them, all displayed and labeled like morbid trophies.

"Do you like my collection, Iris?"

She turned around quickly and said, "My Lord, where did you get all these?"

The Dark Lord smiled and walked over to her. He picked up a wand labeled "Medea: 16^th July 1979". He handed it to her, an odd look in his eyes. The moment she touched the wand, her eyes began to roll as she slipped into a trance.

She watched as a handsome man with long black hair sneaked up a winding staircase. He moved silently down the darkened hallway, stopping in front of a black door. He knocked three times and the door creaked open, revealing a pale woman.

Iris gasped, the woman looked exactly like her. She had the same long, curly red hair, the same facial features; they were even the same height.

"No, Sirius, darling, it's bad luck," she protested as the man tried to kiss her.

"Medea, I cannot wait. Besides, I'm not superstitious," he said, smiling enticingly at her.

"No, it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding. I shouldn't have even opened the door," she insisted.

He feigned a look of concern and replied, "We're fucked then. Hey, speaking of fuc-"

"Sirius," Medea gasped. "If you can't wait twelve hours, then I feel very sorry for you, especially because we just had sex two days ago."

Sirius laughed and pulled her close. "I love you, Medea."

"I love you too, Sirius," she replied sincerely as she kissed him.

They parted reluctantly, and he turned back down the hall. Medea shut her door, smiling, and turned to find herself face-to-face with a serpent.

She fumbled clumsily for her wand, but the serpent wound tightly around her. Faint laughter brought her to her senses, and she pulled free of the snake's grasp easily.

The enormous serpent vanished in a puff of smoke, replaced by a man with billowing black robes and waxy skin. His eyes, which had once been a piercing dark green, were now red and snake-like in appearance.

"Tom?" she whispered uncertainly, pulling out her wand.

"I am known as Lord Voldemort now," he replied coldly.

She glared at him and sarcastically asked, "What do you want then, 'My Lord'?"

"I have come to offer you the chance of a lifetime. Together we could rule the world, destroy Mudbloods, and enslave Muggles. Our children would be the most powerful; there is a prophecy..."

She looked at him as though he were crazy and interrupted, "Like I'd stain my pure-blood with your Muggle filth, Sirius is a pure-blood..."

"He is a blood-traitor," Voldemort spat maliciously.

"And you are a half-blood!" Medea yelled back.

He looked as though he wanted to curse her, but suppressed his rage.

"So your answer is 'no' then?" he asked woodenly.

"My answer is hell no, Half-blood," she said firmly, "and now it is time for you to go."

"I am not a half-blood," he spat uncontrollably. "I am an heir, as are you."

She looked confused. "I don't know what you're talking about, heir to what?"

"I am Slytherin's, you are Ravenclaw's. An ancient prophecy tells of a ritual that will resurrect Slytherin himself, all we need are the other two heirs. Our child could be him..."

"No," Medea said again.

Voldemort sighed. "Imperio," was his cold reply.

Iris began to gasp and, finally realizing what was happening, let go of the wand. She was lying on the floor, drenched in sweat, the Dark Lord stood over her, watching intently.

"What did you see?" he hissed soothingly.

"I'm not sure," she answered, sitting up.

"I think you are sure," he answered, frowning. "Why do you not trust your gifts?"

"I..." Iris started, but the door banged open loudly, causing her to jump.

A man with dark brown hair and a prominent looking face rushed in frantically.

"My Lord, I'm sorry to interrupt, but it's my daughter."

"Clarence?" the Dark Lord hissed. "What is so terribly important?"

The man shook slightly and replied, "She wants to marry a blood-traitor."

"Who does she want to marry?"

"Percy Weasley," Clarence answered, his voice shaking.

"A Weasley would disgrace the Clearwater line, unless he were prepared to sacrifice his family for your blessing. He could lead us to the Order, and maybe even Potter. Tell him that in order to win your daughter, he must pass my test..."

Iris sneaked out of the room and hurried to the front door. She ran down the hill to the Disapparition point in the graveyard.

****

"Tell me more about Iris," Harry said soon after she had left.

Draco lifted his feet up onto the desk and smirked. "Why should I tell you anything about Iris?"

"It wouldn't take much to alert the Order to your presence here," he replied seriously.

Draco's smirk increased as he said, "I'm not worried, considering your best mate's dad and the werewolf just let us go from their headquarters."

Harry fell silent as Draco picked up the locket and examined it carefully.

"How are we going to destroy it?" Harry asked finally.

Draco looked at him as if he were stupid. "Do you know anything at all, Potter? I wonder if you can even read."

"I can read just fine, Malfoy." Harry smirked, tossing a newspaper to Draco.

He looked down at it, his brow furrowed at a picture of himself playing Quidditch under the headline Tragedy at Hogwarts.

"Read it," Harry said forcefully. "All these years I've read the ones you've given me, now you read this."

Draco unfolded the paper to see another, bigger picture of Snape. The headline read Professor Murders Headmaster.

"How do they know he did it?" he asked, skimming the article curiously.

His scowl increased as he read the article. He finally tossed the locket and the paper aside. "Do you think that's funny?" he asked, enraged.

"Sort of," Harry replied, still smirking as he picked up the locket.

"They've made me out to be a less than mediocre wizard just because I was unable to use the Killing Curse? My aunt Bella told me that you couldn't even perform the Cruciatus, and they worship you..."

"They don't worship me," Harry tried to interrupt, but Draco plowed on.

"I, however, know that you are nothing special. You have only survived as long as you have wholly by luck and having the answers handed to you. I have witnessed your lack of control over the simplest emotion to overcome. I can say this one thing for sure: You are the laziest person I've ever met."

Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at Draco. "Shut up, Malfoy, I'm warning you..."

"Or you'll what?" Draco asked fiercely, pulling his wand out as well. "Are you going to call for back-up, or are we finally going to have a proper duel?"

"You were the one who always pulled out or told a teacher."

Draco glared at him. "My father said you use merely parlour tricks and such; always aided and protected by your more talented friends. I couldn't believe they said Weasley was a better fighter..."

"I said shut it, Malfoy." Harry's voice had reached a murderous tone, and his wand hand twitched involuntarily.

"Can't face it, can you?" Draco went on, an amused look playing about his face. "The truth, that is..."

Harry snapped. "That's it, Malfoy, I'm going to kill you now!"

"No, you aren't," said a shaky voice from the doorway.

They turned to see Iris standing there, looking pale and upset, her blue robes were dirty, as though she had been rolling around on the floor. She pulled the locket from Harry's hand before sitting in the desk chair to catch her breath.

As soon as Iris had taken the locket from Harry, his anger at Draco melted away. Draco, however, turned to Iris and said, "Where the hell have you been? Let me see that damn locket..."

She held tightly to the locket and looked at it oddly. "You know, Slytherin gave this to Ravenclaw once but, thinking he was trying to trick her, she threw it back in his face. Since then, it has been passed from heir to heir, an angry trail of misfortune following it closely. I think that it would be best if we keep it somewhere hidden and safe."

She pocketed it and turned to Harry, who looked at her curiously. "What did he want?"

She looked surprised and replied, "I don't know, we were interrupted."

"Interrupted?"

"Clearwater came in shouting something about his daughter marrying a blood-traitor, so I just sort of sneaked out."

"Oh," said Harry. "So how do we destroy it?"

"We can't destroy the locket, you nitwit, it's cursed!" Draco said impatiently. "Whoever destroys it, destroys themselves as well, but if you really want to risk it, I won't stop you."

****

The next day, Harry raided Arabella Figg's magical library searching for answers; however, she was a Squib and did not have anything they needed.

"What we need is to get into Dumbledore's private collection," Iris said, as she snapped her book shut, looking frustrated. "We'd have all the answers in no time."

"Well, we can't get to it, but there might be another way..."

Draco was cut off by the sound of the doorbell ringing. They both looked at Harry who appeared to be in another world.

Harry was thinking about the hour-long conversation Dudley had had with Iris before realizing she was a witch, at which point he had promptly began to demand that his mother make them leave.

Harry had convinced Petunia, after several hours of Dudley's tantrums, to spend the week with Vernon, who it turned out, had been staying with Marge; Harry had begun to feel much more relaxed around Draco and Iris after that.

"Are you going to answer that?" Draco's drawling voice was heard from the couch. "Or are you just going to sit there like a bump on a log while we all go mad?"

"Bugger," Harry said, finally realizing the doorbell had been ringing continuously. He jumped to his feet, raced to the door, and threw it open.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed. "What took you so long, you nearly gave poor Ron a heart attack!"

Harry smiled. "Sorry about that. Listen, Ron, take Hermione up to my room. I'll be up in a minute, I've got loads to tell you."

"Same here," Ron replied, nearly bursting with excitement as he led Hermione up the stairs.

Harry returned to the living room where he motioned for Draco and Iris to follow him. "You'd better come with me to talk to them, but I should tell them before they see you..."

He left them outside the door to his room and walked in nervously. "How was the wedding?" he asked in what he hoped would be a casual tone.

"Brilliant!" Ron exclaimed. "They caught Snape trying to sneak in. He ended up running into the middle of the ceremony, shouting for you. He smashed the cake and Fleur nearly murdered him, Bill had to practically sit on her to keep her from it. I think they took him straight to Azkaban... Are you alright, Harry?"

He exchanged a nervous glance with Hermione. Harry had gone completely white, his entire body shaking in suppressed rage.

"I'm fine," he answered seriously. "He deserves worse, he deserves to die. I wish I would have stayed, I would have killed him..."

"And you'd be in Azkaban instead of him," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. "I thought you had loads to tell us."

Harry felt himself calm a little; he did not want to think about Snape. "Do you remember the letter I received at the Burrow?" he started awkwardly. "I think I've found out who sent it..."

"Well?" Ron demanded after watching him try, unsuccessfully, to continue.

Harry sighed. "Will you be nice?"

"Why on earth wouldn't we be?" Hermione asked.

"No matter who it is?" he asked persuasively. She nodded and he opened the door.

When Draco and Iris walked in, it became clear that the people who entered were definitely not whom they had expected.

Hermione gasped and pulled out her wand. Ron leapt to his feet and began to wildly fire off random curses in rapid succession.

A jet of blue light hit Harry's overturned lamp, and it flew across the room, smashing into the wall behind Iris. A red curse hit Harry's wardrobe, which caught fire. Hermione shook her head and rushed forward, extinguishing the flames.

Several of the curses hit Iris, the last picking her up and throwing her back into the hallway, where she crashed into a shelf full of Petunia's cat figurines.

Harry tried fruitlessly to restrain Ron, but in the end, Draco found his lost wand and yelled, "Stupefy!"

Ron fell to the floor and Draco grabbed his wand. He then rolled him over and kicked him in the stomach.

"Weasel-Bee no longer gets a wand, Potter," he said angrily shoving it into his own pocket.

Hermione shakily repaired Petunia's figurines while Draco checked on Iris, who insisted she was fine.

Hermione then sank onto the bed and looked at Harry thoroughly confused. Her voice shook as she said, "Someone needs to tell me what's going on."

****

"Ennervate."

He looked around groggily, blinded by the brightness of the room.

"Severus Snape?" a rough voice asked. As the room came into focus, he groaned in pain and realization.

"The illustrious Mad-Eye Moody," he sneered. "He is the greatest Auror to ever be locked in his own trunk by a Death Eater."

"That remark will cost you the use of the Headache Serum," another angry voice growled. He looked around to find Lupin, McGonagall, and Tonks standing slightly behind Moody.

"Remus Lupin, you will give him the Headache Serum!" McGonagall said sternly. Snape smirked as Lupin obligingly poured the potion into his mouth.

"Now, where is Voldemort?"

He shook his head. "I cannot speak the name..."

"How convenient," Tonks cut in.

"Convenient? I've never done anything convenient..."

"So you've gained nothing from Dumbledore's death?" Moody asked skeptically.

Snape did not reply, but instead shook his head. "Have you given me a Truth Serum?"

"Answer the question, Severus," McGonagall said firmly.

"I stand to gain nothing from my actions, my so-called reward did nothing but buy us time."

"Time? Time for what?" McGonagall asked curiously.

"That I cannot say," he replied automatically.

"Whose side are you really on?" Lupin asked.

"Whose 'side' am I on?" Snape repeated bitterly. "I'm not sure I can see the difference anymore."

"Severus," McGonagall said softly, "I have spoken to Albus's portrait."

"And?" he challenged, though his face had paled slightly.

She looked at him oddly and replied, "He spoke in riddles of course; however, I believe you only killed him because he ordered you to. I know he did not want Draco to be forced to kill by You-Know-Who."

"What happened to the Malfoy boy?" Moody asked loudly. "The Ministry cannot find him."

"The Dark Lord granted him mercy, the first to ever receive it," Snape answered mechanically.

"And what makes Draco so important?" Tonks asked, confused.

Snape closed his eyes and shakily replied, "He is betrothed to the Dark Lord's daughter..."

He broke off and hung his head as McGonagall nodded slightly.

"Voldemort has a daughter? Who is she? What does she look like?" Lupin demanded frantically.

Snape sighed. "She has long, curly..."

"Red hair and green eyes," Lupin finished, sinking into a chair.

"How did you know?" Snape asked.

"She was here yesterday, along with Draco. They tricked me into letting them go by taking down all those portraits. They said they were looking for Harry," he replied softly.

****

Ron lay unconscious for over an hour, during which Harry told Hermione everything.

At first, she thought it was all a joke. She curiously watched Harry being friendly to Malfoy and Malfoy being almost friendly back.

"What do we do when Weasley wakes up and turns violent? I can't wait to knock him out again," Draco said smirking.

"What if I knock you out, Malfoy?"

"That's enough!" Hermione said loudly. "We'll just put him in the Full-Body Bind, then he'll have to listen to what we have to say."

She glanced over at Iris, who had been quiet for a long time, hoping for back up. She noticed a small red puddle beside the chair she was sitting in. Iris was very pale and shaky, her left hand was covered in blood; she had her head laying on the desk, ignoring the book in front of her unfocused eyes.

"Are you alright?" Hermione asked, concerned.

Harry, who was closest to her, bent down and began to pull back her sleeve. She yanked her arm back, shrieking in pain as though she had been burned.

"What the hell do you think you are doing, Potter?" Draco yelled as he rushed over to her. She was shaking, her eyes rolling, as she muttered disjointed words.

Draco whispered something softly in her ear and forced her to look at him. She calmed down a little, but still tried to pull away from him. He then slowly and gently pulled back her bloodstained sleeve.

On her forearm was the Dark Mark, gleaming silver, though partially covered in blood. Across it ran a deep cut that was freely dripping blood all over her robes.

Harry found a first aid kit in the bathroom and returned to find that Draco had already healed the gash. Iris was still pale and Hermione was checking her for other injuries.

"I'm fine," she insisted. "I don't know why I didn't notice it sooner; I need my bag."

Hermione handed it to her and she dug through it, finally pulling out a small, black dragon scale pouch. She opened it, pulled out a vial, and drank it quickly before standing uncertainly.

"I need to change my robes."

"Do you have the Mark as well?" Hermione asked after Iris had left the room.

Draco sighed and shot Hermione a repulsed look before saying, "She took the Mark a few days before we came here. It was meant to be black, like the others but turned silver instead..."

"She willingly took the Mark?"

"Yes," Draco answered bitterly. "In a 'co-operate or someone you love will die' sort of way. Same choice I was given, now that I think about it."

He pulled back his sleeve, revealing his own inky-black Dark Mark. Harry rubbed his scar, looking as though his mind were racing.

"Anyone fancy a walk?" Iris asked as she came back into the room, smiling.

****

Hermione stayed behind to try to explain things to Ron, and after a half an hour's wait, practicing what to say, she knelt beside him.

"Ennervate."

Ron sat up and looked wildly around the room. "What happened?"

She took a deep breath and repeated every word of her conversation with Harry. After a few minutes, Ron asked, "So he just let them stay? Why? Are you sure he's not under the Imperius Curse?"

"He's not," Hermione replied. "They gave him the locket and claim to know where the other Horcruxes are."

"I just don't trust Malfoy, and I never will," Ron said, unconvinced, and left her in silence.

How long she sat there, she did not know, but it seemed like it had only been a moment before she heard a loud crash from downstairs. Her eyes widened as she grabbed her wand and opened the door. She ran right into Ron, who put a hand over her mouth to silence her scream.

****

As they entered Diagon Alley, they were shocked to find it deserted; almost every window had been boarded up and a great deal of rubbish littered the streets.

"What happened here?" whispered Harry, though he already knew it had been the Death Eaters.

"We're being watched," he heard Iris whisper to Draco as they continued down the desolate street.

He glanced around, seeing several hooded figures standing in the shadows. He hurried to catch up with the others as they entered the empty joke shop.

"Hello?" Iris called. "I'm looking for Fred or George."

"We're coming," George said and the twins walked out from the back room.

"How can we help you?" Fred asked smiling.

"I had an appointment today," Iris answered.

"Oh," said George. "We forgot," continued Fred. "Well, come on, we keep them in the back."

The twins led them to the back room, which was packed with not only invisibility cloaks, but tents and jewelry as well.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Harry, who had thrown off the cloak the moment they entered the windowless back room.

"Harry, what are you doing here?" Fred asked surprised.

"I came with them," he answered vaguely as he examined the tents.

"We need two of the invisibility bracelets and three of the watches. Also, we need some Instant Darkness Powder and some blood-flavoured lollipops, if you have them."

Iris spoke so quickly that the twins looked at her strangely before handing her the items.

"And I need one of these tents," Harry added.

"What do you need an invisible tent for? You'd lose it in a day," Draco cracked, smirking.

"We need it for the hunt; we can't just stay in hotels..."

"We will not be sleeping in a tent for any part of the summer, do you realize how filthy that would be?"

Harry started to laugh, but was cut off by a loud bang issuing from the front of the store.

"What was that?" George asked walking towards the noise.

"No," Iris whispered. "It's them, Death Eaters!" Harry drew his wand and led the twins to attack before Draco or Iris could stop them.

Iris grabbed her bag, slipped on an invisibility ring, and grabbed a box of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder. She threw one of the watches to Draco, and they followed the others to the front of the store. They found the store in shambles, and though invisible, still had to dodge several wild hexes.

They found Harry and the twins behind a shelf of joke cauldrons; they were fighting desperately, but could not make it any nearer to the door. A jet of orange light sailed over the display and landed in a vat of a smelly green substance on the shelf facing them. The cauldron exploded, splashing the contents all over Draco.

"Ugh!" he cried. "That's disgusting!"

"Hey!" George yelled in the direction the spell had originated. "Do you know how rare Manticore blood is?"

"Forget it," said Iris. "We have to get out of here."

Another spell blasted the display behind which they were hiding, and Iris threw down the powder. As the shop went dark, they all grabbed a hold of one another, led by Draco, who always carried his Hand of Glory. He steered them safely out the front door and into the brightly lit streets of Diagon Alley.

"Get back to headquarters!" Iris yelled at the twins, who Apparated immediately. She then nudged Draco, and together they raised their wands, pointing them at the joke shop.

The combined effort of their spell created a shimmering blue shield around the building, trapping the Death Eaters inside.

"I bet you think you are terribly clever, don't you?" came a rough voice from behind them.

They turned slowly to see Bellatrix Lestrange sneering at Draco, who had lost his invisibility watch.

"That disguise does not fool me, boy," she growled as she waved her wand and his hair faded back to blond. "You cannot hide from family."

Draco merely smiled. "That may be so, but I am not the one who is hiding."

She looked around suspiciously, but could not see Harry or Iris thanks to the twins' ingenious invisibility inventions. 'Time for a diversion,' Draco thought as he pulled out his wand and pointed it at his aunt.

"Are you going to fight me, Draco?" She laughed condescendingly.

"Furnuculus!"

Bella screamed in pain as boils erupted all over her body. She glared at him and yelled, "Conjunctivitis!"

Draco grabbed at his eyes; they felt as if they were going to explode. Harry pulled out his wand and threw off the invisibility cloak.

"Stupefy!"

Bella turned swiftly and parried the curse; when she saw him, she laughed cruelly. "Harry Potter? Well, it is my lucky day..."

"Expelli..."

"Crucio!" she barked and Harry's spell died on his lips as he began to writhe in pain.

Draco thought that he heard a soft whisper before the pain in his eyes subsided. He turned around to see his Aunt Bellatrix hovering over Harry, torturing him gleefully.

"Stop!" Iris yelled, taking off the ring. "He is the Dark Lord's; you cannot disobey a direct order..."

Bella shoved her away, continuing her sport until Draco waved his wand. The Death Eater howled in rage as she rose into the air, suspended by her ankle. She turned her head toward him and hissed, "Blood-traitor."

He flinched, obviously shaken by her words, and dropped her roughly on the ground.

"I am not the traitor, Aunt Bella, you are. Always the Dark Lord's orders are that Potter is his..."

She laughed and looked from Draco to Iris; then she looked at Harry. "I see what is happening here... You betray the Dark Lord to Harry Potter, but I will deliver him dead, along with you."

Harry pulled himself to his feet and staggered towards Bellatrix. She turned to him, but Iris stood between them again.

"I said stop," she spat at her maliciously. "Or I will stop you..."

Bella laughed and waved her wand, sending Iris flying into a brick wall. She bounced off and flew straight back at her bewildered attacker. She crashed right into her, knocking her to the ground.

They sprang to their feet, wands at the ready.

The crazed woman laughed and turned to Draco. "You would fight for Potter's life? You hate him..."

Draco looked at Harry and smirked. "I fight only for my freedom... Imperio!"

Bella bellowed, "Sectumsempra!"

The curses passed one another; Bella's face went blissfully blank, but Draco was hit in the chest and fell to the ground bleeding. Harry started forward, but she shook her head roughly and turned back to him.

"Avada Kedavra!" a rough voice cried. Bella fell facedown on the cobblestone alley, dead.

Iris looked around wearily, and on the roof of the joke shop, she thought she saw the swish of a cloak.

"We should get out of here," Iris said frantically, rushing over to Draco. She motioned Harry to grab her arm and she Apparated them to the backyard of Number 4, Privet Drive.

****

They crept down the stairs and into the kitchen where a horrific sight met their eyes. Iris stood at the counter, covered in blood; she dumped out her bag and rummaged through the contents frantically.

A slight coughing drew their attention to the floor, where Draco sat with his back against the wall, his robes soaked in blood. Beside him sat Harry, looking both worried and guilty.

"What happened?" Hermione asked anxiously as Iris found her black dragon scale pouch and sat down beside Draco.

She carefully unbuttoned his shirt and examined the deep gashes that ran across his chest and stomach. A worried expression crossed her face, and she grabbed the pouch quickly.

"Expositus."

She sat it back down on the floor beside her as it expanded to the size of a sheet of parchment. Inside were dozens of vials, some containing potions, others merely containing ingredients.

She pulled out two vials of a blood-red potion and two vials of a murky-brown concoction. She started to pour the first vial into his mouth, but he shook his head.

"What?" Iris asked as he coughed uncontrollably, covering his hand with blood.

She poured the potion in his mouth quickly, followed by the remaining three vials, before beginning to mend his wounds.

"No scars again, you're lucky..." Iris trailed off as Draco began to gasp for air.

"Isn't there something you can do to help him?" Ron asked feebly.

"I've done all I can do, it's your turn," she answered, looking at Ron expectantly.

When he didn't answer, she continued, "You had better send an owl to your parents, before they come rushing over here."

"Fine," he said, as he watched Iris grab a small silver cauldron from the counter. She began feverishly tossing ingredients into the cauldron. As Ron headed upstairs, Harry tried to explain what had happened.

"Death Eaters attacked the shop, but we escaped. When we were about to leave, Bellatrix Lestrange attacked."

He stopped and watched, transfixed, as Iris moved over to Draco. He was very pale and shaking violently; suddenly, it stopped...

"No," whispered Iris. Hermione sobbed behind her, and Harry hung his head, surprised to feel tears sting his eyes.

"Rennervate!" Iris said desperately, trying to revive him. She then kicked the cauldron across the room, spraying its contents everywhere, before sinking to the floor, head in her hands.