Different Paths

Chapter 10: Hell on Earth

"Where are they?!" Hagrid and Arabella were startled as Ginny Weasley burst into the Leaky Cauldron.

Arabella was startled by Ginny´s appearance: her red hair was in complete disarray and her skin was extremely pale. Furthermore, she looked like she was hyperventilating.

During the previous night, Hermione had patiently explained to Ginny everything that happened the previous year during the Slytherin Revolts, how all of Draco´s friends had been called, and how it was rumored that Draco had made some frightening promise to those deceased friends concerning Harry. Ginny had at first tried to deny that such an event couldn´t have changed Draco into a potential dark wizard but as soon as she had given it a little thought, she realized just how blind to Draco´s changes she had been. Feeling sick in the stomach, Ginny had flown straight back to the Leaky Cauldron ahead of Rona nd Hermione, intending to see Remus and find out if he knew where Draco was.

"W-where are who?" asked Hagrid. Ginny glared at the two members at the Order, looking more frightening than a banshee.

"Remus! And Draco! Where are they? I know, you know!" Somehow she knew that wherever Remus was, Draco was there as well.

Hagrid nearly quelled from Ginny´s glare but Arabella tried to amend the situation, "Ginny, Remus made us promise that no matter what, we will not tell you where they are..."

"WHERE?!" Ginny yelled. There was no way anybody could deny anything at the look she gave the Order members.

Arabella sighed, defeated. "Regents Park."

* * *

As soon as Draco fired a curse at Remus, Remus sprang to his feet. He turned around and swung his wand outward. The curse hit the wand as Remus swung it and was deflected away.

"Deflector wards," muttered Draco.

"Of course," said Remus. "They can deflect all minor curses and if timed correctly, even a few of the major ones. You shouldn´t be surprised I can use a deflector ward considering I taught you myself how to use it. For that matter, I´m also the one who taught you how to use that curse you just fired."

"Really," said Draco. "Well why not continue our little lesson?"

"Believe me Draco, there is nothing you can throw at me that I can´t stop."

"What makes you so sure?"

"The simple fact that I made you, Draco Malfoy. Most of the spells and curses in your arsenal are spells and curses I myself taught you."

"Really," said Draco still completely emotionless. "Well then, how about this then? Praestigae Multiplico."

As soon as Draco said the incantation, his form started to blur. Slowly, the blur of Draco´s body divided into three blurs, and then into five blurs. Finally, the five blurs seemingly solidified into five Draco Malfoys.

"The multiple illusion spell," muttered Remus as the five Dracos slowly circled around him. "I suppose you´re going to silently encircle me, confuse me with your four illusions whereupon you attack me at the moment I´m least prepared?" Remus closed his eyes and stood very still as the Draco´s continued to encircle him. Remus´s eyes suddenly flew open and he said, "Big mistake."

With lightning fast reflexes Remus pranced toward one of the Draco´s, spun around and backhanded him on the cheek. The real Draco reeled back in pain as the four illusions disappeared.

"You´ve forgotten that I´m the one who taught you that spell as well. I know how to tell the difference between reality and illusion," said Remus. "Give it up Draco, I know all of your moves."

Draco´s eyes turned cold. "Not quite. Magicus Ensis!" A blue blade of light surrounded Draco´s wand and with it Draco slashed at Remus´s left arm. Remus gritted his teeth in pain as he backed up a little, clutching his bleeding left arm in his right hand.

Draco´s eyes were icy cold as he pointed the blade of light at Remus. "You never taught me the Magical Sword spell, I learned it myself. You see Remus, during these past few months I´ve been engaging in a little unauthorized training out of your supervision. Training that nearly brought me to the very brink of death more than once. Believe me Remus no one is going to stop me from fulfilling my promise to the Slytherins to become the most powerful wizard ever. If I have to turn to the dark side to fulfill the promise so be it. Nobody is going to stop me Remus, not you, not Potter, no one!"

* * *

"Now Horace, did you have anything to say?" said Voldemort as he settled into his throne in the main hall of his hideout. The main hall was a vast hall held by gothic style stone arches. Torches illuminated the walls brightly though the only decoration in the room was a long gold trimmed scarlet carpet that led to Voldemort´s throne. The throne itself was made in the image of a golden cobra. Yasmin was standing on the right side of the throne while the Dark Lord´s pet serpent Nagini circled the throne, occasionally hissing at Horace.

"Oh, Horace had a complaint against you? That´s not good," said Yasmin with a smirk. Horace ignored her.

"My lord, I must question your actions," he said. "I do not understand why you are willing to ally ourselves with Draco Malfoy. He is nothing like his father, refusing to accept the dark mark like that. Furthermore, his very sanity appears to be hanging by a thread. He is dangerously unstable."

Voldemort laughed, "Why Horace, I thought you´ve realized that I myself am dangerously unstable and insane. I would´ve thought we all were."

Horace was about to say something but Voldemort raised his hand and silenced him.

"Tell me Horace, do you believe in hell?" asked the Dark Lord.

Horace was taken aback by the question. "Hell? No sir."

"And why not?"

"The human body is nothing more than a collection of cells and chemicals. When a body dies, all it does is become a pile of carbon." Horace said all of this like a machine, completely void of any shred of emotion.

"Spoken like the true logistic you are," said Voldemort as he stood up. He started to walk over to Horace. "But you see my friend, I on the other hand do believe in hell. In fact I don´t just believe in hell, I have experienced it myself. Here, let me show you." Slowly, he reached out toward Horace.

* * *

"The Magical Sword spell," Remus muttered.

"It can´t be that surprising," said Draco. He twirled his wand around, the blade swishing through the air. "It´s a rather popular dueling spell."

"So you´ve picked up a few extra spells to add to your arsenal along the way," said Remus. "That still doesn´t changed the fact that I made you. For that, it´s my responsibility to crush you. That´s the only way I can prevent you from truly turning over to the Dark Side."

"I will make one thing clear," said Draco. "You are not leaving this duel alive. You sealed your fate the instant you challenged me to this duel."

"And you sealed yours the instant you joined Voldemort."

"I don´t have time for chit-chat," said Draco. "So, I´m afraid I´m going to have to end this here. Praestigiae Multiplico." Once again Draco´s form blurred and divided into five figures. The five Dracos once again started circling Remus.

"This is it Draco," said Remus. "This is the final blow. One way or another, this duel ends now!"

* * *

Horace gasped in pain as Voldemort´s grasped his head. The pain didn´t come from the grasp but rather from the burning sensation that emanated from the touch of Voldemort´s skin on his own head. While it definitely was caused by magic, the smell of burning skin, the smoke, and the pain was very real.

"You see, Horace," said Voldemort. "I don´t just believe in hell, I have been there, here on this very Earth. I have gone through Hell itself and emerged more powerful than one can possibly imagine. And I realized that Hell itself is on Earth, that people by nature are dark. My trek through Hell taught me the truth of this. This burning sensation you´re feeling, on your skin right now is but a small portion of Hell. So, if people are dark by nature, than I will pull away the illusion of so called good and show them the truth. If Hell truly exists on Earth, then I will expose people to it, to the truth. If some people, like the muggles or mudbloods are too weak to deal with the truth, then let them perish. After all, there is no good, no evil, only power and those too weak to seek it."

Voldemort released Horace from his grasp. Horace fell to his knees gasping. However, though the burning had been very real, Horace´s skin was completely unmarred.

"You see Horace, Draco Malfoy is a kindred spirit, one who believes that there truly is Hell on Earth. He´s seen the truth about Hell. That´s why I´m allying myself with him, because he can help me expose Hell on Earth. It truly is a delightful experience." Voldemort started pacing around in front of his lieutenant. "Scared Horace?"

"Scared?" said Horace. Abruptly he stood up, and the formerly emotionless man laughed. His formerly empty mechanical eyes glinted with dangerous flame and his formerly expressionless mouth twisted into a smirk. "I am delighted my Lord," he said with a new sense of excitement. "I am delighted to be able to join you in this mission, to expose Hell on Earth. There is nothing I would love to do more, than to join you in our mission. Now that you have allowed me to experience a little bit of Hell, let me say `Glory to Lord Voldemort´!"

Voldemort laughed. "Come, my friend," he said, "let us expose Hell on Earth together. Let us join together truly now Horace, as brothers on a mission!"

"To Hell on Earth!" they both exclaimed as they left the chamber. As Yasmin followed after them, she smirked at Horace with approval.

`Well now,´ she thought, `Looks like another man has truly joined the Dark Side.´

* * *

With a cry, Remus leapt at the real Draco. He elbowed Draco in the face as hard as he could, smashed his fist onto Draco´s head with a downward blow, and pointed his wand at Draco´s face while shouting, "Stupefy!"

Remus took a deep breath thinking he had won the duel. However, Draco suddenly looked up at Remus with a glare, his eyes growing even icier. "Wha..." Remus exclaimed as Draco started to spin around in a graceful motion. `My God, he´s even more powerful than I first thought!´

With a shudder, Remus instantly recognized the spell Draco was using: "Cyclonus Diffendo-Hex!"

* * *

Ginny ran from Baker Street to Regents Park as fast as her feet could carry her. `The man I love as a second father and the man I love with my heart are going to kill each other! I must stop them!´ she thought. The first fundamental rule of wizard dueling prevented her from interfering with the duel but perhaps she could convince Draco to call it off, if she could get there in time. `Please let me arrive on time! Please don´t let anybody die!´

She ran up the hidden path leading to the shack. With Herculean strength, she tore the door open and found Draco and Remus inside facing each other. `I made it...´

Remus´s body suddenly burst in a fountain of blood. Ginny looked with shock and horror as Remus crumpled to the ground in a bloody heap. "It is over," said Draco, Remus´s blood on his gray robes. He put his wand away and walked past Ginny. As he did so, Ginny snapped out of her stupor.

"Draco..."

"Ginny, don´t ever appear before me again." With that Draco disappeared in the morning mist. Ginny sank to the ground, her body frozen in shock and horror, and her heart broken.

* * *

"94 stitches, dozens of healing charms," muttered Arabella as she emerged from an upstairs room of the Leaky Cauldron to face the other members of the Order of the Phoenix as well as Hermione. "It´s a miracle that he´s alive."

"Will he be all right?" asked Hermione.

"Remus will live, though he´ll probably remain unconscious for a while," said Arabella. "But that´s not what´s worrying me. The full moon is only about a week away. A werewolf transformation in his current state could very well kill him."

With a sigh, the order members and Hermione went downstairs. Down there, Ron was busy trying to consul a near catatonic Ginny, seated in one of the booths hidden in the back of the pub. So far, he was having no success.

"How is she?" asked Hermione.

Ron sighed gloomily. "I´ve never seen her like this before. I´m at a complete loss here." He buried his face in his hands and gritted his teeth. "Why did it have to be Malfoy she had to fall in love with?" he hissed.

"You just can´t help who you fall in love with," said Hermione. "I know from experience."

"Yeah, but you fell in love with Harry. Ginny fell for Malfoy of all people!" exclaimed Ron.

"I know," said Hermione, a slight blush creeping on her face at the mention of Harry´s name.

Just then, the entrance to Diagon Alley opened up and to everyone´s shock, Draco Malfoy walked into the pub. "Where is Potter?" he said.

Ron was the first one to snap out of his stupor. "You! You have a lot of nerve showing up here after what you did! Well, I´m not letting you harm my sister any more! You´re going to have to go through me to get to her."

Draco glared at Ron. "Tempting, Weasley, but neither of you are the reason why I´m here. Now, where is Potter?"

"He´s not here," said Ron. "But you have no need to look for him. If you wait around he´ll come for you. And after what you´ve just done it´s not going to be a pretty sight when he finally finds you!"

"He´ll come to me?" said Draco.

"He will, believe me!" hissed Ron.

"Then I have no reason to stay here. Tell him I´ll be waiting for him, so I can kill him."

"Is that all you want?" said Hermione. "Fighting and killing Harry. Trust me Draco, the more you wield your wand for such dark purposes not only do you harm those around you, but also you harm yourself. You´re dragging yourself further and further down into an abyss and unless you stop now, you´ll never be able to climb back out."

"If that´s what it takes to become the most powerful wizard ever, than so be it," said Draco. "Tell Potter that I´ll be waiting for him at the Dark Lord´s lair." With a swish of his robes, Draco left the pub.

Ginny looked up when Draco had left. She had been hidden from his line of view while he was there. Now, she stood up as if she were in a daze. Hermione was the first one to notice this.

"Ginny?" she said. Ginny didn´t seem to have heard her as she walked up the stairs. The order members including Hermione and Ron hesitantly followed her up the stairs and into her room. Ginny didn´t seem to have noticed them following her because she started undressing. Hermione and Arabella shrieked.

"Ginny! What are you doing?! There are boys in here!" Hermione exclaimed. She, Arabella, and the other women of the order turned to the men and kicked them out. "Out! Out! Out!" they shouted as they closed the door behind themselves, leaving Ginny alone in her room.

A few minutes later, Ginny emerged from the room. To the surprise of everyone present, she was now dressed in the scarlet and black uniform robes of the members of the Order of the Phoenix.

Before anybody could say anything, Ginny shouted in a clear authoritarian voice, her arms crossed over her chest, "All right, listen up!" That immediately got everyone´s attention. Ginny nodded and said, "As of now I´m taking charge of this branch of the Order of the Phoenix. I know that technically I´m not supposed to be doing this but since Remus trained me personally in advanced Defense against the Dark Arts so I´m most likely the most qualified person here. And I´m declaring Ron and Hermione as honorary members as well."

The order members started murmuring amongst themselves. Ginny continued speaking, "Our first business is to gather all members here at the Leaky Cauldron. We are going to go to war against You-Know... Voldemort! And we´re also bringing Draco Malfoy down as well!" When she said this last sentence, her eyes shown with a glint of determination. "Now do I make myself clear?!"

Ginny spoke with so much authority and determination that the order members instantly said, "Yes, sir!" without hesitation.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Ministry of Magic in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Severus Snape was brewing a potion over his potions set in his office. In fact, his potions set looked a lot like a chemistry set with the exception of cauldrons replacing beakers. Just as he was putting on the finishing touches on his potion, the door swung open.

An old wizard with shaggy gray hair, scars all over his face, a bizarre magical glass eye, and a wooden leg entered the office. He was Alastar "Mad-Eye" Moody, head of the auror division. "You´re not going to believe this Snape," he said as he tossed a report onto Snape´s desk.

Snape quickly read the parchment. As soon as he had finished, he slammed it onto his desk in anger. "50 hit wizards murdered in a single night by one dark wizard," he muttered.

"Aye," said Moody. "We have no idea who in the Dark Lord´s gang has the kind of power to do something like that, but we´re positive it´s a Death Eater." Moody sighed sadly. "All those Hit Wizards killed. It´s like I´m always saying, people don´t have enough CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" Moody turned to Snape again. "On another note, we´ve got a captured fugitive down in the holding cells demanding to see you."

Snape raised an eyebrow. "A captured fugitive wants to see me?"

"Actually, he wasn´t captured," said Moody. "He turned himself in, apparently so that he could meet you."

"Well then, lets go see him," said Snape. Minutes later, he was down in the holding cells. These were the small cells where captured criminals were sent to before trial and Azkaban. It was in the basement of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and was rather dark and cramped though definitely far more comfortable than Azkaban.

Finally, Snape stood in front of the cell he was looking for and looked inside. Inside the cell a man sat on the floor, his legs crossed in Indian and his chin resting on his right hand. He appeared to be in full comfort in the cell as he smirked at Snape.

"Oh, it´s you," said Snape.

"Yeah, that´s right," said the man, "Sirius Black has arrived in London."

To be continued...

A/N Ha! Chapter 10. I´m thinking that if I hadn´t gone as I had originally planned, chapter 9 would´ve been the single longest chapter of the entire fic. But since I´ve divided the chapter, 9 and 10 are very well on the shorter end of the chapters. But I´m still satisfied with the outcome. Next: Sirius and Snape interview a certain someone. And more on the Elite Ten.

And Order of the Phoenix due to be published on June 21^st. HOORAY!