Harry Potter and The Heirs of The Founders

Chapter Seventeen

Retrieval and Abduction

Harry had been standing near Dumbledore the entire morning. He had overheard his conversation with Ron and immediately apparated to the island. His heart was pounding and his head was spinning. He hated not being able to talk to anyone or merely people acknowledging his presence. He glanced around the fortress. It appeared almost deserted.

Of course he could hear the work of the Hit Wizards dragging the all but dead people towards the portkeys, he could hear the groaning of men in agony. It was the lack of Death Eaters that worried him. The fortress had an eerie air about it. It was the kind of feeling that you got when you knew that something awful was about to happen.

Somehow Harry knew it. They'd been betrayed.

The question remained how?

The operatives were always extremely careful about who was involved in their operations. The only people who knew about the operation were the people present in the room the previous Monday. And the only other people involved in the operation were the Hit Wizards. Was it possible that one of them had betrayed them? It was the most likely possibility. Harry couldn't fathom any of the operatives being double-agents. Harry continued to roam the fortress. More and more the lack of Death Eaters was disconcerting. The war against the Dark Lord was only in its beginning and already people were betraying them.

Damn! He thought as he hit his foot against a stone. The fortress was solid. Obviously a lot of time and effort had been put into its construction. Harry watched in marvel as the stones moved and revealed a passageway. He shivered as he took a step into the passageway. The air was cold and crisp. It almost hurt to breathe it in. Things are seldom what they seem. Harry thought as he made his way down the staircase of the passageway. He made his way down the staircase slowly and carefully. He had learnt over the years to be careful where he trod and of the consequences of his actions. He felt each step carefully before he placed his weight on the step. He estimated that it took him almost half an hour to make his way down the flight of about 100 stairs. When he reached the bottom he made his way down the damp and dusty corridor until he reached a door. He pulled out his wand and opened the door. It revealed a damp and dusty office. Harry glanced at the papers on the table. His heart sunk as he read the first one.

The Order will attack on Saturday morning.

Harry glanced around the room. It was too easy. Somehow he couldn't shake the idea that he was meant to find this piece of paper. He grabbed it off the table and immediately apparated back to Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, where he ran around searching for his mother. He handed her the note and quickly informed her of his gut instinct.

He watched as the basement turned into mayhem. Thankfully they had almost finished retrieving the prisoners. By now most had been transferred to St Mungos. Ron returned and stated that everyone was out of the fortress. Ron also spoke of being unnerved about the lack of Death Eaters. Dumbledore set the next meeting for the Order for Sunday evening and left people to tend to the patients. Then he disapparated. Dumbledore's abrupt manner was strange. Where had he gone? It certainly couldn't be Hogwarts, there's no way he would have apparated.

Harry headed straight for his mother.

'Reveal me,' he said.

'Don't be stupid Harry,' she said. 'It's all over.'

'No it's not,' he said. 'There could still be people there. We need to make sure that they're all safe. Let me and Ron go. I promise I'll stay in my form.'

Lily looked as if she were about to cave in.

'Okay,' she said. 'But I'll reveal you in you Animagus form outside. Then I'll tell Ron to find you.'

They headed out behind Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes where Harry reluctantly transformed into his lion form and was then revealed. Lily headed back inside to find Ron and it wasn't long before Ron arrived and spying the lion ran over cautiously.

'I don't know how I'm supposed to react to you when you're like this,' he said to the lion. 'Should I pat you?' Ron mimicked running his hand over Harry's fur. 'Shall we apparate?'

'Yes,' Harry said before vanishing into thin air. When they arrived back on the island Harry indicated that Ron should jump on his back before they headed into the castle.

Ron had a fairly good idea of the layout of the fortress by now and hence was able to direct Harry around. They checked every room for any sign of life or for any clue as to what was going on. They had worked their way from the top to the bottom and with only one floor to go they still had not found anything. At least they hadn't found any injured people yet.

Carefully they scoured every last corner of the bottom floor of the fortress. Still they had no luck. There was nothing, not even a speck of dust. They had no idea as to what Voldemort was up to and despite having saved many people today Harry knew there would be more casualties. Having one last glance they left the fortress. Making sure no one was in sight Harry transformed back to his normal self. He and Ron sat behind the bushes staring at the fortress.

'What do you thinks going on here?' he asked Ron.

'Not entirely sure,' he replied. 'But I was expecting there to be more people.'

'I can't help but thinking that this was a trap,' Harry said carefully. 'No Death Eaters as well as that note I found and fewer prisoners than we know there were. What's going on?'

'I think the burning question is who betrayed us?' Ron said. 'If there's a traitor in the order it spells trouble.'

Harry nodded.

'Did you know that Chrystal was poisoned at the wedding?' Harry asked Ron. He nodded. 'Someone present that night is up to no good. Someone who we think we can trust. And that is a problem.'

Ron didn't get a chance to reply. There was a noisy bang and a bright light soaring into the sky. They looked up and watched as the Dark Mark erupted from the light. Taking one last glance at the smoky ruins of the fortress, they thanked their lucky stars they had already left the fortress and disapparated to Fred and George's basement.

*~*

Chrystal's heart pounded as the man turned around.

'I'm looking for the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher,' he said. 'My name is Marcus Flint. I'm an ex-Hogwarts student.'

'You've found her,' she said. She watched as Marcus eyed her in disbelief. 'Don't underestimate me. What can I do for you Mr Flint?'

'I'm after advice,' he said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of parchment. 'I received this.' He handed the parchment to her. Chrystal looked over it. It was blank.

'I assume you're not concerned because there doesn't appear to be any writing on it,' she said.

He looked at her strangely.

'I guess that would make sense,' he said slowly. 'It tells me that I'm being recruited to serve the Dark Lord and that I should turn up on Friday for further information. It further says that if I do not conform that they'll kill my family.'

'Flint,' Chrystal whispered. She had no idea that the Death Eaters were actively trying to recruit. Flint. She knew the name. 'Your brother's a first-year. Quite enthusiastic. I see you're in a bit of a dilemma then. You want my advice?' Marcus nodded. 'From my experience if the Dark Lord wants to kill you, you're already dead. There's no use running of trying to hide unless you have friends who are one hundred percent loyal. And if you don't conform you will most likely be hunted down and killed.'

'It's that good is it?' he asked.

'I take it, because you are here, you don't want to be a Death Eater,' she said. Marcus nodded. 'Then there's only really one option. The Fidelius Charm.' She saw the pale look on Flint's face. 'For you and your family. Sit down and I'll explain a little more about how it works.' Marcus sat down at the desk gingerly. 'The Fidelius Charm is the most powerful hiding charm ever created. It means that no matter where you are and what you are doing no one will be able to find you. It works with a Secret Keeper. This person knows your whereabouts and they will remain a secret unless that person tells someone.'

'I understand the bit about the Secret Keeper,' he said. 'I know what happened with the Potters. I'm just curious. If, while under the Fidelius, no one can find you or see you, how come people don't put themselves under the Fidelius to do things like killing people?'

'I can already see why Voldemort would want to recruit you,' Chrystal took no notice of Marcus shuddering when she said the word Voldemort. 'You're intuitive. That's a good question Mr Flint and there are several answers. The first is that any spell you cast under the Fidelius cannot harm another unless they can see you. The second is that they Fidelius will only work if you're life really is in danger.'

'Do I have any other options?' he said. 'I don't think that there's anyone I trust with my life.'

'There are many other options Mr Flint,' she said. 'I am merely giving you the best one. Perhaps you should contemplate it for a couple of days and we can talk more later?'

Marcus nodded and quickly made his way from the room.

Things were not going well if Voldemort was actively trying to recruit like this. Not going well at all.

About half an hour later she looked up and saw Lily walking into the room. She looked exhausted.

'Long day?' Chrystal asked.

'You have no idea,' Lily replied. 'I saw Helena, but not Hermia. She looked like she hadn't eaten in weeks. It was so difficult to restrain myself from trying to talk to her. She was screaming that Hermiahad been taken a few days earlier. She wanted to know if anyone had found her.'

'Poor thing,' Chrystal said. 'They were so close at school. I doubt that one of them could exist without the other.'

'There were only fifty people,' Lily said. 'There were certainly more on the film we saw. What about when you flew over?'

'Definitely,' she said. 'And I only saw the inside of the compound for a few seconds.'

*~*

The order assembled in the basement of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes on Sunday evening.

'Someone betrayed us,' Dumbledore said quietly. There were only a few people in the room. Some of the Weasleys, Tonks, Alastor Moody, Snape, Sirius, Chrystal, Lupin, Lily and James were there but not visible. Harry and Hermione had insisted on being revealed.

'I think it was me,' Lily said softly. 'They captured me and I escaped. It must have twigged someone. A cat escaping from a room without a door.'

'It's a possibility,' Snape snarled turning towards Ron. 'But I think there's more to it. Weasley when did you instruct those men?'

'I briefed them on Friday,' Ron said defending himself. 'Just like you said to. However, I think the chances are that if anyone betrayed us it was a Hit Wizard.'

'That letter was written before Friday,' Harry said. 'I don't think it could be what you're suggesting Ron.'

'Then it had to be Lily,' Lupin said. 'I don't think it's possible that anyone on that room could have been responsible. We're careful about who we invite to these kind of meetings.'

'Well we careful about Harry and Hermione's wedding and still somehow Chrystal managed to get poisoned,' Sirius said raising his voice.

'I've had another look at the toxin,' Tonks said. 'It's a slow acting one that will essentially eat you up from the inside out. It has to be administered orally, which means inside food and it will take about a week to produce symptoms. It's a difficult toxin to make and a difficult one to cure. I'd say you're very lucky that someone knew some medical magic.'

'Severus and I went through the list again,' Chrystal said. 'There aren't many scapegoats. Could some have bribed a house-elf?'

'It's very unlikely,' Dumbledore said. 'As far as I am aware, they are all extremely loyal to me. I'd be shocked if that was the cause.'

'Can we move back to what happened yesterday?' Chrystal asked. Harry noticed that she seemed uncomfortable with their continual discussion of what had happened to her.

'All I can say is they knew we were coming,' Dumbledore said slowly. 'I don't know where to go from here. There are certainly more people in danger than we rescued yesterday.'

'We try and find them,' James said. 'We have more surveillance, more investigation and we find them. We can start with the other islands; however I suspect that everyone has already been moved.'

'Sirius can you try and organise this?' Dumbledore asked. Sirius nodded. 'Does anyone have anything else to discuss?' When there was no reply Dumbledore continued. 'I shall inform you of our next meeting when a few more developments have been made.'

Again Dumbledore just disappeared. Harry was becoming very disturbed by his behaviour but he felt sure that there would be an explanation. After Dumbledore had left, George invited them to stay for dinner. Apparently George and Katie had moved into the second level of the Hogsmeade shop until they found somewhere else to live. Harry was sick of being confined and quickly agreed without consulting Hermione first. She gave him a look but followed them upstairs.

It looked as if Katie had been preparing dinner for several hours. The table was set with nine places. Harry noticed that Ginny and Rose had been smuggled out of school.

'What are you doing here?' Hermione asked. 'Does anyone know that you're not at school?'

'Calm down Hermione,' Fred said laughing. 'It'll be fine. We'll have them back before anyone notices.' Hermione did calm down but she still didn't look impressed.

'Honestly Fred this is just as bad as when you tried to test your products on first years,' she said but sat down at her place at the table.

'Just trying to warm the air,' Fred said.

'Actually Hermione they do have permission to be here,' Angelina said. 'Fred is just playing games with you. We're going to the match tomorrow remember?'

'Oh,' Hermione said. 'I had almost forgotten about it. Harry versus the Weasleys.' She laughed when she said that. 'I'm going to have to go for Harry I'm afraid.' Harry smiled at his wife.

'That's not fair Hermione,' George said. 'After all the Cannons do have three of us. Puddlemerehas only one.'

'Well George,' Ginny interrupted. 'You should be thankful it's not against the Harpies. I would have to go for my sister's team instead of my brother's then.'

Everyone laughed.

The evening passed quickly with Katie's delicious food, reminiscing of old times and gentle conversation that helped them all forget the events of the weekend. Harry realised how much he missed the times that they had spent together at Hogwarts. He and Hermione were so isolated from everyone now. Harry didn't know whether or not it was all worth it. After all he was going to have to face Voldemort one day. What was the point in hiding?

*~*

After the excitement of the weekend, it was hard for Harry to come to grips with the fact he had one of the most important Quidditch games of his life beginning on Monday afternoon. It was against the Cannons, who with the commonsense to use all the Weasleys and Marcus Flint had not lost one of their three games for the season. Puddlemere was a good team. Thomas Doyle was a fantastic coach. He had been in contention for the English coaching position. Oliver Wood had improved out of sight since leaving Hogwarts. Ebony Fraser, Emma Gallagher and Tadgh Moran were excellent Chasers, Moran being one of the Irish Chasers that had won the World Cup when Harry was in his fourth year at Hogwarts. Their Beaters were very competent, but if you asked Harry, that was Puddlemere's weakness. Harry pulled his navy robes which the gold bulrushes out of his draw. He glanced at the back of his robes at the embroided name "Potter" on the back recalling when he had been to the World Cup and had imagined himself zooming around in national robes. He was yet to achieve that, but he would be happy knowing that he had been chosen for an amazing Quidditch Team and actually getting a game at the age of eighteen. Malfoy had been drafted by the Falcons and was still yet to get a game. This made Harry feel slightly better about Malfoy being drafted before him, given that Harry had already gotten the chance to play in a European Cup.

Hermione stirred in bed.

'What are you doing Harry?' she asked. 'Surely it's not time to get up yet.' He gave her a smile, before kissing her forehead.

'You can sleep for another couple of minutes,' he said. 'But the bacon that Sirius brought up for us is getting a little cold. I want to get to the ground early. I need to prepare.' Since he had begun playing professionally Harry had gone through mental preparation for each game, usually in the change room before the team warm ups. He liked to do this alone preferably before everybody else arrived. Lily had come in earlier when Hermione was still asleep and revealed them. Hermione would make her way to the game with Rose a little later.

'Are you leaving now?' she asked.

'Yes,' he said. 'I'll see you later. Take care of yourself please.' He leant over to her stomach. 'You take care of yourself too.' Hermione giggled as he kissed her stomach before taking hold of his portkey that would take him to the Cannons home ground.

Harry arrived and sat down in the dressing room, fully clad in his Puddlemere robes. He sat and concentrated on the Quidditch pitch in his mind. He thought about the team he was playing against and felt a feeling of guilt that he would actually be playing against Ron. He had never done that before, except in training. Right, all I need to do is concentrate on the Snitch and everything will be fine. He opened his eyes and found that Wood was sitting next to him.

'You ready yet Potter?' he asked.

'I'm fine Wood,' Harry said. 'We just can't underestimate this team. You know how good the Weasleys are.'

'Well if we stay away from the path of the Bludgers we should be fine,' Wood said. 'I don't think either Fred or George would let Flint borrow their baton so that they could hit a Bludger at one of us. Anyway it's time for our team meeting. Doyle asked me to find you.'

Harry stood up and headed into the meeting room. The entire team was assembled and Doyle addressed them with regard to strategy. They all knew that this game was going to be difficult. The Cannons were undefeated so far this season and Puddlemere had already lost a game to the Wasps. Harry was finding professional Quidditch stressful on his body and felt that he needed to build his strength up. He had taken to running early in the mornings to try and build up stamina. So far he had just managed to exhaust himself even more. Hence he hadn't gone for his run this morning. He just hoped that he could hold up for the length of the game, however long it was. Their last game against the Wasps had lasted six hours and by the time Harry had spied the Snitch he was too exhausted to beat the other Seeker to it. It was the first time that Cho Chang had ever beaten him at Quidditch and Harry had not exactly been too happy about it.

Harry was pulled out of his thoughts by the call of the announcer.

'AND NOW FOR THE PUDDLEMERE TEAM,' the announcer said. 'COACHED BY DOYLE I GIVE YOU.... FRASER, GALLAGHER, MORAN, KNIGHT, BUTLER, WOOD AAANNNDD POTTER!'

Harry heard the screams as he headed out onto the pitch. He saw Ron already in front of the goals concentrating hard and then saw Fred and George soaring in the air with their bats looking ready to beat a Bludger at someone. Soon enough the Quaffle was released and Harry began searching the skyline for the Snitch. It was nowhere in sight. He glanced down at the game below. Ron had just saved Emma Gallagher's attempt at scoring and quickly passed the Quaffle to Marcus Flint. Harry glanced around the pitch again for some sign of the Snitch. He caught sight of the Cannons Seeker and decided to fly around with him for a while. The Seeker did not seem too impressed to have Harry on his tail, but it was evident that he too could not spy the Snitch anywhere either. He tried several times to get Harry to follow him into a dive, but Harry, having not spied the Snitch was not going to get sucked in. After a while the Cannons Seeker gave up attempting to lose Harry.

A few minutes later Harry spied the Snitch. He immediately set off towards it and it took a while for the Cannons Seeker to realise Harry had gone. He soon set off after Harry. Unfortunately George spied Harry heading towards the Snitch and sent a Bludger at him. Fortunately for Harry the Bludgermissed him, but sent the Snitch out of sight.

*~*

Rose excused herself when the score reached Cannons 120, Puddlemere 140 and made her way out of the stadium. She felt tired and although she was enjoying the match she needed some fresh air. She wandered out of the stand and sat down on a log. October had been an extremely difficult month for her, with finding James and Harry's wedding and she was now trying to put the pieces of her life together. She just needed to figure out where everybody fit. At least Ron had not changed in all of this. He was being really helpful and patient while she was trying to figure everything out. She rubbed her head with her hands as she thought about going back inside the stadium. She felt a hand grab her shoulder. She screamed as she turned around to tell the person off. Then a smelly, sticky hand was thrust across her mouth. She was surrounded by three wizards. She struggled and tried to yell.

'If you scream we'll kill you Mudblood,' one of them said pointing his wand at her. 'In fact I think I'll shut you up anyway.' Rose was shaking. 'Stupefy!'

Suddenly she was frozen and being carried away from the stadium by these strange men. She longed to scream, to yell, to let someone know where she was. They would all be wondering where she was. They would be worried about her. Ron would be distraught. Harry would be furious. Where were they taking her?

*~*

Harry was surveying the sky for the Snitch. So far there hadn't even been a glimmer of gold since George's Bludger sent it soaring out of the pitch. His opposite number had also ensured that Harry hadn't left his sight after the incident. He allowed his eyes to wander to the Chasers. Puddlemerehad started well, but with Ron's excellent keeping the Cannons were still in with a chance. He watched as Ron tossed the ball to Marcus Flint. Harry thought that he looked as if he were in pain as he tossed the Quaffle. It was a bad throw. Very unlike Flint. Ebony Fraser had intercepted it and was heading back towards Ron. Harry cast his eyes back to where Flint had been. His broomstick was still there hovering in the sky.

Harry looked on in horror as he watched Flint plummet to the ground. He instinctively pointed his broomstick towards the ground, as did Ron, allowing Ebony to sink the Quaffle. That was of no importance now as Flint's body slammed into the ground. He had been at least 500 metres in the air. I wonder if wizard's can survive a fall that great? Ron had reached the injured Chaser first. Harry watched as Ron bent over Flint, felt for a pulse and then slowly shook his head. Harry's gut wrenched. Flint was dead.

'Is there an Auror here?' Ron called. Harry remembered Ron telling him about Magical Law Enforcement protocols. An Auror must inspect a body before it can be taken to St Mungos. Harry watched as Hermione and Chrystal made their way towards them.

'Oh Harry is he alright?' Hermione asked as she grabbed Harry and held him close towards her.

'No,' Ron replied. 'He's dead.' Hermione went white.

'Are you sure?' she asked in a panicky voice.

'Yes,' he said assertively. Chrystal bent over the body and nodded.

'This game is over,' she said to the umpire. The umpire then magnified his voice and informed the crowd that the match was cancelled. The crowd became angry and began to yell and throw things at the people on ground. Chrystal looked towards Harry and Hermione.

'You two should leave now,' she said. 'It's just not safe for you to be hanging around.' Harry began to protest.

'You don't even know whether or not this was a Death Eater attack,' he pleaded.

'And we don't know that it wasn't,' she said firmly. Harry was about to protest again before Hermione suggested that it might not be such a bad idea. Harry reluctantly obliged and the pair disapparated.

*~*

No sooner than the pair had left an explosion occurred in the sky. Ron felt his heart sink as he looked in the sky and saw the Dark Mark. Twice in three days. The Death Eaters are certainly letting people know they're around. Ron still felt guilty about the few men who had died under his command on Saturday. And now he felt guilty about Marcus. He wasn't a bad chap when you got to know him. Sure he was a Slytherin, but he was a good Quidditch player and a fairly down-to-earth person when you got passed the slyness. The Cannon's coach, Tobias Whitnall made his way over toward Marcus' body. He spoke to Sirius and Chrystal briefly then instructed Ron to show them Marcus' locker. Ron lead them into the Cannons changing area, whispering to Sirius that he needed to talk to him.

'Later,' Sirius replied as they followed Ron into the rooms. Ron pointed to Marcus' locker, which Sirius managed to open only moments before it exploded in their faces.

'Well I guess whoever's responsible didn't want us to see what was in there,' Sirius said. 'We'd better get to the Ministry and let them know what's going on.'

'Hang on a minute,' Ron said glancing at them. 'Did Rose leave with Harry and Hermione?'

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A/N: Thank you to HaRrYsGuRI8705, neha_dkulkarni and BLT for reviewing the last chapter. However I know that far more of you are reading this fic. Can you please, please review when you finish reading. It really does help me write the fic. I put a lot of time and effort into each chapter and I need the feedback. Additionally I value your opinions. So please review.