Harry Potter and The Secret of The Heirs

Chapter Seventeen

Initiation

The entire school went home on a sombre note the following day. Their anxious parents had, now called many who were staying, home. Harry and Hermione would be the only students that stayed. They were required to attend the funerals of those students who had died in the explosion.

Lavender didn't give him a very nice farewell at all. It felt to Harry like she was trying to distance herself from him. He didn't know why. He hadn't done anything to hurt her. It just felt like she was treating him as though he was a dead man. Harry himself didn't really care how she treated him at the moment. It wasn't exactly high on his list of priorities.

Ron was visibly shaken; Harry could hear him screaming the previous night;

'We were in there. They never saw us leave. It should have been us.'

He would scream it over and over until Harry woke him up and suggested that perhaps it was Ron who needed a dreamless sleep potion. He surprisingly took Harry up on the suggestion. He and Parvati had a huge argument that night as well. He entered the common room only to tell Harry and Hermione that it was over, he didn't want anything to do with her. He looked exhausted as Hermione and Harry saw him off. He hoped that Ron would be better once term began.

Harry wasn't sure he was exactly comfortable spending Christmas in Gryffindor Tower alone with Hermione. She too had been shaken by the explosion, not as much so as Ron, but she didn't seem to want to walk anywhere by herself. That and Crookshanks was absolutely crazy, no one could work out what was wrong with him and it seemed to be distressing Hermione. He didn't dare mention the fact that he had been dreaming about her constantly since they had danced on Halloween.

Harry himself was a little shaken; they had only used the Invisibility Cloak because Ron had wanted to sneak up on Parvati. Harry couldn't help but think that if the Death Eaters were indeed after him, there could have been far more casualties.

Harry did some of his holiday homework by the fire before saying goodnight to Hermione and going to bed. As he looked out the window he saw the full moon shining brightly.

*~*

The area was secluded, only the remnants of old buildings destroyed by war were visible between the surrounding trees. It was dark, besides the full moon shining brightly in the sky.

The men were standing in a clearing, bowing down to their master.

'Nott,' the master said. 'Why did you fail me? Potter is still alive!'

'We didn't see him leave the building, master,' the man quivered in front of his master.

'You shall be punished,' said the master.

'CRUCIO'

'Who blew up the building?' the master demanded.

'Willie and Elton,' he replied.

'Step forward, Willie and Elton,'

Two men crept forward. There was a look of terror on their faces.

'Did you two use your eyes?'

They just bowed their heads in shame.

'Of course, Master,' one of them muttered.

'Kill them, Nott,' the master said. 'I do not tolerate failure.'

'AVADA KEDAVRA'

There was a flash of green and the two men fell to the ground.

'Where is the boy?'

The boy was brought forward.

His pale skin glistened under the light of the moon.

'You have been chosen to serve me,' the master said. 'Are you prepared to serve me?'

The young boy bowed his head in submission.

'I do, my lord.' He trembled as he spoke.

'You will now become joined to me,' the master said. 'Hold out your arm.'

The boy did as he was told.

'Morsmordre!' the master yelled as he pointed his wand at his new servant.

The boy grasped his arm in pain, as the mark of a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth became clearly visible on the boy's arm.

*~*

Harry awoke with a start. He'd just seen Malfoy get the Dark Mark. He was shaking. He couldn't believe how much pain he had appeared in. He jumped as he heard a noise. He looked towards the door.

Hermione was standing in the doorway.

'Harry,' she said, 'I was coming in to say goodnight, but you look terrible. What's happened?'

'Saw,' Harry stuttered, 'Malfoy, Dark mark, Voldemort.' Harry was still shaking as he tried to answer Hermione.

'You saw Voldemort give Malfoy the Dark Mark?' she asked.

Harry nodded as Hermione tried to wrap a couple of blankets around him.

'Are you going to be okay?' she asked as she poured him a glass of water from the jug sitting next to his bed. He simply nodded. He was going to be okay; he just wasn't expecting to see that.

'I guess our suspicions are true then?' Hermione asked. 'We have to get Ginny away from him. But how? It's clear that she won't listen to us.'

Harry heard very little of what Hermione was saying. He was still shaken by the shock of seeing Draco receive the mark. Hermione laid him down on the bed as she tried to get him to sleep. Soon enough she had managed to clam him down. Her soothing voice had a positive effect on his tormented soul. She pulled the covers off Ron's bed. Harry looked at her questioningly.

'I'm sleeping here tonight, if you need me,' she said. Harry closed his eyes and tried to sleep, only partially comforted by the fact Hermione was sleeping next to him.

*~*

He slept little that night, finally falling to sleep as the sun rose. He kept seeing Draco Malfoy strut around the Slytherin Common Room, showing off his Dark Mark while laughing about how he was going to destroy Ginny. He couldn't let that happen, he would have to do something to warn her.

He finally fell asleep as the sun began to rise.

Hermione came and woke him, just before lunch, as they had to attend the funeral for the victims of the explosion of the Shrieking Shack, which was to be held in Hogsmeade.

Harry dressed in his school robes and met Hermione in the common room before heading downstairs to meet Dumbledore. He had never pulled on his robes before with such a heavy heart. True he had held himself responsible for Cedric's death but somehow this wasn't quite the same. It was hard to imagine that Colin Creevey was dead because of him. Although everyone having found out that the Trio had been in the Shrieking Shack earlier, had tried to convince them that the explosion wasn't their fault, no one had appeared to penetrate that into their heads. At the end of the day they felt responsible. They had entered and no one had seen them leave. The vision just added to his guilt.

Dumbledore greeted Harry with a concerned edge to his voice.

'You look like you're still not sleeping, young Harry,' Dumbledore said. 'You have to stop beating yourself up, Harry. It is not your fault. You couldn't have prevented that. And you have no evidence that they were after you.'

Harry nodded before he explained to Dumbledore the reason for his lack of sleep. To Harry's surprise Dumbledore did not appear surprised. Nor did he say anything.

'Surely he can't stay at school?' Harry asked.

'He will,' Dumbledore replied. He saw the look in Harry's green eyes. 'There are some things you don't understand, Harry, you will have to trust me on this one.'

Harry, although disappointed because it would have got Malfoy away from Ginny, nodded in acceptance. He knew that he should trust Dumbledore's judgement, even though he himself wasn't so sure.

They walked outside into the cold air. Everything looked gloomy as they made their way to the village. The snow was pelting down, if snow could do such a thing. The cold combined with the guilt gave Harry a feeling he'd never experienced before. Dumbledore led Harry and Hermione to the medium-sized cemetery outside Hogsmeade. Harry had always had a fascination with cemeteries, he'd always been searching for his parent's graves and yet he'd never found them. He had used tombstones as places to hide from Dudley and his gang of friends. He had for some reason considered it a place of safety. Now though there was an eerie feeling as he walked into the cemetery. There were five holes dug in the ground, with five coffins, each one sitting next to the grave. A few of them were smaller, an unmistakable symbol of the years of life that had been stolen.

Harry was beginning to fully comprehend what Mr Weasley had meant when he explained the Dark Mark to them at the Quidditch World Cup. The terror that it instilled, Harry had seen the way McGonagall, Sirius and Chrystal had reacted when they had seen the Dark Mark above The Shrieking Shack. He could only imagine how Sirius and Chrystal had felt when they saw the mark above Godric's Hollow. Pure terror. Harry couldn't understand why people would do that kind of thing to people. What did instilling terror really achieve? Why frighten an entire society like that? And more importantly how could you live with yourself if you had been responsible for that?

The service for the five students who had been killed in the explosion was short and thoughtful. It was like the entire wizard world had been hit with a terrible truth that they could now no longer deny. The Dark Lord was back.

Harry looked over and saw Dennis Creevey standing there, with his Muggle father, crying for his brother. He wondered why Colin was being buried here and not in some place more meaningful. Harry found it difficult to stand there and comfort these people given the responsibility he was feeling. Looking over at Hermione he could tell that she felt the same. Harry shuddered as he watched the coffins being lowered into the ground. One of them was very small, one of the shorter fourth years. Stolen life. Once taken never to be returned.

Somehow they managed to make their way through the afternoon tea before Dumbledore escorted them back to Hogwarts. Harry headed straight to the Prefect's Bathroom after grabbing his towel. The school had a strangeness to it. An emptiness, a deserted feeling. Harry wondered whether any students would be pulled out of school given the apparent danger. He was certain Dumbledore would cancel all further Hogsmeade visits. That didn't bother Harry so much, except that it made him think that the next target was more likely to be Hogwarts. Imagine the devastation if they hit Hogwarts. It was almost unthinkable. Harry lay in the tub full of bubble bath as he contemplated the prospect of Hogwarts been blown up. He decided after much contemplating not to ask Lavender to look in the Orb for him. What must come will come. Knowing won't make it any easier. But Harry's mind had kept repeating the words of the face to him.

'You will have to make a choice.'

This had been flowing through his head over and over again.

Despite Hermione's statement that the face often gave false prophecies, he was certain that the thing had been trying to tell him something. He was sure he had to make a choice. In fact subconsciously he had. He was not going to stand back and watch things happen anymore. He couldn't risk that his friends and the only real family he had would be blown up just like his parents had been. He was going to get Voldemort and he was going to use Draco Malfoy to get him.

*~*

Chrystal and Sirius had made their way up to Dumbledore's room. They were both concerned by the way Harry and Hermione had looked at the funeral earlier today. Neither looked as though they had slept and they were getting worried about them. Dumbledore greeted them not in an unfriendly manner, but something about the look he gave implied to Sirius that he really did not want to be disturbed. He sat them down and offered them some tea.

'What have you come to see me about?' Dumbledore asked.

'Harry,' Sirius stated.

'Did he see Draco last night?' Chrystal asked.

'Yes he did,' Dumbledore said. 'He told me about it this morning. He seems quite concerned for the welfare of Miss Weasley. He asked me if I was going to expel Mr Malfoy.'

'I think it's time to tell Harry the truth,' said Sirius. 'He needs to know. We think it's been kept from him for long enough and it's having an impact on him.'

'Arabella has not finished remembering The Prophecy,' Dumbledore warned. 'It may be dangerous to tell him only half.'

'I'll give her another week,' he said, 'but then I'm telling Harry. It's not fair on him otherwise.'

'Give her until Christmas, Sirius,' said Chrystal. 'Then she's had seventeen years to remember it. Seventeen years exactly. Perhaps that will be enough to jog her memory.'

'You know when it was given?' Dumbledore asked her.

'I remember parts of it,' she replied 'But not enough for you to have anything concrete to go on. It involves four people; you need to work out who they are. I think we can safely say who two are.'

'Yes,' said Sirius. 'Harry and Voldemort. The two others would be women then?'

'The most important thing is the prophecy given about The Prophecy of Saoghal,' she continued. 'It said that a Prophecy will be given that will predict the fall of the dark or the light. It said something along the lines of the end of the dark or light will come through the hands of four, though a Covenant of the light will be formed. The world would be a better place for it. Honestly, if the dark wins, I'd rather be dead. I'd gladly Avada Kedavra myself before they get a chance. If Professor Figg can recall the rest of it, we may be able to work out the consequences.'

'The time of The Covenant left by the founders is nearer than you think,' Dumbledore said, weighing things up. 'I have been considering appropriate candidates. Weighing up when it should be performed. I feel that the time is near. The path will be shown to us.'

'Do you know who the members should be yet?' Sirius asked.

'The time will come; soon I am sure, besides I would have thought that you two would have a better idea than I.'

'If we can help, we are happy too,' Chrystal said. 'You know where we are. I think we should try and cheer Harry and Hermione up. They really weren't looking too good at all this morning.' Dumbledore nodded as he dismissed them from his room. If he could only work out who they were before Voldemort did, then he might just have a chance.

*~*

Harry decided to owl Ron and let him know that Malfoy had been initiated. He and Hermione had thought that perhaps Ron should know, but they felt, given Ron's short fuse, that it wouldn't be such a good idea for him to say anything to Ginny just yet.

Dear Ron,

Last night I saw Malfoy get the Dark Mark. I know that with everything that has happened we didn't get a chance to talk to Ginny. So why don't you watch her carefully over the holidays, see if she's getting letters from him or anything. Yes I'm saying spy on your little sister, but you need to find out how deeply she's involved. See if she's giving any signals that she's involved with the Death Eaters. Then when you get back all three of us can talk to her and try to get her to see reason.

And Ron, please try to get some sleep while you're at home. There's nothing we can do now, we will just have to be more careful next time.

Good luck for the Quidditch match. Hermione and I will be listening on the wireless,

Harry.

Harry sent the letter off with Hedwig and tried to get some sleep in spite of it being midafternoon. Even though he hadn't touched the homework they had received for the holidays Harry wished they were over. Harry felt someone shaking him. He looked up and saw Hermione there.

'Geroff, Hermione, leave me alone,' he said.

'Sirius and Professor Àille have invited us up to their quarters for afternoon tea. I think your godfather would like to spend a little time with you.'

Harry reluctantly stood up and straightened his clothes. They headed towards the Staff Quarters. Hermione was taking it all in; she'd never been invited up here before. She gazed at the ballerina painting and stared at the corridor when they entered it.

Snape saw them enter the corridor.

'I want to speak to you two, quickly,' he said.

He took them through a door that had a sign "Snape" on the door. Harry realised that it was the first time he'd ever seen inside anything that belonged to Snape.

It was not exactly what you'd call elegant, or what you'd call messy. It was simple, yet had an air about it. The only way Harry could describe it would have been Snape. The bookcase was lined with books about Potions and the Dark Arts. There were few personal mementos, a few framed photographs that was about it. There was a couch that was a pale blue colour, which seemed to add to the ice-cold feeling of the room.

As he told them to sit down, Harry got the feeling that Snape was not a man who liked to share his feelings with other people.

'I heard that you saw young Malfoy be initiated last night,' Snape said. Harry just nodded. He was afraid to speak.

'Did you see me there last night?' he asked.

'No sir,' Harry replied quietly. Snape's voice had a tone to it that Harry didn't really find comforting.

'Well, I have decided to keep an eye on him,' Snape said. 'I would like the two of you to do the same. I know it sounds like a baby-sitting job, but it's very important. If he does anything that you find suspect, I'd like you to come and tell me immediately.'

Harry became slightly distracted from what Snape was saying. He had been looking around the room, sick of the sight of Snape's greasy hair. He caught sight of a small, framed picture out of the corner of his eye. He was gazing at the picture. The person looked oddly familiar. He looked at it more closely. Why would Snape have that picture, in a room that was relatively empty of personal mementos? Snape had seemed to realise that Harry was not paying attention.

'Potter? Are you listening?'

Snape's voice made Harry jump.

'Honestly, I'm entrusting you with an important assignment Potter and you can't even pay attention.'

'I'm sorry, Professor,' Harry said somewhat sarcastically. 'I'll pay attention to you when you explain why you have a framed photograph of my mother sitting on the table in the corner over there.'

Snape looked over to where Harry was pointing. He walked over and grabbed the photograph.

'There are some things you don't understand Potter,' he said harshly.

'That's what Dumbledore said this morning,' Harry snapped back. 'I think it's a legitimate question. It looks like a photograph that you would keep of your lover, that's why I want to know about it.'

'Your mother is the only reason that I put up with you Potter,' he replied. 'You are your father all over again. I fail to see the slightest sign of Lily in you. Yet because you are Lily's son, I owe it to you. I can't explain why, it's just fact. Lily and I weren't meant to be, don't worry Harry we weren't romantically involved if that's what you're worried about. The photograph is a memory to a friend. A friend who I would risk my life to save again if I had to.'

Snape had said again. Hermione hadn't spoken. Harry looked at her. She looked clearly uncomfortable.

'Professor Snape, we are happy to help,' she said. 'Please forgive Harry; he's a little tense at the moment. We both have had a rough couple of days. You realise that.' Snape nodded, but it did not stop his glaring at Harry.

'I'm sorry, Professor,' Harry whispered. Harry had a thought. 'You're right when you say there's so much I don't understand. I haven't been given the chance. I don't know my parents Professor. But evidently you knew my mother. Perhaps you could give me a piece of her.'

'Well if you can stoop so low as to ask me, Potter especially after your antics in fifth year, I guess I should have the decency to tell you,' he said. 'Come here when you check up on Malfoy, if you come alone, I'll tell you about Lily and for free I'll give you a piece of mind about your father too. Now I believe that Sirius and that Auror are waiting for you.'

They took the hint. Snape wanted them to leave. Harry was quite happy to do that. They closed the door behind them.

'Harry,' said Hermione. 'Please don't mention this in front of Sirius this afternoon. I doubt he'd be able to satisfy your curiosity and would probably fly off the handle if he knew Snape had a picture of your mum. You know how volatile their relationship is. Please.' He saw the pleading in her eyes.

'Okay Hermione, but if I don't get answers from Snape, I will ask Sirius.'