Harry Potter and the Pearls of Hogwarts

Harry Potter and the Pearls of Hogwarts

Chapter One: The Fortress of Shadows

Far away from the shores of Ireland, in the middle of the Artic Ocean, atop an island, stood the Fortress of Shadows, which now served as headquarters for Voldemort's regime. The late afternoon sky shined a radiantly white yellow, and the tall mass of stone towers cast long shadows across the surface of the water. The fortress itself was made of a dozen towers over ten stories tall, all connected by arched bridges standing perilously high above the ground. The towers, at their top, all become archways hung by stained glass windows, casting unnatural rays athwart the sky. The twelve towers surrounded one, much taller, central one that went up for over twenty stories. At the top of this tower, instead of a glass archway, stood a four poles, each glowing the same color: blue.

Within that central tower stood a chamber, and in this chamber Voldemort was addressing his army. Voldemort was sitting in a stone throne situated atop a rostrum, which stood a high above rows and rows of maroon leather chairs. In these leather chairs sat the ever-growing accumulation of Death Eaters, and they were applauding with fervent anticipation as Wormtail raised himself to speak. The multi-colored light from the soaring stained glass windows located all around the chamber glowed on his pudgy, mousy face. The applauding discontinued.

"It is with great honor that I introduce the honorable and omnipotent Lord Voldemort, who today will address us on his new plans for the Dark Side," said Wormtail authoritatively.

Lord Voldemort raised himself and walked toward the podium as Wormtail, wearing the traditional black robes of the Death Eaters, took his seat in the Victorian chair next to the stone throne. Voldemort, however, was dressed in an emerald green silk cloak, which dragged along the floor as he strided across the York stone floor. Once at the podium, the clapping resumed and Voldemort smiled maliciously at the fifty Death Eaters before him. Most of the seats were empty, but it was only time until they were occupied.

Voldemort coughed before addressing his troops to quiet them. "Thank you for the standing ovations, but there is much work to be done. The Dark Side will now go about with the torturing and killing of Muggles. Any wizard who refuses to agree with our creed will be killed.

"But also we need to do something more desperate. I have recently discovered that my master, Grindelwald, is not dead, as I assumed, but currently being held in the Castle of Garodule. This information would not have surfaced if not for the many hours of study done by Wormtail over the previous year. Because of this, he will be my Chief Lieutenant, though I still find him untrustworthy. He has proven himself well, and I hope just as much from all of you. All Death Eaters, after all, must be equal in Voldemort's sight with unfailing loyalty. You must do what I demand of you. You must kill whom I want you to kill.

"But why is it such of great urgency to recover Grindelwald, you might ask? Upon leaving Hogwarts, I joined forces with him, as you all know. I revealed to him I was an heir of Slytherin, and he revealed to me of the Pearl of Slytherin. The story goes, after leaving Hogwarts, Slytherin created a pearl so the Dark Lord, a heir of Slytherin, would summon his ancestor from the past. Salazar had a great collection of spells unknown to anyone but himself. It is a necessity to learn those incantations, and to do so we need the creator of them himself. The Pearl will also give me control over Slytherin house.

"Shortly after the Pearl was destroyed by Godric Gryffindor, and the shards scattered all around Europe. Afterwards, Slytherin vanished without a trace, never to be seen again. Slytherin's supporters, unable to acquire the Pearl as they did not have Slytherin's noble blood, built dungeons around the eight Pearl shards.

"Back to a more recent past, Grindelwald knew of three shard locations already, but as we set out for the first one, The Palace of Marupin, Dumbledore intervened. I ran and hid in a throng of evergreen trees as Dumbledore interrogated my master. Dumbledore never knew I was there. He asked Grindelwad to either redeem himself or be sealed away for all eternity, where I do not know, in his thoughts. Grindelwald chose the latter, and left me knowing of only one shard location. That shard returned to its home the night I was nearly defeated by Harry Potter.

"Now I need to summon Grindelwald in order to learn of the shard locations. While I could learn of them myself, we could make it a lot easier by collecting Grindelwald, wherever he is. Today I will go to the Palace of Marupin to regain my first and only shard. Wormtail and I will then research where the shards are located. Any assistance from the rest of you would be appreciated, but I doubt you could coincide that with your already busy schedules. Good day."

Voldemort rotated around and took his seat next to Wormtail as the Death Eaters raised themselves and began pouring toward the black iron double doors at the opposite end of the chamber. Lucius Malfoy opened the doors, which led out onto a bridge to the First Tower, which held the dementors along with the next three.

Once the Death Eaters were gone, Voldemort turned his head right, toward Wormtail.

"NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Harry awoke in his bed, covered in cold sweat, shaking in fright under the blue covers, his scar stinging more painfully then ever before. Wincing, Harry placed his freezing right hand on his forehead. Harry tried desperately to recall the dream he had just witnessed. It was something about Grindelwald, and Slytherin, and a Pearl, and that was all Harry could currently remember. Turning around in his bed so he wasn't facing the wall but his desk, Harry closed his eyes as the pain weakened. The more he tried to think about the dream, the more of it was disappearing from his memory. If only he had a pensieve to keep track of his dreams, then he would have no problem recollecting them.

There was a tap on the window, and Harry opened his eyes to see a barn owl outside, holding the Daily Prophet. Harry threw the bed covers off and hoisted himself out of bed. He then ambled (his legs were stiff) to the window and rotated the dial; the window gradually opened and the owl flew into his bedroom, dropping the letter on his bed with a rush of wind blowing Harry's messy hair, before flying out into the sunset. Harry returned to his bed and retrieved the newspaper. Harry unrolled the front page and saw a hideous smile of the frog-like Dolores Jane Umbridge, who was grinning sickeningly up at him, waving what looked like a diploma- no, another Educational Decree.

DOLORES JANE UMBRIDGE RETURNS TO MINISTRY, SIGH OF RELIEF FOR WIZARDING COMMUNITY

After disappearing two weeks ago, Dolores Jane Umbridge was found wandering around a few miles away from the village of Hogsmeade by the Auror Bob Dawlish, who has now received the Order of Merlin, First Class. If that wasn't enough, the Hogwarts High Inquisitor exclusively revealed to Rita Skeeter that she was physically abused by a group of students at the end of last of term. "Several students, after using Stunning jinxes on me during detention, took me down to the forest where they, with the help of the misbehaving centaurs, attacked me. They took large branches off of trees and began hitting me with them. Then they ordered the centaurs to take me deep in the forest where they shot arrows at my extremities. Dumbledore came yet he didn't do anything but laugh at my condition. When night fell and the centaurs left to find a clearer place to stargaze, Dumbledore finally took me back to Hogwarts, where I received care at the Hospital Wing. Unfortunately their care was intentionally insufficient and my wounds were never healed. I had no choice but to flee for my well-being, emotionally and physically. I stole newspapers from trashcans to clutch the painful wounds. I then was luckily saved by the extensive search conducted by the Ministry."

Upon learning of this, Cornelius Fudge reversed Albus Dumbledore's request to remove Dolores Umbridge from her post as Hogwarts High Inquisitor. The Ministry has evidence that Dumbledore was under the influence of the Imperious Curse placed by Potions teacher Severus Snape, who is widely suspected of cooperating with the Dark Side currently. The Ministry has arrested Mr. Snape and sent him to serve life's term in Azkaban prison without bail.

Also, Educational Decree Number Twenty-Nine was passed last evening after the celebrated yet revealing return of Dolores Umbridge to the Ministry of Magic. This decree is, as it was written: Any student perceived, as a threat to the Ministry must attend a Ministry Discipline Class taught the Hogwarts High Inquisitor until their behavior as substantially improved. Any student who has actually harmed the welfare of the Ministry and the Wizarding community or refuses to attend the Ministry Discipline Class will be expelled. For a student to be perceived as a threat to the Ministry, they must be reported by either a teacher or a prefect.

"Unlike the previous educational decrees," explains Percy Weasley, Junior Assistant to the Minister, "Number Twenty-Nine is a lot more tolerant of student's actions, and while the Ministry knows that students may attempt to break it because of that, we also are realizing a much better way to assist corrupted students. Students will be offered a second chance and they also will have heart-to-heart conversations with the Hogwarts High Inquisitor. Personal contact with the students and pointing out what they did wrong and showing them how they can improve themselves is a better option then merely expelling the students, which still keeps them undignified. Children are the ones whom we entrust the future, and we need more positive leaders, so this is one of the main reasons for the change in decree-issuing. The more nice children we have, the better, and we don't have many currently."

Rita Skeeter has interviewed several students concerning the identity of the attackers, and while the Ministry has not confirmed their credibility, wanting their identities kept confidential, the Daily Prophet felt it was necessary for the reader to know all the information about the attacks currently available. The attackers are Ron and Ginny Weasley, whose father works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office, Luna Lovegood, whose father runs the tabloid The Quibbler, Neville Longbottom, whose parents are currently undergoing mental rehabilitation at St. Mungo's, Hermione Granger, who still is widely believed to be brewing love potions, and none other than Harry Potter. "Harry Potter isn't to be blamed, as the fellow attackers brain-washed him to their beliefs," Millicent Bulstrode said last night.

Undoubtedly this is going to stir up quite a controversy.

Rita Skeeter, Assistant Editor of the Education Department, The Daily Prophet.