The Spellcrafters

Chapter Twelve, Uprising of the Soul-Eaters

Harry had been excited all day long, a regular ball of nerves. Transfiguration had gone by in a haze and during Charms; he had been unable to concentrate on anything Professor Flitwick had to say. He had even missed answering some of the questions Professor Alex had asked him in DADA -his favourite class- because he was preoccupied. He was so excited because in half an hour's time, he would be having his first Occlumency lesson under the watchful eye of Headmaster Dumbledore.

Sirius, who had quickly picked up on Harry's emotions, was jumping every which way from left to right, up and down. Interrupting and disturbing students that were studying and doing their homework in the Gryffindor common room by jumping right in front of them or scattering their papers all over the room. He caused some bouts of laughter as he caused important papers to go flying, but mostly the studying students were just annoyed at his antics.

Harry had first learned of this new arrangement a few days ago. He remembered it so clearly because it had been an unusually eventful day, because first thing that morning, at breakfast, one story had been the talk of the school. 'Dementors attack helpless Muggles', was plastered all over the front page of the Daily Prophet, for all eyes to see.

The Wizarding newspapers had taken over an originally Muggle report. All the original Muggle article had stated was that in a few small towns in the middle of nowhere, an electrical blackout had coincided with a nightmare epidemic. There was no explanation for the phenomenon, not even from the scientific community. The mere mentioning of a blackout and nightmare epidemic was enough to get the Wizarding community to send up red flags to alert their members of the menace.

Later on, the day had gotten even stranger. While standing in the doorway watching his students leave, Severus Snape had approached Harry and asked him for a moment of his time. Harry had been leaving the classroom after another arduous Potions lesson (luckily, Harry's last lesson that day). What made it so strange was that the manner in which Snape had addressed Harry could almost be considered polite.

Sitting in one of the comfy chairs in front of the fire place, in the Gryffindor common room, Harry remembered it to the last detail:

"Potter, could you spare me a moment or two of your time?" Snape had asked just before Harry had slipped out the door.

Harry vividly remembered standing in the cold and damp atmosphere of Snape's office for at least ten whole minutes, before Snape saw fit to tear his attention away from the stacks of papers in front of him and address Harry.

"Potter, I was asked to deliver this message to you, by Headmaster Dumbledore.

"As you might well know, I will no longer be your Occlumency teacher this year." Snape glared at Harry as Harry let slip a little sigh of relief at that joyous piece of information.

"From now on, the Headmaster himself will be taking on that responsibility in your education. You will receive the necessary information about your first meeting very soon. Now get out of my office. Quietly, if you please!" Snape said, his attention seemingly returning to the papers that he had been grading earlier.

Harry turned around and started walking out of the room when he heard Snape whispering, "Although I doubt that even the Headmaster can get the simple principles of Occlumency into that muddled brain of yours."

Harry had been practising Occlumency on his own, ever since the death of his Godfather at the Department of Mysteries. To him, it had been his failure to block out the evil influences of Voldemort from his mind that had led to the all too premature demise of Sirius.

Guilt, however, was no easy master. By the time that Harry left Grimmauld Place, he had read every single book on Occlumency and its counterpart Legilimency that he could find in the Black family library. However, without someone to tell him what he was supposed to be feeling and doing, without an experienced teacher, Harry hadn't gotten very far, despite his efforts to the contrary. Now that he had a second chance, Harry was determined to learn as fast as he could.

Snape had been correct about when the news of his first appointment would arrive, because that morning, a small tawny owl had delivered a message to Harry.

Mr. Potter

I have made an appointment for your first Occlumency lesson with me,
at eight o'clock tonight. The new password to my office is 'Fainting
Fancies'. I rely on your discretion, to make sure that this vital
piece of information does not become general knowledge, among the rest
of the student population. If you would please bring your Pensieve -
the one I got you for your birthday - a clear mind, and your little,
Royal marmoset pet with you when you come, I would greatly appreciate
it.

Until then...

Albus Dumbledore

"Harry? Harry, don't you have an appointment?" whispered Hermione as she nudged Harry out of his pensive state.

From her point of view, he had been staring into the roaring fire, as if it was telling him something, for at least half an hour.

"What? Oh, my appointment! Oh Merlin, I hope I'm not going to be too late."

Harry sprinted up the stairs, to retrieve the Pensieve he had stored away in his room, and dashed back down, stopped long enough for Sirius to climb up on his usual spot and hurried out of the Gryffindor common room.

By the time Harry arrived at the Gargoyle that marked the entrance to Headmaster Dumbledore's office, he was totally out of breath. He barely managed to say 'Fainting Fancies', making the Gargoyle jump out of the way and revealing the winding staircase. He got onto one of the steps, which rotated around the centre column and brought Harry up to the landing outside the office...

...An office that was currently being occupied by two people by the sound of it. Harry thought he recognised the voices of Professor Dumbledore and a very agitated Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge.

"Albus? How could you? Why did you go totally around me? You had no right, no right whatsoever to make the Magical world panic like this," Cornelius whined as he paced up and down the room.

"No right? No, no, that is where you are wrong, Cornelius. I had every right, because it is in fact our duty to inform our peers of any possible danger to their safety. And don't you dare say that rampaging Dementors are not a danger to our safety Cornelius," said an ever calm and collected Dumbledore.

"Albus, then why didn't you do it through the proper channels? This sort of news should have come from the Ministry. Now it is yet another piece of evidence that the Ministry is coming up short. I am loosing support Albus. Support I cannot do without. Especially not after that debacle at the Department of Mysteries three months ago."

"That is a situation you have brought upon yourself. I warned you about Voldemort's return an entire year prior to that incident. If only you would have believed me then, this whole situation would never have occurred.

"Instead, you spent your time wrecking reputations and spreading stories about young Harry Potter and myself. You made the boy out to be a raving lunatic, and if you believed what the Daily Prophet reported, I was ready to be carted off to St. Mungo's.

"No, Cornelius, I do not owe you any explanations. If you will not do your job properly and take the responsibility and the time to do things correctly, others will have to take over. This Dementor situation is yet more proof that you simply do not know what you are doing. The decision to remove them from their duties as the sole guardians of Azkaban was a good one.

"However, not placing them under careful monitoring? Cornelius what were you thinking! That they were peacefully going to sit in a little deserted corner of the world and starve to death, while you figured out what to do with Voldemort?

"No of course they wouldn't! As I have said a thousand times, Voldemort is their natural ally, he will let them roam free and he'll let them take whatever they want. He can give them anything they require; not just those little morsels of emotion they were getting, being guards at Azkaban prison.

"No, now, thanks to your grave oversight, we have Dementors roaming the country side. Rogue Dementors that are targeting helpless and defenceless Muggles. Those Muggles might not have figured out that there is an outside influence responsible for the black- outs and their nightmares yet, but they will. Muggles aren't stupid Cornelius. Once people start appearing, the soul sucked out of them, even they will understand," Dumbledore added in a grave tone of voice.

"But, but...Albus..." said Fudge, still cringing from the numerous times Dumbledore had used 'Voldemort' in stead of the Ministry approved term 'You- Know-Who' or even 'What's-it'.

"Don't but Albus me. You made your bed, now you have to lie in it."

An uncomfortable silence set in and Mr. Fudge continued to pace about the room, his thoughts locked because of nervous indecision. Dumbledore finally decided that the conversation had gone on long enough and recalled his previous engagement.

"I had a previous appointment Cornelius and I do believe that he is waiting outside as we speak. Harry, my boy, do come in."

Harry gracefully opened the oaken door and stepped into the office. He set the Pensieve, which was by now starting to weigh kind of heavy, down on one of the many tables that were scattered about the room. He specially tried to avoid breaking any of the spindly and fragile magical instruments that were displayed on the table.

Next, he walked over to Fawkes' perch and introduced Sirius to the magnificent bird.

Cornelius Fudge, who had positioned himself in the most advantageous position to shake hands with Harry, was baffled by the lack of respect the sixth-year student portrayed. Even if he was Harry Potter, the Boy-Who- Lived, that did not mean he could treat the Minister of Magic with such disrespect. He didn't know how to react, he had never before simply been ignored. He was the Minister of Magic; respect was due to him. You did not ignore him...

Harry, who heard the Minister prattle like a teakettle that was starting to boil, only acknowledged his presence with a degrading, "Fudge." Before he turned around again and paid attention to Fawkes, who was, all aspects considered, a lot more interesting.

Cornelius Fudge, who by now was starting to boil over, could barely speak up because he was incredulous of the treatment he was receiving...

A sentiment, Headmaster Dumbledore quickly put a stop to, as he bid the man goodbye one last time.

"Goodnight, Cornelius. Sleep well. Do close the door behind you, after you leave," he said, his eyes gleaming with pride over Harry's assessment of the man.

"Nott! Fetch me Nott, immediately!" Voldemort screamed as he read the three- day-old Daily Prophet Bellatrix had only just been able to procure.

Half and hour later, Nott, visibly scared out of his wits because of this dreaded summons, appeared in the entrance to the room.

"Come closer, Nott. Explain this to me," Voldemort said as he held the front page of the Prophet out for the little and frail man to read.

"Are you not the one I assigned to watch over the Dementors? Are you not responsible for any little mishaps? Did I not order you to keep those creatures out of trouble?" His Master's voice grew louder with every added question.

"Yes master, but there are so many of them, and I am only one man. I could not keep an eye on them all the time. I need to sleep, Master."

"Sleep? Sleep, your need for sleep is going to cost me the most valuable allies I have, and all you have to say is that you need sleep!" Voldemort bellowed at the timid man that was cowering at his feet.

"Scalpere..." Voldemort practically whispered, accompanied by a swish of his wand, separating Nott from a piece of hair off the top of his head, one inch wide and three inches long.

"Be glad I don't send you to your eternal rest for all the difficulties you have caused me. You will receive reinforcements. Go back to the cliffs and keep those creatures quiet. Or, the next time, I will take more than just a strip of skin off of your head."

Nott stumbled backwards out of the room, blinded by the blood that was running down his face...

"Bellatrix? Where are you, you useless woman. I want to know if Wormtail has been found yet..."

Harry, under the watchful eye of Headmaster Dumbledore, had spent the last hour storing important memories in his Pensieve, and practising concentration techniques. Just a little while ago, Dumbledore had said it was time to start with the actual practice of Occlumency.

Dumbledore summoned two chairs; they stood facing each other in the middle of his office. Nothing blocking the line of sight between them, nothing but air... He asked Harry to take a place in one of the chairs and had sat himself down in the opposite chair.

With sheer force and willpower, Harry was able to push Dumbledore out of his mind twice now. Even though he hadn't broken any records timewise, he was very pleased he was able to protect his brain from intruders. Dumbledore was very pleased with the progress Harry was making.

Suddenly, Harry asked the Headmaster, "Sir, am I supposed to feel something pulling in my mind right now?"

"What Harry, pulling inside your mind. No, my dear boy, you are not supposed to feel anything at all. Can you describe to me exactly what it feels like?" Dumbledore asked?

"Well, it kind of feels like someone tied a small line to my thoughts and is pulling at it right now. Wait, it... it stopped..."

"Harry, do you remember your last clash with Voldemort's mind? Can you tell me if it felt the same as this?"

"No Sir, I was totally overwhelmed and writhing in agony then. I couldn't even sit up in a chair or anything. But...I think it kind of might be the same because I vaguely remember being in a room five minutes ago and I haven't left here..."

"Harry, tell me about that room, if you can."

"All right, I hazily remember yelling at a man named Nott, he was supposed to keep the Dementors out of trouble... Sir, have you ever heard of a spell called 'Scalpere'?"

"Morris...You made it," said Alex, when she walked into her quarters, after finishing up grading the fourth year DADA papers on the Unforgivables.

She walked up to him and gave him a big hug. Mr. Morris Ogilvie had been her Mentor, while Alex was training to be an Unspeakable, almost twenty years ago.

"Good evening my dear...Yes, I heard only a few days ago from Max that whatever it is you two are making such a fuss about, is ready to be tested on a human simulacrum. Besides, since you so generously suggested I come and stay for a while... Here I am," he replied with a huge smile.

"And you are very welcome at that. I am so glad to finally see you again. It's been lonely sometimes, without your levelheaded opinion on things..." Alex mused.

"Well, I am here now. Anyway, that husband of yours said that I should wait here in your quarters for you to finish... this delightful creature kept me company," he said pointing at Orion, who had curled up in front of the fireplace now that he was no longer the centre of attention. "After which you were supposed take me down to the dungeons... or wherever that test is supposed to take place."

"Alex, I hope you don't mind me asking, but what exactly is so special that I needed to be here in person to witness the final tests? What exactly do the two of you have in store for me? I am dying to know..."

"Max didn't tell you? Well then, I'm not going to either. It'll be much more effective if it remains a surprise."

"All right, just let me take my cloak, you might want to take yours too... it can get kind of cold down there and we might be there a while," she said while getting a woollen cloak out of her wardrobe.

"Dobby?" she asked no one in particular; until all of the sudden with a loud 'crack', that specific house elf appeared. "Dobby, would you please have a pot of hot tea and a bottle of Fire whisky waiting for us as soon as we return from the dungeons. I dare say that we will need it. To get warm and to celebrate."

"Will miss be needing anything else from Dobby, Miss?" the small creature asked with a subservient voice?

"No Dobby, that will be all, thank you. Actually, Dobby, maybe you could. Dobby, we have a guest that will be staying a few days. Could you prepare a room for him?"

"Yes, Miss. That is no problem Miss. We will have a room ready for your honoured guest, as soon as possible Miss," the creature uttered just before it left the same way it came.

"Thank you, Dobby." Alex said to the empty space the house elf had just taken up a few moments earlier, "Now then, Morris, are you ready? We should be off."

Orion, practically asleep from the warmth of the fire, looked up as the two humans left the room, bundled up tightly in their cloaks before he returned to his slumber.

Alex guided her mentor through the maze of dungeon corridors that existed underneath Hogwarts, until they reached the testing lab for the Crenellation Coal Potion. Both her husband and Severus Snape were bustling about doing last minute things and getting everything in order.

"Max, we're here..."

"Ah, yes, you are, we have been waiting for you," said Max as he kissed his wife on the lips.

"Welcome, Mr. Ogilvie," uttered a distracted Severus Snape, who didn't even look up from his preparations long enough to look at the man.

Morris exchanged a puzzled look with Alex and replied, "Thank you, for the invitation Professor Snape..."

"Oh, never mind Severus, Morris. What he lacks in people skills, he thoroughly makes up for in Potion brewing talents, and that is what we need most at this particular moment," quipped Alex at the puzzled look of her mentor at Snape's rudeness.

"I see. Very well, where do you want me, Max?" Morris requested.

"We've prepared seats for you and Alex in the back, you see they are right over there. Out of harm's way, so to speak," Max answered. "The both of you should take a seat because we gave the Potion to the test subjects a half an hour ago. Which means that the effective window is just opening up..."

"Time, " said Severus Snape as he led a chimpanzee to the middle of the room, to a spot that was marked with a white circle about four feet in diameter, and left it there.

"Alright, here goes..." Max mumbled to himself as he watched Snape take his position and take out his wand.

Snape would execute the spell in the first test, and he would in the second test. Max thought that they might even let Morris cast it a third time, just to prove that they had really found an effective protection potion. However, first things first. The test with the chimpanzee had to go perfectly...

After the tiresome exercises that Harry had done the last few hours, he was dead tired. Because it was already past curfew, Professor Dumbledore had written Harry a note, just in case he would run into Filch or Mrs. Norris on his way back to the Gryffindor Common room. Sirius was already fast asleep on Harry's shoulder, and Harry was hurrying along to follow his pet's example as soon as possible.

When he rounded a corner however, instead of being all alone in the hallways of Hogwarts, Harry bumped into a fellow late night wanderer.

"Susan? Susan Bones? What are you doing here?" Harry asked, a little breathless from the collision.

"Oh, I've been having head aches lately, and the last time, Mrs. Pomfrey said I should just come down to see her instead of living with it. I was just going back to bed with the potion she gave me, when you bumped into me." Susan answered, holding out the flask for Harry to see.

Harry, who was slightly embarrassed because he had knocked Susan over stuttered a quick, "I'm sorry, I'm just so tired. It's my fault, I wasn't looking where I was going."

"That's all right. It was creepy walking about the corridors all by myself anyways. And I much prefer running into you, than I would running into Mrs. Norris or Mr. Filch," she said with a small smile.

"Would you like some company walking back to your dorm? I have a note from the Headmaster, it might help keep Filch of your back..." Harry timidly suggested.

"I would love the company... You are a real gentleman Harry..." she said as she accepted his offer and gave him a warm hug.

Chapter Thirteen, Ministry Approvals...