Harry Potter and the Pyramid of Maligo

Harry Potter and the Pyramid of Maligo

Chapter One: Norbert

"The boy should be trained, Dumbledore, you know that!" an older woman announced. She was extremely outgoing and spoke her mind thoroughly, it was one of the reasons she was part of the Order.

"I know that. But I just can’t help and think that he’s too young. Surely, there must be something more at hand!I just need more proof that he’s ready for work like this!" Dumbledore replied. It was one of those days he was serious and almost worried.

"What do mean proof?" the woman asked.

"Dumbledore just stared. The woman’s eyes lit up.

"Oh no, we can’t risk it!It’s extremely dangerous, Albus!No, that’s unacceptable!"

"Why?He’s stood up to him once, why should any other time be different?Besides, we don’t even know that Voldemort will come knocking on Harry’s door anyway. He’s probably plotting something awful. Not to worry though, the Order is…well, in good Order!" Dumbledore smiled. The woman didn’t, however.

"I’ve always wondered about your uncanny optimistic senses. Frankly, they almost bother me!" she stated, plainly.

"So, what should we do?" Dumbledore asked.

"Well, putting down our shields is not an option. I think that maybe we could do something different," the woman said.

"Well, what is it Arabella?" Dumbledore asked. He sounded very excited.

"I’m thinking along the lines of having him live with Sirius for the remainder of the summer. Have him get a glimpse of what it’s really like!" Arabella Figg suggested.

Dumbledore was silent. "You know, Ms. Figg, I think that you’re right in some sense. Voldemort isn’t going after Harry any longer; he’s going after the whole wizarding world!However, I’m not sure that Sirius is really ready for him. Plus, he’s staying at Remus’s house for the time being!"

"I guess that we’re stuck again. I mean really, what can we do?Should we just leave him at the Dursleys’?That makes no sense to me. It was fine that he was there as a child, but I’m thoroughly convinced that Harry should be living in the wizarding world!It’s times like these when he should be mindful of the actions of the Ministry and such!"

"What a thoughtful suggestion, Arabella. But Sirius is Harry’s only living family, and we just discussed that!" Dumbledore reminded.

"Yes, but what if he were to just stay here?"

"Oh, no. I have a feeling that he can cross the border and enter the enemy’s land. No, it’s too dangerous. "

"And it’s not fair that the Weasleys have Harry for the remainder of the summer. They would feel nervous and pressured. Not everyone knows how Harry can cope with the Dark Lord," said Arabella.

Dumbledore’s eyes lit up. "What if he were to stay with Mundungus Fletcher!I’m sure Harry would enjoy that. Plus, he’s part of the Order!I’m sure it would work out!"

A large black dog entered the room. It immediately transformed into the fugitive Sirius Black. "Are you sure Harry could handle Fletcher?"

"Hello Sirius!Yes, I do think Harry can handle him!He’s almost 15!" Dumbledore said. Ms. Figg seemed to have agreed with Sirius instead of Dumbledore.

"Yes, but Fletcher’s quite a load if I’ve ever seen one. Harry will end up doing hard work around the clock. Sure, Fletcher’s a great guy, but I don’t think he has a good concept of kids!"Sirius replied.

"I think it’s one of the reasons he’s a bachelor!" Dumbledore chuckled. Arabella Figg and Sirius smiled briefly at each other.

"Well, I ultimately think that we can’t do much about Harry then. I suppose one of us could send an owl to Mundungus. But I guess about training, we’ll just have to wait it out. I think any further decisions should be made after Hogwarts is in session. Agreed?" Ms. Figg said.

Dumbledore nodded and Sirius just stood there, looking blank.

Ms. Figg continued, "The only thing is that I have confirmation of the Dursley’s…they’re not all that they appear to be…" 

Harry had nightmares many times every week. He couldn’t understand why they occurred. Of course, with the eventful and tragic past year, anyone would figure that dooming nightmares were supposed to occur. But Harry ultimately thought that Cedric’s death was in no way his responsibility!

It had taken him a while to muster up the courage to say that. He had contemplated with the events and many times right after the last day of Hogwarts, Harry blamed himself for many little things and Cedric Diggory’s death. But the more and more he thought about things, the more it made sense to him that Cedric was dead at the expense of Voldemort’s evil!

Harry had been able to confront Voldemort and duel him!Amidst the "shadows" of the past people Voldemort had killed, he had not only seen Cedric, but also many other people, including his parents. Harry had also been able to withstand Voldemort, which was a great task in itself. It gave him sort of an ego boost; not a huge one, but almost a light tap on the shoulder. Harry realized that Voldemort had plans, but they weren’t in destroying Harry, they were destroying the wizarding world all together!That is what scared him.

Harry sighed as a magnificent eagle owl approached his window. Sirius!He took the letter appreciatively and stroked one of the wings of the large bird. Then he quickly opened up the letter.

Dear Harry,

How are you holding up?But I’m confident you realize that the events of the last year were in no way your fault!That’s very important. You have only three more years of Hogwarts and I’m confident that they’ll be great.

Over the past few weeks, Dumbledore (along with some others) and I have been discussing whom you should actually be living with now. I think many of us agree that a wizarding family is appropriate for you now. I’m sorry though that you cannot attend the rest of the summer with me. I’ve had many instructions and such that it would be difficult for you to even enjoy the summer with me.

In spite of this, I will guarantee that you will see Remus this year!He has agreed to help out Dumbledore in times when he needs to be elsewhere, by being a sort of stand-in Headmaster. I know that Professor McGonagall is deputy headmistress but she has agreed to this for other reasons.

Just in case you’re wondering about Hagrid, he’ll be gone for the beginning of the year (for about a month, I believe). Of course, I can’t really tell you what he’s up to. It’s confidential.

One more thing, I’m not sure if you know who this person is, but I’ve written to Mundungus Fletcher this summer and have asked him if he would agree to take you in for the remainder of the summer. I haven’t got a letter from him. But I requested that he mail you something or other.

We’ve also discussed you spending time with the Weasleys but they are overwhelmed right now with things, and Dumbledore has said that it would be too much pressure on the to have the boy who lived to live with them during the rising of the Dark Lord.

Hope to see you soon,

Sirius

Harry smiled. He could imagine that Weasleys having him for the rest of the summer. It would be too much for them. Mrs. Weasley of course wouldn’t say it to Harry’s face, but he figured that she wouldn’t like the whole idea of having Harry in midst of what has happened.

The strange thing about Sirius’s letter was the fact that they wanted Harry to get away from the Dursleys. It didn’t seem right. Dumbledore had told him that the safest place to be was the Dursleys. What had changed?Harry couldn’t venture a guess about that one.

Mundungus Fletcher…the name sounded awfully familiar. Of course!Harry had heard Dumbledore ordered Sirius to find Fletcher, Arabella Figg, and Remus Lupin, the "old crew. "As scary as the next year could really be, Harry was strangely excited!

Harry had also heard Dumbledore order Snape to do something. That gave him the shivers. Could Snape ultimately be trusted? Dumbledore did, but that wasn’t enough for Harry. Sure, he had saved Harry’s life during his first year Quidditch match, but that wasn’t enough for Harry. Snape was evil to him. There was no justification in his actions. Plus, Snape was a Death Eater. That turned the tables too. Was he redeemed?Was he one that will leave Voldemort’s circle forever?Or was that Karkaroff?Soon Harry became very disturbed. Was Hogwarts safe?The questions went through his mind.

Harry shook his head and headed toward breakfast. But he froze when he heard Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon talking.

"Those damned wizards!They think they have everything under control!" Aunt Petunia wailed.

"Yes, of course, they know everything!But that Figg woman, I’d be ready send the Cruciatus Curse at her doorstep!" Uncle Vernon shouted.

Harry froze…was this happening?

"But, Vernon, dear!The Ministry would be at our door for sure!I didn’t think we had to resort to magic and deal with him. But honestly, I was fine being a Muggle!It’s great in fact. Dudley’s one!Why did that boy have to come at our door 15 years ago?"

"I don’t know, Petunia. But I can’t stand Voldemort. He promised us money!We were supposed to get it!Instead, your sister and her git of a husband beat us to it!"

"No, that’s not exactly what happened. Lily was never going to get the money. They stole it because they knew that we would’ve gotten it. If we would’ve pledge allegiance to the Dark Lord, then the fortune would’ve been ours!But…James banded us with some stupid spell and took his money. That’s when Voldemort couldn’t stand it!He was going to try and lure them to the Dark Arts; it never worked. So, with the help of his spy, Wormtail, something or other, he killed them. But they had the money invested in Gringotts already. "

"And now Voldemort’s back," Vernon said plainly.

"Will he come after us?" Petunia asked.

"No…I don’t know!But, I’ll personally make sure that we kill the boy before he does. "

It was a dark and ominous night. Every part of the man’s body quivered. He didn’t know how he could maintain his composure. It was awful, being interrogated and threatened horribly by the masked and unknown man. One very strange thing was the small monkey perched atop of his shoulder.

"You do realize you have no choice in this matter…" the raspy voice said.

The man didn’t know what to do. He was basically at wandpoint in the situation. If he said No he would be done for. Most surely the Cruciatus Curse or something to that degree would be done to him. Of course, if he agreed to the deal, he would loose an extremely important specimen—one of the best in the world!

"I’m waiting!" the unknown man said impatiently.

"I’m thinking this over. If you could just wait a few more minutes, I—" The small monkey screeched with such ferocity that it made the man gasp. The masked man took the floor.

"You never tell me to wait!I have special instructions to take this creature and deal with him accordingly. My plans are ultimately confidential. That doesn’t matter in this case. All you need to worry about is handing that dragon over to me. " He must have been grinning.

"Okay!Okay!" The scared man breathed heavily. "But I just want to know what is really in it for me. What’s the point of confronting me?After all, you could have just stolen him!"

"Oh please!We’re dealing with a highly magical dragon. This is something almost unheard of. I hope you understand that you must ultimately agree to this deal. The bondages of the owner have an almost magic barrier. Plus, I’m offering some money in this deal. "

"What kind of money are you talking about?"

"In time, I’ll tell you. Now, let’s go and see the little devil. "The masked man got up from his chair and started to leave the one-roomed house. The monkey waited for the other man to get up. When he refused to move, the monkey screeched again with the same ferocity as before. He timidly rose from his chair and quickly left his house.

The frightened man could just imagine the other man’s eyes. They must be gleaming and holding a look of evil.

"He’s a feisty little one isn’t he?" asked the masked man.

"Uh, yeah sure whatever you say," the other said, very nervously. He just sighed heavily. Soon, he was getting impatient. He was starting to be no longer afraid of this man. Plus, there was money involved. He just wanted the whole ordeal to be done with.

The wretched little monkey hopped around the cage where a small dragon was sleeping soundly. The monkey climbed toward the top of the roof of the cage and ended up making quite a racket. It all resulted in waking up the dragon.

The monkey seemed to be laughing (if indeed any primate could laugh). This also seemed to especially anger the tired dragon. When only the fence was a barrier between the dragon and the monkey’s tail, something comical to many people happened. The monkey’s tail was on fire. It scared him to death really. The masked man just stood there in a cold-hearted disbelief and immediately got out his wand.

"Glacium Extinquioso!"

The spell was supposed to extinguish the fire. However, it did no such thing. Soon, the fire was nearing the rear of the horrid little beast. The other man was just standing there nervous. Finally, he decided to stomp on the creature’s tail and put it out the old-fashioned way. Fortunately, for the monkey, it worked--even though his poor little tail was crispy and black.

"Don’t worry, you’re tail will be fine in due time," grinned the masked man. The other man was starting to get scared again as he swore he saw the primate wink.

"I…-I think I know why this dragon is special…" he said nervously.

"Oh, and what do you think the reason is?"

"No magic will affect the flames or anything at all. He is truly amazing. I…I never knew!"

The masked man smiled, "How does 700 galleons sound?"