Corruption

CHAPTER TWO

Fire

The Gryffindors were subconsciously gathered in a semi-circle around the portrait hole, glancing up at any noise. When Seamus actually came in, they all leaped out of their seats and ran at him. The poor boy backed up against the wall, a look of horror on his face.

`What happened?´ everybody was clamouring.

`What is this?´ he asked, panicking.

`Did she say yes?´

`Yeah,´ he said, blushing.

Half of the room cheered, and half walked off, looking angry.

`We´ve really lost him,´ Hermione said to Ron in an undertone.

Ryder agreeing to Seamus´ request got a lot of the Others interested. They spoke to Seamus about her, and he took lots of them to see her. In half an hour, all the Gryffindor Others were gathered in the common room. There were ten.

`I thought this was over,´ Ron said, looking around.

`She´s just corrupting everyone differently, now,´ Hermione growled. `We should never have thought she would settle down. She´s trying subterfuge now!´ Hermione´s eyes glinted.

`Where´s Ginny?´ Ron asked suddenly.

`I saw her go out half an hour ago...´ Harry said, then he stopped.

`Oh shit!´ Ron swore, jumping up and running to the portrait hole.

`You don´t know where they are!´ Harry called, getting up.

`I´ll find them!´ Ron yelled back, running down the corridor.

`I´m going after him,´ Harry called to Hermione, following Ron out.

~*~

Lara straightened her black robes, and flicked her hair. She heard the noise in the hall go down, and one voice announcing her, then she walked onto the platform, to cheers and whoops.

`Welcome!´ she called to them all, spreading her arms wide. Her dark eyes scanned the many faces turned up to her in the candlelight. `Welcome. I see many newcomers. This is good, and anyone who had a hand in this is to come and see me for promotion afterwards!´ She paused to allow cheers.

`Now to the main matter of tonight. The Others are losing people to us, and soon everyone but a stubborn few will join. I know not what we will go on to, but I can promise great rewards at the end of the road. I know that I have been sent to help you, and help you I will.

`There are new plans now, and anyone of third rank or higher will please come to the hall again tomorrow for a briefing. That will be all tonight, thanks. I haven´t managed to get the Transfiguration teacher on our side yet!´

There was a ripple of laughter and agreement. Most of the group detached themselves and left, chattering happily. The ones that stayed all moved up to the stage. She came to the front to talk with them.

`You are all promoted up one rank,´ she told them, to many grins, and a few claps. `Thank you for your excellent work! Are there any firsts in here now?´

Two hands went up.

`Can I talk with you for a moment?´ she smiled. The rest left, talking about their promotions, and how happy they were.

`What do you want to talk to us about?´ Seamus asked, looking down at his badge, which had magically changed to a one.

`I want to talk to you about what we´re doing,´ she said, sitting down on the edge of the stage. `Anything you want to know?´

`If it isn´t too much to ask,´ a Ravenclaw third year frowned, `what is the purpose of the split.´

`I don´t know,´ Lara answered honestly. `I just have to do it. It´s like my purpose. I have to divide and conquer, gathering followers.´ She frowned. She had never considered why before.

`It´s a good enough reason,´ the girl shrugged.

`Are there any privileges?´ Seamus asked.

`Well, when we achieve the `conquer´ section of the plan, you will have your own rooms, and nicer uniforms. You can order anybody below you to do anything, but leave the seconds alone. They´re a bit too high up for orders. Okay?´

`That sounds fine,´ Seamus grinned. The third year nodded.

`I´ll see you tomorrow, then?´ she asked, getting up and brushing dust off her robes.

`See you.´

~*~

Within the next week, the battle had warmed up again. Teachers began to take sides properly, and in the end Dumbledore, who was still an Other, said that they could move the cults into different parts of the school, to prevent violence as far as possible. The Others lived in the Gryffindor Tower, and the Hufflepuff building to the South. The Ryders took over Slytherin dungeon and Ravenclaw Tower. The teachers in the Ryders allowed the students to wear their own choice of uniforms. Lara decided to stick with black robes and cloaks, lined and piped around the hems with colours for their ranks. Fifth rank was just black, fourth was green, third was purple, second was blue, first was gold, and Lara herself wore white linings. The houses had been forgotten, and each cult only learnt what they had the teachers for. No one seemed to care about what was happening except the Others.

Even the parents were getting caught up in this. The Daily Prophet reported about fights breaking out in the streets, and of course, it mentioned what was happening at Hogwarts. It seemed to be having quite a big effect on the outside world, and none inside could understand why.

Then it got serious.

People were fighting all around the school, and it was no longer a child´s game. Harry, Ron and Hermione walked the corridors in fear, running the other way when they saw anyone in a cloak with a piped hood. First years had to go around with the older students for protection, and everybody had their wands out. Harry turned a corner on his way to get food for the refugees in Gryffindor, when he bumped into a girl with a gold hood.

She held out her hands in front of her and muttered briefly. Light began to boil under her skin, and Harry was thrown across the corridor with huge force. Jarring pains swirled through his skull and he felt blood run down the back of his neck. The girl continued towards him, muttering again. Harry rolled out of the way just in time, as the curse she cast hit the wall, shattering the stones with a smell of cordite. Her dark face shadowed by the hood turned to him again, and he turned tail and ran to the kitchen as fast as he could. He was terrified.

A week later, there was the first real casualty. The Others teachers ordered the Others to stay in the two house areas. Only seventh years were allowed to leave. Missions went out to get food, but they were pretty much stuck. The Ryders positioned guards outside the two common rooms, and they cursed anyone they saw.

Professor Dumbledore came to see Harry one night in the crowded Gryffindor common room.

`I´m not sure how much they can do, but I was wondering if I could borrow your admirable cloak,´ he asked in an undertone.

`Okay, I´ll just get it,´ Harry said, getting up and fetching it. Dumbledore gave him a grim look and left the room with it tucked under his arm. Harry watched Dumbledore leave with a heavy heart. Considering what that girl, who must have been about thirteen, could do, he doubted there´d be any way around them. Malfoy came down the stairs from the dormitory, and saw Harry.

`Potter,´ he called, weaving through the crowds of people in the room. `I´m sorry about how I´ve been before, can we put that aside for now? I have something I think I should tell you.´

`I suppose we could,´ Harry said warily. `What have you got to say?´

`I know something about Ryder that only I know,´ he sad, glancing around them. `She´s...´

But what she was Harry didn´t hear, because Fred Weasley jumped through the portrait hole, panting and shaking.

`They´ve got Sam!´ he yelled. `I couldn´t get him out, I had to run. I think... I think they killed him...´ He collapsed to the floor and George and Ron rushed over to him at once.

The cry of `Sam´s dead´ ran through the whole tower like lightning. Many who had known him cried, and everybody else fell silent out of respect. Harry listened to the wracking sobs of a girl beside him and swore he would do something about this, even if it killed him.

~*~

Lara was a bit angry when she heard about the death. That wasn´t meant to happen. They were disobeying.

Punish harshly. No one has the right to disobey you, you are the disobeyer.

She looked around her sharply. No one had spoken. Maybe she was just being weird. It hadn´t sounded like the mental version of her voice. It was colder, harsher. She frowned, and continued her search. She was going through the belongings left behind by the Others when they had fled. She was in Draco Malfoy´s room. He hadn´t left much behind when he ran off, but she found a picture in one of the drawers. It looked like him and his sister.

But he didn´t have a sister.

She looked at the picture closely. There were two white blond children, arm in arm, laughing. The boy had grey eyes, and the girl had brown. They looked about five or so. She pocketed it. She didn´t know why. Maybe it just touched her, deep inside the exterior she had built. Two happy children in a photo, waving at the camera, made her feel calm.

Then she took it out and tore it in half, laughing all the while. She tore it into quarters. Happy children? A picture of her enemy, and some sweet little blonde brat. She hurled the scraps into the fireplace. Laughing still, she pointed at the shredded pieces, and watched them burn for a moment. Then she walked on. She was a busy ruler. She had no time to sit by the fire.

~*~

Ginny walked around the deserted hallways, fingering the green piping around the edge of her new hood. She had to uphold her position to keep it. She felt terrible about turning over to Lara, but it had to be done. She was obviously right about everything she said. But what did she actually say? They weren´t doing anything yet, just terrifying their enemies. Ginny had never been all that big, and she had been teased because of her hair colour, her poverty, anything they could. This was her chance to stand up to them, to be someone.

She had seen Fred when that boy died. He hadn´t seen her. She didn´t want to go over to him. It felt strange. He looked broken, ravaged, but she didn´t care. Hadn´t he mocked her? Hadn´t he been one of those to make her feel worse? He deserved all he got. She turned the corner to meet a Purple Ryder. She bowed to him, and he put a hand to his chest in the salute for an inferior or an equal. They passed, and Ginny sunk back into thought.

The school had become more united, in being split. Every Ryder had a place in the order, and everybody felt needed. There were new Blacks joining all the time, and people got promoted all the time. She had been one of those promoted at the last group meeting, for getting Colin to come along. In a way, the society was better, because everyone was honest. No one would have said that they recruited new members if they hadn´t. She sang the praises of the order in her head.

It was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

~*~