- Rating:
- PG-13
- House:
- Schnoogle
- Genres:
- Action Drama
- Era:
- Multiple Eras
- Spoilers:
- Philosopher's Stone Chamber of Secrets Prizoner of Azkaban Goblet of Fire Order of the Phoenix Quidditch Through the Ages Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- Stats:
-
Published: 01/08/2005Updated: 06/29/2005Words: 244,306Chapters: 66Hits: 89,703
The War of Shades
quintaped
- Story Summary:
- Seventh year - The scar connection becomes wide open, giving both Harry and Voldemort ever more detailed views into each other's mind. Harry works on practicing the message he gained in Egypt (Harry Potter and the Goblin Rebellion), but Voldemort launches the Second War to fill Harry with hatred and anger and to strip him of all who are loyal to him. Ever more desperately Harry trains himself and others to fight, but something is making all of his friends fight each other. Harry must find a way to stop the internal warfare or Voldemort will be able to launch an attack on Hogwarts that will destroy all who are capable of resisting him, including Harry. Through all this, Harry must learn for himself how he will finally vanquish Voldemort.
Chapter 05
- Chapter Summary:
- Amid the on-going terror attacks by Voldemort's forces, Harry begins a weekend visit with Seamus Finnegan, learning a lot about mixed muggle-magical families.
- Posted:
- 01/14/2005
- Hits:
- 1,304
Chapter 5 - Fighting Back
That evening after boxing with Dudley, Harry was packing the things he would need for his weekend visit with Seamus Finnegan when his scar again began to hurt and burn. He jotted down the details he could and quickly used his mirror to tell Professor Dumbledore. This time the victim was to be in Dover. Dumbledore had promised to tell Harry what he could about the victim as soon as he could. After summoning a team of rescuers, Dumbledore came back to the mirror. Harry offered to make apologies to the Finnegans and stay at the Dursleys, but Dumbledore insisted he keep his plans.
"I want you spending time with as many people as possible. It is too easy for you to become isolated, and you need to cultivate friendships and loyalty as much as you can. Mrs. Finnegan is well-connected among the mothers of Hogwarts - her good word will calm many parents who might want to just hunker down now that the Dark Mark is appearing again."
"Yes, sir. I understand. I'm sort of an ambassador for the Order as well."
"You could say that. But it's so much more - you don't merely represent. When we rally, we will be rallying around you. We need for as many as possible to see that, and for you to have faith in the wizarding world's loyalty as well."
"Alright, Professor. And considering how keen Mrs. Finnegan was on me a couple of years ago, I guess she's a good one to try to win over."
"You'll be able to call Professor Lupin or me whenever you need to, although I'm hoping you won't have cause."
"Me, too, but that doesn't seem to be the sense of what he's thinking."
"What else is there, Harry?"
"The desire to cause panic, to make the rest of us fall apart, so that we'll be easier to defeat."
"That's his way, of course. That's why we need to head them off as often as we can. The team I just summoned are aurors. We'll have at least ten teams of aurors on call at any moment, just in case - several in London and the others around the rest of Britain, since even among aurors only a few can Apparate the distances needed to cover the whole country."
"Good," said Harry, reassured. "For now that seems adequate. Is the Order involved as well?"
"The Order has other missions, and we're short the help of the Weasleys."
"They can't have left the Order, can they? I would've thought I would have heard," said Harry.
"No, I insisted. Arthur can do us far more good just being the sort of acting Minister of Magic we have needed all along. It was he who arranged for the aurors to respond to your warnings. I would rather he not know what the Order is doing, as his position will put him in touch with many wizards who are legilemens, and not all of them are to be trusted. He is excellent at resisting the Imperius Curse, but he has no training in Occlumency. And Molly's 'assignment' is to keep Arthur safe. We've moved them from The Burrow to the place you came to two summers ago, since it is safe. Just in case, I don't want to say the name. By the way, I'll have something to tell you about that place, but I don't think now is the time. The rest of the adult Weasleys assist on special assignments, but we are keeping them clear of the day-to-day activities of the Order, for security reasons. We've moved Order headquarters to another location, similarly safe, but which doesn't have the security flaw we had before. We are also setting up a facility in a place with more space for training. You'll be brought there later this summer."
"It is so much better being included in the preparations than being shut out," said Harry.
"Yes, Harry, I understand. And appreciate that I am telling you what I can, because you need to understand that even now I cannot tell you all the activities we undertake, and the time may come when we have to keep you completely in the dark. The more your connection with Voldemort grows, the more we must keep you from knowing anything we do not want him to know. You will have to trust that we are working for the best interests of you and everyone else."
"Yes, Professor. So my assignment for now is ...?"
"Keep training, keep us informed, keep working with Reverend MacBoon on universal love, and keep your visit with the Finnegans - they're waiting for you."
"Yes, Professor. Will do. Good-bye."
"Good-bye, Harry."
Then Harry packed the mirror into his weekend bag, sent Hedwig to Ginny and Ron with a letter he had written earlier - instructing Hedwig to stay until Sunday evening unless someone there needed to send a letter - and apparated to the Finnegans.
Harry apparated directly to Seamus Finnegan's bedroom. Seamus was waiting for him.
"Excellent, Harry, you made it," said Seamus, "Pinpoint landing: wish I could apparate like that. Set your stuff down, we'll figure out which bed is yours later."
Harry looked around and saw 2 sets of bunk beds, one with a trundle underneath it. "Does the whole family sleep here, Seamus?" he asked.
"Oh, of course, not, Harry," replied Seamus with a wink, "Just the boys. I'm afraid some stereotypes have a grain of truth to them, and the Finnegans are a stereotypical Irish family."
"Except for the sorcery," said Harry, grinning.
"Well, sure'n there's that, o'course," Seamus laughed.
Harry looked suspiciously at Seamus. "You're more Irish here than at Hogwarts."
"Anyone you're with tends to rub off on you," said Seamus, "Tis a good reason for keeping good company. I make a point of toning it down back at school, though, to fit in and be understood better, but when I'm back home, it's like putting on a comfortable pair of sneakers to let the accent out. Let's go down and see me Dad and Mum."
Mrs. Finnegan was in the kitchen preparing dinner. Seamus made a gesture to Harry to keep quiet and they watched her from the door for a few minutes before catching her attention. She wore an apron, liberally spotted with different foods, with attached oven mitts. Seamus pointed out that there was a thin pocket on the inside with the handle of a wand sticking out. Mostly she did things the muggle way, but every so often she'd peep around the corner to the drawing room to make sure she was clear to get something done with a bit of magic.
"Ahh, there you go again, Mum, trying to live with one foot in each world."
"Now, Seamus, you know I have to keep your father happy. Harry, lad, come in and let me see you. Kind of scrawny for English - sure you don't have some Irish wiriness in you?"
"I really don't know where the different parts of my family come from, Maam. Thank you for inviting me to visit."
"Well, right, then, he's polite. There's a good start. You seem awful clean for the Floo Network - how'd you get here?"
"He Apparated, Mum. He's a whiz at it."
"Ah, so you were already here in Belfast, then?"
"Oh, no, Maam," said Harry, "I just guided off of Seamus's wand - I wasn't even sure what part of Ireland I would be in."
"Well, I guess strictly speaking, we're only on the island, not really a part of Ireland, but let's not go stirring up that pot with the other menfolk around here. It's a sore subject, sure."
"Yes, Maam," replied Harry.
"So where did you Apparate from then, Harry" asked Mrs. Finnegan.
"My uncle and aunt's house in Surrey," said Harry, like it was as simple as picking up a newspaper.
Mrs. Finnegan startled and caught herself on a kitchen chair, "Across half the width of England and the Irish Channel, to boot?"
"I guess that's about right, yes, Maam."
"Just amazing. I've never gone more than ten or so miles at a time without splinching. And let me tell you, you don't need to be splinched but a few times before you take all the care you need to not do it again. Our daughter Fiona is the best of us at it, though Seamus appears capable of passing her up in time if he'll work at it, and she wouldn't cross open water larger than a river like that."
"How many Finnegans are there?"
Seamus spoke up, "I have three brothers - well, I had four - the oldest was killed in The Troubles - that's what the fighting over Northern Ireland was called - when I was very young - and I have three sisters."
"Wow," said Harry, jealously, "I would have been thrilled to have had just one sister or brother."
"There's plenty of times I've felt just that way, meself, Harry."
"Seamus!" scolded his mother, "You know you love them all and you'd be heart-broken to lose a one of them."
"You're right, Mum, I was just joking a bit" said Seamus, sheepishly, then turned back to Harry "It's just that until I went to Hogwarts, I had very little I could call my own, and even so, me magical gear is hand-me-down, except me wand, of course. Only my second oldest brother, Brian, and Fiona, my oldest sister, are sorcerers. They had graduated Hogwarts before you and I got there."
"Hm, so you and I are called half-bloods, would your non-magical siblings be muggles or squibs?"
Mrs. Finnegans eyes blazed as she snapped, "They'd BE children of God, entrusted to this family's love! And worth no less nor more for whatever talents they may have!"
Harry felt ashamed. "Oh, of course, Maam. I was just curious - I guess I've just heard all the terms so much that I get used to classifying people myself. There are plenty of people both magical and not I value very highly It really doesn't matter so long as a person is decent inside."
"You're forgiven, Harry. I suppose a mother in a mixed house tends to get a bit touchy about the subject."
"There is one thing I'm curious about, and maybe you know. There are some things that wizards can see that muggles can't, like Hogwarts or dementors. I know that squibs, like Mr. Filch and Reverend MacBoon, can see those things. How about your non-magical children?"
"They all see them, but so does Danny, me husband, and he's born and raised muggle."
"Really, how's that?" asked Harry.
"You see, Harry, it's not a matter of some special summat in you. It's your eyes knowing how to see it. If a muggle walks up to Hogwarts alone, he doesn't expect a castle there, and sees only the ruin. But if he approaches with a wizard, and the wizard walks up the steps, he knows there's something there, and his eyes learn to see it. Because all my family has seen me and the others doing magic, they know how to see it and so they do. They can't call the Knight Bus, because they can't use a wand, but they've all seen it."
"They liked to split a side laughin' when they did, eh. Mum?" laughed Seamus.
"That they did, son, and liked to split a side for another reason when they rode it. Now why don't you two run on out to the parlor and meet Mr. Finnegan while I get this stew and bread ready for the table."
The boys walked through the door to where Seamus's father was sitting in an easy chair and reading.
"There you are, Dad. Let me introduce Harry Potter. Harry, this is m'Dad."
"Pleased to meet you, sir," said Harry with a smile.
Mr. Finnegan stood up and grabbed Harry's hand and pumped it energetically, "Pleased to meet a practitioner of the sweet science."
Harry's face registered his confusion at the term.
"That'd be Dad's way of saying boxing. I told him about our sparring with Malfoy and his boys last year."
Mr. Finnegan beamed, "And a beautiful event it sounded to be, using skill and toughness to whoop opponents much bigger than all of yeh."
"Now Dad, Malfoy wasn't but a tad bigger'n me."
"Ah, but yeh met your challenge and yeh won, lad. Mebbe yeh should've stuck with the ring instead of going for the wand."
"Dad, you know there'd be no chance of that."
"I suppose not. So, Harry, how'd yeh get started on the fights?"
"Oh, well, sir, the headmaster recommended I practice a dueling-type sport, and since my cousin had taken up boxing, that was my best option for the summers."
"Your cousin, eh? Golden Gloves, mebbe? What's his name?"
"Uh, well, Dudley Dursley."
"I know him, ranked third now in the Surrey Golden Gloves heavyweight division - great fists, powerful punch, no glass jaw," said Mr. Finnegan approvingly, and then with some regret, "but he's been slow on his feet. Getting better that way, but you can't make the big fights if you can't move well."
Harry was amazed, "That describes him. I'm impressed. You follow amateurs that closely?"
"Well, sure, Harry, and where do you think professionals come from? I like looking for the rising stars."
"Dad'd give anything to see a British heavyweight champion in his lifetime - he'd even cheer for an Englishman."
"Aah, you pug," said Mr. Finnegan, ruffling Seamus's hair, "but you're right, even an Englishman."
Suddenly Harry's scar began burning and aching again. "I've got to do something," he said quickly to Seamus and ran upstairs.
Mr. Finnegan called after him "It's the second door on the right - jiggle the handle to get the water to stop." Then he said to Seamus, "What'd he do, ride a broom? That'd do it to me."
"Uh, no, Dad. I'd better go check on him."
Seamus overheard Harry giving the details of another attack to Remus Lupin. Before he left, he said "Say hi to Seamus for me."
"Was that Professor Lupin, Harry?"
"Um, yeah, Seamus. He says hi."
"I heard. What's up?"
Harry sighed. "Well, I guess I can tell you. You've seen on the news that the Dark Mark killings have started up again."
"Sure; I'd never seen it before but me Mum knew all about it."
"Right, and you know how my scar hurts and tells me some things that are on Voldemort's mind?"
"Like all those times you've waked up screaming in the dorm, Harry?" asked Seamus.
"Yeah, I guess I've been a difficult roommate," said Harry.
"It's a bit disturbing, but it's better than that Hufflepuff first year last year who threw up in bed every night through Easter. Even the elves couldn't make that smell totally go away."
"Well, now it's hurting more often because Voldemort is ordering killings, and the scar is telling me about the attacks. I report them and aurors go try to stop them. I was late tonight because I was reporting to Dumbledore."
"Wow," said Seamus, "So the war has really started and you're like a spy."
"More like a scout, I guess, but yeah, that's about it."
"AND YOU"LL BE KEEPING OUT OF IT SEAMUS FINNEGAN," yelled his mother, who had walked up quietly after seeing the boys run upstairs, "I'll not have you getting involved in any fighting that doesn't have a referee."
"Mum," moaned Seamus.
"Don't you 'Mum' me, Seamus. I've lost one son to war. I won't lose another," she said, peering imperiously at him. Then she turned and stepped smartly back down the stairs to the kitchen.
Seamus looked apologetically at Harry.
Harry just sighed, "I hope not too."
As dinnertime approached, two of Seamus's brothers and one of his sisters came home. Katherine, his middle sister, reported to her mother that she had run into her brother Mike at Uni and he said that he wouldn't be coming home that night.
"With his girlfriend again?" she asked with a sigh, as Katherine nodded with a grin. "Well, at least he's not fighting."
Before Harry went to bed, his scar began hurting again. This time though, the message he received was of frustration. He called Remus on the mirror.
"Remus," he said hopefully, "good news?"
"Your scar has already told you?" he asked.
"Well, I can feel the frustration anyway."
"We were able to stop them both. The targets were a wizard and a witch this time. The aurors made it look like just a chance interception at that. Dumbledore wants to call as little attention to your role as possible. They caught one of them, not a Death Eater, but still somebody taking Voldemort's orders. Of course, he claimed to be under the Imperius Curse. He had some of the signs, so we couldn't be sure. Someone who used to be on that side told us they would give each other cover by putting empty Imperius curses on each other. This let Arthur be one step ahead of them; he had contracted with several trustworthy Legilemens to be available for just this purpose: saw right through that lie."
"Oh, so with legilemency you can tell genuine actions from Imperius-controlled actions?" asked Harry.
"Well, if it's done close enough to a particular act, as I understand it, the legilemens can tell whether the act was done freely or not, something like that."
"Hey, Potter," intruded Tonks, "You're the mind-reader, why don't you tell us how it's done!"
"Still a little bitter about getting caught out, Tonks?" teased Harry, "And what are you doing there at this hour, hmm?"
Tonks blushed, "I, uh, just brought Remus his potion."
"Oh, please, Tonks, for one thing, it's nearly a new moon - he'll be safe for another two weeks. Besides, I can still see right through you."
"Darn! I thought maybe you had to see me in person to do that! You know, you're getting to be a right pain, Potter."
"Legilemency isn't the only way to see through you, Tonks," said Harry.
"Oh, yeah, see if you can guess what I'm thinking right now!" she said, glaring into the mirror.
Harry peered. "Either I'm lucky to be on this end of the mirror, or Remus is lucky to be on that end!"
Tonks gasped. Remus, smiled and nodded and said "Aah, uh-huh."
"Stop that, Potter!" shouted Tonks, reddening.
Remus laughed. "I'd better be going before this mirror gets broken too, Harry. I'll keep it handy, though, should anything turn up."
Harry said goodbye and tucked the mirror away, proud of helping to save two lives.