Broken Fate

Chapter Thirty ~ Family Secrets

"What?" Will stared at Hermione in disbelief. "How?" Molly squirmed out of his arms, and as soon as he set her on the ground, she ran to grab Ron's legs.

Hermione shook her head. "I don't know; Neville just told us." She turned to Neville for an explanation, but before he could speak, Fred hurried into the room. "Ange, I need to talk to you."

Angelina nodded. "Just a moment." She turned to the group in front of her. "I need all of you to follow me." She led them out of the back room and stopped at in front of a wall. She whispered something under her breath, and a door appeared. Angelina opened it. "Wait in here until Fred or I come to get you," she said. She hurried them inside, and then shut the door. It was still visible from the inside, but Hermione guessed that it had again disappeared on the outside.

"What was that all about?" Ron asked, frowning. "Never mind. What happened?" he asked Neville impatiently.

"Where's Shay?" Will asked.

"He's in the hospital wing," Neville said. "And as for what happened...I'm not entirely sure. Jamie and I left the lake to go find Shay, and we came across Gabrielle." Neville shot the small girl a sideways glance. "She asked if she could come with us, and a minute later, we saw Shay walking down the hall. Then Gabrielle stopped and said that Shay looked strange...she said he was blinking."

Hermione immediately noticed the odd, closed look that came over Will's face, and he looked carefully at Gabrielle. "What did Jamie do?" he asked.

"She pointed her wand at him and told him not to move," Gabrielle piped up.

"She asked him what his full name was, and he said Shay Long," Neville said quietly. "I had my wand out, too, but...he was so close, and before we could do anything, he pounced on Jamie and grabbed her hand. I saw that he was holding something. I tried to curse him, but before I had the chance, he and Jamie both disappeared. I think it was a Portkey."

Hermione was still watching Will closely. "If it wasn't Shay, then who was it?" she asked.

Will looked up. "I don't know."

"But you know something," Hermione persisted.

"I..." Will shifted awkwardly. "I can tell you that someone was using Polyjuice Potion to impersonate Shay."

"How do you know?" Ron asked.

"You are Shay's best friend," Gabrielle said suddenly.

"Yes," Will looked at her, and Hermione saw understanding in both of their eyes. They each knew the other person knew...something. Something that Will wasn't disclosing. "I...I can't.... I promised Shay a long time ago I wouldn't say," he told Hermione.

"If it's something that can tell us what happened to Jamie--" Ron began.

"It's not," Will said quickly. "I mean, I'm sure the Polyjuice Potion is, but this..."

"Gabrielle...said that Shay was blinking." Hermione stared from Will to Gabrielle and back. "She could see that he was using Polyjuice Potion. How? Is it because she's part veela?" Gabrielle didn't know that Shay was her son, but she did know that he was part veela. Someone who had veela blood could always tell when another had veela blood. She turned on Gabrielle. "Can you see through Polyjuice Potion?" If that was true, then why hadn't anyone known about it before? It would be an amazing breakthrough in the wizarding world... It would be...well, enormous!

Gabrielle pressed her lips together and rocked back on her feet. "I am not supposed to talk about it."

Hermione sighed in frustration. Gabrielle wasn't supposed to talk about it, Will had promised Shay he wouldn't...this was something big, and she thought that there was more to it than Polyjuice Potion. "All right, Will, if you're sure that someone was Polyjuicing Shay--"

"I'm positive," Will said quickly.

"Then how did he end up in the hospital wing?" Hermione asked Neville and Gabrielle.

"We looked around for him, and found him unconscious in a broom cupboard near the Transfiguration classroom. Madam Pomfrey said it looks like he was hit with several Stunning spells--she said he won't wake up until tomorrow, at least," Neville explained.

Hermione closed her eyes. So Shay had been Stunned by someone, who probably then used Polyjuice to take on his appearance in order to get to Jamie. And then there was the Portkey. "Whoever made the Portkey had to have done it from inside Hogwarts," she said slowly.

"Why's that?" Ron asked.

"As you'd know if--"

"--I'd read Hogwarts, a History--" Ron interrupted.

"--Portkeys can be used on Hogwarts grounds. We know that. But, they have to be created on Hogwarts grounds in order to work. No one can Portkey into Hogwarts, only out. The only exception is the headmaster's office. If the headmaster creates the Portkey, then it's possible to use it to appear in his office," Hermione said. "And aside from the Portkey...if someone was using Polyjuice Potion...well, this is horrible. Think of everything we just heard from Molly's memory--Dumbledore was murdered when Voldemort used Polyjuice Potion to sneak into Hogwarts."

"I don't think I'll be eating or drinking any Hogwarts food for a while," Ron muttered, rubbing his forehead. "What if something's poisoned? It seems that Voldemort changed his plans, but he still created the potion, at least as far as we know. We don't know if he'll use it or not. And where's Jamie?"

Neville shrugged helplessly. "I think that's what the Order is trying to figure out. Angelina's been running back and forth and has made several calls from her fireplace. Fred was gone--he just showed up, but Angelina wouldn't tell us anything except to stay in this room."

"This room is part of the Order's underground," Gabrielle said knowledgeably.

"The Order's what?" Hermione asked.

"The Order has different places where they have secret rooms, so if anyone is in trouble, they can hide them until danger has passed," Gabrielle said. She shrugged one shoulder. "At least, that is how Fleur told it."

"I didn't know that," Hermione said in surprise. "Did you?" she asked Ron and Will.

Ron shook his head, and Will nodded. "There were places like this in the future, though it was hard to find people who still had them."

Ron frowned and moved toward the door. "Ron? What are you--" Hermione stopped when Ron pulled an Extendable Ear out of his pocket. "Never know when one of these might come in handy," he said. He squatted down and pressed one end against the door, and the other in his ear. "I can hear Fred and Angelina," he whispered. "Something's going on...Fred says most of the dementors have left Azkaban."

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"Shh." Ron waved a hand at her. "Azkaban...is still being guarded by giants...but Snape sent a report...the Death Eaters have been called to Azkaban...You-Know-Who is there." He looked over his shoulder. "And so is Jamie."

Hermione's heart clenched in her chest. Voldemort would torture Jamie until he had pulled every scrap of life out of her, and then he would probably kill her.

"Jamie is...in Azkaban?" Gabrielle whispered, looking horrified. "With giants and dementors and... Death Eaters?"

She sounded more upset about Death Eaters than she did about dementors and giants, but Hermione had to remind herself that it had been Death Eaters that killed her parents, and that she had run into on a London street.

"The dementors...are attacking!" Ron exclaimed in surprise. "Fred says they didn't just leave Azkaban...they're attacking London...and Bristol...right out, attacking Muggles. The Magical Law Enforcement has been dispatched, but Dumbledore has called members of the Order to aid--" Ron stopped abruptly and jumped back, shoving the Extendable Ear back into his robes. "Footsteps," he hissed.

A moment later, the door opened and Fred poked his head into the room. "Angelina and I have to leave. You lot stay here." Before they could reply, he shut the door again.

They exchanged glances. "Voldemort sent the Dementors out to draw everyone away from Azkaban. He's trying to keep Dumbledore busy," Hermione said.

"But the Dementors are attacking Muggles," Neville said, horrified. "This is..." He shook his head, seemingly unable to find sufficient words to describe it.

Hermione looked grim. "I wonder if Harry and Ginny know about all of this."

~*~

"Please, Mum! I don't want to stay here! I'm fine!" Ginny pleaded with her mother's retreating back.

Her mum turned around. "No, Ginny. You've been awake for less than half an hour! Until the Healers clear you to leave, you are to stay right where you are. And Harry's going to stay with you--you heard Dumbledore. This is one of the safest places you can be right now. Now, I have to leave, but you two stay put."

"Can you at least ask Dumbledore if we can send a letter to Ron and Hermione?" Ginny asked.

"I'll ask him if I have the chance." Ginny's mum walked out the door and shut it firmly behind her.

Frustrated, Ginny turned back to Harry. "I can't believe this!" She felt so incredibly disoriented. First she had woken up, only to learn that it was June. Then she had discovered that in awakening her, Harry had connected them in a way that she didn't really understand yet. In the hustle that followed, Harry was able to quickly fill her in on the important points that had gone on since she had been asleep, including what had happened--or not happened--with the Veritaserum. And shortly after that, she had found out that Jamie had disappeared from Hogwarts with someone who looked like Shay, but according to Dumbledore, wasn't Shay, but he wouldn't explain any more than that.

In addition to all of that, whatever spell Harry and Dumbledore had performed had left traces of vague memories in her mind--memories that weren't hers, but Harry's. She saw him as a little boy, locked in a tiny cupboard under the stairs...being yelled at, told he was nothing, that his parents had been freaks, that he wasn't to speak of anything unusual. She saw him always receiving horrid hand-me-downs, far worse than anything she had ever had to take from her brothers. She saw his life brightening once he learned about Hogwarts, saw him spending time with Ron and Hermione...fighting Voldemort... She had always disliked the Dursleys, but the dislike was quickly rising toward loathing. If they weren't dead, she would have had a lot to say to them.

There were so many memories, and it was all really making her head hurt. Literally--a sharp, stabbing ache in the front of her head was making her wince.

"This is ridiculous! How do they think they'll find her? She could have been taken anywhere!" Harry exclaimed, crossing his arms. "Do they really expect us to just sit here?"

"I--there has to be something we can do," Ginny said, feeling equally frustrated. She tried to set aside her aggravation and disbelief with having lost four months of her life to a sleeping spell, and focused on the situation at hand. Harry was right; she could have been taken anywhere...

The pain in her head sharpened, and she pressed a hand to her forehead. Something was niggling in the back of her mind; she felt as if she had forgotten something, but she couldn't remember what.

Ginny stood carefully to her feet. The last few times she'd stood, she had been very dizzy, and her legs were weak. She felt a bit stronger now, and she moved to stand beside Harry. "We have to find her."

"I know, but we don't even know where to start!"

A sudden image popped into her head: a fortress on an island, and a dark cell...and Jamie. "Azkaban," Ginny whispered, suddenly feeling dizzy again. She grabbed Harry's hand.

Harry frowned at her. "What?"

"I think she's in Azkaban."

"How do you know?"

"I don't...I just know." Ginny sat down hard on her bed, still gripping Harry's hand. "I...I saw it." She shrugged helplessly. "He--" Before Harry could finish, there was a flash of fire, and Fawkes the phoenix appeared on the bed, a letter in his mouth. He dropped it, and Harry picked it up. "It's in Dumbledore's handwriting. 'Fawkes will deliver a letter for you, if you wish,'" he read.

"We have to ask them what they know," Ginny said instantly.

Harry grabbed an ink bottle and parchment off of Ginny's bedside table and scribbled out a quick note, then held it out to Fawkes. "Er...would you take this to Ron and Hermione, please?"

Fawkes took the letter in his beak, and disappeared in another flash of fire.

~*~

A sudden burst of flame in midair startled Will, but it quickly faded, and Fawkes the phoenix rested on the ground in front of him, a letter in his beak.

"Fawkes." Hermione frowned and took the note. "It's from Harry. 'Ginny and I are stuck in St. Mungo's...we're not sure where Jamie is, but Ginny thinks she might be in Azkaban. We have to do something. Do you know what's going on?' I need to send a reply. Is there an ink bottle anywhere?"

"Here." Neville pointed at a small cabinet that held paper and quills.

Hermione hurried to the cabinet and began writing a note to Harry.

"We have to get Jamie out of Azkaban!" Gabrielle exclaimed, looking around at Will, Ron, Neville, and Hermione.

"Yeah. And how're we going to do that?" Ron asked in disbelief. "Most of the dementors might be gone, but there are still giants. And Death Eaters! And You-Know-Who. What are we supposed to do? Just waltz up to the doors and ask him to let Jamie go? Yeah, that would..." He trailed off and frowned at Will. "What?"

Will had sucked in a sharp breath without realizing it. His eyes snapped to Gabrielle, then to Ron, Hermione, and Neville. Ask him to let Jamie go...

Gabrielle's eyes lit up, and she glanced around at them. "I can help!"

If we could get inside the prison, there might be a chance...but this is Voldemort. And he's been gathering his force all year. He's sure to have a lot of Death eaters. There's no way Gabrielle would be able to handle that many people at once...And Shay would burst a vein if he knew Will was even considering this. Will shook his head. "No, Gabrielle."

Gabrielle whirled on him. "I can do it! I can help!"

"You don't have the training," Will told her quietly.

"Yes, I do! I have been practicing with Fleur!" Gabrielle crossed her arms and glared fiercely at him.

"Practicing on whom? This is Voldemort we're talking about, Gabrielle," Will said gently. True, Fleur had stood against Voldemort in the future, but she had been older and much more practiced.

"I have practiced on Bill, and on Monsieur Lupin. Professor Dumbledore even allowed me to practice on him."

Will straightened. "You practiced on Dumbledore? How did it go?"

"It was difficult," Gabrielle admitted. "But I have been getting much better at it."

Will bit his lip. If she had been able to control Dumbledore... No. How could he consider this? "It doesn't matter. You're eleven, Gabrielle, and we can't let you do this. Your sister would never allow it. Besides, if you were to be captured--"

"I would not be captured!"

"You don't know that," Will replied.

Hermione, Ron, and Neville watched the exchange, until Hermione burst out, "Will! Gabrielle! What is going on? This is beginning to relate to helping Jamie. If you know something that can help..."

Will hesitated. He had spent his whole life guarding Shay's family secret, promising he would never tell, and he had never broken a promise to anyone.

They had to save Jamie, though. The Order might not be able to do it, if they were busy with dementors. Snape was in Azkaban, but he might not be able to help Jamie either.

Before he could think to reply, Gabrielle spoke. "I can change my voice," she said promptly.

"Change your voice? What do you mean?" Hermione said.

Gabrielle shifted on her feet. "I am not supposed to talk about it, but if it will help Jamie..." She hesitated. "I am part-veela."

"Yes, we know," Hermione said. "And?"

"I am able to...change my voice to...to make people do whatever I want them to do," Gabrielle said. She glanced at the floor and fidgeted with her hair, looking a bit guilty. Will could only imagine how much Fleur had drilled into her the importance of not telling anyone about this.

Ron, Hermione, and Neville stared at Gabrielle, then at Will. "Will?" Hermione asked. "Seeing through Polyjuice Potion? Controlling people? Is there something you want to add to this?"

"There's more," Will said. "But that's not...now is not the time to explain. Gabrielle is right. She can make people do things, but it takes effort and concentration. The more practiced the wizard she's controlling, the more difficult her task. Still..."

"She's practiced on Dumbledore," Neville said, a frown creasing his forehead. "So you're saying..."

"I might...have an idea," Will finally said. "It will take some work...and some cooperation. We'll need the invisibility cloaks, and broomsticks. Hermione," he turned on her abruptly. "Tell Harry and Ginny if they can get outside of St. Mungo's, I'll Apparate over and meet them there. I have a plan, but we have to move fast. I don't know how much time Jamie has."

~*~

It didn't take long before Harry and Ginny were standing outside of St. Mungo's. "Ginny! It's good to see you awake!" Will said. She looked rather pale, and was holding onto Harry's arm. "Are you all right?"

"Just a bit shaky. I'll be fine," Ginny said determinedly.

"It wasn't at all hard getting out," Harry said. "The security is only for getting in. They'll realize she's missing soon, though. So what's going on? Hermione's note didn't say much."

"I'll explain in a few minutes; I haven't even had time to properly explain things to anyone. It'll be easier to do it all at once. We're meeting at Hogwarts' gates. I'm going to Displace both of you--it will be a bit disorienting, and sometimes the first time being Displaced has some bad side-effects..." And the way Ginny looked, Will was half afraid he would put her back into a coma.

"Go ahead," Ginny said.

Will bit his bottom lip, then pointed his wand at Harry. "Deplacio Hogsmeade!" he said clearly. There was a sudden gust of wind, and Harry vanished. Will turned his wand on Ginny and repeated the spell. As soon as Ginny had disappeared, Will again Disapparated, this time to Hogwarts' gates.

When he got there, he found a group of about twenty people standing there, all holding broomsticks and whispering to each other. It looked like Hermione, Ron, and Neville had done their jobs. They were standing at the front of the crowd, Gabrielle right beside Hermione.

"Where are Harry and Ginny?" Hermione asked.

"They should have appeared somewhere in Hogs--oh, never mind. There they are." Will was relieved to see that both Harry and Ginny didn't look affected by the Displacement. They approached the gates, both looking baffled. At the sight of Ginny, awake and healthy, whispers ran through the students.

"Ginny!" Ron swept her up in a hug.

"Oomph...Ron! Hi...why is the Coalition here? Or...why are the older members of the Coalition standing here?"

"I'm about to explain," Will said. He turned around and addressed the crowd. He wasn't used to making speeches--Jamie or Shay would have been much better at it--but he had to do this. It was possibly the most important thing he would ever have to say. "Er...thanks for coming. I've asked you here because Jamie Potter was captured and taken to Voldemort a short while ago. She is being held in Azkaban...and we need your help to rescue her."

"What?" Seamus Finnigan, who stood at the front of the crowd, looked at Will in disbelief. "How are we supposed to get her out of Azkaban?"

"You don't have to help if you don't want to," Will hurried to assure. He had tried to bring only members of the Coalition that were of legal age, though he knew some of them were still sixteen. Their parents would probably all have heart attacks if they knew what he was asking their children to do. "The dementors aren't at Azkaban--most of them, anyway. As we speak, they are attacking various cities--they're attacking Muggles. Azkaban is still being guarded by several giants, and Death Eaters, and we need everyone we can get to help us get into the prison."

"You said Voldemort is there," Samantha Greer of Slytherin spoke up. "How do you intend to deal with him?"

Will drew a deep breath. "I can't explain everything, but I think it's possible to at least put him temporarily out of commission." He took Gabrielle by the shoulder and pulled her forward. "This is Gabrielle Delacour, and if we can get her close enough to whomever is holding Jamie--be it Voldemort of one of his Death Eaters--then she has a chance of holding them off." He was still uncertain about how much of a chance--Gabrielle might have practiced, but in a tense, life-or-death situation where she might possibly have to put her skills to the test on Voldemort, would she be able to hold her own?

Twenty-some skeptical, confused, or disbelieving faces stared at him. "You're kidding, right?" Dean Thomas asked.

"She has a chance of holding You-Know-Who off?" Ernie Macmillan asked, eyebrows raised. "Somehow I find that hard to believe."

"I told you I can't explain everything."

"Will..." Katie Bell looked at him doubtfully. "You've been great this year, but why should we trust you in this? You're asking us to go to Azkaban."

"Because...I know things that you don't," Will said tentatively.

Zacharias Smith of Hufflepuff crossed his arms. "Like what?"

"I can't..." Will looked around at his fellow classmates. He didn't blame them at all for the questions; they needed a reason to believe this was possible. He couldn't tell them all about Gabrielle; the more people who knew at this point, the more danger she could be in.

Will took a deep breath. "I know things because I'm not...I'm not from this time." It didn't matter if he told now. He had to rescue Jamie, and if this is what it had come to, then so be it. Even Shay would agree with that. If they didn't get Jamie away from Voldemort, he would probably learn everything she knew anyway. "My name isn't Will Warren. It's Will Weasley." He shot Ron and Hermione a sideways glance. Both of them looked rather startled by his sudden announcement. He turned back at the crowd in front of him. "Jamie is my cousin."

Dead silence met his words, and every single eye was fixed upon him, shock on every face.

Will continued before anyone could say anything, "So I know. I know that Gabrielle might be able to help us, even if I can't tell you why right now. You don't have to come if you don't want to, but if you are coming, I need you to do it now. We've already wasted a lot of time. I can't guarantee that we'll be successful...I can't guarantee anything." He was asking so many people to attempt to rescue one person. What if they lost their lives? What if half of them lost their lives? "I don't..."

Will was surprised when Blaise Zabini stepped forward. He looked at Will appraisingly for a long moment, and then turned and addressed the other students. "Well, you heard him. Are we going to do this or not? What have we been practicing for all year? This is what it's about. We've stood against Voldemort's supporters in our own House. It looks like it's time to take that fight out of Hogwarts. Yes, I'm sure we all have a lot of questions, but this isn't the time to talk--this is the time to act. So everyone who's coming, step forward now."

Many of the students exchanged glances, but all of the Slytherins, several Gryffindors, and one Hufflepuff immediately stepped forward. They were followed closely by still more students, until every single person had taken a step forward.

Zacharias narrowed his eyes at Will. "I hope you plan on explaining a lot when we get back."

Will drew another deep breath. "All right. Let me tell you what I have planned."

~*~

Will had never before Displaced so many people at once. He sent them to St. Thomas, the closest town to Azkaban. The prison was just too far out to sea to be seen from the town, and it was protected from Muggle eyes anyway. Some of the students had Apparition licenses, and simply Apparated to St. Thomas.

Will sincerely hoped that the students he was Displacing wouldn't end up appearing in the middle of the town or in the local bakery or something. Not that it really mattered at this point--dementors were attacking Muggle cities. The wizarding world was going to have a difficult time covering all of this up, if they even tried.

They decided everyone would meet at the harbor in St. Thomas. Will Displaced Harry and Ginny first, at Harry's request. They had just come through a successful Displacement, so he thought it safe to send them along first, so they could watch out for others.

When he came to Blaise, the Slytherin gave him a half-smile. "You came to school with Shay."

Will had realized that when he said who he really was, Shay's identity would probably come out too, but it was too late to do anything about that. He nodded.

Blaise nodded in understanding, then waved his hand at himself. "Well...do whatever you have to do."

Will pointed his wand at Blaise. "Deplacio St. Thomas." He moved on to Samantha Greer, but she shook her head. "I got my Apparition license at Christmas." She smiled grimly and disappeared with a loud crack.

When everyone else had gone, he closed his eyes tightly and Disapparated, wondering exactly what he was getting them into.

He appeared in the middle of a group of very startled fishermen. He heard shrieking, and turned to see a woman beating Samantha around the head with a large black purse. Samantha held up her broomstick in defense. Katie Bell and Hannah Abbott were already gathering up the other students who had Apparated, and Will hurried forward to help.

Once they had managed to get away from the frightened or hysterical Muggles, they went to the harbor to meet those who had been Displaced. According to Harry and Ginny, three students had passed out because of the Displacement, but they had been able to charm them awake. By the time everyone had gathered, Will estimated it had been already been about an hour and a half since Jamie had been stolen away by Portkey. It was amazing what had happened in that time...Ginny had awoken, memories had been found in Molly...it was so little time, and still far too much. Who knew what had already been done to Jamie?

"Everyone ready? Mount your brooms...Gabrielle, you stay near me while we're flying," Will said. "Azkaban is directly west of here. We won't miss it." He climbed onto the school broom that Ron had brought for him, grimacing as he did so. Flying always brought on the memory of the broken bones he'd received the first time he got up the courage to mount a broom.

Around him, brooms were shoved up into the air. Will's feet left the ground, and his stomach lurched sickeningly. He heard cries and yells, and looked over his shoulder to see Muggles gaping at them.

Harry pulled forward to the front of the group. "Let's go."

Almost as one, they turned and followed Harry's lead, skimming across the ocean, toward one of the darkest fortresses in the wizarding world.