Harry Potter and the Dark Separation

Chapter Five

The Pureblood Alliance

Harry read the note, his face expressionless.

'It's bad, isn't it?' Ginny said, from her seat in the library, her head in her hands. Hermione stood by her, her evident worry shown in her face.

He nodded, handing the note back to Hermione. 'The Pureblood Alliance, in case you didn't guess. Says he was intruding, and shouldn't have seen what he saw.'

Fred nodded slowly. 'Which begs the question...'

'What did he see?' Harry finished for him. He shook his head. 'God knows. It doesn't say anything about his current status on there, but since this is the Pureblood Alliance we're talking about here, he's probably not enjoying himself.'

'He might be okay' Ginny, the eternal optimist, said.

Harry glared at her. 'Yes, because they treated the last friend of mine they kidnapped so well.'

'I don't think this is the same as... as what happened to Hedwig. He's been gone three days now, and this note's just turned up' Hermione observed. 'If they were planning to use him as an example, he'd have...'

'Turned up with it?' Harry said, darkly.

'Hermione's right. What's the point of making an example of someone if you don't know what's happened to them?' George asked, looking up.

'We don't know what happened to him. That's the whole problem.'

With that, Harry sunk back into his chair. Picking up the book he had been reading, Otto Keisinger's Guide to Cults and Sects, he flicked through the yellowing pages with the rustling sound of dry paper.

'The Ogdoad, the Oneiromancers, the Order of Aurelius, the Order of the Cold Flame,' he read aloud 'the Protean... then it jumps to the Rimmon Conjurers. There's no Pureblood Alliance in here. You found anything?'

'Not yet' Ginny replied, from over the top of a huge volume called Unaussprechlichen Kulten.

Hermione shook her head. 'I've found nothing on them, either. Whatever they are, they're new.'

They had been in the library, researching the enigmatic Alliance, for three days. Every night they would slip the Invisibility Cloak over their heads and sneak into the Restricted Section, puzzling over old grimoires in the hope of finding an entry on the mysterious cult that had kidnapped Ron and killed Hedwig. So far, they hadn't found a thing. This night, as they entered the small space between the stacks where they researched, they had found a yellowing piece of parchment on the floor. 'Apparently' Hermione had said, as she handed it to Harry 'they know we're researching them. If there was anything here to read about them before, I doubt it's still here.'

'God, this is annoying' Ginny snapped, slamming her book shut with a noise that echoed throughout the library stacks. Harry, Hermione, Fred and George winced in unison. Throughout the three days, they had come dangerously close to being caught by Filch more than once. Most other teachers, with the exception (of course) of Snape, had some sympathy for Harry, Hermione, Ginny and the twins' predicament. Not Filch. He had warned Harry 'if I catches you sneakin' around after hours, no matter what for or who with, you'll spend the rest of the term in detention. I means it'. This, of course, didn't worry Fred or George, who had been in detention for the rest of the term since about the second week of school. Harry, Ginny, and especially Hermione, who had her reputation as a Prefect to think about, were more cautious about their approach to late-night research.

Ginny looked around guiltily. 'Sorry about that.'

'It's okay' Harry said. 'I know the feeling.'

'Who writes this stuff?' said a frustrated George, shutting his copy of Death Cults in an Educational Environment. 'I've just finished a section on 'the role of the warlock in modern society!''

'Yeah, this is fairly fruitless' responded Fred. 'I don't think we're going to find out anything about the jokers behind this Pureblood Alliance in here. The Hog's Head is a better place to find information.'

'The Hog's Head' George continued 'is a better place to do anything.'

'You know' Ginny said, twirling her hair in a worried-sibling fashion 'you really shouldn't spend so much time down the pub.'

'We study there' Fred answered smoothly.

'Yes' Harry spoke up, the ghost of a smile on his face 'currently you're finishing an advanced course in drunkenness, off-key karaoke singing and multicoloured hairdos.'

'I do believe we're getting sidetracked' Hermione said impatiently. 'Besides, you wouldn't find anything in the Hog's Head.'

'Let's face it, Herm, the library's a dead end. Books are not always the answer, you know.'

She snorted. 'I don't believe that...'

'Ssssshhhh!' Ginny hissed. The other four instantly quieted. Silence instantly enveloped the library, broken by a steady tap, tap, tap, like footsteps. Fred leaned out, scanning the rest of the Restricted Section through the small holes where the grimoires didn't quite reach the bottom of the higher shelf. 'There's someone there' he whispered.

'You don't say' Hermione whispered back.

'Filch?'

'No' Fred replied. 'It doesn't look like him. Besides, he's not muttering to himself.'

Harry picked up the Invisibility Cloak. The group clustered together as Harry threw the Cloak over their collective heads. The elegant cloth, not being designed to conceal five people, left their shoes visible- the twins had recognised this flaw, and adapted the Limited Invisibility Charm they'd used on the nail varnish that made a small area of a person's body invisible (it had been designed by a wizard with a mischievous bent who had used it mainly for scaring the hell out of Muggles, who were understandably shocked when they woke up with an arm apparently missing.) Hermione hissed 'Imperceptus' and her lower legs disappeared. The rest followed suit.

A tall man stepped out of the space between the shelves. His hair, pure white, hung down over his black-as-night cloak like snow on obsidian. Dark blue eyes shone out from under his hair, a strange sense of depth imbued in them, as if he was intensely scrutinizing everything he saw. The skin of his face was almost as pale as his hair, contrasting with the deep black of his clothes to create an interesting but strangely ethereal lesson in opposites.

He walked between the stacks casually, removing the occasional book and putting them into what looked a lot like a Muggle sports bag. A elegant pendant of silver and amethyst hung around his neck- it looked to Harry, although he wasn't exactly an expert on jewellery, that it must have cost enough to buy Firebolts for a whole Quidditch team.

'Who the hell is that?' Hermione said, almost inaudibly.

The man stopped. He looked up- looked at where the group were standing, frozen in place. 'Who's there?' he asked, with a hint of an accent in his voice. German? Harry thought. No.

'He couldn't have heard us!' George whispered, even quieter than Hermione.

Ginny elbowed him in the ribs. 'Shut up!'

The man walked forward slowly, his eyes scanning the library stacks for the source of the muttered words. 'Who's there?' he repeated.

All five, in unspeaking unison, started to edge backwards.

'Filch? Is that you?' His cloak flicked behind him as he walked, so dark as to be almost invisible in the gloom of the library. 'Peeves?'

Ah, Harry thought. Russian. That's it.

'You're invisible, aren't you?' the man muttered. He picked up one of the books that the retreating group had left on the floor. 'Let's see what you've been reading...'

'Oh, crap.'

Hermione had hissed the words. The other four turned to look at her, insofar as this was possible under the Invisibility Cloak.

'Something wrong?' Ginny asked.

'That's the one I put the letter in. He's going to know...' As she said the words, the yellowing parchment covered in elegant blue handwriting dropped from between the pages of the tome and drifted onto the floor. The man knelt down, snowy hair cascading over his shoulders in streams, and picked up the letter. He scanned it.

'Harry Potter? Makes sense' he muttered to himself.

Harry whispered 'Let's go. Now.'

A third voice echoed through the night-enshrouded library.

'Is that youse, Mister Potter?'

Filch's voice, accompanied by the sly purring of Mrs. Norris, made both Harry and the shadowy man start. His soft ploddings through the stacks, accompanied by his perennial mutter, came closer to the assembled group.

The man said something that Harry didn't understand, but given the inflection he'd assume it to be a swearword, stepped back, and completely vanished.

'What the f-' Fred's startled outburst rippled through the silent library.

'Got yer now!' Filch, his eyes gleaming at the thought of catching a rule-breaker this late at night, started to run as fast as he could. It wasn't very fast. Forty years of smoking and lack of exercise had altered him to a state in which he could barely more than jog and wheeze.

'Okay' George said, dryly 'now let's go.'

The group, concealed by the Invisibility Cloak, slipped off between the stacks.

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'Okay, what the hell was that?'

Anyone walking the halls late at night would have been startled to hear a whispered conversation coming, apparently, from thin air.

'I don't know. Did he have an Invisibility Cloak too?'

'Did you see one?'

'It was dark! He might have done.'

'Nah. He'd have sort of disappeared starting at the head and going down to the legs, if it was a Cloak, but he just went.'

'Maybe he Disapparated.'

Four voices, one in a tired voice and three mockingly, chimed 'You can't Disapparate in the Hogwarts grounds, George, how many times do I have to tell you?'

A pause. 'That was not nice, you three.'

'Anyway. If he didn't Disapparate, and he didn't have an Invisibility Cloak, how could he have vanished? A spell?'

'No. He didn't say anything and he didn't have a wand.'

'Maybe he had a Delayed Effect Charm. I'll look it up.'

'If you even think we're going back into that library, Hermione...'

The voices ascended up a staircase.

'Filch seemed to scare him.'

'Well, Filch scares everyone. Filch scares me.'

'Yes, Harry, but you're not twenty-five, Russian, and muscular.'

'I am too muscular.'

'Did anyone else think he was kind of attractive?'

Another pause.

'Hermione, please tell me you didn't just say that.'

'What? He was.'

'He's probably a Death Eater. You realise that, right? Anyway, he looked like Malfoy.'

'No, he didn't.'

'They've both got the same poncy white hair.'

'Ginny, back me up here.'

'Actually, I did think he was kind of...'

'Kind of what?'

'Ahm... evil. Extremely... evil. With the white hair, and the black robes, and the deep, soulful...evilness.'

'Very convincing, Ginn.'

'Don't call me Ginn.'

The five voices arrived outside the common room. Pulling the Cloak from off their heads, Harry looked at the group- Hermione was flushed, Ginny was looking embarrassed, and Fred and George were completely laid-back. Of course, Harry thought to himself. They probably do this kind of thing all the time.

'Well' Fred said, as Ginny muttered the word 'Tadfoal' to a surprised-looking Fat Lady 'we'd better get some sleep. Quidditch match tomorrow, Harry, remember?'

'What?' he said. Then he remembered. 'Ah. Bugger.'

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'You scared, Bradley?'

Bradley, his face a mixture of fear, worry and pride- Harry recognised the look, it was the one he'd worn in his first match, all those years ago- nodded his shaved head. 'A little.'

'Ah, it's okay. I felt the same way before my first match.'

'And what happened?' Dawn asked, surprisingly coolly.

'Well, an evil teacher cast a jinx on my broom, the Slytherin Chaser almost knocked me off and I nearly choked on the Snitch.'

Bradley gulped. Harry tried to supress a smile- apparently, it was a Gryffindor tradition to tell Quidditch horror stories to the newest players.

Angelina, standing in the middle of the assembled players, cleared her throat. 'Okay, just play like we've been practicing, and we'll win. Dawn, remember, don't get distracted when the Snitch appears, just concentrate on the Quaffle. Fred, George, is it too much to ask you to just hit the Bludgers, instead of enchanting them to turn into a stuffed pink elephant or somesuch?'

George laughed. 'Yes.'

'And Harry- catch the bloody Snitch. Okay, here we go!'

The wooden doors creaked open, and the muffled cheering that had surrounded them in the box suddenly grew louder. Mounting their brooms, fourteen Quidditch players shot out like arrows, flying elaborate circles around the turrets that encircled the pitch. Looking down, Harry could see Hermione, Ginny, Seamus and Neville cheering him on - but no Ron, he thought, and his heart lurched - as he flew down to the centre of the pitch, where the Ravenclaw team had already formed a semicircle. Stopping slightly higher than the rest of the players, as Seekers traditionally did, he caught Cho's eye. She gave him a smile.

Harry wondered why he didn't go weak at the knees and almost fall off his broom, as he traditionally did when Cho smiled at him. Maybe his heart wasn't really in it.

The other six players completed the circle forming below him, Gryffindor red and Ravenclaw blue contrasting nicely. Around him, he could hear the cheers of the crowd. He didn't notice them anymore. Bradley, looking terrified, and Dawn, her face expressionless, both looked up. He smiled at them encouragingly. They returned the smile, although (in Bradley's case) with some difficulty.

Madam Hooch stepped out onto the pitch, accompanied by two burly Hufflepuff sixth-years who were carrying the case containing the balls.

'The first match of the season- Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor!' Harry looked up to see who was announcing, and discovered to his surprise that it was Pansy Parkinson.

'What's she doing announcing? Where's she hid Lee?' Harry called down to George. He laughed, and called back up 'Lee quit. She volunteered.'

'Sodding hell' Harry said, mostly to himself.

The sixth-years had opened the case, revealing the Quaffle and the Bludgers, which were murmuring angrily and straining to get out. Both sixth-years flipped one of the switches to release the Bludgers and stood well back as they shot up as if fired from a cannon. Madam Hooch opened up the Hogwarts crest that hid the Golden Snitch, and it flitted up, teasing circles around Harry and Cho's heads.

'Okay. Let's play it by the rules this time' Madam Hooch called up, picking up the Quaffle.

'What do you take us for?' Fred asked indignantly. 'Slytherins?'

Pansy glared.

Dawn laughed.

And the game began.

'Emma Mauser takes the Quaffle' Pansy commented, 'and ducks the Gryffindor Chaser, Bradley Quinn, for whom this is his first match.' Her tone of voice suggested it was going to be his last match, too. 'She ducks a Bludger, hit towards her by Fred Weasley-'

'I'm George, you blind cow!'

Pansy didn't hear, or if she did, she was more restrained than most other Slytherins '-and heads towards the goal- she takes her shot, and... Dawn Cypher deflects the Quaffle!' Harry was impressed. That was a save worthy of Oliver Wood.

'Okay, now Angelina Johnson- the Gryffindor team's captain- has the Quaffle. She ducks a Bludger, flies between Daniel Ormsby and Rupert Cope, and dives to avoid an attempted tackle by Mandy Brocklehurst- she passes to Katie Bell- she dodges Padma Patil- narrowly missed being hit by Rupert's Bludger there- she throws the Quaffle to Bradley, who's heading for the goal- new Keeper Terry Boot is ready- he thro... feints a throw and passes back underarm to Katie Bell- she throws- Terry goes for it- he doesn't quite make it- ten-nil to Gryffindor!'

The Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs cheered. The Ravenclaw side booed, as well as the Slytherins, who would have supported a team of ogres if they'd been playing against Gryffindor.

'Okay, the Quaffle's back in the centre- Brocklehurst grabs the Quaffle, dodges a- two Bludgers, passes to Mauser- she flies around Quinn and Johnson, ducks Katie Bell-' Despite himself, Harry felt himself cheering Emma on. That was some flying. '- and passes back to Brocklehurst, who takes her shot- Cypher saves!'

Dawn grinned and threw the Quaffle to Bradley, who dived.

'Quinn's flying low, trying to shake his competitors- whoa, that was close, a Bludger slams into the ground about an inch behind him- come on, Ravenclaw, you can play better than this- he flies sharply upwards- he throws it upwards to Johnson- she shoots towards the goal- ouch- a Bludger hits her in the chest- she drops the Quaffle- Brocklehurst takes it, passes to Patil- she dodges Quinn- oh, blast- Katie Bell intercepts, throws to Quinn, he flies above Cope- Ormsby gives him a glancing blow with a Bludger- he's winded, but he doesn't let go of the Quaffle- Patil intercepts- Ravenclaw have the Quaffle- she ducks Weasley's Bludger, flies around Bell- takes her shot- Cypher dives for it- she's saved it again!'

'Oh, for god's sake' Daniel snarled.

'She passes to Johnson- she ducks a Bludger, dodges Cope, goes above Mauser- passes to Bell- she zooms up the field- Mauser and Brocklehurst are tailing her- wow, that was risky-' Fred and George had both hit Bludgers at the opposing Chasers, causing them to break off tailing Katie '- Bell's almost there- she throws- Gryffindor score!'

Harry cheered, along with the rest of the team. Twenty-nil.

'Patil has the Quaffle- she dives- dodges a Bludger- flies past Quinn- passes to Brocklehurst, she flies upwards- Quinn intercepts- passes to Johnson- she ducks Ormsby's Bludger, passes back to Quinn- he flies between Patil and Mauser- he's going for it- he shoots- Boot saves!'

The Ravenclaw and Slytherin sides cheered. Harry looked around. He hadn't seen the Snitch since the start of the game.

'Boot passes to Mauser, who goes under Quinn and passes upwards to Patil- she dodges a Bludger, ducks Bell, shoots upwards and passes backwards to Brocklehurst- oh, no- Bell intercepts, you should never try that move if you haven't practised it-' several of the Ravenclaws made rude gestures in Pansy's direction '-she dives- ducks a Bludger- ducks another Bludger- goes over Brocklehurst's head- shoots- Gryffindor score again!'

Thirty-nil. Hang on a second, is that-

'Hang on a second, is that the Snitch?'

Pansy's shout alerted both Harry and Cho to the golden ball hovering tantalisingly at the other end of the pitch. Cho shot forward, followed closely by Harry- Harry quickly overtook her-

'A Firebolt can outstrip a Comet 320 in seconds' Pansy commented, as Harry and Cho, both tailing the Snitch, performed two amazing 180-degree turns as the Snitch shot over their heads.

'They're both going for it- Chang's ahead- Potter quickly overtakes- the Snitch turns to the left- they both follow- Potter's almost there- it dives- they follow- they seem equally matched- the Snitch is barely two feet above ground now- Potter and Chang scrape the floor, but they both made it- the Snitch goes upwards vertically- they both shoot upwards to follow- uh-oh-'

Pansy had seen what both Seekers had noticed. Above them, four Chasers were contesting for the Quaffle, and if they kept the way they were going, they'd crash right into them-

'Get the hell out of the way!' Harry and Cho shouted at the same time. The four Chasers looked down to find two players on super-fast brooms heading straight towards them, and scattered-

'-Chang hits Quinn's broom-'

The impact almost shook both players off their broomsticks-

'-and Harry Potter grabs the Snitch!'

The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff sides erupted in cheers, while the Ravenclaws and Slytherins let out a collective sigh.

'Gryffindor win, one hundred and eighty to nil!' Pansy exclaimed, more shocked than excited. Harry dived, the walnut-sized ball beating its delicate wings against the sides of his hand. The team flew towards him, congratulating him-

'Great, Harry!' Dawn cheered.

He smiled. 'You did well, too. Especially that first save. Wood would've been proud.' Dawn blushed.

The team started to clap, and even some of the Ravenclaw team grudgingly applauded him.

Ron should have been here to see this.

I'm going to find him.

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Ron woke up, his head throbbing. The room was pitch-black- he checked that his eyes were open- and extremely quiet. He tried to stand up, and discovered he was tied to the chair he was sitting on.

'Bloody hell. Still, I don't know what I expected' he sighed.

Sitting back- as if he had a choice- he looked around him. His eyes, which were starting to adjust to the darkness, scanned the room for anything useful. He could see what looked like boxes in the corner, and what could have been a bookcase on his right- although, he thought gloomily, it could have been anything from a chest of drawers to a life-size statue of the Quiberon Quafflepunchers Keeper.

'Is there anyone there?' he called, before realising the utter stupidity of what he'd just said.

'Indeed, Mr. Weasley.'

A door on his left swung open- a bit too theatrically, Ron thought- letting flickering torchlight into the room and lighting up some of the shapes. What he'd thought were boxes were actually boxes, and what he'd thought was a bookcase was- he looked- what was that?

Three figures in robes, their hoods up, stepped through the door.

The one in the middle reached up and put his hood down.

A flood of memories came back to Ron. The bard in the corridor, walking back from the toilets, running into-

Lupin smiled.