Year V

Chapter 5

Firestorm

Draco Malfoy hated this time of year. He hated going to Diagon Alley to do his school shopping and it got worse every year. It was not always like this, though. There was a time, back when he was about to start his first year at Hogwarts, that he looked forward to it...but then it went all downhill from there. That first year, everything looked so bright and hopeful. He was following in his father's footsteps and was looking forward to carry on the Malfoy tradition. His father had been a Prefect and Head Boy at Hogwarts, and the Malfoy name was considered one of the most influential names in the Wizarding World. Things were looking bright...until Harry Potter showed up and turned his world upside down.

Sure, there were several reasons to hate Harry Potter, chief among those being that he defeated Voldemort and pretty much made the world a safer place for those damn mudbloods to run around. Of course, Voldemort's return seemed to raise the spirits of his former followers...after, of course, he chastised and tortured some of them for their abandoning him to begin with. Draco's own father, Lucius Malfoy, had once again resumed his role as part of Voldemort's inner circle. It looked like things were about to swing in his favor for a change...until that little setback he suffered on the train coming home from Hogwarts for the summer. In hindsight, he realized that he should have been prepared for the ambush by Harry Potter and his crew. Of course, his comments about Diggory didn't help the situation either. He spent the next two nights being de-hexed by his parents and dealing with his father's contempt the whole time. And even though his father said nothing, he could see it in his father's eyes. As far as Lucius was concerned, Draco was a disgrace to the Malfoy name.

Today was no exception. Even as they were leaving Gringotts and entering Madam Malkin's, Draco could hear the contempt and disappointment in his father's voice. "I have some urgent matters to attend to, Draco. I trust that you can finish your shopping on your own?"

"Yes, father," said Draco, trying to keep his tone as neutral as possible despite his growing anger and frustration at his father's resentment.

"Try not to get into any trouble you can't handle. The last thing I need is for you to bring more embarrassment to our family. "

"Yes, father," Draco said again. "Insufferable git," he added when he was certain his father was out of earshot. There was a time he looked up to his father and would never even think about calling him names, but after the last year, the resentment started to build up. If only he could prove to his father that he wasn't worthless. After being measured for his new robes, Draco left Madam Malkin's to hit the usual spots...the Apothecary to replenish his potion supplies, Gambol and Japes to pick up a new set of quills, Quality Quidditch Supplies to check on the new Firebolt model, and back to Madam Malkin's to pick up his new robes. As he left Madam Malkin's the second time, he saw Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and that mudblood Hermione Granger sitting across the street outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. He felt his face flush with anger as he remembered the humiliation he suffered at their hands. For a moment, he thought about hexing Granger from across the street, but immediately dismissed the idea. Though the Ministry mostly overlooked the under-age wizarding law in Diagon Alley, cursing or hexing someone might be crossing the line. That was when he saw a boy he didn't recognize join Harry and the others.

Draco shook his head in disgust as he looked over the other's Muggle attire, but then he noticed that Ron Weasley apparently didn't seem to thrilled to see the stranger either. For a moment, Draco wished he could perform a lip reading spell, but it wasn't too hard to figure out what was going on. He watched as Weasley levitated a water-glass and lowered it back to the table, and saw the stranger do the same. Then something bizarre happened, the new boy suddenly shouted something else then walked around the table, grabbed Weasley's wand out of his cloak, and walked back to where he was standing. During this time, Draco noticed not only was the glass was still suspended in the air, but Potter, Granger, and Weasley weren't moving...it was as if everything at the table had frozen. A few seconds later, the glass shattered as it fell on the table and Weasley was laughing, only to suddenly frown as the stranger handed his wand back to him. It took a moment for Draco to realize what he had seen...the stranger had performed some sort of time-stopping spell. He couldn't help laughing at the bewildered look on Weasley's face and was still chuckling softly as he entered Flourish and Blotts.

It only took him a few minutes to find and buy the books he needed for the term. As he approached the counter to pay for his books, he felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned and saw Pansy Parkinson standing there. "Hello, Draco."

"Pansy."

Pansy shook her head and laughed with mock formality. "Well, Mr. Malfoy, we're certainly being anti-social today."

Draco shrugged. "So I'm having something of an 'off' day. That's all."

"Really? It seems to me that you've been kind of 'off' since you, Crabbe, and Goyle were dragged off the train coming home for the summer." She looked around and lowered her voice. "There's an ugly rumour going around that you got hexed really bad. Did you really have tentacles growing out of your face?"

"Yes," Draco said through clenched teeth. Then he looked up and realized that there was a look of actual concern on her face and his voice softened a little. "I got a little hotheaded and I let myself get ambushed."

Pansy smiled at him and Draco almost felt his heart skip a beat. "Perhaps you shouldn't let yourself get ambushed like that. I can understand Crabbe and Goyle being caught off guard, but not you."

"So I got a little caught up in the moment," Draco said as he paid for his books. He lowered his voice as both he and Pansy headed towards the exit. "With Voldemort returning, I thought things would start to...I don't know...look up for me. Instead, I ended up dealing with my father's wrath for bringing more shame to the Malfoy name. When we left Gringotts today, he pretty much gave me the same speech then left me on my own, which I don't mind except for the fact that I felt he was treating me like a piece of filth." He looked over at Pansy and saw her shaking her head. "What?"

"No...it's nothing. You almost look adorable when you get all melancholy."

Draco's eyes narrowed in mild irritation. "If I didn't consider you a friend, Pansy, I'd have hexed you by now."

Pansy laughed again...not an unpleasant sound, actually. "Okay, now I'm trying to figure out which is harder to believe: you actually knowing how to hex someone or you having actual friends."

Draco couldn't help laughing as well. One thing Pansy could be counted on, was the ability to say something to cheer him up. It had always been that way since he first met her when they were both three years old. The Malfoys and the Parkinsons had known eachother for many years. And ever since the beginning of Draco's fourth year, their friendship seemed to develop even more. "Ouch."

"So," Pansy said as they passed by the Stationery shop, "I heard you've been made a Prefect."

"Yes...for all the good it'll do."

Pansy frowned at him. "Why the long face, Draco? I thought your father would be happy about that."

"One would think so," said Draco, not even bothering to hide the bitterness in his voice. "Except I wonder if I actually earned it or if father bought it for me. It would certainly explain his anger with me. All I've heard from him was how I should be better than that mudblood Granger and should have scored higher than her on the end of year exams-" He stopped when Pansy grabbed his arm.

"Listen to me, Draco Malfoy. You helped me with my Transfiguration and Herbology lessons and I doubt I would have passed without you. You've always scored decent marks in the other classes and everyone in our House has respect for you. You deserved to be made a Prefect because you earned it."

"I know," sighed Draco. "But everyone else will think that I only earned it because I'm riding on my father's name and money."

"Who cares?" Pansy asked. "So long as you know the truth, does it really matter what others think?"

He looked at her for a moment, studying her face. He could see it in her eyes...she actually believed what she was telling him and he took some comfort in that. Unlike Crabbe and Goyle, who practically did whatever he told them and would agree with whatever he said, Pansy's opinion mattered more to him. Pansy always spoke her mind and always had a sharp wit, which was one of the main reasons he liked her. After a few more moments of awkward silence, he finally spoke again. "Thank you, Pansy. I really needed that."

"Well," Pansy said with another smile. "You looked like you could use some cheering up...oh, and speaking of mudblood."

Draco followed her gaze and saw Hermione Granger coming out of Quality Quidditch Supplies and heading their direction. She seemed distracted and walked right by him without even noticing. At first, he thought Granger was pretending to ignore him, but then he recognized the expression on her face, the kind of expression he had seen before whenever she was trying to figure out a complex potions formula or an arithmancy problem. "What's the matter, Granger, did your muggle brain overheat?"

Pansy started to snicker as the other girl turned around to face them. "Malfoy, I don't have time for-" Granger suddenly stopped and her eyes suddenly widened in horror as her gaze lifted upward.

Draco felt Pansy's grip on his arm tighten and turned to see her looking upward as well. "Draco," she said softly, her voice a terrified whisper. Draco looked up and, even though he knew he shouldn't be afraid, felt icy tendrils of fear course through his veins.

A moment of silence had fallen over the bustling streets of Diagon Alley as everyone looked up and saw an immense emerald green skull shimmer into existence above Quality Quidditch Supplies. There were gasps of horror and a few screamed in terror .

"The Dark Mark!"

"You know who! He has returned!"

"But that's impossible...the Ministry said that was only a rumour!"

"They lied!"

For Draco, it was as if the world had suddenly frozen around him. He took a couple steps away from Pansy and simply stood there and studied the Dark Mark...he didn't know why, but something didn't feel right. He had discussed with his father how the Death Eaters carried out their tasks in the past and this seemed wrong somehow. Besides, his father wouldn't leave him in an area where the Death Eaters would attack...or would he?

Up in the sky, the Dark Mark started to change colors. The emerald green started to brighten, then the image suddenly exploded, sending several balls of flame hurtling to the ground below.

"Malfoy, move!"

The next thing Draco remembered was Granger on top of him after she had shoved him out of the way and a fireball hit the ground where he was standing only moments earlier. Several shop-fronts exploded as fireballs landed on them. A few fireballs impacted on the street, incinerating a few people while burning several others. One particularly large ball of flame crashed through the top of Quality Quidditch Supplies, literally blowing the roof off the top of the building.

"Get off me, Granger!" Draco snapped. He looked over to check on Pansy and found her taking cover in the doorway of the stationery shop.

"You're welcome, Malfoy," Hermione snapped back at him as both scrambled to join Pansy in the doorway of the Stationery shop. She suddenly gasped and Draco turned to see that she was looking at.

Quality Quidditch Supplies was a blazing inferno and starting to crumble.

**********

Harry wasn't sure what happened. One moment, he and Ron were checking out some Chudley Cannon Quidditch robes and then the building started to shake. One second later, parts of the roof were starting to cave in and people were screaming as they were crushed or pinned by falling rubble. He was about to cry out of word of warning to Ron but was cut off as large trophy case filled with Quidditch memorabilia fell on top of him. A few moments later it was blasted off of him by banishing charm cast by Ron.

"Harry! You okay?"

"Yeah, I think," Harry said as Ron helped him to his feet. A sharp pain shot up through his left leg. "Ow! I take that back. Think it's just my ankle, though."

"Fred! George!" shouted Ron.

"Over here!"

Ron and Harry turned and saw Jesse and one of the twins carrying the other twin as he winced in pain. There was nasty gash across his face and one leg was dragging at an extreme angle. "Okay," the twin managed to say with a grimace, "who tried to fire a cannon in the shop?"

"Easy Fred," said Jesse. "We're almost to the exit."

"I'm George," said the twin with a choked laugh. "He's Fred."

"Great," Jesse muttered. "We're in a life or death situation and you can still joke around."

"It's our nature," said Fred. "Some people panic when something bad happens, we crack jokes."

"Well, I guess that would lighten the tension a lit-arrrgh!" They all turned to see Jesse suddenly drop to his knees and clutch his head.

"Jesse?"

"Damn," Jesse hissed. "Ice Cream headache! Ow!"

Then Harry saw Jesse's eyes flash a bright amber color and saw panic on the other boy's face. "Guys, get outta' here!" Jesse suddenly yelled as he scrambled to his feet. He then turned to yell at any other survivors that were still in the building. "Everybody, get out before-"

Suddenly, the whole place erupted into flames. In moments, they were surrounded by walls of fire. Harry wasn't sure, but he could have sworn that the flames were alive somehow. One man tried to make his way towards an exit and a jet of fire shot out at him, igniting his robes and sending him screaming through the front window.

**********

Back atop Flourish and Blotts, Nicholas gazed into the projection from the seeing stone and laughed as he directed a fireball to attack a victim at random. "Random bystander," he said with a snicker. "Two Points...damn, this is way better than Gameboy."

He couldn't believe how easy it was. In a mere two minutes he had struck terror in the heart of the wizarding world. The seeing stone allowed him to see through the blown rooftop of the building and he could make out about fifty people still inside. "Okay...let's see...who's next?"

Then he saw Jesse McCade standing there at the front of the crowd and laughed. "Oh...well...well. Our little firebug showed up in the hotzone. Let's turn up the heat." He raised his arm and shot another stream of fire into the seeing stone. "Incoming!"

**********

Harry watched as Ron used his wand to create an opening in the wall of flames. "Everyone, this way!" Ron called out to the small crowd that was gathering around them. They started moving towards the opening when a girl screamed and pointed up at the ceiling. A large ball of flame shot down out of the sky and Harry was certain they were all going to be incinerated when he saw Jesse suddenly wave his arms and the fireball dissipated. Then he saw Jesse convulse and stagger before dropping back to his knees. "McCade, are you alright?"

Jesse shook his head and Harry could hear him muttering to himself, "It's not real...it's not real...it's all in your head." Then he looked up at Harry, Ron, and the twins. "I said get outta' here!" he snarled. "I don't know if can hold it off much longer."

"Hold what off?"

In response to Ron's question another jet of flame shot down from the sky and Jesse raised his arms as if to block it. The fire engulfed Jesse and he screamed in pain, but it didn't seem to be from the burning. In fact, it the fire didn't have any effect on him at all. But Harry could see the veins on Jesse's arms throbbing violently and Jesse was starting to cough up blood. "Ron, we have to do something."

"But what? Wait...up there."

Harry followed Ron's gaze and saw something flashing through the gaping hole in the roof. It looked like some sort of gem. Harry reached into his own cloak and pulled out his wand. "Know anything that will work?"

Ron shook his head. "Not sure," he said as he pointed his wand up at the sky. " But we're going to find out. Stupefy!"

Harry pointed his wand upward as well. "Expelliarmus!"

Both spells hit the glowing gem at once, stopping the incoming stream of flame and causing it to flicker violently before it exploded into glowing fragments. Almost immediately, the wall of flames died out and the fireball engulfing Jesse dissipated.

"Whoa," said Ron, "it worked."

"Yeah," said Harry, who limped over to where Jesse was sprawled out on the ground, twitching. "Ron, give me a hand."

They rolled Jesse over and Ron cursed loudly. "Bloody hell!"

Jesse's face and front were covered with blood and both of his arms and legs were severely contorted, as if he had experienced some sort of massive muscle spasm. His eyes were glassy and he kept muttering to himself, "not real...not real...the pain's not real..."

Ron shook his head and looked back at Harry with a mixture of confusion and shock at what he had seen. "Harry...what's going on? Who did this? What did they do to him?"

"I don't know Ron," said Harry. "I really don't know."

**********

Nicholas couldn't believe it, he was sending some heavy fire into the seeing stone, enough to incinerate everyone in the target area, but Jesse McCade was trying to contain it. However, it looked like the boy was in constant agony as he tried to stop the flames and Nicholas chuckled with satisfaction as Jesse started going into convulsions and coughing up blood. "Oh yeah, this is cool."

Even though he himself was starting to feel the strain, Nicholas knew that Jesse wouldn't last much longer and another attack would probably finish him off. After watching Jesse thrash around in agony for a couple minutes, Nicholas sighed and shook his head. "Oh well, it was fun while it lasted."

He raised both arms to send in a concentrated burst of fire when he noticed two young wizards suddenly point their wands sky-ward.

"What the fu-" was all he got out as the seeing stone in front of him exploded and he felt an invisible force suddenly throw him backwards, slamming him into the ground and dazing him for a few moments. "Ow," he finally muttered after a moment. Then he felt something else, a burning pain that shot through his entire body. Fear started to course through his veins as he realized that he had pushed his elemental ability too far and the fire was starting to consume him from within.

"Damn!" he hissed as he managed to bring himself back up on his knees. "Not a good time for this."

He knew he had only a minute, maybe two to act. He could already feel the fire starting to eat him alive on the inside. With shaking hands, he reached into his coat and pulled out a syringe. All he had to do was inject it in his arm, except he was shaking too violently to hold it still. And that left only one alternative...he stabbed the syringe into his heart and pushed hard on the plunger.

"SHIT!" he screamed as the burning was suddenly replaced by a severe cold that enveloped his whole body and his heart suddenly stopped. The world started to go dim around him for a moment as he started to black out...then...

Thump...

His vision started to clear up...the darkness started to fade...

Thump...Thump...

The cold started to immediately fade away and the only warmth he felt was that of the midday sun. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a couple slow breaths as he pulled the syringe out of his chest. Then his eyes suddenly opened as something registered on his enhanced senses...he was not alone, someone was up there with him. He started to reach into his coat for his own wand.

"Stupefy!"

The air sizzled around him and he felt like he was being electrocuted and punched in the stomach at the same time as the spell sent him sprawling to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a middle-aged wizard with balding red hair and wearing the emerald green robes of the Ministry of Magic standing nearby.

**********

Arthur Weasley was coming out of the second-hand robe shop with his wife and daughter when the Dark Mark exploded over Diagon Alley. He watched in horror as fireballs rained down from the sky. He had told Molly and Ginny to take cover and ran to the upper section of Diagon Alley where the attack seemed to be centered. When he got there, Quality Quidditch Supplies was burning and there was a glowing ball of orange light hovering above the building, shooting what appeared to be a wave of fire through the top of the building. Though there was some damage to other surrounding shops, it looked like the devastation was focused on the Quidditch shop.

Quality Quidditch...Fred, George!

Fear momentarily gripped him when he realized that the twins had talked about checking out the new Firebolt model earlier in the day and that there was a good chance that Ron and Harry were with them.

"Mr. Weasley!" Hermione Granger ran up to him, tears in her eyes.

"Hermione, where are the others?"

Hermione pointed at the burning building and Arthur felt a lump start to form in his throat as his fears were confirmed. Then he saw something shoot out from inside the building and hit the glowing ball of light, which suddenly exploded into tiny fragments. The roaring inferno inside Quality Quidditch suddenly died down and Mr. Weasley realized what had happened. Someone had cast a spell inside the building...that meant there were survivors!

Then he heard another explosion and looked up to see a flaring orange light atop Flourish and Blotts. "Hermione, stay here."

When he apparated to roof of Flourish and Blotts, Arthur found a young man in his twenties, kneeling on the ground and taking slow breaths. He started to reach into his coat for something and Arthur stunned him as a precaution. With his foot, he rolled the stunned man over and watched as a wand rolled out of the stranger's coat. "Nice try," he said.

The man's eyes suddenly opened, and before Arthur could react, the stranger lashed out with a kick and sent him staggering backwards. Arthur tried to point his wand and stun the man again, but he was already back up and delivered a punch to Arthur's throat and followed it up with another kick his stomach, knocking Arthur to the ground.

"Damn!" the stranger snarled. "You Brits and your damn stunning spells. Even with wards and protection against them, they still hurt like hell!"

Arthur tried to get up, but the other man kicked him in the ribs, sending him rolling across the roof.

"No," the man said, "please...don't bother getting up. Between being stunned twice and having a Seeing Stone blown up in my face, I've had a crappy day and feel the need to take it out on someone. Unfortunately, I don't have much time." He snapped his fingers and his wand flew into his hands and started to change...getting longer, a little wider, a little sharper...until it had become a sword. "So I'll try to make this as quick and bloody as possible."

He raised his sword high and prepared to swing. "Tell you what, I'll just take your head and we'll call it a day, okay?"

"Ablegomano!"

The wizard and his sword were suddenly knocked across the roof and landed in a heap several feet away.

"Arthur, are you alright?" Arthur looked up to see Jason Morgan, the Auror from the night before standing there, wand pointing at the stranger who kicked himself back up to a standing position.

Arthur nodded. "Careful, Jason. I'm not sure what we're dealing with."

"Yeah, Jason," sneered the man with the sword, "you definitely don't know what you're dealing with." A piece of parchment appeared in his free hand and he threw it over his shoulder. The parchment unfolded, getting bigger as it kept opening and started to take on a white glow until it was about the size of a doorway. He then stepped backwards into the now glowing portal. "As much as I'd like to stay and kill two Ministry officials, I'm really pressed for time. But don't worry, I'll be seeing you losers around."

Before Morgan could react, the portal folded in on itself before vanishing in a flash of white light. He cursed under his breath, then walked over to help Arthur up off the ground. "Arthur," he managed to say after a few moments of silence. "Who the hell was that?"

Arthur shook his head as he stumbled to the edge of the roof. Down below, he could see parts of Diagon Alley burning and several wizards scrambling to put out the small fires that had erupted. He could also see several people lying in the street, some dead and dying while others were digging through rubble. But the building that took the most damage was Quality Quidditch Supplies.

"Arthur?"

"My sons," Arthur said weakly. "They were in Quality Quidditch Supplies..."

"Hey, we don't know that for-" But Arthur had already disapparated before Jason could finish his sentence. Jason looked back down on the carnage below and shook his head in disbelief. "What the hell is going on?"

He had seen the Dark Mark appear like all the others, but unlike most of them, he felt a sense of confusion, not fear. Then again, having been only recently inducted into the order, Jason could understand the need for the dark lord to keep his activities secret from the newly recruited. But this did not feel right.

"That's what I was thinking as well," said a new voice.

Jason whirled around and dropped to one knee, wand out and ready. "Ava-oh...Lord Malfoy, my apologies."

Lucius Malfoy regarded the young man with icy eyes for a moment, then smiled. "Eager to kill first as always, Jason?"

Jason shook his head and pocketed his wand. "In my line of work, sometimes that's the best course of action. Guess I've been a Hitwizard for too long."

Lucius chuckled. "Perhaps, but that's what we like about you, your cold-blooded efficiency. Have you learned anything?"

"No," said Jason, "although I'm going to guess that if you're here talking to me that we had nothing to do with this."

"What makes you so sure?" said Lucius.

"I may only be a recent addition to the group, Lord Malfoy, but I'm not that stupid. The way the stranger moved, the way he talked, even the magic he used...wasn't the kind we used." Jason then pointed at Quality Quidditch Supplies. "And then there's that. The Dark Mark appeared and then erupted into a shower of flames. I'm willing to wager that after closer examination, we'll discover that it was the same magic that was involved with the deaths of MacNair and Collier."

"Quite the efficient little investigator, aren't we?"

Jason shrugged. "Not really, but if I were you, Lord Malfoy...I'd be practicing an alibi."

"Why's that?"

"Because as far as the general public and the Minister will be concerned, it was the Death Eaters that were behind this. And judging by your past with Arthur Weasley and your 'former' reputation as a Death Eater, don't be surprised if he brings you in for questioning."