Chapter Eighteen: Dead End
Harry insisted that they all be very cautious in their preparations to depart. Harry informed McGonagall that they would be gone for the weekend, but refused to say where they were going or exactly how long they would be. He also had insisted they all come to at least two training sessions each in the week preceding the trip, and since she wasn’t sitting exams that year, Ginny came every day. She was improving greatly every day, and she had been good to begin with.
Hermione had also spent more time researching the area surrounding the orphanage, and had discovered that the neighborhood had long since fallen into hard times, and was known as somewhere where you wouldn’t normally wander around after dark. She was able to find a fairly nice motel within a few blocks that they could use as a base of operations. Harry wanted to be able to observe the place from afar for a while before actually going in.
Hedwig had been sent to Gringott’s and brought back plenty of Muggle money, and a confused Remus had provided them all with dark clothing, and various supplies. Harry was confidant that they were prepared for every conceivable eventuality, but was also worried because there could be many inconceivable events that he hadn’t been able to think of.
Finally, directly after classes on Friday, they all gathered in their recently repaired rooms, where Harry went over the final plans with them all.
“We’ll have Fawkes transport us to an alley near the hotel under the cloak, and Ginny and I will then transform and circle the area to determine whether or not anyone noticed or is waiting for our arrival. If there is anything wrong, Ginny or I will call out twice, and the two of you will Apparate to the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade, and Ginny and I will join you as soon as Fawkes can take us. If we call out once, then you can make your way to the motel, and set up the rooms. Hermione, you’ll handle dealing with the Muggles, paying for the rooms and anything else we’ll need, but here is some money for everyone just in case.”
Harry then passed out a couple hundred Pounds to everyone else. Hermione’s eyes widened at how much he was giving them.
“We probably don’t want to let anyone see that kind of money where we are going, so please be discrete,” she informed them all.
“Right,” Harry agreed, “and we want to make sure that no one, especially either of you two girls is ever out alone. It’s a rough neighborhood, and we don’t want to have to resort to magic if we can help it.”
“You’d be just as helpless against Muggles as me, and I’m not blind,” Ginny complained.
“Well… they won’t know I’m blind, and I can try and look intimidating,” Harry said with a grin, but dropped it quickly and continued, “I know either of you can handle yourselves just fine, but I just don’t want anyone to be tempted to try anything. We’ll try and use the cloak and our Animagus transformations as often as possible so that we won’t have to deal with anyone. Any questions?”
“What are we going to do about food?” Ron wanted to know.
“We have enough money to eat out for a few days, and we’ll try and do that in a nicer neighborhood if we can help it,” Harry answered.
“What happens if we do have to use magic against Muggles?” Ginny asked.
Harry hesitated, thinking. “If we have to and it’s serious we’ll get out of there and meet in Hogsmeade afterwards so we don’t have to deal with Magical Law Enforcement. If doing that would put us or someone else in danger and we have to be there when they show up, we’ll just have to make sure that you aren’t around, since you’re still underage. I don’t think we have to worry about you doing magic otherwise, though, since they won’t be watching that area.”
When there were no more questions, they all gathered their bags and climbed under the cloak, and Fawkes took them away.
***
Ginny transformed eagerly and took off out of the alley, winging out into the night air of London. She loved the feel of the wind as she moved through it swiftly and silently, and she had come to love this kind of flying more than even her broomstick. She began scouring the streets and alleyways with her gaze, looking for signs of anything that shouldn’t be there. The first thing she noticed was that Hermione saying it was a rough neighborhood was a bit of an understatement. Vagrants and mean looking kids wandered the streets and there was trash everywhere. She suddenly very much agreed with Harry’s suggestion that she and Hermione not go anywhere without someone else.
Still, she could see nothing wrong and turned to look for Harry. She caught sight of him circling the alley where Ron and Hermione were still waiting. When he saw her coming towards him and she didn’t call out, he called once, letting the others know they could move out. Ron and Hermione came out from beneath the cloak and began walking down the street briskly, eager to reach the comparative safety of the motel, while Harry and Ginny flew from building to building, keeping an eye on them. Finally, they reached it and entered the office, followed by a wait of several minutes that left Harry and Ginny huddled together on the roof of a tall building a block away, their combined warmth keeping the chilly London air at bay. Ron and Hermione emerged from the office, and went to a third story room where they left the door open. First Harry and then Ginny took flight, spacing the timing to avoid more attention, and soon all of them were together in their new accommodations.
“This hardly seems worth thirty-five Pounds a night,” Hermione complained, as she examined the slightly run-down room with trepidation.
There were two beds, a bathroom, and a small living area with a TV all in various states of shabbiness.
“It’ll be alright,” Ginny said bravely, while Harry shrugged. He wouldn’t have to deal with the way it looked, anyway, unless he had Fawkes seeing for him.
The plan for this evening called for Ron and Hermione to wait in the motel while Harry, Ginny, and Fawkes flew around the Orphanage, and observed the surrounding area. If Harry felt it was clear, they would come back and inform Ron and Hermione, who would then make their way there on foot under the invisibility cloak.
Fawkes remained invisible on the flight over, and Harry and Ginny flew in tandem with Harry setting the pace in front, since Ginny could fly faster than he could. After only a few minutes they caught sight of the building they were looking for, which Harry recognized from Dumbledore’s memory. They flew to a roof nearby and became themselves again so they could discuss what they saw. Harry felt Fawkes land on his shoulder and was able to see the orphanage again through the phoenix’s eyes. The large square building was still surrounded by iron gates, but they were chained shut, and rusted over. There were more broken windows than whole, and there were signs warning trespassers to keep away from the derelict edifice. There were no lights, or signs of movement or people living there at all.
“It does look pretty abandoned, doesn’t it,” Harry stated, sitting low on the roof so as not to attract anyone’s attention.
“I don’t like this place at all,” Ginny said, her voice trembling slightly as she shivered with the cold.
Harry wrapped an arm around her, trying to keep her warm. “Hopefully this isn’t a dead end, and we can be another step closer to winning. Honestly, so far this isn’t nearly as bad as the cave.”
“That’s not very comforting, Harry. Anything like the cave would be in a hidden room or basement or something, and we’d still have to deal with it.”
“Well, let’s deal with it when it happens. Do you see anything suspicious?”
“No,” she answered uncertainly.
“Fawkes, do you see anything dangerous?”
Ginny couldn’t see the phoenix, but heard a quiet warbling cry of an uneasy ‘no.’
“Well, I guess we can go back and get Ron and Hermione. Maybe we can be done before we even have to spend a night here,” Harry said with confidence in his voice, and Ginny fervently hoped that would be true.
***
Harry and Ginny waited above the gate, and were rewarded by the sight of the gates opening themselves and then closing again. Following Ron and Hermione while they were under the invisibility cloak had proven to be somewhat impossible, so they had decided to wait where they could see signs of them moving.
Taking the cue, Harry and Ginny flew forward and into one of the shattered windows on the top floor. The plan was for Ron and Hermione to search from the ground level up, and for Harry and Ginny to go from the top down, hopefully meeting in the middle.
Staying in their bird forms, the two flew silently around the halls and rooms, looking for any trace of something that didn’t belong. Before too long, they had made their way down to the next floor, and were in the middle of searching that, when Harry suddenly turned back into himself.
Following suit, Ginny asked, “What’s wrong, Harry?”
“Something’s going on down on the first floor; Fawkes says Ron and Hermione are in trouble. Come on!”
Harry turned back into a hawk and flew out of another broken window nearby, before circling briefly and flying back in another one on the first floor and Ginny frantically followed him, concerned for her brother.
***
Ron and Hermione reached the front door of the orphanage with no trouble, and entered the darkened front room. There was a reception area, and several adjoining offices, and through another door, a large common room, filled with old furniture.
“Do you think we can take the cloak off, now?” Ron asked, hopefully.
“I suppose so…” Hermione said, hesitating, “it’s kind of hard to move around underneath it with the two of us, since you’re so tall now.”
They came out from under the cloak and Hermione wrapped it up and put it into the small backpack she had brought along. She also pulled out a couple of flashlights, and handed one to Ron.
“What’s this?” he asked curiously, moving the strange object around in his hands.
“It’s a Muggle device to make light, so we don’t have to use magic unless it is absolutely necessary,” Hermione told him, as she demonstrated how to turn it on.
“Wicked!” Ron exclaimed, “I have to get my Dad one of these, he’d love it!”
They continued on through the offices and front room, searching for any sign of magic or anything else that might give them a clue as to where a hidden Horcrux might be. The offices were no help, as all of the papers had been removed, presumably when the orphanage had closed down, and Hermione was very disappointed.
The common room was next, and they were almost finished looking there, when they heard the front door open and close. Ron had his wand out in a flash and was pointing it and his flashlight at the door, shielding Hermione from whatever was coming. Hermione looked over his shoulder with apprehension, and then someone grabbed her from behind.
Shrieking, she tried to fight off the person who had grabbed her, while calling to Ron for help. Then she caught sight of Ron on the ground, being kicked viciously by another man, his wand and flashlight both gone. She shouted in anger and redoubled her efforts to fight off her attacker, but a hard blow to the head suddenly left her dazed and unable to struggle.
In a matter of minutes both of them were tied up, and sitting in chairs, being questioned by a filthy-looking thug who was waiving a gun around as he demanded to know who they were and what they were doing there. Ron was looking pale, and his face was swollen in a few places, and trickles of blood were running down his mouth and out of his nose. There were several other people gathered around, watching interestedly.
Finally, the man with the gun got up in Hermione’s face and started yelling, “If you don’t tell me who you are, right now, I’m going to shoot the red-head and let the boys have some playtime with you!”
Hermione felt terror like she had never felt before, as the others who had only been watching before began laughing and making lewd faces and gestures towards her. Her mind was completely blank and she couldn’t think of anything to say, as tears began running down her face.
“Have it your way,” the man said evilly, and pointed the gun at Ron. Hermione screamed in horror as he pulled the trigger.
***
Harry and Ginny had flown into the room and perched briefly on a high window sill, trying to figure out what was going on. Harry watched in horror as the man leveled his gun at Ron, knowing there was no way that either of them could get there in time to do anything.
As the trigger was pulled, however, Fawkes appeared in front of Ron in a flash of flame, and took the bullet right between his outstretched wings, crying out in anger and then pain, as feathers went flying in every direction. Harry felt the phoenix’s pain as he burst into flame, dying to protect Ron; it was a pain like nothing Harry had ever felt before, made worse because it was someone he cared about, and could do nothing for. He cried out himself with the agony, echoing a cry of incredible anger that came from the falcon next to him.
While he was momentarily stunned by Fawkes’ sacrifice, Ginny threw herself at the man who was holding the gun and staring in shock at where Fawkes had just burst into flame in front of him. He screamed in fear and agony, dropping his gun, as Ginny collided with him full force, sinking her talons into the back of his neck and digging in with her hooked beak. Harry was galvanized into action himself as he saw Ginny attacking the man madly, and flew over to where he would be facing the other men in the room, between them and his friends. He turned back into himself and threw out both of his hands, using a Reductor Curse with a wordless shout of rage. In his anger over Fawkes’ pain, the curse went out in a shockwave that hit everyone in front of him, and he could hear their cries of terror as they were thrown into walls and furniture. He turned back into a hawk to see if any of them were still potential threats, and was grimly pleased that none of them appeared to be even conscious. He turned and was about to go free Ron and Hermione, when Ginny screamed in terror. Harry looked toward her, and was horrified to see blood covering her hands and face as she stood over the body of the man she had attacked. Harry felt a cold flash of recognition as he looked at the man and saw in an instant that he was dead, probably from a severed spine by the look of the back of his neck, and that the blood was not from any wound on Ginny.
She continued to scream hysterically as Harry flew over quickly, and turned back into himself. She wouldn’t let him touch her at first as he tried to take her into his arms, but finally he was able to pull her close, and she collapsed into his embrace, sobbing uncontrollably.
Harry held her for a short while, before fumbling over to where Hermione and Ron were still bound and freeing them with a wave of his hand. Hermione was also crying and ran to Ron’s side, as he groaned in agony.
“Hermione, I need you to bind everyone here, quickly,” Harry said quietly.
“I… can’t… Ron… I couldn’t…” she sobbed, shaking her head as Ron tried to assure her he was okay.
“Hermione, you are the only one who can do it right now; I can’t see, and I need to heal Ron, and Ginny…” he trailed off as he held Ginny tighter, “you can do it,” he finished firmly.
Hermione stopped crying as Ron also assured her that she could do it; she squared her shoulders and walked to all of the other men in the room, some of whom were beginning to groan in pain, waving her wand and shouting “Incarcerous!”
Ginny wouldn’t allow him to let her go, as he tried to kneel by Ron’s side, so he pulled her down with him, and kept one arm around her while he waved his wand over Ron. He had one broken rib and several others were bruised, besides being fairly beaten up around the face. Harry left the face alone, and just fixed the ribs, which eased Ron’s pain enough that he could get up as Harry told him what had happened.
“Blimey, Harry! I never thought breaking a rib would hurt so much, since you’ve done it so many times and it never seems to bother you!” he exclaimed, grateful that he could breathe again.
“Help me get this blood off of her,” Harry whispered back.
Ron cast several cleansing spells that finally left Ginny without a trace of the dead man’s blood on her hands and face. This seemed to help her calm down a great deal, though she still wouldn’t speak and Harry could feel her shaking uncontrollably as she held tightly onto his waist, both arms constricted into a death grip.
Hermione had finished binding everyone, and walked over to join them.
“What do we do, Harry? I don’t think this will go unnoticed by the Ministry, and we’ll be in a lot of trouble if they find us here,” she said, with just a trace of a tremor in her voice.
Harry said nothing, as he reached with his mind towards Fawkes. Instead of the usual friendly presence in his mind, all he could feel now was a baby bird’s fear and hunger, as it shivered with cold. Harry slowly felt his way towards where the feelings were coming from, and gently reached down and picked up the baby phoenix. The feelings of cold and fear were suddenly gone, replaced by warmth and trust, though the hunger remained.
“He saved my life,” Ron stated in wonder, as Harry gently slipped the little phoenix into his pocket.
“We need to get out of here,” Harry stated firmly, “but I can’t Apparate without Fawkes, and none of the rest of you are in any condition to Apparate on your own, and Ginny can’t at all yet, anyway. And I need to finish searching the building. Ron, take Ginny,” he finished, as he tried to get her to let go of him. Finally, she was clutching Ron instead, and Harry borrowed Hermione’s backpack and pointed his wand at it, muttering “Portus.” The pack glowed blue to everyone else’s eyes, and Harry handed it to the other three, and handed the baby Fawkes to Hermione.
“This will take you back to the motel. Wait there for me, and try and find something for Fawkes to eat. I’ll make sure that someone from some kind of Law Enforcement does come, and finish searching the place before I meet you there.”
All of them protested, but Harry overrode their concerns and finally they all gripped the bag and were gone. Harry turned back into a hawk and hesitated briefly, looking down at the dead man on the floor. He could feel only sorrow for Ginny’s pain, though he felt he should feel more; satisfaction or a sense of justice being done. Still, the cost of what had happened left him with nothing but remorse that this person’s choices would lead him to hurt others with such callousness. It was the same in its way as the situation with Voldemort, and Harry once again renewed his vow to bring the Dark Lord to justice, at the cost of his own life if necessary.
***
Harry finished his search of the building in short order, and was intensely disappointed when he could find no trace of magic or a hiding place for a Horcrux. As he looked around, he decided Voldemort probably would want something darker or grander as a resting place for a piece of his soul anyway.
He was perched high on a windowsill in the room where the men were tied up when a sickening thought occurred to him. If the men below him were questioned by Aurors, they would be given the description of Harry and his friends, and they would be caught and held before the Wizengamot for breaking several laws, and Ginny would have to deal with having killed the one with the gun. Harry cursed himself for not thinking to modify their memories beforehand, and was about to fly down to do it when the loud cracks of people Apparating into the room caused him to freeze in panic.
Two figures made their way into the room, wand-tips lit as they cautiously approached the bound men. Harry was suddenly very relieved to see that they were none other than Kingsley Shacklebolt and Tonks.
Making a quick decision, Harry silently took off and landed behind them, turning back into himself and flicking his wand to produce a ‘pop’ that sounded just like someone Apparating. Harry could hear them spin in alarm, and prepared himself to use a shield if they were too startled. He cursed his inability to see without Fawkes, not knowing what the two in front of him were doing.
“Harry!” came Tonks’ startled voice, “What in Merlin’s name are you doing here, what happened?”
“Hold on,” Shacklebolt said in his deep voice, “What magazine did I show Arthur Weasley when you came in for the underage use of magic trial?”
“It was the Quibbler, and it was for Sirius,” Harry answered quickly. “And you asking that question is good enough for me. As for what happened… well, I would prefer no one know that, so I hope you’ll allow me to modify their memories before you take care of them.”
“Harry, we need some kind of information, something we can pass on to Muggle authorities,” Tonks protested, and Harry hesitated briefly.
“The dead one is the one that shot me over the summer, and you can connect him to the robberies and murders related to that. I guess all of them would have been involved one way or another as well,” Harry finished, before pulling out his wand and feeling his way over to the first person whose memory he was going to alter.
“Did you come looking for them, Harry?” Kingsley asked slowly.
Tonks began helping by guiding him around the room while he answered, “No, I was here for something else; this was all self-defense, but I need you to make sure no one else ever knows I was here. It’s incredibly important… this is where Voldemort lived before going to Hogwarts, and he can’t know that I know that much about his past.”
“Your secret is safe with us, Harry,” Tonks said firmly, and Shacklebolt agreed, happy to hear that Harry hadn’t been out for revenge.
“Are you here alone?” Tonks asked.
“Yes… now,” Harry answered, hesitating again.
“That’s okay, Harry. We don’t need to know anything else, and we can take care of all of this from here. Just remember, the Order exists to defeat Voldemort, and if you need any help we’re here for you,” Shacklebolt said calmly.
“Thank you,” Harry said, genuinely touched, “Sometimes it’s hard to remember that, but you can count on me calling the entire Order to help when the time is right.”
All of the incriminating memories were changed in short order, and Harry crafted another Portkey, since he was unable to think of any other way to leave without giving away too much, and Tonks coughed in amusement at his illegal use of the spell. Harry gave them one last parting grin, and felt the hook behind his navel as he was sent to the motel room.
***
Landing after Portkey travel while blind wasn’t a fun experience, Harry had decided as he picked himself up off the floor.
“Harry! What took you so long? Did you find something? What happened to those people?” Hermione asked rapidly, and Harry sighed, knowing her quick speech was hiding inner anguish.
Harry filled them all in on what he had found, and what had happened with Tonks and Shacklebolt. Ron and Hermione were both thoroughly depressed when they learned that everything they had gone through was for nothing.
“Where’s Ginny?” Harry asked then, curious since she hadn’t said anything since he had come back.
“She’s here on the couch, Harry,” Ron answered, before leaning close to Harry’s ear and whispering, “She hasn’t said anything since we got back, and she was pretty sick for a while.”
Harry had Ron lead him to the couch and sat next to Ginny, gathering her into his arms. He could feel her begin to tremble slightly and then shake in tiny spasms as she began crying again. Harry held her gently and said nothing for several minutes before speaking to Ron and Hermione once more.
“What have you been up to since you got back? Is Fawkes okay?” he asked, his voice somewhat hoarse with the sorrow he was feeling for Ginny.
Ron told him how Hermione had been able to heal the rest of his injuries, and Hermione let him know that Fawkes had eaten ravenously and was now asleep.
“I think we should head back to the school now,” Harry decided after they were finished. “We’ll take a Portkey back to our rooms and get some sleep, and then we can deal with everything else,” he nodded toward Ginny, “and decide what we’re doing next.”
They agreed quickly and Hermione settled the bill with the motel and returned their keys, before they disappeared from London as quickly as they had arrived.