Chapter Eighteen: Fallen Champion
“I don’t see what we can do that hasn’t already been done, Sirius,” James said quietly. “The school is full of Aurors, and the teachers have been doing everything they can.”
“Everything they can, and Sirius has come closer to actually catching whoever it is than any of the others. What are you asking, Sirius?” Lillian asked.
“I just feel like we need to do more than they’re doing right now. We have a veritable army of Weasleys here, so we should be able to cover more ground than the Aurors, and we know the students better, so we could spot anything suspicious where they couldn’t,” Sirius reasoned.
Sirius was trying to convince his siblings to become more active in the fight against whatever was going on; as far as he was concerned, the adults had had their chance and it was now time for someone else to step in. They had invited James into the Gryffindor common room for their discussion, which wasn’t all that uncommon among the Potter family.
“This is exactly like when Dad was in school,” he added. “Everyone else either didn’t believe him or couldn’t handle the problem. Now it’s up to us.”
James was just starting to answer back, negatively if the look on his face was any indication, when the Marauder’s Map popped into existence right in front of Sirius’ face.
“What the…?” James said instead, looking at Sirius with a raised eyebrow.
“Is that dad’s map?” Lillian asked with interest; all of the Potter children had heard all kinds of stories about that map.
Sirius had left the map in Ron’s possession, and was as surprised as either of his siblings. He noticed quickly that the map hadn’t been cleared, and that struck him as the kind of carelessness he wouldn’t expect from his uncle. Sirius gave a very quick explanation of why he had the map and where it should have been before appearing like it had before opening the map and looking for his aunt and uncle. They were nowhere to be found.
“This isn’t good,” Sirius muttered.
“What?” James asked, somewhat disgruntled about not being involved with the map in the first place.
“Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione aren’t on the map,” Sirius said, starting to grow worried as he scanned further. “Neither is mum. What do we do?”
All three of them looked at each other in concern; the adults not appearing on the map was not in itself all too worrisome, since Ron was very fond of taking his wife to the Three Broomsticks, and Ginny had gone with them several times. Still, the way the map had just appeared was very atypical; Ron was very serious about his job, and wasn’t about to risk letting just anyone know about the map.
Their thoughts on the matter were interrupted as Ron Jr. opened the common room door.
“Frank is outside,” he said casually as he came in. “He said he wants to talk to the three of you.”
“Alright, well, let him in then,” Lillian said with a wave of her hand, while Sirius scowled slightly. He still didn’t like the arrogant Hufflepuff.
***
Harry blew out a sigh as he looked at his watch once more. Stan was late again, and here Harry was, parked outside the Leaky Cauldron waiting to get started on the night’s run.
His glance at his watch furrowed his brow even further, however; Stan was never this late.
“I hope nothing has happened to him,” Harry muttered to himself in concern.
Things had been getting even more dangerous in the dark streets and alleys of the Wizarding world. Mundungus had told Harry that there were more Death Eaters around than ever before, and that they were pushing for more recruits. Harry was starting to get worried that the evil organization would try and strike at him again, either directly or through people he knew and cared about. Stan, by working with Harry, was definitely a target.
Harry started to get up, deciding it was time to look for his friend, when the door at the back of the bus opened. Quickly, Harry turned, ready for anything, though he quickly relaxed.
“Oh,” he said in relief mixed with embarrassment. “It’s you.”
“Stupify!” was the unexpected answer, and Harry fell to the ground without even having a chance to be surprised.
***
The Dark Lord cackled with glee as each new figure was brought into the large circle and chained with enchanted manacles to the post that formed the perimeter. He welcomed each by name, and took the time to personally administer the antidote to the sleeping potion that Ron and Hermione had been given, and spent some very pleasurable time using the Cruciatus Curse on the Weasley twins.
“How enjoyable this is,” he hissed as Ginny appeared with her Portkey. She was overwhelmed before she could resist and was soon chained beside the others. “How positively delightful. I can’t wait until all of our guests arrive; this will be quite a party.”
“What do you want with us, you maniac?” Ginny snarled, greatly concerned by the haggard looks on her brother’s faces; the only things holding the twins up were their chains.
“Maniac? I?” the dark, hooded figure asked with feigned innocence. “I am merely bringing together the people from my past that played such a significant role in creating my future. Don’t worry, we won’t have long to wait, I am sure.”
As he spoke, three masked Death Eaters carried in the unconscious forms of Muriel and Samantha.
“No!” Ginny screamed upon seeing her daughter. “This is obviously not about our families! Let them go and we’ll do whatever you want!”
“This has everything to do with family!” the man shouted back in a sudden rage, striding over to Ginny and slapping her hard across the face. “Don’t presume anything! You’ll do whatever I want in any case. Silencio!
“And who is this?” the Dark Lord asked calmly, pointing to Samantha. “She is neither Potter nor Weasley. Explain!” He obviously wasn’t pleased.
Ginny could tell by the man’s sudden changes in mood that he was not quite sane, and her fear only increased.
“She was with the Potter girl here, my lord,” one of the Death Eaters said quickly. “She’s also Sirius Potter’s girlfriend.”
“Ahhhhh… Yes, well, I wouldn’t want the young couple separated for long,” the dark wizard mused. With a wave of his hand, another of the posts appeared and Samantha and Muriel were chained as well by Death Eaters obviously relieved at escaping from punishment.
Then Harry appeared, unconscious and levitating in front of yet another masked Death Eater. The Dark Lord howled with glee as Harry was carefully chained, and then woken up.
Harry shook his head, trying to remember how he had come to be captured, but the images just wouldn’t form. All he knew was that he had been betrayed, and badly.
“Our guest of honor arrives!” the shadowy figured gloated. “I knew you would be too stupid to realize the truth of what was happening. The savior of the Wizarding world, and here he is, helpless and in chains.”
“Hardly helpless,” Harry said grimly, and suddenly sparks shot from Harry’s hands and chains. Harry’s confidant expression changed quickly to one of pain as the magic reversed and coursed back through him.
“Ah, yes. You thought we had forgotten that you need no wand to perform your magic. These manacles are very special, you see. They prevent you from performing any magic whatsoever, and they make the attempt quite painful, as I’m sure you have discovered.
Harry’s panic was obviously full and genuine, as he looked around and discovered his family, including his daughter and wife, chained around him.
“What do you want?” he asked, trying hard to stifle his fear.
“What do I want?” the dark wizard screamed, spittle flying from his mouth. “I want you to suffer horribly and completely, and then I want you to die!”
Once again, the terrifying rage was over instantly, replaced by complete calm.
“The Potter line will cease completely, you know. Your other children at Hogwarts will be here shortly, and you will reveal the location of the younger ones before you die, rest assured of that. And the Weasleys will follow shortly after, I’m afraid,” the man said, swinging his head to regard Ron and Hermione, and then Fred and George. “You will know such pain as you have caused me, and it will break you utterly.”
***
Brian Weasley was fast asleep when he heard a pop over his bed that woke him up quickly. He opened his eyes in time to see a flap of parchment float down over his head, and he sat up quickly pulling it off and looking at it in surprise.
“The Marauder’s Map?” he asked himself, recognizing the parchment quickly.
“What’s going on?” Jack asked sleepily.
“Someone say something?” Lee asked, popping up from his bed as well.
I need you! Sirius’ disembodied voice shouted, startling all four of them.
“Did all of you hear that too, or am I just crazy?” Chris asked in concern, looking around at his brothers. Without answering, all three of them leapt from their beds and started dressing, and Chris wasn’t far behind.
A/N: Okay, I should have posted this a while ago, and I'm sorry. I'll really try to do better. Also, I'm sorry about the length. Lots of you keep telling me to write longer chapters, but then I'm writing and come across this spot where the chapter ends itself. I don't intend for it to happen, but it does. Thus, you see, it's out of my control. I am the slave to the work, not the other way around, so don't bug me about it. I PROMISE the next chapter will be much longer, and filled with interesting revelations and lots of action. Thanks!
P.S. I finally answered all of the reviews, if anyone wanted to see what I had to say about them. It really means a lot to me that you all take the time to write reviews, and I want you to know that I always answer all of them... eventually. =)