The Third War by dumbledorefluertwins
Chapter Notes: Anyone who figures out the whispers gets a free imaginary cookie. :)
“Are you alright? You look pale, Harry,” asked Ginny. And, indeed, he did look pale. A look of worry was etched into his face and when he’d come into the room he’d slammed the door shut with such force that Ginny was surprised it didn’t fall off its hinges.
“I just had to talk to the Minister. I think I may lose my job,” Harry muttered, flopping down on the sofa in the living area. He stared into the crackling flames, watching a lump of wood that, in his eyes, looked remarkably like the Minister. He had great enjoyment at watching it burn for a few seconds, before feeling two hands on his shoulders.
“It didn’t go well then?” He sighed.
“Well, you know the Horntail I had to fight?”
“Yes.”
“Talking to the Minister was scarier.” Ginny laughed softly and moved around the sofa to look him in the face.
“You won’t be fired “ you’re Harry Potter! He has to stay on your good side, remember?” He smiled weakly.
“Well, the tables have turned again “ did you read that article Rita Skeeta wrote?”
“Oh, nobody will take that seriously!”
“Won’t they? I dunno “ I don’t mind what the public thinks of me really but…” Harry sighed again and ran his hands through his hair. “I wouldn’t have agreed to do this if a war was breaking out.”
“You think there is going to be another war then?” asked Ginny, quietly.
“Well, the Minister’s been hiding something; Darren wasn’t the first Unspeakable to be murdered. And, I found out a moment ago that loads of people have seen Death Eaters “ but have either been paid off or had their memories modified. It seems very strange for Scrimgeour to do that; he’s acting like Fudge.
Apparently the whispers are getting louder as well.”
“Whispers?”
“You know “ those whispers that I could hear through the veil at the Department of Mysteries. The Minister said I could hear them then was because I’d seen Cedric die “ but loads of people have seen death now so everyone’s noticed the whispers growing louder. Apparently you can hear them faintly from level seven.” Ginny gaped at him for a while.
“Wow… what are the whispers saying?” Harry shrugged.
“No one knows “ it doesn’t seem to be in any language; they’ve tried English, French, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Manderin, Arabic “ the list goes on forever! But no one knows.”
***
Jamie was feeling increasingly grumpy for the next couple of days; everywhere he went there were signs of the raging competition between his sister and Sabriel. Sabriel made the Gryffindor robes polka-dot green and silver, so Lillian made the Slytherins robes a bright, luminous pink. Sabriel made cockroaches and maggots appear all over the Gryffindors food, so Lillian filled the Slytherin common room with hundreds of blue bubbles the size of beach balls that refused to pop for two weeks.
Jamie kept up a strong silent treatment on his sister and refused to laugh along with the other Gryffindors when he heard about the tricks played on the Slytherins.
Christmas was fast approaching and Jamie felt a longing to go home and see his younger brother; to have the entire family together. He felt like his routine had been muddled up, or that he was in a foreign country, where no one spoke English. The Potters had always been a tight-knit family but now both parents were too busy to check on him and he was several hundred miles away from his brother.
He was sitting in the library, doing his transfiguration homework without much enthusiasm. Feeling incredibly lonely (Lillian, Matt and Lottie were off preparing another prank) he headed up to the common room, hoping to see Melissa or another one of his many cousins.
“Wotcher, Jamie!” Danny Lupin, a spunky fifteen-year-old with bright red, spiky hair and a back pack with so many Muggle safety pins attached, that it could be used as a lethal weapon. His father, Remus Lupin, did try to control his rebellious teenage son, but it rarely worked. Despite his rather intimidating appearance, Danny was a nice young man, very funny and, although he tried to hide it, caring.
“Hey, Danny “ I was just heading to the Gryffindor common room.” Danny snorted.
“Gryffindors “ have you seen the mortality rate? Just kidding “ but seriously Ravenclaw is way better; you should all worship us.” Jamie rolled his eyes and grinned.
“Whatever, Danny. Where were you going?”
“To see your Dad “ find out what the hell is going on. I mean, the newspapers are saying that Scrimgeour has assured the public that there is no war breaking out and that this murder was a one off, but then we’re given exactly the same rules for our safety as students were after Dumbledore’s death. Confusing, huh? That’s why I want to see your Dad; he’ll know.”
“I’ll come with you “ I could do with an explanation too.”
***
Issy yawned. She hadn’t been sleeping well. She and Darren had been… close. Though no one knew it; if her husband found out…
“Eh tetag lli web denepo nehw eh tneves nio j rehtegot otth gif eh tliv e…”
The whispers grew loud as she approached the Department of Mysteries. If only she could figure out what they were saying! If only she could find out what that damn archway was! It had been there for as long as anyone could remember, built by the Anglo-Saxons and covered with a black veil by the invading French some years later. They had built the Ministry around it, and attempted research but everyone who attempted to go through were never seen again.
At first, that was where Issy believed Darren to be, on the other side, whispering messages of his own. But his body had appeared in Hogwarts grounds “ she didn’t have a bloody clue what he was doing there.
But enough dwelling on theories; she had work to do. She entered through the black door and found herself in an all too familiar room, with spinning doors.
“Show me time,” she said. Immediately, the doors stopped and one burst open. She stepped through it and took out a large blue note book from her backpack. She sat in front of a large hour glass, with an egg in that became a bird, died and reversed back to the beginning. She took down notes and equations, several Latin words but nothing could keep her mind from straying to the veil… and those words…
She saw a dead bird reverse back into an egg and, suddenly, it clicked!
“Of course,” she breathed. Could the words possibly be-?
“I’d keep very still if I were you.” Issy felt a wand to the back of her head, she froze, terrified.
“imperio!"