Betrayal of the Best Kind
Used
By Draco664
Used
Ron and Hermione raced along the tiny tunnel, often bent double. Madam Pomfrey had been hysterical, desperately trying to find someone to help look for her missing charge. For some reason, most of the teachers had disappeared. It was only her desperate need to tell someone, anyone, what had happened, that the pair had found out that Cho was missing.
After Hogwart's nurse left them, still searching for a professor, Hermione turned to Ron.
"You know, when we were all discussing what had happened, Snuffles bolted from the room. That was just before your Dad told us that Harry had been found."
"Why did he run out of the room?"
"Snape had been saying that because of Cho's outburst, Harry wouldn't be thinking clearly."
A look of trepidation crossed Ron's features. "He wouldn't!"
Hermione looked at him in despair. "When it comes to Harry's safety, what wouldn't Sirius do?"
As one, they turned and ran towards the exit to the grounds. Now, they were rushing along the passageway that took them towards the Shrieking Shack.
"That's not the same as 'no', is it?"
Sirius regarded the pretty student in front of him. It was obvious to him how Harry could be attracted to her. Her mind was quick and sharp, and Sirius was of the opinion that that was her most attractive feature.
"OK." he replied. "No, I have not had time to teach Harry to be an animagus."
Cho's eyes narrowed as she regarded him. "Hmmm."
Both of them jumped as a loud voice yelled, "Cho!" from the passageway entrance. The spun round, Sirius already in his animagus form, to see the determined faces of Harry's friends, their wands pointing at Sirius.
Sirius changed back and sat down heavily, hand on his heart. "You little bastards! You almost killed me!" he said to them.
Hermione and Ron looked from kidnapper to kidnappee. "Cho, are you OK?" Ron asked.
As Cho smiled and nodded, Sirius took an affronted tone. "What? Did you think I'd kidnapped her to tie her to a wall or something?"
Hermione blushed. She was about to stammer an apology, when Cho couldn't contain herself anymore. Her peals of laughter rang out. Ron and Hermoine listened in wonder. It had been such a long time since anyone had heard the sound of Cho's laugh.
Harry stood frozen between the two groups. Voldemort stood, arms crossed, a dozen or more Death Eaters spread behind him. "Well, Harry?"
Harry's expression changed to one of almost inhuman determination. He turned to face Dumbledore and the teachers. "You don't want me, you just don't want me to join him."
Dumbledore swallowed, an almost pained expression on his face. "You know that is not true, Harry. You know it in your heart."
Harry looked at his feet, shaking his head. "Voldemort is right, I won't be trusted, ever, if I go with you." He looked up at the teachers, and stared into Dumbledore's eyes. "This will fix things for everyone."
Harry turned to face the man who had killed his parents. "Let's go." Harry walked up to the Dark Lord.
Voldemort smiled at him, then looked over his head at Dumbledore. With a smirk of victory, he said, "Well, old man, it would appear that Harry has made his choice. Go back to your castle, and ponder your fate." With that he passed Harry a small globe. Harry turned around to face the teachers. He felt a small twinge of guilt at their expressions of shock, sadness and defeat. He felt Voldemort place his hand on his shoulder, and then the familiar hook behind his navel signalled the activation of the portkey.
Sirius led the three students back down the passageway to Hogwarts. They were almost at the end, when the sound of the Whomping Willow above stopped. They froze. Someone had pressed the knot that would pacify the aggressive tree.
Sirius, Ron and Hermione drew their wands. Cho wished that Sirius had taken hers from the bedside table in the hospital wing. Silently the four waited for the person who stopped the tree to show themselves.
A tired, but determined Dumbledore appeared in front of them. On catching sight of the group, he visibly sagged in relief. "It would appear that Mr. Potter's presence is not required for his friends to go out of their way to help another."
"What made you think anyone needed help?" asked Sirius, in an embarrassed tone.
"Just the fact that the last person to hurt Mr. Potter was kidnapped from the hospital wing in the same evening as an enormous grim was spotted running through the corridors of Hogwarts."
Sirius just hung his head in shame. Cho spoke up, "It's alright, Professor. Nothing happened, and now Snuffles and I have an understanding. We are going to do everything we can to help Harry."
Dumbledore just nodded his head sadly. "An admirable sentiment, but poor timing. Come, let us retire to my study, there are a great many things to discuss. It has been a most eventful evening."
"What has happened, Albus?" asked Sirius, as soon as he had changed back into human form in the headmaster's study. He sat in one of the armchairs. The three students followed suit.
"After the incident at the lighthouse, Harry somehow made his way to Privet Drive. We were able to discover his location, after wards were broken at his relative's home. Apparently, some policemen broke the front door down after seeing Harry's relatives unconscious inside."
Hermione looked shocked. "Harry didn't attack them, did he?"
"We are not sure what happened to them. His Aunt was unharmed, but his Uncle was sporting several cuts and bruises when we arrived. I would hazard a guess that Harry was not responsible for his Uncle's condition though."
"Why?"
Dumbledore shrugged. "The policemen at his home were comforting Harry. They were giving the Dursleys looks of contempt. It is possible that Harry finally told someone of the abuse he has suffered at their hands. Looking as he does now, it would not be difficult for someone to jump to the conclusion that the Dursleys are responsible for the suffering he endured in Azkaban."
"So, what happened then?" Ron asked.
"The policeman was asking Harry about his relatives. Harry had just told them about his cousin, and that he was still at school for the term. I walked up behind Harry and made my presence known." Dumbledore shook his weary head. "He reacted worse that I expected. Paranoid and scared. He ran, first into the crowd that had gathered, but ran into several of the staff. Then into the house. Severus followed him. A few moments later, Severus returned, and informed me that Harry had managed to escape again."
It was Cho's turn to shake her head. "He must be an animagus. Some sort of bird, probably."
"I suspected as much, Miss. Chang. But I have not been able to identify where Harry received the required months of specialist training." He glanced in Sirius' direction, watching for any flicker of guilt. Nothing. "As such, I am forced to believe he has some sort of magical transportation device. From your use of the name 'Snuffles' earlier, I assume you know of Sirius', er, unusual ability?"
Cho nodded. "He told me everything."
"Good. That will make things easier. Harry had escaped to a nearby street, where a beacon I placed on his clothes led us. Most of the teachers here followed professor McGonagall's apparition to him. It would appear that having several apparitions to the same spot gave Voldemort our location."
The hearts of the four all skipped the same beat. "No," Sirius whispered.
Dumbledore held up one hand. "It is not what you think, Sirius." He waited for Sirius to calm down before adding, "It is worse."
The three students looked confused. Sirius' face paled.
"Voldemort gave Harry the opportunity to join the ranks of the Death Eaters. In an effort to create trust, I gave Harry back his wand. It was not enough to sway him, however." Dumbledore looked at the four shocked faces. "Harry willingly joined Voldemort, and left with him."
"No," Hermione said, not wanting to believe.
Cho buried her face in her hands. "What have I done?" she cried.
Ron sat stunned. Sirius stood and walked between the girls. Putting his arms around them both, he pulled them into a tight embrace. Looking at Dumbledore, he said, "You're trying to tell us that you were unable to persuade Harry that he was better off with the people who love him, and not with the bastard who killed his parents?"
Dumbledore nodded sadly. "If only it had not happened tonight. We should have been able to work through the confusion surrounding the events of this evening, if only we could have talked longer. We were making no move towards Harry at the time. He was listening to us. I have no doubt that Harry would have come with us if we had just a few more minutes."
Hermione spoke, her voice thick. "What about the beacon you used to find Harry? Can't you use it to find where he is?"
"I'm sorry, Miss. Granger, the beacon only works over a relatively short range, no more than about twenty miles. Wherever the portkey took them, it was outside that range."
Sirius looked thoughtful. "It would appear Harry was right." He held his hand up as the others gave him accusing looks. "Not about joining Voldemort. The fact that Voldemort wanted to recruit him."
Sirius spent the next few minutes telling the others about Harry's ponderings during his temper tantrum. "It would appear that Voldemort has managed to succeed in his plan to recruit Harry, even after he escaped from Azkaban."
"Welcome, Harry, to your new home."
Harry looked around the richly decorated room. A large four-poster bed dominated the left-hand side of the room, flanked by gold plated bedside tables. Two closed doors were in the left wall, one on either side of the bed. A huge walk-in wardrobe opened to the left of the main entrance. Priceless paintings and other artworks decorated the walls, spaced between magnificent arched, stain-glass windows. The rug on the floor was so thick and soft that Harry's bare feet sank into it up to his ankles. Opposite the door, a huge fireplace was lit, filling the room with a glow and a comforting heat. Several large and very comfortable looking armchairs and couches were arranged around the fire. A large desk ran the length of the right-hand wall, several hundred magical books and tomes lined the shelves above it. At the far end, the desk's design changed, obviously to be used to brew potions. Dozens upon dozens of both normal and magical compounds were lined in a glass-covered cabinet above that end, all labelled and catalogued. A half-dozen house elves stood unobtrusively nearby, looking at the pair of wizards nervously.
"This is mine?" asked Harry in awe.
"Of course, those who serve out of fear will betray you as soon as they can. Those who follow for the rewards of service are far more loyal."
Harry walked around the spacious room, finding a large and well-appointed bathroom through one of the connecting doors. Looking through the door on the other side of the bed, Harry froze.
A single table sat in the middle of the room. Shackles and restraints were present on both the table and one wall. On the other walls hung various tools and implements, with an obvious and terrible purpose. "Ah, I see you are interested in the room for 'entertaining' guests," Voldemort smirked.
Harry turned to face him. "Well, there is one girl I wouldn't mind entertaining in here," he said, keeping his voice as steady as possible.
Voldemort raised his eyebrows, clearly surprised at Harry's lack of disgust. A self-satisfied smile formed on his serpent-like face. "We'll have to see what we can to do to extend to her an 'invitation'."
Harry just nodded, not trusting his voice. He walked back out into the main room.
"Look around, Harry." Voldemort said, gesturing vaguely towards the house elves. "They will bring you whatever you desire." He looked with a sneer at Dudley's old clothes that Harry was wearing. "Burn whatever you do not want to keep. You will find clothes in the wardrobe there."
Harry nodded and walked over to the wardrobe. Opening the door he gasped at the contents. Robes of all colours, and styles hung within. The only thing that they all had in common was the quality of the material. Harry turned back to Voldemort.
"I'm going to have something to eat, then I think I'll turn in. I'm quite tired."
Voldemort smiled at Harry. "You will be summoned in the morning, to begin your training."
Harry returned the smile and handed the portkey back to Voldemort. "I look forward to working for you, My Lord."
Voldemort nodded, turned and left the room. Harry turned to the nervous house elves, and said, "I'm hungry, could you please get me something to eat?" Harry walked over to the lavish bed, and placed his wand on the ornate bedside table.
With a confused look at each other, they disappeared with tiny pops. Seconds later, a table appeared in the room, laden with food. Roast pork, beef, lamb and vegetables. Steaming loaves of bread. Eggs, bacon, pies, pastries, even pasta and rice dishes. Harry smiled, and sat down to gorge himself.
During his solitary meal, he summoned the house elves and requested they draw him a bath. They scuttled off to fulfil his request, still confused at his polite requests, and lack of physical abuse to punctuate his demands.
Once his stomach was groaning, Harry stood and stripped. Hurling the clothes into the fire, he moved into the bathroom, and sank into the hot water. Luxuriating in the enormous bath, Harry almost dozed off. It was only when one of the elves nervously interrupted his doze to enquire if he would like the water reheated that he decided that he'd probably been in the water long enough.
He dismissed the trembling elf, and rose from the bath. After drying himself, he put on a robe spun from Acromatula silk. Wandering back to his new lavish bedroom, Harry walked over to the desk, and scanned the titles in the bookshelf. One caught his eye. With a wry smile, he extracted the tome and walked over to the fire. He summoned an elf, and asked that he be told when it was midnight. Sitting in one of the large, soft leather armchairs, Harry started to read.
Voldemort entered a dark room, the only feature a stone pillar standing chest high, a large spherical crystal ball on top. One of his Death Eaters had been staring into the crystal ball's depths, and was startled when he noticed his master at his side.
"What happened? Did he burn the pin with the location charm?"
"Yes, my Lord, but not straight away."
"Explain."
"He settled down to eat first. As soon as he finished, he removed all his clothes and threw them in the fire without hesitation. I do not believe he knew the tracking charm was placed on him."
Voldemort nodded. "Excellent. Potter will make a valued addition to our army. Until we no longer need him."
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