Memoirs of a Serpent's Son

Memoirs of a Serpent’s Son

--Age 17—part 36

March 1

We woke early this morning. Harry hardly slept all night, if he did at all. He paced around the room while I watched him until I could no longer force my eyes open and had to give in to sleep.

I don’t know if he let himself do the same, but he was lying next to me when I woke up.

He was watching me calmly. I was rather surprised to see his eyes open and so close to mine first thing in the morning.

“Harry?” I muttered huskily through the grogginess of sleep. “What is it?”

He paused and shifted in his position to face me better. His expression didn’t change but I could tell that there was something off about the way he was looking at me.

“I don’t think you should come today,” he finally told me. I opened my mouth to speak but he cut me off. “You were right before. Whether that article was a warning to you or an attempt to make your life more difficult, I don’t know. Either way, it is true that you need to be more careful. It’s not safe for you to leave the house that much… you are almost as wanted as I am to the Death-Eaters.”

I held my breath for a moment before letting out a disbelieving chuckle. He looked confused.

“Harry,” I said quietly. “It’s not safe for you to go either, but does that mean you are going to stay behind? No. There is not way I’m going to let you go off without me. Especially not considering your track record and insatiable need to play the hero. I know the risks and I’m coming along.”

I didn’t let him answer. I simple rolled out of bed and began to dress myself. I donned all black again, though this time I picked up the black cloak that Remus had given me for Christmas… the cloak that belonged to Sirius… and carried it with me.

I looked back at with a smirk. He was glaring at me as he got out of bed as well and dressed himself in all black to match me. He picked up his own cloak and nodded as we left to wash and get some breakfast.

Once we got down to the kitchen, we found Granger sitting next to Weasley and his sister, apparently still hoping to comfort them. Fred and George had apparently gone, along with both their parents. Longbottom sat looking rather petrified next to Lovegood who was staring dazedly off into the distance.

“Morning,” Harry greeted everyone though his tone was flat and emotionless. I nodded to them as they looked up.

“Ah, you’re all here already,” Remus said off-handedly as he walked into the room. Tonks followed him in and Moody was close behind her. “Are you all going?”

“Yes,” Granger, Weasel, Longbottom and I answered in unison before Harry could open his mouth to speak. He bit his tongue and stared determinately at Remus who gave him a calculating look.

“You must all be aware of the terrible dangers that could, and likely will, present themselves,” he warned. “We are not only venturing into a Muggle establishment but it is a marked Death-Eater zone. There have been many attacks in surrounding areas recently and no less than seven Dark Marks cast there. You must not take anything lightly. Every little detail could be a warning sign. Do you understand?”

“Constant vigilance,” I said, reminding myself of what Moody continued to promote. There was no sarcasm in my voice. His blue eye swiveled around and came to land on me. I felt it burn through me but he gave me a satisfied nod.

“Do you have any idea of what awaits you, or how you are going to go about this?” Remus asked, mainly to Harry.

“Well, er,” Harry began, unsure of his response. This was really the worst time to look uncomfortable or unprepared. “We can’t really know exactly what’s waiting there… but Voldemort’s defenses are always elaborate and very dangerous. We just have to keep on our toes.”

Remus eyed him but thought better of answering and simply nodded. Then he pulled something out of his pocket. It looked to be a torn length of a leather belt.

“We’ve created a Portkey to bring you all there,” he explained. “It is only good for one trip and no return. You’ll have to Apparate back. I imagine you can all Apparate, yes?”

Everyone nodded and Harry took the belt from Remus.

“Aren’t you three coming?” Harry asked worriedly.

“’Course we are,” Moody growled. “But we’ll be Apparating ahead of time to scout out the area and set up illusion charms to protect you lot while you’re there. Muggles won’t be able to see what’s going on. It’s not a perfect defense, but we trust that you are all well aware by now that no defense is perfect. And as Malfoy there said, you need constant vigilance!”

“The Portkey is set to transport you in ten minutes,” Remus explained, glancing at his watch. “We’ll Apparate now, but you should all be prepared and touching it before the time comes. Good luck.”

And without another word the three adults vanished before our eyes with faint cracking sounds. I turned to Harry who was still staring at the spot from which Remus disappeared, holding the length of belt tightly in his hand.

“I suppose there’s nothing left for us to wait for,” Harry whispered. He turned to the rest of them. “Are you all ready?”

Everyone nodded gravely and got to their feet. I stood close to Harry as he held out the piece of leather for everyone to touch.

“I should warn you all,” he said. He looked as though he feared he was leading us all to our deaths. “Voldemort’s traps are depraved and deadly. He abuses of your fears and your morals to destroy you… Whatever happens, don’t forget that. You might have to do something horrible just to save yourself or someone else… but you can’t feel guilty… It’ll kill you.”

No one quite knew what to say to that. What could we say?

Harry Potter had just told us that if the moment came to decide between doing something depraved to save our own skin, or refuse and die, that we should save ourselves. He told us not to feel guilty for doing something fundamentally wrong.

I took a moment to think on everything that had happened so far, remembering the Harry that had placed morals and ethics above all… the Harry that was a Gryffindor down to the bone and courageous and noble to a fault…

But I suppose he never really was that at all. He never really was only a Gryffindor. He’s been forced into situations where he’s acted like a Slytherin. Where he’s done something horrible in favour of a greater purpose. He’s acted without thinking and ignored the plainly terrible things he’s done… perhaps because he’s known all along that he had no choice.

But from the way Harry stared at the belt in his hand I could tell that none of that ever justified these actions to him. I could tell that somewhere deep down, beyond the places that he freely shows the world, he maintains that constant guilt and will never be able to let it go.

Perhaps somewhere deep down he thinks he’s becoming Voldemort just to destroy him.

……

I think he’s wrong.

“This is it,” he whispered as the clocked ticked by and finally the moment came.

There was a familiar old tug behind my navel as I was hurtled through space with the rest of them to an unfamiliar place… surrounded by a group of people I thought would always be my enemies.

We were in a courtyard in front of a massive building.

It was eerie and trepidation lingered on the air, pressing into my pores and crawling up my spine to shorten my breaths and unnerve me completely. It was strangely dark for this time of morning. The trees around the place spawned from the ground like sharpened antlers. They were black and dead and creaked unpleasantly in the soft wind.

The ground was grey everywhere. The grass, the dirt, the little stones and everything beneath our feet was monochromatic as it drew the eye towards the dilapidated ruins of what was once an orphanage.

The building itself might once have seemed welcoming… perhaps. Maybe in its earliest years. But the crumbling grey walls were now covered with a poisonous looking ivy that extended and grew in dangerous tendrils over every bit of stone it could touch. The cracked and broken windows whistled and howled in the early morning breeze and reminded me of ghouls.

The doorway was black and foreboding with its massive door. Thick, old-fashioned steel hinges kept the wood in place and barred us entry. I glanced around and saw that the property spread out far behind the building and was fenced off in areas with black iron. We couldn’t see Remus, Tonks or Moody, though they were surely there.

Every so often there was a crackle on the air from a newly formed illusion charm.

“Let’s go,” Harry muttered, heading towards the door.

I followed quickly, glancing around myself as we went and listening hard for any indication that there might be danger… or rather, danger that we were not previously aware of. The whole damn place reeked of danger and ill-fated omens.

Harry stopped in front of the door and let his fingers trace over some of the ancient runes that were engraved deeply into the wood. He glanced over to Granger as if waiting for some explanation but she simply shook her head. This was not the kind of rune-work that was taught in schools, I imagined.

Definitely not.

Harry tried to open the door but the handle did not turn. He cast several unlocking charms but none of those worked either.

“How do we get in?” Weasly asked, staring worriedly at the entrance. Harry let his eyes rove over every groove in the door before shaking his head.

“It probably needs another blood sacrifice,” he answered quietly.

Before I could stop him, he raised a knife that he’d pulled from nowhere and cut his hand. Placing the bleeding wound onto the door, some, but not all, of the runes glowed a faint green. He tried to turn the handle but nothing happened.

“Why isn’t it working?” he inquired to no one in particular.

“Perhaps you need to put your hand on the handle instead,” Granger suggested.

Harry did just that and yet, this time, none of the runes glowed at all.

“Let me try,” I offered, taking his knife and cutting my own hand instead. I placed my hand on the door where he had and a different number of the runes glowed green, but the door still did not budge.

“What the hell is this?” Harry demanded angrily. “How are we supposed to get in now? It clearly wants blood. Why won’t it take ours?”

I stared at the wood and blinked several times. Then, coming to the obvious conclusion, I cursed myself under my breath.

“This is an orphanage,” I told him quietly. I don’t know why but I had the distinct impression that someone was listening in. “It probably needs a child’s blood.”

Harry thought on my words.

“I suppose no one would want to spill a child’s blood to get in,” Harry argued logically. “And no one who would come looking for this is likely to bring a child along, are they?” He looked at me and I nodded. “But that leaves us with a problem. We don’t have a child’s blood either.”

I smirked.

“No,” I admitted. “But we do conveniently have two under-aged witches here. I’m sure that it would mean the same thing to Voldemort.”

I turned to the She-Weasel and Lovegood who both stared back at me with very different looks in their eyes.

“Give me the knife,” the She-Weasel demanded, holding her hand out. I shook my head.

“I think Lovegood should do it,” I told her.

“What the hell for?” she snapped. I rolled my eyes.

“Various details about your personalities,” I drawled. “Make is so that she is better suited to this than you are. This is nothing personal.” I added, though in some way it kind of was.

I handed Lovegood the knife and she looked gave me a strange look before dragging the blade along her palm. She stepped forwards and placed her bleeding hand on the door where Harry and I had both put ours. This time all the runes on the door glowed a faint orange before the handle clicked.

Harry stepped up and pushed the thing open only to stop dead at the sight that he was met with.

Just past the doorframe was hanging and thin black veil. It swayed lightly in the wind and there was nothing but darkness behind it. Harry was rooted in his spot, staring at the veil with wide eyes and alarm.

“What is it?” I asked him, careful not to step forward either.

“The veil,” he whispered. “It can’t be.”

“Like at the Department of Mysteries,” Granger whispered from behind me. “The Veil of Death.”

My eyes widened not only at her words but at Harry’s hand as he held it out to touch the black flowing material in front of him. I caught his hand and pulled him back, stopping him from touching it. I gave him a hard look.

“If this is a death veil,” I warned him. “Then you are most certainly not going to be the one to test it.”

I took a step forwards and reached out my left hand to push past the veil before Harry could stop me. I felt the soft material against my hand as I passed through, but other than that there was nothing unusual. I pulled my hand back and noticed no signs of anything deadly.

“I think it’s safe,” I whispered. Harry glared at me and pushed past.

I stepped in right after him and was followed by Lovegood and Longbottom. The door then swung shut with a loud bang and a click. Harry and I whirled around to see the entrance closed and half of our group was still on the other side.

“The door!” Harry cried, running back to it and tugging at the handle. Nothing happened but we could hear voices on the other side.

“Harry! Harry! Are you there?!” Granger’s voice was calling.

“Hermione! The door is shut!” he called back, casting whatever spells he could. “There’s no way to open it!”

I started casting spells on the hinges instead, hoping that if we could release them then we could open the door from the other side instead. Nothing was working. It was tightly sealed.

“Harry, we can’t open it from here either! Ginny’s blood won’t work!” Weasley screamed. “It’s been sealed!”

Harry looked over at me with wide eyes and then cast his gaze around the room to find something that might help open the door. There was nothing at all.

“We’re going to keep going!” Harry cried out finally, unable to find a better option. “You keep trying the door while we go look for the Horcrux!”

“Alright Harry!” came the muffled agreement.

Harry turned to the rest of us and was breathing hard.

“This is not good,” he whispered. “Stick close together and do NOT let any doors close between us any more. Anything and everything can be a trap.”

We nodded and he stepped through us towards the staircase. The floor creaked unpleasantly beneath us as we cautiously made our way through the dark orphanage. It was nearly impossible to see anything.

Harry finally stopped to cast a Lumos spell and I did the same. We held our wands up around to inspect the base of the staircase. There were cobwebs and thick layers of dust everywhere.

“Why are we going upstairs?” I asked quietly, a sense of dread washing over me as my eyes tried to penetrate the darkness at the top of the stairs.

“Because we’re going to his room… when he was here,” Harry whispered, testing the bottom step with his foot. It didn’t give under his weight and he stepped up.

I followed him up and Longbottom and Lovegood followed me. I held my wand out carefully before me as we walked, trying to take in everything I could. The darkness was oppressive and the silence was nearly deafening. It was as though this was the place where sound went to die. Our whispers and words fell short of each other’s ears the deeper we pressed into the house.

We reached the landing and looked around. The corridor was long and even darker than the rest of the house. The broken windows let no light pass through them from anywhere. It was as though were in here in the dead of night.

The light from the tips of our wands shrunk until it hardly lit anything at all.

“What’s going on?” I asked. The only time I’ve ever seen light put out this way was when I’d used the Peruvian Darkness Powder. But this was unreal…

“I don’t know,” Harry whispered, taking deep and calculated breaths.

Something was wrong. It was too quiet. It was too dark and nothing was around us. There should have been a trap by now, shouldn’t there?

He led us down the hall and finally stopped in front of a door. He considered it for a moment before he tried to push it open. It didn’t move.

“Luna, is your hand still bleeding?” Harry asked her. She nodded and came up to place her hand on the door, but nothing happened.

“What now?” I asked, studying the door carefully.

“I…” Harry began, but his eyes landed on something. All around the doorway and spreading over the walls and down to the ground where the walls met the floor, were plants with little white flowers. I hadn’t noticed it before. Harry reached out to grab one but Longbottom stopped him.

“Harry, don’t,” he warned. “That’s Asphodel… It’s poisonous to Humans and…”

“And what?” I asked urgently. He was looking around himself in fear.

“It’s the food of the dead,” he whispered in horror. I caught Harry’s eye for a moment.

“We need to get into that room,” Harry said determinately. “And get out of here as quickly as possible.”

“How do we get in?” I inquired, looking for a sign on the door.

“Maybe it needs a new blood offering,” Harry suggested. He turned to Longbottom sadly.

“It’s alright, Harry,” he squeaked, taking the knife from Lovegood and cutting his own hand. He placed it on the door handle and glowed yellow momentarily before swinging wide open.

We all hurried into the room before the door shut on us but this time it didn’t close behind us.

We stopped in the centre of the room and gaped at the scene.

The entire room was filled with plant-life. There were flowers of all sorts sprouting from vines that covered the walls and crawled over the bed. The floor was soft and squishy beneath our feet as we realized it was grassy and felt like the earth.

“What is this?” I asked, trying not to step too near a plant that was pulsating with pustules that looked about ready to pop. There were flowers that snapped at you as you got close and the vines slithered around like snakes.

“I dunno,” Harry admitted, surveying the plants carefully. “I’ve never faced plants before…” He trailed off and then held his hand out to point at something. “There! That’s his cupboard.”

Shrouded by foliage and plants, just against the far wall of the room was a large cupboard. The wood was rotten and moldy. The brass handles looked rusted and old and the plants that crept out from behind the closed doors were leafy and unpleasant looking.

“I bet the cup is in there,” Harry explained. “He used to hide things he stole from other kids in that thing.”

He stepped towards it but I stopped him.

“Let someone else do it,” I warned. I stepped up and carefully tugged at the door to open it, but it only opened enough to see inside… not enough to fit. The leafy plant was threatening to burst out of the cupboard as I tried to peer in.

I saw it, sitting on a small pedestal in the back of the cupboard. A golden cup shone through the darkness of the leaves. I reached in to get it but I couldn’t reach.

“I can’t fit in there,” I told them, turning back. “It’s too far to reach without going in but I can’t fit.”

My eyes fell onto Lovegood again. She was small and thin and surely could manage to get into the cupboard without much trouble.

“No,” Harry said, noticing what I was thinking. “We can’t send Luna in there. I’ll try to fit.”

“No, you idiot,” I told him. “You won’t be able to and even if we managed to get you in, you won’t be able to get out. What help would it be if you got the cup but were stuck in there with it?”

“And that plant is dangerous,” Longbottom warned further. “It’s Alihotsy. If you eat it, it causes hysteria.”

“I’ll go in,” Lovegood agreed. “I’m not afraid of madness.”

I couldn’t help but smirk slightly at her comment as she made her way up to me and looked in the door.

“I’ll hold the door for you, in case it tries to close,” I told her. She nodded to me and stepped into the cupboard.

I watched closely as she tried to push through the leaves to get to the cup. Every time she moved, however, the plant seemed to close in and wrap around her as it could, always trying to push towards her face.

“Don’t eat it!” I warned, holding the door as I could. Harry joined me as we held it back. It fought against our hold and Longbottom rushed up to cast whatever spells he could think of to get the plant off of her.

“Got it!” she cried out pushing her way back to the little exit. The plant attacked her harder and wrapped its leafy vines around her face and forced her mouth open. She chucked the cup out to Longbottom and tore at the plant, pushing her way back out.

But it was no use. It kept up the gag until she bit down onto the tendril to break it.

Lovegood jumped out and spat out whatever was in her mouth but it was too late.

She was already laughing hysterically and grasping at the cup that she had thrown to Longbottom. Having pried it from his grasp, she was clutching it like a lifeline and had curled herself up into a ball.

“Ahaha! It’s mine, now it’s mine!” she cried out. Harry and I let go of the door and it shut immediately.

We ran over to her and tried to calm her down. Harry took her arms as I fought for the cup. She hissed and spat like an angry cat as I tore it from her hands.

“No! You cannot have it!” She screamed, clawing at my hands. “It’s mine, it’s mine! The Blibbering Humdingers will have you! I’ll get them, I will! Give it back you stupid pixie!”

She grew violent as Harry and I fought with her to calm her down. She dug her nails into the skin of my arms and tried to claw at my face while Harry held her back. Longbottom held the cup away from her and was looking around the room as though hoping to find something.

“Longbottom, what are you doing?!” I shrieked, throwing her off of me. She broke free of Harry’s grasp and was reaching for her wand.

“I’m looking for a Glumbumble!” he cried out as though this should have been explanation enough. I snarled and raised my wand at her finally.

“This has gone far enough!” I cried. “Petrificus Totalus!” Lovegood immediately stopped struggling and went rigid from my spell. “Mobilicorpus!” I added and she was levitated into the air, floating along with my wand. I walked over and picked up her fallen wand.

“This is bad,” Harry said. “We have to get out of here and get her back to Grimmauld Place so that we can treat her.”

“But we need to go back and get the others,” I said, despite myself.

“Let’s get moving,” Harry said.

We rushed back through the door but as soon as we stepped over the threshold, we found ourselves standing in front of a rather sickening sight.

All the way down the hallway, picking at the little white flowers and munching on them were innumerable Inferi… as they looked up at us with their sightless eyes, we realized that they were all –each and every last one of them –children.

Some looked no older than five, while others looked as though they could have been thirteen. I gaped in horror at the thought of so many children dead and unable to lie to rest. Their hands and faces were wrought with decay. Their faces broke into frightening smiles of missing and broken teeth.

They hissed and bounded towards us all together, screeching at the top of their lungs. I flicked my wand up and lifted Lovegood above their heads as Harry, Longbottom and I tried to push forward, through the throng of dead children who clawed and screeched at us.

They were vicious. The jumped on us and beat us down as we tried to get through.

“Destroy them!” I heard Harry scream from just behind me. “Use the spell! They are already dead!”

I felt a pang in my gut and knew he was right. I had to kill them… had to destroy them. In any other circumstance I would not have given it a second thought but something about the knowledge that these were just little children… abused and used as a trap, hit home…

“Deleocorpus!” I screamed, using Lovegood’s wand to cast them aside. We broke through a number of them as one small child caught fire and exploded.

We ran towards the stairway but there were deafening shrieks behind me. I spun around and realized that the Inferius that had exploded had caused the old wood to catch fire as well and now the hallway was going up in flames.

The plants along the walls shriveled and curled under the heat of the flames and the horde of vicious children screeched and surged forward, after us, just to get away from the fire.

“RUN!” I screamed, stampeding back down the stairs, flicking Lovegood ahead of me as I went.

The sudden forcefulness of our steps proved to be too much and one of the stairs gave way underneath me, letting my leg crash through the wood. I screamed as I felt splinters stab through my leg and tried desperately not to lose my hold on Lovegood.

“Draco!” Harry screamed, grabbing my arm to hoist me up. The fire had already spread fast and the stairs were getting hot around me.

Harry tugged me out of my trap and the wood tore a wide cut through my leg, but we couldn’t stop. The orphans were stampeding toward us, clawing at whatever they could to escape the burning end that awaited them.

I tumbled down more stairs and skidded to a halt at the entranceway.

Harry ran forward to try the door but it was still sealed shut.

“Try the back!” he screamed, pointing to the small hallway next to the staircase.

We spun around and ran out looking for any sign of light ahead. The darkness was fading with the fire as it grew, but the air was now thick with smoke and ash.

We trampled anything that was underneath us, feeling the sharp hands of the orphans on the backs of our legs as we scrambled to escape. I came to a door and I started jiggling the handle to push it open but it wouldn’t budge either.

“Stand back!” Harry yelled, pushing me aside. “REDUCTO!” he screamed and the door blasted open. “Come on!”

I did not have to be told twice. I rushed through the door with Lovegood still in tow, trying to make sure I didn’t send her hurtling directly into the wall or the blazing surroundings. I forced my way out after Harry, scrambling out onto the grey lawn that spread out behind the building.

“HARRY!” a panicked voice called from within the house. I spun around again and saw that Longbottom was being attacked by seven dead children in one go. They scraped at his face and tried to push past him to get out into the fresh, safe air, where there was no threat of fire.

“Deleocorpus!” Harry screamed, aiming his wand at one of the children. It exploded in a cloud of ash and some of the others loosened their grip on Longbottom. Harry and I rushed forwards to pry them off of him and as soon as we managed to thrust him out of the house we slammed the door again and cast spells to lock and bind it in place.

Through the tiny window in the door, the little dead faces of the orphans pressed up against the glass and pleaded with us to let them out. To set them free and save them from their flaming end.

I swallowed hard and cast an illusion charm over the window to bar their faces from view.

We stood there for a few moments, gasping for breath and trying to reassert ourselves… regain our composure. I tried desperately to push those image out of my mind but found it hard.

“It’s over now,” I whispered, placing my hand on Harry’s shoulder to calm him too. “It’s over… we’re out.”

“Yeah,” Harry answered weakly, his eyes shut, probably trying to rid himself of those images as well. “It’s alright…”

“I don’t think so,” a voice came from directly behind us. “Give me your wands.”

Harry and I froze. Who was that? What was going on?!

I turned slowly and came face to face with the unseen attacker. Longbottom was lying sprawled on the ground and Lovegood was still floating motionless in mid-air.

“I said give me your wands!”

Ginny Weasley had both hers and Longbottom’s wands trained on Harry and I.

-------IIIIIII-------

A/N: ZOMG CAN IT BE?

Hahaha you’ll have to wait and seeeeeee!

Let’s all remember that I’m not completely crazy and that I don’t do things just because I hate a character, neh?

The only thing I’m going to explain right here is the reasoning behind the plants. Here’s what I figure… though it could be completely pointless.

Slytherin’s locket was hidden in a cave and to get to it Dumbledore had to drink a potion that caused hysteria or whatever (something anyway). The way I set it up for Gryffindor’s Shield, it took mainly pure strength and determination along with some Defense Against the Dark Arts tactics to get out of there alive. On some level I think that the traps set for the Horcruxes are reflections of the person to whom the object once belonged. The Diary proved Voldemort was Heir of Slytherin and it was found/destroyed in the Chamber of Secrets (though it was in Lucius’ possession before that… that’s a more complicated matter). As for the Gaunt Ring, we don’t know what it was that was hidden in that cottage for Dumbledore to work with.

Herbology, in my opinion, in a Hufflepuff kind of subject as it requires not only intelligence but a lot of hard work and effort to be able to take care of those plants. Potions (locket) is a Slytherin thing… and Defense Against the Dark Arts and nerve and all that are Gryffindor things. In my opinion anyway.

So they dealt with plants. Plants and Inferi, of course, because who doesn’t want to deal with Inferi?

The Inferi were basically the kids from the orphanage and I made them children also because of the intense moral issue it causes when you realize that you will have to destroy a child (even if they are already dead). It’s just an inhuman thing to do and seems very Voldemort-like if you ask me.

Anyway, I hope you agree. This took forever to write, sorry about that. I missed posting yesterday because it was Canada Day and I went out for fireworks with my cousins :) Which was fun heheheh

Anywho, thanks for the reviews and for following this still and everything! I’m rather sad that it’s coming to an end actually but I suppose it needs to. As everything does.

Love and treats to all!