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Elemental Force	By : aikakone Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 3427 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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CHAPTER 8:

Reflections of Light and Dark

History never repeats, I tell myself before I go to sleep.

And there's a light shining in the dark, leading me on towards a change of heart.

~Neil Finn

Ginny in shackles was led from the hovel where she'd been thrown to sleep back into Jonathan's playroom by Theo and another man named Stewart. Most normal people would have called the playroom a torture chamber, but Moss did not think of it in that light at all. He was master of experiments in his room, so for him it did very much feel like play.
"Oh, you made it! So good of you to join me," he said with a glistening smile on his face.
Ginny looked at him from under furrowed brows. You say that as if I've had an invitation! she thought. In the morning she'd been re-cursed with Silencio to take away her physical voice to fight and resist. Mentally she rebelled against him with every fiber of her being.
"I hope you'll like what I've done with the place," he said as he continued to smile.
If he were Gilderoy Lockhart she would have slapped the golden ringlets off his foolish head. As it was, only his horrid smile was like Lockhart.
"Don't be shy," he said as she didn't outwardly respond. "Let me show you around to all the amenities."
He walked her from implement to implement in his own fine torture museum. He chatted a glib explanation as they arrived at each.
"...And this one was used to stretch people to make them taller. We did have short people in the middle ages, you know. There were the few of us who were helping evolution along," he said as they walked passed the rack.
He was clearly in his element and having quite the good time hearing his own voice explaining everything. Ginny tried her best to ignore his prattling and look for any weaknesses in her surroundings. Unfortunately, Jonathan's voice came trailing back into her consciousness.
"No one takes pleasure in a job well done anymore! It's such a shame." He had an appropriately pitying look on his face as he spoke.
"I still believe the old ways are good ways. Look at all of this," his hand waved in presentation before the gathered items in the chamber. "Some of these ideas were pure brilliance, and they just shouldn't be forgotten."
Moss lovingly touched each of the torture implements, and sighed with satisfaction. "You know, it's dirty business doing one's duty, but just occasionally it's a real pleasure. Who am I kidding? For me it's always a pleasure!" Moss sat down in one of his restraining chairs and laughed heartily at his own joke.
"So, my dearest Red, you are probably wondering which of these toys we are going to use today. And the answer is... none of them!" Jonathan continued in his ebullient attitude.
"We have a special surprise for you. But first, up on this table. You remember this table, I'm sure," he said as he made sure she was chained face down on the table.
Quickly after Ginny was secured on the table, Stewart came in to the chamber with several long fire pokers resting against his shoulder in a similar way to that of a Muggle solder marching with a rifle. Frank and Theo brought in several cords of wood and placed it before the fire.
"Wands at ready, men!" Moss commanded.
Stewart put the pokers down in the fire and drew his wand with the other two men. Together the group incanted, "Incendio!" to bring the heat of the flames ever hotter and the metal to a burning glow.
Ginny looked around their bodies and watched in horrible fascination as she saw the metal heat to molten temperature. The once solid rods of metal began to bend softly, entrancing her. It was simultaneously beautiful and dangerous. The rising temperature and molten metal cast long orange shadows in the already dark room.
Each of Jonathan's men withdrew a poker from the fire and then encircled Ginny at her restrained position on the table. Jonathan then put his head softly beside hers and spoke sweetly.
"I didn't say I wouldn't hurt you, Red. I only said you wouldn't have any physical scars. Do be a dear and let out a scream every once in a while. It lets me know I am doing the job correctly." Moss sounded almost grandmotherly to her.
"Uh, boss..." Frank muttered at his shoulder.
"Yes?" he asked with an annoyed sigh.
"She can't scream. You've cursed her with Silencio. Remember?"
"Oh, that's right." Jonathan momentarily gnawed on the inside of his cheek. "Well, look afraid then," he said with a mischievous wink. "No matter what, now I get to see how good the non-scarification charm really is."
~*~*~*~
Spin! he willed.
It remained stationary, not listening to his internal magic command. The mirror was useless in his hand.
Spin, he thought again. Nothing happened, and the werewolf sighed.
He took the cloth that had accompanied the mirror and rubbed it all over. The metal took on a luster that winked enticingly back at him. His mouth tipped at the corners because he knew he would bend the object to his will.
Breathing deeply and centering himself, Remus raised up his open left hand to shoulder height with Ginny's mirror resting on his palm.
"Spiegel, Spiegel in meiner Hand, wo ist die Schönste im das Land?" Lupin said with an Albus-like twinkle in his eye. Then in English, he commanded, "Spin!"
Finally, the mirror started to respond to his magic. From its flat, resting position it stood up to erect attention. Coaxing it gently, Remus slid his hand from underneath it until it was supported by the tip of his index finger. He then raised up his arm so the intersection of his finger and the bottom of the mirror handle was just above his line of vision. Pursing his lips together, he gently but steadily blew out a jet of air.
The mirror began to spin.
He laughed with triumph as he smiled up to the mirror spinning above his outstretched finger. When the white light started to spread from it, the man's face took on a younger, more serene appearance. In the darkened library at the Order Headquarters, it built with the strength of one of the fiercest Patronus charms. Eventually the pristine white light from the mirror became the only light within the room because Remus used his wand to extinguish the orange fires from the fireplace and the lamps.
Not yet daring to remove his hand from underneath the levitating and spinning mirror, he continued to set the rest of his charms in motion with the wand that was held in his other hand. A well-executed swish and flick brought maps gliding from the shelves of the library. Another turn of his wrist brought the desired texts around him. He had topographical maps, Muggle street maps, maps of known magical wards, and several other varieties of map. He also had gathered around him several books with various location and tracking spells. With his wand, Remus made objects dance around the room, floating in an aerial ballet only he conducted.
Before speaking with Molly, Remus hadn't thought of his map-making talent in quite some time. Of course he had a gift with maps; otherwise he and the rest of the Marauders would never have completed their map of Hogwarts! What had once been a teenage fancy for him was going to be unusually useful, or so he certainly hoped.
Again giving words in German, Remus quietly commanded, "Zeigen Sie mir, wo das Mädchen des roten Haares und der braunen Augen ist."
The mirror obeyed casting its light in the room, completely surrounding Remus. The brilliant white light began to change as drawings of the maps began to rise like phantoms from the pages of the books. Lupin took control of the ephemeral images and lined them around himself in the room, guiding them into place with a point of his wand.
He took his hand out from underneath the spinning mirror as he looked at the scenes before him. "Show me," he said out loud. The scenes started to change, and he watched various living pages of light come into view before him.
Seeing several scenes as unsatisfactory, Lupin began to quickly discard several of his options. He needed to move faster, he realized.
"You know her. You belong to her," he said to the inanimate object helping him discern Ginny's whereabouts. "Show me!"
A point of bright red light like a delicate jeweled drop of blood appeared to come out of the mirror glass slowly. It hovered hesitantly and then flashed past Lupin's eyes into the stark white light of the projected map images.
All information around him became as an ocean, and he was drowning in possibilities of where Ginny could be. The pages of the books turned quickly by unseen hands as the red drop swam in and out of the pictures. Remus felt himself pulled along with it as if he were taking a portkey away to the destination where she might actually be.
The red light guided him past Muggle towns and cities, beyond Magical wards. It moved with a dizzying speed, but Remus did not dare blink lest he miss some detail of the journey. The light took him over plains to a forest in the foothills of Scotland and then to an old and decrepit castle.
There, the light entered. Lupin tried to take in everything around it, but the trip of the light was by now moving too fast, winding in the corridors until it reached a room of blazing red, yellow and orange. Remus reflexively put his arm over his face to shield against heat he could imagine but did not feel.
Then he saw them. There were no faces on the men, only their hands and rods of molten metal they held that radiated light from having been stoked in the fire. The group of four moved closer to a table, and then Remus saw her.
It was the red that was unique among shades of red. The long hair that the girl had worn as a lion's mane draped down her back, and nothing else but the freckles in her skin covered her. She was face down on top of the table and her eyes were out of view. Remus knew if he saw them that they'd be brown.
A hand reached out gently across her neck and the hair from over her back to reveal the naked flesh beneath it. As one man got closer to her, Remus knew with absolute horror what was about to happen. "NO!" he shouted, though he could not be heard.
The small body on the table jumped as she was pierced in her side, and she slumped when the rod was withdrawn. Another man came closer to stick the burning rod into a different place. The third and fourth men had their individual turns, giving her almost enough pause to believe the torture was over.
After the last blow, Ginny turned her head so that Remus could finally see her face from the vantage he had of the red guiding light. The brown eyes were hers, but they had no life in them.
"I'll save you," he promised, though she could not hear him. "Please endure," he said as he reached his hand forward to touch the image of the girl.
As impossible as it might have been, he swore for a moment that she had a flicker of recognition in her eyes. That was quickly wiped away when as one the men descended upon Ginny and struck her with their irons.
Suddenly, Remus was forced away from his vision of Ginny convulsing under the attack. Lupin's awareness was pulled to Grimmauld Place with such violence that his body fell backwards to the floor. It knocked the breath out of him, though one thought persisted. He'd found Ginny Weasley!
At that moment, the mirror fell, crashing to the floor and bringing the room into total darkness.
~*~*~*~
Hogwarts, Marauders' 3rd Year
While many of the most memorable moments in his school history had begun at the instigation of James or Sirius, Remus was by no means a completely humorless do-gooder. He was just more proficient at appearing innocent than others, a quality his friends often didn't possess. The beginnings of the Marauders' Map had started with him, and, like many of the other great adventures they had together, it had a humble start.
Remus had been sitting in the library at Hogwarts not doing his homework. He was an intelligent boy, and he was especially thankful for it on those nights when he had to be away due to the full moon because it made making up his work so much easier. This particular time, though, he just didn't feel like doing his work. There wasn't anything other to say about it because he wasn't going to do it.
Instead he was doodling on his parchment, writing the different paths and hallways of Hogwarts. He'd thought of it on his trek to the library that evening and at different times previously while going to and from Gryffindor tower. He already knew at least one secret passage out of the castle, so he was already more knowledgeable about the layout of the school than most of his classmates in any given year.
James Potter entered the library while Remus was sitting there drawing, and he joined his friend at the table once he saw him.
"That sure was a huge amount of homework for History of Magic. How far have you gotten?" Potter questioned.
"I haven't," Remus said dismissively as he continued to draw on his paper.
"What?" James said teasingly. "Wonder boy isn't doing his work? You've been too long with me and Sirius."
Remus smiled up softly from his parchment. "Maybe."
"Well, what is it that you are doing, Moony?" James said, using the nickname Sirius had given him after they'd learned he was a werewolf.
"Just drawing a map of Hogwarts," he said as he sketched a portion of the north tower.
James moved his chair closer to Remus and looked closer at the map. "Wow," he said, clearly impressed. "That's really good! I haven't even seen a map that good in Hogwarts, A History."
Remus snorted at his friend. "You mean you've actually read that?"
James rolled his eyes and complained. "I told you! History of Magic homework."
"Right," Remus said as he continued his drawing.
James looked on for a while, and Remus knew the moment the other boy had an idea. It was some instinct born from their friendship. Remus had joked that he smelled smoke because the gears in the other boy's brain were turning.
"How do you know about those passages?" Potter asked while pointing to a few unofficial exits that Remus had drawn.
"I have to use them when…" he said with a cough, quickly looking around the library. "When… you know."
"Ah-ha…" James said, still thinking about the parchment Remus was making. "So you go through a secret passage out of the castle to get to the Shrieking Shack, right?" Potter, with a light in his eyes, further probed his friend
"Yes, that's right," Remus said warily.
"And no one but you knows about it?" his friend questioned with an almost innocent look.
"Yes. Well, no. Dumbledore knows. What are you thinking, James?" Remus asked with a warning tone.
James put his hands to his lips in the classic look of contemplation. "I wonder how many more secret passageways there are in the castle."
"Tons, I'm sure, but only one that I need to know about to get out on the night of a full moon," Lupin said with his practical side momentarily inhibiting his fun-loving side.
"Are you sure about that? There might be more ways out of the castle, or what would happen if that passage were suddenly blocked? We need to investigate these things." James paused and added for extra sincerity, "It's for your safety, after all."
"Sure it is," Remus finally said sarcastically. "I'm sure you don't have any ulterior motives whatsoever."
"Me? How could you even think such a thing about one of your best friends?" James wore a look of hurt.
"It might be because I know you," Remus answered with a laugh.
Potter dropped his charade. "So what if you do! Can't you imagine the look on Filch's face if we got out of the castle after hours?"
"James! I am ashamed for you," Moony scolded.
"What?" the dark-haired boy questioned with a distasteful look.
"If? If? What's this ‘if' you speak of?" Remus said with a dramatic face as if he was smelling something rotten. "You mean you have doubt it can be done?"
"Now that's the spirit!" James said enthusiastically. "So, what's the plan?"
"Can you draw?" Remus asked simply.
James shrugged, "Quidditch plays, but not this."
"Well, you're about to learn," Lupin said as he shoved parchments in front of him.
His black haired friend looked down and nodded. "Right, and Sirius and Peter can help. The more we spread out, the more we'll find."
"It should be more than just a map. Any buffoon with parchment and ink can make one of those," Remus said as he humorously assessed himself and what he'd just been doing.
"Absolutely," James agreed with an excited light in his eyes, "but how to make it special is the trick, isn't it?"
Before Remus and James could really decide what special features the new map would have, the library became filled up with more students. Seeing a particularly nosey group of Slytherins walking by their table, Lupin quickly charmed his idle map drawings to take on the appearance of homework. No one who was not looking too closely would have been any wiser to the fact that he made it appear the same as the assignment that James had completed.
One particular Slytherin moving at the back of the group stayed behind to accost the two Gryffindor friends.
"There has got to be something wrong here," Severus Snape said in exaggerated disbelief.
"The only thing wrong is you pointing your big nose in my direction, Snape," Potter taunted back at him.
Severus ignored him and looked at the books and parchments piled on the table. "What nefarious business are you up to now?"
"History of Magic," Remus said in partial truth.
Snape looked at the table again and shook his head slowly. "Homework? You, Potter? I didn't know you had it in you!" the Slytherin boy accused.
"Why, I would never do such a thing!" the Gryffindor denied as if actually doing his homework for once was a most heinous crime. "How dare you say that!"
"What's that?" Snape asked while pointing a long finger to the pile of books.
"Oh, that's just Remus trying to set a good example," James lied.
"Yes, that's me," Lupin deadpanned, "trying to show him how he should be doing his homework."
"But me?" James said to his Slytherin foe with a guileless look in eyes. "No, I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
"It's probably the only truthful thing you've ever said, Potter," he said while eyeing both boys.
When Severus decided to go away, and James stared daggers in his back the whole time until the other boy left. There was definitely no love lost between the Gryffindor and the Slytherin, but Remus took back his air of unconcern as he unveiled the map and began drawing again.
"You know, I really wish we could find a way to know who's moving about so we wouldn't get any more surprises from the likes of that one," James said in reference to Snape.
Remus said nothing, but smiled softly while tapping his fingers lightly on his quill in contemplation. He'd think of something.
~*~*~*~
Remus fumbled for his wand in the darkness. "Incendio!" he incanted dryly. In response, the flames came to life in the hearth and in the lamps in the rest of the library.
With the normal levels of light in the room restored, Remus saw that the library was a mess on a level near that of a rampaging centaur or that of a Hogwarts first year. In the center of it all lay Ginny's mirror, reflective side faced down.
"Ginny," he whimpered, scrambling over to the mirror that had aided him in his search.
Where there had once been a graceful fairy, now there was a broken magical creature. Like her, dark thoughts started to intrude.
"No. No!" he said out loud angrily, reaching for the pieces. Not like her, he insisted.
The mirror had fragmented, but two large shards of the reflective glass remained. Remus grasped a piece in each hand in disbelief. Because the mirror had broken, the spell could not be duplicated. He had to find her, and the urgency in that mission was never more important to him.
When he made to stand, a blinding hot pain stabbed him in the middle of his brain as if to crack his skull like a coconut. Lupin fell to his knees, clenching the broken glass tighter in his hands as he went.
He issued several short sharp breaths as he opened his eyes to stare down at his hands in shock. He'd cut himself severely and would need immediate medical attention. Not as much as Ginny, raced a thought by in impish perversion as he wondered in dismay why he'd felt such an intense attack of pain.
Again Lupin tried to stand and walk away from the room. He needed to find the others and tell them what he'd learned. He walked a few steps with blood dripping from his hands as he went. The werewolf had almost made it to the door when again he felt an overwhelming surge of pain. It was so intense that a howl was ripped out of his throat before he could bar its escape.
He'd again clutched the pieces of mirror tighter in his hands as the pain sensation swept through his body. He'd noted on some level that the webbing by his thumb was being severed and the muscle soon to follow.
Let go of the glass, Remus, he told himself, but his body did not respond. Instead the site of attack moved to his abdomen. He'd put one hand there in sympathetic reaction, as if touching himself there he could stop it. His other hand slammed down on the floor so close to the door.
He wasn't sure why, but some sense in him felt that if he could leave the room the pain would stop. It was a blind hope, but it was all he had. He tried to inch forward, but his progress was slowed. He realized he'd been cut in more places than his hands. I didn't do that, one of his internal voices insisted.
He bellowed out in pain once more, but Remus knew he finally wasn't alone in the old Black House. He saw the three mismatched pairs of feet race into the room and gather around him, but he heard nothing above the thrumming of blood in his own ears. Finally, as he doubled over, bleeding all over himself and the floor, he heard the high-pitched and frightened shriek.
"REMUS LUPIN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

~*~*~*~

The Neil Finn quote is from "History Never Repeats", performed by Split Enz on the album Corroboree (Australia) or Waiata (the rest of the world).
�You know, it's dirty business doing one's duty, but just occasionally it's a real pleasure,� comes from the movie The Patriot (2000), directed by Roland Emmerich.
The two German quotes are to mean, �Mirror, mirror, in my hand, where is the most beautiful in the land?� and �Show me where the girl with red hair and brown eyes is.�
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Elemental Force