|
||||||||
|
||||||||
Author: vegasdude555 Story: Harry Potter and the Tear of the Phoenix Rating: Teens Status: WIP Warning: Violence, death, extreme language Reviews: 16 Words: 34,404
Winston Benson’s insides felt like they were on fire and he had lost track of time since his capturer had started torturing him. He knew what the man in the dark robes wanted; he also knew that if this mysterious man ever learned Winston’s secret that there would be dark times ahead for everyone. The man kept circling the chair that Winston had been tied to, stopping only to torture him or to ask more questions. “You do know it’s inevitable, I will get what I want one way or another,” said the man in the dark black robes in a steady but powerful voice. “That may be true, but you won’t get what you want from me,” said Winston in the most defying voice he could manage. The man then stopped directly behind Winston’s chair and slowly walked close enough that Winston could hear his whisper. “You talk like you have nothing to lose,” said the man in a voice that tortured Winston as much as the Cruciatus Curse. “You can do what you want to me, but you will never get the answer you seek.” The man then walked in front of Winston’s chair and kneeled down so he was level with Winston’s face but still far enough that his facial characteristics couldn’t be see from the shadow of the room. “Then the death of your family are on your hands, not mine,” replied the Dark wizard not giving Winston anytime to say anything and walked away from his captive. The man then opened a door letting in the first hint of light that Winston had seen since he had been caught. He walked out the door as Winston watched it slam behind him. Many things were running through Winston’s mind; he just prayed to God that someone from the Department of Mysteries had noticed he was missing and got his family to safety. ~*~ Harry found himself walking the great hall many times in his dreams, which was where he was now. He knew that all he had to do to stop this tortuous nightmare before it went to far was to wake up, but he never could gather the strength to leave the people that waited for him. He walked slowly through the hall; it was still carved with gashes and craters from the battle but those scars never distracted him from his destination. There they were, standing in the center of the hall, waiting for Harry to arrive like they had so many times before. He walked slowly till he finally reached the spot where Fred, Remus, Tonks, Sirius, Dumbledore, and his parents waited for him. They didn’t speak only stared at him with eyes full of disappointment. Harry slowly stuck is hand out to touch his mum but she stepped away with a look of disgust painted on her face. Harry pulled his hand back to himself, slowly looking at his dead friends and family. “I’m sorry, I should have done more.” “You left us, Harry,” replied Dumbledore, the man that had always helped Harry find his way. “You let us die.” Harry fell to his knees, clutching his hands to his eyes as if he was trying to force the tears that were coming out back where they came from. “I’m so sorry, I did all I could,” replied Harry, now staring at the feet of the group. “It wasn’t enough, Harry. Didn’t I teach you to do more… to be more,” said Remus Lupin in a voice that was filled with disappointment. Harry felt as if he had been punched in the gut; he couldn’t hold it anymore and let the tears and sobs out of his body. He kept on telling himself he should have done more, he never should have allowed any of them to get involved. It was his destiny, not theirs; if anyone should have died it should have been him but instead he had let them down, he had let them all die. Harry was then grabbed strongly by the hands of Fred Weasley. He looked into his eyes, trying to find something other than the pain he could feel coming from their bodies, but he found nothing. Fred then started to shake him more violently but instead of yelling how Harry had let him down he shouted, “Harry, wake up! Wake up! It’s just a dream, mate.” Harry awoke with a start to see that it wasn’t Fred who was shaking him but Ron with a face full of fear. Ron let go of Harry as he saw his eyes open; Harry slowly sat up and reached for his glasses sitting on the nightstand next to him. “Sorry,” was the only thing Harry could manage to say. “Sorry isn’t going to cut it mate,” said Ron with worry. “You can’t go on like this, this is the fourth time this month I’ve woken up to hearing you scream you’re sorry.” “I’m sorry, I’ll try to be more quiet,” replied Harry feeling his temper rise. “You know that’s not what I mean, Harry,” said Ron with sympathy. “I don’t care getting woken up, I care that you let yourself get tortured every night without doing anything about it.” “So what do you want me to do about it?” “I don’t know… talk about it I guess,” said Ron taking a seat next to Harry on his bed. “You can’t keep this bottled up; it might help you to let it out.” All the anger that was starting to rise from Harry faded with Ron’s last words. He knew that Ron only wanted to help, but he also knew that, if he were to tell anyone about his dreams, they would only tell him that he shouldn’t blame himself, that he had to let it go, not to mention no one wanted to be reminded of the loved ones they had lost that night. “Look, I’ll think about it okay,” said Harry in the most convincing voice, hoping that it would be enough to change the subject. “I want you to promise me.” “I promise,” said Harry hesitantly. “Good,” replied Ron starting to stand up from Harry’s bed. “Mum flooed this morning and said that they’re waiting for us at the Burrow to open gifts, so you better hurry and get ready. You know how us Weasleys don’t like to wait to open our gifts.” Harry just smiled. “Yeah, I know. Let me just shower real quick and we’ll head over,” he said while getting fully out of bed to walk to the shower. ~*~ Harry and Ron arrived at the Burrow quickly after Harry had washed up and readied himself for the day. They walked through the back door and stopped at the open entrance that led to the sitting room. It was still filled with Mrs. Tonks, Teddy, and the Weasleys except for Charlie who had to get back to Romania for a new Dragon hatchling. The men looked to be immersed into a deep conversation about the next World Cup, while the women and Teddy were all circled around Ginny, still talking about last night’s engagement. All restless feelings that Harry had felt from his dream vanished with the blissful sight of Ginny. It warmed his heart thinking of how it didn’t matter how low he was: as long as he had Ginny, he knew those terrible feelings would never last. Ron then broke the silence saying, “Oi, let’s open the gifts or get some breakfast,” with a giant smile. Immediately everyone turned around to see Harry and Ron standing in the doorway, all saying Happy Christmas. Harry however was to busy returning the smile Ginny was giving him to say anything to anyone, but he was quickly snapped out of his trance as Mrs. Weasley engulfed him in a very familiar, bone-crushing hug. “Happy Christmas, Mrs. Weasley,” said Harry while trying to catch his breath from the hug. “Happy Christmas, dear,” replied Mrs. Weasley while letting him get some air, before quickly grabbing him again into another intense hug. “Do you think his fiancée could have a turn?” asked Ginny in a playful voice as she walked towards them. “Of course, of course,” replied Mrs. Weasley, finally letting go of Harry for good. After her mother had finally moved out of her way, Ginny grabbed Harry and hugged him. This hug was very different: not nearly as tight but filled with much more emotion. She parted from him and looked into his face while her hands still rested on his shoulders. She then closed the very small gap between them and kissed him, thrusting him back into the memory of their first kiss and how wonderful it had felt to finally be doing what his heart had been begging him to do for months. It was bliss feeling Ginny’s light lips. It was an escape from the real world every time they shared a kiss no matter how many times they had done it. Harry then pulled away, softly gazing into Ginny’s beautiful face knowing that his life could hardly get better. “Happy Christmas, Ginny,” he said softly so only she could hear him. “Happy Christmas, Harry,” replied Ginny. “Do you think you guys could knock off the public display long enough to open gifts and get some food into me?” asked Ron who was quickly elbowed by Hermione and glared at by Fleur and Mrs. Weasley. “Congratulations!” Said Mrs. Tonks breaking the awkward silence in the room. “But I think Teddy agrees with Ron and is ready for some more gifts as well.” “Well, we can’t keep him waiting!” replied Harry while grabbing Teddy from the ground and taking him to the gifts that circled the tree. Mr. Weasley then waved his wand sending a gift to each person surrounding the tree. Harry was happy to see that he was the only one that had gotten the children small hovering brooms, even though Fleur and Mrs. Tonks thought they were still to young to have them. Both Mr. and Mrs. Weasley loved the gifts that Harry had gotten them, but he couldn’t help but notice Mrs. Weasley shake her head when her husband spared no time and started to read about Muggle airplanes. Harry had also made a killing this Christmas: he had gotten the traditional Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes joke items from George, two tickets to a Chudley Cannons game from Ron, a book from Hermione titled The Mind of a Dark Wizard, some French candy from Fleur and Bill that they had purchased while visiting Fleur’s parents, a pair of noiseless step boots from Charlie that were made for stealth, and his favorite gift, the famous Weasley jumper. These were the moments that made Harry the happiest. Nothing was better than watching people he cared for just enjoying being with one and another. Harry couldn’t but smile when Teddy ran to Ginny to show her his new Quidditch action figures that flew around passing a Quaffle that he had gotten from Ron. Ginny just laughed when he sat in her lap and changed his hair color to a red that rivaled her own. It gave Harry a glimpse of the future seeing him so at ease with her, and if no one would have known that it was Teddy he could have been mistaken as their child with his natural green eyes and red hair. Harry just sat and stared at them play until he was interrupted by Hermione taking a seat next to him. “I never really got a chance to congratulate you,” said Hermione joyfully. “Thanks, Hermione,” replied Harry. “I don’t think I’ve been happier.” “I can tell, Harry. It shows.” Harry just stared at her before returning his gaze to Ginny, who was now tickling Teddy. “So why aren’t your parents here?” asked Harry. “They decided to spend Christmas at their cabin in Australia,” replied Hermione. “They really just fell in love with that place during the war, they just couldn’t bring themselves to sell it after having lived in it for almost a year.” Harry couldn’t help but remember how long it took for the Ministry and Hermione to track down her parents after the war had ended. It turned out that they had moved to a more secluded area of Australia rather than the destination that Hermione had arranged for them. But after a three-week search their memories had been returned to them and they had been glad to have their daughter back. “Well I’m sure they miss you,” said Harry, sensing a bit of sadness that she wasn’t with them. “I’m sure you could talk Ron into Apparating over there to surprise them after dinner,” he added, hoping that the suggestion might brighten her mood. “You know Harry, that is not that bad of an idea. Plus Ron is more likely to agree to anything on a full stomach,” said Hermione with a small smile. “Well you won’t have to wait long, I think Mrs. Weasley is about done preparing it.” Just as Hermione was about to say something back to him, Mr. Weasley asked her to come over and explain something he had just read in his book. She smiled and walked to where he was sitting and started to look at it. Harry was about to stand up and ask Mrs. Weasley if she needed any help preparing dinner when Ginny found her way to him and asked him if he’d like to take a walk with her. Harry stood up from his seat, took her hand and walked out the front door. “So how has your Christmas been so far?” he asked as they stopped at the wooden fence that bordered the property. “Unforgettable and exhausting,” replied Ginny laughing. “Teddy has way too much energy!” “Takes after his mum in that department,” said Harry with a small laugh of his own. “I think you’re right, I just hope he isn’t as clumsy as her when he gets older,” she commented with a smile on her face. “Anyway, I brought you out here for a reason.” “Oh yeah, and what would that be?” “Well first this,” replied Ginny before she grabbed Harry and gave him a fierce kiss on the lips. After they had broken apart both breathing a little heavily, Harry spoke with a giant smile, “That was a good reason.” Ginny laughed and continued where she left off, “Mum’s been pounding me since I woke up. She wants to know if we have an idea when we’d like the wedding to be.” “Already?” asked Harry. “You know Mum, she likes to be prepared especially when it comes to things like this,” replied Ginny. “Well when do you want to get married?” he asked, not wanting to spoil anything about their wedding day for her. “Really, Harry, I don’t care,” she said in a polite voice. “What do you think?” Harry hadn’t actually thought about it; in fact, he had totally forgotten that a wedding took quite a bit of planning. He sat there, looking at the valley in the distance, and began to think, starting to run dates in his head. We could do in on Valentines Day he thought but decided that was too cliché. There is always the first day of spring but that didn’t really shout out to him either. We could do it on the day my Mum and Dad died but he decided that he didn’t think he could celebrate and mourn on the same day, but then it struck him. “How about the first day I met you?” he said. “The first day school starts, September 1st?” asked Ginny. “Yeah, that was one of the greatest days of my life,” replied Harry. “It was the first day I ever felt I belonged… It was the first day I ever found a true home. It was the beginning of all my great blessings.” Ginny stared at him for a brief second and leaned over and gave him an affectionate kiss on the lips then pulled him into a hug, placing her ear against his chest. “I think that’s a great idea,” Ginny replied lovingly while breaking the hug and taking his hand. “Come on, dinner should be done and after we eat we can tell Mum and Dad.” Harry nodded his head in agreement as she led him back to the Burrow. ~*~ Harry loved Mrs. Weasley’s cooking and she had truly outdone herself this time, preparing a dinner that could rival Hogwarts’s opening feast. Harry was about to help himself to a second serving when he noticed a brown owl that look liked it belong to the ministry fly to the kitchen window. Mrs. Weasley politely excused herself from the table and walked to the window to grab the small brown envelope from the owl’s foot. “Harry dear, were you expecting owl from the ministry today?” ask Mrs. Weasley walking back to the table with the envelope. “No, I wasn’t,” answered Harry. “Is it for me-” “If it really is from the ministry you have better open that up immediately, even the old ministry would rarely send anything on Christmas unless if something very important has come up,” interrupted Mr. Weasley. Everyone at the table was now staring at the envelope and back to Harry after Mr. Weasley finished speaking. Mrs. Weasley handed Harry the envelope; he broke the seal and pulled the letter out carefully not wanting to tear it. Harry, I’m terribly sorry to interrupt your holiday but you are needed at my office as soon as you read this letter. Bring no one with you; this is for your ears and your ears alone. Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt “What did it say?” asked Ron with a mouth full of turkey. “Honestly, Ron, it is none of our business,” replied Hermione while trying to hide her own curiosity. “It’s from the Minister. He’s asking me to meet him at his office, right away,” said Harry while grabbing his cloak from the rack. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about; he probably just wants my opinion on something.” “I don’t care what he wants, it’s very inconsiderate for him to take you away from your family on Christmas,” replied Mrs. Weasley in her motherly voice. “I’m sure whatever he wants won’t take long,” said Harry trying to reassure Mrs. Weasley. “I’ll be back before you know it.” “You want me to come with you?” asked Ron. “No, there’s no reason for all of us to leave,” replied Harry, not wanting to bring up that the letter told him that he was to come alone. Ginny then stood up from her seat and walked to Harry go give him a farewell hug. “Don’t be long, okay?” Ginny whispered into his ear while still embracing him. “Don’t worry, I won’t be,” replied Harry while giving her a farewell kiss. ~*~ The Ministry of Magic looked completely vacant as Harry walked into the Atrium, except for a lone man in dark black Auror robes. It didn’t take Harry long to figure out who it was as he walked towards the elevator: this man was in his mid thirties, he was only an inch or two taller than Harry, and he had medium length dark brown hair, with dull gray eyes. This was the man that had been put in charge of Auror Department after the rebuild of the Ministry; this was also the man that had been teaching Harry, Ron, and the rest of Aurors-in-training for the last year. “How are you, Potter?” asked Blake Crew. “I’m fine,” answered Harry politely. “Do you know why the Minister wants to see me?” “This isn’t the place to discuss that,” replied Crew in a stern voice while motioning Harry to the elevator. “Hold your questions till we are in the Minister’s office.” Comments like that always reminded Harry why Crew had been put in charge. He took a lot of precautions like Mad-Eye had always done, he was a natural leader like Remus, but always got straight to the point like Kingsley. There was no beating around the bush when it came to Head Auror Crew: if there was a job to be done, you could count on him to take care of it. Harry and Crew both walked into the elevator, neither of them saying anything while they waited to be taken to the floor that the Minister’s office was on. Once the elevator opened up they both walked in silence till the reached the office. Crew knocked on the wooden door. “Enter,” said the voice of the Minister from inside the office. Both Harry and Crew walked in. The office was a little bigger than Dumbledore’s. There wasn’t many pictures or decorations in it except for a lone painting above the fireplace, that was currently vacant. Minister Shacklebolt was sitting in a chair on the opposite of the desk in front of which Harry and Crew were standing. “Please take a seat,” said the Minister, barely taking his eyes off the file that he was looking at. Harry sat down in one of the big wooden chairs, waiting for Kingsley to speak again, while Crew remained standing, using his to lean on. “I’m sorry to call you both from your holiday but this couldn’t wait.” Harry could tell by the tone of the Ministers voice that whatever he wanted to see Harry about was something that had nothing to do with the memorials or celebrations that he usually asked Harry to attend when he called him to his office. Harry could tell that this was more pressing matter; what he couldn’t understand was why he had been summoned when he wasn’t officially an Auror and didn’t hold any other authoritative position in the ministry. “You asked to see me, Minister?” Kingsley now closed the file and set it down on the desk and looked at him. “Yes, Harry, I have. I trust that your break from training has been good?” “Yes, sir, it’s been nice to spend some time with my friends.” “I’m glad to hear that. Well I don’t want to hold you long, so lets get down to business so you can return to your Christmas activities,” replied Kingsley while turning his head to Crew. “Have you briefed him at all?” “No Minister, I haven’t. I thought it would be better to wait tell we arrived here,” responded Crew. The Minister simply nodded and returned his gaze back to Harry. “Last night we were called by an anonymous source informing us of an attack. Auror Crew and the Aurors on call went to the address that the source told us of to check it out.” Kingsley then looked to Crew and nodded to him. Crew then turned from the Minister to look at Harry. “When we arrived to the residence there was no sign of any forced entry or struggle. When Auror Jones, Auror Downey, and I knocked on the door there was no answer; because of the information we were given we decided to enter on our own accord. Upon entry there was nothing irregular…” Crew took a slow pause to get a hold of bearings. “First we searched the ground floor and found nothing, but when reached the second floor we found the three bodies of Venice Benson, 45 years old, and of her twin daughters, Lois and Brianna, aged 13. All three had been killed by the Killing Curse.” Crew then stopped with his report and turned his head back to the Minister who hadn’t stopped looking at Harry the whole time. Harry felt terrible about what he had just heard but he was still confused on why they were telling him this and why these people had been killed. Most of the Death Eaters had been killed, put in Azkaban, or fled the country after the fall of Tom Riddle, which ruled them out. “Why were they killed?” he asked. “We can’t tell you all of the details but we believe it was to get to their husband and father, Winston Benson. The Aurors are still trying to locate him,” stated Kingsley. “Why would they want to get the attention of this Benson?” asked Harry, feeling that were leaving out some major details to the case. Kingsley and Crew looked at each other for a second as if they were communication through their eyes. Finally the Minister looked back at Harry. “Winston works as an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries. The project he leads is very important and if the wrong person were to find out what he has been working on the past few years, this could be catastrophic for the Wizarding World. I’m afraid I can’t tell you what he was researching due to security reasons but it is important that we find him before the wrong people do, and if he has been captured then I pray to God we find him before they get what they want,” replied Kingsley. Harry could tell that the Minister was nervous, which in return made Harry tense. Kingsley was a hard man to make worry. He was known for his cool head and quick thinking, which had already led him through some tight spots; but the Kingsley that was in front of Harry now was shaken and quite nervous. What still bothered Harry is why he had been called in. “Sir, I was just wondering why I was called in? I still have a couple weeks of training left till I’m an Auror and that isn’t for sure till I pass my exams.” When he had finished speaking, Kingsley grabbed the file he had been looking at when Harry and Crew had first walked in. He slowly slid it towards Harry and told him to open it. When Harry opened the file, he quickly skimmed the standard Auror report, seeing it for what it was: just a recap of what he had been told by Crew and Kingsley. He then turned the page and what he saw rattled him to the bones. It was picture of the victims. They were all laying on the floor in what Harry guessed to be the Master bedroom of the house. He didn’t think that the murders would have moved the bodies to the master bedroom; his only guess was that the older woman and the kids hid there once they realized the house had been broken into. They were deathly pale and their eyes were glossed over, staring blankly at the ceiling. It was difficult for Harry to see these people dead, especially the daughters, but what shook him the most was not the lifeless forms but the wounds on their foreheads. To a Muggle it would look as if they had slipped, hit their heads and coincidentally all got the same looking scratch but Harry knew better. He had seen a wound like this before; in fact he had been seeing it everyday since he’s been born. The three bodies all had the same small lightning bolt carved onto their foreheads that was also on his. These wounds were not a result from the Killing Curse: the only reason Harry ever received that scar was because of Tom Riddle’s obsession of defeating death, and because of his mother’s sacrifice. Harry was lost in his thoughts till Crew spoke. “According to our analysts they were all held under the Cruciatus then killed by the Killing Curse. The wounds on their foreheads were carved into them after their deaths. It seems, Mr. Potter, that Winston Benson was not the only person they wanted to send a message to.”
|