Alexandra Weasley: Book 5

58

The history of magic exam was by far the most exciting but only because Harry started screaming halfway. He was ushered out and Alex exchanged glances with Hermione.

"What was that?" She asked him once they all left the hall. He looked around.

"Not here." He said, and led them all into an empty classroom.

"Did you have a dream?" Hermione asked. He nodded.

"Harry, you're supposed to keep up your defences. I know you can do it during the day."

"I got distracted. By the exam." He said, not meeting her eyes. "Listen, alright. Voldemort's got Sirius."

"What?" Ron asked.

"But- but where? How?" Hermione paled.

"I dunno how," Harry shrugged. "But I know exactly where. There's a room in the Department of Mysteries full of shelves covered in these little glass balls and they're at the end of row ninety-seven ... he's trying to use Sirius to get whatever it is he wants from in there. He's torturing him, says he'll end by killing him!"

"Harry-" Alex started but the boy was shaking.

He moved over to a desk and sat down on it, trying to pull himself together. "How're we going to get there?"

There was a moment's silence. "G-get there?" Ron asked.

"Get to the Department of Mysteries, so we can rescue Sirius!" Harry said loudly.

"Do we have to?" Alex asked and Hermione jabbed her sharply.

"But... Harry." Ron started weakly.

"What? What?" Harry snapped confrontationally.

"Harry," Hermione said softly, "Er ... how ... how did Voldemort get into the Ministry of Magic without anybody realising he was there?"

"How do I know?" Harry bellowed. "The question is how we're going to get in there!"

"But Harry, think about this," Hermione tried logically, taking a step towards him. "It's five o'clock in the afternoon. The Ministry of Magic must be full of workers. How would Voldemort and Sirius have gotten in without being seen? Harry, they're probably the two most wanted wizards in the world. Do you think they could get into a building full of Aurors undetected?"

"I dunno, Voldemort used an Invisibility Cloak or something!" Harry shouted. "Anyway, the Department of Mysteries has always been completely empty whenever I've been-"

"In your dreams. At night."

"They're not normal dreams!" Harry shouted in her face, standing up and taking a step closer to her. "How d'you explain Mr Weasley then, what was all that about, how come I knew what had happened to him?"

"He's got a point," said Ron quietly, looking at his sister.

"I'm not saying they're normal dreams. I'm saying they happened dead in the middle of the night. Besides, Voldemort know you've got a mind link with him now. It would be easy to manipulate it."

"Just because you're too afraid to face him and the truth-" Alex's wand was at his throat in an instant.

"Say one more word, I dare you." Hermione was by Alex's side, stretching slightly. She softly tugged her hand down.

"Okay, both of you. Calm down." Alex glared once more at Harry before lowering her wand.

"Voldemort doesn't torture for information. He has minions for that. He tortures for a point. To teach a lesson, to how off for an audience. A reminder of his power. Not for information."

"And you'd know all about this."

"Yes, actually. You think he's been dormant for the past decade? He's been quietly taking down his opposition. In a way no one would link back to him." She said. "Besides, how on earth could Voldemort have got hold of Sirius when he's been in Grimmauld Place all the time?"

"Sirius might've cracked and just wanted some fresh air." Ron offered, sounding worried. "He's been desperate to get out of that house for ages."

"But why," Hermione persisted, "why on earth would Voldemort want to use Sirius to get the weapon, or whatever the thing is?"

"I dunno, there could be loads of reasons!" Harry yelled at her. "Maybe Sirius is just someone Voldemort doesn't care about seeing hurt-"

"You know what, I've just thought of something." Ron said in a hushed voice. "Sirius's brother was a Death Eater, wasn't he? Maybe he told Sirius the secret of how to get the weapon!"

"Yeah- and that's why Dumbledore's been so keen to keep Sirius locked up all the time!" Harry jumped on.

"Look, I'm sorry," Hermione braced herself for what she was about to say. "Neither of you is making sense, and we've got no proof for any of this, no proof Voldemort and Sirius are even there-"

"Hermione, Harry's seen them!" Ron defended.

"Okay." She sighed, looking determined, "I've just got to say this. You, and this isn't a criticism, Harry! But you do ... sort of ... I mean- don't you think you've got a bit of a, a saving-people thing?" Alex snorted and covered it with a cough.

"Sorry, sorry. Just got a dry mouth." She continued to cough exaggeratedly.

"A saving-people thing?" He asked.

"Look, stop." Alex cut in. "Before you guys say something you'll regret. Harry, I know these dreams feel real. But you have to know that Voldemort is an incredibly powerful Legilimens. Like beyond Snape. He could be planting memories."

"We have to be sure, Harry." Hermione agreed.

"We don't- we don't have time." Ginny and Luna peeked in through the door.

"Hi," Ginny said uncertainly. "We recognised Harry's voice. What are you yelling about?"

"Never you mind," Harry snarled roughly.

Ginny raised her eyebrows. "There's no need to take that tone with me," she said coolly. "I was only wondering whether I could help."

"Well, you can't." said Harry shortly.

"You're being rather rude, you know," Luna told him, serenely.

Harry swore and turned away. "Wait. Wait, Harry, they can help." Hermione said. "Listen," she said urgently, "Harry, we need to establish whether Sirius really has left Headquarters."

"I've told you, I saw-"

"Harry, I'm begging you, please!" Hermione pleaded desperately. "Please let's just check that Sirius isn't at home before we go charging off to London. If we find out he's not there, then I swear I won't try to stop you. I'll come, I'll d-do whatever it takes to try and save him."

"Sirius is being tortured NOW!" Harry yelled. "We haven't got time to waste."

"But if this is a trick of Voldemort's, Harry, we've got to check, we've got to."

"How?" Harry demanded. "How're we going to check?"

"We'll have to use Umbridge's fire and see if we can contact him. We'll draw Umbridge away again, but we'll need lookouts, and that's where we can use Ginny and Luna."

Though clearly struggling to understand what was going on, Ginny said immediately, "Yeah, we'll do it."

"When you say 'Sirius', are you talking about Stubby Boardman?" Luna inquired.

"Unfortunately not." Alex answered.

"OK." Harry said aggressively to Hermione. "OK, if you can think of a way of doing this quickly, I'm with you, otherwise I'm going to the Department of Mysteries right now."

"Such a Gryffindor." Alex groaned.

A/N- Ginny's honestly like 'boy shut your mouth. You don't talk to me like that' and honestly I love. I am here for it.

Favourite line is "Do we have to?" Alex asked.