A/N: There are two kinds of surprises, good ones and bad ones. Personally I’m of the opinion that when one bad thing happens a good thing happens to counter act it. So step up one bad surprise and one good surprise will follow. Enjoy!
Harry’s sleep was very restless. No matter how many times he woke himself up and retreated to the white room in his mind, he couldn’t seem to seal himself away from the conversation that drifted in and out of his dream.
“Master, we think we may have a plan,” said the trembling voice of Lucius Malfoy.
“Do not think, Lucius, know. I will not accept another failure on your part. If you make another mistake, it shall be your last,” Voldemort hissed at him.
“We have a plan. It will work,” Lucius said, in a more confident voice.
“How can you be so sure?” There was a chillingly playful tone in his voice.
“Severus has assured us that she will take the bait we shall lay for her,” Lucius said, a slight quaver over the word assured making him sound less confident that he should have been.
“Well, he is sufficiently close to her to know these things. Bring him here.” There was the sound of scuffling feet; a door opened and the distant sound of voices could be heard. Minutes later there was more scuffling as a second person entered the room.
“You requested my presence, Master.” Harry recognized the voice of his Potions master even though, instead of dripping with malice, it echoed with subservience.
“I did. I have been very pleased with your contributions, Severus. You are proving to be a most useful tool.”
“I live to serve the Dark Lord.”
“Tell me about the girl. Her strengths, her weaknesses, her allies, and her enemies, I want to know it all.”
“She is arrogant and self-assured…”
“As was her father. He laughed in my face before the old fool Dumbledore stole him away from my fury. He was not laughing when I killed his beloved wife, when his home crumbled around us or when I struck him down where he stood.”
“She is quick tempered…”
“Her mother was always easily angered; she paid the price for her temper. Perhaps her daughter will suffer the same fate.”
“Her wand work is quick…”
“That was to be expected.”
“She has impressive power…”
“I envisaged no less, after all both of her grandfathers had the gift of power. I took one grandfather from her; it will not be long before I take the other. Tell me about her relationship with the boy.” His voice became more urgent.
“She is overly protective of him, which may work to our advantage; she would fight to the death for him. It is more than likely that she will remove him from harm’s way; she would not want to risk losing him. I believe that she knows the prophecy in its entirety. Her father left a letter to her detailing its contents.”
“Good, taking her will be much easier if the boy is back in the castle, especially if she is so protective of him. It was such protections that led to my downfall. If she does indeed know of the prophecy we may be able to ascertain the necessary information from her before she is disposed. Thank you, Severus, you have been most valuable.”
“Yes, my Lord.” There was more shuffling as Snape left the room.
Harry snapped himself awake. He picked up his wand on the way to his desk where he deposited his dream in his Pensieve before he went back to bed. But it was only a matter of minutes before the next conversation was pushing its way through his mind’s barriers.
There were three figures kneeling in front of Lord Voldemort. The bright hair in the middle gave away Lucius and the round face of the man to his left betrayed Goyle, the dull expression of the last man revealed Crabbe.
“We have consulted our sons and they tell us that she visits the village with her students. If we were to arrange for a trap during one of those weekends she would be vulnerable. Severus has confirmed that she would send the students back to the castle to keep them from harm and also to fetch her grandfather. That would give us several minutes to carry out our plan.” Lucius bowed slightly to his master.
“Good, you will outline every detail of your plans; you will make sure that no eventuality catches you unaware. If you fail me again then you will regret it, do not forget that Lucius. Perhaps it will inspire you to new heights.” Voldemort walked away from the three figures and Harry woke up yet again.
The scene that now seeped through Harry’s subconscious was unlike the two before it. He was sat on a chair in a dark room, which was lit by a single fire some ten feet from him; there was a chair opposite him that was currently empty. The room was windowless and gave him a deep feeling of unease. The fire began to die; the flames slowly became darker and darker until it was finally extinguished. He wasn’t sure how many minutes passed, or whether it was hours rather than minutes, but without warning the fire roared to life again and began to flicker ferociously. The chair opposite him was now occupied. He was face to face with Lord Voldemort.
“We meet again, Mr Potter. I have been waiting some time to see you again, but they say that the best things come to those who wait, and I have waited a very long time.”
“Not long enough if you ask me.” Strangely, the hatred that was rising in Harry’s chest did not extend to his voice.
“I did not ask you. Much has changed in you since our last meeting. Gone is the foolish boy who would not bow to Lord Voldemort. He has been replaced by a young man who understands the rules of war. I daresay the acquisition of your cousin has helped in that.”
“What do you want with Elizabeth?” Harry tried as hard as he could to keep control of his temper.
“I want now, what I wanted fifteen years ago. I want her dead. Although the more I learn of her the more my mind changes, and I begin to think that she could prove to be a useful ally.”
“She’d never side with you. She’s dedicated to doing what’s right!” Harry couldn’t stop himself from shouting.
“Is she? I see there are some things that you still do not understand. The human heart is a substantial weakness, Harry. It takes little to break it and it often leads us down paths that we would have preferred to avoid. It is for that reason that I have never allowed my heart to make decisions for me;it is a mammoth frailty.”
“What does that have to do with Elizabeth?”
“Do you not find she is ruled by her heart?”
“Yes.” The conversation was starting to take a rather confusing turn and Harry didn’t like it one bit.
“Her mother was ruled by her heart, as was your mother, and it was that very same organ that lead both to their deaths. Your prized Elizabeth is destined for the same. As I said, your heart can lead you down paths that you would rather avoid. Perhaps if she was left with no choice she would side with me.”
“Everyone has a choice.”
“This is very true, but many limit their choices by allowing the welfare of others to cloud their judgement.”
“What are you saying?”
“I daresay that you will not have long to wait before my point becomes clear. Goodbye, Mr Potter, this has been a most interesting meeting.” With a small pop, Voldemort disappeared and the fire snuffed itself out. Harry woke up for the hundredth time in a cold sweat and twisted in his blankets. He laid still until his racing heartbeat had settled in a more gentle rhythm; he then fell into peaceful sleep for the first time.
The next morning people rose in spatters. Ellie was already up when Harry emerged for breakfast. “Morning, Ellie, how did you sleep?” He only asked because she looked so worn out.
“Not great actually. I think I ate too much.” She patted her stomach uncomfortably. “How about you?”
“I didn’t sleep brilliantly either.” The conversation he had overheard drifted back to the forefront of his mind.
“Why not?”
“I kept having weird dreams.” He contemplated what to tell her about it.
“What do you mean by weird?” There was concern brimming in her tone.
“I kept hearing bits of a conversation.” At this her head snapped up and she watched him, entirely gripped by what he was saying.
“What kind of a conversation?” she asked sharply.
“It was nothing.” Her reaction was not what he had hoped it would be; he hadn’t wanted to panic her.
“Harry, if you’re having dreams similar to the ones that you had last year I want you to tell me straight away.” It wasn’t a request it was a demand. “If you’re having insights into Voldemort’s mind you have to tell me or my granddad. Everyone is wondering what it is he’s been up to. If you know anything then tell someone.” She examined his features closely, trying to detect any hint of lies.
“Don’t worry, I will, but it really was nothing,” he lied. For a second he felt a gentle breeze flow through his brain.
Is she trying to read my mind?
He immediately turned away from her stare and started talking to Bill, who was sat on his other side. He avoided her gaze for the rest of the morning; this was made easier after eleven o’clock when Ron, Hermione and Ginny made it out of bed. Unfortunately though, the award for most bizarre behaviour went to Charlie, who didn’t come down for breakfast until after noon, and even then he looked dog-tired. He picked at the breakfast that Dobby gave him and muttered under his breath constantly. “Ellie, could I talk to you for a second?” he asked her agitatedly.
“What’s the matter?” The look she gave him clearly revealed that his behaviour even puzzled her.
“Not in here, in the drawing room.”
“Ok.” Still mystified she followed him out of the room. A buzz of conversation immediately ensued with the first topic for discussion being Charlie’s odd behaviour. They were silenced several moments later when Elizabeth’s voice could plainly be heard exclaiming “Oh, Charlie!”
Charlie and Ellie re-entered the room grinning mischievously. “You’ll all be glad to know that I’ve finally got my act together and asked Elizabeth to marry me,” he told the room’s silent occupants.
“And I’ve said yes!” Ellie hooted.
A/N: So i wrote a stand alone fic called In The Drawing Room, it's all about what happened between Ellie and Charlie when he proposed.
I'd like to ask you all something very important, go and take a look at my very good friend Sorn's fic, Harry Potter and The Battle For Ginny. It's great!
Next up is a little light relief in the form of…A Lesson In Life