Chapter 21 Dancing with Dementors!
Harry knew something was wrong, as the Hogwarts Express braked to a stop at the platform of the railway station in Hogsmeade. Why was the train late? Why were some of the windows frosty? Why was his stomach knotted up? He pulled out his wand and wrapped his left arm around Hermione’s waist.
“What’s wrong Harry?” Hermione asked nervously, as she took hold of his left hand with her left hand, pulled out her wand and moved as close to him as possible.
“BACK AWAY FROM THE TRAIN!” Harry shouted at the crowd of students.
“WANDS OUT!”
Most of the students ignored him but some looked at him in curiosity. When they saw the look on his face and the wand in his hand some did take out their own wands.
The doors of the carriages opened and a blast of ice-cold wind swept across the platform. Students began to back away from the train.
“USE THE PATRONUS CHARM!” Harry shouted.
Dementors floated out of the carriages and into the crowd of students. Screaming and pandemonium broke out up and down the platform. Children dropped their bags and pets and ran, many tripping and falling.
“EXPECTO PATRONUM! Harry shouted.
A great shining hart leapt from Harry’s wand and charged down the closest Dementor.
Ron’s silver terrier appeared beside him and attacked another Dementor. Several of Harry’s friends who had mastered the Patronus charm were helping to repel the dementors. Cho had conjured her swan, Justin a bull, Terry Boot a fox and Parvati Patil a Mongoose.
Where was Hermione’s otter? Why wasn’t she helping to fight the Dementors?
“Protego! Protego! Protego! Hermione shouted. Flashes from three spells bounced off Harry and back towards the Death Eaters that had cast them. “Harry!” she screamed, “Death Eaters!”
Harry saw two Death Eaters, Lucius Malfoy and another man (Travers?) aiming their wands at him and Hermione.
“Duck!” Harry shouted as he pulled Hermione down behind their luggage. Two blasts of green light struck the luggage pile. “You get Malfoy,” Harry told Hermione.
Harry and Hermione stood up simultaneously and shouted, “Expelliarmus!”
Travers lost his wand but Malfoy’s wand flew only a short distance and stopped. It was chained to his wrist.
Dementors began to close in. Lockhart’s dog ran to Harry and Hermione and cowered behind them. Lockhart appeared beside them. “Expecto Patronum!” Lockhart shouted.
A silvery cock appeared between him and the closest Dementor.
“A chicken Patronus?” Semus Finnegan shouted as he advanced with a shining silver chimpanzee in front of him.
“It’s a fighting cock, monkey boy!” Lockhart retaliated. “I’m inspired! I know what my next book title will be,” Lockhart said happily as he stepped forwards waving his wand.
Harry saw Lucius Malfoy aiming his wand at him again, but Professor Lockhart had moved between them.
“Professor Lockhart!” Harry shouted. “That blond wizard! Death curse!”
“AVADA…,” Lucius Malfoy shouted.
“EXPELLAMOUSE!” Lockhart shouted in terror.
“KAD AAAGH! Malfoy yelled as a terrified rodent landed on his face and dug in his claws.
There was a loud unholy shrieking scream from the end of the platform to their right.
On his left, Harry saw Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle leveling their wands at him and Hermione.
“Protego! Protego! Protego!” Hermione shouted repelling the boys’ hexes.
Travers had recovered his wand and was aiming it at Harry.
Harry quickly levitated Theodore Nott to block the line between him and Travers.
Travers did not pause, “AVADA KEDAVRA!” he shouted. Theodore Nott went limp as the green flash hit him.
“Expelliarmus!” Hermione shouted, disarming Travers again.
There was another horrific shrieking scream, this one closer than the first.
Lucius Malfoy threw off the mouse and leveled his wand at Gilderoy Lockhart. “AVADA…”
Lockhart screamed and dove to the platform. His dog hopped to his side.
“KEDAVRA,” Lucius Malfoy shouted. A bolt of green lightening hit the puppy.
Once again there was a loud and unholy scream. A Dementor vanished into a black vortex at the end of a glowing staff held by Dumbledore. The remaining Dementors swooped into the air and disappeared into the clouds.
Draco Malfoy and Adrian Pucey held up umbrellas with plastic pumpkins on them. The younger Death Eaters quickly gathered around them and disappeared.
“AVADA…” a witch’s voice cackled.
Harry saw Dolores Umbridge aiming her wand at them. He pushed Hermione roughly to the ground as two green bolts of lightening passed over their heads.
There were several loud cracks as the remaining Death Eaters disapparated. The station was quiet. The attack had ended as suddenly as it had begun. As the shock wore off, the wailing began.
Harry lifted his head and looked around to survey the damage.
“Justin!” Cindy Chambers cried. “Justin!” Cindy began to cry as she held Justin Finch-Fletchley’s lifeless body.
“Wizards and Spells! It was just fun and games!” Dennis Creevy cried. “It was just fun and games!” He collapsed crying on Collen, who lay unmoving, staring up at the sky.
Harry helped Hermione to her feet. Gilderoy Lockhart sat on the ground holding his dog, his face blank and distant. Harry felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Dumbledore.
“Help Hermione tend to the wounded,” Dumbledore said gently. “We must get the children back to the castle. There’ll be no train ride today.”
Dozens of students were injured, a few by curses thrown by Death Eaters but most by falls or by being trampled. Many of the children had just collapsed in terror as the Dementors sucked the happiness out of them. So many were crying it was difficult to tell who was injured and who was just scared. The Death Eaters and the Dementors could have killed dozens, but they had not. They had only caused terror and pandemonium in the crowd. And they left three dead boys as a warning to all that being close to Harry Potter was a risky thing to do.
Justin Finch-Fletchley, Collen Creevy and Theodore Nott had all been hit by curses that were aimed at Harry. From the positions of the bodies he could see that Dolores Umbridge had killed Collen and Lucius Malfoy had killed Justin. Harry felt sick. Justin and Collen were dead because they had been his friends. As Hermione moved towards a group of injured students Harry glanced back at their luggage pile. Hedwig and Crookshanks had also blocked green flashes for him. Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna had all been dangerously close. Hermione had shielded him from almost a dozen jinxes. He and Hermione were a very powerful team when they fought together. But the Shield Charm would not stop Avada Kedavra. She could have been hit…
Two days later a sadly delayed Hogwarts Express finally took the students to London so they could begin their summer vacations. As if a break from classes in the middle of a wizarding war could be considered a vacation.
When they had made their way through the magical barrier at King’s Cross Station that hid Platform Nine and three-quarters from the Muggles, Harry and Hermione were met by his Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and his enormous cousin Dudley.
“Well” Vernon Dursley grunted.
“Hello to you too, Uncle Vernon,” Harry replied. “Aunt Petunia and Dudley you may remember Hermione. She’ll be riding with us. While I’m at home, she’ll be staying in our neighborhood.”
“Am I running a taxi service for… for…your kind of people?” Uncle Dursley huffed.
“You won’t have to drive one block out of your way for her,” Harry said defensively. “She’ll walk the rest of the way to her destination.”
“This girl’s parents were murdered weren’t they?” Uncle Vernon recalled. “Why did that happen?”
“Evil wizards tried to kidnap me. My parents fought,” Hermione said.
“And why did the…” Uncle Vernon began in a spitting sort of whisper. “Why did those people try to kidnap you? Huh? It was because you are his friend. Am I right? Huh?” Mr. Dursley didn’t wait for a reply having answered his own question to his satisfaction, rather he rounded on Harry. “Boy, are you putting my family in danger?”
“As a matter of fact, yes I am,” Harry said bluntly. “People have been killed because they were standing next to me. I don’t want you to get hurt and I don’t really want to go home with you. If you sign this paper, I’ll be gone. You’ll never be bothered by me again.”
Harry handed his Uncle a form from the Ministry of Magic.
His Uncle pulled out a pen and started to sign the form but Aunt Petunia barked out a warning, “Read it before you sign it!”
“Permission to get married?” Uncle Vernon said in surprise.
“Don’t sign it!” Aunt Petunia hissed. “If he leaves, the… the… magic spells that protect us… they’ll fade away.”
“To the car boy,” Uncle Vernon ordered. “You two are much too young to get married. With any luck this poor misguided girl will come to her senses and go some place far away from you.”
For a moment Harry wished that Hermione had that option. Then he took her hand and led her to the car nervously eyeing the crowd.
For the next two weeks Harry stayed at Number Four Privet Drive, while Hermione stayed at Mrs. Figg’s house. Harry visited her every day as soon as his chores were done. Hermione and Harry practiced apparating from room to room. They found they could apparate best if they held hands and went together. One of them could easily apparate to be with the other, but they found they could not disapparate if it separated them. One night as Harry dozed fitfully in his bed, wishing he could be with Hermione, he was awakened by a noisy crack of apparition followed immediately by a high pitched “oooff” and a thud. Harry grabbed his wand and disapparated to be with Hermione. He didn’t know where he was going but he knew he could go to her. Harry found Hermione lying stunned and scratched in a rose bush in the neighbors’ garden.
“Sorry to bother you” Harry told the angry lady next door as he carried a battered and scratched Hermione from her garden. “She fell off the fence. Please don’t tell anyone or we’ll get into trouble,”
“I guess there’s a barrier that stops wizards from apparating into the Dursley’s house, but you can dissapparate out,” Hermione concluded when she had recovered enough to talk.
“And I think I prefer library research to actual experimentation.”
Hermione received the The Daily Prophet each morning at Mrs. Figg’s house. The headlines were not comforting:
Two More Victims of Hogsmeade Railway Station Attack Found
The bodies of a conductor and the locomotive driver of the Hogswart Express…
…the snack trolley lady was found hiding in a culvert thirty miles from Hogsmeade.
Liechtenstein Quidditch Team Won’t Come to Britain
International concern over the troubles in Britain crossed a new threshold today when members of the Liechtenstein National Quidditch team refused…
Dumbledore Criticized for Lack of Security at Hogsmeade Railway Station
Dozens of angry parents made their dissatisfaction known…
… pointed out that Hogswarts School is not responsible for security at the railway station…
… Gilderoy Lockhart helped to defend…
…and three Dementors were destroyed in the fight.
Death Head Appears Over Crewe
A family of five Muggles and one young wizard were found murdered…
…it is not known how the Death Eaters learned the identity of the eleven year old Muggle-born wizard who would have received an invitation to attend Hogwarts next week.
House-Elf Rights Sparks Angry Debate in Wizengamot
A bill calling for the introduction of legal rights for house-elves was voted down after an angry debate …
…the right to attend funerals is the right to refuse to work,” Joseph Steelman argued…
… a measure calling for the arrest of Hermione Potter was also voted down.
“This is a free speech issue. I see nothing in this bill calling for the emancipation of the elves,” Amanda Bones noted .
In mid-July Harry and Hermione left Little Whinging to search for the Gold Serpent Staff. They were escorted by Hestia Jones and Sturgis Podmore who acted as both guardians and chaperones. They started in the archives section of the European Museum of Magic in Paris.
“I’ve seen this before!” Hermione said with excitement as they were looking at a photo of an old painting of some Egyptian hieroglyphs. “It’s in the British Museum.”
“But that’s a Muggle place!” Hestia Jones said in surprise.
“They’ve got lots of fascinating things in that museum,” Hermione pointed out.
“No one would ever look in a Muggle museum for a magical item of this importance,” Sturgis said.
“I’ve never been there,” Harry said. “Let’s check it out.”
The Gold Serpent Staff was not in the British Museum but there was a picture of it on a block of hieroglyphs taken from an Egyptian temple. So they were off to Egypt to search the ruins of an ancient temple. In a sealed chamber they found more hieroglyphs that told them the Serpent Staff had been given to King Solomon of Israel.
“But that Egyptian pharaoh and that Israeli king were Muggles!” Podmore exclaimed. “They wouldn’t have a magical item. The Staff would be protected by illusions and spells. It might be in a magical room with an invisible door. It might be guarded by curses or golems. An item this important just wouldn’t be given to Muggles!” ”
When Dumbledore heard of their discoveries he sent them an owl with this message:
Dear Company,
Perhaps the item was invisible because previous seekers were blinded by prejudice. I think you should follow this lead.
Albus Dumbledore
So they searched Muggle places, museums, libraries, archives and ordinary hidden chambers without a trace of magic protecting them. In Jerusalem they found a scroll in a tunnel that revealed that the staff had been carried off by the Chaldeans. In Iraq they searched beneath the ruins of the hanging-gardens of Babylon and learned that Cyrus had taken the staff to Persia when he conquered the Babylonian empire.
Of course deciphering those ancient inscriptions took several hours. While Sturgis and Hestia explored another corridor, Harry and Hermione were surprised and disarmed by the Wicked Warlock of Wadi Al-Hashish.
“Wu HA! Ho HO HEE! HA Ha ha I have you now, Harry Potter!” Hashish chortled as he held their wands. “The British Dark Lord will reward me greatly!”
“You’ve been in the hot sun too long if you think you can trust Lord Voldemort,” Harry said bravely.
“You are the one who will find out what is hot, Harry Potter! I am going to throw you into the Furnace of the Three Jews!” Hashish boasted as he flicked his wand and opened a hidden door that concealed a roaring fire. “Wu HA! Ho HO HEE! HA Ha ha
Your poor little virgin wife! You should have bought her a better wand.”
“I’m not made of money, I’m an orphan,” Harry said defensively.
“You’re an orphan and she’s a widow!” the evil wizard cackled. “When you are dead she will loose all of her magical powers. She will wear nothing but chains and be my helpless slave for the rest of her tortured life. Wu HA! Ho HO HEE! HA Ha ha”
As Hashish conjured ropes to tie up Harry and levitated him towards the door of the furnace, Hermione pulled out her real wand and threw Hashish into the fire.
“That laugh was really starting to annoy me,” Hermione said.
“What possessed you to try to fight that guy with a bamboo wand?” Harry asked.
“I got my pockets mixed up. But it worked out didn’t it?” she said.
Harry and Hermione found Stugis and Hestia lying stunned in a nearby corridor. They revived their guards and left Iraq as quickly as possible. Rumors later surfaced that Al-Hashish was really quite angry at them.
“He was a bit of a hot head,” Harry joked as they camped beneath the stars in the Iranian desert. But as he watched Hermione and Hestia preparing dinner over a magical fire while Stugis transfigured a burned out helicopter into a comfortable shelter, his private thoughts were not so flippant. If he died, Hermione would loose her magical power. Would that work the other way as well? If Hermione was killed would he loose his magic? If Hermione was killed would he give a damn about magic? No, he wouldn’t care at all.
In Iran they found Persian records that said the Serpent Staff had been hidden in a cave in the Hindu Kush to keep it from the Greeks. It had been found in Afghanistan by British adventurers and stolen by Russian thieves. It had been locked in a dungeon beneath the Kremlin for almost two hundred years and then sold on the black market by a crooked official as the Soviet Union collapsed. They found the Gold Serpent Staff in a small privately owned museum in Wichita, Kansas.
“It’s no wonder other wizards didn’t find it. It’s out in the open,” Harry observed. “There’s no magic around it at all. It’s just surrounded by things that wizards would have no interest in.”
Hermione made no comment as she seemed to be busy transfiguring a pile of brochures from the Gallery of Historical Curiosities into Muggle money.
“It should be pretty easy to nick it,” Sturgis said. “We can apparate in when the museum is closed, freeze their eclectic burglar alarms, vanish the case, grab the staff and disapparate out.”
“It’s like stealing candy from a Muggle,” Hestia noted. “All we have to do is survive until nightfall. It is so hot here!”
“I saw a little brewery and pub across the street. It’s probably air-conditioned. Lunch is on me,” Hermione said brightly. “I understand they serve tea cold here, with ice in it!”
After lunch they walked around the downtown area but the hot August wind soon drove them indoors. They spent the afternoon lounging in the county library, more for the sake of air conditioning than books. Hermione of course spent the time studying geography. They stayed in the library when it closed that evening. It was easy to avoid the security guard by donning Invisibility cloaks.
“We should make a copy of the Serpent Staff to put in the place of the real one,” Harry said. “It wouldn’t be nice to ruin the museum’s display. If they don’t notice the Staff is gone they’ll be no real harm done.”
Hermione transfigured a metal pole that held a sign about late book fees into a good copy of the Golden Serpent Staff, and they apparated back to the museum.
“You know Harry,” Hermione said quietly as she placed the fake Staff in the display case. “I feel bad about making counterfeit money and stealing from the museum, even if we are doing it to save the world from an evil wizard.”
“If the Muggles don’t know what happened, they’re not hurt by it,” Harry rationalized. “But yeah, I feel a bit bad about it too.”
After a two hour broom flight to the north, they rested beneath some mushroom shaped rocks in a small park that was surrounded by a pasture. They could have stayed in an empty Muggle house or an unused motel room but it felt better to camp out and use magic rather than thievery to get their creature comforts. They made their way back to Scotland and turned the Gold Serpent Staff over to Dumbledore a few days before the fall term began.
Harry and Hermione stayed at Hogwarts and watched as students arrived for the fall term. They came in small groups over several days. It was deemed to be too risky to run the Hogwarts Express this year. Some students came in on the daily trains to Hogsmeade, accompanied by parents and guardians. Some arrived on the Knight Bus. Some made their way to Hogsmeade by Portkey or the Flue network and walked to the castle. Some arrived by broom, they had to land in Hogsmeade and walk to the castle. The security of the castle itself had been greatly strengthened.
While Harry and Hermione had been traveling around the world, the violence in the British wizarding community had continued and had gotten worse. Luna Lovegood’s father had been killed and a lot of his research files had been stolen. The Quibbler was no longer being published and Luna had been taken in by the Weasleys. Ron, Ginny, Luna and Neville arrived at the castle gates in a Ministry car. Arthur, Charlie, Fred and George had accompanied them because there was strength in numbers.
The start of term banquet was a subdued affair. More than a third of the seats were empty. Parents were scared and many kept their children at home even if the security at Hogwarts was stronger than it had ever been. There were only about one quarter as many first year students as in a normal year. The sorting hat placed very few of them into Slytherin.
After the banquet, Dumbledore called Harry and Hermione to his office. Amos Diggory was there.
“As long as Lord Voldemort thinks we have the Gold Serpent Staff, it forces him to be cautious,” Dumbledore told Harry. “I have used some tricky analytical magic to examine the staff you brought in. It is at least five thousand years old but I can detect no magic about it. The staff may be protected by a very high level spell that hides its magical properties, or it may be a very old forgery. We obviously can’t use it to attack Lord Voldemort until we know that it is the genuine item.”
“How do you plan to test it?” Hermione asked.
“The Minister of Magic and I have been discussing that issue,” Dumbledore said. “It is likely that only contact with an Immortal Demonic Wizard will activate its magic.”
“But it would be dangerous for someone to attack a Dark Lord with that staff,” Harry said. “If it’s a fake, the wizard trying it could get killed.”