Harry Potter and the Dynasty of the Wand by Lady Snuffles
Chapter Notes: Where....ahem...I mean what are Harry’s dreams going to tell him next?I'm apologizing now for the super shortness of this chapter. I decided to be evil and leave a nice little cliff hanger instead of just following through to the next chapter. I'm hoping for quick updates between them though so it shouldn't be too terrible for you all. Only three chapters left!
Disclaimer: I’m not crazy...I know I’m not J.K. Rowling...although that would be cool....
She stood before a castle larger than Hogwarts, Buckingham Palace, and the Palace of Versailles combined. To her right, and east of the castle was the North Sea and she could feel the cool spray on her face. It was night, and the only light was the glow of the moon that was hidden behind the clouds. Down the jagged and rocky cliffs she could hear the faint call of a seagull, and the far off answer of its mate. The waves that crashed against the rock wall sprinkled on her and made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.
She felt a force pulling her towards the castle and she obeyed it. The door handles were made of pure silver in the shape of a snake’s head with the tongue sticking out to the side. The eyes, black an night, were formed out of obsidian cut into perfect marquise shapes. Once inside she began walking down a corridor trying to memorize everything as if she never wanted to forget. At the end of the hall she turned to her right and opened another door with the same handle as the outside entrance except for the snakes eyes were made with emerald cut obsidian.
She followed a second corridor down to the fourth door on the left; she found every door in this hall with the same handle and marigold cut obsidian eyes. She entered it and began to go down the passage. After nearly ten more hallways she entered a grand dining room and walked all the way to the far corner. Once there she took the staircase, that was behind a very disguised door, down to what appeared to be a dungeon.
The dungeon was a long empty floor, separated by nine doors. Each handle this time made of wood with trillion cut obsidian. She walked to the one straight ahead and opened the door. She entered yet another hallway that had three other passageways branching off on each side. She took the first one on the left and walked all the way to the end where yet another snake handled door was shut. When she creaked it open she found Remus Lupin curled up in the corner farthest from the door. She tried to call out to him but her voice was cold and cruel. The words that came out of her mouth were uncontrollable and not the ones she had intended to speak. “Does the werewolf want to come out and play with me?” without waiting for an answer she pointed her wand at him and shouted, “Crucio!”
She then woke in her dormitory withering in pain, trying to scream out but found it took too much energy. When the pain subsided she lay still with silent tears sliding down her face until she heard Harry’s voice in her head. Ginny, please tell me you didn’t go through what I just did.
She looked up at the canopy of her four poster as she thought, If I did it would be a lie.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione were in front of the gargoyle guarding the staircase to the headmaster’s office, listing off every candy and sweet they could think of. Waiting a few seconds to see if it would do anything then picking another one.
“Fever Fudge...”
Nothing
“Acid Pop...”
Nothing
“He doesn’t really like them.”
“Puking Pasty...”
Nothing
“Cockroach Cluster...”
Nothing
“He’s used it already.”
“Fudge Flies...”
Nothing
“Exploding Marshmallow...”
The only thing that happened was Harry, Hermione, and Ginny all turning their heads in Ron’s direction all saying, “What?” at the same time.
“It’s Fred and George’s newest,” Ron explained. “They got the idea from Ginny’s dream.”
The three looked at each other and made similar noises to, “Ah.”
“Um, Ice Mi-”
“First of all it’s, Ton-Tongue Toffee,” Charlie said through a yawn from behind them. He was fully dressed and looked as though he was on his morning rounds. They watched the statue move out of the way as he finished. “Second of all why are you four out of bed at four o’clock in the morning on a Sunday? Lastly, why do you need to get into Professor Dumbledore’s office?”
“We had another dream,” Harry and Ginny said at the same time.
“Well let’s get up there then.” Charlie ushered them up the steps and asked, “What was it about?”
“Some castle mostly...”
“Lupin partially.”
Once they were at the top, Ron knocked on the door and they heard a rushed, “enter” from the far side of the room. Once they were all in the office, Harry headed straight for the Pensieve. Dumbledore seemed to know what was going on already and didn’t object. Harry pulled the dream from his head and placed it into the bowl for all to see. All six of them watched as the dream replayed. Five of whom looked to Dumbledore for answers when it was over and Harry placed the memory back into his head.
Dumbledore first looked to his students and said, “You four, go get dressed. Make sure to have your wands with you when you return.” Then he turned to Charlie and said, “Contact everyone immediately, the entire Order. Get Minerva in here after that. I want all of you back here in fifteen minutes. We’re going on a little adventure.”
“Where are we going?” Ron asked.
Harry looked hopeful. “To rescue Lupin?”
“We’re going to the castle of Salazar Slytherin.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The teams were assembled and ready to leave within the hour. Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, Tonks, Charlie, and Bill were in one team; their job was to search for Lupin, while the other three teams, all aurors, were to explore the castle to see if they could find any sign that would lead them to Voldemort.
The teams portkeyed to an empty field near a city called Lowestoft in Norfolk. Each team went separate ways to the castle. After walking North for five minutes in an uncomfortable silence, Bill said ominously, “There it is,” pointing up the dirt road.
Sure enough, the highest points of two turrets could be seen just over the top of the hill in front of them. Harry squeezed Ginny’s hand, in what he hoped was a comforting manner and she returned the favor.
“Sir?” Harry asked, looking at Dumbledore. The headmaster looked down at Harry and inclined his head in response. “How did you know to come here?”
“No person would ever forget those door handles.” When Harry’s face turned to confusion, Dumbledore added, “Two years ago, when Voldemort first came back into power. I had heard about this castle many times prior to visiting it, but I hadn’t felt the need to come here to be certain it still existed until then. At the time I had walked straight up to the front door; I stood there for hours and tried to get the door to open for me, but nothing worked. But I think we’ll find that you will be able to.” His answer was accompanied by a knowing look.
“Parsletongue, sir?” Dumbledore merely nodded his head.
At the entrance of the castle, Ron turned the handle of the door, but nothing happened. He tried to unlock it but once again to no prevail. At this, Harry gave Dumbledore a confirming look and said, “Open up.”
Tonks, Charlie, and Bill looked at Harry as if he were insane, but the doors opened to reveal a dimly lit entrance hall. Harry and Ginny led the way, wands out, hands held. At the end of the first hall they took a right and opened the door exactly the same way as the dream. Once again, they followed the second corridor to the fourth door on the left.
As they walked through the next few halls, Ginny finally noticed how very afraid she was. Sensing her feelings Harry’s voice in her head told her, Everything’s going to be alright. I love you. She smiled and squeezed his hand again.
They came to the dining room, which was far less grand than the dream made it out to be. After opening the hidden door, Harry walked first down the steep spiral stairs. At the bottom he found the same long and empty floor, with nine doors heading off in different directions. After all eight people were down the staircase, they walked through the door straight ahead.
Taking the first hall on the left, Harry whispered, “It’s the door dead ahead.”
Dumbledore took the lead, wand at the ready, and everyone else followed close behind. Dumbledore creaked the door open and Harry saw, sprawled out on the floor, the form of a very disheveled and tormented Remus Lupin. Tonks let out a cry and rushed past Dumbledore, to her fiance’s sleeping form. She knelt beside him and whispered, “Rennervate,”as she rolled him off of his side. Lupin opened his eyes and stared into the dark and twinkling ones of Tonks.
In a raspy voice he whispered, “I knew you’d come for me.” Tonks gathered him into her arms as she cried tears of joy.
With all the confusion and bustle to help Lupin, Harry let go of Ginny’s hand. He didn’t recall doing it, but he knew he did. Once he realized this, however, Harry looked around for her and saw that she wasn’t with them. Quickly he walked down the corridor to the main dungeon entrance. He began to worry, Why weren’t we stopped by anyone on the way down here? Wouldn’t they have thought to guard a prisoner? Where did Ginny go? Wouldn’t she answer my thoughts if something was wrong? Why did I let go of her hand? Frighteningly, he was pulled from his worries by the sound of Ginny, screaming. He took off running in the direction of the most terrifying sound he had ever heard.
Ron looked around the room at all the smiling faces. Tonks was crying still, happy that Lupin was alive; Lupin was crying slightly too, happy to be alive and rescued. Dumbledore had his “I knew it was going to work out this way” smile on his face while he made sure that Lupin had no injuries other than the minor scratches and bruises. Bill looked relieved, and the guilt that had been sitting on his chest was visibly lifted off of him. Charlie was just as happy as the rest of them and excitement was clearly written on his face. Hermione looked like an angel smiling the way she always did when things ended the right way, and Harry and Ginny were both.....
Ron stared at Hermione and their faces both fell, realizing the same thing at the same time. Their best friends were missing...
~A/N: Ok, I know you guys all hate me and are all probably going to send me the most evil reviews in the world but I can’t help that I love cliffies!!!!! MWAHAHAHA! Here’s the quote: WHERE IS SHE!?! -Harry