Chapter Four

Ernie Macmillan

03:01 a.m.

Godric's Hollow, Wales

Upstairs, The Largest Bedroom

"A trap?" Harry replied in disbelief. With his eyes centered on the bedroom door he stood motionless in wait for the next boot to drop.

Tonks snapped out of her less than Auror-like fear of her opponent and stood properly, scanning the room for any obvious exits. Crossing the thick carpeting she first tried the window only to find it sealed firmly by some sort of metal plate that was oblivious to her opening charm, and finally an adjoining room produced a rather large bath and toileting facilities.   

Upon her return she watched as Harry seethed in impotent anger at their predicament.

"Dumbledore will come for us, Harry. Just be patient," she offered.

"Dumbledore's a fool. I'm a fool!" He spun on his heel and faced his partner in captivity. "We all deserve to die if we're this stupid!"

Tonks flinched at his words and the close proximity of his face to hers. With a sigh she closed her eyes and reopened them slowly. "None of us deserve to die like this, Harry."

His face screwed up in frustration as he whipped his wand toward the wall near the window. "Reducto!"

Sheetrock exploded and wood splintered, but behind the wall was the same metal material that had sealed them in the room, originally.

Tonks looked a little closer. "Must be why Mad Eye couldn't see through the walls."

She tapped the metal with her wand and listened to the lack of echo, indicating the apparent thickness of their trap.

Harry's attention was drawn back to the door. "Why hasn't he come in … taunted us … something?"

Tonks didn't reply right away and stood, considering the question carefully before offering her conclusions. "I don't think it was You-Know-Who."

Harry looked confused and shook his head, his eyes squinting, almost closed. "But you said …"

"I think it was an illusion, Harry … set specifically to force someone into this room and trap them here." She shrugged her shoulders. "What better way to scare the stuffing out of someone than to have that snake-faced horror bearing down on them?"

Harry looked back toward the sealed door and his chest deflated. "So he's not out there," he said matter-of-factly.

Tonks shook her head.

"And we have to wait for Dumbledore to come and rescue us."

She nodded. "I'm going to the loo."

Harry let himself drop to the floor and lean against the footboard of the king-sized bed. His axe lay on the floor beside him. Upon hearing the obvious sounds of Tonks relieving herself he looked over at the door separating the loo from the main bedroom.

Seeing that she had only closed the door halfway he called out, "Don't suppose you'd mind closing the door?"

The return of Tonks' soft laughter sounded odd considering the situation. "I don't fancy being trapped in here all night, thanks all the same."

Harry hadn't considered that possibility. If the main door and the only window in the room were sealed then obviously the door to the loo was suspect.

"At least one of is thinking tonight," he whispered to himself.

"I also didn't think you were one to intrude on the privacy of a girl with her knickers around her ankles … unless there's more to you than I know?" she added with a slight tease in her voice.

The sound of the toilet flushing stopped Harry from answering right away, and then he waited for her to stop washing her hands, but by then the moment had passed and anything he might had said would have sounded childish. If there was one thing he could no longer say about himself, it was that he was no child except in the eyes of the adults around him.

"Tonks?"

A moment later the door opened and she emerged, holding her winter cloak folded over her arm. "Yeah?"

Harry looked at her for a moment and then back down to the stains of dried blood on the silver axe blade.

"Erm ... never mind."

She tossed her cloak over the footboard and sat on one corner of the bed. "Might as well tell me now. Never liked the whole 'waiting until one of us is about to die' to share our darkest secrets." She considered. "Kind of cowardly if you ask me."

Harry frowned. He wasn't going to play her baiting game. He had learned much earlier in the year not to fall for obvious taunts by his friends and teachers into getting him to talk about his feelings and other nonsense. But still, she had a point.

"Fine then … do you see me as a kid?"

She rested her arm on the footboard and leaned into a relaxed posture. "Harry, after tonight I think that's the furthest thought in my mind."

He faced away from her and noticed the bloodied axe once more. "It's because I've killed someone then?"

"Well there is that," she answered. "But that wasn't what I meant."

She saw he wasn't going to respond and added. "Harry, did you get a good look around at the children at Hogwarts while all of this was going on, tonight?"

He looked back up at her and shook his head. "No."

"They were scared out of their collective wits. And half the adults were shaking in their boots." Tonks smiled warmly at him. "But Harry Potter steps up and does something that most people I know wouldn't have the cast irons to do … he goes after the bad guys without so much as a stutter in his step."

He mulled it over for a moment. "And that makes me a grown up?"

She shrugged. "Makes me think high of you."

Harry glowered. "Better than nothing, I reckon."

"Harry, you're not that much younger than me." She smiled softly. "We went to school together, for Merlin's sake."

His eyes shot up at that revelation. "What?"

She smiled sideways as he looked up at her in shock. "I was in my fifth year at Hogwarts when I first saw you get sorted into Gryffindor. It was a sad day for Hufflepuff that day was."

Harry almost laughed when he reared back. "You were a Hufflepuff?"

She nodded. "I was sixteen when I graduated, so that makes you only five years younger than me." She showed a considering look on her face. "Not a whole lot of difference in the grand scheme of things, eh?"

"Five years?" exclaimed Harry.

She nodded once more. "Okay, more like five and a half, but who counts half years after they're out of nappies?"

Muffled explosions sounding from downstairs interrupted their brief calm in the storm.

Harry closed his eyes and let his head drop.  "I'm guessing Dumbledore never made it back to Hogwarts."

Tonks rose from the bed and grabbed her cloak, slinging it around her shoulders. "Either that or Mad Eye learned a new spell."

Another, louder and closer, explosion sounded. The floor shook slightly under their feet.

"Move out from in front of the door, Harry. It doesn't sound like the Headmaster is in a good mood."

Harry grabbed his axe and scrambled out of the way while Tonks mirrored his actions from the other side of the door.

Two sharp taps issued forth from the door as if sounding a warning.

"Wait for it," said Tonks expectantly.

Harry covered his ears and closed his eyes a second before the metal door was blasted across the room, destroying the bed and raising a significant amount of dust. Dumbledore stepped through the ruined doorway with a look of fury that Harry had not seen since that almost far away day at the Department of Mysteries.

 

03:13 a.m.

Godric's Hollow, Wales

Kitchen

 "What now?" growled Mad Eye, in a particularly nasty tone.

Dumbledore had calmed considerably, almost looking serine once more. "Neither my plans nor my duty have changed. I must return to Hogwarts and look after my charges."

Tonks frowned at the prospect of returning empty-handed. Her eyes found Harry's and questioned him as to their next move.

"It was a trap, but not a very good one," he observed.

She nodded. "Almost like he only wanted to delay us."

Harry nodded in agreement. "But from what?"

Tonks shrugged her shoulders. "Make us waste our time?"

The thick gravel voice of Mad Eye sounded down the hall. "Are we staying the night or are you two coming down?"

Tonks donned her winter coat and held her hand out to her companion. "Come on -- something'll turn up."

Harry took her hand and let her lead him to the stairway where Tonks took the lead in a casual trot to the lower floor. Their progress came to a stop when Harry noticed Mad Eye standing by the hearth in the formal dining room holding a rolled up scroll.

"Potter," he growled.

Harry moved with determination to the ex-Auror's side. "What's that?"

"A message," Mad Eye replied.

Harry took the scroll and was about to untie the binding before he stopped and sought out Mad-Eye's approval before doing so.

"It's safe," he said as he pointed to the wildly revolving eye. "It registers magical signatures."

Harry nodded and proceeded to find out what was left behind presumably for his eyes.

Harry Potter,

 I presume the annoying old man had to save you once again, and once again you have failed to succumb to another of my more ingenious ideas. Did you really think I would stay in this place after the capture of my obviously disloyal followers? The clock is ticking, Potter.

         

         Yours,

V

"Wonderful," Harry spat. "Now he's sending me love letters."

He passed the message to Tonks and she scanned it briefly before she squinted in interest. "Mad Eye, take a look at this."

The aged Auror swiveled his false eye to the parchment and then held it up to the light. "Malfoy."

"What?" Harry almost demanded. "What'd I miss?"

Tonks smiled slyly. "That particular parchment came from the desk of Lucius Malfoy."

Harry shook his head in befuddlement.

"Some of the older pureblood families use parchment from Patry's Parchment Service. It's watermarked," she explained.

Harry's eyes narrowed. "He's at Malfoy Manor?"

"It's probably another trap," she concluded.

Harry shrugged. "Then we burn it down."

"Portus!" Moody incanted at an empty flower vase. "You two go ahead. I'll notify Dumbledore and follow."

Harry and Tonks grabbed onto the Portkey and were whisked away moments later.

03:22

Malfoy Manor – Wiltshire

Adjacent to the yew hedge borders

"We're not waiting for Moody, right?"

Tonks shook her head and started out down the perfectly straight driveway. "Keep your head down and stay behind me."

Harry grimaced at her order but followed along. He scanned the property as they made their way down the drive. It was almost as he imagined it; aloof. Perfectly trimmed grass, ostentatious bushes trimmed and shaped in perfectly shaped blocks … and what was that, a peacock?

As soon as he noticed the bird it screeched loud enough to make him jump to the side away from the creature.

He leveled his wand quickly. "Reducto!" he hissed.

The bird exploded in a shower of white feathers

"Bloody bird," he spat.

Tonks grabbed his arm and pulled him down and to the side. "Quiet!"

Harry nearly voiced his displeasure but instead he slung off his backpack and slid his invisibility cloak out and threw it at Tonks. "I did come prepared unlike some people."

She eyed the cloak and nodded. Holding it out before her between them and the front of the manor she slid the magical fabric over the two of them.

"If you cut me with that axe I'm gonna hex your bits off."

He looked down and noticed the flat of the axe bumping against her leg. "We're wasting time, Tonks."

They hurried as fast as they could under the circumstances and eventually made it under a lit window. "Give me a boost."

With a flourish of his wand Harry was about to levitate his partner when she snapped out her hand and stopped him. "I said a boost. I don't want to go flying ass over teakettle."

Instead Harry set his axe down, holstered his wand and kneeled down interlacing his fingers in invitation for Tonks' foot. He pulled her up a good two feet and watched as she scanned the interior then looked back down.

"Nothing," she whispered.

He dropped her to the ground and they made their way around to the west side of the manor and tried another window. This time as Tonks was looking for life inside another loud squawk sounded from another peacock in the distance.

"Moody's here," said Harry.

A few seconds later he heard something or more to the point someone moving past them in a rapid pace. Tonks grabbed his arm and motioned him to be quiet. She leaned into him and whispered, "Disillusioned."

Harry nodded and watched as Tonks lifted the cloak up and rap Harry atop the head. He felt the now familiar Disillusionment Charm trickling down his body. He watched as she performed the same charm upon herself and then whipped the cloak off them both and shoved it at him.

"We'll have one chance at this," she said. "Come on and get ready with a stunner."

She felt for his arm and then ran her hand along the length until she had his hand in hers. They kept to the shadows and stopped every few feet until they head the sound of footsteps shifting through fallen leaves.

"I'll uncover him you stun him."

Harry nodded his head before he realized there was no way she could see him. "Right."

A soft whisping sound came from his right and Harry watched as something like sparkling dust was shooting in a wide arc in front of him.

When it started to settle the faint outline of an adult body revealed itself about ten feet in front of them. "Stupefy!" Harry cried.

The body dropped and before they took their first step to see who it was a purple jet of light shot toward them from an additional ten feet ahead.

He felt Tonks push him to the side but she wasn't fast enough and he took the curse in his left arm spinning him around and making him drop his axe.

The shot was returned from the former Auror missing wide. Harry cringed in pain as the curse ate away on his arm like acid. "AAarrgghh."

A red stunner appeared from the driveway and the sound of a body dropping followed in front of them.

"Sloppy, Tonks," came the voice of Mad Eye as he appeared from his own disillusioned state. "It's clear now. Help the boy."

Tonks appeared and followed the sound of Harry's pain until she made him visible once more. He was thrashing side to side grasping his arm trying as hard as he could not to sound like a girl as he seethed in pain.

Tonks dropped to her knees and pushed his cloak open and ripped at the shirt revealing the damaged arm. She hissed and pointed her wand at the wound. "Constantar!"

The burning abruptly stopped and Harry watched as Tonks shoved her hand into a thigh pocket and pulled out a field dressing.

"You'll live. Stay still until I get this around the wound."

Harry gasped in relief. "What the bloody hell was that?"

"A Flesh Eater," she replied. "Nasty bit of work."

She applied the dressing and wound it around a few times before tying it off. "There's a poultice on that. It'll heal the skin but you've got yourself one hell of a scar coming."

"What else is new?"

03:47

Malfoy Manor – Wiltshire

Atrium

"Rennervate!" Tonks cast the counter charm and the first of two unknown Death Eaters awoke.

Harry tapped his bandage. "That hurt."

The Death Eater sneered in reaction but said nothing.

"Where's the list?" Tonks snapped.

Again nothing.

"Can you teach me that curse he used on me, Tonks?"

The Death Eater's eyes found Harry's to judge the seriousness in his question.

"It may be a bit beyond sixth year, Harry. Not to mention that it's not exactly the nicest of curses," lightly replied Tonks.

He turned his head and looked at her. "Hence the reason I'd use it on him, or more to the point his bits." He shrugged. "I could always go back to standard." Harry glanced at his axe.

The ex-Auror rolled her eyes. "Why don't you show him the hands?"

"Oh," Harry said in mock surprise. "I almost forgot."

He slipped his backpack off and unzipped the larger section. Harry withdrew Pettigrew's silver hand and set it to the side. "I think we need the real one for this demonstration."

Pulling it out Harry started. "I guess you know where the silver hand came from."

The Death Eater looked down in obvious nervousness and then back up into the hand that was pulling something else out of the bag.

"Now this one was my first real trophy," Harry started. "Took it right off of Dolohov's arm for lying to me."

He let the Death Eater take a good hard look before he tapped him on either side of his face. "Your choice--tell us where the list is or I can continue my collection, or the lovely Miss Tonks here can cast that wonderful curse on tiny here."

Harry emphasized between the Death Eater's legs with the hand. The prisoner tried to scurry away from being touched and whined slightly.

"Come on," Harry said with doubt in his voice. "It's not like this hand hasn't been here before. This time it's just a little colder."

The Death Eater's eyes widened at the implication but they stayed on the hand.

Harry smiled. "Tonks, I don't think he likes my trophy." He considered. "Think I might just shove it down his pants and leave it there for a while; let him think about old times with his buddy."

At that the Death Eater started pushing away to put as much distance between him and the dead flesh. "Downstairs! Downstairs! Behind the tapestry! Pull the sconce down! Don't touch me with that thing!"

Harry swiped his wand across the Death Eater's body. "Petrificus Totalus!"

When the Death Eater went stiff as a board under the full body bind Harry lifted the front of his pants and shoved the severed hand into his underwear. "You keep that warm for me, okay?"

"Moody!" yelled Tonks as she made her way to the indicated tapestry and found the wall sconce.

The clip-clopping of Moody's wooden leg sounded as he turned the corner, glanced down at the bound Death Eater and crooked an eyebrow.

"Check this out for us. I don't really fancy being trapped like a rookie twice in one night."

Moody's mad eye swiveled to the tapestry and swiveled in a downward motion to the floor underneath. "Gotcha," he said in triumph.

He nodded at Tonks and she pulled the sconce downward. A piece of the wall disappeared behind the tapestry and revealed a set of stairs leading down. They proceeded into the hidden room with Tonks in the lead. When Moody took the final step he motioned to the far wall and flicked his wand in silence.

A single stone detached itself and revealed a small alcove.

"Accio!" Tonks said as she summoned the contents to the floor one of which was a sheet of parchment.

Moody crouched down and used the tip of his wand to unfold the paper. On it was a very familiar list of names and even a set of ruins at the bottom.

"Incendio!"

The parchment quickly went up in flames not leaving any ash remaining.

 

03:59

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry – Scotland

The Main Hall

The Portkey deposited Harry, Moody, Tonks, and the two captured Death Eaters near the teachers table. Several gasps sounded near the head of the hall as Dumbledore spun around in panicked excitement.

"We did it," said Moody. "The list is destroyed."

Dumbledore sighed and sat down at the Gryffindor table as a tearful Ernie Macmillan sobbed in relief.

"Butterbeer for everyone I think," Dumbledore said reminiscent of his jollier self. He gave a swish of his wand.

"Make mine a Firewhiskey, Dumbledore," Moody said in weariness.

Harry sat down at the teacher's table and laid his head down. A number of students grabbed their drinks and some even hugged one another in joy of being released from the danger for the evening until a coughing sound was heard near the Headmaster.

"Ernie?"

The sound of glass shattering brought Harry's attention to the struggling form of Ernie Macmillan grasping at his throat.

04:01 a.m.