The Shattering of Souls

k.... short version this time. not mine, j.k. rowling\'s. only borrowing, will put them back. no money to be had here. only the pleasure from the writing it\'s self.

nothing too hideous in this chapter. that will start later, i swear. so no real warnings as yet.

please feel free to review. no flaming, as i will roast your ass with it. flame roasted faerie does not taste good. and who would feed my dragon?

Chapter Two: Seek and Destroy
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The Swiss Alps was the first stop in several over the course of the coming months. The small safe house the Order had set up was high in the mountains, so it was cold. Harry and Bri found themselves trapped inside quite a bit of the time they were there. They were used to each other\'s presence because of the two years Bri had been assigned to guard Harry. But the confinement was a problem they hadn\'t forseen.

It hadn\'t taken long for the two of them to become short tempered. As they were on their own, not even a House Elf to see to their needs, they found it increasingly difficult to not snap and pick at one another. There had been days when Bri would sit outside the small building, freezing her arse off and trying to calm herself down. Much of her ill temper was caused by Dumbledore\'s bullying tactics that had forced them into this predicament in the first place. She was still mad at the man for basically giving them no choice in the matter. She hadn\'t found the idea of Azkaban any more appealing than this. At least in hiding they had some semblance of freedom.

Freedom. She\'d never take it for granted again, once this dilema was dealt with. If she had the chance, she was going to travel. The Muggle way. By train and boat and airplane and anything else they used. She knew how to drive a car in the Muggle manner, but she didn\'t own one. She\'d get one. A big, fancy sports car that bespoke luxury and power to any who saw it.

It had taken the Death Eaters two months to find them. If Bri hadn\'t have been up and paying attention that night, she\'d have never seen them. They would have overrun the small house and taken both her and Harry. She\'d barely gotten the two of them out before the little group of loyal Death Eaters had stormed the door. The port key in her pack had taken them directly to Dumbledore\'s office, and he had let them find a new safe house to hide in.

The next house had been located on the outskirts of the Black Forest in Bavaria. It had been a pleasant house to stay in, despite the fact that the two of them were still in each other\'s faces nearly all day long. Harry had grown sullen being cooped up in the house, and Bri had shared the sentiment, even though she had been better able to hide her feelings. They had been at each other\'s throats constantly. Harry claimed to be tired of hiding and ready to take on Malfoy and the rest of his black-robed cronies. She had told him point blank that if he tried to undertake any such foolish ideas, she would hex him herself, then deposit him in Azkaban and leave him there.

It had taken less than a month and a half for Malfoy to come calling once again. This time, Bri had set up small booby trap spells around the perimeter of the house, so they had had more than a moment\'s notice to make thier escape. Once again, the port key had taken them to Dumbledore\'s office. Once more he had conjured the map, two green lights now missing. He\'d ordered them to pick, and once more, Bri had chosen a safe house. This one was in Northern Ireland.

The land around the third house had been so green and lush, they had really liked being there. This house had come with a solitary House Elf, an old thing that looked as if it could do no more than creak it\'s bones at a person. It had been an old manor house, one of the smaller ones, so it had been roomy. Bri had laid her booby traps as soon as they had arrived, a new set of them that wouldn\'t be as easy to get past as the first set.

They had been allowed nearly three whole months of quiet bliss in Ireland before the alarms had gone off in the wee hours of the morning. Bri had jumped from her bed, not caring that all she wore was a night gown that barely came down just past her upper thighs, grabbed her pack and Potter, then they\'d port keyed once again. Dumbledore had been awaiting them when they\'d tumbled out of thin air into his office. Bri had never blinked about the amount of leg she was exposing. She\'d merely gotten to her feet, then gotten down to business.

The latest house was a villa in Italy. They had been there only about two weeks, and already Bri felt edgy and nervous. It was far too quiet here in the Italian countryside. They had a pair of House Elves here who saw to their every need, but something was wrong. Bri just couldn\'t put her finger on what it was. Perhaps it was the lush surroundings, with a field of wine producing grapes just over the hill. Perhaps it was the friendly nature of the few people they had encountered in the first few days. What ever it was, it was making Bri far too cautious.

Harry commented on her seemingly paranoid behavior more than once. She had responded with the statement that her \"paranoid behavior\" had kept them alive thus far. They had settled into a routine, albeit an uneasy one. Bri was constantly on the alert for something out of place, while Potter was once more indulging himself in the sullen and over dramatic nature of a young man with a chip on his shoulder and something to prove. She knew it would somehow come to a head. And soon. They could not go on as they had been the last six months for much longer.

It was broad afternoon when Harry watched Bri jump up from her spot on the sofa in the small den they were in. She looked terrible, having hardly slept the night before. She turned to him, her eyes burning with the light of maniacal obsession. \' I have it now, Potter!\'

\'What?\' he asked, glancing up at her from the book he\'d been trying to read ofr the past three hours. He had yet to turn a single page.

\'A traitor,\' Bri said emphatically. Harry stared at her, unsure of what she was blathering on about. He had been concerned about her mental state for some time now, and this appeared tobe reason to him to be worried. She opened her mouth, once more about to say something he was sure, when a loud noise much like a Muggle car alarm sounded from outside the house. Her head snapped to the door that faced the front of the villa. Her hands clenched tightly.

\'Bri?\' Harry asked, getting slowly to his feet. He\'d seen her look like this only a handful of times before. \' What is it?\'

\'Gather your things, Potter!\' Bri shouted as the house around them quaked. An explosion from outside shook the walls. The floor beneath their feet shifted ominously. The Death Eaters had arrived. The magical booby traps she had planted around the house would only hold them for so long. Hopefully, it would be long enough to make good their escape. Again. The green eyes young man stared at her for a few moments. \'Now, Potter! We have to be leaving!\'

\'Why don\'t we stay and fight? Why are we running again?\' he demanded, not moving from where he stood next to the fireplace. She turned to look over her shoulder at him.

\'Orders, Potter,\' she explained emotionlessly, swivelling her head back around to face the door into the room. The outer doors, the ones leading into the villa, cracked loudly, telling her they had breached the traps she had put in place for security purposes. It was now only a matter of time before the Death Eaters found the two of them. Bri pulled her wand, then hefted up her backpack. Since her nervous, paranoid feelings had hit her, she\'d made them keep their packs packed and ready to go at all times. She noted that Harry followed suit, settling the bag with his meager possessions on his shoulder.

\'Go Potter!\' You\'ve got the location. Apparate. Get the hell out of here!\'

\'What about you?\' he demanded, making no move to follow orders.

\'For the love of Merlin, Potter! Quit asking questions and get the hell out of here!\'

\'Stop calling me Potter. My name is Harry,\' he retorted petulantly. \'You sound like Snape when you call me Potter!\'

\' I\'ll be right behind you,\' she told him. Her grip on her wand tightened. She could hear them, just outside the door. If he didn\'t go soon..... She spat a curse under her breath, then dragged a rather ragged looking stuffed rabbit from her pack. She pushed it into his hands. He stared at her, wondering what she was about. \' I swear, Harry. I\'ll follow right after.\'

\'But.....\' he began to protest.

Her voice boomed out over the cacophony of sound surrounding them. \'Snugglebunny!\' Bri watched in satisfaction as the port key opened, dragging Harry Potter along with it. She could just see the anger in his eyes when he disappeared. \' I\'m sorry,\' she whispered to the spot where he had just been standing. The door behind her blew apart from the force of the curse that hit it. She turned back to the ruined doorway, allowing her battle mask to settle over her face. Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange stood at the head of the group of black-robed Death Eaters.

\'Well, well. Look at the prize we\'ve found,\' Malfoy hissed in malicious glee.

~*~*~*~*~

Izzy looked up as she heard the muffled \"oomph\" that accompanied the dull thud on the other side of the room. She was most surprised when she saw the dark head of Harry Potter pop up over the back of her sofa. His eyes were wild behind the lenses of his glasses as he jerked his pack off his shoulder and began pulling things from it willy nilly. She watched as he pulled out a lump of material, swirling it about his shoulders with one hand haphazardly. The other extremity was back to digging in the pack. It came out with his wand.

\'Potter?\' she asked. He didn\'t say anything. \'Potter?\'

The green eyes met here for a moment when he finally looked up at her. There was a fire burning there that she knew for what it was. Anger. Something was going on. Her pulled the hood up, obscuring his face from view. She heard the loud crack, telling her he had Apparated out of the room. The destination he had called out registered and she stood, frozen in fear. He was Apparating back to the villa in Italy. That could only mean one thing. Bri was in trouble.

Izzy stood, her eyes still staring at the spot where Potter had been. The little hero was out to get himself killed, if he wasn\'t careful. If she were lucky, she would be the one doing the deed. She pulled parchement and a quill from her desk, spending a few moments at jotting down a note to her employer. The Wizard she\'d been assigned to had been one of the ones killed. Percy Weasley had died while stepping between his younger brother and a nasty curse. She hadn\'t seen it coming until it was too late. She still blamed herself for that. She couldn\'t forgive herself fo failing him, even if his parents had.

She looked at what she\'d written.

\"Sir,

I believe there has been some sort of trouble.

I will be paying a visit to you within the hour.

I\'

It would have to do. She didn\'t want to give too much away, on the off chance it fell into the wrong hands. She only hoped that what she thought had happened, hadn\'t. The last six months had been hard for everyone in the service. Many were still assigned to members of th Order, though most of them were now out of danger. That honor had been given almost exclusively to Bri and Potter.

The remaining Death Eaters had barely shown their white-masked faces since Voldemort had died, with the exception of their hunt of Bri and Potter. Those two saw more than they wanted of the band of troublesome Witches and Wizards. She was afraid that they had caught up with their quarry by now. If Potter was showing up here, on his own, it didn\'t bode well for Bri in the slightest.

Izzy attached the parchment to the leg of her gray owl, giving it explicit instructions to carry that note to Professor Dumbledore and no one else. The owl hooted at her, accepting the treat she gave it, ate it\'s prize, then flew off through the open window.She had done all she could. Now all she could do was wait....

~*~*~*~*~

Harry Apparated onto the grounds of the villa he and Bri had been hiding out in, covered from head to toe in the Invisibility Cloak his father had left for him. Smoke spiralled into the sky from several locations around the small estate. The largest plume was coming from the house itself. He prayed that Bri was okay. He didn\'t know what he could do to help her against the worst of the Death Eaters, but he\'d try. She\'d saved his life more than once.

Moving quickly, completely ignoring whether he was making noise or not, Harry headed for the window that looked out of and into the room he and Bri had last been in. There was nothing moving outside the walls. Making sure his wand was at the ready, he approached the window. He got up on his toes to look in. It was not a heartening view he was given.

Bri stood in the center of the room, the Death Eaters spread out arond her in a circle. Only Malfoy and Lestrange had thier wands pointed at her. The rest of the group merely stood waiting. Bri was speaking. \'Oh, come off it, Malfoy! Potter\'s long gone. He\'ll not be coming back after me. He\'s too much of a self-preservationalist.\'

\' It is in Potter\'s nature to come back for you. The eternal hero,\' Lucius sneered.

\' Well, then,\' she smiled. \' You shall be disappointed, as he\'ll not lift a finger to help me.\'

\'You\'re the one who shall be disappointed, as you\'re the one who is surrounded,\' Bellatrix retorted. Bri slowly gave her attention to the crazed woman, using the painfully prolonged movement to let the Death Eater know that she was found to be an insignificant threat. The scowl Bri received for her efforts would have smote her dead, could looks but kill.

\'And how many of your ranks fell to my wand before you managed to surround me?\' a cocked brow accompanied the question. Lestrange made some feral sound in the back of her throat. Harry frowned, wondering what his crackers bodyguard was up to. It was as if Bri were purposely goading them. His hand clenched tighter around his wand, his palm sweaty against the smooth wood. If he intended to save her, he would need to act soon.

\' Enough! Cease this useless prattle and tell me where Harry Potter is!\' Malfoy ordered, his voice losing some of it\'s cultured tones with his mounting anger.

\' I\'ll never tell,\' she returned, her voice quiet and firm. The look in her eyes said as much. Malfoy\'s jaw clenched as he gnashed his teeth together in ill-concealed rage.

\'Then I shall have to force you to,\' he managed to bite the words out in a somewhat even tone.

\' I have a gift for you, Malfoy,\' she smiled at him. Harry stifled a groan. Bri was going to get herself killed. He could see the gleam in her eyes. The one that bespoke of her impending foolish action.

\'Really? And what would this gift be?\' he cocked a pale brow at her in mild curiosity.

\'Oh no,\' Harry whispered, his free hand gripping the edge of his cloak, preparing to throw it off.

\' Agar Arrna!\' Bri shouted. The thin line of yellow light that shot from her wand flew across the room to strike Malfoy\'s face, leaving a gash in his flesh that dripped blood.

\'Take her!\' he roared. The room errupted in shouting, curses being cast loudly from all in the circle. The small area was bathed in the blinding light from the wand blasts.When Harry could see again, Bri stood frozen in place. He had expected to see the pain on her face. He wasn\'t expecting to see her face turned to the window, her eyes locked on the place where he peered in through the glass pane. As if she knew where he were there.She fell to the floor as if she were in slow motion. One of the members of the circle, a large, bulky man, moved to where she had fallen and hefted her body up into his arms.

No one but Harry noticed the soft plinking sound her wand made when it slipped from her hand and dropped to the floor.

It was some time before Harry dared move, waiting until he was certain the Death eaters were gone before making his way around the house to the entrance. The front doors were gone, bits of wood still smouldering on the floor where they\'d landed. Pictures hung askew while furniture was shredded and over turned. Lamps were twisted and broken. A grayish haze hung in the air from spent curses. Malfoy and his cronies had made a shambles of the villa.

He entered the hall that lead to the small den at the back of the villa. Where he and Bri had been when the Death Eaters had arrived. The bodies of the two House Elves, Leela and Toonie, lay near the obliterated doorway. It looked as if they had tried to stop the Death Eaters from entering the room. And they had paid the ultimate price for it.

Tears pricked Harry\'s eyes. Tears of anger. The anger he had felt after Voldemort had come back and killed Cedric.The same anger that had bubbled and boiled over the course of his fifth year, growing until it was ready to errupt. The anger that had gotten him through Sirius\' death. It was back in full force. Bri was gone, taken captive by people who wanted *him,* because he had been too cowardly to help her.

Harry stomped past the small bodies, entering the room. Four of the Death Eater\'s ranks lay on the floor near the remains of the splintered wooden doors, their clothing still smoking from the spells Bri had blasted them with. The room was untouched, everything still as it had been when he\'d been port keyed out of the room. He moved over to where he\'d seen Bri\'s wand roll, scooped it up in his hand. Then he grabbed her pack, left forgotten on the floor. He\'d find a way to get her back. No matter what it took.

~*~*~*~*~

Izzy\'s head came up once again as the loud CRACK reverberated in the enclosed room, her eyes eagerly awaiting the revealing of the visitor. Harry Potter stood in her living room, his face a mask of forlorn dejection. She stood, hoping to hear a second CRACK. There was none. \'Potter?\' she asked hesitantly. The young man didn\'t look up. \'Potter? Where\'s Bri?\'

\'They took her,\' he said softly, his head hung. She could hear the regret in his voice.

\'Who took her?\'

\'The Death Eaters. Malfoy has Bri....\'

\'Why?\'

\'To get to me,\' he told her, now sounding disgusted.

\'You? Are you certain?\'

\'Yes, me. I heard them asking her about me. She told them she wouldn\'t ever give me to them. No matter what they did to her. And it\'s my fault,\' he looked up at her then. She saw the desire for vengence burning in his glittering green gaze. He hoisted his pack, as well as Bri\'s, up onto his shoulder. \' I\'m going to see Dumbledore. I\'m going to get her back.\'

Harry held up his wand, ready to Apparate. Izzy stopped him, moving over to where he stood and placing her hand on his arm. The young man looked up at her, his hatred making his eyes sparkle like gems in the semi-darkness of the room. She held up the curmpled parchment she had gotten only a few moments ago. \' I\'m coming with you. We\'ll be flooing straight into the Headmaster\'s office.\'

He nodded, putting his wand away. She moved over to the hearth, knowing the angry young man would be right behind her. She had no clue what they would do to get Bri back, but she\'d find a way. She wasn\'t leaving a colleague, any colleague, to that kind of hell. And she certainly wasn\'t about to leave her best friend to it. She would find some way to get Bri back, no matter what.

~*~*~*~*~

Albus Dumbledore sat behind his desk, his head buried in his hands. He was tired. Of everything. Th Order had done what it could against Voldemort, and he had lead it. Not once, but twice. With the help of Harry Potter, they had finally defeated the Dark Lord. But he had loyal followers who wouldn\'t let go of the past. Not that he had expceted any less. But he had hoped they would have become less active. There will still raids happening, and there was no way to know where they would be occuring. It was as if the Death Eaters had some crystal ball and could see every move the Order made, before they made it.

The note he had received from Izzy had been distrubing. Not for what it said, but for what it hadn\'t said. He couldn\'t even begin to imagine what kind of trouble there had been. But whatever it was would prove to be disastrous. He wanted more often than not for this to be a very bad dream.

\'Professor Dumbledore! I....\' Harry Potter\'s voice cut across the heavy silence of the room. Albus lifted his head, looking at the young man he\'d hung much of his hope on. His face was flushed with rage, his eyes lit with the fire of hatred and obsession. Izzy came out behind him, a mask settled over her features that gave nothing away.

\'Quiet, Potter. Let me speak. You are only here because I allowed you to come with me,\' Izzy ordered, then faced her employer. In terse, to the point tones, she laid it out. \'Malfoy and the rest of them have taken Bri. Potter saw it happen. I would like permission to go after her, Sir.\'

\'I was afraid something like this would happen,\' he sighed heavily. He suddenly felt older than his one hundred and fifty plus years. Much older. He looked straight to Izzy. \' I\'m sorry, but I cannot allow you to go after her. With Bri gone, Harry will need a new guard.\'

\' I\"m going after her too, sir,\' Harry added, his voice sharp.

\'Neither one of you will be going after her. Bri is lost to us. There is nothing I can do to help her. She knew the risks when she took the job. She told those same risks to all of you. I cannot allow you to put yourself at risk for someone who knew this could very well happen. I have other people I must be more concerned with,\' Dumbledore stated, his voice soft.

\'You can\'t just leave her to the hands of the Death Eaters. Malfoy will kill her!\' Harry spat, his face contorting with rage. He stepped closer to the desk, slamming his palms down onto the surface. \'Doesn\'t the fact that she\'s saved my life countless times mean anything to you?\'

\'Of course it does, Harry. But I can\'t.....\' he began, only to be cut off by the younger man.

\'Can\'t, or won\'t? Why leave her to them, Professor?\' Harry spat the words, his teeth clenched together so tightly, it felt as if his jaw would crack. Color suffused his normally pale complexion. \'Why let them torture her?\'

\'Because she understood the responsibility she was shouldering when she accepted you as her assignment. She knew they would come to view her as a target. Perhaps as big a one as you make. She knew they would want to kill her for aiding you,\' Dumbledore explained as patiently as he could.

\'You stupid old sod! They took her to try and gain my where abouts from her. They aren\'t going to torture and kill her for protecting me! They want her to tell them where I am!\' Harry shouted the words out into the air. Even the portraits on the walls were startled from their sleep long enough to look at the young man who had made the outburst. Harry\'s fists were doubled, his chest heaving. He was staring straight at his former Headmaster with something that was frightening to look upon. Pure hatred burned fervently in those green eyes. It was a look reminiscent of Voldemort.

\' I see,\' Albus heaved a sigh and straightened his shoulders. \'And what do you propose to do about it?\'

\' I\'m going after her. It\'s the least she deserves after all she\'s done for me. For the Order. For you. She doesn\'t deserve to be cast aside, left to what ever torture Malfoy deems necessary to gain the knowledge he seeks! She has earned the right to be brought back safely,\' Harry\'s voice was low, his tone the firmest Dumbledore had ever heard. The boy was serious, and he would get himself killed for his foolishness.

\'You can\'t go after her, Potter. You\'ll get yourself killed if you try. You could possibly hold your own against Lucius Malfoy, but certainly not against Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange. And certainly not if the rest of the Death Eaters are there. There is nothing we can do to help her. I\'m sorry.\'

\'You\'re sorry? You\'re sorry!\' Harry ground out, his fingers curling against the desk top so hard, they bit into the wood and left scars. He laughed, a mirthless sound that grated over the nerves of the two people in the room with him. \'That woman gave up every thing. *Everything!* And you\'re going to sit back on your arse and let them do what they will? Not if I have anything to say about it!\'

Harry turned and stalked for the door. Dumbledore rose slowly from his chair, placing his hands on the desk top. \'Harry!\' he raised his voice to say the name. The dark headed young man stopped, turning to look over his shoulder at the old man. The blue eyes weren\'t twinkling anymore. They looked serious. \'You can\'t go. I\'m sorry. I will place you in Azkaban if I need to. I cannot risk your life.\'

\'Oh, I see. I\'m not expendable, but she is?\' he questioned. The anger grew in his eyes, making the green fire burn even brighter than before.

\'She knew the risks....\' Dumbledore began, only to have Harry interrupt him once more.

\'To hell with the bloody risks! I\'m sick of the bloody risks! We all knew them. but she shouldered more of them than any of us. She should not be made to suffer because you\'re too cowardly to go after them and bring her home,\' Potter spat venomously. He was beyond rational thought, and Dumbledore knew if he wasn\'t calmed soon, he would be more trouble than was needed.

\'Who am I to send to find her? I cannot spare youm, nor Izzy. Before she can be brought back, we need to find her. There\'s no way to know where she\'s been taken. Harry. We don\'t have the resources to find her. We haven\'t been able to locate where the Death Eaters make their hide out. What males you think you could do any better?\'

Harry stared at him a moment, some of the maniacal glint leaving his green gaze. He seemed to deflate under that question, and it was obvious that he hadn\'t given thought to how he was going to rescue the woman. He turned, some of the young boy he had been returning to his face as he shuffled over to a chair and tumbled gracelessly into it. The look he lifted to Dumbledore was one of devestation. \'Surely there\'s some way?\'

\' I am as upset by this as you, Harry. But even if we did know where she was being kept, there\'s no one left to go in and get her,\' Albus sighed, sitting in his chair once more. He was too old for this. \'All of our people are stretched thin as it is. There is simply no one left to.....

\'Headmaster, I must..... Damn! I\'m sorry. I didn\'t know you were busy. I\'ll come back at another time.\' Harry looked to the door, then turned to Dumbledore, a smile stretching his lips. The gleam in his eye was now one of calculation.

\'Why not him?\' Harry gestured to the figure in the door. \' He isn\'t doing anything that would prevent him from getting her back!\'

Dumbledore looked as startled as the other two people in the room.....

end chapter two.
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my thanks to my usual crew. they do know who they are and they know why the thanks are needed.

seriously, please let me know what you think. i am really curious.