This Could Be The End Of Everything

Disclaimer: The quote used in the chapter is from the song ‘Wonderful World’ by James Morrison. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Part Two…

“And I know it’s a wonderful world
But I can’t feel it right now,
I thought I was doing well but I just want to cry now,”
- ‘Wonderful World’ by James Morrison


The meeting had been going on for mere minutes but it was already obvious that they were getting nowhere. There wasn’t one single thing on which they could all agree- they were split down the middle on whether to take a defensive or an offensive position. It was at times like this that Harry understood why Lord Voldemort had chosen the totalitarian route rather than the democratic- at least he could get things done without hours upon hours of debate that usually left the issue unresolved. He resisted the urge to whack his head on the table when yet another argument broke out between Kingsley Shacklebolt and Molly Weasley, Shacklebolt taking the offensive and Molly taking the defensive side. He glanced at Dumbledore and realised that his mentor wasn’t going to break it up.

Harry pushed his chair back from the table and stood up, the room fell silent by some unspoken command- even Dumbledore was looking at him. He licked his lips and looked around the room, trying to find the right words to say. He swallowed; “What I want to know is- are we fighting Voldemort or ourselves? If it’s the latter then quite frankly I have better things to do than waste time watching you let Lord Voldemort win.” He glared, “Don’t get me wrong, I think both sides of the argument have valid points but we need to pick one way or the other- perhaps both- frankly I don’t give a fuck,” he ignored Molly Weasley’s gasp, “but we need to decide and decide now.” Arguments exploded around him, Harry sank back in his chair unable to decide if he’d made the situation better or worse. He let the words and accusations flow over him, as if they were water and he the stone in their path. Instead he let his mind drift to the last dream that Tom had visited him in. The only place where he could be just Harry, where there were no expectations heaped on his shoulders- he couldn’t even experience that now with Ron and Hermione, they needed him to be more than just Harry, like everyone else they needed him to be The Boy Who Lived and it was slowly breaking him. Peace only within his hunter’s embrace, he snorted.

“Harry?” He blinked brought back to reality by Dumbledore’s voice, everyone around the table was looking at him. He stared back blankly wondering what on earth it was that he had missed. “Have you had any more… visions of Voldemort’s activities?” Dumbledore asked, Harry frowned and shook his head.

“No sir, I’ve not been able to learn anything since he talked to his Death Eaters about Diagon Alley. He’s more cautious now; I think he knows that sometimes I’m there.” It was as close to the truth as he could possibly go without telling them about the private war he was waging with Voldemort which he had the feeling that no one would be happy about if they knew. Dumbledore looked at him, his eyes filled with disappointment. “I think he’s planning something, sir, I just don’t know what.” He shrugged apologetically, holding Dumbledore’s gaze and then looked away, blushing. Somehow he knew that Dumbledore knew about his meetings with Voldemort and it made Harry feel dirty, worse than he normally felt when he actually thought about the games he played against Voldemort. Dumbledore was disappointed with him and it weighed heavily on his heart.

Dumbledore sighed, “Has anyone…?” They all shook their heads; it seemed that all the sources they had once had on Death Eater information were drying up. It was impossible to tell why, a few people suspected a traitor within the ranks but as there was no overt information and no one had been betrayed yet the prospect of a traitor hadn’t really been explored thoroughly. “Well, let’s move on to –”

“No,” Harry interrupted. “I think we need to have a decisive course of action, sir. It’s not working and the Death Eaters are winning. Tonks was captured at Birkenhead because there was no definite course of action to take. Even when someone stepped forward there was dissent amongst the ranks. We can’t let it happen again. We’ll lose.” He looked up and down the table, catching everyone’s gaze; Molly looked both proud and worried, Kingsley looked was looking at him curiously, Mad Eye was grinning, everyone else didn’t seem to know what to think. “We –” Harry let out a piercing scream and collapsed to his knees clutching his scar.

The whole room seemed to pause for a moment before utter chaos erupted. No one seemed to be able to decide what course of action to take- whether to try and help Harry or to try and get information out of Harry about what exactly was going on. It was obviously something to do with Voldemort but what exactly was up for grabs. “…danger…here…” Harry gasped out struggling to stay in the present before pain wrenched him into oblivion and he was no longer aware of Molly’s horrified gasp and the scraping of chairs pushed back in a hurry, as the members of the Order drew their wands and advanced towards the door in something remarkably close to a formation- although it was questionable what the formation was of.

The Order fanned out, leaving Harry where he was, with Tonks and Molly standing near the door as guards, as they were far more concerned by the proximity of the Dark Lord, if they’d understood Harry’s warning correctly. From their positions hidden in the shadows near the door all they could see were blinding flashes of light and the whisper of curses draped heavily in the air. Mad Eye Moody stumbled around the corner, his magical eye flickering from Tonks to Molly. “Grab the boy and get the hell out of here,” he hissed before he was struck by the Killing Curse and Lucius Malfoy stood over him grinning. Tonks and Molly drew out of their respective hiding places simultaneously and threw spells at him, drawing together and backwards in an effort to protect Harry. Lucius blocked them with little difficulty and they exchanged troubled glances, they didn’t dare try splitting up because they knew neither of them could hold him alone. The question, of course, was what to do.

What they didn’t count on, of course, was for Bellatrix Lestrange to walk around the corner covered in blood and gore and looking almost bored. Her cool blue eyes glittering as they alighted on her niece, “Isn’t this nice? Ickle niecey-poo wants to play with her Uncle Lucius, perhaps her Aunty Bella had better help to take away all her ickle toys?” Tonks and Lucius exchanged looks of disgust before Bella’s stupefy hit Tonks and she crumpled to the floor.

“I’d rather you didn’t bring up the fact that we’re related to a half-blood, Bella.” Lucius said with a sigh, hitting Molly with a hex almost absently. “It doesn’t do for us, seeing as we’re so prominent within our Lord’s ranks, to consort with people like her.” Bella just grinned at him and settled down next to their niece.

“But she’s a pretty little thing, isn’t she?” she murmured stroking Tonks’ pink hair almost reverently. “Still, I suppose we should pick up our Lord’s prize.”