Visions of an Empath

A/N: Sorry for the long delay. I kinda got stuck on this chapter. Also, there are several lines of dialogue directly from the book.

Chapter 6

Harry sighed in frustration. He and Lucius were at Grimmauld Place, waiting for Kreacher to return. He’d been trying to contact Ron and Hermione for the past three days and had yet been able to reach them. All the letters he’d sent were returned unopened, and Harry was worried. Had something happened to them? Merlin, he hoped they were all right.

As he paced restlessly across the room, Harry heard a soft tap at the window. Seeing Hedwig outside, he hurriedly let her in. “Did you find them, girl?”

A soft hoot was his reply as Hedwig held out her leg. Harry took the note and read with growing dismay. In all the excitement lately, he’d completely forgotten about Bill’s wedding. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Voldemort had attacked during the reception. Fortunately, the Weasley’s and Hermione had gotten away, and now they were all in hiding.

Lucius stalked into the room a moment later, body almost vibrating in fury. Harry flinched at the harsh emotion and tried to block it out. “Lucius, what happened?”

“That bastard is using my Manor as his bloody headquarters,” snarled Lucius.

“Lucius, please calm down. It’s really hard to block out that much anger,” said Harry, rubbing his temples as they throbbed in pain.

Lucius’ anger died quickly at seeing Harry in pain. “Floppy!” Once the house-elf had appeared, Lucius instructed her to get a pain potion. She popped out and returned a moment later with the required potion. “Here, this should help.”

Harry gratefully swallowed down the potion and sighed in relief when the throbbing in his head eased quickly. He set the empty phial aside and looked up at Lucius. “I know you don’t like him using your Manor in such a way, but this could work to our advantage. As you’ve already said, Voldemort constantly underestimates the house elves. Use that. Have your house elves spy on him and pass any information on to you.”

“Why, Harry, how positively Slytherin of you,” said Lucius admiringly.

“Nothing new there,” said Harry impishly. “I had Dobby and Kreacher spying on Draco all of last year. I knew he was up to something. I just couldn’t figure out what it was.”

Lucius stared at Harry in shock for a moment before a soft laugh escaped his lips. Harry couldn’t help but laugh with him, feeling the humour two-fold.

“And I thought you would be upset by my news,” said Severus from the doorway, observing them with raised eyebrows.

Lucius smirked at Severus. “Oh, I was. That is until Harry reminded me how the Dark Lord constantly underestimates house elves.”

“Your point would be?”

“I’m taking a page out of Harry’s book. I’ll order my house elves to spy on the Dark Lord and report back to me,” said Lucius calmly.

Severus looked at Harry speculatively. “And when have you employed such methods?”

“I had Dobby and Kreacher spying on Draco last year,” said Harry blithely. “Unfortunately, the little blighter made most of his plans in the Room of Requirement.” He suddenly looked at Severus again. “What are you doing here? I thought you were at the safe house with Draco.”

Severus reached into his robes and pulled out a miniature sword. With a quick flick of his wand, the sword returned to its original size. “I promised you this, did I not?”

“Gryffindor’s sword! Thanks!” said Harry, lifting the sword from Severus’ hands.

Severus nodded briefly and turned to leave. At the doorway, he stopped. “Use caution when leaving the house. Death Eaters watch from the courtyard.” With that warning, Severus was gone.

“How would they even know about Grimmauld Place?” asked Harry curiously.

“Wizarding wills are examined by the Ministry. With the Dark Lord in control, it wouldn’t be very difficult for them to find out,” said Lucius softly.

Before Harry could reply, they heard a sharp crack in the kitchen. They rushed to kitchen and saw Kreacher and Mundungus tangled up together on the floor. Kreacher quickly got to his feet and bowed to Harry.

“Kreacher has returned with the thief Mundungus Fletcher, Master.”

Mundungus jumped to his feet and pulled out his wand, but Lucius disarmed the thief and bound him to a chair.

“What?” cried Mundungus, struggling to escape his bonds. “Wha’ve I done? Setting a bleedin’ ‘ouse elf on me, what are playing at. Wha’ve I don? Lemme go, lemme go, or-”

“You’re not in much of a position to make threats,” said Harry. He crossed the kitchen and knelt beside Mundungus, who froze in terror.

“Kreacher apologises for the delay in bringing the thief, Master,” said Kreacher. “Fletcher knows how to avoid capture, has many hidey-holes and accomplices. Nevertheless, Kreacher cornered the thief in the end.”

“You’ve done really well, Kreacher,” said Harry approvingly. He turned back to Mundungus. “Right, we’ve got a few questions for you.”

“Well then, why the ‘ell am I being ‘hunted down by ‘ouse elves? Or is this about them goblets again? I ain’t got none of ‘em left, or you could ‘ave ‘em.”

“It’s not about the goblets either, although you’re getting warmer,” said Harry. “When you cleaned out this house of anything valuable-”

Mundungus interrupted Harry. “Sirius never cared about any of the junk-” Kreacher ran into the kitchen and hit Mundungus over the head with a saucepan, causing the thief to shriek in pain. “Call ‘im off, call ‘im off. ‘E should be locked up.”

“Kreacher, no!” shouted Harry.

“Perhaps just one more, Master Harry, for luck?” said Kreacher, still holding the saucepan aloft.

Lucius smirked maliciously at Fletcher, who immediately flinched away from the blonde.

“We need him conscious, Kreacher, but if he needs persuading you can do the honours,” said Harry.

Kreacher slowly lowered the pan and bowed to Harry. “Thank you very much, Master.”

“When you stripped this house of all the valuables you could find, you took a bunch of stuff from the kitchen cupboard. There was a locket there. What did you do with it?”

“Why? Is it valuable?” asked Mundungus.

“You’ve still got it?” asked Harry quickly.

Lucius sneered at the thief. “No, he doesn’t. He’s merely wondering whether he should have asked more money for it.”

“More?” said Mundungus sulkily. “That wouldn’t have been effing difficult. Bleedin’ gave it away, di’n’t I? No choice.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was selling in Diagon Alley and she come up to me and asks if I’ve got a license for trading in magical artefacts. Bleedin’ snoop. She was gonna fine me, but she took a fancy to the locket an’ told me she’d take it and let me off that time, and to fink meself lucky.”

“Who was this woman?” asked Harry.

“I dunno, some Ministry hag. Little woman. Bow on top of ‘er head. Looked like a toad.”

Harry dropped his wand in shock, hitting Mundungus on the nose. Red sparks shot into the thief’s eyebrows, causing them to ignite. Harry quickly grabbed the glass of water on the table and tossed the contents in Fletcher’s face, causing the thief to sputter indignantly.

“Kreacher, take him back, will you?”

“But, Master, he must pay for his thievery,” protested the house elf.

“Do as you see fit. He’s of no use to me. Just don’t kill him or permanently maim him,” said Harry.

“Now wait jus’ a minute. You can’t-”

Kreacher grabbed the thief and popped out in mid-sentence.

Harry looked up at Lucius, absently rubbing his thumb over the scars on his right hand. How were they going to get the locket now? With the Ministry being run by Voldemort, it would be suicide to attempt to infiltrate it to get to Umbridge.

Lucius saw the unconscious action and wanted to tear Umbridge to pieces. He quietly told Kreacher to take Fletcher back were he got him and turned back to Harry. “We’ll get the locket, Harry. Don’t worry.”

“How, Lucius? The Ministry is under Voldemort’s control. Neither one of us can exactly waltz in unnoticed,” said Harry.

Lucius smirked deviously. “Sure we can. You’ll see.”

***

Severus growled under his breath as he stepped into the Ministry of Magic. Why in Merlin’s name did he allow Lucius to talk him into this insane plan? They were all going to get caught and tortured to death.

As if hearing his thoughts, a small set of teeth clamped down on the skin beneath his robes. Severus hissed in pain and slapped the pocket lightly. “Cut it out, you little brat.” The soft warning drew curious eyes, but Severus ignored them and continued on his way to the first floor.

Flashback

“Severus, I need you to get us into the Ministry of Magic,” said Lucius calmly.

Severus could only stare at Lucius in shock. “You want me to what? Have you lost your bloody mind? If you and Harry go anywhere near the Ministry of Magic, you’ll get caught and sent directly to the Dark Lord.”

“Only if they know we’re there,” said Lucius.

“And just how do you plan to do that?” asked Severus snidely.

“Like this,” said Lucius, transforming into his drake form.

“That’s a little conspicuous, Lucius. How is that going to work?”

The huge drake suddenly began to shrink until he was small enough to fit into Severus’ palm. In the next instant, the tiny drake disappeared.

“How did you that?” asked Severus incredulously.

The drake reappeared and rapidly grew to his original size before transforming back into Lucius. “Drake magic. We don’t really disappear, though. It’s more like a chameleon’s ability to blend in to its surroundings.”

“Drakes can do that? Cool,” said Harry.

“Yeah, you try it,” said Lucius.

Harry transformed into his animagus form and focussed the accompanying magic into shrinking his large body the way Lucius had. The beautiful green drake began to shrink rapidly, and Harry quickly found himself staring up at a massive Severus. Feeling a little threatened, Harry instinctively used his magic to blend in with his surroundings as Lucius had.

“Very good, Harry,” said Lucius approvingly, bending down and placing the tiny drake in his palm. “Fly around the room for a bit. We need to make sure we can stay hidden.”

Harry took off and was immediately enamoured with flight in this form. This was even more amazing than riding a broom.

Lucius and Severus watched closely as Harry flew around the room. They lost track of him several times, only to catch sight again the short second it took him to change from one background to another. However, as long as they kept close to the shadows, they would be almost imperceptible.

End Flashback

As the lift stopped on the first floor, the doors opened to reveal Delores Umbridge and the Minister Scrumgeour. “Ah, Severus, what brings you to the Ministry today?”

“I wanted to have a word with you about the curriculum at Hogwarts, Minister,” said Severus smoothly. He felt his passengers leave his pockets as he followed the Minister into his office and prayed nothing else went wrong.

***

As soon as Severus disappeared into he Minister’s office, Harry and Lucius flew down the corridor after Umbridge. She stepped into her office only long enough to grab a folder off her desk and started back toward the lift. As she turned, Harry glimpsed a glimmer of gold and flew a bit closer. She was wearing Slytherin’s locket! That hag!

He saw someone heading toward them and looked at Lucius pointedly. Getting the hint, Lucius rammed into the man’s back, causing him to collide with Umbridge. In the ensuing struggle, Harry grabbed the necklace between his teeth and ripped the locket from Umbridge’s throat, flying directly into the shadows to avoid detection. Fortunately, the hag didn’t seem to notice its absence, and Lucius and Harry quickly flew back to the Minister’s office to await Severus.

Severus stepped out into the corridor a few minutes later, and Lucius and Harry quickly hid themselves in Severus’ pockets. As they ducked out of sight, they heard Umbridge gasp and yell, “My necklace! You took my necklace.”

“N-No, I didn’t. I swear I didn’t.”

“Liar! I had it before you bumped into me. Now give it back!”

Severus took that as his cue to the lift. As the lift doors closed behind them, Harry couldn’t help feeling sorry for the poor guy being accused of their theft, but there was really nothing he could do about it. He had to destroy all of the horcruxes or Voldemort would never be defeated.

Severus stepped off the lift into the Atrium and started toward the fireplace. The wizard monitoring floo travel nodded politely at Severus as he stepped into the fireplace. Once outside the anti-apparition wards, Severus apparated the three of them back to Grimmauld Place.

Lucius and Harry climbed out of Severus’ pockets and returned to their normal size before transforming back to normal. Harry held out the locket triumphantly. He handed the locket to Severus with a smile. “You should have the honour of destroying this. After all, you were Head of Slytherin.” Harry then yelled for Kreacher. “Kreacher, please get me the sword lying on my dresser.”

“Yes, Master,” said Kreacher with a short bow. He disappeared with a loud crack only to reappear a moment later with the sword in hand. “Here, Master.”

Harry grinned. “Thank you, Kreacher.” He handed the sword to Severus.

Severus stared at Harry in shock. Pulling himself together, he carefully set the locket down and raised the sword. He then brought the sword down, piercing the locket directly in the centre. A long, eerie scream came from the locket just before the entire things shattered into several different pieces.

“That was a bit anti-climactic,” said Lucius dryly.

“Don’t complain, Lucius. That’s one down and three to go,” said Harry.

“Just don’t involve me in any of your insane little plans,” said Severus. “I’ve reached my limit of Gryffindor foolishness.”

Harry just grinned at him. “Somebody’s gotta keep you on your toes, Severus. Life would be dull without us.”