[dw]

[Duddahs]

DARKNESS WITHIN

CHAPTER 10

Part 1

Home Sweet Home.

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




The haunted wail of a Peacock splits the night air. The chill that starts as a tingle at the base of his spine then travels up toward the short hairs on the back of Harry Potter's neck. He hears his own foot fall shuffling through the gravel covered driveway as they enter a manicured circle surrounding a fountain. Then looming larger than a sleeping giant,.Malfoy Manor resolutely began to split the fog that hung so low over it.

"What are we going to do now Lucius", demanded a deadpan deepened voice.

His heart beating so violently in his chest that he thought without very much effort it would rip itself from his chest and burst upon the gravel covered path that they tread upon.

"Shut up you fool. This is no time for panic. The Dark Lord will not entertain us with open arms if he finds that we have panicked and let slip what he has planned for so long. Now just get inside and let me not hear one more word from any of you."

Lucius walked with his serpent topped cane as briskly as he could towards the the entrance of his ancient family manor. As his Platinum Blond length of hair billowed in the breeze that momentarily kicked up. Malfoy turned his head towards the sky.

There it was, massive, shiny and imposing. It appeared to be closer than it had ever been before. He was almost compelled to reach his hand out and attempt to touch it. To bring it down to his own level as if he were the master of the night.

It was a Full Moon. The most splendid and chill inspiring moon that the group of Death Eaters has ever seen.

"Blast that idiot Dumbledore and his bundle of student busy bodies. If Severus had done his job as expected none of this would ever have happened. Harry Potter would be once and for all be under the control of the Dark Lord. I will bring him down, I will personally see to the destruction of Severus Snape the traitor. I will then become the Dark Lords most trusted and respected servant and I will be rewarded beyond any of our wildest imaginations. I will see that Severus Snape falls almost as quickly as Albus Dumbledore falls from his mighty perch as Headmaster of Hogwarts. Hogwarts will be returned to what it should have always have been. A school for the True and Pure Wizard Family's to never more reveal our secrets or knowledge to those who steal from us our Birth Rights as the Leaders of the World. The rising of Lord Voldemort as the Chosen One, the rightful leader of the world of PureBlood Wizards and Witches."

With this, the opened doorway of Malfoy Manor welcomed the Wizards and a tiny, torn and scab covered House Elf by the name of Kokay stood awaiting her masters command. A heeled booted foot swiftly kicks the house elf with a sickening "WHAP" and the House Elf flew through the air, hitting the wall on the opposite end of the entrance way as her tiny body fell to hard polished flooring in a crumpled heap.

"Kokay," the senior Malfoy snapped, "food and drink for our Guests. And announce our arrival to your mistress, tell her to meet us inside the solarium."

The elf lifted itself back in an upright stance, rather painfully, and bowed to her master. "Yes, mas-s-ster.... right away, s-s-sir."

It stammered, spitting out a broken tooth from its bloodied mouth. It popped out of view as the wizards walked toward the arched doorway that led to the manor's solarium near the rear of the home.

They entered the darkened room, barely seeing where they were going. Lucius snapped his fingers once, making a series of sconces light up with a warm glow. Lucius made a show of greeting his cohorts, indicating to the seats that all were invited to take.

"Now, what will we be doing to doing to fix this, Lucius?"

Crabbe senior drawled on slowly, as he stretched his legs before him, letting his head fall back onto the cushioned backrest of the chair he had taken.

"This can't be silenced since Fudge was there... and you know it'll be transmitted easily to our Lord."

Lucius had elected for a chaise-lounge, posing rather effectively, seemingly relaxed and unaffected. The steely gray eyes observed his fellow wizards for a couple of heart beats, thinking about the implications that the man's words had produced.

Of course, the wives of his fellow Death Eaters wouldn't talk about the incident to the Dark Lord, or else face their husband's displeasure... but Fudge was another kettle of fish. He mulled over his options, wondering if he could count on Crabbe and Goyle seniors to keep silent too. Those tow lumbering behemoths were as sharp as a piece of chalk, but were usually easy to sway into doing things his way, as long as it seemed profitable for them.

The House-Elf popped in and out a few times, depositing beverages and favorite foods near the wizards that were there. It finally came before Lucius and bowed deeply.

"Mistress Malfoy w-w-ill be here soon, master." it stammered, keeping its gaze lowered so as not to look bold or disobedient.

Lucius waved it off with a casual swing of one hand, taking his chalice with his other well manicured hand.

"Very well..." he dismissed the creature without looking at it.

Goyle sat up and greedily started to eat from a nearby plate. The sounds of munching breaking the silence in the room. His table manners were, as usual, disgustingly absent. It made Lucius sneer and look away. How this one had ended up as a servant of the Dark Lord was still a mystery to the platinum haired man. Minutes ticked by as Lucius cooked up a probable scenario to share with the Dark Lord.

Lucius finally started to speak, "We all know that our Lord wants to remove Fudge from his present position. Correct?" he asked of the other men.

They all nodded in assent, looking at Malfoy funnily, as their eyes slowly fogged under the influence of the fine refreshments.

"Well, we might just precipitate his plans and go on a smear campaign to silence that fool. Discredit him so his words might not be disseminated inside that rag, the Daily Prophet." Lucius words rolled off his tongue, like venom from a snake's fangs.

"Unless we can get close enough to Obliviate him." he added a few seconds later.

With this, the group of Pureblood Males, Crabbe, Goyle and Bulstrode all snickered and laughed. “WHAM!” The crashing sound of heavy wood striking more solid wood echoed throughout the cavernous room. The rich appointments of crystal chandeliers and sconces shuddered with the twinkling sound of fine cut crystal.

There she stood. Her darkened outline casting a foreboding figure in the entrance doorway. Wild hair creating a evil crown like shadow upon the Oriental Carpeted floor covering. The light of the Hall behind her made her seem to be 10 Feet Tall but in reality she was but a mere 5 FEET of pure EVIL.

"HOW DARE YOU convene a secret meeting without notifying me first", bellowed Bellatrix Lestrange.

[Duddahs]

DARKNESS WITHIN

CHAPTER 10

Part 2

Home Sweet Home.

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



As Bellatrix entered the room, the Wizards all sat bolt straight in their respective seating, that is all except Lucius Malfoy. Lucius stood facing directly in her direction of approach. The roaring fire within the ancient hearth behind him, casting an equally evil looking shadow upon the carpet. The two shadows met, head to head, while their owners stood their ground, eye to eye, evil to evil, snarl beastly snarl.

"This is the House of Malfoy, it appears that I must remind you. You are a Guest in this house, under my roof, the roof of my ancestors. The purest blood of all Wizarding kind." Lucius pronounced with the utter disgust that came from deep within his rotten soul.

"I am the most loyal and most beloved of all the servants to the Dark Lord and heir to the Ancient Wizarding Houses of Black and Lestrange must I remind you, you pathetic coward!" came Bellatrix's retort.

With this a blast of Red light crossed the room, a massive solid Oak Table of no less than 12' long is thrown through the air and soars towards Bellatrix.

"Immobulus" screeches Bellatrix as the table comes to a sudden halt and falls to the floor.

"Protego" Lucius Malfoy then shouts just as a flash of brilliant White Light screams its way towards him.

"ENOUGH! Enough I say. Put your wands away and stop this ridiculous and childish behavior once and for all!"

There stood the haughty figure so similar to that of Bellatrix Lestrange, but somehow softer, brighter, Less evil. There stood the Mistress of the House of Malfoy!

"Cissey, have you any idea of what this loathsome creature that you call a Husband has been up too? Well, do you?"

"Yes, Bella, I am fully aware of WHERE and WHY Lucius has been up to and I am in full agreement with his defense of our son Draco and his classmates. I do not believe that it is any of YOUR business how we raise our children considering you have been as barren as a desert and would never understand the ties between a Parent and their Child."

With this, Bellatrix turns on the others in the room.

"Do not think for one moment that I will not relay each and every detail of this to the Dark Lord. I am sure that he will have some fun and games to play with all of you for your treasonous antics."

"The Dark Lord will be aware of the goings on this evening in due time. So while you are under MY ROOF you will hold a civil tongue in that, what would you call it? Oh yes, that disheveled head of yours" A sneer crept across the face of Lucius Malfoy.

.The quickened sound of breathing from the other Wizards became less apparent, almost defiant.

"Lucius, I must speak with you, ALONE" bade Narcissa Malfoy.

With a wave of her hand, Kokay appeared by her side. "Our company needs refilling of their refreshments from the Kitchen." and with this a loud "POP" the House Elf once again vanished.

Lucius gave Bella a malevolent look before following his wife to the study, leaving his Guests under the House Elf's care.

Bella stood there, seething at the other Death Eaters.

Suddenly, Goyle came out of his usual silence and nudged Crabbe. "How did she find out about this? Weren't we the only ones to be in on it?" He nodded toward the woman.

Crabbe hunched his shoulders, "Dunno... you know she gets certain information that we don't."

"If you two idiots are finished talking about me, as if I weren't present... you might be interested to know that I was inside that picture when you were just outside that room in Hogwarts." Bellatrix said smugly, "And I saw you rats deserting your WIVES, leaving them with that Mudblood loving old geezer. COWARDS!"

"But... but... Bellatrix! He was about to use that..." Crabbe stuttered, but Bella hissed at him.

"Oh, shut it Crabbe!" Bellatrix said as she walked to the chaise that Lucius had vacated. Sprawling herself over its chintz covered cushions.

"You left them in a precarious position and you very well know that. And with that fool Fudge in attendance as well. For the love of Circe, our Dark Lord will want your heads for this one."

The three wizards paled considerably as they realized that she spoken the truth. Bulstrode got up and started to pace nervously.

"What are we going to do?" he asked aloud, small beads of sweat starting to build upon his brow.

The house elf returned with fresh beverages and two decanters of his mistresses best from the kitchens below. It bowed and popped out hurriedly.

The following silence was broken by a shout coming from inside the mansion. The four Death Eaters turned instantly, wands out, wondering what was happening inside. Bella stood up and ran toward the door.

"Stay here, I'll see what is happening out there." she ordered as she left.

With a snap of a turn on her heels Bellatrix once again slammed the Oak and Wrought Iron door against the wall. Her exit from the room was as dramatic as her entrance had been just a frightening short time before.

The echo of her metal tipped healed shoes clicked in absolutely perfect cadence as she approached the study in which her sister and Lucius were having an obviously very heated argument. The voices began to drown out the click, click, click of Bella's approach when all sound came to an abrupt STOP!

Silence filled the air, the pressure of nothingness began to take it's toll upon Bella's impatience. Her anger began to build to the point of an all together unbelievable explosion of unbridled and unrestrained foul verbiage.

Back in the Drawing Room, Crabbe, Goyle and Bulstrode stood stock still. Their respective glasses of Magical Brew held tightly in their grips. The unnoticed *PoP* of Kokay occurred several times. No one taking notice, not one of these Purebloods even giving the slightest attention to her appearances and disappearances.

Back in the Hallway, Bella reached for the handle of the door before her. Just as her fingers began to close tightly over the centuries smoothed surface of the bronze handle, the door was ripped open, the handle tearing away at her fingertips and there standing before her the figure of Lord Voldemort himself!

A gasp escaped her lips only to find her a moment later crawling prostrate upon the cold hard polished floor. Her eyes cast upward, pleadingly, begging for the recognition from the Dark Lord that she so craved.

The only person, creature or thing that ever was to put Bellatrix Lestrange into a position of submission, stood there. Voldemort moved his right arm, his robes pulling from the trembling grip of Bella as he whipped away its fabric from her touch.

A “hisssssssssssssss” came from his pursed lips, and with this Bella rolled to her side, hitting the wall at just about the same spot that Kokay had slid from upon her master's return to Malfoy Manor.

"Bella!" he shouted, walking past her, "follow me and don't dawdle."

He seemed to float effortlessly toward the solarium. Bellatrix scrambled to her feet and ran after the Dark Lord, not once looking back to see what had happened inside the study. For, is she had taken the time to look, she might have herself taken a few moments more before following her master.


Narcissa lay huddled on the floor, Lucius' head lay cradled upon her lap. Bright light reflecting tears were streaming down her face as she stroked away the blood soaked locks from her husband's face. She kept repeating, over and over again.

"Lucius, why didn't you obey him...WHY?"

His eyes softened as he moaned gently under her gentle touch.

But Bella, being the subservient soul to Voldemort, followed her Lord and Master without even a glimmer of thought otherwise. He was here and that was all that needed to be known. In her book anyway...

Lord Voldemort entered the Solarium, his Red snake like eyes gleaming dangerously as dark anger seeped throughout his veins. He was beyond anger or upset, and whoever got in his way would pay dearly for their transgression.

"Crabbe.... Goyle.... Bulstrode...." He hissed, getting their attention immediately.

They dropped their glasses, the sound of shattering crystal followed as they crawled repentantly to their master.

"Master..." one said, followed by, "My Lord!" by yet another.

"SILENCE!"

Voldemort screamed as he paced around the wizards. His gate becoming as erratic as his fury bubbled unheeded inside his body. Someone would pay for this bungled scheme and that someone was inside the manor.

Bellatrix stood still, unsure if she should get on her knees or stand by the door as she was doing now. She had rarely been on the Dark Lord's bad side, and she wouldn't try anything to get there either. So she waited for any indication of what was expected of her.

"You... have.... terribly erred in your devotion to me this day." Voldemort started to say in a low voice,

"I have confirmed accounts of the foolishness that has come to pass inside Hogwarts this evening."

"But, my Lord..." Crabbe garbled from the floor, slightly muffled as he kept his head down to avoid direct eye contact with Voldemort.

"Ah, Yessssss! Crabbe, do tell me what happened in Hogwarts. Regale ME with your thorough description of what happened...And do not even try to LIE to me.. I always know if you are lying and I will destroy ANYONE who thinks that they can lie to me!"

The Dark Lord taunted, his reddish eyes trained on the wizard's neck, his wand held loftily in one hand.

[Duddahs]

DARKNESS WITHIN

CHAPTER 11

Part 1

A Twin Pack of Trouble.

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Madam Pomfrey was so hoarse from yelling at the Gryffindor students to leave Harry Potter to rest that she had pretty much given up and decided to put a spell on a mop and bucket that stood in the corner of the Infirmary. It did the trick as it began to slap each and every one of the students around with a wet slopping sound and the smell of antiseptic cleaner.. The bucket was hovering over the heads of both Ron and Hermione, threatening to dump its contents upon them.

Colin Creevey began to snap pictures of this site with his trusted camera. He considered this to be so exciting and something that his family back home in the Muggle world just would never believe would actually happen.

Neville grabbed Colin just in time as the old clanging metal bucket tipped itself upside down and its filthy and smelly contents came rushing down on the spot that he had stood just a few seconds earlier..

"Thanks Neville, I really appreciate your getting me out of there before that happened. Hey Neville can I get a picture of you with the bucket floating towards you? Huh? Can I? Just stand still for a second before it gets here."

Neville gave a confused looking smirk and then looked over his shoulder to see the bucket coming directly for HIM!

"HELP" screamed Neville.

But help was not to be coming any time soon since the twins, Hermione and Ron were already running out of the open doorway that led to the steep stone staircase down and away from the Hospital Wing. The sloppy and wet mop still hot on their trail.

Harry gave out a low moan and Madam Pomfrey came to his side in but a split second.

"Mr. Potter, you must stay calm and breath in and out of this device. What you do is you take in a deep breath and then expel all of the air in your lungs into this tube.. When you see each of these three little planets begin to circle this tiny sun you will know that you have done this well. Now I want you to perform this 10 times and see if you can get all three of these little planets to make one full orbit around the sun. When you have finished with this I will be back and we will check your wave lengths."

With this Madam Pomfrey placed a gold probe onto the metal stand that stood next to Harry's bed. It rolled a bit and hit the white granite ware basin that contained a small amount of cool water and a soft clean wash cloth draped over its edge.

Harry's eyes were still closed, their lids feeling weighed downed with hot rocks. Reaching up, he tried to rub off the feeling with the heels of his palms. He tried stretching out, but only ended up moaning again. Every bone and muscle in his body seemed to have been attacked by Bludgers.

Squinting against the daylight, he looked around for his glasses, which he eventually found behind the basin. With eyes ready to focus, he finally saw what had been clattering around: The mop and pail came back from performing their duties (shooing off students) and took their post on the opposite wall. Harry grinned at Madam Pomfrey's obvious tactics to keep his friends away.

"Mr. Potter!" the Medi-witch had come back, "why aren't you doing your exercises, young man?" She asked dryly with hands sitting upon her hips, ready to bully the boy into doing them.

Harry looked up into the harried witch's face, smiled innocently as he then reached for the contraption that was near his bed.

"Was just about to do that, Madam Pomfrey."

He popped the tube inside his mouth and blew forcefully inside. The tiny planet's barely moved, but that didn't faze Harry very much.

"That won't do Mr. Potter. You have to take a deep breath beforehand... " she said impatiently.

Harry knew there was no getting out of it and took a deep breath, blowing back inside the tube again. The planets moved a bit more, but not enough to make them revolve around the sun.

"Ha!" the Medi-witch taunted, "not as easy as it sounds now, is it? Do it again and again until you get the hang of it. Come on, get to it!" Madam Pomfrey huffed as she plumped a pillow behind his back and finally went back to her office to resume her charting.

While Harry was attempting to master the orbits of the three tiny planets around their sun, his friends were madly dashing towards the Gryffindor Common Room. Fred and George leading the pack as they made as much noise screaming and joking the entire way. Every once in a while a loud "SSHHHH!!!" would interrupt the cacophony of pure fun.. Hermione as always had a habit of trying to bring everyone else down to earth when fun was being had.

The group rounded a corner and Fred took the first fall, then George followed by Ron, Hermione, Colin and lastly Neville. They spun around on their back sides, sliding into walls, hitting each other in the process and just completely out of control.

With a loud cackling and large cubes of ice being thrown at each of the Gryffindors was Peeves floating just above a frost covered suit of armor. Peeves had somehow turned the entire 5th floor hallway into a sheet of ice. Fred scrabbled at a large tapestry then George took hold of the other end of the same hanging tapestry. Trying to right themselves, they pulled and pulled until they were almost set upon their feet when the tapestry, with a loud "RIP", tore away from the ceiling and dropped on top of the twins, causing them to fall once more to the ice in a heap.

Her mouth hanging wide open and speechless for what seemed to have been forever, Hermione pointed with ferocity at a sight that none of these young witches or wizards had hoped to ever see again.

Ron looking very strained just gawked at Hermione and stated, "Mione, what's the matter with you? Did Peeves get one of those ice cubes in your mouth or something?"

Hermione just shook her head when Neville broke into the conversation.

"It's that Painting again! But How? We left it back in the Room of Requirements!"

Quickly Colin had his camera out and was snapping pictures of the painting. As the flash went off time and time again, Peeves once again cackled and threw an entire large bag full of ice cubes on the heads of the students and then zoomed off down the hallway and out of site.

"Ron, don't be an idiot! Don't you see the corner of that paintings frame?" Hermione said quietly.

Ron squinted, "what about it?" he asked as he wondered what she was on about.

"Look closely... it looks like it has a keyhole. Don't you think?" she said as she tried to get to her knees and get closer. She skidded quite a bit before getting there.

"Yes, it is a keyhole! The one we saw in the Room of Requirement didn't have that."

Ron came up behind her, as well as Fred and George who had finally removed the tapestry off their heads. They look at it with interest.

"Who put it here?" Neville asked, "this painting wasn't here this morning was it?."

"Good question, Neville. But I don't know and this look awfully like the one we saw in the Room. But there was a Tapestry here that may have been hiding this painting." Hermione groaned as she shifted on her knees, "And this ice wasn't here either does anyone else think that Peeves may have brought it here?."

Fred and George took another look at the ice itself. Fred scraped it with his wand as George tried to melt it with a fire charm.

“LacarnumInflamary”

[Duddahs]

DARKNESS WITHIN

CHAPTER 11

Part 2

A Twin Pack of Trouble.

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"It's magical ice all right... but Peeves can't do magic. So even if he would want to do it, he's not able to." George said knowingly.

"True, " added Fred with a nod. "Peeves is just the scapegoat in my mind."

Neville looked from the corridor to the painting.

"None of this sounds too reassuring or remotely good. We need to get to Professor Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall. They'll know what to do."

"I agree, Neville."

Hermione said as she waved her wand at the soles of her shoes. She made little crampons appear on her shoes and gingerly got up, standing solidly on both feet.

"I'll go there now. Anyone want to come with me?"

Neville smiled sheepishly, "Hermione... would you mind doing the same to my shoes?" he waved his hand toward his own feet. "I'll go with you if you want."

"Sure, sure, Neville." Hermione waving her wand again, "Anyone want the same treatment for their shoes before I go?"

"Mione, you really know how to cast every spell, you do. Why don't you just cast a spell on that painting and it would tell us it's secrets?" Ron stated with a blank expression on his freckled face.

"Ron, that painting is obviously protected by a very powerful Dark Magic spell and you know that I do not perform Dark Magic!"

Hermione was now standing with her hands firmly placed upon her hips. Her eyes narrowed and her expression of that of a puckered cat's behind... One could not have imagined a more disgusted look if they had tried.

While this was all going on, Fred and George were gaining their footing and talking in quiet whispers that none of the others noticed. Fred was clearly pointing towards Georges chest. George was shaking his head from side to side while glancing left and right to check the goings on of the others.

Fred then stood tall and with a raised right hand, clapped the upraised right hand of George. The sudden sound of the clap echoed through the hall. Maybe just a bit too large because it had obviously alerted Argus Filch to the where a bouts of the student.

First the Lamp like eyes of Filch's mangy cat, Mrs. Norris came around the same corner where Peeves had vanished minutes earlier. Then the tell tale shoe dragging and shuffling of his feet became louder as Filch turned the corner. Standing stone still, taking in the sight of the Ice field that covered the majority of the Fifth Floor corridor, he boomed,

"Now I've got you nasty brats! This will get all of you tied up in the dungeons for a week. Oh how I miss the old days. No more of this namby pamby treatment, some hide for my rawhide. It is about time, yes about time".

Filch stood there practically drooling. Stooped and with a foul yellow toothed smile as the lantern he carried created a shadow of his bent form times 3 on the stone wall along side him.

"Do something Mione!" Ron said with an urgency that he did not even try to hide.

Hermione looked at Filch and his cat, dismissing his presence all together. "I can't help it if this man wants a piece of us.... but I sure do know that none of us can produce this kind of icy material from a simple spell.'"

She gave Filch a pointed look, "I would prefer if Professor Dumbledore was here, at least he would be able to help us."

A sudden hiss from Mrs Norris alerted everyone that something or someone was nearby. Turning their heads on cue, they all saw a striped tabby coming down the corridor, her tail wagging with irritation. Sure enough, Professor McGonagall transfigured before them with nary a sound.

"Mister Filch? What is the meaning of this? Why are the floors covered in ice? We could break our necks in an instant!"

McGonagall had heard the empty threats that Filch had uttered moments ago and wasn't going to make it easy on him. Threatening her cubs like that? After what they went through in the Room of Requirement?

“I think not, she told herself crossly.”

"Students," she said clearly, "back to your common room this instant , and no dawdling."

Professor McGonagall didn't give the kids a chance to go anywhere. "You too!" she told the Twins who seemed to want to go elsewhere.

"But professor..." both Filch and Hermione said together, he pointing to the floors, she pointing to the painting.

"No buts allowed.... inside the common room Miss Granger." she cut through the prattle in one shot. "Mr Filch and I have a corridor to clean up."

The tiny group of Gryffindors grumbled as they filed inside the Fat Lady's opening. All giving Professor McGonagall and Filch a filthy look before the door was slammed shut.

"Buggers!" Ron let out.

"Merlin's tootsies!" Fred added for everyone else.

As the students all headed up to their respective dorm rooms, George tugged on Fred's sleeve. The twins walked slower and slower until they were no longer heading in the same direction as the other male Gryffindors. Fred threw himself over the back of the large Sofa that was directly in front of a roaring fire. George followed as dust flew up into the air as his body made contact with the well worn material and squishy cushions.

"So, do you still have it? Please tell me that it did not break when you took that header on the Fifth floor ice rink.." Fred gave George a truly serious look, well for a moment.

George broke out into a silent fit of laughter, looking around the now silent common room to insure that no nosy bodies were listening in on their conversation.

"Of course I have it. The jar has an unbreakable spell cast upon it.. Heck Peeves could have thrown that jar down the stone steps and let it roll out the front doors and down to the forbidden forest and it still would be safe and sound."

George reached into his robes and withdrew a glass jar filled with a cloudy blue gas that when viewed straight on appears to have threads of Mother of Pearl running throughout it. But what was that Iridescent substance floating in the blue gas? Fred and George were both so very tempted to open up the jar and examine it, maybe even try a bit of it themselves but they both talked it over and decided the best thing to do was to do some research and find out what their apparent prize actually was.

Somewhere from the halls of Hogwarts, Fred and George could hear a clock chiming the stroke of 2. They looked at each other and were almost shocked that they had actually been sitting there discussing this precious gas in glass for so long.. They both agreed that very early the next morning, before anyone else gets up that they would head to the Library and see if they could find the answer to their query.

Another high five and the duo headed up the steep stone staircase that led to their Dorm Room. There their fellow Gryffindors were sound asleep. The hush of long heavy breathing and a few snoring gasps were all that greeted them..

Fred threw himself from the foot of his four poster and landed perfectly with his head coming to rest upon an overstuffed feather pillow. George followed in suit to his four poster and the twins winked to each other and off they drifted into the place where dreams are made upon.

[Duddahs]

DARKNESS WITHIN

CHAPTER 12

Part 1

Picture Perfect?

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Filius Flick and Severus Snape sat silently in the Headmaster's office, each looking at the pair of paintings found within the last 24 hours. Both came from the same source, but the subjects were a bit different. Both were tainted with the same kind of Dark magic, though neither had anyone lurking in the shadows of its painted images.

"The question still stands: who had enough clearance to enter the school with two rather large paintings?" Professor McGonagall said before yawning ostensibly.

"And we all agree that trying to shrink either of them, would probably have perturbed the magic it held. Right?"

"I agree, " Professor Flitwick squeaked from his seat, "but they could have been inside the school already. Someone just added the spells afterward."

Professor Dumbledore nodded quietly, still staring into space, his mind busily trying to figure this puzzle out.

"It is a possibility..., " Professor Snape concurred, "but no student could have done the actual spell work that it involves."

Stretching out his legs to get the kinks out, he added, "Only a very accomplished Wizard or Witch could have done it. I believe that very few of the Dark Lord's followers have the expertise to do it."

His mind automatically started to check off a few names from the list of people that he knew were followers: Crabbe and Goyle Srs, Pettigrew as well.

Minerva nodded, "none of the children were involved in that way... though I would not dismiss the Malfoy boy from a list of possible co-conspirators."

Snape eyed the elderly witch, not bothering to refute her claim.

"Possibly." he said in a cold tone, "he'd do pretty much anything to help his father. But I'm still unsure of the reasons behind the whole scenario. And since I wasn't made aware of it by the Dark Lord, I can only speculate on its aim."

Dumbledore stood up and went to gather what seemed to be a small basin from a high shelf. He laid it on his desk and tapped it with his wand. Plumes of smoke arose from a small spout on one end. He observed the colors that came up, as well as the shape and form that it took. Professor Flitwick looked on excitedly, wondering what the Headmaster could detect from it.

There floating just above the surface of the liquid within the bowl was a small figure. It was perfectly formed but it's outlines were somewhat blurred.

"Albus, what could this mean?"

Inquired an obviously puzzled Professor McGonagall. A moment later the figure changed completely to yet another form all together with a loud "POP".

"Stand Back, Stand Back I say. I will take care of this creature" spouted Severus Snape.

His wand quickly retrieved from within his cloak and then held horizontally over his head and pointing at the little figure before the headmaster.

"Tut, Tut Severus. There is no need to be so alarmed. The figure before us is just a magically produced image of one of the culprits in this puzzle. It is obvious what it is and I am sure that you will agree that it is nothing more,,,, nor nothing less than a Bogart."

Professor Dumbledore looked over his half moon glasses and giving Snape a look of confidence and accentuated it with a raised eye brow.

"Yes Headmaster, I am fully aware of what a Bogart is, but WHY is this particular Bogart here and what does it have to do with the paintings and the kidnapping of Potter?" Severus Snape stated with a bite in his tone as he lowered his wand and once again replaced it to the inner pocket of his cloak.

A knock on the ancient Oak and Wrought Iron door of the Headmasters office sounded as if struck by a very frightened mouse. Again, came the soft “Knock, knock, knock.”

"Enter Sybill", came the voice of Headmaster Dumbledore.

The door creaked open very slowly and suddenly the sound of a Glass Bottle being dropped and then rolling down the circular staircase that leads up to the Headmasters office punctuated the sound of the creaking door only to be punctuated by the SMASH it made as it came in contact with the Stone Gargoyle that stood sentinel to the Headmasters stairway entrance.

Sybill Trelawney entered slowly inside the room, her face showing complete surprise as she saw the other professors sitting quietly there. All were staring at her, wondering what simpering oddity she had seen in her tea leaves again.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, " she finally said after a final gaze at the others, "I'll come back later... it seems you are busy with other matters."

"Nonsense, Sybill!" he said lightly, "you have come down here for a reason, might as well speak up now. Did you need anything?" Albus inquired gently.

Professor Trelawney self-consciously readjusted her shawl over her bony shoulders.

"No, I need nothing. It's just..." she coughed nervously, "I have seen something of utmost importance inside the Orb tonight."

Professor McGonagall tutted under her breath, rolling her eyes in disbelief.

"Well?" Dumbledore asked, trying to move the conversation along.

"It seems that great danger is coming to our dear school... and... and you need to be informed about what I saw."

Sybill's round eyes shone brightly from behind her enormous spectacles.

Professor Snape went to stand next to the window, hoping this wouldn't be a very long-winded explanation from that Divination fraud.

In the most breathy voice that Sybill Trelawney could muster, "Headmaster, it came to me as crystal clear as I am standing here before you."

Professor Trelawney stood there in front of the other professors, slightly weaving from side to side. Obviously impaired but with dedication to her vision.

Snape mumbled under his breath, "Yes, I can see that you are so unwavering in your dedication to the art of fortune telling. Maybe you should have been hired instead to instruct in the art of Textiles as you are obviously proficient at bobbing and weaving"

This was not lost upon Professor McGonagall who had to place her hand to her face in an attempt to hide the fact that she was about ready to burst out laughing..

"Go on, Sybill" pronounced Professor Dumbledore with a lightened tone, "We are all waiting with the utmost interest in your vision, Dear".

With this Professor Dumbledore walked calmly to his massive desk, pulled the chair back and sat down ever so gently. He then placed one hand over the other in front of himself, and interlocked his very long fingers. The aged hands of a time worn body exposed to the other instructors but the sparkle in his eyes belied his age. The inner light that shone from Dumbledore was unmistakable. He was a child inside and was just waiting to jump up and run around the room with reckless abandon.

[Duddahs]

DARKNESS WITHIN

CHAPTER 12

Part 2

Picture Perfect?

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



"Yes, well, yes, let me see," muttered Sybill Trelawney. "Maybe I really should come back at another time when you and the other Professors are not so busy."

"Tut, tut, Sybill. We are all here for you. It is your stage and we are waiting with baited breath for the performance to begin" Dumbledore stated clearly.

Professor Trelawney gave the other Professors an assessing glance and then took in a deep breath. She began with a slight hiccup. "Pardon me. It is all the excitement you know."

With this Professor Snape let out a long hissing noise. One that caused Professor Trelawney to gaze around the rounded walls of the Headmasters Office in search of the imagined leak.

"Get on with it woman," Spat out the portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black. "We have all been just hanging on your every word you know!"

Trelawney puffed up at the indignant way the two Slytherins were treating her.

"Well... I never!" she breathed with a shudder.

"Yes, we all agree that you probably have never... but that's besides the point." Snape's repartee came with a flicker of sarcasm in his eyes.

"That's enough, Severus." Dumbledore said with a sigh of exasperation.

"Let her speak and no more interruptions, please." he said pointedly while looking at Snape and Black.

"Thank you, Headmaster..." Sybill simpered on, "as I was saying before, I had an eminent compulsion to look to the Orb as it seemed to beckon me from the table."

Minerva rolled her eyes behind the divination teacher, shaking her head in utter disbelief. Flitwick kept his features smooth, not wanting to distract the girl.

"I gazed but minutes before it came, as clear as day!" Trelawney said, her hands restlessly waving about. "It would seem that some kind of Portal is being established near the school... a secret door or something that permits an easy entry inside these walls."

"Please continue," Dumbledore ushered her on as the other teachers tutted and smirked amongst themselves.

"But this portal is evil. Quite so," she rushed on, eyes almost bugging outside her head. "The Dark Forces are surely behind this. I could see their blood-red eyes in the shadows, waiting to pounce!"

Minerva snickered a bit before turning the sound to a phony cough. Snape simply shook his head gently, his mouth pinched in an effort to keep silent.

"That is ... quite interesting, my dear. Anything else?" the Headmaster gently prodded again.

Suddenly the head of Sybill Trelawney snapped to an alert attention. Her magnified bug like eyes widened and actually flowing past the thickness of the lenses of her eyeglasses. From deep within her throat came the booming sound of a masculine, growling, foul sounding voice.

"The Dark Lords will shall be done. His plan will work and the walls of Hogwarts will fall into a mighty pile of rubble once and for all. The smell of young student flesh fills my mind and I am at the point of my nerves. Yes, the Dark Lords plan will bring to me what my heart desires. To destroy, to ruin, to possess."

The heads of Snape, McGonagall, Flitwick and even Headmaster Dumbledore were all directed towards the Divination Professors direction. Every single portrait of the past headmasters and headmistresses were keenly staring at Trelawney as well.

"Hack, cough, cough, sputter, Hack..... Did you say something headmaster? I must have been daydreaming for a moment. What was I going to say? Oh yes, I saw these terrible red eyes and filthy teeth, and"

"SILENCE!" demanded Dumbledore with a very emboldened voice. One that made him seem far younger than his many years and far more powerful than his demeanor led on.

"It can't be, not her, I would have never have believed it," warbled the quivering voice of Professor McGonagall.

Obviously her closely held beliefs in her own knowledge was now shattered. Destroyed. How could this FRAUD have come to us with this obvious connection to the Dark World of He Who Must Not Be Named?

Severus Snape set his eyes upon the shawl covered figure before him. Not wishing to believe that what he had just witnessed, heard with his own ears was actually coming from this FRAUD, this throw away of the Wizarding world. No, if he could just squint his eyes tight enough, foul up his vision just right he would be able to see through this apparent FRAUD. He must. It just could not be...

There stood tiny Professor Flitwick, the look of concern plastered all over his face. He turns to Dumbledore and says in a shaky voice,

"Professor Dumbledore, did we just witness what I believe we just witnessed? Is is possible that a true connection has been made from one to yet another? To have crossed not only the lines of mind communications but inter species as well?"

"Yes, I fear we have all now become witness to the actual mind connection of our own Divination Professor and that of Fenrir Greyback"

With this a sudden gasp was released from Sybill Trelawney.

" What? Who? but I am the Divination Professor and I have not seen any Furry Greenback..... er.... Have I?" She looked worriedly to the Headmaster, hoping that he would explain further his last words.

"Not green backs, Sybill. Fenrir Greyback, the werewolf that serves Voldemort."

Dumbledore stated casually, as if explaining to a child. The other three Professors' backs went rigid at the mention of You-know-who's name.

"The eyes that you saw in your vision, were probably his."

"But Headmaster, how could that be?" the Divination teacher started to say with a shudder. "If that thing comes into the school... it would," she couldn't voice the horrors she imagined in her mind.

"I know, Sybill. That scenario would be horrific to say the least."

Dumbledore got up, walking to a cabinet to retrieve a small canister. He popped the lid open, and reached inside. He grabbed a few pieces of candy wrapped in brightly colored foil, and set the canister on his desk.

"Lemon drop, anyone?" he offered as he unwrapped the morsels of lemon flavored sweets, popping them into his mouth with relish.

"Really, Albus... is this really the time for candies?" Minerva groaned tartly. "We have a potentially catastrophic situation here, and you crave sweets?"

She tutted as she draped herself tightly with her robe, feeling like her bones were chilling at the impending doom.

"Ah, well, I seem to find my thoughts less troubled when I indulge my sweet tooth." he said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Maybe a spot of tea would be more to your liking, hmm?"

With that, he clapped his hands twice and a small house elf appeared.

"You called, Master Dumbledore?" the creature said as it bowed deeply before him. "How may I serve you?"

"Peeper.... a tea service and snacks perhaps. Unless the professors would prefer something else?" Dumbledore said as he looked to the others. "I fear that we'll be here for a little while."

"Elf made Nog, if you don't mind." Snape answered immediately, feeling that something a bit stronger was called for in this instance but did not make the suggestion for fear of clouding his senses. The others nodded in agreement.

"Very well." Professor Dumbledore nodded.

"Tea for me and some Nog for the others." as he sat down again with his usual aplomb.

[Duddahs]

DARKNESS WITHIN

CHAPTER 13

Part 1

Out the In Door

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



The smell of disinfectant permeated his semi conscious state to the point of actually becoming part of his waking dream. There he was, walking once again in a dark and dank earthen tunnel. The walls of the tunnel dripping water, the smell of mold, mixed with cleaning products burnt his senses and caused his eyes to water.

Harry took his glasses off for but a brief moment to wipe the tears from his eyes that the moldering smell was causing him so much blur in his vision. The outline of the torch light, far, far down the passage became more and more vibrant as he wiped the sleeve of his robe over the bridge of his nose.

Harry could hear the sound of water, again where could it be coming from, he knew full well that he was not in the foul tunnel that he had once run from earlier in the year. The sound was beginning to surround him, causing him to have pressure upon his inner ear, what was that sound of slopping water, where was it? Harry just could not understand why the sound was so fresh in his ears while he could not make out where it was by site. He replaced his glasses once again and began his journey into the dark tunnel ahead.

"What the heck?" Harry blurted out loud.

There are bottles, what appeared to be hundreds of bottles littering this area of the tunnel. Why were the bottles that Harry had always been aware of having belonged to Professor Trelawney been so carelessly scattered along this section of the pathway? So many questions, so many different twists and turns but not one single answer. What was going on? Why was Harry back in this earthen tunnel anyway?

The last he remembered he was laying on a thin mattress covered metal hospital bed in the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey having just probed him for his wave lengths and medicine being consumed from a glass with a metal base and metal strap handle.

“Yes, why am I here again? Or am I actually here at all? Is this all in my mind? Is the medication causing me to imagine that I have been transported to this place?”

The feeling of falling took over Harry's entire being, he felt the water covering him from head to toe. Then without any kind of warning, Harry found himself in the Brilliant sunlight of an elegant drive. A fountain surrounding him. He was, no it can not be, I am sitting here in a Fountain in front of a Magnificent and apparently ancient Manor House. The scream of a bizarre sounding bird came just from Harry's right. He turned his head to be confronted face to face with the most elegant Albino Peacock that Harry could ever have imagined.

But this couldn't be right. He was at school, in a hospital bed; or so he tried to reason himself. He got up and walked further toward the mansion, his senses alert to any sound or movement. He came to stand at a window and peered inside. What he saw made him trip as he backed away, diving behind a bush to conceal himself.

His breathing was short by now, his heart pounding inside his head. This was a nightmare, it had to be. There, inside the mansion, he saw Voldemort holding a meeting with his Death Eaters. What was he supposed to do now? He reached for the back pocket of his pants and found that his wand was not there. His anxiety rose as he understood that he was wand-less and near Voldemort and a half a dozen of his Death Eaters.

With panic rising in his chest, Harry tried to think this thing through the way Hermione would.

1) There was no possible way he could have appirated here from Hogwarts he had not mastered the art of appiration. And Harry knew from Hermions's constant reminders that no one can appirate in or out of Hogwarts.
2) He did not know how to get to this place.
3) He never went anywhere without his wand.

Ron or Hermione would have probably have been here too, if he had gone on a mission of some sort.”

Maybe this was another ploy by Lord Voldemort? Maybe these images were just that... images that he was planting in Harry's mind. Harry forced himself to regain his calm and try to Occlude his mind from any attacks, if this was the case.

Closing his eyes again, he breathed slowly through his nose, riding his mind of every thought and image that kept popping up before his eyes. He thought of Hogwarts hospital wing; the scents and noises that could be heard. He thought of Madam Pomfrey with her crisp white and black uniform, fussing about the few patients that she had.

With his eyes closed, he could suddenly feel the old hospital bed beneath him, a metal coil digging at his backside. This felt real, much more so than the mansion with the Death Eater meeting inside.

"Harry?" he heard the voice, clearly feminine too.

"Would you stop clowning around! Madam Pomfrey will go mental if she sees you like this." He felt gentle hands pushing him back into the bed.

Harry tried to open his eyes, tried to force himself to focus on the blur of brilliant Pink light before him. He could not seem to make out the blurred lines of what was so very close to him. Then Harry felt his eye glasses being gently pushed upon the bridge of his nose and poking awkwardly into one of his ears..

"Oh sorry bout that Harry. So what's ya up to? What do you think you are doing standing up in the middle of your bed and feeling around your backside like that?"

The sight finally returned to Harry thanks in due to his eye glasses being placed upon him. There stood Tonks. Hair all raved out in Bubble Gum Pink.. So that is what was taking up my vision.

"What are you talking about Tonks? How did I get back here? How did you get in here? Harry asked just a bit too loud.

"SSSssssshhhhh! do you want to have Madam Pomfrey come over here and get us both into a bucket of hot water?"

Tonk's stood there right next to that bucket and mop that had previously chased his fellow Gryffindors out of the Hospital wing. “

So, that is why I was smelling that disinfectant. What about the sound of slopping water though, where did that come from?”

And then Harry noticed Dobby half way across the infirmary with yet another bucket and mop, happily washing the metal rungs of the vacant hospital beds.. A large wash cloth in one hand and a towel tied around his neck to dry with. It made Dobby look like some sort of odd Bat like super hero.. His cape though was his drying towel.

Harry could not suppress the giggle that came to his lips. Tonks turned and gave him a look of utter puzzlement.

"Watcher Harry. You don't want to give people the impression that you might be a bit off your rocker now do you?"

Tonks gave Harry a quick wink and without another word, got up and walked out of the Hospital Wing.

Harry was left sitting now upright in his hospital bed. Fully awake but starting to recall the visions and the feelings he had had.. Then Harry realized that he was soaking WET.

“How did I get so WET? Was it just something that the medication had caused, maybe I was just sweating so profusely, OR was I actually in that Fountain. Where was that Manor House and why was Voldemort there with all of those other Deatheaters.. Was it real? Was I really there or was I always just here? Am I actually falling off my rocker as Tonks had joked about?”

Then Harry looked to his right and there were the biggest set of EYES no more than two inches from his own. Harry jumped out of the bed and found himself suddenly on the cold but ever so clean floor of the infirmary...

"Dobby, what is the matter with you.. Why did you go and do something like that?" asked Harry in the most quiet yelling voice he could manage.

"Harry Potter, Sir, so you have met my friend Kokay have you?"

[Duddahs]

DARKNESS WITHIN

CHAPTER 13

Part 2

Out the In Door

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Harry sat there on the floor, his backside just a little bit dampened and pressed against the cold floor and then his mind whirled round inside his own head....

"Met your WHAT? Who the heck is KOKAY"? Dobby what are you trying to say?"

With this Madam Pomfrey came rushing out of her office and the site of Harry sitting on the floor next to his hospital bed caused her to go flush and her hands reached out to grab him and with the might of a man twice her size, Harry was lifted into the air as if made of feathers and placed back onto the edge of his now very mussed and dampened Hospital bed.

"For the love of Merlin! What are you doing out of bed?" Madam Pomfrey groaned at him as she tidied up the bed.

"Now, back to bed this instant!" One of her hand's reached out to pull him backward.

"But... Madam Pomfrey! I'm all wet and, and..." Harry gurgled.

"No buts, young man! I know that you had a very long sweat and I can dry you off in a thrice."

Harry looked up and, lo and behold a wand appeared pointed to his chest. A soft, warm wind came blowing across his clothes and hair. A second or two later, he was bone dry and feeling much better for it.

"Thank you..." he mumbled as he passed a weary hand through his disheveled locks.

"You're quite welcome. Now, stay here and I'll fetch you some nourishment. Circe knows when was the last time you ate anything." The medi-witch sniffed at him before turning on her heel to head out to her office.

Harry sat there, still a bit confused by everything. Why had Tonks come here anyway? He looked around and found Dobby staring back at him, his large floppy ears drooping down. He looked worried and was wringing his towel with both hands.

"Dobby?" Harry asked, "do you know what just happened to me?"

"....." the elf didn't say anything, but his anguished faced showed that he knew something.

"Dobby?" Harry tried again, "would you tell me the truth If I asked you?"

Dobby started to tremble and sway on the spot, his eyes darting toward the door of Madam Pomfrey's office and the main exit for the hospital wing.

"... Master Harry Potter Sir... I p-p-p-p-p-promised... to.... n-n-n-n-n-not... s-s-s-s-s-say...." The poor elf cracked suddenly and ran to a nearby night table, grabbed the lamp forcefully before banging it over his head.

"NOOOOO!" Harry screamed, jumping out of his bed and dashing to the elf's side. He got a handle on the lamp, trying to pry it away from the mortified creature.

"Stop it, Dobby! Stop it!" Harry shouted as he wrestled with Dobby.

Once again Madam Pomfrey was brought rushing to Harry's bedside. With a very loud "POP" Dobby vanished into thin air. Harry left with his hand still wrapped around the table lamp raised high above his head.

"Mr. Potter, I have given you more than enough rope to hang yourself with today and now it has been pulled taught. I am sorry Mr. Potter but this is for your own good." With this Madam Pomfrey raised her right hand, wand held firmly in her grip and she uttered the word, "Incarcerous".

Harry was magically pushed onto his back while golden ropes bound down upon him. His legs first were secured to the foot of the bed, then a pair of ropes spread across his chest, just snug enough to keep him from being able to turn to his side. Then his wrist were secured by similar golden ropes to the side rails which had now become raised in their upright position.

"I am sorry Mr. Potter, I really am, but you must get your rest and it is clear to me that you may be still having effects of that Blue Sleeping Gas and the effects of the Medications you have been administered.

"But, but, but Madam Pomfrey, you do not understand! It wasn't me! It was, it was," then Harry thought for a second and paused. He looked into The Medi Witches large eyes but decided that he had already said enough. He relaxed his muscles now determined to use his mind.

"That's good Mr. Potter. It is about time that you have given in to your own sleep. Good night Mr. Potter and please no more outbursts. It will not do you any good as those ties that bind you are far more determined than you."

With this Madam Pomfrey turned on her heals and headed back across the infirmary to her office where she closed her door but half way. She was not leaving it up to chance this time that she might not hear the young students possible struggles with his healing. She gave a final look back over her shoulder and through the opening of the doorway. Her white hat and severely tucked in hair casting a long shadow across the semi darkened Hospital room. The glow of her candlelight of her office making a cheese wedge of light that ran across the floor and up one of the screens across from her office.

Harry lay there with his eyes focused on the ceiling. A large slow rotating fan whirred as it moved the air in the infirmary. Harry became fixated upon the fan and its rotation. His eyes now glued to it. He felt himself being both drawn towards the fan and pushed down into the warmth of the Hospital bed all at the same time.

His senses became heightened, Harry realized that he was moving towards a darkened tunnel, away from the Hospital bed he had just been magically bound to. Way off in the distance Harry could see the flickering light, the smell of dampened earth, the breath of fresh air washed over his face, over his hands. He could feel that something or someone was holding his wrist. He could not move his right hand, he tried in vain to reach for the side table for his wand. His Wand, why had he not gotten his wand and hidden it beneath his covers before Madam Pomfrey had set those golden ropes upon him?

[Duddahs]

DARKNESS WITHIN

CHAPTER 14


The Other 2 Thirds

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Hermione was reading something inside Hogwarts: A History, as Ron twiddled with his wand. He was impatient by now, as the other third of the Trio read on with concentration.

"'Mione.... are you finished?" Ron asked.

She shook her head slowly at first, "Errmm, not quite"

"Come on! You've been at it for the last two hours, while Harry's still stuck in the infirmary." sparks came out of the end of his wand as he poked it about.

"I know that Ron, " she answered, still reading something about hidden passageways within the school.

"She knows... that's a right fine thing to know."

Ron got up and came to sit next to her. "What's so ruddy interesting anyway?"

"Plenty!" she huffed after him, giving him an irritated look. "Seems we might find a few places to hide around the school if we tweak it a little bit"

"Tweak the school...." he asked in disbelief, "And how does one 'tweak' a school? Does it say?"

He flung himself back against the armrest and closed his eyes.

"Maybe we need to do an exotic little dance, or stand naked in a barrel filled newt eyes on the day of a full moon?"

Hermione gave him another warning look, "Don't be silly or thick, Ron. This has to do with a series of spells that you have to use on certain floors."

"Oh!" he muttered, "and how's this supposed to help us?"

Hermione sighed, at least he was finally understanding what she was looking for. "There's one corridor, a hidden one.... and it goes from the infirmary to an outside door."

"Oy! that's sounds good. How do we find it?" Ron cracked open one eye to gaze at the brunette as she bent over her book.

"That's the tricky part from what I'm reading here." Hermione pointed to a place on the page. "It seems to be hidden behind the large fireplace near Madam Pomfrey's office."

"Gawd... might as well say we have to go naked for the next Potion's class. We can't get near her office without her knowledge." he huffed.

"I know... but if we used the outside 'door' and try to go in that way, we'd only have to worry about getting Harry quickly." She said, closing her book and laying back on the other armrest of the sofa. Her back was sore from all the reading she had done.

While Hermione and Ron were so busy with their own little discussion, Fred and George were huddled in a corner of the Gryffindor Common Room, muttering and making all sorts of bizarre hand gestures.

"OY, Ron, got a moment there?" came Fred's voice from across the room.

Ron stood up to see which of his ever so trouble making brothers was calling him.

"Ron, I was talking to you! Don't you ever listen to what anyone has to say? Well, WELL?"

With this Ron first turned to his left, then his right and finally he laid his eyes back on Hermione who had her arms crossed over her chest a scowl on her face and her foot tapping the floor.

"WELL? You do have the attention span of a house fly you know. Honestly Ron I go to the trouble of explaining everything to you and you just seem to be so thick that you can not get anything to penetrate that head of yours."

"Mione, did you not hear one of my brothers call me? Sometimes you forget that you are not the only person in Hogwarts that might wish to talk to me you know." Ron stood his ground.

At first he too placed his arms across his chest, his chin lifted upward and a smug look plastered on his face. But this was soon to begin to slip, his arms slackened, his head began to drop, little by little and his facial features began to change from that of smugness to one of apparent concern.

Hermione had gotten up from the small study table at which she and Ron had been sitting, she gathered up her school books and papers and just walked straight out of the common room. The portrait of the fat lady closing tightly after she had crossed the threshold.

"OY, Foghead! Are you deaf or something? Get your behind over here. We have a little proposition for you."

Ron snapped his head round to face Fred and George. Still a bit stunned and confused, his feet finally made the decision for him. He began to cross the Common Room, bumping into a first year girl that fell to one of the open chairs as he barged his way towards his brothers.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, won't you!" the girl screamed as she latched her hands over her knee, which had bumped into the wooden side of the chair. "Clumsy oaf..." she mumbled on.

"So sorry, midget!" Ron flung over his shoulder, readily forgetting the girl who was giving him a very dirty look, indeed.

"Ron..." George called again, "this is important, get over here."

Fred gave his baby brother a calculating smirk as he came closer.

"He might do, George. Not too big for the job either..." he murmured near his twin's ear, but loud enough for Ron to hear.

"Oye! What do you mean I'm not too big?" Ron asked with indignation, "what are you two planing again?"

George beamed at his younger brother, "Something that might be most beneficial for your pocket, Ron."

"That's what you always say when you want to get one over on me..." Ron said through pursed lips, not believing anything these two said at face value. "Cough up, what's the deal?"

Fred theatrically held his hand over his heart, "By George! I do believe the young wizard believes us not."

"Stop the snow job, Fred. Get on with it or I'll go catch up with Hermione." Ron took a seat on the window ledge next to their table.

While Fred and George tried to convince a very skeptical Ron to participate in their venture, Hermione was walking with extreme determination towards the Hospital Wing.

She climbed the long winding stone stair case that led to the closed door of the Infirmary and was slightly winded as she approached the doorway at the end of the staircase.

She opened the door ever so gingerly, it creaked a little and she winced at the sound. A sliver of light could be seen off in the distance from her and the small opening. It was clear that Madam Pomfrey was busy in her office as the light cast from her partially opened office doorway also gave shadow to her form apparently bent over a desk and writing furiously.

Hermione took one very tentative step and then another. She was silent, very stealth in her motion. Determined not to be seen or heard, she walked on tip toe from the entrance doorway and then passed several unoccupied white painted beds, all with crisp white linens and undisturbed pillows.

It was dim in the room and Hermione had to be very careful not to walk into any objects. Then she saw a bit of Gold off to her left. There laying as quiet as a church mouse was Harry. Harry Potter tied down to his hospital bed by three golden ropes and a stunned look on his face. His eyes wide as saucers. He opened his mouth as if to make an attempt to call out but Hermione quickly raised her hand to “ssshhhhh” him from making any sound that may give away her presence there in the Hospital Wing.

Hermione whispered "Diffindo" and the golden ropes where magically severed. Harry sat up as quick as a flash, grabbed his eyeglasses from the metal wash stand along side his metal hospital bed and climbed down as slowly and deliberately as possible. Not a singe squeak of the metal springs occurred to Harry's great surprise.

He quickly grabbed his now folded clothing from the bottom shelf of the washstand and took Hermione's hand and the two set off for the staircase as quietly but as quickly as they could master.

Once out in the hallway and already descending the stone staircase, all Harry could say was "Room of Requirements, NOW!"

[Duddahs]

DARKNESS WITHIN

CHAPTER 15

Part 1

One More Time: The ROR

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The door to the Room of Requirement opened with a soft clink as the locking mechanism gave way. Harry and Hermione came in quietly, giving the corridor a final look-see in case anyone had followed them. With the coast clear, the entered and closed the door as gently as possible.

"Hermione... mind turning around? I'd like to get dressed." Harry grinned crookedly as he showed her his clothing.

"Oh! Yea, sure Harry." she blushed before turning away, walking to a shelf filled with books. She looked at the titles distractedly as she waited for Harry to finish dressing.

"Thanks, Hermione." he mumbled as he removed the hospital gown and pulled his shirt over his head. Once his pants were zipped up, he slipped his feet in his trainers, making them squeak on the polished wood surface of the floor. "All is clear, you can turn around again."

Hermione did that slowly, a book was firmly clamped between her fingers. The book was rather small, bound in black leather and regular looking lettering on its spine. "Harry, I'm sorry it took so long to get to you. But I had to look something up before I forgot... and you know me. Once I get reading, I can't seem to stop."

"It's ok, Mione. I'm just glad I could leave in one piece." he shrugged it off.

"But why were you immobilized on the bed? You didn't suffer... you know, umm... some fits?" Hermione looked uncomfortable asking the question.

"Dobby..." he answered.

"Dobby?" she looked perplexed.

"Dobby. You know how he tries to help at times." she nodded, "well, when that happens, I usually get in trouble because of his untimely interventions. You know..."

"Oh, " she nodded again, "and he popped out and left you holding the 'bag' "

"Something like that, and Madam Pomfrey thought I was going wonky and tied me up for my own good." He scoffed and took a seat near the hearth. "So, what did you find?" Harry asked.

Then a very odd sound filled the Room of Requirements. Hermione and Harry froze like solid stone at the very memory of their most recent encounters in this hidden place.

There it was again. A dragging sound, as if a dead body were being pulled along behind someone or something.. Then something big and RED walked out from behind one of the book shelves.. It was RON!

"Bloody Heck, you two, do you have any idea of how difficult it is to find one or both of you when you do not have that darned magical map of yours? Heck if it were not for running into Dobby outside the Hospital Wing, I would never have thought that you two would come back here after such a bad situation just a few days ago."

There stood Harry and Hermione with the mouths hanging agape.

"Ron, you really can be a royal prat sometimes, you know" blurted out Hermione.

Harry just stood there with a look of concern on his face as he noticed two other figures coming from behind the bookcase that Ron had just emerged from behind.

Fred and George both jumped out and yelled “BOO!”

Hermione almost fell over backward in her attempts to get away from what ever had made the loud noise before she realized it was the twins. Then in a split second, a book was flying through the air, not by magic but by muscle power. Hermione had thrown the book she had been holding and was about to tell Harry about its contents when the three Weasleys had arrived.

The book found its mark and hit Fred squarely on the side of his head. He dropped to the floor like a stone from the top of a tower. With a thud and then rubbing his head on the spot of impact, George just looked first at Fred then Hermione and then back at Fred again.... "Wicked" the twin said with a laugh in his voice.

"Shut it, George." Fred gave him a nasty glare as he rubbed his head.

"What are you two doing here anyway?" Harry asked quite honestly, wondering why these two had followed Ron in here.

"Glad you asked, " Fred said "we saw you leave the hospital wing on the map and just knew you were up to something."

"And since you came here first, we knew we had to join in!" George added a second later. He pulled something from his pocket and handed it to Harry.

"There you go, Harry. We found it in here after that last kerfuffle of yours... can't blame us for using it a little while you were sidelined." This was said casually and then followed by a raucous laugh from the Twins.

Harry looked down at the worn piece of parchment in his hand. "You found this in here? I don't really remember how I could have lost the Marauders Map in here, ~ that's spooky."

Hermione patted his arm, "Don't worry about that, Harry. You were pretty much out of it by the time you left."

The group nodded to Harry, making him understand that it wasn't a tragedy in itself.

[Duddahs]

DARKNESS WITHIN

CHAPTER 15

Part 2

One More Time: The ROR

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

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Harry stood there with a somewhat perplexed look upon his face. Ron came over to him and put a hand upon his shoulder.

"Hey Mate, If it had not been for you, we would never have known about the second painting of the Tunnel into Hogwarts."

Ron continued to look at his feet while attempting to console Harry.

"Harry, Ron is right, if it had not been for you in the first place, we would never have known anything about Malfoy being here in the Room of Requirement and his attempt to bring Fenrir Greyback into the School."

Hermione looked directly at Harry as she nudged her foot against that of George.

"Yeah, yeah she is right you know. If it were not for you dropping this map back last time we would never have known anything about where that other framed painting was hanging. Especially behind that tapestry."

George tried to do his best attempt at consolation but Fred obviously was not assured that he had succeeded.

Then a look of surprise sprung upon Harry's face. He reached his right hand into his cloak and moved his wand a little to the left and reached just a little further down until he laid his fingertips upon the old parchment. The familiar feel of the Map was now in Harry's grasp. He set out to pull it from the concealed pocket of his robes and as he did there was a combined gasp! The panicked faces of Ron, Hermione, Fred and George all staring back at Harry.

"Buh, b,b,b,b, buh, Wha? Where did you get that?" Urged Ron as his expression changed from that of concern to almost panic..

"It has been in my robe the entire time. I remember putting it in there just before we left for the Great Hall upon our return for the school term. I had never taken it out since you see." Harry gave Fred and George a very determined glance.

"No WAY! TWO MAPS! How could that be? I had never known or heard of another map!" Snapped Fred.

"Well if you have the one that we gave you, where did this one come from.. No wait a minute I know it came from this very room when we were ambushed by Malfoy and his gang. Holy crap, do you suppose that there has always been a second map all along?"

George looked first at his Fred and then at the other Gryffindors in turn.

Hermione took a seat on a crate and thought quickly about this. Of course, one could duplicate a written word to another parchment with a simple charm. But this involved duplicating the charms and incantations the original Marauders had put on it. And since nobody knew what had been put on the original, this seemed a bit impossible. Unless...

"We need to talk to Remus; he's the only one that can answer us about the possibility of a second map." she said briskly as she stood up again.

"Yea!" Harry agreed heartily to the suggestion. "If the Marauders didn't do it, who did?"

Fred and George stared at each other, then the second map.

"Do you think it could be a trap?"

Ron looked at the second map with a shudder.

"This could be You-know-who's doing. You know what kind of loony he is."

Hermione looked quietly at the maps and decided to act upon her hunch.

"Come on, we need to see where Professor Lupin is."

Harry strode to the door and opened it wide.

"Let's get to Dumbledore's office, he should know where he is right now."

Harry, Ron and Hermione were quickly accompanied by Fred and George.

"Woah little Bro, you are not going to get off this easily. We still have a little matter of you and a particular little bottle of Blue Gas to get on with" Fred said with a bit of a chuckle...

"Yeah, right, but not right now. Things seems to have been happening that need my personal attention you see."

Ron stood there looking at his brothers with an impertinent look smeared across his face. Hermione could only glance back at him with a look of utter disgust.

"Ron, when is it that things hinged on your know how?" spat Hermione in her most haughty tone.

"Well, you know, if it were not for me Harry could never have gotten to the Sorcerers Stone and all. After all, who kept their head when we fell into that plant that tried to strangle us all?"

Ron crossed his arms over his chest and then Harry burst out laughing.

"Hey, nothing personal mate, you know I wouldn't trade you for a basket of Dragons Eggs but if it had not been for Hermione paying close attention to Madame Sprout in the Greenhouse we all would have been fertilizer right now!"

Hermione gave a stern look at Ron but was clearly very proud that Harry had given her the recognition that she so desperately thrived upon.

"Oh, all right, I guess you did have SOMETHING to do with getting us out of that little mess, but after all it took all three of us to get to the stone."

Ron stood a little flushed now but still holding his ground.

"Yes, yes we all did Ron and thank you very much for finally realizing this. It took ALL of us including that idiot Professor Quirrell to get us to the point of a one on one meeting with Voldemort himself".

Everyone gasped at the name that came tumbling out of Harry's mouth.

"Oh come on already, when are you lot going to realize that we have to treat the name with as little respect as its owner? If we give the name a place of being special then we have already given ground to him outright."

The others looked at Harry, each one of them knowing full well that what he was saying was the truth.

"Now, let us get to Professor Dumbledore's Office. There are some answers that need to be exposed."

Hermione gave her best leader quality to her statement. One that apparently worked because the others fell in line behind her and were apparently ready for her to take lead of their little expedition to the Headmasters in their search for Remus Lupin.

[Duddahs]

DARKNESS WITHIN

CHAPTER 16

Part 1

To Floo or not to Floo... That Is the Question.[/u]

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

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Albus Dumbledore had finished talking to his Senior Staff members concerning the happenings in the Room of Requirement. The session had been short and sweet by all accounts, but very constructive. He had assigned them with different tasks to ward the school against any such attacks.

As he sat alone at his desk, Fawkes lightly cooing in the background, the Headmaster thought about the depths that Voldemort had reached to get his plans to come to fruition. But there was one thing that needled him.

“Why? Why this elaborate plan to invade the school? What was his goal?”

He had a few assumptions to go on, but they were only assumptions at best. He'd have to get more information from Severus Snape to get a better picture.

His musings were interrupted by a tinkling sound coming from the door. Someone was coming up the spiral shaped stairs outside his door. A sharp knock followed a few moments later, and Professor Dumbledore waved his hand toward the door. The door creaked open a second later and his office was immediately filled with Gryffindor students.

Harry Potter headed the small group and came forward with a serious expression on his face.

“lord bless him,” thought Dumbledore, always glad to see the boy alive and well after an altercation with the side of evil.

"Harry!" the old wizard said with a smile lighting up his face.

"Professor Dumbledore," replied the young wizard hastily. “Do you know who the Marauders were?”

All of the other Gryffindors stood stock still and with the look of utter amazement on their faces. Fred and George both took a look at one another blinked and then gazed back at each other again.

"What the?" Exclaimed Fred in his fear of having just been thrown under the old Double Decker.

"Ah Yes, Harry, I am very familiar with the little secret society names that your father, Sirius, Remus and even Peter Pettigrew chose to call themselves. There really is not much that goes on inside these castle walls that I am not privy to. Now the question I have to ask is this, how have you come by the knowledge about the Marauders?"

Harry stood still with his feet firmly planted in front of the Headmasters desk.

"Well, you see Professor I have had," and for but a moment Harry thought very quickly to himself, how could he explain to Professor Dumbledore that he has had the Marauders Map these many years without informing him of Fred and Georges previous possession of the map? He thought, then he blurted out what was on his mind.

"You see Professor, early on some time during my third year I had gotten into a bit of trouble. Do you remember that?" Harry made the statement as if he already knew the answer that was to come back to him.

"Oh, Yes Harry, I am very much in control of my memories, as I am sure you are aware having delved into the Pensieve once or twice yourself."

Harry stood there, a bit flushed in the face. He gazed around the room for some sort of support. He spied Fawkes from the corner of his eye. Fawkes gave him a wink and then tucked his large feathered head under his right wing and began to moan a low soft tune.

Harry then turned his head around, gazing from Ron and Hermione then to Fred and George who had both taken to staring at their feet. Something that they did when ever they were about to be confronted by facts that they wished would have not been revealed.

Then Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat.

" You see Harry, I am sure that there is some connection between you and the other Marauders, something that may have well been passed down from Father to son. It is only natural for a parent to wish for his or her offspring to have a little EDGE, you know."

Then with a twinkle and a wink of his eye, Albus Dumbledore took his seat behind the massive oaken desk.

"Licorice Snaps anyone? They are particularly fresh today having just been picked from our amazing greenhouse gardens" With this a broad smile crept across Professor Dumbledores wizened face.

Harry looked a bit put out, wondering if they were talking about the same thing. He looked at Hermione and Ron for a moment, both of whom were still gazing at their shoes.

"Well, Sir, the Marauders made this magical map of Hogwarts. It gave them a way of going around the place without getting, err... caught by teachers or prefects."

The secret was out now and he waited for the Headmaster to comment. But nothing came, he simply nodded his head, awaiting for the rest of Harry's story.

"The map has survived all these years after they left the school and it eventually fell into my hands..."

Harry stopped to see if any reaction came from across the desk. The students behind him were shuffling their feet nervously, especially Fred and George.

"Yes, I surmised as much. Continue on, Harry" Dumbledore said quietly, his eyes focused on something that was flying just outside his office window.

Hermione finally had to nerve to come up to the desk and deposited both maps on the desk. "There's a problem here, Professor Dumbledore. We now have two maps.... when we thought there was only one in existence."

Her eyes went from piece of parchment to the other, tapping each one with her wand, mumbling the famous "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Dumbledore looked over and suddenly bent over the maps, a large smile creeping over his face. "Oh! This is a rather clever piece of Charms work... Filius would be proud of it." he whispered mostly to himself.

Ron felt he had to add his one note to the proceedings. "This one, " he tapped his finger on Harry's mangled map, "this is Harry's, it's all beat up and such."

Dumbledore let out a small laugh, "Yes, I can see that, Mr. Weasley."

Harry smiled a little bit, seeing that the Headmaster wasn't going to blow his top at them.

"The second map," pointing to the other parchment, "is new to us. We don't know where it came from or who made it. But its a perfect replica of the other..." He stared at Dumbledore, wishing him to see his point.

"Ah!", the Headmaster said as he got up, scooping up the 'new' map with his hand. "So here lies the problem, doesn't it?"

He gave the children a deep gaze before turning away, pacing around the room as he studied the paper.

Minutes ticked by. The students clearly anxious to see what the Headmaster would think of their revelation. Ron was tense, but hungry... he reached over to take a Licorice Snap and popped it in his mouth, under Hermione's forbidding glare.

She mouthed at him, "are you serious? This isn't the time to think about food!"

Ron simply smiled shyly at her, "I was hungry, 'Mione"

Hermione shook her head in dismay all the while, Fred and George giggled behind her.

[Duddahs]

DARKNESS WITHIN

CHAPTER 16

Part 2

To Floo or not to Floo... That Is the Question.

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Professor Dumbledore fixed his half moon shaped glasses as they slid just a tad down his crooked nose..

"You see, I was aware that there was a prototype of the completed version of the Marauders Map but was not aware that it was still in existence. Now to come to think of it, one Peter Pettigrew was the last known person to have possessed the original version of the Marauders Map I believe.”

An obvious look of concern crossed each of the Gryffindors faces. A small gasp was heard to have come from Hermione while Ron just barely touched her back to assure her that things would be just fine.... But how could he know this, he had no idea who or what had been using the Map! Maybe to even track their own whereabouts.

"But Professor Dumbledor" Harry stated, "Why, if my Dad and Sirius and Lupin and that Pettigrew had already created this Marauders Map would they need to make yet another one?"

This was something that obviously concerned Dumbledore to his core.

"Harry, oh I am sorry, I really should be addressing ALL of you since we are all in the same boat from here on. You see, the original Marauders Map had some flaws, it also had some powers bestowed upon it that I had become privy to and had to put a stop to it's use. I made Remus and Peter promise never to delve into that particular bit of magic ever again. They assured me that they had not known of its Dark purposes since he had read about it in the hand written side notes of some text book that he had once borrowed. I fear that these Dark Powers have neither diminished nor become unknown to those who might wish to use this very map for purposes that I would shudder to think about."

Hermione raised her hand as high in the air as it would go. "Professor, professor, how then would anyone have figured out that there was Dark Magic associated with this very Map?"

"My Dear, I am sorry that you missed the simple fact that one Peter Pettigrew was the last known possessor of this very map. With it as his possessor, I am sure that a direct line could be drawn from Pettigrew to Voldemort himself".

A collective gasp and shudder filled the Headmasters Office. Only the “SsSSshhh” of Professor Dumbledore to calm his trusted Phoenix Fawkes could be heard over the thumping heart beats and shuffling of extremely nervous feet upon the ancient and worn wooden floor boards of the headmasters office.

Hermione felt faint by then, taking one of the seats that stood to one side of the grand desk of Dumbledore's office.

"But... we've been using it since..." she murmured, mostly to herself, wondering if anyone had been tracking their movements since then.

Ron came next to her, giving her shoulder a friendly squeeze to reassure her. Harry eyes crossed as they looked to the ceiling, a feeling of dread overwhelming him.

"This can't be, professor Dumbledore." Harry stumbled over the words, "Fred and George, then me, Ron and Hermione have used it so many times without any mishaps or really odd meetings with any Death Eaters."

Fred and George nodded in agreement, paling slightly now that the cat was out of the bag. "So true, Sir" George adding his voice to Harry's explanation.

"And we never got caught ..." Fred related, "or met strangers during our moonlit tours of the school." he guffawed, making George laugh at his side.

"But still, the second 'Map' has now resurfaced for some unknown reason. And this is the heart of the problem. Don't you agree?"

Dumbledore breathed gently as he came to pet Fawkes, gentle trills escaping the magnificent bird's throat. He paused and then looked to Harry. "Who had the prototype in hand when you noticed the second map?"

Harry looked to the Twins, "You guys had it, right?"

Hermione sank lower on her chair, this was going to be a long session in the Headmaster's office she feared...

Professor Dumbledore took the Map that was sitting upon his desk and waived his wand over it once to the right, then with a few lowly mumbled words, he waived it back again to the right.

With this completed he pronounced, "REVEAL YOUR HISTORY".

A sizzling sound and smoke filled the headmasters office when a low and dull light was given off by the map and then it began to become brighter and brighter yet...

There before the Gryffindor students and Professor Dumbledore, a figure rose from the map in a Ghost like form. Semi transparent and looking as if it were made of smoke. It began to speak in very low tones. All of those in the room strained their necks to turn a good ear toward the figure.

"From beneath the Ancient floors of a Wealthy Manor, I have been retrieved by one whose grip was eager and whose demands were endless. From the darkness of my many captive years, brilliant sunlight has been cast upon my surface. I have aged but my magic still bright as the day I was scrawled upon. My surface now wrinkled and torn but my abilities as bold as the sun which shines in the sky above."

Whispers began to fill the room, and with a sudden "SSSHHHHH" Professor Dumbledore gave an earnest but stern glare to insure an immediate silence.

"My home now among those whose fore bearers created me with such brilliance and mischievous intent. My new home along side the which beats in the heart of one Prongs and his fellow inquisitive company. The darkened, damp earthen passageway has given way to my once again being HOME here in Hogwarts. For my loyalty shall always be to those who have created me and to their heirs. To the "Boy Who Lived".

Albus Dumbledore lowered his chin for a moment, casting a gaze over his gold half moon glasses in the direction of Harry. Yes, one Harry Potter, son of Prongs, co-creator of the Marauders Map(s). Then with a long finger being laid along side his long and very crooked nose a wink. It was noticed by all but mostly by Harry.

"Me? What do I have to do with this?" as a sizzling sound began to once again fill the headmasters office.

The Marauders Map before them burst into a Brilliant flame, rising from the table upon which it was laid. As it blackened and began to smoke and then diminish its own flame, what floated to the floor was a small blackened bit of parchment. Nothing written upon it, nothing that anyone could make out. All surrounding it now as if it were the most interesting thing that has ever happened. Well, for some of our friends here, this very well has been.

“Ah, I see now, YOUR map here is not the one that was retrieved from Filches office by the brothers Weasley many a moon ago.. This map has been obviously been planted upon you in an attempt to confuse you. This map has always had transient values. It was always capable of being a transport as well as a Map of the Castle and its grounds. This is one of the things I had to alter in your actual copy of the Marauders Map.. Now we must find out who and how this map was smuggled into the Castle, and then how and why it was planted upon you Harry".

Dumbledore turned slowly on his spot and waived his hand. High upon the shelf the Wizarding Sorting Hat came to life with a low groan. It floated quietly through the air and landed on the Headmaster's desk. It's aged and well worn rips and folds moved tentatively as if to speak, but it stayed silent, awating the Headmaster's instructions. Dumbledore grinned jovially as he took a seat, scooting his seat forward, as close as he could be to the hat.

"Well, my old friend, what say you about the mysteries surrounding that parchment?"

The hat seemed to grin back at the old wizard,

"It would seem that this parchment might have come from one of our older families. One that has sent many a witch and wizard to attend our fine and illustrious school, Headmaster."

The students in the room came a bit closer to listen in on the conversation. They were mesmerized by the hat, surprised it could hold a conversation with the Headmaster. Of course, Harry knew it could talk a lot when you had it on your head... but this was a bit different. To say the very least...

"Maleficent or prank? I dare say, you might have run into this artifact before today?" Albus asked.

"Yes, I have seen it before today. But it never proved to be anything but a tool for wayward students with a thirst for excitement." The hat replied through the large rip that served as its mouth.

Dumbledore sat back on his chair, thinking about its words.

"Mind if I ask a question, professor?" Harry asked with curiosity.

"Go right ahead, Harry." the Headmaster said with a wave of his hand toward the hat.

Hermione nudged Harry in the ribs as she stood up next to him, "Ask it if it knows who owned it before you got it." she whispered to his ear.

Harry nodded his ascent, "Do you know who owned that old map before i got it?"

[Duddahs]

Darkness Within

Chapter 16

Part 3

To Floo or Not to Floo.. That is the Question

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The hat seemed to pause to better think about this question, "It is understandably warranted to want to know about this information. But are you ready to know and accept it as fact?"

Harry hesitated before the hat, wondering what possible information it could give that would elicit that kind of comment.

"Err, well... yeah, I want to know."

"Very well, young man. Have a seat while I recant the official version of this map's journey." the hat said clearly and haughtily.

"Wait a minute," Fred jumped into the conversation, "you mean there's an unofficial version too?"

The hat sat silent for a while, until one word escaped its worn leather lips.

"Yes."

The twins raised the wand hands high in the air and gave each other a loud and powerful High Five. Ron and Harry gave a laugh but Hermione stood firm and the look on her face appeared to the twins to be the spitting image of the back side of a cat retreating from a room.

"C'mon Mione, give it a break" Ron stammered while still trying to control his smile that crept across his face.

Hermione chose to ignore Rons' plea and turned back towards Harry, Dumbledore and the Sorting Hat.

"Professor, what is your interpretation on the pontification of the Sorting Hat?"

Professor Dumbledore once more looked over his golden half moon spectacles and with a twinkle in his eye began to speak, very slowly and very deliberately.

"You see, Miss Granger. It is not up to US to interpret what the Sorting Hat is saying as much as it is up to US to Do as the Sorting hat has instructed us to do."

With this large rip in the Ancient Sorting Hat once again opened and it began to speak.

"From the rivers that flow from the place of four and back once again to its fortified doors.
My travels have been both near and wide, as I have been carried by Ancestors of those who once built it side by side.
For form follows function and all that is not was far too easily taken, to one who possessed me love had been forsaken.
Like the suns rays splashed across the evening sky's, to avoid at all costs being drawn into it's destructive eyes."

With this the sorting had closed the large gash in its fabric and once again became silent.

Harry stood up, staring down upon the now silent object and could only find one word coming to his mind.......

"WHAT?"

A cacophony of voices erupted across the room as the students asked what the Sorting Hat had meant.

But Fred's voice rose above the rest, "But what's the unofficial version of it?" He looked to the Hat, hoping that it would divulge its secrets.

"Ah, Mr Weasley!" Dumbledore said with a sneaky grin. "The Sorting Hat won't say anymore because its allegiance is with the Headmaster of the school and it won't speak of more or less proof-worthy information unless I ask it to"

"Will you ask, professor?" Hermione couldn't stand the drama anymore and wanted everything on the table.

"I think not, Miss Granger... I know what it is and doubt it would shed anymore light on our problem." His eyes twinkled again with mirth.

"Oh, come on Professor! Don't leave us hanging like this; what's the other version of the story?" George asked, Fred nodding furiously at his side.

Dumbledore shook his head to disagree and took his seat again. "It simply mentions where the Map was supposedly hidden after its creation."

Harry stared wearily, "And that is?" he asked, "Sir," he added as an afterthought.

"The Chamber of Secrets, of course. The very same place where Salazar Slytherin had kept his little gift to the school...." He dropped casually, as if he didn't think it was worth mentioning.

"Ohhhhh!" Hermione chanted from her seat, as if a tiny light had come on in her head.

"That means that Slytherin must have created the map then. Right?"

"Come on 'Mione, it couldn't be that simple." Ron chided, "Nothing is THAT simple around here and by all accounts he would have passed away long before this map was ever dreamed about."

"Right you are, Mr Weasley!" Dumbledore said with a quick nod, "Who could have access to the room if he had left it there? No one apart from him could speak Parseltongue. So that would logically lead us away from that proposition. Hmm!"

"Oh!" Hermione mumbled, feeling deflated since that source seemed silly now.

"That's all very nice," Harry said as he rose to his feet, pacing around the room nervously. "whatever the Hat said is even of less help. So the only thing left to do is ask Remus the background of the Marauders Map, the one they made. "

"Remus?" sputtered Ron who was obviously taken somewhat by surprise by this strong suggestion of Harry's.

“What do you think Remus could tell us as to where the map has been? He was holed up in the Shrieking Shack most of his time here at Hogwarts and since then has been living on and off with a bunch of, well you know" Ron then lowered his voice a bit and hid his mouth behind his hand in an attempt to hide what he was going to say, "You know creatures like himself!"

"Ron, I have no idea what you think you are hiding from, we all know full well that Lupin is a Werewolf". The look of disdain that covered Hermione's face showed the contempt for the little bit of respect that she felt for Ron's treatment at that very moment.

"Oh come on Hermione, we had forgotten that Lupin was a Werewolf. We needed that little bit of memory shaking." chuckled Fred as George slapped his brother on the back, causing him to loose his balance and fall face first into the sorting hat.

"Watch it there WEASLEY! I have just about had enough of you lot over the past few years.. It has caused some severe loss of my threading just to keep up with your never ending goings on you know!"

"What?" Spat Ron spat...

"You mean that YOU keep track of us without our knowledge?" Hermione taking great indignation to this recent fact facing stood there glaring at the Sorting Hat and then at Professor Dumbledore as if SHE were put out.

"Now, now, calm down you lot. The sorting hat is not the only magical object or creature that I have at my disposal to help assist my constant and vigilant watch over ALL of the students here at Hogwarts".

Hermione still obviously put out by this new revelation was not impressed by the Headmasters assurance. As a matter of fact she seemed to have become even more belligerent than she normally does.

"Give it a rest, Hermione... its not like we didn't know that we are monitored in some way or other. Its just we didn't know how, that's all...."

Harry offered, trying to appease the girl who was getting more irksome by the minute. "Never thought about who gave me the Invisibility cloak? And you think he'd give it to a first year student without having some way of seeing what I did with it??"

Hermione quietened down, "Yeah, I guess so... but it still strikes me as a 'Big brother' thing. You know how Muggles keep fighting it whenever it seems to be happening."

"Yeah, I know, but we are far from Muggledom when we're here. Aren't we?" Harry chuckled off.

The Weasleys were staring at each other, wondering what Hermione and Harry were blathering about. And what big brother where they speaking of? Neither had any siblings.

Professor Dumbledore sat there, grinning to himself, obviously amused by the tableau offered before him. The differences between the Muggle world and wizarding one quite apparent. If you looked at the reactions of all the children assembled in the room. It was priceless and well worth the fight he had engaged so very long ago.

Hermione and Harry noticed the Headmaster's grin and asked in unison,

"What?!"

[Duddahs]

Darkness Within

Chapter 17

Part 1

Truth or Scare?

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Professor Dumbledore took one look at his charges and walked over to a waste parchment basket. He tapped it with his wand and it began to shake, smoke a little and then glowed a brilliant Lime Green.

"There you are my fellows, er yes Lady as well" as the Professor bowed ever so slightly in the direction of Hermione Granger.

Hermione began to blush a bit at the tip of her nose The high points of her cheeks began to redden and she then dropped her head ever so slightly for the obvious sign of respect that the Headmaster had just bestowed upon her.

"Now, now, no dawdling. Everyone place a finger upon this basket and you will be in the presence of Professor Lupin quicker than you can say Quidditch".

Ron stood still for a moment. The obvious look of a lack of understanding plastered across his face. Fred and George walked up from behind Ron, each placing a hand under his arms as the twins lifted the befuddled brother off his feet and briskly carried him over to the glowing green object..

"It is a port key you dunderhead," chided Fred to Ron...

"Oh, yes, well I was just coming to that...."

"It is OK. Ron, we have all been under a great deal of pressure of late. I am sure that you were thinking of something extremely important that will help us solve this mystery" came Harry's voice.

A little broken but with as much confidence he could interject into an obviously awkward moment.

"Bloody HECCCKKKKKK!” came Rons voice.

It was the last thing said in the Headmasters office as the Waste Basket was touched by each of the students at the same moment. A very loud "BANG" and then that oh so unfortunate feeling of having a yourself pressed inside a garden hose. The air being forced from you lungs and the sudden thought and panic that this might be it, that breathing might never begin again.

Then the feet of each student hit something very hard and what ever it was, it was coming up towards their faces fast, very fast!

"Oomph!"... "Ouch!"..."Gerrof of me, Ron!!!" .... "For the love of..."

The different voices came in different tones, but all came from the students as they hit the ground with more or less elegance. Ron had tripped upon contact, falling upon George, who fell over and hit Harry behind the knees.... who fell face first in the grass, effectively shoving the air out of his lungs. Hermione had landed well enough but Fred had landed on her big toe by accident.

"Sorry, Hermione" He said with a bright flush coming across his cheeks. “Didn't damage the goods, have I?" He joked on, giving her a roguish wink, which made her roll her eyes before breaking into laugh.

"Never mind that, Fred. Everyone else OK?" she asked as she eyed the rest of the group.

George gave Ron a huge shove, before getting to his feet. "I'm fine, if you don't mind getting red hair up your nose that is not YOUR OWN."

Fred chuckled as he came to pat his twin on the shoulder.

"Better that than having a wand pointed at your face." He gave Hermione a comical 'sad' face.

She pulled a tongue at him, "I did not shove my wand in your face in the first place... and secondly, you were the one who landed on my toe."

"Simple logistical problems, my dear." he added with a wink.

"That and the fact that you own a rather large pair of feet?" he kidded back.

Ron helped Harry back to his feet, who looked rather pale for a lack of a better word.

"You OK, Harry?" he asked in a whisper, not wanting Fred and George to give him the mickey.

"Yea, just got the wind knocked out of me. Who landed on me anyway?" he eyed the others. "Good way of getting a guy to his knees."

"Where the heck are we anyway?" Fred finally asked as he looked at his surroundings.

It was most likely to be a forest near a small town. They could see a faraway Hamlet, where puffs of white and gray smoke emitted here and there from the different chimneys.

"Seems familiar," George said, acutely aware they weren't in Hogwarts anymore.

Hermione didn't recognize the place at all and it made her feel a bit nervous. She looked further off in the distance, trying to identify the ridge of low mountains that was beyond, as well as another town further east.

"Are we near the Burrow? Beyond Ottery St-Catchpole?"

Ron looked around too, feeling a certain familiarity. But it wasn't quite that. He looked to Harry.

"Where did Dumbledore send us? Someone from the Order must be close by." Harry deduced from the lack of other clues that would help them out. And then he saw it, the ghostly shape of a great big Wolf Patronus.

"LOOK!" he screamed to the others as the beast ran into the closest copse of trees. "Come on!!" Harry ran off before the others could even think.

"What the heck does Harry think he is doing running off like that into a thicket that he has no idea where it might lead or what might live in there." Hermione growled not too unlike the Patronus that they had just encountered.

Fred and George walked up behind Hermione and Ron who was still attempting to get his feet steady upon the ground which he stood.

"Right you two, lets get a move on. No time like the present". With this the twins gave a nudge and then a shove and off the four went towards their destiny.

Harry, now running as fast as his feet would take him, trying almost in vain to keep the Patronus in his site. He barely felt the branches whipping his face and the bramble tearing through his skin below his pant bottoms. His ankles now revealing tiny droplets of red, glistening fluid began to make their streaks upon his skin and stain the top of his trainers.

The Patronus stopped and so did Harry. It turned its head, opened its mouth but nothing came out. It became brilliantly bright and then faded away as quickly as it had come..

[Duddahs]

Darkness Within

Chapter 17

Part 2

Truth or Scare?

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Harry found himself standing on the edge of a grimy back alley where a ram-shackled asphalt pavement in complete disrepair was scattered with many cracks and missing sections only to be filled in with two foot tall weeds and grass, long gone to seed filling the cracks. There was a distinct smell of musty old fish, petrol and something that Harry could not wrap his mind around but offended his senses to no end.

Off in the distance beside the underside of what appeared to be an abandoned railway bridge, lit up by a fire roaring inside a rusted out petrol barrel was a group of men and what Harry thought might also be a few woman as well. They all appeared to be wearing the worst and most ragged, filthy cloths that Harry had ever seen. There was one of the figures off to the side, with a bundle held to her torso..

“Oh, NO! A Baby in this filth. In this pool of underworld deviants. Why would anyone want to bring a baby into this place?” The awful thoughts that filled Harry's head were indescribable.

Then his friends came upon him, huffing and puffing and tripping over one another to get to Harry first. The site that confronted them all, the view of these want nots off in the clearing while they were barely hidden in the forest. What could they be doing here? Why would Dumbledore have sent them to a place of obvious ill repute, of danger, a place that none of these young Witches and Wizards would have ever have gone to upon their own?

What was Dumbledore thinking? It crossed all of their minds as if by Occlumency was mastered by each one upon the other.

"This is definitely not somewhere we should be, " Hermione rattled off, swallowing nervously as she looked around. "Where did the Patronus go?" she asked Harry.

"It faded off right here," he pointed to a spot barely a few feet away, "there must be something or someone that we need to go to and find."

"Right..." Ron added, his face looking quite cross by now. "we get sent to a place we don't know... run after the Patronus of an unknown wizard or witch.... then end up near a tenement of filth. Really brilliant, Dumbledore!!" he added as if the man was standing right there.

"Come on, Ron! Where's your sense of adventure?" George kidded from behind a nearby oak. He was peeking at the sight that was before them. "You'd think you haven't faced worst before now?"

Fred nodded, "Quite right, oh brother of mine." Fred chortled and then pointed to something that was further west. "That might be what we are looking for."

All turned to look and see what he was getting at. It was an unobtrusive building, not as run down as the rest of it surroundings. It seemed well kept at first glance. It looked like a small shop from this far away.

"Well, we might as well take a look at it," Harry said with little enthusiasm.

The group silently advanced toward the one floor building; it had a thatched roof and red trimmed windows that were all obscured by cream colored drapes. The worn gray stone facade was well preserved considering the area they were in.

"Let's go check out the back. We won't be seen going there by that lot." Fred whispered as he nodded toward the odd lot of people they had just avoided.

They all nodded their understanding as they stealthily crept around an outcropping of bushes. Guttural laughs could be heard fading away as they kept on going. When they finally got behind the building, they stopped to listened for any noises coming from inside.

George grinned as he fished an Extendable Ear from his pocket, "never go anywhere without one!" he cheekily whispered as he slipped one end of the flesh colored apparatus under the back door, then slipped the ear piece in his right ear.

The group waited patiently to get the all clear from George. His attention was complete as he seemed to be listening to something quite interesting inside.

"Well?" Ron asked, giving him a slight nudge.

"Shhhhh!!!" George shushed him impatiently, waving his hand at his brother, listening further on to whatever was going on in there.

Fred finally found his Extendable Ear and threaded his in a small slit in a nearby window. A surprised expression crossed his face as he mouthed silently 'wow!'.

Hermione was about ready to stamp her foot with frustration as the seconds dragged on.

"What's in there?" she finally had to ask George.

"You wouldn't believe it in a million years..." George uttered, "wow....how cool is that?" he uttered to his twin as they both cracked a smile, shaking their heads in amazement.

Harry was fed up by now and came to Fred, yanking the ear piece from his ear and shoving it his own. He listened carefully, "you got to be kidding me, right?" he uttered with look of disgust marking his pale complexion. He removed the earpiece and gave it back to Fred.

"Well?" Ron asked Harry.

"Your brothers...." he said, shaking his head. "They are presently listening to..."

BANG!

Hermione was about to scream to high heavens before her mouth was covered by Ron's hand, the boys had gotten their wand's out in a thrice. They stood in different directions, back to back, guarding each others flanks...

The front door of the building flung wide open and out walked a woman who promptly tripped over a loose stone on the front stoop. She fell to the grass that lined the front walk with a deadened THUD!

[Duddahs]

Darkness Within

Chapter 17

Part 3

Truth or Scare?

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



There laying at Harry's shoes and looking up at his face with a brood smile and Bubble Gum pink hair was none other than TONKS!

"Watcher there Harry! Blimey, what are you lot doing out here? No one is supposed to know about this place other than the Order members themselves! Dumbledore did say you was commin Harry but I did not expect a full house. Sokay, welcome."

Tonks was getting herself together as Fred and George came to her rescue and put a hand under each of her arms and helped to lift her to her feet. From within the open front of the house a warm and inviting light was cast. Out stepped Remus Lupin with a tiny baby in his arms. The baby gurgled and made little puppy sounds that brought a smile to Tonks face..

"Righter, I guess none of you have met our little Teddy now have ya?"

Tonks walked over to Remus and gently took Teddy from her husbands protective arms and cradled him to her cheek. Giving the tiny tot a kiss on his forehead...

"Here Teddy, these are your cousins! This is Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fre......."

"Professor Lupin," Hermione broke in, cutting off Tonks welcoming introductions. "Was that YOUR Patronus that we followed to the clearing over there? Why on earth would you be living here amongst these filthy, disgusting urchins?"

Lupin turned his head toward Tonks and then gazed at the baby in her arms. A look of embarrassment covering his face, he looked directly down towards the ground and then the words came from his mouth, a bit broken, a bit more husky than normal..

"Welcome to our home."

"Oh," Hermione mumbled, "I... well that is, I thought..." she stuttered before Ron put a hand on her shoulder, saving her from making an embarrassing moment even more so.

"I think she means to say, " Harry following Ron's cue, uttered rapidly, "this is a nice house. Isn't it, Hermione?"

"Yes!" she said emphatically, pasting a pained grin on her face. "It's quite charming and..."

"Shut it," Ron murmured from the corner of his mouth, "this is where you should stop babbling... or so my mum says."

Hermione looked furiously to the boy but effectively closed her mouth promptly.

Lupin sighed before stepping back into the house, "Come in before anyone notices you."

Fred and George went in first, right after Tonks had brought her son inside.

"Think she's been taking lessons from Ron?" Fred whispered to his twin, bobbing his head toward Hermione.

"Been hanging together too long, if you ask me. She even sounds like him too." George agreed.

"I do not sound like Ronald!" Hermione hissed quietly from behind.

"Do so!" Fred added with a wink, "who just insulted our hosts by calling their neighborhood squalid?"

"I didn't say that." she pestered on.

"Forget it, Hermione." Harry said through clenched teeth, "just get into the house and maybe you could apologize properly this time."

Harry went in after giving her a soured look, followed by Ron and Hermione. Once the door was closed, they were showed to the living room and requested to sit while Remus and Tonks Floo called someone. When they saw the Headmaster's head hovering within the green flames of the fireplace, they knew what was what.

"Very well, Albus, I'll try to explain it the best I can." Remus murmured to the Headmaster. "Thank Merlin it was Tonks' Patronus that intercepted them."

Tonks listened to the conversation but added little to it, preferring to keep an eye on her little one as he grabbed handfuls of her hair and yanked them to his tiny mouth.

Harry listened intently to the conversation too, as did Fred and George, who were taking in the details of the tiny house. Ron and Hermione were more or less listening as they were engaged in a battle of rolling eyes.

"Very well, good day to you, Albus. See you at the meeting." Remus said finally and ended the call.

He raised his lanky frame from the ground and gave the group an appraising look. He gave Tonks a quick gaze and she left the room through a set of double doors on the far side of the living room.

"Tea?" he asked his former students.

"Please." Harry said quickly, "I'm sorry for imposing on you, Professor Lupin... we are sorry for disrupting your day."

Fred, George and Ron nodded, Hermione was staring at her feet, uncomfortably aware that she had put everyone ill at ease.

Remus gave them a small grin, "Albus catapulted you over here, you can't be held responsible for that. And you do have a good reason for being here."

Harry nodded and took his copy of the Marauders Map, placing it on table that was there.

There the group stood around the small scrubbed pine table. Tonks conjured each of them a Butterbeer and Tea as the bottles and cups and saucers then floated to each of the students, tapping them on the backs of their heads to know that they had arrived.

Teddy gave out a loud cry which sounded so familiar but both Harry and Hermione for the life of them could not place the sound..

Tonks picked up Teddy who at that moment was wiggling about on a large overstuffed fabric sofa in front a low smoldering fire in the hearth.

"I will be just a moment, I am going to put Teddy down for his nap, so do not get into anything too exciting until I return, right?"

Tonks said with a smile on her face, her Pink Hair turning a fantastic shade of Grape Purple and her nose transforming into the shape of Canary Bird... Teddy giggled and gurgled as the two disappeared around a corner leading away from the parlor.

"There, do you see that?" Harry pointed at the map with his wand. "Did you just see what happened to Malfoy's name there? One second he was on the seventh floor by the Room of Requirements and the next he was gone. His dot just disappeared into thin air."

"Yes, I saw that Harry, but did you notice that there is also a presence here in the Dungeons that really should not be there?" Remus took out his spectacles and began to lean even closer to the Map in order to make out an odd shaped slow moving name banner.

"Who is it Professor?" came Hermione's voice. Now full and completely involved in the situation. Clearly the memory of her embarrassing comments now a thing of the past.

"I have seen this name before but it was not the name that he goes by today.. This name was given to the one who attacked me as a very young child. He attacked me as retribution for an argument that he had with my father. Never again would my life be the same.. So many lives, so many never the same."

Hermione gave Lupin a sideways glance, then she looked up over her shoulder to see Tonks come back into the room. A look of absolute compassion covered Tonks face as she strode closer to the grouping around the table.

"You see Hermione, those people out there, those souls, all lost and drifting through this world at one time or another have come in contact with him.. With that filthy beast Fenrir Greyback."

Hermione gasped, clasped her hand to her chest while the other went to her chest and laid over her heart. Fred and George looked to the others while Ron and Harry both continued to stare at the map before them.

"That is what we heard on the extend able ear you see. We were just about to explain when the Banging of the Front door and Tonks happened and caused us to forget what was going on said the twins in unison.

[Duddahs]

Darkness Within

Chapter 18

Part 1

A Monster With a Taste Tor Potions?

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Fred and George did a double take as they saw the name 'Fenrir Greyback' idly floating through the dungeons, inside the Potion's class. They couldn't believe it, eyes strained to make sure they weren't imagining it.

"That can't be right? What the heck would he be doing inside the school?" Fred asked, alarmed that such a beast would be so close to his sister Ginny and the rest of the students.

"Ginny is there..." he whispered before turning to George. "We've got to go back and warn them."

Ron caught on at the same time, getting up in a panic. "Come on, we have to go before It does anything to anyone." He stumbled over Hermione's feet as he tried running for the door.

"STOP!" Remus yelled, bringing the brothers to a halt. "Don't go!"

"You must be kidding me, right?" Fred looked incredulously to his former DADA teacher. "We can't stay here while that... that thing is inside the school?"

Remus shook his head and pointed to the map, tapping it gently with his wands fine tip.

"This is a very clever ploy they are using, I must admit." He tapped the map again, hitting different spots as he recited an incantation under his breath. The map glowed to an incandescent red, making it barely visible to all.

"What the ....?" Ron started to say, but was cut off by George jabbing him readily in the ribs.

"Ouch! What d'ya hit me for?" He gave his brother a furious glare.

"There are ladies present... you know what mum would say AND do to you if she heard you talking like that!"

He shrugged a shoulder toward Tonks and Hermione. "Remus must have a good reason for stopping us from leaving... though at the moment I can't see what it might be."

Tonks guffawed before putting her hand over her mouth to silence her mirth. The lad couldn't say anything worse than Mad-Eye Moody hadn't repeated a thousand times. She cleared her throat.

"Don't mind me, I've heard it all before."

She then tried to look at the map that was still eerily glowing on the table. "Will it stop, Remus?" she asked her husband with a worried expression.

He nodded. "Give it a moment or two. It should come back to normal in a bit."

He pocketed his wand and turned to the Weasley's. "Take a seat and I'll tell you why this map is an impostor."

Harry had gotten up as the boys had hurried through, but reluctantly sat back down.

"Ok, so this one is a fake. How come we still see the people's names all over the place?" He pointed to McGonagall's and Filch's names floating inside the Transfiguration's class and the Great Hall. "It's as if nothing important is happening."

"That's because nothing of importance is really happening, Harry. This one is a decoy to get a rise out of someone." he pointed to Greyback's name tag.

"Make them do something rash, thoughtlessly rushing to defend his friends. Sound familiar?" Lupin added with a wink to the boy.

Harry first paled, then blushed vividly as he knew what his friend was hinting at.

"Fine, I get your point. So why put it there in the first place? They know they can't simply enter the school to trap me without Dumbledore's knowledge."

Hermione stared at the map, letting the words flow over her as her mind readily dissected Lupin's words, applying it to what they were seeing on the parchment. And it suddenly hit her, the words she had read some time ago inside Grimmauld Place:

"Furta Animum!*" she said, her eyes growing larger than saucers, "there's an extra charm added to this version of the map, isn't there?"

Lupin laughed dryly, "your reputation has again been verified, my dear Hermione. An extra, or should I say, a few extras have been used to charm this particular bit of parchment." He pulled out his wand again and jabbed it right smack in the middle of the courtyard that figured there. "Aperio Verum*" he mumbled, but loud enough for Hermione to hear.

The map's writing changed slightly, very subtly, but enough for all to see the differences. Suddenly, McGonagall's name tag was nowhere near the Transfiguration classroom. She had jumped to Dumbledore's office. And since apparating wasn't possible inside Hogwarts walls all eyes slid to the dungeon where Greyback's name had disappeared.

"Whoa!" Fred and George whistled,

"That's so cool!" George added, winking to his Twin as this new knowledge was made apparent. "This could take pranking to new heights!"

"Shut it you two!" Ron said in exasperation, "It's not the time for that."

Harry, studied the map's new configuration and then looked to Lupin. "So I guess we don't need to rush back?"

"No, you don't." he agreed with a wave at the map. "If there had been any trouble, Dumbledore would have called us in. Since no messages have come about, it was safe to assume that all was well over there."

"Bloody Heck, I am so confused my head is aching." Ron grumbled as he walked over to the sofa where Teddy had recently been playing, he threw himself upon it and lifted his right hand with his wand still grasped tightly and began to scratch his head with the tip.

Hermione walked over to the sofa and just tipped her head a bit to one side and gazed at Ron with a most quizzical expression on her face.

"What, what, WHAT? Do I have dirt on my nose again or sumpthin?" Ron readjusted his position so that Hermione was no longer directly in his sight.

"Well you know Ron it is really not all that difficult to figure out. Who ever it was that was able to get into Hogwarts and plant that other version of the Marauders Map obviously had the foresight to put a Confundus Charm on this map. It was like looking at an object with another object super imposed over it."

Ron looked more and more agitated and obviously his confusion was no more lessened than it had before Hermione tried in vane to explain the situation to him.

Tonks looked at Remus and gave him a gentle nudge in his side with her wand. This clearly was a cue from his wife to get on with it and explain to the youngsters what he understood had happened and how they could cope with it's ramifications.

"Listen you lot, I am going to be very honest with all of you. I want you to understand that this is not something that I am particularly proud of but it is something that happened on my watch none the less."

Tonks brought her arm up and placed it across the back of Remus. He gazed into her eyes for a short time. His confidence began to build clearly assisted by the support of his now Fuchsia haired wife.

"Finally! Some mischief..." Fred beamed at Lupin.

"And mayhem!" George finished with a mischievous grin. "We know the map was made for that purpose in mind."

"But the facts behind it, coming directly from one of its creators... " Fred added.

"Is definitely a great honor for us to hear." George nodded to his twin. "We are in your debt, dear sir. Without this little marvel of magical engineering, what would life have been inside Hogwarts?"

Both bowed deeply and comically to Remus.

[Duddahs]

Darkness Within

Chapter 18

Part 2

A Monster With a Taste For Potions?

By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




Harry, Hermione and Ron laughed, but Remus remained somber. Tonks wrapped her arms around his shoulders, giving him a tight squeeze.

"Go on, get it over with. They deserve to know what happened so long ago."

Remus sniffed with derision, "Molly will want my hide for this."

"And?" Tonks snorted back, "It wouldn't be the first time, would it?"

Lupin fretfully passed his hand over his face, trying to collect his thoughts. "Yes, I guess that's right. But still..."

"Mrs Weasley isn't responsible for me or Hermione for that matter. She can't block every potentially bad bit of information or event from happening, 'cause they usually end up on my doorstep anyway." Harry said. "So, will you please get on with it? I really want to get to the truth about this ruddy map and why they dumped a duplicate in our path."

Hermione nodded to this, "Please Professor, we've probably heard and seen worse up to now."

Ron propped himself up on the sofa, giving the twins a quick look. "My brothers, who shall remain nameless... have probably schemed and manipulated far worse, I'm sure."

The twins' feigned being hit by a stunner, as if hurt to the quick.

"Ronald Weasley! How could you besmirch our good names with such rumors and innuendo? I tell you..." Fred recited with a hand over his heart.

"Can it, Fred." Harry cut in, "Please, go ahead Remus."

Lupin took another glance over to his now Bubble Gum Pink haired wife. Tonks nodded and he swallowed deeply and took a breath through his open mouth.

"Well, you see I know that you are all aware of the fact that I am a Werewolf but one that fights as hard as I can to avoid being what a werewolf is deep down inside."

Hermione raised her hand as if they were still at Hogwarts and in a classroom.

"No not now Hermione, I believe that most if not all of your questions are going to be answered right now. You see, back in my youth, when I was no older than any of you here, I lived a life of lies that was held together by both fear of being found out as being what I am and fear that my closest friends, all of whom stood by my side without ever asking for anything in return might find my "Little Furry Problem" just to be something that did not fit into their neat lives."

“You see, Harry, your dad had everything and I mean everything that anyone could ever have wished for. He had talent, brains, personality to die for, his parents left him knowing how loved he was and wanted especially since he was born such late in their lives. They had already amassed enough of a fortune to insure that he would want for nothing. The Girls LOVED your dad Harry, and Sirius was even more beloved by the opposite sex. You see then there was me and Peter Pettigrew. We lived our lives through their lives in some ways. If it were not for James and Sirius, neither Peter nor myself would have ever have had a single day of fun in all of our years at Hogwarts."

Harry felt compelled to ease some of the struggle that Remus was obviously going through at the moment so he interjected; “It's O.K. Professor Lupin, I know about your not being able to control either Sirius or my dad. Don't blame yourself, I am sure that really no one, well no one except Professor Dumbledore could have kept them in line."

Remus was looking down at his shoes now. Obviously embarrassed and struggling a mighty battle within himself.

"No Harry, YOU do not understand, NO ONE UNDERSTANDS! It was not that I could not keep your dad or Sirius in line, lord knows that there were many endless nights when all I could think of was what I would do if I were to do as I always should have... Always should have."

Tonks gave Remus a little bit of a squeeze and then retreated from the room just as the tiniest sound of Teddy waking up became barely noticeable to the young Gryffindors, but obviously Tonk's ears and senses were trained to the slightest sound of the wee one.

"It was my fault, you have to understand, I truly feared of being left alone. Alone with no one to care about me, to help me through my Lot in Life... I CHOSE not to stop your father Harry, I CHOSE to ignore the goings on that Sirius was involving himself in. I CHOSE to insure that Severus Snape would live a life of regret and utter Anguish. If it were not for my being such a weak creature, something far worse than actually being a Werewolf, but a crawling creature that deserved the nick name Snivelus far more than Severus Snape ever did. Snape you see was a product of his own upbringing and I was a product of what happened as a result of an argument between my own Father and Ferir Greyback. You see, neither one of us had a chance. Not one single chance to ever be happy. We were doomed. But I was so weak that I chose to cover myself in James and Sirius' glory, their pleasures in life, their own successes trickled down upon me and in some ways Peter too. You see, so much of what has happened to you Harry, you now must be capable of seeing, it has all been MY FAULT!"

[Duddahs]

Darkness Within

Chapter 19

Part 1

The Truth.... It Can Hurt.


By Madame Snape and Duddahs the Great Barn Owl

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry stared at Remus, remembering all that he had learned about the Marauders, his father, Snape, everything! But he couldn't see how Lupin could be blamed for any of it. It was bloody... nuts!

"Professor.... Remus, " Harry started, his concern showing, "You're not responsible for what has happened to them or me. My father and Sirius had a mind of their own and did as they pleased. Snape pretty much did the same as he cultivated his own image. He played the tough guy and got was he wanted."

Hermione sat forward, pleadingly adding to Harry's words, "You can't be blamed for things that others did. They could have stopped their antics if they wanted to... they just chose to be gits because they could. The Professors and Headmaster did nothing to stop either from doing the irreparable."

"See! I told you so many times, the kids wouldn't hold it against you. They understand that once in school, James & Sirius felt they had the right of way, that they could fool everyone into thinking they were do-gooders and played the part to perfection." Tonks slipped in with another squeeze of his shoulder. "They were responsible for their own actions, and you are not responsible for any of it. "

Lupin got up nervously, starting to pace around the small room. "You don't understand, I enabled them. I let them do things that shouldn't have happened." Lupin was obviously anguished by now. "The Shrieking Shack incident was just one more incident in a string of things that had happened."

Ron listened as the debate started and for once, kept his most knee-jerk reactions and replies to himself. But one thing did bother him. "I guess the idea of the Marauders Map was yours then? It was your way of keeping tabs on what the other two were doing?"

Lupin, Tonks, Harry and Hermione turned to stare at Ron. They were amazed that he had come across so clearly. Lupin blinked a few times, his mind reeling as his deeply kept secret came to light.

"That makes sense, don't you think so, George?" Fred said as he elbowed his twin, "Ronniekins can sure think when he wants to."

"Oooh Ronniekins!" George said with a high pitched voice, reminiscent of his mother's. "Go on, Ron, take a bow for that one."

"Sod off you two," Ron said, a deep blush rising on his cheek bones.

Lupin looked at each of the young charges, trying to assess their real understanding of the situation. He found himself being more assured than he had anticipated.

"You see, Professor Dumbledore did in fact put me in a position to keep reigns on both Sirius and your Dad Harry. That is why he made me a Prefect. He believed that this would serve as just the trick to make both Sirius and James want to become better people. To be less aggressive towards others and less willing to break the rules of the Wizarding World."

Harry shook his head with a very understanding way. Hermione walked over to Tonks and very gently raised her brow and asked "May I?"

Tonks understood immediately what she wished for. Little Teddy was being very gingerly placed in Hermione's care. A brilliant smile crossed her face. Her eyes lit up as they had never done before. Ron walked over and stood just inches behind Hermione making the oddest sounds.

"OI, cut it Ron, you are going to scare the little fella with those lord awful nocturnal guttering" Fred stated with a very smug look upon his face.

Clearly trying to give both Harry and Lupin a little room in this discussion. It seemed almost too personal, too voyeuristic but then again way too interesting and poignant to ignore.

"Professor Dumbledore had made a suggestion that Peter and I do some special studies in the Restricted Section of the Library. He even gave us the names of the books and the Chapters that could well be of interest to us. This is where we found out about how to create the ORIGINAL Marauders Map. The original map actually was much more powerful and actually had independent assistants hidden all over Hogwarts to assist us in our pursuit to follow Sirius and James. Really, and truly Harry, it was created with all the best of intentions but it became something of a running joke once James broke Peter down and got him to confess what we had been up to the first half of that school year."

"So, Peter Pettigrew knew all about the Map?" Harry asked, as if it were some great surprise. Harry knew full well that all of the Marauders, all four of them were well aware of the map since they all helped to create it...

"Wait a second, if Sirius and my dad were being followed for half of the school year without their knowledge, then they did not know about the creation of the Original map could they?"

"Ah now you understand Harry. Peter and I had worked on several versions of the original map until it became a working and functioning success. There were also several fabricated passageways that allowed us to move from one part of the castle to yet another without using the conventional hallways or even some of the hidden passageways. This could have proven very dangerous to us since Argus Filch knows pretty much every single passage way in, out and around Hogwarts, that is except the very few that Professor Dumbledore helped us to create to help with my, well my Furry Little Problem." Lupin now feeling far more comfortable than he had ever hoped for, moved into the parlor and settled himself down on the sofa and gazed deeply into the inviting fire in the hearth.

Hermione broke into Lupins stroll down memory lane. "But Professor, why are these hidden passageways not shown on the Marauders Map itself?"

"They were Hermione, they were, you see when they were actual entrances, but then Professor Dumbledore got wind of how successful both Peter and I had become with our task to create the Map. I do not believe that we were as capable as we ultimately became. He had underestimated us I believe. Peter actually came up with the idea to create several paintings that would be a disguise of their actual abilities. That little rat face was no VanGogh you know so all he painted were these images of a tunnel. Not very advanced and far from attractive but then again they did not attract any attention either. We actually created 4 or 5 of these paintings and hung them in strategic places around the castle. It took months before anyone had even realized that something was not exactly as it appeared. It really all came down to one day when Peeves was throwing water balloons at some first and second year girls and chasing them down a flight of stairs when one of the balloons went right into the painting and rolled down the passageway. Well from that moment on it took almost every waking moment to keep Peeves from telling everyone in the castle what we had been up to.. He black mailed us for months you know."

"Bloody heck! Why didn't Dumbledore step in?" Ron exclaimed angrily, "He could've shut him up, I'm sure. Right?"

Lupin sighed, "We didn't want Dumbledore to know about the paintings right then and there, that's why we couldn't divulge our little, um... rule bending."

Harry laughed, "this is priceless. All the times the Order members have told me to keep my nose clean and stick by the rules! You, dad, Sirius and Pettigrew were the first to break them... and you didn't have a madman at your heels like I do." Harry shook his head and left the room.

Hermione got up, wanting to catch up with the boy, but Tonks grabbed her arm before she could go. "Give it a rest, Hermione. He has enough people telling him what to do. Let him digest the story before you have a go at him too." She said wisely as she took her son in her arms again. She got a whiff that made her wince.

"And you, young man, need to have your nappie changed."

As Tonks left the room, Lupin smiled wryly and was happy it wasn't his turn to change young Teddy.

"Remus, what did you two do with your 'scrap' pieces of Map? The ones that weren't successful?" George asked, tipping his head to the side. "Destroyed? Or kept for reference?"

Remus sat back to think, "well, I know I burned a few of them; Peter did too, if I remember correctly."

"Can you be sure you personally saw each one being burned?" Fred asked with shrewd look in his eye.

Lupin thought for a few minutes, closing his eyes as he pictured it all in his mind. "that was number two: check.... three: check.... four, um...." he mumbled on until he jumped to his feet, smacking his forehead with palm. "Good grief, number four!" he said with agitation.

"What about number four, professor Lupin?" Hermione asked carefully.

Lost in thought, he seemed to be staring into space, obviously remembering something of importance. "And number five and six?"

Hermione shivered as he mumbled on, this didn't sound good at all.