Focused

Chapter 4 - They Are Coming

Harry Potter and all characters, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.

Harry Potter: Focused – Chapter 4 – They Are Coming

"Severus, you've arrived. Take your seat," commanded the high, clear voice of the Dark Lord. Snape had just arrived at Malfoy Manor for a meeting he was not looking forward to. He joined the other Death Eaters at the large table, above which was a dreadful scene. An unconscious human, a woman of Snape's acquaintance, was levitating above the table. He noticed that the pale-faced Draco Malfoy kept glancing at the woman who, up until her kidnapping, had been the professor of Muggle Studies at Hogwarts. "What do you have to report?"

"My Lord," replied Severus, "I have been unable to ascertain Harry Potter's whereabouts, however," he continued quickly, hoping to avoid punishment, "he is having sporadic contact with the Order. I'm sure that the foolish boy will..."

"Silence, Severus! I realize that you wish to pretend that boy is foolish for your own petty reasons, but he has eluded both the Order of the Phoenix and us! He was wise not to trust them with his location and to act without their knowledge – not foolish. Otherwise, we would know where he is at this very moment and would be planning on paying him a friendly visit." The whole table chuckled, whether they found Lord Voldemort's little joke funny or not.

"Of course, my Lord," conceded Snape.

"Do you have information about the Dursley family?"

"Only that they continue to be in hiding, my Master."

"What about the Granger family?"

"The same, my Lord."

"Surely you don't feel that just because you killed Albus Dumbledore, that you can get away with reporting nothing but failure?"

"Of, of course not, my Lord," the Order's spy replied, doing his best to keep his voice steady. "I have managed to place the rest of Hogwarts' board of governor's under the Imperius curse. When the time is right, I will become the next headmaster."

"Excellent," replied the Dark Lord. Turning toward the woman floating above the table, he commented while waking her up, "Your first order of business at Hogwarts will be replacing Professor Charity Burbage. She has taught that muggles are not all that different from us." One of the Death Eaters spat on the floor. "Not content with corrupting and polluting the minds of Wizarding children, last week she wrote an impassioned defense of mudbloods in the Daily Prophet."

"Severus, please," the desperate woman begged, facing her colleague, who knew there was no way to help her.

"Silence! Avada Kedavra!" shouted the angry Dark Lord, before looking over at his snake. "Nagini, dinner."

----------HPF----------

Harry jolted awake, desperate to avoid watching Voldemort's snake eat Professor Burbage. As much as he hated Snape, Harry had to admit that it took courage to actually show up for those meetings, as well as a very strong stomach to watch what was currently taking place. He rubbed his aching scar absent-mindedly as he arose from his nap. He, Ron and Hermione had a mission in the middle of the night. It wasn't long until they left.

"According to this map," instructed Hermione, "it should be at the end of this block." They were all walking invisibly down a London street in the dark. As they got to their destination, they saw that things had changed a bit since Voldemort was a child.

"That is not an orphanage," stated Harry as he gazed toward the top of the office tower that stood in front of them.

"Obviously," agreed Hermione, "but that doesn't necessarily mean that nothing's here."