Nico di Angelo and the Order of the Phoenix

Chapter 10: Someone Murder Fudge and Voldemort

Wattpad didn't allow me to post the entire title! So here is the actual one: Honestly, Someone Murder Cornelius Fudge Now (And Perhaps Voldemort as Well)

To say the Ministry was lying would be an understatement. An article about dangerous chemicals mixing in cold weather had been published. It said that a student at Hogwarts was gravely injured as a result.

All of that was lies. Possibly the most mendacious an article had ever gotten, and that would be saying something.

This wasn't some high school chemistry class. And 'dangerous chemicals' were one of the few things kept safe from students at Hogwarts.

And Harry Potter was not gravely injured. Or was he? Do curses count as injuries?

But that information had not been released to the public. They didn't need to know what student it was.

But rumours had been circulating the classrooms at Hogwarts. Who was injured? How were they injured? And most importantly, what were they doing?

Only Lucius Malfoy knew the answers to all those questions.

But no one knew that he had done it.

If Harry had possessed conscious thought, Dumbledore would have easily found out. But every time someone tried to enter his mind, it was like a wall had formed. A giant wall, with no cracks and no way to break through.

Many had attempted to glean information from Harry's mind. But none could pass the wall, and Dumbledore dared not send any more people to try. For the more that tried, the more knew the secret. And secrets are rarely well kept.

The only two students that had been informed of what had happened to Harry were Miss Granger and Mister Weasley, as Minerva McGonagall called them. Dumbledore had debated whether to let them know or not, but it was lucky for them that they did because not two weeks later, Ronald Weasley found an enchanted necklace buried in the snow. Luckily for him, he had the good sense to not touch it, instead holding it using the corner of his cloak and then depositing it in his pocket.

Ron rushed to the headmaster's office. He didn't know what the necklace was, but it had been right under where Harry had been found. And he would be better off telling someone, because even if it didn't work, it had been attempted. He wasn't going to just leave his friend to wallow in his coma and whither away.

Ron realized he didn't know the password to enter. He glanced desperately around the hallway. There was no one there. It was around seven o'clock, and most would be having supper.

Ron sprinted to Professor McGonagall's classroom. He bounded along staircases and rushed down hallways. He was panting by the time he reached the classroom in record speed. Fortunately for him, she was just finishing clearing up, and was about to head down for dinner.

"Mister Weasley!" McGonagall exclaimed, shocked. "What on earth is it!"

Ron gasped for breath. "I - found... something." He continued panting until he could form coherent sentences. "A necklace. I think it's enchanted."

Minerva McGonagall was a sharp woman. She knew instantly what Ron was talking about. "Come along, Weasley. You must show the headmaster."

She walked faster than Ron had ever seen before, reaching Dumbledore's office in five minutes. She muttered something to the gargoyle standing guard, and it sprung aside, letting both of them enter. McGonagall rapped on the door sharply.

"Come in," Dumbledore's voice called from inside.

McGonagall swung the door open. "Headmaster, Mister Weasley has found something."

Ron stepped forward, pulling the necklace out of his pocket using his scarf. He dropped it unceremoniously on the table. McGonagall gasped in shock when she saw it, instantly recognizing it as dark magic.

Dumbledore pushed his spectacles up his nose elegantly. He prodded at the necklace hesitantly, almost like the minacious thing was going to leap into the air and murder them all. However, after a couple more minutes of poking and prodding at the necklace, he smiled. "I believe we have a cure now."

Ron let out a sigh of relief. Harry was going to be alright.

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He was dreaming. His mind floated in nothing, casting a shadow. The penumbra flickered and shifted with every breath he took. How did he know he was breathing? He did. Maybe he wasn't. But how else could he explain it when his body shook in agony and his mind shuddered? The simple solutions were the best ones.

The sun fell in the distance. The sun was never there. He was in a cave, but trapped in his own mind. Confusion was the only constant-staying with him while his mind warped and twisted, trying to comprehend what was going on. Nothing.

Nothing was occurring because calamity had already risen. The sun had set long ago, and with that all his hope for anything.

He let the wisps of consciousness drift forward, trying to search anything out. Maybe if he could find something, some kind of sign, he could regain what he had lost. For he knew that dark magic was at use, and the cage he was trapped in would never disappear.

The void shifted once more to a grey background. It looked similar to a screen, like when televisions only had static. His mind was the flickering, the glitching in the screen.

His mind cleared, and he could make sense of what was happening. A black wave of terror and shadows skulked around, almost oozing with violence. A man cooed at the beast, similar to one speaking to a pet.

He grimaced when he saw this. He'd seen this before. When the man had a snake.

When his mind came to that thought, he blinked again and the shifting shadow turned into a snake.

He knew that snake. That snake had been there when he was at the graveyard, when Voldemort had risen and hurt his friend.

Who was Voldemort?

The man in front of him turned and grinned maliciously. Sharp teeth filed to points showed, and a flattened nose made him resemble the shadow snake.

Who was his friend?

He didn't know. Friends were gone when the world had been destroyed. Friends wouldn't survive the horror. Friends would desert him if they could see what was occurring in his mind now.

It was all in his mind. Was that reassuring, or not?

Everything vanished again, and he was back to being chained in a cage of memories and terrors.

Terrors would rise again, and the shadow would walk once more.