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Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 99: A Glimmer of Hope
Dumbledore's office, after the battle.
"You let him escape?!" Sirius slammed his fist on the table while glaring at the General.
Voldemort took off his black mask and placed it down before taking a seat, revealing the inhuman face underneath to the small group of people in the office.
The last resurrection had been better planned, and this had allowed him to regain all his power, but it also came with the cost of making him look even less human than before, forcing him to always wear a full mask in public.
Otherwise, his true identity would be revealed immediately, and the world was not ready for that just yet.
"Did we kill all the demons that he brought?" Voldemort ignored Sirius's question and addressed Moody instead.
"Aye… but it was not easy. The small red ones die quickly enough, but they are incredibly fast and hard to hit. The moment they get their claws and teeth on you… and then those big and bulky, grey beasts. They are slow and dumb but incredibly strong and have a powerful regenerative ability, even more so than trolls," Moody explained.
"The blue flyers are the worst ones!" Tonks scoffed. "They move fast through the air and shoot at you with those muggle guns. Because of them, we lost several agents."
"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Sirius complained.
"How many?" Voldemort asked.
"Five dead and eight with grave injuries, but they will recover," Moody said.
"We also lost one professor," McGonagall reminded them.
"Ah yes, the gnome… I saw the corpse in the middle of the hall," Voldemort said with little care, earning a look of disgust from the Headmistress.
"You went after the Demon Lord, but came back empty-handed. Tell us about that," Moody demanded.
"Mmm…" Voldemort frowned. It was obvious that this was not something he wanted to talk about.
Bellatrix Lestrange, who had been quietly standing next to Voldemort, finally snapped. "Be more respectful when talking to the Dark L— I mean, the General. He is your superior!"
"The New Order has no superiors!" Tonks responded. "The title of General is something we made up for the public."
It was also something to hide the identity of this mysterious, powerful wizard. By giving him a high-ranking title, the press was less likely to question him.
"I fought him for a bit, but then he must have realized that his demons were not going to hold for long and ran outside," Voldemort said. "I gave him chase, until…"
"Until?" McGonagall urged him to continue.
"A strange demon appeared out of nowhere and took him away."
"Strange how? Did he summon a new kind of demon that we haven't seen before?" Moody asked.
Voldemort shook his head. "This demon was on a completely different level… its aura was extremely oppressive. I…" He couldn't do anything.
"My Lord?" Bella glanced at him with concern. She had never seen him like this before.
"No matter. The demon took him away… I'll get him next time."
"How strong is the Demon Lord himself? Can you really defeat him?" Moody asked.
Voldemort seemed to consider the question. "In terms of magic, we are mostly even… perhaps I'm a bit stronger now. Even if he resorts to using muggle weapons, I'm confident in my victory. As long as I can get him alone."
"That would be difficult… he doesn't go anywhere without his army of monsters," Sirius pointed out.
Snape, the last person present in the office, finally spoke. "Why did he even come here in the first place?"
They turned to look at him.
"He must have had a goal in mind. What did he want from Hogwarts?"
Snape shifted his eyes to McGonagall. "Is something missing?"
"For now, the only thing we found missing is a student," McGonagall said.
"Which one?" Snape asked.
"One of yours. Pansy Parkinson."
"Parkinson?…" Snape recalled hearing of a confrontation that Potter had with Malfoy, and Parkinson was also there. "Why her?"
"Is that all? He couldn't have come here just for one girl," Moody said.
"I'll have the elf search the castle. If he took something else, we will know," McGonagall simply said.
"What about those three girls? Did we capture them?" Bellatrix asked about their main targets.
"Susan Bones and Luna Lovegood were taken away by those shadow demons before we could secure them." McGonagall remembered how Hagrid got injured while trying to retrieve one of them. "We did manage to secure Hermione Granger."
"We have one of his servants?" This piqued Voldemort's interest. "Where is she? I'll get every single piece of useful information from her."
"Not so fast." McGonagall huffed. "She is still a child, and one of my students, so she will not be harmed."
"What are you protecting them for? The servants of the Demon Lord are our enemies," Bella pointed out.
"Those three girls would never act the way they are if they were acting on their own free will," Moody said.
"Yes, I've known Susan for a while. She would never do anything to harm her aunt. That demon must have placed a powerful compulsion on them," Tonks added.
McGonagall and Snape exchanged a look.
Last year, a few of the Gryffindor boys had brought to her attention the fact that Hermione Granger was acting strange, but after testing her, she couldn't find any evidence of magical manipulation.
It was now obvious that she had been wrong.
"Whatever it is… it's not as simple as a compulsion spell or a potion," Snape said.
"Regardless, let me see her," Voldemort insisted. "Whatever dark method has been used on her, I will find out."
"Where is the girl?" Moody asked.
McGonagall stood up from her chair. "I will bring her here, but you must all promise me that she will not be harmed."
Only after they all agreed to her request did McGonagall leave the office, returning ten minutes later with an unconscious and bound Hermione Granger.
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