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SIYE Time:21:39 on 28th March 2024
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Harry Potter and the Serpent's Coven
By Angelripper

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Category: Post-HBP
Characters:All
Genres: Action/Adventure, Fluff, General, Romance
Warnings: Death, Sexual Situations, Violence
Rating: R
Reviews: 90
Summary: *** The author has been reminded via the e-mail address on file that this story is listed as incomplete and has not been updated in over 2 years ***

Harry Potter realises that returning to Hogwarts for his final year is the only way he will succeed in his quest to destroy Lord Voldemort. It is a year of darkness, horror and new discoveries. Ginny Weasley is not only the witch who possesses Harry's heart, but also the true source of his strength as a wizard. Together, they will find new powers within themselves and each other, and find that there are some things that even the darkest magic cannot break.
Hitcount: Story Total: 170261; Chapter Total: 4797







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Hermione had not had the most peaceful of nights. She had heard her cat Crookshanks scratching viciously at the wall, tumbling around, and generally making a nuisance of himself. This was not normal behaviour. He was usually quite a sedate cat of a nighttime, and Hermione would have gone to investigate the disturbance if she had not felt so weary. When the cat yowled in panic and leapt on to her pillow, however, she decided that this was the last straw.

“Crookshanks, what are you playing at?” she whispered in annoyance, being careful not to wake Ginny, who seemed to be tossing and turning in her sleep.

Crookshanks replied by burrowing his way under the covers, purring loudly, and pawing insistently at Hermione.

“If you’re going to be like that, the least you can do is keep your claws to yourself!” she said.

The cat retreated further under the quilt.

“Oh, have it your way!” Hermione sighed, laying back on her pillow and attempting to recite as many magical herbs and fungi to herself as she could possibly remember.

Finally giving this up as a bad job, she got up and went to the window. The sky was just starting to lighten with an almost blood red sunrise and the mist of the night before was clearing. As Hermione rubbed her eyes and blinked, she could have sworn that she had seen the silhouette of a figure on a broomstick flying across the path of the rising sun. Looking again, she dismissed it as a trick of the light.

Crookshanks continued to twitch and moan from across the room, and Hermione began to wonder a little more about what had frightened him. Perhaps he had been sleeping on Ginny’s bed and she had accidentally kicked him in her sleep. It was very possible — she had done it herself on a few occasions - but she had never seen anything affect him like this. As she lit one of the lamps and returned to her bed, seeking to console her agitated pet, Ginny shuddered awake. She was pale and perspiring. Hermione was looking at her, very concerned.

“Are you alright?” she asked, moving to her bedside.

After looking all about her, Ginny slowly turned to look at Hermione.

“What? Oh…er, yes I’m fine,” she said, trying to convince herself of this at the same time.

“Had trouble sleeping?” enquired Hermione, “I’ve barely been able to sleep myself. It’s that confounded…Oh, Crookshanks!”

She had caught sight of Ginny’s bedclothes, and even in the light of just one lamp, she could see that they had been heavily littered with cat hair, which was also scattered across the pillow.

“I’m so sorry Ginny,” she said, shaking her head and gesturing at the bulge under her quilt, “I don’t understand what’s got into that cat; he doesn’t normally molt like this, and now he’s acting like he’s seen a ghost. Has he been bothering you at all?”

Ginny was very confused, and even looked disorientated.

“I was….he…um, no, he hasn’t.”

Crookshanks then poked his head out and saw Ginny sitting bolt upright, looking back at him. He hissed angrily at her and recoiled. Ginny turned back to her friend.

“I err…I think I need a drink.”

“Don’t move, I’ll fetch you one,” offered Hermione, standing up and heading for the door.

“Stay down in the kitchen; I’ll be down there in a minute,” Ginny whispered after her.

Hermione had mixed a pumpkin and cranberry juice drink for the two of them by the time Ginny had made it downstairs. Sunlight was beginning to seep in through the kitchen window, and the chickens were beginning to stir outside.

“Looking forward to the wedding?” asked Hermione.

Ginny considered. Over the past couple of days, she had almost forgotten about it. There had been so much else on her mind, but she still felt a little guilty that she had pushed her own brother’s wedding to the back of her mind.

“In some respects, I’ve been trying not to think about it,” she replied, scratching at her neck, “This place will be turned upside down in a few days, and at the moment, I’d prefer some peace and quiet.”

Hermione nodded understandingly.

“Oh, but won’t it be wonderful? I heard they’ve invited Tiberius Ogden to conduct the ceremony, and you should have seen the dress that Fleur’s parents brought for her — “

“Hermione, please stop, I’m begging you,” Ginny cut in with a smile, “You’re really beginning to sound like mum.”

“Don’t tell me you’re not wondering what Harry will look like all dressed up for the occasion!” she returned.

Ginny went pink and hid behind her glass.

It was by pure coincidence that Harry was, at that moment, dreaming about Bill and Fleur’s wedding, but in that reality, the presiding wizard had mistakenly married him and Ginny. He sighed contentedly in his sleep.

Ron was meanwhile dreaming of a Quidditch match in which he was playing for England as a beater against Bulgaria’s international team. Every bludger he hit went crashing into the head of Viktor Krum with a sound that echoed around the whole stadium. Each time this happened, he received loud cheers and applause from the enormous crowd. Hermione was simultaneously commentating and randomly jinxing the Bulgarian players.

There came a dull flash of light from outside that both Ginny and Hermione mistook for rays of sun breaking through a patch of cloud. At that moment, Tonks came flying down the stairs brandishing her wand and evidently in a state of terrible panic.

“What’s wrong?” asked Hermione, startled by her sudden appearance.

“Both of you get upstairs, now!” she commanded, “Get Harry to come down with his invisibility cloak, but stay up there until I say!”

“But Tonks, wha…?” began Ginny.

“Go, NOW!” she cried.

The two of them hurried upstairs, while Tonks made a brief search of the kitchen to ensure that there was nothing unusual inside the house. Harry soon emerged at the bottom of the stairs, yawning sleepily with his cloak draped over one arm.

“Tonks? What are you doing up so early?” he said.

“Come with me” she beckoned hastily.

Exercising the greatest of caution, Tonks led him out of the front door and into the garden. Harry was still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes when she pointed up into the sky.

“Look carefully,” she whispered.

He had to strain to see what she was pointing at, as it had faded with the gradual increase of sunlight. Finally his eyes opened wide in horror as he made out the smoky shape of a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth like a venomous tongue. The Dark Mark had appeared over the Weasley’s garden. Beneath it laid a mass of black robes on the grass.

Both slowly approached it with wands pointing out in front of them, preparing themselves for anything they might find. Drawing nearer, it became obvious that the robes, bound tightly with rope, were wrapped around a body. Still keeping a distance of a few yards, Tonks silently split the ropes with her wand and unfolded the black clothing while Harry kept a light focused on it. What they saw when the unveiling was complete made them both gasp in shock. Harry staggered slightly, feeling giddy and struggling to stop himself from being violently sick. Tonks could only stare in disbelief.

Among the heavy black shroud lay the mangled remains of Percy Weasley. Both his arms had been severed above the elbow, his face bore heavy bruising, and his throat had been sliced all the way across. Looking downwards, they could see an inscription branded deeply into his chest, simply reading ‘CONSEQUENCES’. The blood from his arms and neck had soaked heavily into the tattered remnants of his clothing. Neither of them could speak for some time, and when Tonks eventually did, Harry was barely aware of what she was saying.

“Give me your cloak. His family should at least be spared seeing him like this.”

She folded the shroud back into place and carefully laid the invisibility cloak over it before speaking again.

“Get yourself back inside, Harry,” she whispered sorrowfully, “I’m so sorry that you had to see something like that.”

Harry steadied himself and looked back at Tonks.

“How could they do this?” he said quietly.

Tonks brushed a tear from her eye and gazed pitifully at him.

“Because they’ve done it many times before, Harry. An act like this is nothing terrible to them; they are just following the orders of their master.”

Harry’s countenance grew stronger in defiance, and he remained unconvinced.

“But why him?” he demanded, his voice rising in volume, “He wasn’t a threat. Why did they do this to him?”

“To weaken us, Harry,” she replied, “to make us lose hope. It was a way of getting to us all, and it makes me think that He knows where you are.”

He began to shudder with anger, his fingernails digging so fiercely into the palms that the skin was ready to break.

“I’ll make him suffer so much that he’ll wish he had stayed dead!” he seethed.

Tonks put an arm around him.

“Harry, no matter what happens, you must stay focused,” she said, “Don’t you see? This is what Voldemort wants! He wants you to feel pain, anger, misery and hatred. The more you feel it, the more you will rise to the bait and he will have you right where he wants you.”

Harry went limp in acceptance of this. He turned around and slowly made his way back to the house, occasionally supported by Tonks. There was a certain despair that came over him at the thought of what he had just seen. Perhaps even worse was the thought of telling the witch that he loved, and all her family, that they had just lost a brother and a son. He had saved the lives of Ginny, Arthur and Ron, but this time, no matter what the circumstances surrounding Percy’s death, he felt he had failed them. They had been planning for a wedding. Yes, thought Harry, there was going to be a wedding, and if it was the last thing he did, he would ensure that that happiness would remain theirs. They would have to be told of Percy’s death, but only when the time was right. He owed them that.

“Tonks,” he said quickly, sitting down at the table, “we have to move the body somewhere safe.”

She gave him a supportive smile as she conjured fresh parchment and a quill out of the air.

“I’m way ahead of you. Just letting the Order know, and they should be here soon.”

He looked at her pleadingly.

“Please don’t tell the family yet. I realise they’ll need to know, but I want to tell them myself, after the wedding.”

Tonks considered this and nodded.

“If that’s what you want to do, then that’s what will happen.”

Harry remained down in the kitchen with Tonks for quite some time, while help arrived from Hogwarts. He wasn’t sure how he would be able to keep up a brave face until after the wedding. He wasn’t even sure how he would be able to look any of the Weasley family in the eye. And for how long could Percy’s absence be explained?
Reviews 90
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