CHAPTER 32

ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

Albus Dumbledore was livid. Absolutely livid. And from the way everyone was looking at Ludo Bagman, he wasn't the only one.

"How could you let this happen? HOW!" screamed the French participant's father as he conversed with one of the Ministries members from the department on International Cooperation, berating the man for their carelessness.

"This is the second time I have seen that mark. You must have tried looking into it after the debacle at the Quidditch World Cup!" the man asked incredulously, and the Ministry employee was sweating as he tried to answer the man.

"Mr. Delacour, I can assure you we had taken eve…."

"Don't give me this bullshit! Gods! I can assure you if a single hair on my daughter's is harmed, your ministry will have to answer to ICW!" the man ended up screaming at the ministry employee, who was reduced to a stammering mess. Maxime approached the man and spoke to him in French, trying to calm him down.

Though Dumbledore's focus turned towards the stuttering form of one Ludo Bagman.

"Now, Ludo, I want you to tell me, with whom did you discuss the plans for the second task?" Dumbledore questioned, and the man simply shook his head.

"I did not do anything. It was supposed to be a simple portkey and bring them back here if there was any danger. I don't know anything! Please, believe me!" the man continued saying, and Dumbledore looked into the man's eyes tiring of his excuses.

Dumbledore saw Ludo coming out of the Ministry building, a folder tucked in his arms as he walked towards his apartment, continuously glancing at his surroundings. And just as the man had reached his home, suddenly, he saw Ludo turn around in alarm.

'I can get your mone….' And he saw the silhouette of a hooded man who simply raised his wand.

'Obliviate!'

And the memory ended. Confirming Dumbledore's suspicion.

"Dumbledore! Dumbledore! Amelia Bones is here, and she has brought Aurors with her!" suddenly, the strained voice of Minerva brought him out of his thoughts. He gave the deputy Headmistress a nod.

"Bring her here! She needs to see this!" he told her. As much as he would have liked to keep the Ministry out of it, with the foreign students also taken hostages, he really couldn't do that

At least he knew that Amelia was not one of Tom's pawns. He saw Sirius Black rush past the barriers coming up to him, his face marred with worry.

"The Mark! Dumbledore! This is him. This is the second time," and Dumbledore simply nodded.

"Indeed, this seems to be Voldemort's doing. I am afraid he has caught us off guard. He was somehow able to modify the portkey's final destination, though how he was able to do so still remains a question," Dumbledore told Sirius as the man's pale face turned paler, and he frowned as he saw young running towards them.

"Why have you brought young Harry here? He should go back to the dorms with the rest of the students," he asked Sirius, who replied with a frown.

"I did not bring him here." And the young boy stopped right beside him, huffing as he tried to control his breathing.

"Mr. Potter, this is an extremely dire situation. I believe that you must leave…" but Dumbledore was cut off as the young man suddenly spoke up.

"I KNOW WHAT HE WANTS! IT'S BLOOD!" suddenly, the boy spoke up, making Dumbledore's heart stop. Dumbledore's mind raced as he thought up the reasons for such a demand.

"Potter, if this is one of your attempts at gaining glor…." Severus suddenly added from the side, and Dumbledore had not missed how the man's forearm had been bandaged.

"I heard it myself! It was the same as the second year!" Harry suddenly added, confirming Dumbledore's suspicion. Sirius, who seemed just about ready to curse his old Slytherin rival stopped as he heard that and looked towards Harry.

"Second year! What is going on here!" though Dumbledore did not have the time to answer the man yet. He saw the Aurors rushing towards him. He needed to know about this before they arrived.

So, he crouched down and looked the young Potter straight in the eyes, finding the green similar to Lily Potter, "What exactly did you hear, Mr. Potter?"

Harry gulped. His hands continued to fidget as he spoke up again.

"He wants my blood. It said that after ten minutes he would start killing them up one by one, and…" but Dumbledor was not looking at Harry anymore as he suddenly got a look at the time, his eyes widening as he saw the time left till this all became a complete disaster.

'Five minutes left.'

0000

EDWARD WRIGHT

The last thing Edward remembered was his body getting compressed and then a flash of red. And he had known that things had gone wrong. Horrible wrong. Edward remained quiet as his senses returned to him. He was on solid ground, and from the way he couldn't open his mouth or move his hands, he wasn't in friendly company.

"Ohh! One of them is awake!" suddenly, a voice interrupted his racing thoughts, and he decided to open his eyes, and squinted to make out his surroundings as his eyes adjusted to the darkness.

A mask. A skull-shaped mask and Edward felt his heart tremble as he recognized the pattern.

"Oh! It seems he recognizes us! Well, that is good," and suddenly, his face was lifted up as the man pulled his hair, causing him to wince with pain.

"Oh, so you recognize us, huh! It seems we left quite the impression for a mud-blood to remember us!" then the death eater yanked his head back, and it collided with the stone behind him. And Edward groaned in pain, his vision going black momentarily.

"Ohh! Let me give you a gift!" the man's voice was filled with derision and ridicule and Edward barely saw him draw out his wand before it was aimed directly at him.

"Crucio!"

Pain. Burning. Searing. Ravishing. Pain. Edward felt as if his whole body was burning. He tried to move and get away, yet his bindings held him in place.

He couldn't scream, the gag in his mouth stopping him from uttering a single word. Though, even without it he wouldn't have wanted to give them the satisfaction of hearing him scream.

"Enough!" the pain stopped, and Edward's senses were assaulted by a revolting feeling. A sense of wrongness and foulness had taken over the surroundings coating everything in its taint.

The death eater immediately kneeled down as a shadowy figure appeared from behind. And for the first time Edward finally realized where he exactly was, his eyes recognizing the various graves and the people tied to them.

The rows of death eaters lined up as a plump man mixed up a concoction in a huge cauldron.

"It is not the time to play around," and Edward saw the hooded figure turn and focus on the kneeling death eater. And then there was a small whisper.

"Crucio"

"AGHHHH! AGHHH!" and the grown-up death eater squirmed on the ground! Screaming! Begging! Crying! Yet he did not stop! And perhaps after about a minute, he finally stopped! The death eater continued to shake, his body convulsing from the after-effects of the spell, though he still tried to kneel.

"Thank you for your generosity, my lord! Thank you!" the man continued to thank him, his body still shaking. The rest of the Death eaters had stood in place, none moving even an inch to help their friend.

"Don't forget yourself, Selwyn! After all, if Dumbledore fails to deliver, you can play with them as much as you want," and with that, the hooded figure floated away, and Edward felt that he could finally breathe again. He saw the death eater, Selwyn, and he recognized that name, getting up shakily as he gave a glare in his direction.

"Don't worry, mud-blood, I will show you your place pretty soon," though his focus suddenly shifted to the others, and Edward saw the hunger and glint in those eyes as he saw his eyes land on the unconscious form of Fleur.

"Ohh! I am gonna have so much fun!" revulsion and anger rose in his gut as he saw the hunger in those eyes. Edward glanced all around him, getting a measure of his situation. He saw Elizabeth stir up beside him, trying to wake up.

"Only five minutes are left, and then I can have all the fun I want," the man muttered as he walked away, his eyes still focused on the blonde. Alarm bells rang in Edward's ears as he heard this.

He tried to move his hands, yet they were secured tightly with rope, the stack of wands placed on a small table away from him.

Edward saw Fleur stir up as well, though Elizabeth was now awake and was looking around frantically. He saw her look at him, their eyes meeting, and he immediately pushed his magic, praying for it to work. Praying that she gets the signal.

And then he saw her give him a small nod as he turned to look at Fleur whose body was soaked wet and seemed to be flushed with a fever, her face was distraught and filled with worry as her eyes were focused on the unconscious form of her sister, he saw her glance at him, and he tried to do the same, pushing his magic. Looking her straight in the eyes.

0000

FLEUR DELACOUR

The sound of shouting and screaming assaulted her ears as soon as her senses returned to her. Her whole body was soaked, and the last thing she remembered was trying to cut the rope and free her sister.

'Maybe she had missed a trap,' she thought as she tried to move though she found her arms tied up. She tried to speak up and found a gag in her mouth. And while all this, the sound of screaming continued. She looked up, and her heart skipped a beat as she saw a man writhing on the ground with a hooded figure levitating in front of him. And she felt the revulsion in the air, her magic which was more attuned to nature, screamed and gushed at the foulness.

The masked man continued to scream and shake on the ground, his screams grating her ears as the reality of her situation settled down on her.

'NO! NO!' her mind screamed as she looked around frantically, finally finding her little sister bound to the gravestone beside her. Gabrielle's face was scrunched up, and she seemed to be continuously shaking from the cold.

She looked ahead and saw Viktor and Edward's junior tied down as well, and after that was Edward and his friend, Elizabeth, he saw the Headgirl give Edward a small nod, who was staring intensely at her before he turned to face her.

His face was pale, and his glasses had a crack over them, and even now, his body was shaking slightly as he stared at her, their eyes connected.

"Calm down! Fleur! I need you to calm down!"

Her eyes widened as she recognized his voice! She tried to speak up, but the gag made it impossible to utter a single word.

"Do not try to speak. Just think of what you want to say, and I will understand!" it was his voice. She had not imagined it.

'How?' she thought.

"Legilimency. But we can talk about it later. We need to get out of here! These people are death eaters!"

'DEATH EATERS! THE FOLLOWERS OF VOLDEMORT!'

"YES! But I need you to focus! We need to get out of here! They have our wands and are planning something dangerous! We only have five minutes, so listen closely! There are wards placed that make it impossible to apparate, so we have to get to the edge of the graveyard to get away!"

'OK!' she thought.

"On my signal! You are going to free Gabrielle. Hopefully, Krum will wake up by then, take her, and run! Don't look back! Don't stop for anything! Just run!"

'What about you? I don't even know how to apparate!' she thought with a bit of alarm.

"Elizabeth knows! You are to apparate in Hogsmeade near the Hog's head! Go to the bar owner, and he will be able to contact the school. Krum is waking up. Let me try and talk to him! And Fleur just remembers that no matter what happens, run. Take Gabrielle and run! Just run!"

0000

Dumbledore watched the vial of blood sink into the Black Lake, his mind filled with worry for the six young students currently held as hostages by Tom and his death eaters.

"I hope you know what you are doing, Dumbledore," said Amelia Bones as she joined him on the lake's edge.

"There is no other choice, Amelia. We cannot put those lives in danger. Just prepare your Aurors to move in as soon as we track down….

And suddenly, the vial vanished. Dumbledore closed his eyes, his magic thrumming as it tried to estimate the location. And moments later, he only muttered a single word, 'Fawkes,' before bursting into a sea of flames.

0000

Voldemort's made the first move. What is Edward's plan, and will Dumbledore make it in time?