If you have any suggestions for this story, then please feel free to leave them in a Review or a direct PM to me. Here's hoping you're enjoying the story!

Chapter 6: The Draught of Misconceptions

Hermione smirked to herself as she strolled respectfully behind her leader down the corridors of the Castle That Never Was.

Her Lord and Master.

The be all and end all to the once proud Organization XIII which would again rise from its ashes to the majesty of its former glory in imitation of the mighty phoenix.

Hermione was absolutely beaming, and could swear there was a slight skip to herself. Beside her, Draco made a disgusted face to plainly convey his gross displeasure with the situation. Whether his disgust was aimed at her for returning to the mortal realm, or at their leader for summoning her back from that accursed Limbo, Hermione could not be sure. Maybe it was a mixture of both. Yes, that seemed all the more probable.

Where once the young girl entering womanhood had walked with slow steps and a measured pace, Hermione found that she simply could not control her jubilation at being half-whole once more in the world of the living. Her stride was more confident now than it had ever been with her gloved fingers absently touching the spine of the thick tome she held at her right side. The wide beaming smile must have looked crazed on her face, but Hermione did not care. She was back to life!

Zexion was back to life!

Draco made another disgusted snort as he turned his nose up at her while glaring from the corner of his eye. Let him glare all he wants, she thought gleefully, nothing aside from utter obliteration at the hands of their leader could remove her from the Cloud Nine she was currently perched upon. Nothing!

And their home! Hearts above, did she miss the palace for all of Nobody kind! It was grand! It was majestic! It was simply magnificent! Words in all the languages of this universe called World could not properly describe how much she had longed to return to this place, or just how amazing it was to once again walk its hallowed halls with Xemnas leading her path.

And as it was, she knew that life was better now. She knew this because life would never again be the same since she was awakened from what was meant to be an eternal slumber. But as her great leader would say, "Nothingness is eternal!"

And since he ruled over all of the in-between, she would forever be with him…

The more Harry used his powers over the Nothing, the easier it was to call up his strength little by little. Hermione witnessed it when in a moment she had been panicked by the presence of Xemnas before being overcome with a sense of profound loyalty toward him. All immediately proceeded by remembering who she was and being shocked to discover he was now a she in the first place.

However, she digressed…

Harry, as he wanted to be called while they were casual in interactions, was growing toward his former strength. Hermione could feel his power growing through the connection their hearts formed through ties of Nothingness. And she knew almost without pretense that the more of their former party they revived, the stronger Harry would become.

But their castle! Oh hearts, their castle! Having a magical fortress outside of Ministry control which was also inaccessible by anyone aside from Nobodies meant they were untraceable in any magic they practiced while in the castle, and also gave them the upper hand against their peers.

Because honestly, she was still Hermione Granger after all. She just now had her Zexion part back.

And the best part so far was that Xemnas was actually nice! As Harry Potter he smiled more and made a lot less of those ridiculous speeches, but he also cared about them now and wasn't unreasonable with them, mostly making sure they simply didn't spill the beans as they traveled through the Corridor of Darkness back to the others where he and Draco created some story of the three of them hiding out in the Malfoy family tent. Lucius Malfoy had been present, and didn't look too happy by the obvious fib, yet he acted accordingly when Harry smiled in front the Minister and thanked him and his family for giving them safe haven.

Their glorious leader strikes again!

By the time any of the wizards around them even thought to question them further about their experience, Harry had already supplanted their inquisitive nature by making the comment that Hermione's fallback nature of quiet introspection — as she was as Zexion — was a factor of the ordeal they had faced before hiding in the Malfoy tent. Apparently she had been kidnapped by the two roguish cloaked men and barely escaped with Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy aiding her runaway with the arsenal of any spell, charm, hex, and curse that they knew as the three ran for their lives.

Her and Draco's disheveled appearances didn't do anything to disprove their full-blown deceit, yet had the added benefit of acting as silent evidence to all of Harry's claims.

Hermione hid her smirk inside the book she was currently, and slowly, morphing into a part of her soon to come collect of lexicons which would restore her lost Library of Vengeance. Her favorite novel, the Book of Retribution, was lying in wait for her to summon back from the eternal gloom of the darkness they traveled through.

"I want to talk about something important with you two," Harry's voice ended their quiet as he walked into Draco's bedroom within the Malfoy family tent. Draco sat up, annoyed, from where he was toying with the petals of a flower within an elegant vase.

"What now, oh great leader?" the blond groaned resentfully, already tired of Harry's constant breathing down his neck with every little thing.

"Is there a problem, Marluxia?" Harry asked, his eyes sliding over to where the blond was huffing.

"Other than not being twenty feet from you since I've arrived to this bloody place…" Draco mumbled to himself. Harry chose to ignore him for the moment. Instead he would just get straight to the point.

"Our next objective will be to turn my dear best friend Ron into Xigbar as soon as possible." Harry revealed, and as soon as the name of Number Two left his mouth, Draco threw his arms in the air.

"Fantastic! Just great!" Draco snapped, glaring at his resurrected leader with all of his hate. "Yet another lackey for you to have in my face!"

"What in the name of Kingdom Hearts are you on about, Malfoy?" Harry inquired, his eyebrow cocked while Hermione was gaping at the blond's open aggravation.

"Just admit it! You want me on a leash!" Draco accused, pointing a finger at Harry's face. "Ever since your failed attempt to turn me into Saix, it's been on your mind this entire time! And since you keep failing at it, you're just moving on to the old fool to keep me in your all-knowing sight."

"Marluxia, you should rethink—" Hermione started, but Draco wanted to hear nothing out of her mouth. When she was Zexion she had been a hindrance to his plans, and as Granger she was a bigger thorn in his side.

"Shut your face, you bushy bookworm you!" he snapped back at the stoic schemer. Then he turned his sights back on to the master of all things annoying. "I want to get it all out in the open now! You want me gone!"

"Me? Want you gone!?" Harry laughed, sharp and cold. He felt the blood pounding in his ears. If he were any other person, the amount of rage he felt right then would have been enough to blow his top. But he was not any other boy. He was Harry Potter. He was Xemnas. He was commander of that great emptiness between the Light and the Dark.

And remembering all of this made Harry's face instantly morph into a deep scowl.

"It was not I who chose betrayal. It was not I who led members to their death in Castle Oblivion." And then Harry started to really feel that angry as it simmered like a boiling pot below the surface of his calm. It was like his blood had suddenly been lit on fire. "You did that! You and Larxene! Plotting your deceit! Planning to overthrow our organization!" Harry's eyes narrowed in on Draco, and the cold around the blond assassin grew chilling. "My organization."

"You gave me no choice! I would have never obtained respect under your foot with those fools! All you cared about was Kingdom Hearts! I had to do something to get what I deserved!" Draco roared, and everything froze in the world. The air stilled. The night went deadly silent. Every inch of the bedroom remained as motionless as possible as Harry whipped back as though struck physically by Draco's words.

"YOU ACCURSED FOOL!" Harry's voice cracked the air like a strike of thunder, powerful enough to send Draco staggering back and frightful enough to make Hermione shelter herself behind the nearest object. "I trusted you. I gave you Castle Oblivion!"

"You gifted me my grave!" Draco spat back, but did not dare to get within range of where Harry could summon his Ethereal Blades to do some damage.

"I gave you an opportunity to show initiative! To prove that you were worthy of responsibility!" Harry pinned Draco with the heat of his glare, "But all you proved was your potential to backstab."

"That's rich coming from the man who sent Axel in to kill us all." Draco sneered at Harry, who looked crossed between confused and angry.

"I sent Axel to report back to me on Sora's business in the castle and to find the Chamber of Waking, not to eliminate traitors." Harry flickered his gaze over to where Hermione was still slightly behind the table, "Zexion was loyal beyond question, as well as Vexen and Lexaeus. If I wanted traitors put down, I would have sent Xigbar or Xaldin."

"Don't play me for a fool!" Draco raged, flowers growing and wilting at his feet while his anger soared. "You sent Axel to eliminate us! I knew it from the second I saw Axel meeting with Saix right before he was assigned to Castle Oblivion!"

"Saix…?" Harry appeared completely caught off guard by the mention of Saix having anything to do with their current argument. He had trusted Saix to handle the day to day reports of Oblivion's on-goings and to act accordingly. Truthfully he knew Saix was a little heavy-handed with justice, but…

"You say Axel eliminated you all. I was under the impression that Sora and Riku had systemically made their ways through the castle and dealt you one by one." Harry was not looking at Draco. Instead, his gaze was focused on Hermione. Zexion would never lie to him, not when they were face to face like this.

Hermione came out from behind the table fully, brushing off her jeans as she stood proud, reporting to her superior. "Yes, Axel was the one who disposed of me. I cannot say what happened to Marluxia or Larxene as they were the two conspiring for control of the Organization. However, Axel did eliminate myself and Vexen on orders from Saix."

Harry held a stony expression for a long time until he eventually put his face in his hands and groaned. His beautiful Organization XIII, destroyed from the inside thanks to petty infighting and misguided ambitions. He wasn't sure which was worst: being defeated by a rag-tag group of dim-witted Light-siders, or breaking down because everyone was too self-absorbed to come together when they had needed to most of all.

"Ugh… Kingdom Hearts… strike me down down…" he groaned aloud as he sat back down on the bed near him.

So Marluxia had only turned traitor when he thought they were conspiring to get rid of him. And Saix had gotten rid of Marluxia because the pink-haired assassin and Larxene had been about growing too big for their share of soil. And where did Axel fall into all of this?

Vexen? Zexion? Lexaeus? Naimie?

Nonetheless, Harry had to collect himself. He liked his life as Harry Potter, and all this headache only reminded him that he was a different person than before. Xemnas would have done away with all of them if it meant he could access Kingdom Hearts. Harry was not like that. He wanted them all back, because somewhere deep inside Xemnas, the man had held the notion of the organization being like a family. All of them, even Marluxia and Larxene.

"I… I apologize, Marluxia," Harry said, choosing his words precisely, "I should have paid more attention to what was occurring right under my nose. Your death was well deserved, but unnecessary."

Draco looked as if he was about to tell Harry where he could shove his apologizes, but then must have thought better of it because he simply nodded and kept his mouth sealed shut. An apology from the Lord of Twilight was nothing to sniff at as it was as rare as a purple moon in a green sky. Draco had yet to see such a sight, but with Xemas making apologizes all of a sudden, he was not entirely certain purple moons and green skies were impossible anymore.

"Superior," Hermione spoke up, very unsure of where they all stood now, "are we still moving forward with turning Ron into Xigbar?"

"I honestly don't know, Hermione," Harry ran a hand down his face, suddenly feeling tired and drained, "Maybe we should hold off on it, maybe not. I'll think about it."

"You should do it sooner rather than later," Draco said, sighing before he held his head high. It would not do well to show how much a simple apology touched him. He had believed he would be nothing more than a slave under the scrutiny of Xemnas and the others, but Harry was not fully Xemnas. He wasn't fully Harry either, but that wasn't the point. If he watched his step, and didn't do anything foolish…

Draco smirked despite how much he wanted to keep the expression off his face. If he played his cars right—no pun toward Luxord there—then he had a chance this time around to claim more respect and power within the group. He had been summoned first, not Saix or even Xigbar.

Yes, life was definitely starting to resemble fairness.

"Harry!" yelled a voice Harry instantly recognized. "HARRY! HERMIONE! Where the devil are you?" Harry pushed himself off the bed and stood as he, Hermione, and Draco saw Mr. Weasley striding toward them, looking terrified with Lucius Malfoy and Barty Crouch right at his heels. "Dear Merlin, you two—" his voice sounded shaky. He flung himself from the doorway and onto their collective shoulders, holding them tight and shaking with barely contained sobs that Harry could feel on his neck. "I thought — we thought — thank Merlin himself you children are all safe."

Mr. Weasley released them from his deathly tight hug, but still gripped their shoulders as he held them at arm's length, giving all three of them a good once over with his eyes. "Nearly had a heart-attack myself when the Minister came to tell me what went on… I'm so glad you two— three are okay. Draco, thank you for helping them and keeping them safe." Mr. Weasley looked back at Lucius, who despite himself was not scowl or making disgusted faces this time as Mr. Weasley held back tears in his eyes, "Lucius, thank you for giving them shelter. There are no words that can express how grateful I am to you and your family. Harry and Hermione are like my own children. Thank you."

"It was," Lucius began in a drawl, but then smiled lightly in sincerity as he saw Mr. Weasley was truly grateful, "It was nothing. Think nothing of it at all, Arthur. I'm sure you would have done the same for my son and wife."

Mr. Weasley nodded, and shook hands with Lucius before bringing him in for an overly familiar hug. Lucius grimaced through it, but put up no fight. Harry could practically see the wheels turning in the Malfoy patriarch's head. The blond man was thinking about how to turn all of this in his favor for later.

"You've got to see them safe, now out of the way, Arthur," a cold, curt voice said as Mr. Crouch moved forward. It was only then that Harry noticed the team of other Ministry wizards behind the man, closing in on them. Mr. Crouch's face was taut with significance and urgency.

"Did any of you get a look at the men who took your friend?" Mr. Crouch snapped off as soon as Mr. Weasley moved an inch out of his path. Mr. Crouch's sharp eyes darting between the three of them.

"N-No, I didn't," Hermione stuttered out, not having to fake feeling small under Mr. Crouch's beady eyes. He reminded her too much of Ansem the Wise whenever he questioned about experiments being done behind his back. "It all happened so fast! One minute, I was being carried through this murky dark walkway, and the next I was yanked free with Draco pulling me and Harry shooting jets of light. The black robed men ran after us, but Draco made a snake appear and Harry made it grow. They had trouble with that."

"One was holding a farming tool," Draco supplied, looking appropriately as if he were trying to be helpful. "I don't know much about farm tools, mind you, but this one was easy to spot because Death uses it."

"A scythe." Mr. Crouch nodded, taking this information as accurate since his men had reported as much.

"Yes," Draco nodded, enjoying the twist of lies and deceit that rolled off him. These fools were being played as expertly as Demyx's sitar, "It was some shade of pink. He was swinging it every which way, cutting the snake I made to pieces. The other man, him holding some glowing red billyclubs, yelled at us. I think he was making an overly dramatic and needlessly pointless speech — Ow!"

Harry had subtly stomped Draco's foot.

"Anyway," Harry continued, throwing Draco a quick glare, "The guy with red batons, he was obviously the leader. After cursing us, he told the other guy something. It sounded like he was saying to head back to port… If that makes any sense."

"Port, you say?" Mr. Crouch still had his wand out from earlier that evening, and his eyes were popping — he looked slightly mad. "If you have any information that could be vital to us catching the last of these miscreants —"

"Barty, lay off!" a witch in a long woolen dressing gown shouted, "They're kids, Barty, and I for one think they've been through enough."

Harry took that opportunity to make his face express ever so slightly that he was brave and headstrong enough to continue, but he was still shaken from what happened. "Like I said, Mr. Crouch, it sounded to me like he said to return to port. I'm not entirely sure it was what he said, but after he said it, they disappeared back into their black archway."

"Did they do anything to you, dear?" the witch in the dressing gown asked Hermione, her tone gentle as Hermione shook her head.

"No… I suppose they didn't have the chance…" Hermione answered back quietly, her expression suggesting that the thought had never occurred to her, but was now all she could picture. Her face was growing more horrified and pale by the second. Mr. Crouch turned his popping eyes on Hermione now, disbelief etched all over his face. But none of the Ministry wizards apart from Mr. Crouch seemed to think it remotely likely that Harry, Draco, or Hermione had anything more they could give without being subjected to more fright than their experience had already caused; on the contrary, at Hermione's words, they had begun to file out of the Malfoy family tent and were pointedly discussing ideas about which port the black robed men could be trying to use for their escape.

"Mr. Crouch," Lucius drawled as he stepped forward. The only adults that remained with the three teenagers now were himself, Mr. Crouch, and Mr. Weasley, "If you send a team now to the nearest ports, you may yet capture these scoundrels. As we all know, magic does not work out at sea."

"Or we might still be too late," the witch in the woolen dressing gown said, shaking her head. "They'll have Disapparated by now. It's what our boys in Diagnostics think the archways are really for; just a terribly frightening way to Disapparate."

"And then there's the business of the masked wizards who attacked the Muggles, Barty," Mr. Weasley reminded his colleague, and finally Mr. Crouch gave up trying to pierce Harry and Hermione's skulls with his stare alone.

"You're all clean." Mr. Crouch said, sounding highly disbelieving. Then turned on heel and marched out of the tent with the witch right behind him after she gave Hermione a few quick words of comfort.

"Come on, Harry, Hermione," Mr. Weasley said, gesturing for them to follow him.

But when they reached the flap of the tent, their progress was impeded. A large crowd of frightened-looking witches and wizards was congregated there, and when they saw Mr. Weasley coming toward them, many of them surged forward.

"What's going on?"

"Who were those men with weapons?"

"Arthur — it's not — His people, is it?"

"Of course it's not His band," Mr. Weasley snapped impatiently. "We don't know who it was; it looks like they Disapparated. Now excuse me, please, I want to get to Harry Potter and this young lady to bed. And I could use with some shut eye myself." He raised his head, and his voice as he shouted out, "As could all of you! Everyone back to their tents! The situation is fully under control!"

Without another word or care, Mr. Weasley led Harry and Hermione through the crowd and back toward their campsite.

All was quiet now; there was no sign of the masked wizards, though several ruined tents were still smoking. Charlie's head was poking out of the boys' tent.

"Dad, what's going on?" he called through the dark. "Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny got back okay, but Harry and Hermione—"

"I've got them here with me," Mr. Weasley interrupted, bending down and entering the tent. Harry and Hermione entered after him. Bill was sitting at the small kitchen table, holding a bedsheet to his arm, which was bleeding profusely. Charlie had a large rip in his shirt, and Percy was sporting a bloody nose. Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny looked unhurt, though shaken.

"Did you get them, Dad?" Bill inquired sharply. "The person who caught Hermione in all this?"

"No," Mr. Weasley gave a heavy sigh.

"What about the Mark, then?" Percy asked nasally, tissue to his nose.

"We found Barty Crouch's elf holding a man's wand. The man being Stan Stunpike, a helper and conductor of the Knight Bus. He swears up and down his mother's grave that he had nothing to do with the Mark being over the woods, but Barty and Amos are holding him for questioning about the Mark and the strange men…"

"But we're none the wiser about who actually conjured the Mark." Bill figured, and Charlie and Percy looked shocked.

"What?" the two brothers echoed each other.

"Stan is in trouble?" Charlie asked, having gone through school with him.

"Mr. Crouch's elf?" Percy sounded thunderstruck. With some assistance from Harry and Hermione, Mr. Weasley explained what had happened in the woods. When they had finished their story, Ron had leapt out of his chair and hugged his two best friends for all he was worth. Fred and George looked like they wanted to do the same, and so did Ginny.

"Look, can someone just explain what that skull thing was?" Ginny asked impatiently, hugging herself. "It wasn't hurting anyone, so why was it such a big deal?"

"I told you, it's You-Know-Who's symbol, Gin," Ron said as he turned to his baby sister. Just the mention of Voldemort had the youngest of the Weasley holding herself all the tighter before anyone else could react. "Hermione read about it in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts."

"And it hasn't been seen for thirteen years," Mr. Weasley admitted quietly. "Of course people panicked… it was almost like seeing You-Know-Who back again. He and his followers sent the Dark Mark into the air whenever they killed. The terror it inspired… you have no idea, you're too young. Just picture coming home and finding the Dark Mark hovering over your house, and knowing what you're about to find inside…"

Even Harry and Hermione gave a genuine wince at that. They were all for beating the idiots of the Wizarding World senseless, but to kill people and brag about it with a giant floating smoke signal was a brand of cruelness all its own.

"It was then… and for some, even now, everyone's worst fear… the very worst…"

There was silence for a moment. Then Bill, removing the sheet from his arm to check on his cut, said, "Well, it didn't help us tonight, whoever conjured it. It scared most of the Death Eaters away the moment they saw it. The ones who were still conscious and uncaptured Disapparated away before we'd got near enough to unmask any of them."

"Thankfully the Aurors caught the Robertses before they hit the ground. They're having their memories modified right now."

"You mentioned Death Eaters," Harry echoed, "What are Death Eaters?"

"It's what You-Know-Who's supporters called themselves," Bill explained. "I think we saw what's left of them tonight — the ones who managed to keep themselves out of Azkaban, anyway."

"We can't prove it was them, Bill… Though it probably was," Mr. Weasley said, his head hung hopelessly.

"Yeah, I bet it was!" Ron said suddenly. "And the ones who took Hermione were probably in league with those nutters in masks!"

"But didn't the black robed men fight the Death Eaters? Why would Voldemort's supporters—" Harry began. Everyone flinched, as like most of the wizarding world, the Weasleys always avoided saying Voldemort's name. "—be up to fighting each other? And why were they levitating Muggles in the first place if they were out to kill? I mean, what was the point?"

"The point?" Mr. Weasley gave a hollow laugh. "Harry, that's their idea of fun. Half the Muggle killings back when You-Know-Who was in power were done for sport. I suppose they had a few drinks tonight and couldn't resist reminding us all that lots of them are still at large. A nice little reunion for them," he finished, clearly disgusted.

"And the black robed men were most likely in league with their stupider Death Eater friends." Percy surmised with a shake of his head, "Probably tried to clear them out before they gave away some kind of grand scheme or something. The better Death Eaters know when and where to act. The two who took Hermione were probably within the inner circle of You-Know-Who's following."

"But if they were the Death Eaters, why did they Disapparate when they saw the Dark Mark?" Ron asked, his eyes narrowing in thought. "They'd have been pleased to see it, wouldn't they?"

"Not necessarily, Ron," Bill said with a hand out. "Use your brain, little brother. If they really were Death Eaters, they worked very hard to keep out of Azkaban when You-Know-Who lost power, and told all sorts of lies about him forcing them to kill and torture people. I bet they'd be even more frightened than the rest of us to see him come back. They denied they'd ever been involved with him when he lost his powers, and went back to their daily lives… I don't reckon he'd be too pleased with them, do you? The two who took Hermione were probably some of his most loyal coming out of hiding." Bill's eyes flickered up at Hermione, "Most likely in an attempt at a dark ritual to bring him back, or something…"

"S-So… whoever conjured the Dark Mark…" Hermione said slowly, losing a bit of color at the train of thought Bill had put into her imagination, "were they doing it to show support for the Death Eaters, or to scare them away?"

"Your guess is as good as ours, Hermione," Mr. Weasley shrugged, looking infinitely tired "But I'll tell you this… it was only the Death Eaters who ever knew how to conjure it. I'd be very surprised if the person who tried to take you had anything to do with the mark being in the sky. And even more if the person who did it hadn't been a Death Eater once, even if they're not now… Listen, it's very late, and if your mother hears what's happened she'll be worried sick. We'll get a few more hours sleep and then try and get an early Portkey out of here."

Harry got back into his bunk with his head buzzing. He knew he ought to feel exhausted: It was nearly three in the morning, but he felt wide-awake — wide-awake, and ecstatic. Three days ago — it felt like much longer, but it had only been three days — he had awoken with his scar burning and discovered his past life as Xemnas. And tonight, he had succeeded in bringing back Marluxia and Zexion all before Voldemort's mark had appeared in the sky.

Harry lay looking up at the canvas, but no flying fantasies came to him now to ease him to sleep, and it was a long time after Charlie's snores filled the tent that Harry finally dozed off with thought on how to isolate Ron and turn him intentionally into Xigbar.

If you have any suggestions for this story, then please feel free to leave them in a Review or a direct PM to me. Here's hoping you're enjoying the story!

-Traban16