Yes, I am still here! Its been almost a year sense I've updated, I'm sorry. Hope this chapter makes up for it. I'm really happy with this chapter, and I'd appreciate any reviews I get! Thanks to everyone who's stuck with me this far!

…OoOoO…

Chapter 25: The Tale of Debelto

"Alright. Door locked?"

"Check"

"Windows secured?"

"We're in the highest tower."

"Right. Bathroom checked?"

"A fly would die from the smell in there."

"Teenage boys can survive that, check again!"

"Empty."

"Good. Beds empty?"

"All except this one, Cap'n Prongs!"

"Under the beds?"

"No room for a mouse."

"Sounds good. Moony have his chocolate?"

"Enough for all."

"Padfoot have his blanket?"

Swat. "Shut up Prongs!"

James rubbed the back of his head where Sirius had hit him, wincing. He looked at the others crowded on the 4-poster bed with him. "Anything else of little or no significance that has or hasn't been checked?" A bunch of shaking heads was his answer. "Right then, down to business."

He looked down at the book that sat in the middle. Six pairs of eyes started at the book as well.

"This book doesn't exist in our world, or at least not in our library, Ginny and I checked." Hermione offered.

"Well," Sirius cut it, unable to resist, "if the book isn't in Hogwarts then obviously it couldn't be anywhere else."

Hermione shot him a glare. "Harry got it in the library. Maybe if your attention span was longer then that of an ant you would know this."

"What did you say my dear?"

Remus hit him upside the head. "Shut up Padfoot, it's time to be serious." Sirius started to open his mouth but Remus cut him off again. "If you even start with that serious stuff I swear I'll-" He was cut of as James shoved a piece of chocolate in his mouth.

"Continue, Hermione" James said, ignoring Remus has he coughed and sputtered the chocolate.

"As I was saying: If this helps in way, then it will have been lucky to come across it."

Harry made a face. "The death of Voldemort wouldn't have been worth that."

"I say we get on with it. Seamus and Dean can only be distracted for long." Ginny interrupted.

"Well actually-"

"I don't wanna hear it."

Sirius pouted.

"Remus, Ginny, Harry and I worked in the library the past few days, looking for a hint as to what (or whom) Debelto is." Hermione said, taking out a few bit of parchment. "There are some rather obscure references to Debelto that can be located throughout the centuries. It's rather fascinating actually, when you think that-"

"Cut to the chase, Hermione"

"Sorry. Well as I was saying. It seems that Debelto is an organization older then Hogwarts. Although there are no direct statements of what they do, there are hints." Hermione made a disgusted face and Remus took over.

"They seem to be around mysterious murders. Harry, could you roll up your left sleeve?" Harry shot him a confused look, but complied anyway. He rolled it up ¾ of the way before Ginny gasped and he stopped.

"Right where you said it would be!" She cried, pointing.

James, Sirius, and Ron all stared at Harry's upper arm. Cranking his head and twisting his arm, Harry got good look at what his friends were talking about. "I don't remember that!" He exclaimed. On his arm were many fading scars. There was one (or perhaps it counted as three) that stood out. Three slashes formed a triangle that looked as if it was only a few days old.

Remus grimaced. "Just as we thought, you've been marked."

"Marked? Like death eater marked or-"

"You've been marked as an enemy." Hermione answered.

"Enemy of what?"

She didn't answer, instead picked up the book from where it still sat in the center, flipped a few pages in, and began to read: "'He was marked an enemy. Branded with our mark and beaten, we left him barely alive: as was tradition. He had been some sort of hero to his people, freeing them from an overbearing King. He went against the natural order and did so with the most horrible thing available to him-magic. A few days later he was killed for his crimes. Stak was almost killed in the process. He has always been an outsider, thinking that there was some good in using magic-though he rarely did it for a good reason. I am secretly proud of my gift, though to say so it would be death. Stak thinks we should kill them with magic—have them die by that that they treasure above all else. He held the man's wand and started to chant those strange words that they do. He was stopped before he could do anything. Magic was supposed to be hated, the same with people who commanded it; we despised ourselves.'"

"But what does all of that mean?" James asked.

Hermione and Remus shared a look. "We suspect that it's some kind of cult. A cult that…they seem to be wizards who despise magic."

"But that doesn't make any sense." Ron said.

"Oh good one, Ronald" Ginny muttered.

"It makes a lot of sense actually." Hermione answered. "We learned about the witch hunts and all, how muggles hated and feared magic? Well what if those same muggles could use magic? The last line I read of this passage explains it all." She read it over again. "They hated magic and wizards, as well as themselves. The way it was phrased hints that they despised themselves because they could do magic. They seem to punish those who can do magic, but they have easier access because they can do magic if they want to as well."

"So the Tale of Debelto is a diary?"

"Not exactly." Remus answered. "There is no single author, but there are many stories (most of them like this one in diary form) and others writings about Debelto. Some of them are rather horrific, this one is special in that the writer seems to have doubts about what he is doing. He says he is proud of his 'gift' (we assume that means magic) but he can not say so or he would be killed."

"So…"Harry started, looking uncertain, "This cult thing thinks I'm an enemy because I can do magic? There are a bunch of witches and wizards in Hogwarts, why did they choose me?"

"The man in that story was a hero; you are quite a hero too, Harry." Ginny answered.

"Are they working for Voldemort?" Sirius asked.

"We're not sure, but its very doubtful. He wishes to take control of the muggles and purge the muggleborns." Hermione said. "Members of Debelto can assumed to be muggleborns (at least at some point) because they probably grew up despising magic and then find out that they have the 'gift'. Though I'm sure they are ok with Voldemort killing off the order and ministry because they are witches and wizards."

"You said they were older then Hogwarts, and they are still around?"

"If it was indeed the Debelto who branded Harry, then yes. The muggle world's view of magic has changed drastically from witch hunts to where muggle children dream that they could do magic. It is hard to believe that this cult had survived all those centuries."

"You wouldn't happen to know what saved me then, would you?"

Hermione looked nervous. "No actually, I haven't been able to figure that part out."

"Some guy, wasn't it?" Sirius asked.

"Oh thanks for narrowing that one down, Si." Sirius beamed in response.

"That is actually part of the problem, and the solution. If we can find the person who saved Harry, we will find out a more about what's going on."

"Operation: Find Harry's Savior is now in affect!"

….OoOoO…

"Nothing! Bloody nothing!" James exclaimed, throwing two large texts on the table with a loud thunk.

"I'm trying to finish my potions essay!" Hermione snapped, pushing James' books out of the way. It was the last day of the Christmas holidays at Hogwarts. Hermione had been so caught up in her quest for knowledge about Debelto that she had barely had time to complete all her homework assignments. She was now freaking out about it.

"I'm trying to help the world!" James snapped right back.

"Way to go Prongsie!" Sirius yelled, coming over with Remus.

"Any luck?"

"A bit, I found something rather interesting. Meet Me in our room in five minutes. Have you seen the others?" James and Hermione shook their heads. "Alright, Simon, go."

"Aye Aye Cap'n!" Sirius gave him a salute before he left again to find Harry, Ron, and Ginny.

"Well I have to run this upstairs, and then I'll go to your room." Hermione picked up the books, parchment, ink, and quills lying around and but them in her bag before hurrying upstairs.

Twenty minutes later Sirius entered the room he shared with James and Remus with Harry and Ron behind him.

"Good of you to join us." Remus said, frowning at them.

"Sorry, Ron and I were practicing on the Quidditch Pitch. It took Sirius a bit to find us."

"No kidding." Ginny muttered. She had entered the common room as Sirius had exited and was here on time.

"Well, sit down, I'm eager to hear what Remus found, and he wouldn't tell us with out everyone here." The three boys sat down on Sirius' bed. Remus and Hermione were on Remus' and Ginny and James on his.

"I think I found a reference to Big D." The first passage Hermione had read out of The Tale of Debelto was by an author (with no name like the rest in the book) who had a lot of other writings. The writings had helped them a lot. They were learning a lot about the cult through the book, which was largely written by their mysterious writer, who they had dubbed 'Big D'. It had been Harry's suggestion, so they would be able to talk about him freely in public. If questioned they could claim to be talking about Harry's cousin Dudley.

Remus didn't look that happy about it though. "Big D, really? Spill it Remy!"

"It's not very good." He grimaced as he took out a few pieces of parchment and then began to read: 'Stupid fool. Soluto had been interested in magic since he was a boy. His power was discovered when he was six, young by their standards. He was captured only months after it happened by us. I was ten at the time; a newbie was well, as they called us. He took to me immediately, and we were friends before initiation. When I was eighteen (he newly fifteen) he confided in me that he was interested in magic. I told him to forget about it; there was no room for something like that here.

Stak had wild ideas about using magic. He spoke of killing them with magic; he thought we should learn it too. Soluto's head became filled with these ideas, though his were far more pure indentions. Stak got crazy one time, he picked up a wand and tried to kill its owner with it. We stopped him, and he was lucky we did not kill him for trying to use magic. I saw the gleam in Soluto's eyes when he looked at that wand. I had to protect him before he destroyed himself.'

"Based on other writings by Big D, I think Soluto is him."

"But now we have another mystery person." Ron sighed. "Why can't they ever say their own names?"

"Because that would make things simple for us" Sirius answered matter-a-factly.

"Where did you find this?"

"It was actually just a piece of paper, hidden in a book about dangerous potions in the restricted section. I was lucky I managed to find it, it was completely by chance. I have no idea where it came from."

Hermione made a thoughtful humming noise.

"Now that we have a new name, maybe we can find something about him." They had looked up Stak, but had had not success.

….OoOoO…

What's he doing? Prongs wondered as he followed Moony, who was sniffing at a bush. Padfoot glanced at James before following Moony deeper into the forest. They followed Moony around for a while, although they asked where they were going he never replied, just kept sniffing and such. Finally, James announced that they should head back because they needed enough time to get Moony back and then Sirius and him had to get to the common room.

Moony shook his head and continued on. "Close" he said. Padfoot and Prongs followed after him, wondering what they were 'close' too.

A few minutes later Moony stopped, his yellow eyes staring ahead. Prongs and Padfoot flanked him at his sides looking at what the werewolf was.

If Prongs could gasp, he would have.

Sitting on a stump was a ghost with shaggy hair, he was hunched over, so his face was not visible, but he was wearing robes.

We have to leave: now! Sirius howled, turning around and dashing away. The man looked over at the sound and Prongs got a good look at his face. He looked to be in his early thirties (at least when he had died), he looked like he might have been handsome at some point in his life, but he looked like he had lived quite a horrible life and it showed on his face.

Prongs ran as fast as his four legs could carry him. One word stood out in his mind, though he had no idea why: Debelto.