Harry Potter, the greatest student wizard at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, not to mention the most famous wizard, ducked behind the Leaky Cauldron. He had snuck out of his aunt and uncle's house and jumped on the Knight Bus to London. Now, he tapped his wand on a brick and the brick wall jumped to life. Harry blinked as the sun washed over him from inside the alley. It was was noon in Diagon Alley, and student wizards and witches were everywhere getting prepared for their next school term at their schools. Harry smiled and waved as he recognized his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. They waved back and ran to him.
"Do you have your list of books, Harry?" Ron asked.
"Yeah," Harry replied, pulling it out and looking it over. "Looks like the same old boring texts."
"Sure does," Ron agreed.
"No they're not," Hermione piped up. "They're very good pieces of literature. If they were such bad books, then why would the Hogwarts teachers want us to get them?"
"Because the teachers want to bore us to death?" Ron asked sarcastically.
"Really, Ron, stop joking around," Hermione snarled.
"I'm not joking," Ron said, egging her on. "I'd rather be killed by the Avada Kadavra curse!"
"Ok, Ron, that's enough!" Harry cried.
Ron giggled, and soon Harry joined in. Hermione just gave them both dirty looks.
"Let's head over to Gringotts," Harry said. "I need to get some Galleons for books."
The wizard's bank that was ran by goblins welcomed Harry as he went to his vault and removed a bit of the small fortune Harry's parents had left him after they'd died. Harry came out of the bank moments later to rejoin his friends. Together, they first got new robes (which Ron was able to afford now from the Triwizard winnings that Harry had given to Fred and George Weasley, but only on the condition that Ron would be given new dress robes). They finished with their dress things and then went over to Flourish and Blotts. They each bought The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 5 and many other books that were required for this year's term.
"I wonder who our new Defense Against the Arts teacher is," Ron said as they paid for their books at the counter.
"I wonder, too," Harry muttered.
He didn't know what teacher would take the job. They hadn't had a repeat teacher for that subject yet. It was said that the teaching position was cursed, but that was just a myth.
"You know that Snape'll just hate him again," Hermione added.
Ron and Harry nodded. It was well known that Snape envied the teachers of that job, and had always wanted the position, probably because of being a Death Eater himself.
They exited the bookstore with their supplies. Harry heard a small hoot and looked around. He eyed Ron. Ron only grinned and pulled Pigwidgeon out of his pocket, the small owl that Sirius had let Ron keep after taking Scabbers away, but only because Scabbers had ended up being Wormtail, the killer of Harry's parents.
"He's so cute," Hermione cooed.
Pigwidgeon hooted and flew out of Ron's pocket.
"Pig!" Ron cried. "Get back here!"
But Pig flew onto Hermione's shoulder, hooting affectionately. Ron scowled.
"Suck up," he muttered.
He snatched back Pigwidgeon and replaced him back in his pocket.
"Come on," Harry said. "We've got to get going. We need to be at Platform 9 3/4 in half an hour!"
"Wow," Hermione said. "We'd better hurry."
They ran out of Diagon Alley, but as they were doing so, Harry glimpsed a book inside Flourish and Blotts.
"How To Become An Animagi," Harry read aloud. He looked over at his other two friends, who had also stopped.
"No-" Hermione started.
"Wait here," Harry interupted, and dashed inside. Within minutes, he ran back outside, the book under his arm. He opened his trunk and threw it in, and then closed it. Hedwig hooted at the noise from the closing trunk.
"What do you need that for?" Ron asked.
"I'm just curious about it, that's all," Harry explained.
The three ran out of Diagon Alley and boarded the Knight Bus. They were whisped away to King's Cross station within minutes. They got off and ran through the barrier onto Platform 9 3/4. The Hogwarts Express was steaming, getting ready to leave. Hermione jumped on first, followed by Ron, and Harry brought up the rear. They walked into an empty compartment and collapsed into their seats.
Everyone soon fell asleep...everyone, that is, except Harry. He looked at his sleeping friends. Then, he opened his trunk and pulled out his new book on Animagi. He flipped it open and read column after column. He couldn't find what he was looking for. He was about to put it back when he noticed one of the pages was stuck together with another. He pulled out his wand, muttered a curse, and the pages seperated. He opened it all the way and uncovered what he wanted. It was the section on how to transform into an animagi. Harry read over the pages endlessly, following the steps. How he so wanted to transform into one, and he was going to do it, too. Without anyone's help. Harry was still plotting his plan when the car door opened and a figure he'd never seen stepped in. It was a girl, his age, who was pretty enough for Harry to notice. The girl looked at him.
"Hi," Harry said.
"Hi," the girl replied.
"I haven't seen you around before," Harry said. "Are you new?"
"I am a fifth year, but I've been training and living on my own since I was born," she replied. "I'm actually pretty good at magic."
"Nice to know," Harry said. "Have you been sorted?"
"Oh, yeah, but kind of oddly," she shrugged. "My brother's in Gryffindor, so that's what I got."
"Oh, who's your brother?" Harry asked.
"I'm really not sure of his name," she shrugged again. "I've heard he's a great wizard though."
Harry nodded.
"I only know a few," he admitted. "By the way, what's your name? I didn't catch it."
"Oh, I'm sorry, how rude of me," the girl blushed. "I'm Rose. Rose Potter."
Harry choked on his own saliva. His eyes grew wide.
"Are your parents..." he started.
"They were killed by Voldemort when I was born," she whispered, looking at her feet. "The only family I have left is my twin brother, and that's who I'm here to find."
"Well, I'm Harry," he smiled. "Harry Potter."
Rose looked up at him. She gaped in suprise. They laughed and hugged eachother tight. When they seperated, Harry looked at her oddly.
"I never knew I had a sibling, let alone a twin!" he exclaimed.
"Neither did I," Rose agreed. "I wrote the headmaster...Dumbledore, I think his name is, and he wrote back in a giddy attitude also, and said that I had a brother here. So, suprise to us!"
"Yeah," Harry muttered. "We have family...well, kind of. We have Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia and Dudley, but let's forget them. Our godfather, Sirius Black, is who I live with now. He's the closest I have, well, besides you."
"Awesome, I knew about Sirius from the muggle news when I lived in London for a little, I read it in the papers, but I never knew he was our godfather," Rose looked a bit uneasy. "Is he nice?"
"Nicer than you know," Harry assured her.
Rose sighed with relief.
"Well, this year is certainly going to be interesting," Harry said aloud. "After the sorceror's stone, the chamber of secrets, the tunnels and such in my third year, the triwizard tournament...this probably tops them all put together by a long shot."
Rose grinned. Her and Harry both swayed a bit as the Howgarts Express came to a halt.
Chapter 2
The Animagi Ritual
Harry and Rose deboarded the train together, along with Ron and Hermione. Harry still hadn't told either of them about who Rose was to him, and he didn't know when he would; the story would be quite shocking. It had shocked him a bit anyways. He and Rose strode ahead of all the others. Harry waved to the giant known as Hagrid, the Care for Magical Creatures teacher and the gatekeeper for Hogwarts, but most of all Harry's friend.
"Hey d'er Harry, 'ow are ya?" Hagrid asked.
"Great Hagrid, how are you?" Harry replied.
"Ok, s'pose," Hagrid said. "Oh 'ere come 'dem li'l runts."
Harry turned and saw all the first years running forth, looking around in amazement.
"FIRST YEARS COME WITH ME!" Hagrid yelled.
His voice boomed loudly and the first years had no trouble finding the giant.
"See ya later, Hagrid," Harry said.
"Bye, 'arry," Hagrid replied, waving.
Harry turned back to Rose. She looked at him oddly. He explained who Hagrid was, and Rose's fear on her face diminished.
"Oh," she blushed. "He seemed so big to me, I thought he was dangerous."
"Giants are dangerous," Harry told her. "Just not Hagrid."
Rose nodded. They trudged up through the castle doors. Harry caught a glimpse of the first years getting sorted, but he was shooed into the dining hall by Professor McGonogall. Harry said hi to the leader of his house, and she only nodded. The dining room was decorated brilliantly for the feast. Harry sat down next to Rose's left and Ron sat down on his left. Hermione sat down across from Harry.
"So, Rose," Hermione began, "how do you know Harry?"
Harry looked at Rose. She looked back at him. Rose was about to say something when the first years burst in, joining their new tables. Dumbledore went up to the head table, between Professor McGonogall and Professor Snape (who was sneering uglier than ever, no suprise) and clapped his hands, which shot out a blue light, and the room was quiet.
"Now," Dumbledore began, "this year is sure to be a pleasant one. Aside from the new first years, there are a couple of other newcomers. In the second year, Mr. Cajul Fang."
The boy stood up, and Harry could see that he looked something alike to Draco Malfoy, and noticed his being at the Slytherin table and immediately insisted on it being true to his fellow Gryffindors.
"And, after last year's...devestating incident with a fellow classmate, we had an opening in the crowded fifth year crowd. I am pleased to present to you the new student in our fifth year, Ms. Rose Potter."
There was a hush that sucked all the air out of everyone's lungs as Rose stood up, smiled shyly, and sat back down. Hermione and Ron's jaws were on their chins. Harry didn't notice. Dumbledore went on:
"Rose is, as some of you might have guessed, Harry's twin. She was home-taught the skills of magic. Let us greet our newcomers."
Harry smiled at Rose.
"Hey," he said.
Rose giggled a bit.
"On another note," Dumbledore said, "I would like you to meet your new...well no, that's not right. Your returning Defense Against the Arts teacher, Professor Lupin."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione gasped in suprise and happiness. They stood up and saw him get to his feet, smile, and wave. Harry didn't stop clapping until Dumbledore started talking again.
"As most of you might know, Professor Lupin was a werewolf, and that forced him to retire a couple years back. But, thanks to some hard research by myself, and some brilliant potion work by Professor Snape, Professor Lupin has been cured completely of his disease."
Ron leaned close to Harry.
"This is awesome!" he whispered excitedly.
"Yeah," Harry agreed. "This is sure going to be a great year."
"Well," Dumbledore began again, "with those announcements made, let the feast begin!"
Food appeared on the plates and platters, pumpkin juice filled the goblets, freshly-picked fruit landed on the table, and the students began to chatter again. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Rose ate hungrily; they hadn't eaten anything on the train when the witch with the tray had come around. Harry opened his book on animagi and turned to the page on transformation. It was a simple spell. Harry had memorized it by the end of dinner. He wanted to transform so badly; he couldn't wait any longer. He would do it tonight.
***********************************************************************************************
Harry stepped outside. The grass was damp and it squeaked a bit as he stepped on it. He removed his invisibility cloak and peered into the darkness. It was a bit past midnight, and he's managed to get outside with no problem. Harry peered up at the sky. The moon was full, which was what he had hoped for. Harry was thinking about something Sirius had told him a while back, about how it had taken him, his father, and Peter Pettigrew a long time to transform into animagi. It was obviously because they didn't have enough power to do it. Harry had the power, he knew he did, he could feel it running with his blood in his veins.
He looked up at the moon one last time.
"Here goes nothing," Harry muttered.
Facing north, Harry began the beginning of the incantation. He could feel the blood in his body becoming warm. Within minutes, an eery yellow glow had surrounded him.
Rose looked out her window into the darkness. She couldn't sleep, she was too excited to sleep. She was about to lay back down and try to sleep again when she saw something directly below her window. It was a yellow ball, and inside of it...no, could it be? It was; it was Harry! Rose through one of her black robes on over her pajamas and dashed out into the hallway.
Harry had almost completed it. He raised his wand in his hand high above him. He shouted the final word of the ritual, and collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain. There was a lightness to him all of the sudden. Harry wondered what he was being transformed into. He closed his eyes. He shut them hard. Then, he opened them, and he felt dizzy. He looked around and saw that somehow, he was seeing everything from a lower view. Harry tried to bring his hands to his face, but felt something light and fuzzy touch his face instead. He looked at what was his hand, and saw feathers. Harry spread his arms. He tried to scream but instead a cry like that of a bird came out. He jumped off the ground and started to wave his arms. He flapped them harder and he was soon flying on his own without the need of his broomstick. He flew to a window and looked at his reflection. Immediately he knew what he'd become; a falcon. Smiling to himself, he screeched again, and soared back to the ground. Suddenly, he saw a girl running toward him. It was Rose!
"Reversionus animagi!" she cried, outstretching her wand.
Harry felt a shock of sharp pain and yelped as he grew taller. Soon, he was back on his own two feet.
"That was...interesting," he murmured, smiling a bit. He looked at Rose.
"Obviously we're very close in blood," she told him. "I did the same thing in one day. Except, I wasn't a falcon, of course."
"What are you?" Harry asked.
Rose didn't reply. Instead, closed her eyes. She started to change. Soon, an animal stood before Harry, one that he himself feared; a lion. Rose changed back, and looked at him.
"Lion and falcon are the two of the most powerful animagi," she explained. "There's only another animagi that equals our power, and that is the cobra. I think you can guess who owns that form."
"Voldemort," Harry whispered.
"I knew my brother would be no fool," Rose smiled.
"How long have you been an animagi?" Harry asked.
"Since I was four," Rose told him. "An unusually easy thing to do if you have just enough power in your blood."
She raised the blond bangs of hair on her forehead. A lightning bolt was there in the same spot as Harry's. Her brown eyes glimmered as she went on.
"You see, Voldemort tried to kill us both when mum saved you," Rose explained. "She saved you when the curse hit you, and then it rebounded and hit Voldemort. What nobody knew was that a particle of that curse shot off the Dark Lord and hit me in my forehead while I was cringing in a corner. I was knocked cold for days. I woke up underneath our front door. I started to cry, and that's when I was saved. Not by Sirius, not by Hagrid, not by Dumbledore, but by Shari Belltall, a fifth grader riding her bike. She dug me out and took me home. I stayed there until I was two. By then, I had developed so quickly and understood so much that the family had begun to fear me. I left one night, and never looked back. Having learned to apperate, I did it and ended up in Hogsmeade. I talked to the owner of the Three Broomsticks, and I stayed with her during the nights for about a year, until I was strong and fluent with magic. I then went into the forest, disappearing from muggles and magic folk until now. I'm not famous because nobody knew who I was. Nobody knew that I existed, everyone thought that you were an only child. But I wouldn't be famous, because I didn't rebound the curse, but I still survived being hit by it. I'm not upset by it, I've just spent almost all my life as a lost child in the woods or a lion. It doesn't bother me, either. I'm just happy now that I have some sort of family."
Rose hugged Harry and sobbed into his shoulder. Harry patted the back of her head uneasily. She pulled away after a minute, her eyes read. She sniffed and wiped away a tear.
"Alright, I'm tired now, so since you're done with your animagi ceremony, can we please go to bed?" Rose asked.
Harry laughed.
"Yeah," he agreed. "Let's get some rest."
With that, the twins walked back into the castle and toward the Gryffindor tower, where they departed to their seperate places.
Chapter 3
Quidditch
Because of the triwizard tournament during Harry's fourth year, he hadn't played quidditch in a while. Oliver Wood has left Hogwarts, and had left the duty of captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team to Harry. Short a player, he strode out onto the practice field at six a.m, a reasonably normal hour for a quidditch practice. Wood had risen them just as early to give a speech, but he planned on practicing, since none of them had played a match in over a year. Before they took off, Harry called them all together.
"Since Wood's gone," he began, "we're short a keeper. I've found just the person for the job."
He motioned someone forward; it was Rose.
"Hey everyone," she greeted.
The others smiled a waved back.
"She exceptionally well on the broom and has very good hand and eye coordination. She'll make a fine keeper," he stated proudly.
"Well, then let's not waste anymore time, Potter," Fred Weasly said. "Let's take to the air!"
The seven players mounted their brooms and took off. Rose had a Nimbus Two-Thousand, a pretty good broom. It was enough for any keeper to have. Harry shot through the air faster then them all on his Firebolt, swooshing around, the wind whipping his face. It felt good to be back in the air after so long, and he was a truly gifted flyer, not to mention an excellent seeker. Harry looked down and wasn't suprised to see the Slytherin team walk out onto the field, with Malfoy as the new captain in the lead. Harry landed and faced him.
"It's our time, Draco," Harry told him. "Dumbledore himself told us to use the field at this time, and not even Professor Snape's permission will get you past us."
Malfoy sneered. Clearly, he had been expecting this.
"We haven't come to get past you, Potter," he said simply. "We came here to take the field from you, with force if necessary."
"Over my dead body," Harry growled.
"That can be arranged," Malfoy grinned.
Rose landed next to Harry.
"What's your problem, greasehead?" he asked Malfoy. "Do you not understand english or are you just dumb?"
Malfoy's face went a little red.
"Well at least I'm not related to Potter here," Draco sneered.
"Get off our field or we'll have you thrown off," Rose stated. "Go back to your tower-" then, Rose threw in the ultimate bait, something that Harry never would have suspected she'd say: "-Mudblood."
Malfoy's eyes narrowed, his face burning in anger. He was a pureblood, and had loved to call anybody who listened mudblood, but had never been called it himself. He whipped out his wand and pointed it at Rose.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry cried, his wand in his hand.
Draco's wand flew out of his hand. Rose caught it and pointed it right back at Malfoy. He cringed in fear. Then, he stood up straight again, a twisted grin on his face.
"You could never get any magic out of my wand, Potter," he told her.
Rose considered this. She tossed the wand to Harry who caught it and pocketed it. Rose pulled out her own wand.
"But I'm sure I could get some magic out of mine," she grinned.
Malfoy cringed a bit. He looked at Harry. Harry pulled out Malfoy's wand and tossed it to him.
"Get out of here," he said.
Malfoy nodded, and turned and dashed away with the rest of the Slytherins. Fred and George landed, laughing, high-fiving Harry and Rose.
"That was awesome!" George exclaimed.
"Finally, those scum got what they were in for," Fred laughed.
Harry felt a bit worn. He set his broom down. He yawned and muttered a short incantation. He felt himself shrink. He took to the air and circled his fellow teamates, who laughed, not knowing it was Harry. Rose came around and dropped his broom in mid-air. Harry, thinking of his broom being crushed, perched himself onto the handle and transformed back, guiding the broom up just in time from being shattered into a million splinters. Rose laughed at her brother, and circled around to land with the rest of the Gryffindor team. In high spirits, they set off to their rooms to get their books for the day. Ron and Hermione met Harry and Rose in the hall, Ron with Harry's books and Hermione with Rose's. Thanking them, Rose and Harry walked with them, Ron chattering to Harry about the next quidditch world cup. The one they'd attended had been pretty eventfull itself. They sat down at their tables and started to eat from the assortment of food. Harry was on his fifth pancake when Hermione sighed. Harry looked up.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
The schedules had been laid out next to each student. Hermione had Potions with Snape first, as did Ron and Harry. Rose, mysteriously, was only in Harry's Care for Magical Creatures class and Potions, and that was because Hagrid had made a request for them to be together himself as had Snape for some odd reason.
"I'm with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs most of the time," she told them, reading her shedule. "Oh no."
Ron looked up from his.
"What?" he asked.
"I have Potions with the Slytherins," she whispered.
"So do we," Hermione said. "Right after breakfast. Don't worry, we usually do have Potions with them. They're bad, but it's not as bad as you would think."
Rose nodded and took a swig of her pumpkin juice. She turned around and saw Malfoy glaring at her. Rose glared back, and then turned around giggling.
"What?" Harry asked.
She looked at him, a grin on her face.
"I don't think that Malfoy character likes me very much," she said.
"That's alright," Harry assured her. "Nobody likes him very much. He's just wizard trash, leave him to his dumb life."
Rose twisted her face in a grimace; she didn't like to hear Harry talk like this, it reminded her too much of the dark arts, those that had robbed her and Harry of their parents. She shook out of her thoughts. Standing up, she trudged out of the dining hall. Harry looked after her. He turned back to his friends.
"I'll see you guys later," he said.
They nodded and he ran after Rose. He ran all over, finally going outside to find her. He didn't see her anywhere. He was about to go back inside when he heard a growl. Harry spun around and saw a lion dashing off into the woods. Behind her was another animal, also traveling at a fast rate, that not of capability. Harry quinted closer. Then he saw what it was; a cobra. Harry chanted the spell and spread his wings and took to the air.
Chapter 4
First Encounter
Rose weaved in and out of the trees, chasing after the too quick cobra. Harry flew high above the trees, his eyesight so good that he could see the tiny pattern of scales on the back of the cobra's hood. Suddenly, the cobra stopped and turned around. It transformed and it was who Harry had always feared: Voldemort. The Dark Lord stood in his black robes, his pale skin not showing sign of veins or blood within, since he was already mostly dead. Rose transformed back into her human form.
"Rose Potter," Voldemort hissed. "I knew I'd see you again. How's your life been?"
"Peachy keen," Rose smiled. "Very good since you left."
Voldemort frowned.
"That's no way to treat dear old Voldemort," he growled. "Crucio!"
Rose dropped to the ground, writhing in pain from the unforgivable curse. Harry couldn't stand to see his twin sister in pain anymore. He dove sharply down, driving his beak far into the back of Voldemort's neck. Howling in pain, the Dark Lord pulled Harry out of his neck and threw him beside Rose. Harry transformed back, shaking himself out of his dizzyness. He brought out his wand and held it ready.
"Is young Harry Potter going to try and defeat me again?" Voldemort asked. "I don't think you should. We wouldn't want you to end up like your poor parents now, would we?"
Harry roared in anger.
"Crucio! Crucio! Crucio! Crucio!" Harry screamed, tears pouring down his face.
These curses only seemed to tickle Voldemort. Realizing it was not working, Harry ran up and kicked Voldemort's wand away. Rose stopped shaking and lay on the ground, unconcious. Harry swung his right fist which was caught easily by Voldemort. Harry spat in his face. The man who had once been Tom Riddle wiped the saliva from his face and grinned horribly.
"And now, Potter dies!" Voldemort announced. He plucked Harry's wand out of his hand and put the tip of it to his forehead.
"Avada Kadavra!" came a cry.
The green light hit Voldemort in the left side of his body, and although it had no death effect on him, it had made his whole left side numb. He staggered back, suprised, dropping Harry's wand. Voldemort shrank back into a snake and slithered away, half his body not moving at all. Harry sighed, and turned around to see the savior. Draco Malfoy stood before him, wand still in his hand.
"Don't expect anymore help, Potter," Draco sneered. He took a look at Rose. He picked her up and carried her back into the castle to the hospital wing.
Why was Draco being nice? Harry thought. He hadn't been nice since Rose had come here...
The thought came and hit Harry hard. He shook it away, refusing to believe it. It wasn't possible...was it? Did Malfoy like Rose?
No, Harry thought. That's silly. Of course he doesn't.
He nodded and turned around.
"Accio wand!" he said.
His wand flew out of the shadowed grass and into his hand. He pocketed it and transformed in the falcon and flew back towards the castle.
Rose recovered within a couple of days, but Harry kept a close eye out for Voldemort and kept his other eye on Draco. The Slytherin had visited often to the wing to see Rose, and Harry didn't think this was such a good thing at all. Rose had finally awoken one of the time Malfoy was in the room, and Rose had glared at him.
"It's ok!" Harry called from the doorway just as Rose was about to draw her wand which was still concealed in her robe's pocket. "He saved us."
Rose eyed the villain, nodded, and Draco walked out of the room. As soon as he was gone, Rose launched into a tirade:
"What's he doing here?" "How many times has he been here?" "How long have I been out?" "Is Voldemort still alive?"
Harry answered all her questions in a monotonous tone, for he had already been forced to answer most of the questions to Dumbledore and Professor McGonogall. Fred and George walked in just in time, and Harry said bye to Rose and walked out with his fellow quidditch teamates.
"I hope she gets better," Harry murmured.
"She will, Potts, don't you worry," Fred assured him.
George slapped him on the back.
"Yeah, she'll be fine," he agreed.
Harry nodded and walked with them to the dining hall where dinner was being served. Classes had been canceled due to Voldemort's presence in the Hogwarts.
"Why didn't he just disapperate out of the fight once he'd been hit with the curse?" Neville asked.
"Because you can't disapperate or apperate in the Hogwarts," Dean stated. "It's common knowledge."
"Well, then I wouldn't know it," Neville muttered, sighing silently.
Harry shook his head.
"This is all horrible," Harry said. "We have to do something in order to get Voldemort out of the Hogwarts."
A shiver went around the Gryffindor table as they heard the dreaded name of the Dark Lord.
"I agree," Ron said.
"Me too," Hermione agreed...for once.
Harry smiled at his friends. Another adventure for the group? Rose wouldn't be with them, since she was to be isolated in the hospital wing for another couple of days due to Madam Pomfrey's fretting.
"Tonight?" Harry asked.
Ron and Hermione nodded.
"I'll bring the invisibility cloak and the Marauder's Map," Harry told them. "You guys meet me in the Great Hall at midnight. It's time we faced the enemy."
Chapter 5
Second Encounter
At midnight, Harry met Ron and Hermione. He gave Ron the Marauder's Map, since his brothers had never let him use it. Ron looked on the map that showed all of Hogwarts.
"There's Hagrid in his hut," Ron muttered. "There's us...Rose...AHA! There he is!"
He pointed to a black dot that read 'Riddle' next to it.
"But wait," Harry said. "That can't be right. It says that he's in Gryffindor tower. In the commons room!"
They threw the cloak over themselves and ran back to their tower. There, they spotted the Dark Lord sitting in one of the armchairs by the fire. A face was in the fire, talking to him.
"...will be taken care of, my Lord," the person was saying. "It will be most urgent. You will have him alive tomorrow."
"Excellent," Voldemort hissed.
"My Lord, don't you think it'll be just a bit difficult to capture Ms. Granger?" the voice asked.
Hermione went blue.
"What?" Voldemort raged. "Difficult? Just have it done! Young Potter will follow the trail to her and perish...both of the young Potters."
"It is your will, my Lord," the voice said.
"Be gone, Lucius, I must be getting Mr. Weasley now," Voldemort said.
Ron went white. Harry gasped.
The heard Mr. Malfoy snicker.
"Be sure to give that young Ron a hard time, my Lord," he said. "His father is an extreme displeasure to us."
"I'm sure his is, Lucius," Voldemort nodded. "Be gone now."
Lucius Malfoy's face flickered and disappeared in the fire. Voldemort stood up. Harry pointed to the armchair and the three of them shuffled silently along the floor towards it. Silent, that is, until they hit the footrest.
"OW!" they all cried.
They stumbled over it, the invisibility cloak whipping off them. Voldemort whirled around. He cackled at the sight.
"Stupid foolish children," Voldemort muttered.
He raised his wand; he'd recovered it later after the first encounter, but Harry was the quicker dueler. He had his out in a flash.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry cried.
Voldemort's wand flew out of his hand, and Harry caught it. He pointed both the wands at the killer of his parents.
"We both know what both these wands could do to you if shot at the same time," Harry said coldly.
Voldemort looked wickedly at him.
"What are you going to do, Potter?" Voldemort asked. "Kill me? I can't die!"
"You can now," Harry replied. "Avada Kadavra!"
Both wands shot out the green light and the rushing sound was heard. Voldemort looked dumbfounded. He dove to the side, and the beams barely missed him. Voldemort got to his feet and grabbed Ron by the throat.
"My wand, Harry," Voldemort said. "My wand, or your friend dies."
Harry looked him over. Then he tossed Voldemort's wand back to him.
"Thank you," Voldemort grinned. Then he spoke in Parseltounge so that only Harry could hear him. "When your friend is dead, everyone will blame you."
He dashed out of the room, Ron over his shoulder, and out of the castle. Harry and Hermione looked at eachother, scared and dumbfounded; they're best friend had been kidnapped by the Dark Lord.
Harry found Sirius the next day at the school.
"Sirius!" he cried, running to his godfather.
"I know, I heard," Sirius nodded. "I'm sorry, Harry."
"Can you help me?" Harry asked frantically. "We need to find him."
Sirius looked helpless. He looked at Harry very seriously and lowered his voice.
"We think he's already gone, Harry."
Harry's left eye blurred, then the right. He started crying harder than he'd ever in his life. He hugged Sirius tightly, and Black shed a tear himself. Harry backed up a little.
"Why would they kill him?" Harry asked, sniffing and brushing away tears.
"He'd be esential for the ceremony that Voldemort's planning to do," Sirius said.
"What ceremony?" Harry asked.
Sirius shook his head.
"It's best that you not know. I'll talk to you later."
Then he was gone. Harry started crying again. Hermione came to his side.
"It's ok, Harry," she said.
Harry looked up and saw that her eyes were red too from crying.
"We need to get him back," Harry said.
"How, Harry?" Hermione asked. "We're fifth years! We can't do anything!"
"Yes we can," Harry nodded. "I'm an animigus and I can perform Avada Kadavra. Rose can, too!"
"Rose is too weak!" Hermione exclaimed.
They looked over and saw her limping toward them.
"Hey you guys," she said softly.
"Hey," Hermione said.
Harry looked over Rose and saw how bad of shape she was in.
"Are you in good health, Rose?" he asked.
"I'll be fully healed and energetic in four days," Rose said, smiling.
"Then we'll do it then," Harry said.
Rose looked confused. Hermione was about to say something, but stopped.
"In four days we go after Ron and defeat Voldemort," Harry stated, his firebolt on his head glowing now. "And nobody is going to stop us."
Chapter 6
The Twins' Secret
Harry and Hermione waited the four days through fears and emotions that hurt badly, but they knew they needed Rose in order to defeat Voldemort.
When Rose was well, they waited until midnight and went off into the woods. Harry glanced at the Maurader's Map. Voldemort and Ron were nowher
e to be found. Then, a small object caught Harry's eye. A bubble was next to it that read: Portkey. Harry pointed at it and Rose and Hermione ran with him to the area. They found the broken broom that was a portkey. They held it and felt the sensation as they flew through space. Finally, they landed in a heap. Harry lept to his feet, alert. Good thing, too. As he got up, a green beam hit the ground where he had jumped from.
"Mr. Potter," Voldemort sighed. "Why must you play games. You know I'm going to get you eventually."
Harry grinned. Rose and Hermione were on their feet, wands drawn like Harry. Rose walked forward to do a spell, and Voldemort grabbed her by the throat and brought her close, holding his wand to her head. Harry looked terrified.
"So what are you going to do now, Potter?" Voldemort asked. "Save your sister, or save yourself?"
Harry looked at Rose, who's blond hair fell across her eyes, which were red from tears that she had been crying in the past moments. Harry stepped forward.
"Make it quick," he said.
Voldemort threw Rose away, sneering.
"Very good, Potter," Voldemort snickered. "Very good."
He raised his wand.
"Avada Kadavra!" he cried.
Harry heard the rushing sound and felt the spell hit him. He fell to the ground, dazed, waiting to be released from life. But, he remained concious. A strange yellow glow surrounded his body. He got to his feet. Voldemort looked absolutely scared out of his mind.
"You're immortal!" he stammered.
Rose joined Harry at his side.
"And you!" Voldemort exclaimed.
Harry and Rose raised their wands.
"Avada Kadavra!" the both cried.
The green beams struck Voldemort in the chest, and he was blasted into oblivion. Harry and Rose hugged eachother, both crying. They had finally beaten the murderer of their parents. Hermione smiled a little. Then, she noticed a small box lying next to Voldemort. She tapped it with her wand.
"Reveal yourself," she commanded.
The box expanded and grew and there was Ron. He shook his head and stood up.
"What happened?" he asked, dazed. "Where am I?"
"Nothing happened," Harry said, tears still in the corners of his eyes. "And you're safe. We're all safe."
Rose nodded. She walked with the rest of them back to the portkey which had been thrown to the side when Harry had jumped. They all held on to it, felt the rushing feeling of a hook pulling at their navels. They landed in a heap in front of the castle. Ron was even more confused. Hermione just laughed. Rose walked back with Hermione and Ron back into the school. Harry remained behind. He felt like going back. He picked up the portkey and went back to the area where Voldemort was. Harry needed to look around. He felt that something was there that he needed. He transformed into a falcon and flew high above the trees that surrounded him. He saw far away a large building. He flew to it and landed in the front where a large wooden door was. He cautiously opened it and walked into a huge warehouse. There were names on boxes all over the room. Harry realized what they were: personal items of the people that Voldemort had killed. Harry was about to leave when he saw something that caught his eye. There, in the corner, was a box. Written on it in black ink were the words 'Potter, Lily and James'. Harry ran over to it. He opened the box carefully. He found first a small but long wooden box. He opened it and found his mother's and father's wands. He felt a tear drip down his face. He closed the box and tucked it inside his robes. There were all sorts of trinkets in the box: junk that his father had made, mirrors and perfumes of his mother, everything that was left of his parents. He heard a small muffled noise. He found a tiny white box like the one Ron had been in. He put it on the floor. He tapped it with his wand.
"Reveal yourself," Harry commanded.
The box expanded. It stopped and Harry was shocked to see a house elf.
"Hello," the elf said. "Who are you?"
"I'm Harry," Harry replied.
The elf went white.
"Forgive me, sir," he said, bowing. "I have been in that cube for about fifteen years!"
"Nothing to be ashamed of," Harry assured him. "What is your name and what relation do you have to my parents?"
"I am Rabrim, your parent's house elf," the elf replied. "Where are my masters, might I ask?"
"They were murdered the night that you were locked away in that cube," Harry said sadly.
Rabrim went white.
"Oh my!" he cried. "I am so sorry, Harry. Well, it looks like I'll be serving you now!"
"There's no need," Harry said. "I'd like for you to be my friend and yeah, it's ok if you hang out with me, but I don't want you to be a servant to me."
"Really?" Rabrim asked. "Well, I am for that purpose whenever you need me to be, Mr. Potter."
"Just call me Harry," Harry told him.
"Sorry, Harry," Rabrim corrected automatically.
Harry closed the box of his parent's things.
"Accio Firebolt!" he cried, waving his wand.
Within a minute, his broom shot through the door. He grabbed it and put the box and Rabrim on it, then hopped on himself.
"Are you a good flyer, Harry?" Rabrim asked, looking nervous.
"I'll just say i'm about as good as my father was," Harry said, smiling at the thought of his father being proud of his flying.
Rabrim beamed.
"Oh yes," he sighed. "James was always fond of flying. I'd expect his son to do no different. But...wasn't there another of you?"
"Oh, yes, Rose," Harry said. "She's at the castle. You'll see her."
"The Hogwarts?" Rabrim asked.
"Yeah," Harry replied.
Rabrim looked ecstatic.
"Great!" he cried. "I haven't been there in ages. I used to work in the kitchens."
"Don't mention that to Hermione," Harry muttered.
"What?" Rabrim asked.
"Nothing," Harry said.
He flew high into the air and flew many miles until he saw the castle. The portkey hadn't taken him so far afterall. He landed in front of the school. Rose, Ron, and Hermione came out.
"What's going on?" Rose asked.
Harry looked at Rabrim and back to his twin sister.
"Let's go inside," he said. "I'll explain there."
"Do you have your list of books, Harry?" Ron asked.
"Yeah," Harry replied, pulling it out and looking it over. "Looks like the same old boring texts."
"Sure does," Ron agreed.
"No they're not," Hermione piped up. "They're very good pieces of literature. If they were such bad books, then why would the Hogwarts teachers want us to get them?"
"Because the teachers want to bore us to death?" Ron asked sarcastically.
"Really, Ron, stop joking around," Hermione snarled.
"I'm not joking," Ron said, egging her on. "I'd rather be killed by the Avada Kadavra curse!"
"Ok, Ron, that's enough!" Harry cried.
Ron giggled, and soon Harry joined in. Hermione just gave them both dirty looks.
"Let's head over to Gringotts," Harry said. "I need to get some Galleons for books."
The wizard's bank that was ran by goblins welcomed Harry as he went to his vault and removed a bit of the small fortune Harry's parents had left him after they'd died. Harry came out of the bank moments later to rejoin his friends. Together, they first got new robes (which Ron was able to afford now from the Triwizard winnings that Harry had given to Fred and George Weasley, but only on the condition that Ron would be given new dress robes). They finished with their dress things and then went over to Flourish and Blotts. They each bought The Standard Book of Spells: Grade 5 and many other books that were required for this year's term.
"I wonder who our new Defense Against the Arts teacher is," Ron said as they paid for their books at the counter.
"I wonder, too," Harry muttered.
He didn't know what teacher would take the job. They hadn't had a repeat teacher for that subject yet. It was said that the teaching position was cursed, but that was just a myth.
"You know that Snape'll just hate him again," Hermione added.
Ron and Harry nodded. It was well known that Snape envied the teachers of that job, and had always wanted the position, probably because of being a Death Eater himself.
They exited the bookstore with their supplies. Harry heard a small hoot and looked around. He eyed Ron. Ron only grinned and pulled Pigwidgeon out of his pocket, the small owl that Sirius had let Ron keep after taking Scabbers away, but only because Scabbers had ended up being Wormtail, the killer of Harry's parents.
"He's so cute," Hermione cooed.
Pigwidgeon hooted and flew out of Ron's pocket.
"Pig!" Ron cried. "Get back here!"
But Pig flew onto Hermione's shoulder, hooting affectionately. Ron scowled.
"Suck up," he muttered.
He snatched back Pigwidgeon and replaced him back in his pocket.
"Come on," Harry said. "We've got to get going. We need to be at Platform 9 3/4 in half an hour!"
"Wow," Hermione said. "We'd better hurry."
They ran out of Diagon Alley, but as they were doing so, Harry glimpsed a book inside Flourish and Blotts.
"How To Become An Animagi," Harry read aloud. He looked over at his other two friends, who had also stopped.
"No-" Hermione started.
"Wait here," Harry interupted, and dashed inside. Within minutes, he ran back outside, the book under his arm. He opened his trunk and threw it in, and then closed it. Hedwig hooted at the noise from the closing trunk.
"What do you need that for?" Ron asked.
"I'm just curious about it, that's all," Harry explained.
The three ran out of Diagon Alley and boarded the Knight Bus. They were whisped away to King's Cross station within minutes. They got off and ran through the barrier onto Platform 9 3/4. The Hogwarts Express was steaming, getting ready to leave. Hermione jumped on first, followed by Ron, and Harry brought up the rear. They walked into an empty compartment and collapsed into their seats.
Everyone soon fell asleep...everyone, that is, except Harry. He looked at his sleeping friends. Then, he opened his trunk and pulled out his new book on Animagi. He flipped it open and read column after column. He couldn't find what he was looking for. He was about to put it back when he noticed one of the pages was stuck together with another. He pulled out his wand, muttered a curse, and the pages seperated. He opened it all the way and uncovered what he wanted. It was the section on how to transform into an animagi. Harry read over the pages endlessly, following the steps. How he so wanted to transform into one, and he was going to do it, too. Without anyone's help. Harry was still plotting his plan when the car door opened and a figure he'd never seen stepped in. It was a girl, his age, who was pretty enough for Harry to notice. The girl looked at him.
"Hi," Harry said.
"Hi," the girl replied.
"I haven't seen you around before," Harry said. "Are you new?"
"I am a fifth year, but I've been training and living on my own since I was born," she replied. "I'm actually pretty good at magic."
"Nice to know," Harry said. "Have you been sorted?"
"Oh, yeah, but kind of oddly," she shrugged. "My brother's in Gryffindor, so that's what I got."
"Oh, who's your brother?" Harry asked.
"I'm really not sure of his name," she shrugged again. "I've heard he's a great wizard though."
Harry nodded.
"I only know a few," he admitted. "By the way, what's your name? I didn't catch it."
"Oh, I'm sorry, how rude of me," the girl blushed. "I'm Rose. Rose Potter."
Harry choked on his own saliva. His eyes grew wide.
"Are your parents..." he started.
"They were killed by Voldemort when I was born," she whispered, looking at her feet. "The only family I have left is my twin brother, and that's who I'm here to find."
"Well, I'm Harry," he smiled. "Harry Potter."
Rose looked up at him. She gaped in suprise. They laughed and hugged eachother tight. When they seperated, Harry looked at her oddly.
"I never knew I had a sibling, let alone a twin!" he exclaimed.
"Neither did I," Rose agreed. "I wrote the headmaster...Dumbledore, I think his name is, and he wrote back in a giddy attitude also, and said that I had a brother here. So, suprise to us!"
"Yeah," Harry muttered. "We have family...well, kind of. We have Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia and Dudley, but let's forget them. Our godfather, Sirius Black, is who I live with now. He's the closest I have, well, besides you."
"Awesome, I knew about Sirius from the muggle news when I lived in London for a little, I read it in the papers, but I never knew he was our godfather," Rose looked a bit uneasy. "Is he nice?"
"Nicer than you know," Harry assured her.
Rose sighed with relief.
"Well, this year is certainly going to be interesting," Harry said aloud. "After the sorceror's stone, the chamber of secrets, the tunnels and such in my third year, the triwizard tournament...this probably tops them all put together by a long shot."
Rose grinned. Her and Harry both swayed a bit as the Howgarts Express came to a halt.
Chapter 2
The Animagi Ritual
Harry and Rose deboarded the train together, along with Ron and Hermione. Harry still hadn't told either of them about who Rose was to him, and he didn't know when he would; the story would be quite shocking. It had shocked him a bit anyways. He and Rose strode ahead of all the others. Harry waved to the giant known as Hagrid, the Care for Magical Creatures teacher and the gatekeeper for Hogwarts, but most of all Harry's friend.
"Hey d'er Harry, 'ow are ya?" Hagrid asked.
"Great Hagrid, how are you?" Harry replied.
"Ok, s'pose," Hagrid said. "Oh 'ere come 'dem li'l runts."
Harry turned and saw all the first years running forth, looking around in amazement.
"FIRST YEARS COME WITH ME!" Hagrid yelled.
His voice boomed loudly and the first years had no trouble finding the giant.
"See ya later, Hagrid," Harry said.
"Bye, 'arry," Hagrid replied, waving.
Harry turned back to Rose. She looked at him oddly. He explained who Hagrid was, and Rose's fear on her face diminished.
"Oh," she blushed. "He seemed so big to me, I thought he was dangerous."
"Giants are dangerous," Harry told her. "Just not Hagrid."
Rose nodded. They trudged up through the castle doors. Harry caught a glimpse of the first years getting sorted, but he was shooed into the dining hall by Professor McGonogall. Harry said hi to the leader of his house, and she only nodded. The dining room was decorated brilliantly for the feast. Harry sat down next to Rose's left and Ron sat down on his left. Hermione sat down across from Harry.
"So, Rose," Hermione began, "how do you know Harry?"
Harry looked at Rose. She looked back at him. Rose was about to say something when the first years burst in, joining their new tables. Dumbledore went up to the head table, between Professor McGonogall and Professor Snape (who was sneering uglier than ever, no suprise) and clapped his hands, which shot out a blue light, and the room was quiet.
"Now," Dumbledore began, "this year is sure to be a pleasant one. Aside from the new first years, there are a couple of other newcomers. In the second year, Mr. Cajul Fang."
The boy stood up, and Harry could see that he looked something alike to Draco Malfoy, and noticed his being at the Slytherin table and immediately insisted on it being true to his fellow Gryffindors.
"And, after last year's...devestating incident with a fellow classmate, we had an opening in the crowded fifth year crowd. I am pleased to present to you the new student in our fifth year, Ms. Rose Potter."
There was a hush that sucked all the air out of everyone's lungs as Rose stood up, smiled shyly, and sat back down. Hermione and Ron's jaws were on their chins. Harry didn't notice. Dumbledore went on:
"Rose is, as some of you might have guessed, Harry's twin. She was home-taught the skills of magic. Let us greet our newcomers."
Harry smiled at Rose.
"Hey," he said.
Rose giggled a bit.
"On another note," Dumbledore said, "I would like you to meet your new...well no, that's not right. Your returning Defense Against the Arts teacher, Professor Lupin."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione gasped in suprise and happiness. They stood up and saw him get to his feet, smile, and wave. Harry didn't stop clapping until Dumbledore started talking again.
"As most of you might know, Professor Lupin was a werewolf, and that forced him to retire a couple years back. But, thanks to some hard research by myself, and some brilliant potion work by Professor Snape, Professor Lupin has been cured completely of his disease."
Ron leaned close to Harry.
"This is awesome!" he whispered excitedly.
"Yeah," Harry agreed. "This is sure going to be a great year."
"Well," Dumbledore began again, "with those announcements made, let the feast begin!"
Food appeared on the plates and platters, pumpkin juice filled the goblets, freshly-picked fruit landed on the table, and the students began to chatter again. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Rose ate hungrily; they hadn't eaten anything on the train when the witch with the tray had come around. Harry opened his book on animagi and turned to the page on transformation. It was a simple spell. Harry had memorized it by the end of dinner. He wanted to transform so badly; he couldn't wait any longer. He would do it tonight.
***********************************************************************************************
Harry stepped outside. The grass was damp and it squeaked a bit as he stepped on it. He removed his invisibility cloak and peered into the darkness. It was a bit past midnight, and he's managed to get outside with no problem. Harry peered up at the sky. The moon was full, which was what he had hoped for. Harry was thinking about something Sirius had told him a while back, about how it had taken him, his father, and Peter Pettigrew a long time to transform into animagi. It was obviously because they didn't have enough power to do it. Harry had the power, he knew he did, he could feel it running with his blood in his veins.
He looked up at the moon one last time.
"Here goes nothing," Harry muttered.
Facing north, Harry began the beginning of the incantation. He could feel the blood in his body becoming warm. Within minutes, an eery yellow glow had surrounded him.
Rose looked out her window into the darkness. She couldn't sleep, she was too excited to sleep. She was about to lay back down and try to sleep again when she saw something directly below her window. It was a yellow ball, and inside of it...no, could it be? It was; it was Harry! Rose through one of her black robes on over her pajamas and dashed out into the hallway.
Harry had almost completed it. He raised his wand in his hand high above him. He shouted the final word of the ritual, and collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain. There was a lightness to him all of the sudden. Harry wondered what he was being transformed into. He closed his eyes. He shut them hard. Then, he opened them, and he felt dizzy. He looked around and saw that somehow, he was seeing everything from a lower view. Harry tried to bring his hands to his face, but felt something light and fuzzy touch his face instead. He looked at what was his hand, and saw feathers. Harry spread his arms. He tried to scream but instead a cry like that of a bird came out. He jumped off the ground and started to wave his arms. He flapped them harder and he was soon flying on his own without the need of his broomstick. He flew to a window and looked at his reflection. Immediately he knew what he'd become; a falcon. Smiling to himself, he screeched again, and soared back to the ground. Suddenly, he saw a girl running toward him. It was Rose!
"Reversionus animagi!" she cried, outstretching her wand.
Harry felt a shock of sharp pain and yelped as he grew taller. Soon, he was back on his own two feet.
"That was...interesting," he murmured, smiling a bit. He looked at Rose.
"Obviously we're very close in blood," she told him. "I did the same thing in one day. Except, I wasn't a falcon, of course."
"What are you?" Harry asked.
Rose didn't reply. Instead, closed her eyes. She started to change. Soon, an animal stood before Harry, one that he himself feared; a lion. Rose changed back, and looked at him.
"Lion and falcon are the two of the most powerful animagi," she explained. "There's only another animagi that equals our power, and that is the cobra. I think you can guess who owns that form."
"Voldemort," Harry whispered.
"I knew my brother would be no fool," Rose smiled.
"How long have you been an animagi?" Harry asked.
"Since I was four," Rose told him. "An unusually easy thing to do if you have just enough power in your blood."
She raised the blond bangs of hair on her forehead. A lightning bolt was there in the same spot as Harry's. Her brown eyes glimmered as she went on.
"You see, Voldemort tried to kill us both when mum saved you," Rose explained. "She saved you when the curse hit you, and then it rebounded and hit Voldemort. What nobody knew was that a particle of that curse shot off the Dark Lord and hit me in my forehead while I was cringing in a corner. I was knocked cold for days. I woke up underneath our front door. I started to cry, and that's when I was saved. Not by Sirius, not by Hagrid, not by Dumbledore, but by Shari Belltall, a fifth grader riding her bike. She dug me out and took me home. I stayed there until I was two. By then, I had developed so quickly and understood so much that the family had begun to fear me. I left one night, and never looked back. Having learned to apperate, I did it and ended up in Hogsmeade. I talked to the owner of the Three Broomsticks, and I stayed with her during the nights for about a year, until I was strong and fluent with magic. I then went into the forest, disappearing from muggles and magic folk until now. I'm not famous because nobody knew who I was. Nobody knew that I existed, everyone thought that you were an only child. But I wouldn't be famous, because I didn't rebound the curse, but I still survived being hit by it. I'm not upset by it, I've just spent almost all my life as a lost child in the woods or a lion. It doesn't bother me, either. I'm just happy now that I have some sort of family."
Rose hugged Harry and sobbed into his shoulder. Harry patted the back of her head uneasily. She pulled away after a minute, her eyes read. She sniffed and wiped away a tear.
"Alright, I'm tired now, so since you're done with your animagi ceremony, can we please go to bed?" Rose asked.
Harry laughed.
"Yeah," he agreed. "Let's get some rest."
With that, the twins walked back into the castle and toward the Gryffindor tower, where they departed to their seperate places.
Chapter 3
Quidditch
Because of the triwizard tournament during Harry's fourth year, he hadn't played quidditch in a while. Oliver Wood has left Hogwarts, and had left the duty of captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team to Harry. Short a player, he strode out onto the practice field at six a.m, a reasonably normal hour for a quidditch practice. Wood had risen them just as early to give a speech, but he planned on practicing, since none of them had played a match in over a year. Before they took off, Harry called them all together.
"Since Wood's gone," he began, "we're short a keeper. I've found just the person for the job."
He motioned someone forward; it was Rose.
"Hey everyone," she greeted.
The others smiled a waved back.
"She exceptionally well on the broom and has very good hand and eye coordination. She'll make a fine keeper," he stated proudly.
"Well, then let's not waste anymore time, Potter," Fred Weasly said. "Let's take to the air!"
The seven players mounted their brooms and took off. Rose had a Nimbus Two-Thousand, a pretty good broom. It was enough for any keeper to have. Harry shot through the air faster then them all on his Firebolt, swooshing around, the wind whipping his face. It felt good to be back in the air after so long, and he was a truly gifted flyer, not to mention an excellent seeker. Harry looked down and wasn't suprised to see the Slytherin team walk out onto the field, with Malfoy as the new captain in the lead. Harry landed and faced him.
"It's our time, Draco," Harry told him. "Dumbledore himself told us to use the field at this time, and not even Professor Snape's permission will get you past us."
Malfoy sneered. Clearly, he had been expecting this.
"We haven't come to get past you, Potter," he said simply. "We came here to take the field from you, with force if necessary."
"Over my dead body," Harry growled.
"That can be arranged," Malfoy grinned.
Rose landed next to Harry.
"What's your problem, greasehead?" he asked Malfoy. "Do you not understand english or are you just dumb?"
Malfoy's face went a little red.
"Well at least I'm not related to Potter here," Draco sneered.
"Get off our field or we'll have you thrown off," Rose stated. "Go back to your tower-" then, Rose threw in the ultimate bait, something that Harry never would have suspected she'd say: "-Mudblood."
Malfoy's eyes narrowed, his face burning in anger. He was a pureblood, and had loved to call anybody who listened mudblood, but had never been called it himself. He whipped out his wand and pointed it at Rose.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry cried, his wand in his hand.
Draco's wand flew out of his hand. Rose caught it and pointed it right back at Malfoy. He cringed in fear. Then, he stood up straight again, a twisted grin on his face.
"You could never get any magic out of my wand, Potter," he told her.
Rose considered this. She tossed the wand to Harry who caught it and pocketed it. Rose pulled out her own wand.
"But I'm sure I could get some magic out of mine," she grinned.
Malfoy cringed a bit. He looked at Harry. Harry pulled out Malfoy's wand and tossed it to him.
"Get out of here," he said.
Malfoy nodded, and turned and dashed away with the rest of the Slytherins. Fred and George landed, laughing, high-fiving Harry and Rose.
"That was awesome!" George exclaimed.
"Finally, those scum got what they were in for," Fred laughed.
Harry felt a bit worn. He set his broom down. He yawned and muttered a short incantation. He felt himself shrink. He took to the air and circled his fellow teamates, who laughed, not knowing it was Harry. Rose came around and dropped his broom in mid-air. Harry, thinking of his broom being crushed, perched himself onto the handle and transformed back, guiding the broom up just in time from being shattered into a million splinters. Rose laughed at her brother, and circled around to land with the rest of the Gryffindor team. In high spirits, they set off to their rooms to get their books for the day. Ron and Hermione met Harry and Rose in the hall, Ron with Harry's books and Hermione with Rose's. Thanking them, Rose and Harry walked with them, Ron chattering to Harry about the next quidditch world cup. The one they'd attended had been pretty eventfull itself. They sat down at their tables and started to eat from the assortment of food. Harry was on his fifth pancake when Hermione sighed. Harry looked up.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
The schedules had been laid out next to each student. Hermione had Potions with Snape first, as did Ron and Harry. Rose, mysteriously, was only in Harry's Care for Magical Creatures class and Potions, and that was because Hagrid had made a request for them to be together himself as had Snape for some odd reason.
"I'm with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs most of the time," she told them, reading her shedule. "Oh no."
Ron looked up from his.
"What?" he asked.
"I have Potions with the Slytherins," she whispered.
"So do we," Hermione said. "Right after breakfast. Don't worry, we usually do have Potions with them. They're bad, but it's not as bad as you would think."
Rose nodded and took a swig of her pumpkin juice. She turned around and saw Malfoy glaring at her. Rose glared back, and then turned around giggling.
"What?" Harry asked.
She looked at him, a grin on her face.
"I don't think that Malfoy character likes me very much," she said.
"That's alright," Harry assured her. "Nobody likes him very much. He's just wizard trash, leave him to his dumb life."
Rose twisted her face in a grimace; she didn't like to hear Harry talk like this, it reminded her too much of the dark arts, those that had robbed her and Harry of their parents. She shook out of her thoughts. Standing up, she trudged out of the dining hall. Harry looked after her. He turned back to his friends.
"I'll see you guys later," he said.
They nodded and he ran after Rose. He ran all over, finally going outside to find her. He didn't see her anywhere. He was about to go back inside when he heard a growl. Harry spun around and saw a lion dashing off into the woods. Behind her was another animal, also traveling at a fast rate, that not of capability. Harry quinted closer. Then he saw what it was; a cobra. Harry chanted the spell and spread his wings and took to the air.
Chapter 4
First Encounter
Rose weaved in and out of the trees, chasing after the too quick cobra. Harry flew high above the trees, his eyesight so good that he could see the tiny pattern of scales on the back of the cobra's hood. Suddenly, the cobra stopped and turned around. It transformed and it was who Harry had always feared: Voldemort. The Dark Lord stood in his black robes, his pale skin not showing sign of veins or blood within, since he was already mostly dead. Rose transformed back into her human form.
"Rose Potter," Voldemort hissed. "I knew I'd see you again. How's your life been?"
"Peachy keen," Rose smiled. "Very good since you left."
Voldemort frowned.
"That's no way to treat dear old Voldemort," he growled. "Crucio!"
Rose dropped to the ground, writhing in pain from the unforgivable curse. Harry couldn't stand to see his twin sister in pain anymore. He dove sharply down, driving his beak far into the back of Voldemort's neck. Howling in pain, the Dark Lord pulled Harry out of his neck and threw him beside Rose. Harry transformed back, shaking himself out of his dizzyness. He brought out his wand and held it ready.
"Is young Harry Potter going to try and defeat me again?" Voldemort asked. "I don't think you should. We wouldn't want you to end up like your poor parents now, would we?"
Harry roared in anger.
"Crucio! Crucio! Crucio! Crucio!" Harry screamed, tears pouring down his face.
These curses only seemed to tickle Voldemort. Realizing it was not working, Harry ran up and kicked Voldemort's wand away. Rose stopped shaking and lay on the ground, unconcious. Harry swung his right fist which was caught easily by Voldemort. Harry spat in his face. The man who had once been Tom Riddle wiped the saliva from his face and grinned horribly.
"And now, Potter dies!" Voldemort announced. He plucked Harry's wand out of his hand and put the tip of it to his forehead.
"Avada Kadavra!" came a cry.
The green light hit Voldemort in the left side of his body, and although it had no death effect on him, it had made his whole left side numb. He staggered back, suprised, dropping Harry's wand. Voldemort shrank back into a snake and slithered away, half his body not moving at all. Harry sighed, and turned around to see the savior. Draco Malfoy stood before him, wand still in his hand.
"Don't expect anymore help, Potter," Draco sneered. He took a look at Rose. He picked her up and carried her back into the castle to the hospital wing.
Why was Draco being nice? Harry thought. He hadn't been nice since Rose had come here...
The thought came and hit Harry hard. He shook it away, refusing to believe it. It wasn't possible...was it? Did Malfoy like Rose?
No, Harry thought. That's silly. Of course he doesn't.
He nodded and turned around.
"Accio wand!" he said.
His wand flew out of the shadowed grass and into his hand. He pocketed it and transformed in the falcon and flew back towards the castle.
Rose recovered within a couple of days, but Harry kept a close eye out for Voldemort and kept his other eye on Draco. The Slytherin had visited often to the wing to see Rose, and Harry didn't think this was such a good thing at all. Rose had finally awoken one of the time Malfoy was in the room, and Rose had glared at him.
"It's ok!" Harry called from the doorway just as Rose was about to draw her wand which was still concealed in her robe's pocket. "He saved us."
Rose eyed the villain, nodded, and Draco walked out of the room. As soon as he was gone, Rose launched into a tirade:
"What's he doing here?" "How many times has he been here?" "How long have I been out?" "Is Voldemort still alive?"
Harry answered all her questions in a monotonous tone, for he had already been forced to answer most of the questions to Dumbledore and Professor McGonogall. Fred and George walked in just in time, and Harry said bye to Rose and walked out with his fellow quidditch teamates.
"I hope she gets better," Harry murmured.
"She will, Potts, don't you worry," Fred assured him.
George slapped him on the back.
"Yeah, she'll be fine," he agreed.
Harry nodded and walked with them to the dining hall where dinner was being served. Classes had been canceled due to Voldemort's presence in the Hogwarts.
"Why didn't he just disapperate out of the fight once he'd been hit with the curse?" Neville asked.
"Because you can't disapperate or apperate in the Hogwarts," Dean stated. "It's common knowledge."
"Well, then I wouldn't know it," Neville muttered, sighing silently.
Harry shook his head.
"This is all horrible," Harry said. "We have to do something in order to get Voldemort out of the Hogwarts."
A shiver went around the Gryffindor table as they heard the dreaded name of the Dark Lord.
"I agree," Ron said.
"Me too," Hermione agreed...for once.
Harry smiled at his friends. Another adventure for the group? Rose wouldn't be with them, since she was to be isolated in the hospital wing for another couple of days due to Madam Pomfrey's fretting.
"Tonight?" Harry asked.
Ron and Hermione nodded.
"I'll bring the invisibility cloak and the Marauder's Map," Harry told them. "You guys meet me in the Great Hall at midnight. It's time we faced the enemy."
Chapter 5
Second Encounter
At midnight, Harry met Ron and Hermione. He gave Ron the Marauder's Map, since his brothers had never let him use it. Ron looked on the map that showed all of Hogwarts.
"There's Hagrid in his hut," Ron muttered. "There's us...Rose...AHA! There he is!"
He pointed to a black dot that read 'Riddle' next to it.
"But wait," Harry said. "That can't be right. It says that he's in Gryffindor tower. In the commons room!"
They threw the cloak over themselves and ran back to their tower. There, they spotted the Dark Lord sitting in one of the armchairs by the fire. A face was in the fire, talking to him.
"...will be taken care of, my Lord," the person was saying. "It will be most urgent. You will have him alive tomorrow."
"Excellent," Voldemort hissed.
"My Lord, don't you think it'll be just a bit difficult to capture Ms. Granger?" the voice asked.
Hermione went blue.
"What?" Voldemort raged. "Difficult? Just have it done! Young Potter will follow the trail to her and perish...both of the young Potters."
"It is your will, my Lord," the voice said.
"Be gone, Lucius, I must be getting Mr. Weasley now," Voldemort said.
Ron went white. Harry gasped.
The heard Mr. Malfoy snicker.
"Be sure to give that young Ron a hard time, my Lord," he said. "His father is an extreme displeasure to us."
"I'm sure his is, Lucius," Voldemort nodded. "Be gone now."
Lucius Malfoy's face flickered and disappeared in the fire. Voldemort stood up. Harry pointed to the armchair and the three of them shuffled silently along the floor towards it. Silent, that is, until they hit the footrest.
"OW!" they all cried.
They stumbled over it, the invisibility cloak whipping off them. Voldemort whirled around. He cackled at the sight.
"Stupid foolish children," Voldemort muttered.
He raised his wand; he'd recovered it later after the first encounter, but Harry was the quicker dueler. He had his out in a flash.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry cried.
Voldemort's wand flew out of his hand, and Harry caught it. He pointed both the wands at the killer of his parents.
"We both know what both these wands could do to you if shot at the same time," Harry said coldly.
Voldemort looked wickedly at him.
"What are you going to do, Potter?" Voldemort asked. "Kill me? I can't die!"
"You can now," Harry replied. "Avada Kadavra!"
Both wands shot out the green light and the rushing sound was heard. Voldemort looked dumbfounded. He dove to the side, and the beams barely missed him. Voldemort got to his feet and grabbed Ron by the throat.
"My wand, Harry," Voldemort said. "My wand, or your friend dies."
Harry looked him over. Then he tossed Voldemort's wand back to him.
"Thank you," Voldemort grinned. Then he spoke in Parseltounge so that only Harry could hear him. "When your friend is dead, everyone will blame you."
He dashed out of the room, Ron over his shoulder, and out of the castle. Harry and Hermione looked at eachother, scared and dumbfounded; they're best friend had been kidnapped by the Dark Lord.
Harry found Sirius the next day at the school.
"Sirius!" he cried, running to his godfather.
"I know, I heard," Sirius nodded. "I'm sorry, Harry."
"Can you help me?" Harry asked frantically. "We need to find him."
Sirius looked helpless. He looked at Harry very seriously and lowered his voice.
"We think he's already gone, Harry."
Harry's left eye blurred, then the right. He started crying harder than he'd ever in his life. He hugged Sirius tightly, and Black shed a tear himself. Harry backed up a little.
"Why would they kill him?" Harry asked, sniffing and brushing away tears.
"He'd be esential for the ceremony that Voldemort's planning to do," Sirius said.
"What ceremony?" Harry asked.
Sirius shook his head.
"It's best that you not know. I'll talk to you later."
Then he was gone. Harry started crying again. Hermione came to his side.
"It's ok, Harry," she said.
Harry looked up and saw that her eyes were red too from crying.
"We need to get him back," Harry said.
"How, Harry?" Hermione asked. "We're fifth years! We can't do anything!"
"Yes we can," Harry nodded. "I'm an animigus and I can perform Avada Kadavra. Rose can, too!"
"Rose is too weak!" Hermione exclaimed.
They looked over and saw her limping toward them.
"Hey you guys," she said softly.
"Hey," Hermione said.
Harry looked over Rose and saw how bad of shape she was in.
"Are you in good health, Rose?" he asked.
"I'll be fully healed and energetic in four days," Rose said, smiling.
"Then we'll do it then," Harry said.
Rose looked confused. Hermione was about to say something, but stopped.
"In four days we go after Ron and defeat Voldemort," Harry stated, his firebolt on his head glowing now. "And nobody is going to stop us."
Chapter 6
The Twins' Secret
Harry and Hermione waited the four days through fears and emotions that hurt badly, but they knew they needed Rose in order to defeat Voldemort.
When Rose was well, they waited until midnight and went off into the woods. Harry glanced at the Maurader's Map. Voldemort and Ron were nowher
e to be found. Then, a small object caught Harry's eye. A bubble was next to it that read: Portkey. Harry pointed at it and Rose and Hermione ran with him to the area. They found the broken broom that was a portkey. They held it and felt the sensation as they flew through space. Finally, they landed in a heap. Harry lept to his feet, alert. Good thing, too. As he got up, a green beam hit the ground where he had jumped from.
"Mr. Potter," Voldemort sighed. "Why must you play games. You know I'm going to get you eventually."
Harry grinned. Rose and Hermione were on their feet, wands drawn like Harry. Rose walked forward to do a spell, and Voldemort grabbed her by the throat and brought her close, holding his wand to her head. Harry looked terrified.
"So what are you going to do now, Potter?" Voldemort asked. "Save your sister, or save yourself?"
Harry looked at Rose, who's blond hair fell across her eyes, which were red from tears that she had been crying in the past moments. Harry stepped forward.
"Make it quick," he said.
Voldemort threw Rose away, sneering.
"Very good, Potter," Voldemort snickered. "Very good."
He raised his wand.
"Avada Kadavra!" he cried.
Harry heard the rushing sound and felt the spell hit him. He fell to the ground, dazed, waiting to be released from life. But, he remained concious. A strange yellow glow surrounded his body. He got to his feet. Voldemort looked absolutely scared out of his mind.
"You're immortal!" he stammered.
Rose joined Harry at his side.
"And you!" Voldemort exclaimed.
Harry and Rose raised their wands.
"Avada Kadavra!" the both cried.
The green beams struck Voldemort in the chest, and he was blasted into oblivion. Harry and Rose hugged eachother, both crying. They had finally beaten the murderer of their parents. Hermione smiled a little. Then, she noticed a small box lying next to Voldemort. She tapped it with her wand.
"Reveal yourself," she commanded.
The box expanded and grew and there was Ron. He shook his head and stood up.
"What happened?" he asked, dazed. "Where am I?"
"Nothing happened," Harry said, tears still in the corners of his eyes. "And you're safe. We're all safe."
Rose nodded. She walked with the rest of them back to the portkey which had been thrown to the side when Harry had jumped. They all held on to it, felt the rushing feeling of a hook pulling at their navels. They landed in a heap in front of the castle. Ron was even more confused. Hermione just laughed. Rose walked back with Hermione and Ron back into the school. Harry remained behind. He felt like going back. He picked up the portkey and went back to the area where Voldemort was. Harry needed to look around. He felt that something was there that he needed. He transformed into a falcon and flew high above the trees that surrounded him. He saw far away a large building. He flew to it and landed in the front where a large wooden door was. He cautiously opened it and walked into a huge warehouse. There were names on boxes all over the room. Harry realized what they were: personal items of the people that Voldemort had killed. Harry was about to leave when he saw something that caught his eye. There, in the corner, was a box. Written on it in black ink were the words 'Potter, Lily and James'. Harry ran over to it. He opened the box carefully. He found first a small but long wooden box. He opened it and found his mother's and father's wands. He felt a tear drip down his face. He closed the box and tucked it inside his robes. There were all sorts of trinkets in the box: junk that his father had made, mirrors and perfumes of his mother, everything that was left of his parents. He heard a small muffled noise. He found a tiny white box like the one Ron had been in. He put it on the floor. He tapped it with his wand.
"Reveal yourself," Harry commanded.
The box expanded. It stopped and Harry was shocked to see a house elf.
"Hello," the elf said. "Who are you?"
"I'm Harry," Harry replied.
The elf went white.
"Forgive me, sir," he said, bowing. "I have been in that cube for about fifteen years!"
"Nothing to be ashamed of," Harry assured him. "What is your name and what relation do you have to my parents?"
"I am Rabrim, your parent's house elf," the elf replied. "Where are my masters, might I ask?"
"They were murdered the night that you were locked away in that cube," Harry said sadly.
Rabrim went white.
"Oh my!" he cried. "I am so sorry, Harry. Well, it looks like I'll be serving you now!"
"There's no need," Harry said. "I'd like for you to be my friend and yeah, it's ok if you hang out with me, but I don't want you to be a servant to me."
"Really?" Rabrim asked. "Well, I am for that purpose whenever you need me to be, Mr. Potter."
"Just call me Harry," Harry told him.
"Sorry, Harry," Rabrim corrected automatically.
Harry closed the box of his parent's things.
"Accio Firebolt!" he cried, waving his wand.
Within a minute, his broom shot through the door. He grabbed it and put the box and Rabrim on it, then hopped on himself.
"Are you a good flyer, Harry?" Rabrim asked, looking nervous.
"I'll just say i'm about as good as my father was," Harry said, smiling at the thought of his father being proud of his flying.
Rabrim beamed.
"Oh yes," he sighed. "James was always fond of flying. I'd expect his son to do no different. But...wasn't there another of you?"
"Oh, yes, Rose," Harry said. "She's at the castle. You'll see her."
"The Hogwarts?" Rabrim asked.
"Yeah," Harry replied.
Rabrim looked ecstatic.
"Great!" he cried. "I haven't been there in ages. I used to work in the kitchens."
"Don't mention that to Hermione," Harry muttered.
"What?" Rabrim asked.
"Nothing," Harry said.
He flew high into the air and flew many miles until he saw the castle. The portkey hadn't taken him so far afterall. He landed in front of the school. Rose, Ron, and Hermione came out.
"What's going on?" Rose asked.
Harry looked at Rabrim and back to his twin sister.
"Let's go inside," he said. "I'll explain there."