A/N: Thanks for reading my story. This was supposed to be a sequel to my
fifth year fic 'More Than Just Friends', but it has nothing to do with
that. I hope everyone who read that will read this anyway. This is set in
the 7th year, and I'm really excited, I have got a lot of great stuff
planned!
Summary: Starts in 7th year and lots of new stuff is happening with Harry, Ron and Hermione. This story has some new private lessons for Harry, Ron, and Hermione. More DA meetings, a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, a wedding, lots of Order of the Phoenix, and of course the growing fear of Voldemort.
Ship: R/Hr
Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling, I do not own the Harry Potter characters, and I have no affiliation with Bloomsbury, Scholastic, or Warner Brothers. This fic is just for entertainment and to pass the time till 6 and 7 come out. No money is being made from this.
.Not as a last Resort
Chapter 1: Prologue
A whistle sounded in the distance as Harry was walking down platform 9 ¾ toward the Hogwarts Express.
"That was just the warning whistle; we still have 5 minutes, Harry could we speak to you for a moment - over here." Said Remus Lupin.
Harry followed Lupin, Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody, and Mr. Weasley over out of the way.
It was Harry's seventh year, and security was tight. Harry had spent the last three weeks at 12 Grimmauld Place. Sirius had left the house to the Order, as a way to contribute to them after he had died. Ron and Hermione, of course had been there, too. It hadn't been a very pleasant holiday, but Harry figured, anywhere is better the Dursleys.
"Now Harry," Moody began in a whisper, once the four of them were well out of earshot. "This is your last year at Hogwarts, but of course you know. I also know you know what I'm going to say, but I just want to remind you." Moody paused and when he spoke again it was in an even a quieter voice. "Voldemort knows that this is the last year that you will still be learning and that the less you know the greater the chance of him hurting you is. You must be very careful, Harry."
"I know, I know," said Harry fighting back the urge to roll his eyes, but he knew if he did, he would have to go through their little talk again. They had given him this talk about three times a week since he was taken to 12 Grimmauld Place, and he was glad to be getting back to Hogwarts - away from the Order. 'Although,' Harry thought, 'Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall will all be breathing down my neck there.'
Another whistle blew. Mr. Weasley looked over where his other children - Ron and Ginny, as well as Hermione were waiting to go aboard the scarlet steam engine. Mrs. Weasley, Fred and George were seeing them on the train.
The four walked back over to where everyone was.
"Oh there you are, Harry dear." Said Mrs. Weasley kindly as Harry, Lupin, Moody, and Mr. Weasley approached. Ron, Ginny, and Hermione had already said goodbye, and were trying to find a compartment. "Well, have a wonderful term dear, and do be careful." She said to him, kissing him on the cheek, and steering him onto the train.
Harry found the compartment that Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were in and sat next to Ron. They all went to the window to wave goodbye.
"Don't get into any trouble, now' said Mrs. Weasley holding back tears. "Oh it's the last time that we'll see Ron, Harry and Hermione off to school." Harry heard her say to Mr. Weasley, before she broke down. He patted her back, and mouthed - 'She'll be fine' as he waved.
"See you first Hogsmead weekend!" said George, waving too
"Yeah, don't forget to come and see us." Said Fred
Steam rose from the train, and they could hear the pistons starting.
"Are you going to give us free stuff?" asked Ginny
"No special treatment, Gin," said Fred
"That wouldn't be fair!" said George indignantly, as the train pulled out of the station. They all waved goodbye and sat back down.
"Should have known better, when have Fred and George ever given us special treatment?" said Ron.
"Well," said Hermione, and everyone looked up at her, "I guess we need to go up to the front of the train, now. We'll try to get back as soon as we can, Harry."
Harry nodded, as she, Ron and Ginny left. Ginny had become a prefect in her fifth year, and Hermione - to no one's surprise - was made Head Girl.
Harry was left alone in the compartment. He stared out the window, thinking about all the things that had changed in the last two years. Fifth year has by far been the worst, and it wasn't just because of their horrid Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher - Dolores Umbridge, no, the worst thing was the whole world not believing Harry and Dumbledore about Voldemort coming back. Not only was it the ministry, but people he has trusted and counted as friends didn't believe him, like Seamus Finnigan, and Percy Weasley.
Harry grinned thinking about Percy. Once the ministry, specifically, their then Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, had finally admitted that Voldemort was back Percy couldn't deny it anymore, and from what Harry heard, Percy came crawling back (with as much dignity as he could muster) to his parent, asking for forgiveness, for all of the horrible things he had said, and was now a member of the Order. Harry also heard that Percy was back with his girlfriend from Hogwarts - Penelope Clearwater.
Bill and Charlie both still worked for the Order. Charlie still lived in Romania where he met a woman - Emma Stewart - whom he recruited to the Order and they have been dating for a year and a half. Harry had met her only once on one of Charlie's regular trips to 12 Grimmauld Place. Harry liked her a lot. She was very nice, and friendly, but the thing Harry liked most about her was that when she met him, she acted like he was just Charlie's brother's best friend, and not the boy-who-lived, and now the wizarding worlds only hope against Voldemort.
Bill, Ron's oldest brother, was living in London and attended every Order meeting, Harry got to see him a lot. He was married to Fleur Delacour; they were officially dating a year after she got a job with him, although people suspected it had been going on for a while. They had been married for three months, and she came to some Order meetings with Bill, much to the horror of Ron and the amusement of Fred, George, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny.
Fred and George had opened their joke shop, and this was going to be the first time Hogwarts students could go there. They had made enough money from owl order along with the money Harry had given them to buy Zonko's Joke shop, from the owner's who were retiring, and turn it into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
Harry glanced out the window; the sun was setting and as all of the houses faded into mountains and trees. Harry wondered why the lady with the food cart was, but just then the compartment door slid open and Harry turned around, it wasn't the food cart lady, it was Luna Lovegood.
"Hello, Harry." said Luna.
"Hi Luna," said Harry.
"All alone, are you?" she asked him.
"Yeah, I'm not a prefect." He said quietly, for some reason the resentment he had gotten from his 5th year cropped up if people like Luna came and reminded him that his friends were all gone, doing stuff together without him. Harry wasn't mad at them though, he just didn't like to ponder this. "What do you want?" asked Harry trying to forget Luna's last words.
"I was just looking for Ronald, but he's not here, so."
"What do you want with Ron?" asked Harry, confused.
"Oh nothing, see you later Harry."
Harry stared after her, 'she could be really strange sometimes' he thought. Harry had met Luna in his 5th year, and she was always a little out there, but she wasn't all that bad. She and Harry had a lot of things in common - like being able to see the thestrals, the winged horses who pulled the school carriages, she was also the one who really helped him get over Sirius' death.
The train steamed on for another half an hour and Ron, Hermione and Ginny still hadn't come back. Harry wondered what was taking them so long.
Harry thoughts traveled back to Hogwarts. It was his last year, and he was going to miss it. Hogwarts was Harry's first home, and it was one of the only places he really felt he belonged. It was where he had met Ron and Hermione.
Of course Hogwarts wasn't always the friendliest of places, he had met some really horrible people there too, Malfoy for example. Draco Malfoy was by far the person Harry hated the most - excluding Voldemort. Harry hated everything about him, from his pale, pointed face and sleek blond hair to his whole attitude about pure bloods. Lucius Malfoy escaped from Azkaban shortly after 5th year and was on the run, but Draco still waked around with that superior smug look that Harry was just dying to knock off of him.
One of the only other people Harry hated as much as Malfoy was Snape. Harry, Ron and Hermione had been made to stay in Potions because of Dumbledore, much to Snape's and their displeasure - well, maybe not Hermione's. When Harry started 6th year, Snape had continued to teach Harry Occlumency again, so Harry had to see Snape much more that he wanted to.
The compartment door opened again and Ron, Hermione, and Ginny came in looking distressed.
"What happened?" Harry asked them as they all sat down.
"A couple of stupid second years set off some Filibuster's fireworks in the corridor right as that lady with the food cart came by, it was a mess, chocolate frogs and every flavor bean's everywhere." Said Ron.
"I didn't hear anything." Said Harry.
"Well," Hermione began, "neither did we, they were silent, but they made quite a mess."
By the time they changed into their robes, the train was slowing down, and they all got off and made their way toward the carriages, horse-less to Ron and Hermione.
As they walked they heard Hagrid calling the first years toward him to sail across the lake, but only saw a glimpse of him standing taller than anyone in the distance.
They climbed into a carriage with Ron and Hermione and they set off toward the castle. It came nearer and nearer as they bumped along their path. They all just stared at it looming out of the darkness.
"Ya know, I'm really going to miss this place." Ron said.
"Yeah me too." Said Harry as Hermione nodded.
"A lot of stuff happened to us here."
"Yeah, sneaking out in the middle of the night-"
"-finding three-headed dogs-"
"-mountain trolls-"
"-philosopher's stone-'
"-enchanted diaries-"
"-basilisk-"
"-secret passages to Hogsmead-"
"-helping Sirius and Buckbeak escape-"
"-sneaking to Hagrids-"
"-forming secret Defense Against the Dark Arts meetings-"
"-nearly getting murdered, over and over and over again-"
"Actually I think that was just you, Harry" Ron added.
They went on until they were in the entrance hall.
"And don't forget Liberating the House Elves!" said Ron smiling at Hermione.
"Potter, Weasley, Granger!" Professor McGonagall's voice yelled over the milling crowd. "You are wanted in Professor Dumbledore's office for a moment."
They were about to protest, it would be their last start of the year feast, and they didn't want to miss it, but Professor McGonagall continued.
"We'll be back in time for the feast"
They followed her up to Dumbledore's office, where she left them, and walked inside. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk and in one of the four chairs facing him was Nymphadora Tonks, one of the members of the Order of the Phoenix. They all smiled at her and she smiled back.
"Please have a seat" said Dumbledore, they sat "I don't want to keep you from the feast; I just wanted to tell you that you will be starting a new class. I don't want to tell you all about it here, but you three will be learning some-uh-new skills, your teacher will be Professor Tonks, she had agreed to teach you as well as teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. You will meet her in the second classroom on the left on the fourth floor on Thursday evening - 7 o'clock, where she will explain everything. "Now I know you have heard this many times, so I'll give you the short version" he continued, now looking directly at Harry. "Be careful"
They sat down at the Gryffindor table 10 minutes later, just barely missing the sorting.
Tonks came in with Dumbledore and sat down, but he stayed standing and addressed the crowd.
"Welcome" He began. "Well I don't want to keep you from enjoying our wonderful feast, so I'll make it quick. First all students will remember that the Forest on the grounds is off limits to everyone. The list of all things that have been banned from the school is accessible in Mr. Flich's office and no magic is permitted in the corridors. Next, as you will notice, we have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher - Nymphadora Tonks." There was a loud applause for Tonks and then the hall became silent. Most people were waiting for what Dumbledore was going to say about Voldemort.
"Also on a most unhappy note, as you all know, Lord Voldemort-" there was a collective gasp from many students "-has returned. I, of course do not say this to frighten you, but to warn you to be careful, and to not make foolish decisions that may put you in harms way."
Dumbledore finished his speech and sat down. The hall sat very quiet, but soon noise broke out and the feast began.
Harry Ron and Hermione walked up to Gryffindor tower alone talking about what these new lessons they would be having, and wondering what they could be.
When they reached the portrait hole and Hermione gave the password ('Moon Beam'), they stopped talking and immediately went up to bed.
That was the last time Harry would get to ride on the Hogwarts Express to school on September 1st, the last time Harry would see Hagrid leading the first years toward the lake, the last time he would get to attend the start of year feast. Harry thought sadly, as he changed and climbed into his four- poster bed, but with all of the 'last time's' Harry was sure to have this year, he had a feeling there would be a lot of first time's too.
Summary: Starts in 7th year and lots of new stuff is happening with Harry, Ron and Hermione. This story has some new private lessons for Harry, Ron, and Hermione. More DA meetings, a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, a wedding, lots of Order of the Phoenix, and of course the growing fear of Voldemort.
Ship: R/Hr
Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling, I do not own the Harry Potter characters, and I have no affiliation with Bloomsbury, Scholastic, or Warner Brothers. This fic is just for entertainment and to pass the time till 6 and 7 come out. No money is being made from this.
.Not as a last Resort
Chapter 1: Prologue
A whistle sounded in the distance as Harry was walking down platform 9 ¾ toward the Hogwarts Express.
"That was just the warning whistle; we still have 5 minutes, Harry could we speak to you for a moment - over here." Said Remus Lupin.
Harry followed Lupin, Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody, and Mr. Weasley over out of the way.
It was Harry's seventh year, and security was tight. Harry had spent the last three weeks at 12 Grimmauld Place. Sirius had left the house to the Order, as a way to contribute to them after he had died. Ron and Hermione, of course had been there, too. It hadn't been a very pleasant holiday, but Harry figured, anywhere is better the Dursleys.
"Now Harry," Moody began in a whisper, once the four of them were well out of earshot. "This is your last year at Hogwarts, but of course you know. I also know you know what I'm going to say, but I just want to remind you." Moody paused and when he spoke again it was in an even a quieter voice. "Voldemort knows that this is the last year that you will still be learning and that the less you know the greater the chance of him hurting you is. You must be very careful, Harry."
"I know, I know," said Harry fighting back the urge to roll his eyes, but he knew if he did, he would have to go through their little talk again. They had given him this talk about three times a week since he was taken to 12 Grimmauld Place, and he was glad to be getting back to Hogwarts - away from the Order. 'Although,' Harry thought, 'Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall will all be breathing down my neck there.'
Another whistle blew. Mr. Weasley looked over where his other children - Ron and Ginny, as well as Hermione were waiting to go aboard the scarlet steam engine. Mrs. Weasley, Fred and George were seeing them on the train.
The four walked back over to where everyone was.
"Oh there you are, Harry dear." Said Mrs. Weasley kindly as Harry, Lupin, Moody, and Mr. Weasley approached. Ron, Ginny, and Hermione had already said goodbye, and were trying to find a compartment. "Well, have a wonderful term dear, and do be careful." She said to him, kissing him on the cheek, and steering him onto the train.
Harry found the compartment that Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were in and sat next to Ron. They all went to the window to wave goodbye.
"Don't get into any trouble, now' said Mrs. Weasley holding back tears. "Oh it's the last time that we'll see Ron, Harry and Hermione off to school." Harry heard her say to Mr. Weasley, before she broke down. He patted her back, and mouthed - 'She'll be fine' as he waved.
"See you first Hogsmead weekend!" said George, waving too
"Yeah, don't forget to come and see us." Said Fred
Steam rose from the train, and they could hear the pistons starting.
"Are you going to give us free stuff?" asked Ginny
"No special treatment, Gin," said Fred
"That wouldn't be fair!" said George indignantly, as the train pulled out of the station. They all waved goodbye and sat back down.
"Should have known better, when have Fred and George ever given us special treatment?" said Ron.
"Well," said Hermione, and everyone looked up at her, "I guess we need to go up to the front of the train, now. We'll try to get back as soon as we can, Harry."
Harry nodded, as she, Ron and Ginny left. Ginny had become a prefect in her fifth year, and Hermione - to no one's surprise - was made Head Girl.
Harry was left alone in the compartment. He stared out the window, thinking about all the things that had changed in the last two years. Fifth year has by far been the worst, and it wasn't just because of their horrid Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher - Dolores Umbridge, no, the worst thing was the whole world not believing Harry and Dumbledore about Voldemort coming back. Not only was it the ministry, but people he has trusted and counted as friends didn't believe him, like Seamus Finnigan, and Percy Weasley.
Harry grinned thinking about Percy. Once the ministry, specifically, their then Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, had finally admitted that Voldemort was back Percy couldn't deny it anymore, and from what Harry heard, Percy came crawling back (with as much dignity as he could muster) to his parent, asking for forgiveness, for all of the horrible things he had said, and was now a member of the Order. Harry also heard that Percy was back with his girlfriend from Hogwarts - Penelope Clearwater.
Bill and Charlie both still worked for the Order. Charlie still lived in Romania where he met a woman - Emma Stewart - whom he recruited to the Order and they have been dating for a year and a half. Harry had met her only once on one of Charlie's regular trips to 12 Grimmauld Place. Harry liked her a lot. She was very nice, and friendly, but the thing Harry liked most about her was that when she met him, she acted like he was just Charlie's brother's best friend, and not the boy-who-lived, and now the wizarding worlds only hope against Voldemort.
Bill, Ron's oldest brother, was living in London and attended every Order meeting, Harry got to see him a lot. He was married to Fleur Delacour; they were officially dating a year after she got a job with him, although people suspected it had been going on for a while. They had been married for three months, and she came to some Order meetings with Bill, much to the horror of Ron and the amusement of Fred, George, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny.
Fred and George had opened their joke shop, and this was going to be the first time Hogwarts students could go there. They had made enough money from owl order along with the money Harry had given them to buy Zonko's Joke shop, from the owner's who were retiring, and turn it into Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.
Harry glanced out the window; the sun was setting and as all of the houses faded into mountains and trees. Harry wondered why the lady with the food cart was, but just then the compartment door slid open and Harry turned around, it wasn't the food cart lady, it was Luna Lovegood.
"Hello, Harry." said Luna.
"Hi Luna," said Harry.
"All alone, are you?" she asked him.
"Yeah, I'm not a prefect." He said quietly, for some reason the resentment he had gotten from his 5th year cropped up if people like Luna came and reminded him that his friends were all gone, doing stuff together without him. Harry wasn't mad at them though, he just didn't like to ponder this. "What do you want?" asked Harry trying to forget Luna's last words.
"I was just looking for Ronald, but he's not here, so."
"What do you want with Ron?" asked Harry, confused.
"Oh nothing, see you later Harry."
Harry stared after her, 'she could be really strange sometimes' he thought. Harry had met Luna in his 5th year, and she was always a little out there, but she wasn't all that bad. She and Harry had a lot of things in common - like being able to see the thestrals, the winged horses who pulled the school carriages, she was also the one who really helped him get over Sirius' death.
The train steamed on for another half an hour and Ron, Hermione and Ginny still hadn't come back. Harry wondered what was taking them so long.
Harry thoughts traveled back to Hogwarts. It was his last year, and he was going to miss it. Hogwarts was Harry's first home, and it was one of the only places he really felt he belonged. It was where he had met Ron and Hermione.
Of course Hogwarts wasn't always the friendliest of places, he had met some really horrible people there too, Malfoy for example. Draco Malfoy was by far the person Harry hated the most - excluding Voldemort. Harry hated everything about him, from his pale, pointed face and sleek blond hair to his whole attitude about pure bloods. Lucius Malfoy escaped from Azkaban shortly after 5th year and was on the run, but Draco still waked around with that superior smug look that Harry was just dying to knock off of him.
One of the only other people Harry hated as much as Malfoy was Snape. Harry, Ron and Hermione had been made to stay in Potions because of Dumbledore, much to Snape's and their displeasure - well, maybe not Hermione's. When Harry started 6th year, Snape had continued to teach Harry Occlumency again, so Harry had to see Snape much more that he wanted to.
The compartment door opened again and Ron, Hermione, and Ginny came in looking distressed.
"What happened?" Harry asked them as they all sat down.
"A couple of stupid second years set off some Filibuster's fireworks in the corridor right as that lady with the food cart came by, it was a mess, chocolate frogs and every flavor bean's everywhere." Said Ron.
"I didn't hear anything." Said Harry.
"Well," Hermione began, "neither did we, they were silent, but they made quite a mess."
By the time they changed into their robes, the train was slowing down, and they all got off and made their way toward the carriages, horse-less to Ron and Hermione.
As they walked they heard Hagrid calling the first years toward him to sail across the lake, but only saw a glimpse of him standing taller than anyone in the distance.
They climbed into a carriage with Ron and Hermione and they set off toward the castle. It came nearer and nearer as they bumped along their path. They all just stared at it looming out of the darkness.
"Ya know, I'm really going to miss this place." Ron said.
"Yeah me too." Said Harry as Hermione nodded.
"A lot of stuff happened to us here."
"Yeah, sneaking out in the middle of the night-"
"-finding three-headed dogs-"
"-mountain trolls-"
"-philosopher's stone-'
"-enchanted diaries-"
"-basilisk-"
"-secret passages to Hogsmead-"
"-helping Sirius and Buckbeak escape-"
"-sneaking to Hagrids-"
"-forming secret Defense Against the Dark Arts meetings-"
"-nearly getting murdered, over and over and over again-"
"Actually I think that was just you, Harry" Ron added.
They went on until they were in the entrance hall.
"And don't forget Liberating the House Elves!" said Ron smiling at Hermione.
"Potter, Weasley, Granger!" Professor McGonagall's voice yelled over the milling crowd. "You are wanted in Professor Dumbledore's office for a moment."
They were about to protest, it would be their last start of the year feast, and they didn't want to miss it, but Professor McGonagall continued.
"We'll be back in time for the feast"
They followed her up to Dumbledore's office, where she left them, and walked inside. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk and in one of the four chairs facing him was Nymphadora Tonks, one of the members of the Order of the Phoenix. They all smiled at her and she smiled back.
"Please have a seat" said Dumbledore, they sat "I don't want to keep you from the feast; I just wanted to tell you that you will be starting a new class. I don't want to tell you all about it here, but you three will be learning some-uh-new skills, your teacher will be Professor Tonks, she had agreed to teach you as well as teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. You will meet her in the second classroom on the left on the fourth floor on Thursday evening - 7 o'clock, where she will explain everything. "Now I know you have heard this many times, so I'll give you the short version" he continued, now looking directly at Harry. "Be careful"
They sat down at the Gryffindor table 10 minutes later, just barely missing the sorting.
Tonks came in with Dumbledore and sat down, but he stayed standing and addressed the crowd.
"Welcome" He began. "Well I don't want to keep you from enjoying our wonderful feast, so I'll make it quick. First all students will remember that the Forest on the grounds is off limits to everyone. The list of all things that have been banned from the school is accessible in Mr. Flich's office and no magic is permitted in the corridors. Next, as you will notice, we have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher - Nymphadora Tonks." There was a loud applause for Tonks and then the hall became silent. Most people were waiting for what Dumbledore was going to say about Voldemort.
"Also on a most unhappy note, as you all know, Lord Voldemort-" there was a collective gasp from many students "-has returned. I, of course do not say this to frighten you, but to warn you to be careful, and to not make foolish decisions that may put you in harms way."
Dumbledore finished his speech and sat down. The hall sat very quiet, but soon noise broke out and the feast began.
Harry Ron and Hermione walked up to Gryffindor tower alone talking about what these new lessons they would be having, and wondering what they could be.
When they reached the portrait hole and Hermione gave the password ('Moon Beam'), they stopped talking and immediately went up to bed.
That was the last time Harry would get to ride on the Hogwarts Express to school on September 1st, the last time Harry would see Hagrid leading the first years toward the lake, the last time he would get to attend the start of year feast. Harry thought sadly, as he changed and climbed into his four- poster bed, but with all of the 'last time's' Harry was sure to have this year, he had a feeling there would be a lot of first time's too.