Harry Potter and The Rock of Ages

Hey folks, here's the next chapter of my newest creation. MAN, this is a popular story. crickets chirp in the background For anyone that doesn't know me, that was sarcasm. Anywho, onto review replies, what few reviews I've gotten anyway.

AN: Hey folks I've got a co-author now! Say hello to my good friend, Animeluvr1! The chapters should be coming a bit faster now with her providing ideas for me to use in my fics. Also, things aren't going to be that canon in my story. Some of the stuff I use might offend the fans of the fifth book, but to these people I say: "Tough it out and you may end up liking it." One last thing, I'm not going to include Luna Lovegood in my fic. She's just to off the wall, even for ME!

LW-Actually, it's more of a changing perspective than anything, from one person to the next.

Warconq-Well…this story isn't as mature as you think, at least not right now. Heh, Shawn's my flagship character, I'll find a way to weasel him into just about every story I write. And who hasn't read at least the first book? Wow, that's a lot of praise. Thanks. A lot.

Moezy Chan- Sorry, but Shawn won't actually be in this chapter, although we get a good look at some of his background.

Animeluvr1-Well, I'll see what I can do for you in that respect. I sincerely hope that both of my stories turn out equally good.

KyLewin- Hey, it's not as far fetched as it sounds. After all, Malfoy is one of the people who would go by the old adage "The enemy of my enemy is my friend".

Disclaimer- Some people follow their dreams. Others chase them down and mercilessly beat them into submission.

"AAA": normal speech

"AAA": dragon speech

-AAA-: reading

"AAA": spells

Chapter 2- The Burrow and A Truce

Harry wiped the hair out of his eyes, smiling as he looked at the Burrow. The Weasly's were once again hosting Harry for the remainder of the summer break, and Charlie, on a visit from Romania, had been the one to pick him up. A friend of Mr. Weasly's in the Portkey department had agreed to provide him with a two-time use timed portkey, after he had called in a few favors. While he and Harry had been waiting for the portkey to activate again Charlie had apparated most of Harry's school things to the Burrow, excepting Hedwig, who had taken flight after Harry had explained where he was going to her. The Dursley's, after remembering their last encounter with the Weasly family, had barricaded themselves in their bedrooms almost as soon as Mrs. Dursley had opened the door and taken in Charlie's "strange" clothing.

Suddenly, a red haired blur shot out of the house, and tackled Harry in a huge bear hug. "HARRY!" the blur shouted, revealing it to be Harry's best friend, Ron Weasly. Harry laughed at first, but after a few seconds, he began to realize that Ron had gotten a bit stronger over the summer. After a few more seconds, in which Charlie had gone on ahead of the two friends, Harry was tugging desperately on Ron's sleeve. "What is it Harry?" Ron asked, oblivious to his friends discomfort. Harry pointed to his throat and gasped.

"AIR!!" Ron hurriedly let go, and laughed nervously.

"Sorry mate, I guess I just don't know my own strength anymore." After a few deep breaths, Harry began to laugh with him. Later that night, after unpacking, Harry sat down to dinner with the Weasly's. Everyone was there, with the exception of Percy. When Harry asked about it, Ron's face darkened. "He and Dad had a falling out. Now he literally lives in his little office."

"What happened?" Harry asked, a little concerned. Ron looked to his father for answers. The Weasly patriarch sighed and sat down his fork.

"Ever since Dumbledore announced…His return last year, the Ministry has divided into two factions. Those that believe Dumbledore, and those that don't believe him. Unfortunately, Percy doesn't believe Dumbledore, while I do. And now things are becoming even more tense," he added. The entire family looked at him, puzzled.

"How come dad?" Fred asked. Or maybe it was George.

"Because of the new DADA teacher. Dumbledore has asked an American to come and teach, as well as provide extra security for the school. And that," Mr. Weasly said, holding up a finger, "Is what has the Ministry so upset right now. Fudge feels that Dumbledore doesn't trust him enough to provide security for the school. And," he continued, "The wizard he's chosen is a bit…eccentric. But he's the undisputed master of his field."

"What field is that dear?" Mrs. Weasly asked. Her husband gave her a small smile.

"It's a very obscure branch of magic called "martial magic". As I understand, it combines the martial arts with wandless magic somehow. When I asked Moody about it, he told me that it's a very difficult skill to fully master." Charlie looked at his father.

"What's this guy's name dad?" The rest of the family nodded.

"Yeah dad, maybe we've heard of him," Fred chimed in.

"His name is Shawn O'Reily. A very odd character, but he's held in high regard by his uncle, who holds a position in the American ministry, in the…muggle applications research and development department, if I remember right. From what I've heard, his uncle knows Dumbledore, and was the one to suggest him for the job." Charlie's fork clattered onto his plate. His mouth was hanging open, and he was a bit bug-eyed.

"D-did you say Shawn O'Reily?!" he asked excitedly. His father nodded. Charlie beamed at his brothers and sister, and their guest. "You're all in for a real treat when you get to Hogwarts then. I once heard O'Reily speak at a seminar on dragon raising. The man has some theories on dragon intelligence that had quite a few of the wizards there calling him insane. He was pleasant enough about it though, just packed up and left." Charlie chuckled then. "Off course, after he left, the wizards that had been calling him insane found some rather fresh piles of dragon manure on each of their beds." He laughed lightly, "By then O'Reily was looong gone." At the end of the narration, Fred and George were looking at each other and grinning wickedly. Ginny was looking rather worried, while Harry and Ron just plain grinned.

"He sounds a bit like the twins, doesn't he Harry?" Ron asked his friend. Harry shook his head.

"No," he declared, "the twins are much, much worse than he sounds." Fred and George bowed to Harry from their seats.

"Why thank you Harry," Fred said in grand tones.

"You're to kind," George added. Mrs. Weasly clapped her hands, bringing the two to a stop. She glared at the boys, but it wasn't a very fierce glare.

"That's enough of that boys. Now come on, help me and Ginny clear the table." All of the boys, including Harry, pitched in, and soon the table was clear. Fred and George retreated to their room, for a 'tactics planning session'. Basically that meant that they were going to see exactly how they could use the information that their new DADA teacher was a prankster to their advantage. Ron and Harry settled down to a game of wizard's chess up in Ron's room under Hedwig's watchful eye, while Ginny helped her mother with the last of the dishes.

"So," Ron said as he made his opening move, "have you heard anything from Sirius?" Harry shook his head as he moved his pawn to counter Ron's.

"The last letter I got from him was two weeks ago. All he said in it was 'I'll see you at school.'" Ron moved another piece, then looked at Harry.

"You don't think he's actually going to go to Hogwarts, do you? With that American wizard there and all?" Harry stopped in mid-move as his eyes widened.

"He may not know about the new DADA teacher. We have to warn him!" Abandoning their game, Ron and Harry scrabbled about, until they came up with some parchment and a quill. Harry quickly set to work writing. After a few minutes, he sat back and read it.

-Dear Padfoot.

This is H. I am writing you with an urgent message. Dumbledore has hired an American wizard to come to Hogwarts to teach DADA. Is also coming to provide xtra security for school. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO GO TO HOGWARTS!!!!

Stay careful, H-

Harry considered writing him about the strange dream he had had a few nights ago, but decided against it. After all, after he had received his pendant, he had stopped having nightmares connected to Voldemort. Ron read the letter over his friend's shoulder. "Isn't it a bit…over the top?" he asked. Harry shook his head.

"If I know Sirius at all, he's not going to pay attention to anything less dramatic," he declared. Ron nodded slowly.

"If you say so." Harry got up and walked over to Hedwig's cage. Attaching the letter to her leg, Harry smoothed her feathers.

"I need you to take this to Sirius Hedwig. Can you get it to him and get back before we leave for Hogwarts?" Hedwig looked at him reproachfully, as if he had offended her. He smiled. "Sorry, of course you can." With that, Hedwig took off. "So," Harry said as they sat back down to their game, "Whose turn is it?"

The days passed peacefully enough at the Burrow. Since Charlie had picked up Harry before his birthday, the Weasly's decided to throw him a small party. While they were cutting the cake, several owls had arrived from different people, mostly birthday presents. Hermione had sent him a book entitled –Dragon Magi: Fact or Fiction? By Tomas O'Reily-, along with the news that she had been selected as a prefect. Hagrid had sent him a box of homemade fudge, Harry had tried to warn the twins, but they took a bite out of a piece of fudge before he could stop them. There was an immediate fight to see who would get the bathroom first.

Hedwig arrived back with a reply from Sirius and a small birthday card as well. Harry had concealed the reply, and had opened the card discreetly. It was a simple muggle birthday card, since Sirius couldn't very well go out and buy something at a wizard shop.

Mrs. Weasly had given Harry a handmade sweater, while Fred and George had discreetly slipped him a coupon for 50% off at Weasly's Wizard Wheezes joke shop. Ginny and Charlie had given him a leather bound journal and pencil set. On the cover of the journal was a strange picture of a silver dragon in flight. The picture however, only took up a small portion of the cover, as if there were supposed to be more pictures on it. "I got in from a friend in America, he says the picture is related to some sort of legend about dragons that possessed extreme magical powers over a single element, called dragon magi. The dragon on the cover is supposedly the dragon that possessed power over the element of light, which also represented life. The others were earth, lightning, water, fire, wind and darkness, which also represented death." Charlie had said.

Alongside all of the gifts, had come the letters for Hogwarts. Ron and Harry had gone up to Ron's room before opening theirs. "What do you think the teachers intend to throw at us this year Harry?" Ron asked as he looked over his letter. Harry shrugged.

"Well there are only two new books, 'Standard Spells Level five' by Miranda Goshawk, and 'Dragon Magi: Fact or Fiction?' By Tomas O'Reily; for Care of Magical Creatures. Hey!" Harry exclaimed. Ron looked at him.

"What is it?"

"Look at the name of the author for the second book." Ron looked and shrugged.

"Tomas O'Reily, so?" Fred and George stuck their heads in the doorframe.

"Have you two seen the author of the book for CoMC?" George asked. Harry nodded, while Ron just looked clueless.

"What's the big deal about the bloke who wrote the ruddy book?!" he asked indignantly. Fred and George shook their heads sadly, and came over to Ron, sandwiching him between them and slinging their arms around his shoulders.

"It's really quite simple Ronnykins," Fred said.

"You remember the conversation we had at dinner when Harry arrived?" George continued. Ron nodded for a moment, still not getting it. The twins released simultaneous, long-suffering sighs, while Harry was trying his hardest not to laugh. "What was the name of the wizard Dumbledore asked to teach DADA?" George asked, as if explaining something to a very small, stupid child. Ron thought for a minute, before brightening.

"Oh yes, that's right! His name was O'Reily, just like the bloke that wrote the book." He stopped and thought for a minute. "But why on earth would Hagrid choose it for CoMC? Do you think he knows the fellow?" Harry tapped the parchment still in his hands with a finger, more specifically, he tapped the word dragon. Ron smiled sheepishly. "Oh yeah." It was common knowledge that the Hogwarts groundskeeper had an absolute obsession with anything to do with dragons.

After the twins had left, Harry produced the reply from Sirius, and opened it. Ron looked over his shoulder. "What's it say?" he asked. Harry read it out loud.

"Dear H. You don't need to worry about me. I'm sure that my Marauding skills are as sharp as ever, so I'll see you at school; Padfoot." Harry looked up at Ron, a worried look in his eyes. "I get the feeling that he's coming anyway, American wizard or no American wizard." Ron nodded and patted his friend on the back.

"Relax Harry, like he said, he's a Marauder. He should be able to avoid anything that that O'Reily bloke can cook up." Harry nodded, hoping that his friend was right.

The rest of vacation passed quickly enough, with Fred and George staying in their room, except for business concerning their joke shop, concocting and either approving or discarding plans to be put into action when they got to Hogwarts. Harry helped Ron with his chores around the house, and both he and Ron talked to Charlie about what it was like in Romania with the dragons. They had been thrilled to find out that Norbert was not only doing great; but had also found a mate and the happy couple was expecting their first clutch within a month or so.

The trip to Diagon Alley was fairly uneventful, for several reasons. The first being that Fred and George slipped off without noticed by their mother, in order to check on the progress of the shop they had purchased and were setting up when they could, Harry assumed. Also, Hermione was unable to meet them, since her parents had been forced to attend a seminar on bridgework, so she had no way to get to the alley on that particular day. The final reason was that everyone seemed to be preoccupied with the newest issue of "The Daily Prophet". Harry and Ron glanced at one of the headlines on the paper an old couple were discussing, heads buried in the pages, then looked at each other, shocked.

The headline read –American Wizard to Teach at Hogwarts. Dumbledore Recruiting Foreign Muscle to Aid in Government Coup?- The picture accompanying the headline wasn't much really, the only thing that could be seen was what looked like a giant fist, nearly filling the entire space of the photo. The fist never seemed to move, as if it were a muggle picture, but if Harry looked hard enough he could see it quiver a bit. Harry scooped up an abandoned copy up off the street and read the caption under the picture. It read –We of the Daily Prophet's American division attempted to contact Shawn O'Reily for comment, but the only thing he said was "Get the fk out of my house or I'll turn you inside out!"- Harry smiled wryly as he passed the paper to Ron. For once The Boy Who Lived wasn't the top story. And to tell the truth, he felt pretty damn good about it!

When they got back from the Alley, Ron and Harry began to pack for tomorrow, when they would be going to King's Cross. "What do you think this O'Reily fellow is really like Harry?" Ron asked as he attempted to find his last pair of socks. Harry shrugged as he secured his broom care kit and Firebolt to the inside of the lid of his trunk.

"I dunno Ron. Judging from that paper, he doesn't seem to be the type to tolerate anyone like Rita Skeeter, so he must not be all that bad." Both Harry and Ron smirked as they imagined what would befall the nosey, lying reporter if she met the as yet unknown American. Judging from the picture and caption, she wouldn't have had time to snap open her bag and grab her "Quick-Quotes Quills" before being thrown out of his house, bodily.

The next morning was pure chaos as the entire present Weasly clan rushed to get ready to go. Ron and Harry were the only ones who were the least bit calm, having had the foresight (for once) to pack ahead of time.. Eventually they made it to King's Cross and through to platform 9 ¾. Once there, they spotted a familiar bushy head of hair in the throng of students and parents. "HERMIONE!!!" the duo shouted in unison, rushing to embrace their friend. The bushy-haired girl laughed fondly as she greeted her two best friends, giving both of them hugs. "Congratulations Hermione," Harry said, noticing the prefect badge she had pinned on her shirt. Ron nodded energetically.

"Yeah, you really deserved this!" Hermione opened her mouth to answer, but whatever she was about to say was drowned out by the warning whistle of the Hogwarts Express.

"Better get going, the train's about to leave!" she exclaimed, grabbing her trolley, with Crookshank's whicker cage perched on top of it, emitting hisses and yowls the entire time, and hustled towards the prefect car. "We'll catch up once we get to Hogwarts!" she shouted over her shoulder. Harry and Ron headed towards the last car on the train with Hedwig and Pig riding on top of their trolleys in their own cages. Ginny quietly trailed behind the duo. After they had finished loading up their trunks, Ron and Harry settled in to their compartment. It was fairly empty, only Harry, Ginny and Ron were in it. Suddenly, the door was nudged open, and Neville Longbottom peered in. "'Lo Neville, lose Trevor again?" Harry asked from his seat, not looking up from the copy of "Brooms Monthly" he was leafing through.

"Uh-huh," the rotund Gryffindor nodded. The sound of croaking from under Ginny's seat diverted attention to the youngest Weasly. She got up and crouched down on the floor of the compartment, reached under the seat, and then pulled her hand out; Trevor the toad sitting complacently in the middle of her small palm. She handed him over to Neville, who beamed brightly. "Thanks Ginny!" With that he headed back towards his own compartment.

Time passed slowly on the train, and soon the kindly witch with the snack trolley had come and gone, when the door slid open once more. Harry looked up from his pumpkin pastie, and Ron looked up from his newest set of Famous Wizards trading cards to see their most hated enemy standing in the doorway. Draco Malfoy crossed his arms and directed his patented scowl at the occupants of the compartment. Harry and Ron blinked as they realized that Malfoy's two 'bodyguards', Crabbe and Goyle were missing from their usual places behind Malfoy. "Oy Malfoy," Ron said, "Where's the muscle squad?" Draco ignored the comment and looked directly at Harry.

"Potter," he drawled, "I need to talk to you," he glanced around the room, "In private." Ginny scowled at the Slytherin, her hand resting noticeably near her wand.

"Whatever you need to say, you can say it in front of all of us!" she declared. Ron nodded, backing his little sister up. Malfoy looked at her, and for a split second his eyes didn't seem to be so icy. But then the second was over and he glared full force at the Weasly siblings. He turned and looked at Harry.

"I will only say this once," he said slowly and deliberately, "Potter, I need to talk to you in private, please!" Everyone in the compartment gaped at him.

"Who are you and what have you done with Malfoy?" Ron managed to ask. Malfoy ignored him and continued.

"If any of you breathe even a single word of this to anyone, I will kill you in your sleep." Ron and Harry both relaxed.

"He's definitely Malfoy," Ginny noted. Harry looked at Draco and nodded; his face a little grim.

"Five minutes Malfoy," he said in a crisp voice. Ron looked at Harry, surprise and questions in his eyes. "Relax Ron, if he tries anything I'll give a yell." Ron nodded, satisfied with that, and gently herded Ginny from the compartment. Harry looked at Draco. "Five minutes, not a second more Malfoy." Draco quirked an eyebrow at the business-like tone Harry had adopted, but sat down across from him nonetheless.

"What I want is quite simple Potter. I want a truce." Harry stared at Draco as if he had just said that the boy was madly in lust with him.

"A truce?" he asked; more than a bit puzzled. Draco sneered.

"Is there an echo in here? Yes, a truce, a cease-fire, a cessation of hostilities between your little group and myself." Harry, still looking puzzled, said only one word.

"Why?" Draco sighed, this was obviously going to be like attempting to explain quantum physics to a lab rat.

"Because Potter, something powerful is coming, something that both you and I are caught up in." Harry's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"What are you going on about?" In reply, Draco reached inside his Hogwarts robes and pulled out a pendant. It was a perfect circle of some sort of dark rock. Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise as he looked at it.

"I received this nearly two weeks ago," Draco paused, as if still not quite believing what he was about to say. "I received it in a dream, from a creature calling it-self Mountain Lion. Near the end of the dream, he was joined by another, this one calling himself Coyote. He mentioned you, and before that Mountain Lion said that my rival was among those chosen for whatever we've been chosen to do." Harry nodded, and brought out his own amulet from under his blazer. Draco raised an eyebrow at the golden disc, then snorted. "It figures. After all, you are the golden boy of Hogwarts." Harry frowned, and would have retorted, except that the air suddenly seemed drained of all warmth. Harry was beginning to shiver uncontrollably, just as Ron and Ginny burst into the room, Hermione hot on their heels.

"HARRY! DEMENTORS!" was all Ron managed to yell before slamming the compartment shut and performing a locking charm on it. Harry and Draco had both slipped their pendants back under their clothes when his friends had burst in, and suddenly Harry felt warm again, almost as soon as the amulet touched his skin. He looked quizzically at Hermione.

"Dementors are attacking the train Harry," she explained in a rather breathless voice. Ginny, who had remained quite, suddenly let out a small 'eep', and pointed to the window. The other occupants of the compartment looked in the direction she was pointing, and immediately recoiled. A Dementor was floating outside the window, easily keeping pace with the speeding train. Cries from up and down the car confirmed that they were everywhere, leering eyelessly from the outside. It reached up with one scabrous hand, and raked its dirty, broken fingernails across the glass. Harry could almost feel the evil intent coming from the thing. Suddenly, from outside the train there came what sounded like twin roars, so loud and deep that they shook the windows in their casings. Suddenly harry and Draco looked up as another set of roars sounded, seeming to hear words within them. Words that formed the sentences, "Lock and load brother!" and "Aye-aye mon capitan!"

The Dementor outside the window was gone as suddenly as it came, seeming to implode as a beam of pure darkness touched it. Everyone in the car could only stare in shock, not able to move or make a sound. However, it was replaced by yet another. This one met a similar fate, but instead of darkness, a powerful beam of light struck it, disintegrating the foul creature on the spot, accompanied by a loud 'bang', just like the first one's demise had been. This continued for about two more minutes, until, finally, no more 'bangs' or shouting could be heard from the rest of the train.

As the last noise died away, a flash of gleaming black, followed by a flash of silver streaked their way past the train as it crossed a bridge high over a river. Harry and Draco would later swear that hey had seen eyes, one icy blue, and the other vibrant green wink at them as they passed.

And then they were gone, and the train was pulling in to Hogwarts

---To Be Continued---

Heh, not bad, not bad at all. Next time, The mysterious Mr. O'Reily makes his appearance, and the saviors of the Hogwarts express are revealed. And an unexpected, and untrustworthy guest in the castle is introduced, someone that we all love to hate. I'll let you all guess as to who it is, so until next time Read & Review.