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So far...It's the hot summer of 1995. Harry briefly met his future self and wife who gave him instructions on how to deal with the Prophecy and urged him to seek help from his friends. Only Ginny responded and has led him to Luna's home. Now read on...

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Chapter 3

Preparing

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Wishes

A sense of being trapped and a longing to escape drew Harry onward down a windowless corridor ending in a black door. Somehow he knew it would be locked. It was always locked. But if he could just–

The sound of knocking awoke Harry from his recurring nightmare the next morning. At least the dreams were bearable now his future self had explained them. Sun was streaming in through two of the parlour windows illuminating the bright blue fabric of the settee upon which he was sprawled. Rising quickly, he stretched his stiff limbs and listened to the voices from downstairs.

"Neville! You're early!" That sounded like Ginny's voice. "This is Luna. Harry's not up yet."

Rubbing his bleary eyes, Harry listened to their greetings then the smell of sausages cooking roused him to dress and make his descent.

"Hello, Harry," said Neville, uncertainly. "I wanted to come right away when I heard, but Gran said it could wait till this morning. She said what's in the Daily Prophet is rubbish. She's cancelled our subscription. We believe you about You-know-who being back."

"We do too," said Luna, very positively.

A surge of emotion gripped Harry for a few seconds, and he pretended to rub sleep out of his eyes as he looked around at the strange gathering of new companions.

Ginny seemed to misunderstand his gaze. "I've only told him what was in your message, Harry - that it's kind of an emergency project. It was obvious it must be about You-know-who."

"Uuh, right. Perhaps we–"

"We should eat our Plimpies first," said Luna, firmly, heading for the stove, "then we can discuss details with clear heads. I'll brew a nice pot of tea."

Ginny grinned at Harry. "They're fried fishcakes – but we've got sausages and bacon and toast as well."

The Lovegood's big old kettle had to be hovered to the sink to be filled. Harry looked over Luna's shoulder out one of the sunny back windows. "Why have you got a well out there if water's on tap? And how can you have a well at the top of a hill?"

"Oh, Daddy made it. He used to have to walk all the way down the back of the hill to the old well then one of Mrs Wiggley's elequants fell down it so–"

"Her what? You mean 'elephants'? Don't tell me your neighbour keeps a herd of elephants in the next field!"

Luna's laughter rang out and an echo tinkled back from the well. "Don't be silly, Harry, elephants can't talk!"

There were tears of merriment in her eyes as she swerved Harry over to another back window and pointed down the hill towards a mass of scruffy foliage. "Oh, no you can't see the old well anymore because it's overgrown with bogweed now, but anyway Daddy capped the old shaft off because Mrs Wiggley was mighty annoyed and told her elequants to gossip and poop noisily every day beside it, so Daddy made this new well up near the house."

Harry blinked in confusion. Not far behind him he could hear Neville and Ginny giggling together.

"But still... I mean... you can't just have a well on top of a hill, can you?"

"Of course you can. What goes down must come up – everyone knows that. He used a spell to divert the underground water so it flowed up and around the south slope instead of towards the original well. The water comes out from the ground at the foot of the west side – that's the stream you passed when you arrived."

"Ah, right. But why bother with a well when you have an indoor tap?" Harry craned his neck forward and could see a big brass pipe from the new well to the house.

"Why, because it's pretty, don't you think? Anyway, it's a wishing well. Oh, would you like to make a wish!" Luna left the kettle in the sink and pulled Harry to the back door. "Hey, everyone, we're all going to make wishes!"

They gathered outside. Neville tripped over the brass pipe, grabbed awkwardly at the well handle and ended up leaning dizzily out over the well shaft. Ginny took his arm to draw him steadily back and grinned. "You nearly did an elequant then, Nev."

"It's the Wrackspurts," Luna said serenely. "They slip in through your ears and make your brain go fuzzy if you lean over a steep drop."

"It's beautiful," said Harry, now he could examine the well close up. The creamy stone blocks set off the surrounding greenery while purple clematis smothered the wooden struts as if supporting the pretty, red-tiled roof with blossoms that spread a heady fragrance.

"I wish I had a well like this in our garden," said Neville.

"Good wish!" cried Luna. "Throw in a Sickle quickly. I wish for..." She closed her eyes, fell silent, then threw in her own coin. "Harry."

"Me?" mused Harry. The sunlit scene had a dreamy, soporific quality, and he'd still not quite woken up.

"She means it's your turn," said Ginny.

"Ah, right. Erm..." He frowned. "Uuh... world peace?" He only had a Knut in his pocket so in it went.

"I know what I wish for with all my heart," said Ginny, staring hard at Harry's face. She dropped in an entire golden Galleon.

"Ginny!" cried Harry. He knew she could ill afford it.

"It's really important," the girl replied, and swept Neville back into the house.

"What was that all about?" Harry muttered aloud to himself, watching her go.

"It must be true love," murmured Luna, startling Harry who'd forgotten she was behind him.

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The Monstrous Book of Nonsense

While they ate, Harry noticed Ginny was in deep, whispered conversation with Neville about something or other. He seemed to be squirming a little. Maybe he was having second thoughts and she was still trying to convince him. It was impossible for Harry to imagine Neville duelling a Death Eater in a few weeks' time. The whole idea of these three kids being at his side dying like Cedric had was repugnant and unacceptable. Grimacing, Harry looked away and saw Luna was studying his own face with her head tilted on one side.

Quickly, he blurted out to everyone, "I can't pretend it won't be dangerous. So you need to give it a lot of thought. No shame in backing out before it's too late. In fact you should. You haven't a clue how bad it will be, and I don't want to see anyone else die."

"But then what would you do?" said Luna.

Harry had no answer to that and stabbed at his last piece of bacon instead.

"Would you run away as well as us?" persisted Luna.

"Can't." Harry decided to pour himself another cup of tea.

Ginny looked across then. "Why not?"

"Uuh, I mean..." Everyone's eyes were now on him. "Well, there's a sort of prophecy thing."

Luna clattered her knife and fork onto her finished plate and clapped her hands high. "I knew it was fate!"

"Yes, well... it's not that clearcut. Don't think everything will just fall into place. Nothing is guaranteed."

"What does the prophecy say exactly, Harry?" said Neville.

"Well... I can't remember it word for word, but it's me or him – Voldemort, I mean."

"Who told you that?" said Ginny.

Harry shrugged. How could he tell them? "Not important."

"But you've been planning this, right?" said Neville with a puzzled frown.

"Erm..."

"Harry," said Ginny, "if we're all going to risk our lives, we deserve to know everything, don't we?"

Looking round at the three of them: Ginny, still very young; Neville who often forgot to tie his shoelaces then tripped over them; and a dotty girl with vegetables in her ears, the truth was, Harry had not really believed this was actually going to happen with them. But then, who else? Maybe it was fate the four of them had come together. His future self must have known but hadn't said specifically who his friends would be. He'd assumed–

"Harry?" said Ginny.

"Huh... yeah..." He reached down to his backpack which, considering its deadly contents, he always kept close. "This is what the prophecy says."

He read it out to them, finishing with, "and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives. So, you see it's not cut and dried. He might kill me – might kill us all."

Luna laughed. "Well, that would be a silly kind of prophecy then wouldn't it?"

Harry stared at her dumbly.

"I've got The Monstrous Book of Nonsense upstairs with illustrations," the girl continued. "One of my favourite stories is about a wicked dragon that terrorises a village and lots of brave knights come to joust the beast but they all get killed. The villagers turn to a sorcerer who lives in the nearby hills. He'd had a vision that a particularly brave knight wearing silver armour would arrive within seven sunsets and use his magic sword on the creature. Hooray! cried the villagers, are we then saved at last? But the wizard said, no, the knight gets killed like all the others."

Harry shook his head trying to think it through.

Luna said, "You-know-who has killed plenty of people so why should anyone foretell another of the same? Wouldn't that be nonsense like my story?"

Ginny's mouth was open wide. "You're right! She's right, Harry. Think about it. It would be a really dumb prophecy to predict You-know-who kills someone again. Even I could predict that! It only makes sense if–"

"–if I defeat him!" Harry slapped the table with his hand. "And it's already happened!"

"What?" frowned Neville.

"Uuh, I mean, it could go wrong but at least I know it can be done because..." He delved down into his bag again for another sheet of the message which he then re-read silently.

After a while, Neville spoke up. "Cards on the table, Harry. Ginny's right, we deserve to know everything if we might get killed. Who's that from?"

Harry looked up thoughtfully. "Me. It's from me."

More silence.

"We're not turning back, Harry," said Neville, firmly. "We're all in this now so you have to tell us everything."

Looking round at their expectant faces, and thinking how rapidly everything had happened since only late yesterday afternoon, Harry came to a decision. "It's from myself years in the future."

Ginny gasped. "Impossible. Time-turner's can only–"

"It wasn't a Time-turner, Ginny. Somehow I found – or rather..." He thought for a couple of seconds trying to remember. "Or rather my Mum – I mean, my future... wife–" he glanced furtively at Ginny but carried on quickly, "–found a way to divert a Floo back through time. Makes sense because Floo travel bypasses space so where else does it go but through time? But they said they can only work it once very briefly so–"

"You grow up and become married – how adorable!" cried Luna. "I always wanted you to be happy and not get killed!"

"Erm... thanks, Luna, but there's no guarantee I will, only that it's possible."

"Who do you marry?" smiled Ginny. "Is she pretty?"

"Uuh, mmm... it was dark and – oh yeah, they gave me this..."

With a flourish, he pulled out the carrier bag.

"Oh, wow!" said Ginny, dryly. "Muggle groceries!"

"I've always loved carrier bags," said Luna. "Might I have that when you've finished with it?"

"Sure, knock yourself out," said Harry, tipping out the contents and passing the Aldi bag to Luna who grabbed it eagerly and began swatting it over her head.

"Now some of this stuff is lethal so pay attention. The KitKat is deadly – and I don't just mean eating it. You need only get some on your skin."

Neville and Luna frowned in sarcastic disbelief but Luna said, "Oh, that is so messy when chocolate melts in your hand. We use a spell so it always–"

"Yeah, " interrupted Harry, impatient with the cavalier attitude that everyone was displaying. "Well in this case your hand would probably melt in the chocolate – don't touch it no matter what!"

"What's that?" said Neville pointing to the bean can with the biscuit tin jammed on top like a lid.

"Silent weapon. It's–"

Ginny giggled and reached for the can. "Yeah, Dean told me all about Muggle baked beans."

Harry jumped up. "I'm serious, Ginny! There's a basilisk eyeball in there so be careful!"

Ginny's fingers sprang back as if she'd touched a hot flame. Jaws dropped and they all sobered up then.

"I can't believe you've got the eye of a basilisk after all that happened in my first year!" cried Ginny.

"There's a lot of things you're not going to believe before we're done – all of you," said Harry, sinking down with a rather dismal expression.

"So what's in that other can?" asked Neville.

"Snake tears. Nearer the day, we'll pour that in to activate the eye."

"It must have cried an awful lot," said Luna, sadly.

"And those?" said Ginny, pointing to the transparent films laying in the biscuit lid.

"Snake eyelids. We'll use those to cover the eye to keep in the teardrops and also so it only petrifies not kills – that's what the dark one's for, see it?"

"Why not use a mirror like Hermione did in second year?" said Neville.

"Uuh, because then we'd need a more complicated arrangement, I guess, and light might reflect off a mirror and reveal where it's – but that reminds me." He dug down into his backpack and pulled out the four mirrors his future self had given him and handed them out.

"Oh, Luna," giggled Ginny, puckering her lips theatrically as she examined her reflection in the looking glass, "do you think I need an eensy-meensy smidgen more rouge in my cheeks?"

"No, these are for–" began Harry, hotly.

"Yes and a little glint on your lashes would be – oh, I'm looking at you!"

"Me too! Your nose is shiny! We'll have to make up each other!"

"But what about Neville?"

"There he is! His lips need touching up but otherwise they are very nice!"

"Does this mean you'll have to brush my hair or can we still use the bathroom one as well?" frowned Neville.

"–communicating with each other," Harry finished, rolling his eyes.

He opened the crisp packet next and tipped out the badges. "There's one each. Which name do you want?"

There was a scrabble.

"Marylin – what a lovely name!" cried Luna.

"Bagsy Madonna." Ginny pinned the badge onto her top.

"Which do you want, Neville?" said Harry, dryly.

"Uuh... would it be alright if I'm... Mr Starr?" he said hopefully.

"Sure. I'll be Elvis then."

Reverently, Neville picked up his badge. "Mr Starr... wow!" He ran his fingers over the name, looking round at everyone else's. "Who are they? What they for, Harry?"

"They're just for visitors to the Ministry. Officially we'll be there on a careers advice trip. We'll only be visible briefly but someone might notice if we're not wearing badges because we obviously don't work there."

"These are lovely secrets!" cried Luna, eyes darting over all the packets. "What's inside that KP one? They look like dried Flobberworm droppings, I think."

Harry's mouth firmed impatiently. "Ignore those – they're only salted peanuts, let's..." Everyone was gawping at him to explain further. He sighed. "Right. Fine! Try them. Maybe they'll straighten you out." Harry pushed the pack to Ginny.

"I'll Pass," she said with a wince.

"Pass," shuddered Neville, shoving them over to Luna.

Luna tipped a few out into her hand then transferred one to her mouth. "How do they work? What do they do? Do they make you hear things?" she crunched.

"Do? They're just nuts!"

A couple of seconds passed. Harry let out a sudden roar of frustration. He pushed himself up and turned irritably away from the table, knocking his chair over as he did so. "Look, none of you really get it yet, do you! You all think this is some exciting adventure game! You've no idea what it's really like to face Death Eaters!"

Keeping his back to them, he stared out through the open window. A scarecrow – arms spread wide and robes like a sail – turned Harry's way in a new breeze that had sprung up out of nothing. He felt the air's coolness on his face. It relieved the humidity but not his hot temper.

Ron and Hermione had taken risks with him in first year, he pondered. Ron had even been knocked unconscious but they'd been too young to realise how close to dying they were. In second year Ron would have died for sure if the rockfall hadn't stopped him proceeding with Harry to fight the basilisk – Hermione too, if she hadn't been petrified. Always it had been Harry facing the worst danger alone and escaping by sheer luck. That's how it had been in fourth year too: Cedric, a skillful seventh year, had been despatched as casually and thoughtlessly as stepping on a bug. These naïve misfits with him now were all going to die, he just knew it: bumbling, stumbling Neville; kooky and quirky oddball Luna; and a starstruck Ginny dazzled by the apparent invulnerability of the Boy-who-lived. How had he got himself into this? The plan already carried out by his future self needed three friends. He couldn't take them to their deaths, but neither could he proceed without them – there was no one else.

The awkward silence behind him was broken by fidgeting and scraping of chairs on the floor.

"Then tell us, Harry," came Neville's voice.

"Tell you what?" Harry said, half over his shoulder.

"You said we don't know what it's like. So teach us."

Harry's shoulders sank in resignation and he rejoined the others at the table. They sat down again and waited.

"There's a record of the Prophecy at the Ministry, and Voldemort – his real name's Riddle – wants it badly," he began, then hesitated. "There's some kind of connection between me and Riddle – ever since he gave me this." He pointed at the scar on his forehead.

"A connection?" said Neville.

"Yeah. It means I sometimes have bad dreams – sort of glimpses into his thinking."

"What!" cried Neville, "but that means– what does that mean?"

"They're only fragments when he's excited or upset. But the main thing is, he knows this and is deliberately giving me feelings about the Prophecy room at the Ministry to lure me there."

"It's a trap," said Luna firmly.

"Yes, but more than that. Riddle doesn't want the public or Fudge to know he's back until he's stronger, so he's reluctant to go and get the Prophecy himself in case he's seen. My plan is to go months earlier and let someone at the Ministry overhear that I'm about to take the Prophecy – so Voldemort won't have time to do anything but rush there himself with Bellatrix. Lucius will be the one already at the Ministry. We'll turn Voldemort's trap upon himself."

"So you can stop him getting the Prophecy?" said Ginny.

"No, I intend to let him take the Prophecy from me. That will be his downfall." He held up the KitKat while looking at them all very meaningfully.

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No Chance

For the next few days, Harry was busy showing the other three how to cast the stunning spell which he'd learned for the final task in the Tri-wizard Tournament. The charm was just as effective as the killing curse except it could be blocked by a shield spell if the victim saw it coming. The plan was not to let the enemy see it coming.

Harry was taking no chances. They were practising on the scarecrow as a target dummy in the garden. As well as the unpredictable wind, Harry also turned the target randomly using a weak summoning charm on either of its outstretched arms. The drill was to shoot the dummy in the back without being seen. If the scarecrow turned enough for the caster to see the corner of its eyes before the charm hit then they were failed and had to try again. Multiple hits were a bonus.

The casters hid behind a high row of seed tray shelving so had some degree of movement left and right to avoid the 'gaze' of the dummy.

"Don't expect to take on Lucius or Bellatrix in a fair duel – you'll lose. Our one chance is surprise," cautioned Harry. "You'll all be in shadow, waiting for the signal. Don't be noble. Don't shout or challenge them. Neville, just hit Bella right in the back as we've been practising. Ignore everything else. Repeat as many hits as you can so at least one should strike home. Ginny, you do the same with Lucius."

"My pleasure," growled Ginny.

"What's the signal, Harry?" said Neville.

"Either Voldemort squealing like a scared pig or else shouting the killing curse at you. Remember, if he tries to kill you, what do you do?"

"Stupefy him first?" said Neville.

Harry groaned. "No, you still stun your target which is...?"

"Bellatrix!"

"Right. Don't forget. Your instinct will be to fight back or run but you must focus on your target. Luna and I will take care of Voldemort."

"What happens if you can't?" said Ginny.

"Then either you die or, if you've disposed of your target, you run. There's an alley along the back of the shelves at the Ministry and an exit at either end – look where I paced out those barrels, see? With a bit of luck you'll reach your exit just after he kills you. Any questions?"

"Erm... can't we somehow reach the exit before he kills us?" asked Neville, tentatively.

"One of you might. That's the whole point. While he's killing one of you, the other one could reach their exit in the opposite direction, and escape."

Neville looked at Ginny. Ginny looked at Neville.

"Is that your grand plan, Harry?" said Ginny.

"Look, what I'm saying is, if both Luna's and my attacks on Voldemort fail then you're pretty well dead anyway because Luna and I will be. Riddle is death on legs. Running in two directions in dark shadow gives you at least a tiny chance one of you can get up to the busy public atrium. Ignoring your targets and running won't help because then there'll be three after you and you both die. Don't worry, we're going to rehearse this over and over."

"What, dying?" Neville muttered nervously to Ginny.

"But why am I practising this spell?" said Luna.

"Backup, extra firepower, and self-defence for anything unforeseen. Once you've petrified Voldemort you can go after either of the targets if they're still standing – and so will I. With luck, there'll be four of us stunning those two from different directions in the dark. Right, who wants to be Voldemort?"

"Me! Me!" cried Luna.

"Can you squeal like a dying pig?"

"Ee! Ee!" squeaked Luna.

"That's rubbish," sighed Harry. "Voldemort will be wetting himself with his worst fear, not giggling from a tickling spell. You do realise that Neville and Ginny are going to be crouching in the dark, also frightened out of their wits, probably wondering where everyone is, scared that their target isn't in perfect position, and wondering if they missed the–"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Luna's shriek was so piercing that Harry's scar was uncovered and a couple of crows sped away to the next county. "Sheesh, Luna, you scared the hell out of me!"

"Is that... good or...?"

"Good? It's BRILLIANT!"

Daily they rehearsed in different arrangements. Luna shrieked then Neville and Ginny stunned the scarecrow and raced each other for the barrels over and over until they were exhausted. The eyeball had been tipped into a bucket of water and stored in a cupboard below the kitchen sink. Luna practised uncapping the empty bean tin and had a moderate-sized melon wedged inside. Harry was Voldemort in these sessions. His scream was no match for Luna's but when he let rip, Luna opened the can. If Harry glimpsed the melon then he froze as if petrified, but it wasn't always that easy. Sometimes he contorted his face up, down, or sideways, and Luna had to stretch or twist to get into his line of sight.

By the end of week one there seemed no further room for improvement, but Harry kept urging them on to be prepared for differing situations.

"What if Bella gets in front of Voldemort?" he asked.

"I ignore her," replied Luna, serenely. "and trust Neville to drop her out of the way."

"What if Voldemort sees you before he screams?"

"He can't. I'll be under your invisibility cloak."

"If he appears to see you?"

"I keep my nerve and wait for his scream."

"Ginny, your stunner is on target but is deflected from Lucius."

"Shield charm. Continue with Stupefy until it breaks down or... as long as I can."

"Longbottom, your dumb, stupid mother deserves to be–"

"TAKE THAT BACK!" Neville advanced angrily on Harry, wand raised.

Ginny called him back. "It's Bella, he means! That's what Bella might say!"

Neville stopped then muttered sullenly, "Well, you shouldn't say things like that anyway."

"You should have stunned me after the first syllable then you'd never have heard it!" shouted Harry. "DON'T TALK – ACT! Don't get into ANY conversation with–"

"STUPEFY!"

Harry barely dodged Neville's stunning spell. "Not good enough! They won't have any cover so she can only dodge left or right. You MUST follow up your stunning spell with more of the same. Which way?"

Neville frowned. "Feint my wand arm to my left but flick the wand right at the last moment?"

Harry nodded. "Or the opposite. Practise it. Remember, we haven't a hope of fighting them on level terms. Our only chance is to train again and again for the few seconds while we remain alive. Our advantage is surprise and temporary concealment. Even so, expect them to react quickly – especially Riddle. Your targets won't be a static dummy like this scarecrow – they'll be dancing." He looked thoughtful for a few moments. "We need more practise with ourselves as live targets. Let's start over with the bandit masks and decoys."

Ginny groaned but took up her position. Each of them pulled up a scarf around their mouth to muffle their soft chants. It wasn't as good as non-verbals but with decoys producing fog and a general background hubbub, they would not give away their positions immediately.

"What are those noises, Harry?" asked Luna.

"Ginny's idea. She got them from Fred and George but they modified them for her. It's a smooth background mixture of crowds and engines and flowing water – plus the drifting fog of course. It's not loud enough to drown out shouts or Voldemort's scream but it will smother our footsteps and muffled incantations and add to the enemies' confusion. And we must begin training after dark because the Hall of Prophecy is full of shadows and very gloomy."

"Which reminds me," said Ginny. "I'll send Mum another owl saying I'm staying here a few more days, playing games in the garden with Luna."

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—oOo—

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Author's Notes

Three more chapters to go! They'll be up every two or three days so don't go away! :)

Thanks to everyone for comments and reviews. These are most welcome and very encouraging. Let me know of any weaknesses or faults – I'm always trying to improve my writing so feedback is really useful. :)

- Hippothestrowl

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