A/N This was a hard chapter to write - so I hope you like it. I will be going on vacation this Saturday, but not to worry - vacation doesn't mean I won't be working on my story. And luckily my vacation consists of several small vacations, so I will be able to come home and update in between the vacationing. I'm hoping for an update around Wednesday or Thursday next week.

Chapter 3: The Voice in the Wind

Harry soared into the sky, enjoying the feeling of freedom and the way the wind toyed with his robes. Here, he was just Harry. Not The Boy Who Lived, not The Boy Who Defeated Voldemort or whatever else they called him these days.

After having circled the pitch for some time, he turned and flew over the lake. There were small waves on the surface so he could not see his own reflection. He flew close to the surface when a tentacle suddenly reached up for him. Preferring not to play tag with the Giant Squid, he ascended out of its reach.

He could hardly understand it. Ever since he had started at Hogwarts, he had been hunted and, though most of the time unknowingly, he had carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. But now he had fulfilled the prophecy and he hoped that perhaps life would be a bit more normal now. Turning away from the lake, he flew over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest, taking in the scent of wet pine needles. The air was moist and the approaching winter could be felt in the chilly wind.

All of a sudden, the wind died.

Surprised, Harry stopped his broom and hovered over the forest. Then, a gush of wind started blowing from a completely different direction, nearly knocking him off the broom. The wind played with the treetops as Harry regained his balance. Then he heard something...

There was a whisper in the wind... Harry strained his ears to hear what it said. It was a soothing female voice, sounding much like an old lady. The words grew clearer. It was slowly and repeatedly whispering his name as the force of the voice grew until he could easily hear the words. Then it became quiet for a moment as if to insure his attention before continuing.

Completely defeated was Serpent by Lion

Reward must be treated to Gryffindor's scion

Pain and love let you win in the end

One over other will you need to mend

And act of pure heart our powers invoked

Our gift is this: Serpent's bites are revoked.

The voice faded into the wind and everything was quiet. Again, the wind died down and then returned from the direction it had originally come from.

Puzzled, Harry hovered above the forest for a little while longer, then turned and sped back to the school.

As he flew he thought about what he had heard.

Had he even heard anything? Was his mind playing a trick on him? Was it a prophecy? Merlin, please not another prophecy; He just got rid of the other one! He was fairly sure it was about himself and Voldemort - but what was that about a reward and serpent's bites? Should he tell Dumbledore what had happened?

Hermione's voice tuned into his head. "Even in the Wizarding World hearing voices isn't a good sign."

But I wasn't crazy then, he mentally argued back.

You've been through a lot lately. People will think that you have finally cracked. Wait... See if anything else happens. If nothing happens, then no-one will need to know. If something does happen, you can talk to Dumbledore. Yes, that was it. For the time being, he was not going to tell anyone of his experience.

A few days later, there was a press conference in the Great Hall. Harry had insisted on waiting until Hermione was discharged as he had asked Ron, Hermione and Ginny to join him in facing the reporters. Hermione had only been discharged half an hour before and Dumbledore had been talking to her, so she had not really had a chance to talk to her friends. Now, they were waiting in the back room where the Triwizard Tournament Champions had been taken two years earlier. Out in the Great Hall they could hear Dumbledore asking for order before presenting them.

Harry was the first to enter the Great Hall and he was nearly blinded by all the camera flashes that went off the instant he opened the door. His friends followed him and they stood next to each other in front of the reporters. Harry and Ron stood in the middle with Hermione on Ron's side and Ginny on Harry's.

"Mr. Potter! Is it true that you cast the Torture curse on You-Know-Who?"

"Harry, did you really face You-Know-Who all alone?"

"Harry! Look over here please!"

The reporters' questions filled the Hall.

"Listen..." Harry said loudly. "Here's how we will do this: I will tell my version of the battle, you will listen and let me finish before asking any questions."

The Great Hall became rather quiet then as the reporters settled to listen to what Harry said. The doors to the Great Hall were crowded with curious students.

"These are my friends, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley." Harry began, ignoring the confused looks of the reporters. "Without them I had not been able to kill Voldemort. They stood by me in battle and covered my back so I did not have to worry about death eaters too. They deserve the title as hero much more than I do. I was born to this destiny - they chose it themselves."

The reporters blinked for a moment as silence filled the Hall. Then they began furiously taking pictures and Harry told of the attack and how they had been surrounded, leading to his duel with Voldemort and ultimately how Harry had won.

When he finished his story, the reporters began firing questions at all four of them. One question in particular caught Harry's interest.

"Miss Granger, what was that shield you conjured?" A young man from the Daily Prophet asked.

Hermione looked a bit overwhelmed at the attention, but quickly recovered.

"It was not a shield per se." She explained. "It was a ward. Being muggleborn I have no family wards and with things as they were I wanted to be prepared for a possible emergency. So I studied some books on ancient magic and found a way to make a ward of my own."

The reporters continued asking questions for a while, but when they began to move away from the subject, Harry ended the conference. The next morning the headline read:

Harry Potter credits friends for defeating Voldemort

The four friends read the article and concluded that the reporters for once had not twisted the story.

As Harry shovelled eggs onto his plate, Hermione leafed through the newspaper.

"That's strange." She commented. "Listen to this:"

Mystery Muggle Baffles Aurors and Muggle Police

Yesterday afternoon, an old muggle man walked into a police station (similar to our aurors) and reported that he had been attacked and possibly kidnapped. The man, Frank Bryce, works as a caretaker for an old house and upon inspecting a "strange light", he was attacked by a man who, in Mr. Bryce's own words, "shot green light at him". The man claims that this is the last thing he remembers before waking up in said house. He claims he must have been kidnapped as the attack took place more than a year ago. The curious part is that there is no known curse with such properties and there is only one curse which produces a green light - and Mr. Bryce would certainly not wake up after being hit by that.

As Hermione read the last sentence, Harry choked on his eggs. When he had finished coughing and spluttering he lowered his voice so only his friends could hear what he said.

"That sounds like an old man I saw Voldemort kill in a vision at the beginning of fourth year. It fits the time too..."

"Come on, Harry - all that's over... He's probably just some nutter who made up a good story." Ron insured him.

However, Harry could not shake the uneasy feeling. The words of the whispers in the wind kept echoing in his head. Serpent's bites are revoked.

"I'm going to see Dumbledore..." He announced as he got up from the table, abandoning his half eaten eggs.

After finally guessing the password to Dumbledore's office, Harry raced up the stairs. In his hurry he forgot to knock and simply barged into the room.

Dumbledore was sitting at his desk and looked unsurprised.

"Harry?"

"Sorry, Sir..." said Harry. "I have to talk to you."

Dumbledore merely raised his eyebrows and indicated for Harry to take a seat.

"Well..." Harry continued. "the other day after we had talked, I went for a fly. I flew over the forest, but then all of a sudden there was a voice in the wind. It said something... I don't remember the exact words, but it said something about me killing Voldemort and something about a reward."

"I see..." Dumbledore nodded, looking as if in a way he had expected this. Then he got up and walked over to a cupboard and retrieved his pensieve. "Perhaps you will let me view this experience?"

Harry agreed and allowed Dumbledore to extract the memory. Then Dumbledore dived into the memory and Harry waited.

Finally, about 5 minutes later, Dumbledore re-emerged looking decisive. He sat down again.

"Tell me, Harry, if you were to look in the Mirror of Erised today, would the reflection have changed?"

"I don't think so, Sir." Harry replied, puzzled by the question.

"Harry, I do not know if you are aware of it, but I, myself, defeated a dark wizard in my younger days." Dumbledore said. "And I, myself, had a similar experience afterwards. Have you ever heard of the Superi?"

Harry shook his head no.

"The Superi are magical forces of nature. They control everything that we humans think of as nature laws."

"Like gods, Sir?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore chuckled slightly. "No, not exactly gods, Harry... though I believe some muggles use that term. The Superi are nature spirits... Under normal circumstances they keep to themselves, but once in a while they take action and it seems that they have decided to reward you for your accomplishments.

"How so?" Harry wondered.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled noticably. "I do not wish to get your hopes up in vain... though..."

"For once, tell me..." Harry urged. He had been kept in the dark so often before. At least this time he should be told. "A reward would be something good - right?"

Dumbledore sighed. "Very well... I cannot be sure Harry... but I think the Superi are bringing the people Voldemort has personally killed back to life."

Harry heard his pulse thundering in his ears and he let out a laugh. He felt a sudden need to sing, to dance and to shout out the windows. His face grew hotter, then suddenly the feeling evaporated.

"Don't get carried away there, Harry." Dumbledore said. He had performed some charm on Harry.

"Emotional overdrive can be quite dangerous. I have put a calming charm on you. It will last until tomorrow. I am aware that it is only just after breakfast, but I think you will find sleeping much needed. And tomorrow morning, I will know more."

Harry did not find this odd at all. In fact, he was feeling rather content and indifferent to everything around him. As he opened the door to leave, Tonks' head appeared in Dumbledore's fireplace.

"Albus, Cedric Diggory has been found wandering around a muggle town. He's in St. Mungos."

Harry did not think there was anything unusual about the statement. Tonks might as well have said that Dumbledore's new cauldron had arrived. And so Harry closed the door behind him and headed back to Gryffindor tower to sleep as Dumbledore had told him to.

A/N That was all the explaining - next chapter you'll meet Lily, James and some other characters whose identities will be a surprise a little longer.