Apprentice
By danu40k
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
~ooOoo~
The train ride was again somber, since Bellatrix had been hitting many of the people's families; basically, those families who had opposed her Master.
You could almost tell who had been the ones to follow Voldemort and who hadn't, by the amount of damage and deaths that occurred.
Everyone had been following the news and wondered where the next attacks would occur.
You could see and feel the relief when everyone found out that Master Lin was once again on the train, letting them know that there was at least one adult fighter on board.
When the train came to a stop and the children got off, you could visibly see whose families had seen death by the reaction of those who could see the Thestrals.
Master Lin had had his work cut out for him as he tried to calm the students and get them on the carriages, and Master Lin knew that he would have to get the defense teacher to talk about the creatures first thing, and maybe get the Care of Magical Creatures teacher to talk about them as well.
Everyone was relieved when they made it safely to the entranceway to Hogwarts and there was almost a rush to get inside and away from the creatures pulling the carriages.
And, with the sorting finished, they happily dug into their meal.
After the meal, Dumbledore got up to make his usual announcements with the added announcement that there would be no Quidditch this year, he had had to shoot off a small boom to get everyone calmed down, and finished his announcement by telling everyone that there would be a renewal of the Tri-Wizarding Tournament and that Hogwarts would be hosting the event.
Everyone became excited over the thought of competing in the Tournament until Dumbledore told them that only seventh years could enter.
There were many boos and hiss' at that, with the twins being the most vocal about it, before Dumbledore finally got everyone quieted and headed off to their common rooms.
~ooOoo~
The days passed and everyone soon calmed down over the Thestrals as both; the defense teacher (a man named "Mad Eye" Moody) and Hagrid (The Care of Magical Creatures teacher), talked about the creatures and told everyone how harmless they were.
Hermione and Harry had joined Neville in learning Herbology from Master Lin and she was learning more things from him than she had in class since the teacher had been forced to not only go by the Ministries books, but also teaching to the lowest common denominator.
That left them taking only Transfigurations and Charms as well as Arithmacy with their fellow students.
Harry was happy to know that he didn't have to take any classes with "Mad Eye" when he heard about the things the teacher was teaching his students.
Unforgivables indeed, there were many of the wanded spells that Harry found dangerous and that he considered should be banned and not just those three, and there were several things he thought should not be banned, including the use of white magic when doing Blood Magic.
The Autumn Equinox came and went, with the trio going to the Coven to celebrate it, and Halloween was fast approaching.
Dumbledore wanted the trio, and especially Harry, to be there when the other schools arrived as well as when they choose the champions.
Master Lin and Mistress McKay would have nothing to do with his schemes and the trio headed off to the Coven the day before All Hollows Eve.
With the departure of the Potter boy, Voldemort's plans to use the boy vanished and he was forced to go to plan B.
While with the departure of the trio, Dumbledore was also forced to change his own plans as well; he knew that Moody was an imposter, since he had been friends with the man for decades. He had hoped to use the imposter to force the boy into the tournament so that he could see just what Harry was capable of, and now he had to find another way.
~ooOoo~
With the spells in place and his Master as his watchdog, Harry easily fell into his meditative state and prayed that he would finally see his parents. Like Neville, he longed to talk to them and let them know how well he was doing and how much he had learned as well as how much he still had to learn.
As midnight came, he could feel a presence and looking out with his inner eye, he saw them, both of them looked just like their pictures and he could see that they had not aged a bit from when they had their last picture, taken just before they were forced into hiding.
With them was a man who he knew was Sirius Black; Sirius had been accused of betraying and helping to kill his best friends and had been kissed before anyone could say anything.
It had taken the capture of Pettigrew for everyone to realize their mistake, and new laws had been put into place to keep it from ever happening again.
Time seemed to slow as Harry talked to his family. He told them everything he could and in return they told him things that he had wanted to know, such as what had really happened the night of their murders.
They had heard Peter at the door knocking and foolishly had opened it allowing Voldemort to enter first with Peter following.
James had set up defenses and was working hard to stop them from getting the rest of his family, telling his wife to get Harry and leave.
Lilly, unfortunately, found that Voldemort had placed wards up to stop any and all means of getting away and she too fell while trying to protect her son.
After that they could only conjecture as to what happened, and Harry fell asleep after they were gone, dreaming of green lights and his mothers screams.
Because of this, Master Lin kept the children a few extra days to make sure Harry was alright before everyone headed back to the school.
~ooOoo~
The first task came, and Harry was very happy that he wasn't competing, as the competitors were forced to go against dragons.
And, with the win by Krum, they all headed into celebrate Cedric's second place finishing
Hufflepuff was very happy that the Hogwarts Champion was one of theirs, showing that courage and knowledge COULD be found in Hufflepuff.
And there had been a party atmosphere since the cup had awarded Cedric the Champion status.
~ooOoo~
December came and with it the announcement that there would be a Christmas Ball and that everyone was encouraged to attend. Dumbledore had come right out and told Master Lin that he wanted the trio there as well, something Master Lin had to tell him "no."
He and the trio were going back to the Coven to celebrate Solstice and the holiday season and there was nothing Dumbledore could do about it.
Dumbledore again, was forced to capitulate and let the children go, and was not happy about it.
~ooOoo~
Hermione was surprised when, during the ceremony, she could see the colors and the patterns that everyone was working with and, like the other two, had been blinded by the beauty of it all.
When Tara found out that Hermione could now "SEE" she set up lessons for her and insisted that Hermione stay at the Coven for the rest of the year.
Master Lin, upon hearing this, decided that he could now teach his boys better outside of the school and pulled his boys out as well.
He had already transferred most of his and Neville's plants out of Hogwarts and it was only a small matter to get the rest.
The Wizarding World was in an uproar over The-Boy-Who-Lived no longer taking classes at Hogwarts and it was all Dumbledore could do to keep other parents from pulling their children out, thinking that the school was no longer safe.
He had tried to talk sense into their Master, but to no avail, and was forced to watch as the last of the plants from the various greenhouses and the hot house were removed.
Master Lin had been kind enough to Professor Sprout and left cuttings of all of the plants so the greenhouses didn't go to waste.
~ooOoo~
Come January, Master Lin had found wanded teachers for the three, and they sat down every day for their lessons
And, with the way the three inhaled the lessons, they knew that they would be able to take their final NEWTS at the end of the year, along with their Muggle "A" Levels
Neville's Bear Clan teacher had taken Neville and the others to the natural history museum to show him just WHAT his changeling form was, a Cave Bear.
They were amazed at the size of the one they saw in the museum and memorized what information was to be had on it, with Neville telling them some of the things that the archeologists had gotten wrong.
~ooOoo~
With the leaving of the Potter brat, so went any chances Voldemort had of using him and his mind turned to his spy and his spy getting Dumbledore for the ceremony he wished to perform.
Dumbledore was at a loss. What was he going to do now? All of his plans had gone up in smoke with the boy's leaving. He cursed the name of Harry's Master and sent for the Moody impostor that he could glean what the man's Master had planned.
~ooOoo~
Imbolc came and the three found themselves learning the right way to do the purifications, cleaning themselves inside and out and the giving prayer to the Goddess and God.
While Dumbledore and Voldemort made plans for the coming Spring Equinox.
~ooOoo~
Hermione spent the days before the Equinox in meditation. This holiday her teachers all felt that she was ready to try to change her form.
She easily dropped into a meditative state and there she met with her totem.
Before, her totem had always given her advice on things, but now she watched as the cubs came to sniff her out than cry happily at her.
When the Alpha Male came to see what they had found, Hermione was surprised to find herself greeting him as a wolf.
She gamboled and played with the cubs and the other wolves, before she felt that it was finally time to go.
When she awoke, she found herself in her wolf form and went to hunt down the boys and play, finding them waiting on her.
After several hours of this, her teacher helped her to change back and she happily went to bed with thoughts of hunting and play.
~ooOoo~
The Spring Equinox came and Dumbledore allowed himself to be "taken" by the imposter and placed in front of the form that Voldemort had taken.
He allowed himself to be used in the ceremony to bring back a body for Voldemort, feeling that he would have a better chance at defeating him while he had a body as opposed to when he was a spirit.
With Dumbledore's aiding in the ceremony instead of trying to stop it, Voldemort's body came back looking like a mutated and distorted snake instead of the fearful vision he had wanted.
His legs were almost nonexistent and his arms were scaly with only three fingers on each hand including the thumb.
Voldemort was furious, 'How dare Dumbledore do this to him!' Voldemort grabbed his wand from Crouch and started to fire spells at the tied up man. Dumbledore was able to free himself and, using the now dead Bellatrix's wand (She had given her life so that her Master could have his body back), started to fight back.
The battle lasted close to twenty minutes when Voldemort realized that this new body wasn't equipped yet to such harsh practices, and then Crouch entered the fray.
With fighting two people instead of one, Dumbledore found himself hard pressed to take out Voldemort though just as he finally thought that he had him, Crouch took his Master away.
Dumbledore was furious. HOW DARE THEY LEAVE HIM! Now he was forced to bring others in now and that is not what he wanted.
Dumbledore found out where he was and Apparated to Hogwarts so that he could alert the Order and set up a meeting with Minister Fudge.
The meeting with Fudge did not go well as, even showing him where the ritual and the battle had taken place; he still said that it could not be and that Dumbledore had finally shown everyone he was as senile as Lucius had said.
Fudge quickly had the Aurors out to clean up the mess and told Dumbledore to; "mind his own business and that if he continued to spout out this nonsense he would force him to retire."
~ooOoo~
Word soon leaked out that Dumbledore had fought a battle with someone, and while he claimed it had been a resurrected Voldemort, everyone thought that it had to be Bellatrix LeStrange since her body was found at an old graveyard.
Celebrations abounded and the mood of the school improved and, with the final task soon to be held, everyone was happy.
~ooOoo~
Dumbledore was at a loss, he had to find another teacher for defense and had no idea who to go to, to find one
Moody was not to be found (not like he thought the man was alive), and the Ministry wasn't speaking to him.
He ended up calling in a debt to an old friend to take over the class, though he was told that the man would not be able to do so the next school year. So that meant that he STILL had to find another teacher to fill the post.
~ooOoo~
Hermione's first Beltane celebration came and with it further changes befell her.
She was too young to go with the maidens for their part of the ceremonies, but was not too young to help them get ready, after which she headed to meet the boys to finish setting up the May Pole.
While she wanted to view the whole thing instead of participating, Tara finally coaxed her into joining the celebrations and the dancing.
She watched as many who had been married for quite awhile, stepped up to renew their vows while others took their vows for the first time. And when it was over, she was very happy that Tara had insisted that she join in.
~ooOoo~
The third event in the Tournament came and with it, victory for Hufflepuff, celebrations could be found all through the school and were only marred by the disappearance of both Snape and the Durmstrang headmaster. Neither was liked or wanted, and therefore no one worried.
~ooOoo~
It was now time to take their "A" levels and all three of them felt unprepared. They HAD studied Muggle class work such as English, Math and Science, but to actually find out how well they had been doing was a little daunting.
~ooOoo~
Summer Solstice came, and for the first time Hermione was allowed to not only participate, but to help with the wards.
Extra wards were going to add this time as well as seriously beefing up the old ones. While the Wizarding World scoffed at the thought of He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named coming back to life, they weren't and they were going to take precautions.
Hermione, Neville, and Harry, got to see firsthand as new spells were brought out and added to the existing wards, teaching them a lot about the creation of spells.
Their wanded magic teachers helped them learn some of the work that went into creating new wanded spells and they could finally see the reason for Arithmacy, though they still felt that the wanded way imposed too much on the magic and that the old way was better.
~ooOoo~
Dumbledore found out the hard way that the Minister had been serious about his warning when, he and his second in command had shown up to announce that she would be teaching defense next year and that if he didn't mind the orders he had been given, he would find her in his place with he himself retired and in St. Mungo's for senility.
Umbridge reminded him of a nasty toad he had stepped on when he was a child, and her disposition didn't make it any easier to get along with; she put all of the teacher's backs up, except Snape, he seemed to get along with her just fine, although that could be because she had been a classmate of his and had been in Slytherin with him to boot.
Well that had taken care of that; he no longer needed to look for new teachers now since Snape had returned from his business with Voldemort.
Dumbledore found that he had done a lot of damage to the thing (he could not call the thing Voldemort had turned into a man) and it would be awhile until he could do any damage.
This was good news and bad.
Good because it meant that he had time to gather more allies.
Bad because it meant that he now had no proof over his allegations, making it harder to get said allies.
The problem now was the books she wanted to teach the children out of, they were all primer books for primary school and not something that would actually teach the students anything.
While he had (accidentally) gotten good teachers for the last several years (mostly so that he could try and entice Master Lin into allowing Harry to join in the class), he knew that in one year, she could undo all of the work the previous teachers had given, and with Voldemort on the loose, he could not have that.
He thought about that for a time; and decided that maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all.
If the students were unable to defend themselves then they would be more willing to look up to him as their savior when he finally defeated Voldemort.
He knew of the prophecy and knew that Harry was needed for the fight, but in the end HE would get all of the glory after Harry's unfortunate death.
Yes it was much better this way.
He would get the people who would worship him as he had back after the defeat of Gellert and be there to take the Ministry away from the imbeciles that ran it now.
He had had Harry's proxies until Madam Bones had found out what he had been doing, however, he had made the Wizengamot place new laws to ban all those not born in the UK to serve (in any capacity) in the government. That had kept the so called Master Lin out of the Ministry and out of his hair.
Now that Harry was getting older, Dumbledore had to make sure that the only voice heard in the Ministry was his.
~ooOoo~
July came and with it the NEWT tests. Hermione was all set to take them and her enthusiasm was catching.
When they arrived at the Ministry to take their tests, Harry was fawned over and everyone wanted to have him back at Hogwarts.
Those notions were put to rest when it was discovered that Harry and the others were there to take the last of their tests.
The testers and examiners had been told to make the test extremely hard so that they might force the boy back, but it didn't seem to help as Harry breezed right through the tests.
The Ministry even went so far as to grade the test right then and there so that they could show that the boy had been woefully unprepared for them and would need to go to Hogwarts.
When they graded the tests and found out that the three of them had gotten the highest score any of them had seen in quite a few years, they tried to lie their way out of it, only to be caught when Master Lin had forced them to swear an oath that they were telling the truth.
Next came the news of their Muggle test with them finding out that, though they hadn't done to well, they also hadn't done to bad either and the news had gotten out that three early teenagers had passed their test with two of them being fourteen and the other fifteen, they started to get offers left and right from various schools
Master Lin had asked them if they wanted to head off to University or would they rather wait a year, they replied that they would rather do it now, especially Harry since he wanted to take Law and Politics so that he could be ready to take his seat on both the Wizengamot and the House of Lords.
Harry had also decided that he was going to take Environmental Science as his minor, while Hermione had decided to take it as her major in Computer Science with Theology as her minor .
Harry had helped pay for computers to be brought into the Coven and for them to be hooked up to the Internet that was becoming all the rage.
Neville decided that he would rather wait then maybe go into Environmental Science as his minor and Botany as his major.
He felt that he still had too much to learn from his teachers and he still wanted to get his Mastery in Herbology.
~ooOoo~
August first arrived and with it Lughnasadh; or the first celebration of the harvest, with the other two being; the Autumnal Equinox and All Hallows Eve.
The trio had fun helping to bring in the fruit from the trees and learning how to preserve what they had brought in.
In the evening, they worked on the wards for the Coven, adding even more wards to the mix.
~ooOoo~
The time finally came for the students to head for school with the Hogwarts students warily heading off to find out if the defense teacher had been serious in her wish for them to use those books, and Hermione and Harry heading off to Warrick University in Coventry, near where the Coven was located, with the Coven having a Society place for those who follow the Wiccan and Pagan Creed.
As first years they would be staying on campus at Heronbank Hall which both of them felt was more old school and closer to the nature they loved.
Harry had plans to join the wall climbing sports team (which was basically indoor rock climbing only using a wall to represent the rock wall and holds meant to be the rocks and crevices in the wall), the Aikido team as well as using the pool and the gym and weight room.
Hermione had plans to go for the Aikido team and the various Arts clubs, and plans to also use the pool, gym, and weight room.
They both had plans to join the debate teams when they were old enough and had a better learning under their belt.
Since they were underaged, they automatically were allowed to have single rooms near each other, and had started a practice of meeting either in one of the rooms or in the hall lounge.
~ooOoo~
The Hogwarts students found out the hard way that Umbridge meant business when she said that she would be teaching the approved Ministry class with the approved Ministry texts when the Twins gained her ire and they were forced to use her Blood Quill.
When word reached the rest of the student body, everyone ducked their heads and decided that they had better mind themselves otherwise she might use her quills on them.
Dumbledore did nothing to aid the students, in his mind it made him all the stronger when they see what he had done for them vs. what the Ministry spokesperson was doing to them now.
McGonagall and the other teachers tried to do something, but without Dumbledore's help it was all for not, and they were forced to follow along with the mad woman.
~ooOoo~
Once Hermione and Harry were off to school, Master Lin started to seriously teach Neville about his craft.
He had plans to take Neville to as many areas as he could so that he could get hands on experience with as many different plants as possible.
~ooOoo~
The Autumnal Equinox came and with Harry and Hermione celebrating back at the Coven so that more wards could be brought out.
They met up with Neville and went out to walk the trails so that they could spend more time together.
~ooOoo~
The prophecy was in the Ministry's mysteries Department, and Voldemort needed it. He needed to know just what it said so that he could plan accordingly, he tried to use others to get into the room, only to have them fail time and time again. He had even gone so far as to have Lucius Imperious people to get THEM to get it, but to no avail.
He leaned back on his throne and sighed, 'At least Dumbledore isn't getting any where either.' he thought to himself.
In fact, of the two, Voldemort was in a better position with his people than Dumbledore was; since Dumbledore had to rely on people's own faith in him as there was no conformation to his story.
The Ministry was keeping things, and Dumbledore, under their own control and that wasn't helping Dumbledore either, though it WAS helping him.
It gave him room to move and time to make plans.
And those plans included getting the rest of his faithful out of Azkaban.
~ooOoo~
Halloween came and Harry and Hermione decided to celebrate it at Warrick since Neville and Master Lin were in Greece at the moment so that they could go to a Herbologist symposium and then they would stay in the Mediterranean area to study there for the rest of the winter, before moving onto Brazil to study the plants in the Amazon.
They had fun dressing up and partying (non alcoholic) with the rest of the Hall, and when it came closer to midnight, they joined the Coven's Society in prayer and blessings for a good winter.
~ooOoo~
Voldemort finally had the people and plans he needed and, at midnight, the attack on Azkaban started.
The Dementors were the first to fall in line with him and it wasn't long before the Aurors that had been on station were dead and the prison his.
~ooOoo~
Word quickly got out that the prison had fallen and people had started to get scared that Dumbledore had been telling the truth all along. The Ministry had to crack down on the rumors and news, and do it fast.
The first to fall in line was the Daily Prophet and then many of the magazines.
When Dumbledore tried to again tell about the return of Voldemort, he and those teachers that defended him were tossed out, with the Minister bringing in his own people (Sycophants to Lucius) and raising Umbridge to the post of Headmistress.
Dumbledore had just enough pull to keep him out of St. Mungo's, but the effort left him with no allies and the Minister removing him from being the head of the Wizengamot as well as being the ambassador to the ICW.
~ooOoo~
With the Dementors out and the prison gone, the Coven worked harder to place wards against those who would do the Coven, its people, the animals, and the lands, harm from entering or even finding the place.
The Coven in effect, became unplottable and under a different version of the Fidelus, with word out to the other Covens in the UK to do the same and why.
~ooOoo~
Harry and Hermione found out about the prison break from the Coven members of the school and decided that it would be a good idea to ward their rooms and the Hall itself, and after that, the school and its environs.
They started on their rooms, adding to the wards they had already placed, and then headed to do the Hall under the pretence of a blessing and only working after everyone else was asleep.
Harry and Hermione would be sent to bed at midnight so that they could get some sleep for the next day, while the others in the Coven did the rest.
The school itself would have to wait until Solstice with the members of the Society getting together with the other religious groups to lay them down, with the others being told only that it was needed and that the portends had told them to do so.
Since it would be being done over the holidays and with each doing it according to their beliefs with the Coven taking that power to lay the wards, the others had no problems with it and several of them knew exactly why it was being done and were able to talk the more stubborn of those into going along with it.
Word went out to the other universities, especially the well known like Cambridge and Oxford, who had their own Societies and had many old wards already in place.
~ooOoo~
December came and it was soon time to lay the wards around the school.
The Coven and its members had been busy laying down wards on the various Halls and the separate buildings and now it was time to lay them around the school itself.
Most of the school had decided to participate in it as a way to celebrate the season, and it wasn't long before those who could manipulate the power, did so, and laid the wards down where they needed to be.
For some reason, many of the participants were jazzed after the ceremony and were discussing doing it over the spring holiday.
~ooOoo~
With Dumbledore and many of his teachers were out of work so they had no problem setting up the Order of Phoenix again, their only problem was were to have the base camp or building for it, and it finally took the Weasleys being attacked one night by Death Eaters for them to have a home there.
Percy Weasley had become a sycophant of the Minister and had moved out, and the twins were now gone after the raid, leaving a very angry Ron and his older two brothers (who were out of the country) left out of all of the children.
Dumbledore had Snape tell everyone about what was going on both within the school and in Voldemort's base and then took control of the meeting; "Our problem now is the lack of information from the Ministry and to try and get the word out to everyone else. With myself and many of the others out of Hogwarts and Umbridge, and through her the Ministry in charge, we have no way of knowing what is going on outside of Professor Snape here, and even there he doesn't know everything. What we need is another spy, one within the children themselves."
"NO! I WILL not have Ron put in that sort of danger!" Mrs. Weasley cried out.
Dumbledore shook his head; "I never meant for Ron to be the one. He is too obvious and will be watched to closely. No, I meant someone else; someone everyone thinks of as harmless yet always there. I may not want Ron to be the spy, but I want him to recruit the one we need, one Collin Creevy. He is always around people taking pictures and everyone basically ignores him and even goes so far as to forget he is there. This allows him to be the perfect spy for our needs. We can have him taken aside by Professor Snape on a regular basis and the information he has gathered can be given to him, who in turn, would hand it over to us."
Everyone nodded at this and Molly calmed down with the knowledge that her baby would be safe.
Snape grimaced over the thought of having to spend more time with the annoying Gryffindor, while everyone else thought it was a wonderful idea.
Once the school year started again, Ron asked Collin if he could take his picture. Collin was happy that someone wanted him to do so, and quickly got it done, telling Ron he could get his picture at the end of the week.
While they were away from everyone, Ron laid out Dumbledore's plan and Collin leapt at the chance to help, telling him that he would have no problems finding out stuff and that he already knew LOTS of stuff.
Ron told him to talk to Snape as soon as he could get away with it and not cause people to become suspicious.
When Collin's potion class came, he "accidentally" blew up his cauldron and Snape immediately gave him detention for that night.
That night, Collin came in to the potions lab and, after making sure that no one else was around, went up to Professor Snape and handed him a large envelope. "I think you dropped this sir. Is it all right if I start on the cauldrons now?"
Snape smirked at the clever boy and nodded his head.
~ooOoo~
After Dumbledore finished reading Collin's report, he sighed; "It seems that the things about the Inquisition Squad are true. Even now she is gaining followers amongst the Slytherins, and the fact she is only hinting at this to Professor Snape worries me." he told them, then looked at Snape; "I want you to feel her out on this. I want to know everything you can find on this. If she does start the Inquisition it won't be long before they start to openly attack the Muggleborns and would not be long after that that they would start to attack their homes and soon after that killing them and their families."
Everyone was cowed by the thought that he had mentioned.
"If we only had Harry here, he could be the rallying point we needed to stop this once and for all." Dumbledore stated as a way to start them thinking about bringing the boy in, by force if necessary.
"Yes, but the Potter brat has fled to parts unknown and not everyone will forgive him for it." Snape sneered at them.
Dumbledore nodded at that; "But many of them would." he let that hang in the air for a moment before continuing on.
"Arthur, have you heard anything out of the Ministry?" he asked the redheaded man who was sitting next to Molly.
"Only that you are right and the attacks on the hall of Prophecies have continued. They just finished putting Giles into jail for his attempt and they have tightened up security since then."
Dumbledore nodded at this information, he already had plans for when Voldemort finally found out that he would need to come and get it himself.
"Anything else you can share?" He asked him.
Arthur shook his head; "I'm now pretty much out of the loop and am being constantly told to mind my own business or else they will discontinue not only my job, but the whole department, and I can't have that. Like you said, it would only be one more step for them to start openly attacking Muggles again. As it is, Lucius is gaining ground to repeal the Muggle Protection Act."
Dumbledore knew this, but was glad that it had been brought up; it only led credence to what he had already told them.
He nodded that he agreed with the man, and then asked if anyone else had anything to say. When no one moved, he adjourned the meeting.
~ooOoo~
It was now time for Hermione's first ever physical competition. Both she and Harry were going to London to compete in an Aikido Competition and she was nervous. All of her other competitions had been mental and she had learned how to do well there. All of her rituals didn't help her here and she had to rely on Harry to help her prepare.
Everyone was looking to them to do well since they had basically (especially Harry) been teaching the class.
She watched as Harry went first, he calmly went out and then worked to psych his opponent out. She watched as he brought out his inner animal and "Looked" into the others eyes with a predatory smile on his lips.
It seemed to work as his opponent kept getting fouls and finally succumbed to Harry's faster attacks.
Everyone in their group was cheering him as he walked away; she knew now how to do this.
Everyone was bouncing in the hotel where they were staying for the meet, with many cheering Harry and Hermione for their wins.
Harry had received top honors for the Black Belt competitors and taking best overall.
Hermione came in first in her category and had won the rights to go up a belt, while the other hadn't done as well, they still squeaked by with the overall title.
When the party started in earnest, Harry and Hermione headed off to Harry's room and had their own quiet celebration with apple juice instead of beer.
The next day, the older people were groaning as they headed to the bus while Harry and Hermione loudly talked and laughed.
~ooOoo~
Once they were back on campus and had time enough to put everything away, they were met by a member of the Coven who was also a Witch. In her hand was a copy of the Daily Prophet, which loudly proclaimed that Hogwarts now had a squad that would be used to keep the peace.
They looked at the names being given as some of the squad members and noticed that several of them were Slytherin and that Draco was back at school.
They were given a letter from Master Edwards telling them that it was being bandied about that next year there would be no Hufflepuff house since it was considered as only holding the worst of the students. Those students who were in, or would go in it, would be resorted into the other houses.
They were also told that Professor Sprout had been told to leave, that there were other, more competent teachers who would be more in line with the Ministries thinking.
Professor Sprout had disappeared after that, presumably going to Dumbledore and his Order.
~ooOoo~
Voldemort, finally got a hold of someone who could tell him just why he hadn't been able to get the prophecy, because it could only be opened by the ones named in the prophecy, meaning that he would have to go and get it himself if he wanted to know it.
In his anger, he attacked several of his minions and they, in turn, attacked others, causing even more people to fear the night.
~ooOoo~
The Muggleborn students began to hide whenever not in class, sometimes not even going to class, the Inquisition was around and all feared those in power.
They knew that this was their last year here, even if they were allowed to come back, there was no way they were going to allow themselves to live in this kind of fear again.
Their detentions, which they got at the drop of a hat even when they weren't doing anything wrong, were usually given to Snape (who they wished for since he was safer), Filch (who had been given permission to bring out the manacles and whips), Umbridge herself if she was in a bad mood, or the Carrow siblings who were the worst of the bunch.
Many of them were waiting for the spring holiday so that they could escape and head elsewhere.
~ooOoo~
Collin was finding it more and more difficult to get the information he needed since he was a Muggleborn and therefore had to lay low and not bring attention to himself. Finally it came to a head when he was found where the Slytherins thought he shouldn't be and he was brought before the Carrow's. There they worked on him to find out just why he had been out of bounds for a Muggleborn, and the truth finally came out.
Snape was brought before Voldemort to be questioned, only for everyone to find out that he had known about the spy since the day he had been recruited. Snape, after all, was a good spy in Dumbledore's camp.
Collin's body was laid to rest in a small cemetery just off Hogwarts grounds with his younger brother soon to follow.
~ooOoo~
The spring holidays arrived and with them came the mass exodus of the Muggleborn students at Hogwarts.
Every Muggleborn, no matter the grade, left and there was no attempts taken to stop them; after all they weren't welcome there anyway.
~ooOoo~
The Equinox came and Harry and Hermione decided to take a break from school and head back to the Coven.
There, they were surprised to find, was Master Lin and Neville, who had rescued Professor Sprout from working in a substandard Muggle nursery. She had been found by the Order, but had found that there was no place for her to stay there, so she headed elsewhere trying to find the Coven and hopefully safety.
The Coven had gotten word that she was looking for them, but when they investigated, they found that she was being watched not only by Voldemort's people, but Dumbledore's as well.
"It seems as though both are looking to find you Harry." Master Edwards told them.
Harry could only nod his head as he went to hug his old head of house.
"We plan on getting the word out that you three and Madam Sprout will be going with me to the Amazon to look and find new healing herbs, when in fact all of us will be staying either here or at your school." He told them.
~ooOoo~
School started again, with Harry competing in his first wall climbing event. He had missed the others due to various schedules or the fact that he was so young and the referees didn't want him there, but now it was different, now there also competitions in age group, as the Secondary schools were also competing, with Harry being brought in to represent Warrick in his age grouping.
He had faced the wall several times before as he practiced on Warick's own course, but this was the first time he was doing it in competition, and in this competition, he was basically competing against himself on the wall and not against someone he could out psych.
He warmed himself up as he waited for his name to be called. He would be competing in the lined course, meaning that he would be hooked up to a tether or line.
He stepped up and hooked up his tether, with the referees watching, and took his place near the wall, his competition next to him on the other wall.
He placed himself in his meditative place that he went to whenever he climbed and waited for the signal.
When it was given he was in his zone, there was no noise to distract him and there was nothing around him except for the wall.
He began his climb and worked his way steadily up the wall, pausing only to rechalk his hands and fingers, until finally he made the top and pulled the bell.
It was only then that he came out of his zone to find himself ahead of his competitor, placing himself in first place for the round.
Harry came in third for his age group and now knew what he had to work on to get better, he was a steady climber but not a fast one, when he was in his zone he had to work on being faster as well as steady when he climbed.
~ooOoo~
Now that Hogwarts and its children were all but in his control, Voldemort turned his attention again on the prophecy.
'It was time,' he thought, 'to come out of the shadows and take what is rightfully mine.'
The plan was set. His own people had made sure that they were the ones that were to guard the room and it would be no problem now to get in and take it.
However, he had not accounted for Dumbledore. The man he thought was taken out of the picture met him in the atrium and the fight was once again on with the battle now being mostly equal.
Dumbledore was the better fighter over all but refused to work any spells that might be consider to dark, while Voldemort was a lesser fighter, but more than willing to use any spell that he could; dark or not.
The only complication from this battle came when the Minister and his people came to see what the commotion was and found Voldemort was alive and kicking and fighting the old man.
His followers beaten by the Order, and he now starting to have a hard time against the old man, it was decided to leave, through the floo's that they now ran.
~ooOoo~
Fudge was not a happy man, Voldemort had been spotted and there was no way he could hide it any longer.
The word was out and the public was panicking insisting that he do something…but what?
He went to Lucius; after all he seemed to always know what to do.
It didn't take long for the attacks to begin in earnest, with the Weasleys hit and killed first causing the Order to move elsewhere.
Hogwarts was still under supposed Ministry hands, but everyone knew it was truly under Voldemort's.
Fortunately, school had let out for the summer holidays and many of the parents could arrange for their children to go to Beauxbatons School for Magic, and those that couldn't afford that decided to home school their children,
That got the magical children to safety, but the Muggleborn children were still unprotected and the Death Eaters knew it.
They started to attack the students and the families they knew and soon it moved on from there, with the Muggle Minister getting more and more frantic.
There finally came the day when Voldemort had had enough hiding and came out in a big way…by attacking and taking the Ministry.
Now he had access to everyone and their homes through the Floos and the listings of where every place was (except those who had put their houses under protections such as the Fidelus).
He began an all out war against those who would oppose him, and that included the Muggle authorities.
The Muggle Minister had finally had enough and had called in his own Wizarding people.
"I've had enough of this and it's time to attack back." he told them.
When asked what he wanted them to do about it, he replied; "Hit them where it hurts and take out their Ministry. Without that they have no place to get the information they currently have access to."
"How?" was the next question.
"We have technology from Canada they don't even know is possible. They and America have their own versions of Dark Lords, only those people work out of areas that would be considered bunkers, with many of them several feet underground. Well the Americans and the Canadians came up with a spell that worked on Bunker Busters that make them easier to use so you don't have to have them come in on a plane. Basically it's a bomb set up with spells that can penetrate the bunkers and explode when they reach bottom, using frag bombs we can take out the Ministry building and cause a lot of damage." He told them, showing them a picture of what the bomb looks like and then pictures of the damage it could do.
Everyone grimaced at the thought of all those deaths until they reminded themselves of the deaths these Death Eaters were doing, then the ok for the plan was set and they only had to wait for the equipment and the people to appear.
~ooOoo~
Harry was reading the various Wizarding papers (including those from the international press) and was getting worried. There were too many deaths, and he knew that there were more that weren't being reported.
He had been in talks with Master Edwards and through him the Muggle PM. And was appraised with what they were planning, but he felt that HE should be doing something. The question was what?
The Wizarding World needed a rallying point or person and he knew it would end up being the-boy-who-lived whether he wanted to or not. Then there was the prophecy and what that meant. He was supposed to fight Voldemort and then one or the other would live while the other died.
They had all made a grand exit as they were supposed to be on their way to Brazil, when in fact they were staying in the UK, waiting for things to happen.
And one of those things was going to happen soon.
~ooOoo~
Harry had been awaiting the call from the PM, and was ready for the fight to begin.
Diagon Alley was all but closed and Gringotts had closed their doors and moved the vaults rather than submit to Voldemort and his henchmen, and now Hogwarts was in the control of the enemy as well.
Thankfully all of the students had gone, with many of them heading out of the country. Unfortunately, those that were left were being killed off one by one if they were Muggleborns or those he considered traitors.
Dumbledore was nowhere to be found and the people needed someone to rally behind, even if he didn't think he was up to the task.
~ooOoo~
The bomb went off like planned and the Ministry building went down like a house of cards as the lower levels gave out and the upper level sunk down to the lower and then lower floors.
The bomb had been laden with phosphorus and other killing items with many of those that had survived the bombing being killed by these things.
Voldemort himself had been seriously injured and it had taken several of his faithful to get him out safely even at the cost of their own lives.
Master Edwards had given the PM a list of all known Death Eaters and where they were living, even going so far as to use GPS to do so.
The PM had the military take those out and when they couldn't find them, but had the GPS, they had planes do a "practice" bombing run.
The Death Eaters were finding that the war had come to them.
~ooOoo~
End Chapter Four: