HP Year 5: Let the War Begin
Chapter 4
When Harry awoke the next morning it was to find himself not on the floor, where he'd fallen asleep the previous night, but lying on the sofa with a fuzzy, blue blanket wrapped comfortably around him. It took Harry a moment to remember why he was down here in the living room rather than in his bedroom, but when he did remember he let out a long sigh and ran his hand through his already messy hair, ruffling it up even more.
"And the birthday boy's awake at last," came a teasing voice. Harry glanced up and smiled tiredly when he saw Tonks standing at the door with her arms crossed, where her pink hair looked a little messed up as though she'd been running.
"Hey, Tonks," Harry greeted her, untangling himself from the fuzzy blanket and sitting up. "What time's it?"
"Don't worry, you haven't actually slept in," Tonks assured him, uncrossing her arms and entering the room, sitting down on the sofa when Harry moved to make space for her.
"Why're you up then?" Harry frowned.
"Hey!" Tonks protested. "I've gotten up early plenty of times in my life!"
"Most times being when you were a kid and your mum didn't let you sleep in," Harry grinned. "Is it for work?"
"Yes, it was, you good-for-nothing nosy git," Tonks grumbled good-naturedly. "It was a false alarm, though. How are you feeling?"
"Fine, considering I woke up in the middle of the night," Harry smiled softly, trying not to think about why exactly he had woken up in the middle of the night.
"Sirius mentioned that," Tonks nodded, her bright smile slipping a bit. "Are you sure you're okay? He said… well, that it'd gotten to you quite a bit."
"I'm fine," said Harry adamantly. "It was just a – a nightmare. Besides, I'm not going to let that spoil my birthday."
"Right you are," Tonks agreed brightly, her smile coming back. "C'mon, then," she said, grasping Harry's bony wrist and pulling him up. It seemed that, although Harry had finally started putting on some weight, none of it was reaching his wrist. "Moony's in the kitchen making breakfast."
"Happy birthday, Harry," Remus said, ruffling Harry's hair as he sat down at the table.
"Thanks, Moony," Harry smiled. "You want some help?"
"I've got it," Remus assured him, turning back to the cooker.
"Birthday boys don't cook," Tonks scolded him with a grin on her face. "Hey, Romulus?" Tonks asked, a teasing smile on her face, "what time's everybody coming at?"
"The Weasleys are coming at two – Molly's going to help cook – and everyone else is coming on time for dinner, Nymphadora."
"Remus is short for Romulus?" Harry asked, glancing between the two. He already knew 'Nymphadora' was Tonks' first name.
"Nope," Tonks told him brightly. "But he doesn't like it anyway, and since he likes to tease me about my name…" she shrugged, still smiling.
"What do you two say to some training after breakfast?" Tonks asked a few minutes later. "Like – fun training. Like those stories you've told us before, where James and Sirius had those… 'prank duels' you called them."
"Sounds good," Remus smiled. "Harry?"
"Yeah," he grinned.
And so, after the three had eaten their breakfast and left out a plate (which Remus had placed a heating charm on, to keep it warm) for Sirius, the three eagerly moved to their dubbed training room.
"I don't really know many spells for prank duels," Harry said uncertainly as they reached the room, the thought only just occurring to him.
"That's okay," Tonks assured him. "We'll duel each other then you can tell us which spells you liked, and we'll teach you them. That sound good?"
"Yeah," Harry grinned before settling himself back against the wall, keeping his wand gripped loosely in his hand, ready to cast a quick 'Protego' if any of the spells came near him. He watched with a silly smile on his face as Remus and Tonks bowed to each other then stepped back, each keeping their wand trained on the other but unwilling to make the first move.
Finally, Tonks swished her wand at Remus. "Puniceus dentibus!"
Remus didn't block it and a second later, instead of a white-toothed grin, his teeth were purple. "Engorgio!" he retaliated, his wand pointing at her nose. Tonks snorted as her nose grew, becoming even larger than Severus Snape's.
"Saeta damnum!" said Tonks, her wand slashing through the air. A second later, Remus was bald.
"Tenuis saeta!" Tonks' short, spiky pink hair was replaced by long, pink snake tails poking out of her head. She grimaced, but didn't remove them.
"Gero tutu!" Tonks shot back with a smirk as a frilly pink tutu appeared over Remus' clothes.
" Altus vox vocis!" Remus twirled his wand in the air, and a silvery light hit Tonks on the throat.
"Leo vox vocis!" Tonks returned, wincing as her voice came out in an extremely loud pitch.
"Roar!" came Remus' voice, and Harry had to laugh. To make up for Remus giving her a high voice, Tonks had given Remus the voice of a lion. The spell still worked, though, and soon Tonks was covered in glitter.
By the time Sirius had woken up, heard everyone's laughter and come to investigate, Harry, Remus and Tonks were all a complete and utter mess.
"What the hell?" Sirius asked blankly, staring at them all with wide eyes. Harry glanced at Remus, who winked and glanced at Tonks, who gave a discreet nod of the head, and next second Sirius was being bombarded with lots of different spells; Remus gave him blond hair and turned his pyjamas into a dress, Tonks turned his skin green and enlarged his mouth, making it the largest feature on his face, and Harry covered him in glitter and purple warts.
"Not fair," Sirius whined, looking down at himself. "I didn't even have my wand!"
"Serve you right for sleeping in so late," Tonks managed to scold him in between laughing.
"Serve you right for laughing at me," came Sirius' stern voice, and just as the three other occupants of the room looked up to see what he meant, they found pies being thrown at their faces.
"You'll pay for that one, Black!" Tonks yelled, pointing her wand at him and covering him in slimy green goo.
"Oi!" Sirius growled, wiping the goo away from his eyes. Barely a moment later Tonks found herself covered in melted chocolate.
"Tastes good," Harry grinned, gathering some of it on his finger to lick.
"Harry! Who's side are you on?" Tonks cried.
"Err… I'm on… nobody's side?" he asked uncertainly, before bolting out the door. He was just starting down the stairs when he heard footsteps and felt himself being covered in paint which, when he looked at, was green in colour. He jumped the last few steps then twirled around, turning the stairs into a slide with a quick "Glisseo!" as Tonks reached them.
"Harry!" she groaned, falling on her bum and sliding down what used to be the stairs. That was a handy charm to learn, even if he'd originally learned it to 'escape from Death Eaters in a tall building'. Just as Tonks reached what would have been the last few steps, Harry reversed the charm and grinned as Tonks thumped her way down the last three steps. Then, trying to avoid her revenge, he ran to the kitchen – and bumped into a familiar red-head.
"What the he – Harry?" Ron asked, shocked as he tumbled to the floor with his friend.
"Oh. It's two already?" Harry grinned, jumping up off Ron and running round to dodge behind the table, just as Tonks entered the room.
"It's two already?" she asked, surprised, copying Harry's question. Ron nodded dumbly at her, his mouth open as he stared at her. Well, she did look a mess: snake hair, glittery, a Snape-like nose, she was around half her original height, she had buck-teeth, her fingernails were long and crooked like an evil witch's in a children's fairytale, she had a vague smell of rotten eggs trailing her around and, of course, she was covered in chocolate. She at least had her normal voice back, though.
"Happy birthday – oh!"
"Hello, Mrs Weasley," Tonks smiled at the newcomer who had just stepped out of the fireplace. "I'm afraid you caught us in the middle of a-"
"-prank duel," Sirius finished, grinning as he and Remus entered the kitchen. Those two were just as 'pranked up' as Harry and Tonks were, with all sorts of disfigurements.
"You could've waited for us, at least," Fred mumbled, having just arrived with George. Ginny was the last of the Weasleys (Mr Weasley, Percy, Charlie and Bill couldn't get away from work), who arrived accompanied by Hermione.
"It looks like a bloo – er, I mean, it looks like a war's broken out here. Have you lot seen yourselves?" Ginny asked incredulously, just as Remus coughed up some feathers.
"Prank duel," Harry grinned. "I guess we lost track of the time…" he turned around slowly, glancing at Sirius, Remus and Tonks before bolting to the door. "I get the first shower!"
.
The shower took a long time; some of the things that he had been covered in (like the same green goo that had originally been used against Sirius) were extremely sticky and hard to get rid of, but finally he was free of everything except the abnormally hairy skin, which he quickly fixed with a wave of his wand. He didn't bother drying his hair as he exited the bathroom, knowing it would dry soon on it's own anyway.
Arriving back at the kitchen, he found Molly Weasley and Remus cooking together whilst Sirius, Tonks and the children lazed around the room. Although they had gotten rid of the dresses, tutus, different skin tones and everything else placed on them, Harry's guardians and Tonks still had goo and chocolate on them, which needed more than a simple spell to get rid of.
"I'm next!" Tonks said brightly, dodging out of the room before either Sirius or Remus had even noticed Harry's return.
"Why don't we go to your room, Harry?" Hermione asked in a suspiciously casual voice. Harry frowned a little, glancing around the room before he noticed the looks – they weren't quite glares – that Mrs Weasley kept sending the twins.
"Sure," Harry said slowly, noticing that the attention of all the kids was on him. They all eagerly stood up, following him quickly out of the room.
"What'd you do this time, then?" Harry asked amusedly as he dropped down onto his bed, gazing at the twins. "She wasn't mad before I left."
"They tried to sell some of their joke items to Sirius," Ginny explained before the twins could reply, rolling her eyes. "Mum's still not happy with them wanting to open a joke shop."
"Happy or not, she can't really stop you," Harry sighed, his statement aimed at the twins. "Still going strong, then?"
"Of course!" George beamed.
"We've come up with several new inventions this summer," continued Fred.
"Which we've already successfully sold through owl-order," George grinned.
"All behind mum's back, of course," Fred said, wincing slightly as he apparently imagined his mum finding out what he and his brother were up to.
"So you might want to save our present 'til mum's away," George finished with a bow and a smile.
"Er – right," Harry grinned.
"So, happy birthday, mate," Ron clapped him on the back. This was all the initiative anyone needed, and soon every occupant of the room was wishing him a happy birthday.
"Thanks guys," Harry smiled.
"Seriously, though," Ron said. "What the heck was that when we arrived? You looked…"
"Messy?" Fred smirked.
"Funny?" George grinned.
"Stupid?" Fred tried.
"It was a prank duel," Harry said loudly, speaking over the top of the twins. "I guess Tonks wanted to make sure we were all in good spirits. It was pretty fun… I might need to do things like that more often."
"We have a new prankster joining us, Gred!" George exclaimed brightly.
"Not quite," Harry shook his head, still smiling. "I'm not one for pranking the whole school… maybe Malfoy, though."
"Harry!" Hermione scolded, looking at him with an almost disappointed look in her eyes.
"Lighten up, 'Mione," Harry said as lightly as he could. "It's a safer alternative than hexing him, don't you think?"
"You shouldn't be doing anything to him at all!" Hermione retorted.
"So I'm supposed to just stand by while he talks about – about V-Viktor, and whatever his daddy's told him?" Harry asked coolly. "Surely even you realise he's going to be a pain this year… you saw him at the end of term, on the train. That wasn't a one-off, and you know it."
"I'm sorry," Hermione said quietly. "You're right – but… just, don't start anything, okay? If he starts a fight, then I suppose you really have every right to get him back."
"That's what I meant, anyway," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "You ought to know me better than that," he grinned, trying to lighten the tense atmosphere. "I don't intentionally pick fights – unless it's with Tonks," he added as an afterthought. His friends grinned back at him.
.
People started to arrive at five o'clock, most of them coming by Floo or Apparition. Some of them, though, chose to arrive at the door, which was starting to irritate everyone; whenever the bell rang, the old portrait of Sirius' mum which hung in the wall would start to shriek. Harry hadn't ever noticed it before, as this was the first time the door had ever been used – even for Order meetings, everyone stuck to Floo or Apparition.
"Isn't there any way to shut her up?" Harry grumbled to Sirius after they let a slightly-drunk looking Mundungus through the door.
"We tried removing her portrait, but it's been stuck with a permanent-sticking charm," Sirius shook his head, heading over to the portrait of his mum. "Ready?" he asked, clutching one of the curtains.
"Yeah," Harry said, heading over to the second one; Sirius preferred to have his mum covered up. "No," he said, letting go of the curtain.
"Sorry?" Sirius raised an eyebrow at him.
"Is taking her portrait down the only thing you've tried?" Harry asked, struggling to make himself heard over Mrs Black's shrieks. 'Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, be gone from this place!"
"Yes," Sirius replied uncertainly, not understanding what Harry was getting at. Harry grinned back at his godfather before pulling out his wand and aiming it at what would technically be his god-grandmother.
"Occulto sursum," Harry said quietly, grinning as a cloth wrapped itself around his grandmother's mouth, refusing to let any sound through.
"Why didn't I think of that?" Sirius asked, nonplussed as he stared at the now silent, yet deadly angry, portrait of Mrs Black.
"Because you're lame?" Harry suggested, grinning.
"Shut it, you," Sirius grinned back, leaning over to ruffle Harry's hair affectionately. "That was some good thinking you had." Harry shrugged slightly, still uncomfortable with receiving praise from his guardians.
"We should get back," Harry said finally, ducking under Sirius' arm and racing him to the kitchen.
Harry, having had a head start, beat Sirius to the kitchen and snatched the only empty chair (which was beside Kingsley Shacklebolt; a black man who worked for the Ministry as an Auror and was an important member of the Order – he also happened to be one of the Order members that Harry got along with best; he worked with Tonks and had started to pick up on her effervescent attitude, though a less… severe version of it). Harry smiled sweetly as Sirius glared at him, finally rolling his eyes and conjuring a chair for himself and sitting down beside Mundungus and the Weasley twins.
"Having a good day then, Harry?" Kingsley enquired politely. Aside from a 'happy birthday' when he had arrived, Kingsley hadn't yet talked to Harry.
"Yeah," Harry grinned at the older man. "I suppose you'll have heard about the duel now. Gred and Forge were pretty upset to have missed it."
"Yes, I do recall them mentioning that," Kingsley smiled.
"How're things at the Ministry?" Harry asked curiously.
"Same as ever," Kingsley shrugged unhelpfully. "We're working our hardest to capture Death Eaters, but most don't seem to be straying far from Voldemort at the moment, aside from the few Muggle attacks."
"Is that a good or a bad thing?"
"Could be either," Kingsley shrugged again. "We'd best not dwell on it, though. I doubt Sirius would be happy to find us discussing such depressing topics on your birthday."
"Birthdays are over-rated anyway," Harry murmured under his breath. Kingsley heard this but, knowing of Harry's past with the Dursleys, didn't comment on it.
By five-thirty, everyone had arrived. Mr and Mrs Weasley, Percy, Fred and George, Ron and Ginny, Hermione, Luna, Neville, Cedric and Cho, several Order members, Severus and, of course, his guardians and Tonks were there.
At a quarter to six, Mrs Weasley called everyone to the kitchen, where everyone sat at a magically-expanded table, for dinner.
"This is amazing, Molly!" Tonks gushed, having never had the chance to taste Mrs Weasley's cooking before.
"Thank you, Tonks, dear," Mrs Weasley smiled. "I would hope to have some skill after feeding such a large family for all these years." Tonks grinned at that, returning her attention back to her 'god-like food'.
"How's the Auror training going?" Harry asked Cedric, who was sitting beside Cho and opposite Harry.
"It's great," Cedric grinned enthusiastically. "It's really hard, though. They work you non-stop, I swear. Half the time I can barely move from my muscles aching… they've got a really tough exercise scheme to get you into shape. I'm starting to wish I'd been more like you in Hogwarts."
"More like me?" Harry asked, confused.
"You exercise a lot, you dunce," Ginny grinned, slapping Harry lightly on the back of the head. "Your morning runs, and I know you lift weights in the Room of Requirements sometimes."
"Well, yeah, but that's… It's not like I do a lot," Harry mumbled.
"It's more than anyone else does, I can assure you," Cedric grinned. "Stop being so modest."
"I'm not!" Harry protested instantly. Seeing his friends' expressions, he rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I only wanted to know how it was going, not get into an argument of all things."
"Sorry," Cedric smiled sheepishly. "What about you, then? Still training?"
"Of course," Harry said, trying to sound hurt that his friend would think otherwise, and failing. "Pretty much every day."
"Are you sure you're not overworking yourself, mate?" Ron asked from a few seats along.
"Dunno," Harry shrugged. "Doesn't matter, really. I enjoy it, and it'll help keep me safe against… well, anything, really."
"Atta boy, Harry," Fred grinned.
Naturally, after dinner, Mrs Weasley kept everyone at the table and brought out a cake that, like last year, she herself had baked. This time it was in the shape of a large, red dragon rather than a golden snitch. She'd charmed it, too; when Harry blew out the candles the dragon blew a small flame out of its mouth, threatening to set the table on fire. The cake was just as delicious, if not more so, than the cake from last year, even if a heavy feeling had settled in Harry's stomach from looking at it. Viktor was still alive the last time I saw that dragon.
"C'mon, guys," Tonks yelled over the noise. "If you're done with the cake, it's time for presents!"
When the tables were cleared of all plates, food and cutlery, and the presents had appeared, Harry couldn't help but gape at the small mountain of presents sitting there. He had nearly as many as Dudley usually received on his birthdays, if not more, and that was saying a lot – Dudley was the most spoilt brat Harry knew of.
"Don't just stand around, Harry," Tonks grinned, pushing him down onto one of the seats. "Start opening them!"
And so he did. He worked his way through the presents, banishing the paper as he unwrapped them all. He received books, sweets, prank items, broom-care kits, fancy quills, posters of Quidditch players (the wizarding equivalent of celebrity posters, he guessed) and many more things. The best present of all had to be the ticket he got from Sirius and Remus; they were going to the Quidditch World Cup! It would be their first 'outing' as a family, technically speaking, and it would be a lot more fun than a day out to the zoo, or whatever else families usually did with their kids. As he'd promised the twins, when he found their gift, he used a bit of wandless magic to shrink it without anyone noticing and slipped it into his pocket. He grinned at the barely-audible sighs of relief the twins let out when they noticed this, and each of them looked far more relaxed now that they knew their mum wasn't going to find an excuse to blow up at them.
It was eight-thirty when people started to leave; no-one, it seemed, wanted to end up as drunk as they had last year, when they'd stayed far later. The Weasleys and Hermione were the last to leave, and they promised they'd see him again soon.
"We can't let you live in the library again, after all," Ron had grinned, clapping him on the back before stepping into the floo.
.
The summer, after that, passed mostly uneventfully. He still spent a lot of his time training or reading, but he also went to the Weasleys at least once a week where more often than not he would end up playing Quidditch with the twins, Ron and Ginny. Said siblings also occasionally joined Harry whilst he was being trained, mainly watching and asking a question here and there. Harry had promised to teach them some of the things he'd learned when they got back to Hogwarts.
Fleur wrote to him a couple of times, though she didn't say too much other than that she was working with Bill, and that she hoped Harry was okay. Cedric wrote, too, and talked about Auror training – at least, the parts that Tonks or Kingsley hadn't already told Harry.
Two weeks after his birthday, Harry headed down to the kitchen for his breakfast, still blinking tiredly and expecting his day to be normal; breakfast, mess about, training then relax. However, when he arrived there he had to stop and blink several times to make sure he wasn't still half asleep.
"What's this?" Harry asked, still somewhat surprised through his sleepy state. "Did I miss another prank duel?"
"Indeed you did," Remus smiled. "Actually, we wanted to talk to you about something."
"Oh?" Harry asked curiously, pouring some milk into his bowl of cereal. He wasn't really in the mood for bacon… or eggs… or sausages…
"We want to give you Marauder lessons," Sirius blurted out, apparently struggling to hold the knowledge in. Harry blinked, dropped his spoon into his bowl, then blinked again.
"War's a depressing time," Remus explained. "And humour is one of the few ways to counter the effects. Pranks are a relatively harmless way to keep everybody's spirits up-"
"-not to mention fun to pull off!" Sirius finished. "Plus, you'll have the added advantage of being naturally good at it… well, if you've taken after James, anyway."
"Marauder lessons," Harry said slowly, gazing at the two with a raised eyebrow. His guardians nodded at him, Sirius doing so with a ridiculously large grin on his face. Harry turned back to his breakfast bowl to hide the amused smile that was creeping onto his face.
"Okay, then. Sounds good."
By the time the Quidditch World Cup arrived, Harry had successfully learned how to Apparate. Sirius and Remus would not, however, let him Apparate to the forest beside the campsite (after the match, they were going to stay the night in the campsite with the Weasleys, Hermione, Neville and Luna in order to celebrate), and so Harry found himself standing with Remus' arm wrapped around him, the older man preparing to Apparate the both of them.
"Ready?" Remus asked, waiting for Harry to nod before turning on the spot and causing them both to disappear from the kitchen of number twelve, Grimmauld Place.
.
The three appeared with a slight crack! sound in the middle of a dark forest.
"Creepy place," Harry remarked after he'd recovered from the ever unpleasant feeling of Apparition, pulling his jacket tighter around him against the chill.
"Yeah, they could do with some lights in here," Sirius agreed, glancing around. "C'mon, then. We'd best go find Arthur. He said the tents were close to the forest."
"Do you even know what way to go?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Err…"
"I think I know the way," Remus said with a small smile, stepping away from them.
"Thank Merlin I have one clever guardian," Harry grinned, jumping away as Sirius tried to attack him. Unluckily for him, as he jumped he tripped over a tree root and landed sprawled on the dirty ground. Pushing himself up, he grimaced as he found a slightly-squashed worm trying to escape from under his hand.
"That's your fault," Harry pouted as Sirius pulled him up.
"How'd you figure that out?" he asked, as he pulled Harry along. Remus, apparently, couldn't be bothered slowing down to accommodate for their teasing.
"Everything's your fault," Harry grinned, poking out his tongue.
"S'always the parents' fault," Sirius shook his head with a dramatic sigh. "What is it with you teenagers?"
"Look who's talking!" Harry shot back, jumping over another large tree root. "You're a bigger teen than – err…"
"Yes?" Sirius asked innocently.
"Push off," Harry grinned, shoving his godfather a little.
"Moony!" Sirius whined. "Harry's bullying me again!"
"Surely you can defend yourself against a kid, Sirius," Remus called over exasperatedly, turning around in time to catch sight of Sirius' pout.
"Not this one," Sirius shook his head with a grin, and Harry could hear some pride in Sirius' voice that nearly made him blush.
"I hear voices," Harry said suddenly. Well, it was more laughter, but he could hear the odd shout or two. Come to think about it, the forest around him was starting to look… well, less dark.
It didn't take them long to finish the rest of their journey, and soon they found themselves in a campsite unlike any Harry had ever seen before. Well, he'd never been to one, for obvious reasons, but he'd seen pictures once in a book. Why he'd had a travel book, he couldn't remember, but he knew campsites were usually far less busy than this.
"Any idea where Arthur and the kids are?" Sirius asked, glancing around and finding only people that he'd never seen in his life.
"They said they were near the forest," Remus shrugged unhelpfully. "They also said they were near the path, so it's obviously not at this side. A path would have made it much easier to navigate."
"If it's easy, it's boring," Sirius quipped, glancing at Harry before moving forward and leading both Harry and Remus away. "I suppose we'll just have to look around."
"I hadn't realized how much I've come to depend on the Marauders Map," Harry mused as they trailed throughout the numerous tents, each with their own fancy characteristics as the owners tried to show off. Harry understood that perhaps they wanted to seem respectable, or whatever they were trying to appear as, but the one that looked like a palace and had live peacocks strutting around in it's fake garden was quite simply taking it too far. "I'm so used to being able to glance at that and find who I'm looking for."
"I know what you mean, kiddo," Sirius grinned. "I've contemplated making similar maps for Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley and the Ministry before for that very same reason."
"That's just laziness, Sirius. Besides, it's easy to find someone at the Ministry. If you ask someone, they'll know someone who knows where your friend is."
"Stop over-complicating things, Moony," Sirius shot back with a small pout. "I'm not lazy. Might I remind you that it is I who works on Harry with the physical training, whilst you stand around waving your wand?"
"Might I remind you who once had to beat up a Death Eater because you got drunk and lost both our wands?"
"You didn't have to bring that up," Sirius said, wincing a little.
"You beat up a Death Eater?" Harry asked as he looked at Remus, impressed.
"Not as weak as I look, am I?" Remus asked as though he'd read Harry's mind, smiling when Harry gave him a sheepish look.
Thanks to the long walk needed to find the Weasleys, Harry ran into several of his school friends. Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, the Creevey brothers and Oliver Wood (who was now a reserve Keeper for the Puddlemere United Quidditch team). A few students Harry didn't recognise had also approached them to greet Remus and Sirius, remember Remus from the year before last when he taught DADA, and Sirius from just before Christmas last year when he took over DADA for a short period of time (after the Moody impostor had been found out). It was about ten minutes after a second year Ravenclaw had greeted them that Harry noticed a flash of red hair accompanied by a blur of bushy brown hair. He didn't know of any other redheads who had a bushy, curly brown-haired friend, so it had to be them. Taking a chance, he yelled towards them.
"Ron! Hermione!"
The two figures both stopped walking and turned to face Harry, and even from a distance he could see wide smiles on their faces as both then darted towards himself, Sirius and Remus.
"Thank Merlin," Sirius grumbled. "Now we can stop searching."
"You've been looking for us?" Ron repeated as Hermione hugged Harry. "Oh – I guess you don't know where we set the tent up."
"Mr Weasley is enjoying himself with the matches," Hermione told Harry with a small smile as the now group of five started moving, led by Ron and Hermione.
"Err…?"
"Every time he lights one, he gets surprised and he drops it," Hermione explained, and Harry couldn't help but snort.
"What sort of tents has he got?" he asked curiously, hoping Mr Weasley wasn't trying to fit in with another three-story tent, plus chimney.
"Normal muggle ones," Hermione smiled. "Or, they look like it. They're magical on the inside. He borrowed them from a friend at the Ministry. Luna and her father set their tents up next to ours."
"Luna's here? I didn't know she was coming," Harry mused. "Who's sleeping where?"
"I don't really know," Hermione admitted.
"You, me, Neville and the twins are sharing one tent," Ron explained. "It's the largest – and the smelliest. Ginny and Hermione have a smaller tent to themselves, and Sirius, Remus and dad are sharing a tent."
"Cool," Harry grinned. His grin widened as he noticed a crowd of redheads up ahead, accompanied by familiar heads of brown and blonde. As they got closer, Harry could see that Hermione was right. Mr Weasley was squatting beside a pile of firewood, a box of matches clutched in his hand and numerous broken matches littering the ground around him.
"Afternoon, Arthur," Sirius greeted brightly as the group finally reached Mr Weasley.
"Sirius!" Mr Weasley stood up, away from the pile of wood, smiling. "Remus, Harry. I was wondering when you lot would turn up."
"They couldn't find you," Ron chimed in, grinning. "C'mon, Harry. I'll show you the tents."
"Hermione was right, then," Harry said, gazing at the three (four, if you included Luna's) average-sized, muggle-looking tents.
"Yeah," Ron nodded, leading Harry over to the one nearest the forest and ducking inside. Harry followed, and found himself staring at a multi-roomed tent; a bedroom, a bathroom and a small kitchen. "This is Dad's one," Ron explained, before leading Harry back out and into the middle tent. This one was a little smaller, though not by much, and had the same rooms. "This one's for Ginny and Hermione."
The last one, obviously, was for Harry, Ron, Neville and the twins. It was nearly twice the size of the other two and had bunk beds rather than single ones, in order for them all to fit.
"Do we get to see you now?" Ginny teased after Harry had left the last tent. Harry smiled slightly as he nodded at her impatient face. "Good," she grinned, pulling him over to where Neville and Luna were sitting. Glancing back slightly, Harry could see Hermione and Ron following.
"Fred and George got dad mad already," Ginny told him as they sat down on the grass outside Luna's tent. Inside, Harry could see someone moving about, who he assumed was Luna's father.
"They have?" Harry asked, curious as to what they'd done.
"They made a bet with Bagman," Neville explained. "They used all of their money. Mr Weasley couldn't really stop them, though."
"Yeah, he isn't as scary as mum," Ron nodded, sitting down next to Harry. Harry grinned.
"I hadn't realized Bagman would be here," Harry said, his mind finally registering the name Neville had said.
"He's the head of the Magical Sports department, of course he's here," Hermione told him logically. "He was actually asking for you, asking if anyone had seen you."
"I'll be careful to avoid him, then," Harry said, smiling slightly.
"Why?" Ron asked, ever the slow one.
"Think, Ron," Ginny scowled, hitting her brother lightly on the head. "What's Bagman going to want to talk about?"
"Oh – right," Ron said sheepishly, comprehension dawning in his eyes.
"So what was their bet?" Harry asked, steering the conversation away from Bagman.
" France will win, but our Seeker will get the snitch," Ron told him, chuckling slightly. "They're bonkers."
"It's definitely a… err, a specific bet," Harry said uncertainly before shrugging. "It's their money. Guess we'll just have to wait and see."
.
By the time for the match arrived, Harry was feeling giddy with excitement. He wasn't the only one, either; Ginny, Neville and the twins had eager grins on their faces and Ron looked almost excited enough to wet himself. Sirius was just as bad as Harry, though really that was to be expected with Sirius' child-like attitude to most things.
His Omnioculars (they were essentially magical items that were just like Muggle binocculars) and his wand safely tucked in his pocket, Harry joined his friends and the group (adults in front; children behind) made their way towards the Quidditch pitch. It was hard not to get caught up in the euphoric atmosphere, and soon Harry found himself joining in with everyone else as they sand Quidditch chants at the top of their voices, following the lantern-lit trail through the forest.
Emerging from the forest, Harry found himself staring at what appeared to be a large, golden dome. It was glowing with magic that was so strong he could feel it tickling his skin (in a much nicer way than Dark magic did).
"Wow," he breathed, gazing up at the dome with wide eyes. Even Hogwarts' castle didn't radiate magic like this.
"Less gaping, more walking," Sirius teased lightly, pushing Harry forward. "We have a lot of stairs to climb, being in the top box."
Harry nodded dumbly, allowing Sirius to propel him forwards and into the 'dome'. He barely noticed as Mr Weasley handed all the tickets over to a Ministry worker; he was looking around. The stadium was huge and had literally thousands of seats squashed into it.
"Harry," came a soft voice, and Harry glanced round to see Remus watching him with a soft, amused look. "Amazing as it all is, I think we ought to get to our seats, don't you?"
Again, Harry nodded, allowing himself to be herded up what felt like never-ending stairs. Eventually, though, they reached the top box and sidled to their seats; Harry had Sirius and Remus on one side of him and Ron, Hermione, Neville and Luna on the other whilst Mr Weasley, Ginny, the twins and Luna's father sat behind them. Opposite them was a large bold, where numerous advertisements were flashing; Wizardwear, new broom models, new businesses…
Harry's attention was drawn to the arrival of whoever was to occupy the final seats in the top box, and when he saw who it was he couldn't help but groan. Loudly. This got the attention of those sitting nearest him – mainly Sirius, Remus, Ron and Hermione – who all looked at him curiously. In answer, Harry merely inclined his head towards the latest guests, and soon Ron had let out a similar groan whilst Sirius' and Remus' faces had hardened. The final three seats, it seemed, were to be occupied by none other than Narcissa, Lucius and Draco Malfoy. All three turned their noses up when they saw who they were sitting with but, miraculously (probably due to Sirius and Remus, who could be very intimidating when the need arose) managed to keep their mouths shut. Harry was half-tempted to hex Malfoy on the spot; he hadn't forgotten Malfoy's comment on Viktor at the end of last term, but Remus seemed to sense how he was feeling and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, effectively cooling his temper.
Eventually, Bagman climbed to the top box and, using the same Sonorus charm as he'd used to commentate at the Tasks last year, greeted the stadium before introducing the Quidditch teams; "Thomson, McNab, Campbell, Sharp, McGibbon, Hogan and Murray," for England and "Moreau, Fitzroy, Benoit, Gaudet, Rousseau, Martin and Leroy!" for France.
As their names were called, each team member would zoom onto the field, each barely more than a blur as they pushed their Firebolt brooms to the limit, going far faster than even Harry ever had. Soon the teams were flying together, doing laps around the stadium and doing loops in the air, each player eager to show off their talent.
When the game did start, Harry was glad he'd bought the Omnioculars; even sitting in the top box, it was hard to see everything. With the Omnioculars he could zoom in, or even replay what he'd already seen. He focused especially on Thomson and Moreau, as they were the two seekers and he was hoping to pick up some tips from them. Ron, he knew, would be focusing on the two keepers; McGibbon and Rousseau, the twins on the beaters and on the chasers. Hermione, Luna and Neville were the only unbiased (teenage) spectators in the group.
The players, for their part, were amazing. The chasers worked brilliantly together, with a skilled perfection that even Gryffindor's Quidditch team didn't have despite the three chasers being best friends. The players seemed to be able to read each others minds, always knowing what their team mates were going to do, and always ready to catch the Quaffle. The Beaters had better aim than even Fred and George Weasley, and only narrowly missed their targets – though if their opponents had been on slower brooms, there was no doubt that every attempt would hit. The Keepers were hard to get past; they moved so fast whenever the Quaffle flew at them. And the Seekers…
Harry watched, awed, as Thomson and Moreau skimmed around the stadium, each keeping their eyes open for the Snitch, though occasionally they would go off to help the chasers by veering opposing chasers off course. Moreau had already pulled off a Wronski Feint (basically, the Seeker dived and pulled out at the last minute in an attempt to confuse the opposing Seeker) marvellously, though Thomson had caught on to what Moreau was doing at the last minute and had avoiding flying head-first into the ground.
"Watch out!" Fred yelled, just as a gasp went around the crowd. The English beaten, Hogan, had missed the Bludger he was trying to hit; it had instead rammed into his face, knocking him off this broom.
"Somebody catch him!" Hermione shouted worriedly, just as Murray (the other Beater) did in fact catch his team mate, lowering him to the ground where a mediwizard instantly ran out.
It wasn't long before Hogan was back up in the air and the game resumed.
The longer the game lasted, the faster everyone seemed to move. It was getting hard to keep up, even with the help of Harry's Omnioculars. Eventually, however, the Seekers had found the snitch. The crowd started chanting the name of the Seeker they wanted to win, but Harry barely noticed; he was focused solely on watching the twos Seekers.
Just when he thought Moreau was going to get it, Thomson nudged the French Seeker's hand out of the way and snatched up the Snitch triumphantly. England had caught the Snitch, but France had won. Behind him, Harry heard two simultaneous exclamations of "Yes!"
.
Walking back to the campsite, the air was once again filled with happy singing, even by English wizards.
"Think you can make keeper now, then?" Harry asked Ron with a grin.
"If I copy McGibbon, yeah! He was amazing – how did he move so fast?"
"His broom, practice," Harry said vaguely. Ron swatted him on the arm.
"Prat," the redhead grumbled good-naturedly, rolling his eyes as behind him the twins started to sing.
"Shame it didn't last longer," Ginny said, coming over to walk beside them. "Last time it lasted five days."
"Seriously?" Harry asked, his mouth dropping open in surprise.
"Yeah. A lot of people think the Snitch escaped for awhile," Ron sniggered.
"Wish it could've lasted that long this time," Harry said wistfully.
"We wouldn't have been able to watch it, though," Ron said, shaking his head. "School in two days, remember?"
"I suppose," Harry agreed. "Y'know, it's a shame Fleur couldn't come. She likes watching Quidditch."
"I think she'll be just fine with Bill," Ginny said, a knowing glint in her eye that left Harry a little confused. Before he could ask, though, Ginny had sidled away to talk to Hermione. Harry glanced at Ron, but his best friend only shrugged in reply, obviously not understanding either.
When they reached their tents, the group split up to head into their own tent. Nobody stayed up for long, feeling thoroughly exhausted even though they'd simply been watching the game.
"Night, guys," Harry called sleepily, climbing onto the bunk above Ron. Only Neville replied with a blurry 'Night, Harry'; everyone else was already asleep. It didn't take long for Harry to join the Weasleys in dreamland, falling onto a broomstick in midair and taking the role of Thomson in the match he'd just watched.
.
It felt like only minutes later someone was yelling for him to get up. Harry instantly shot up in bed, blinking blearily as he recognised Remus' voice.
"Get up, come on," he was saying urgently. "Just stick your shoes and a jacket on, and hurry."
"Whuzzgoin' on?" Fred asked groggily, even as he sat up and started pulling his shoes on. Remus was already gone, though. Harry jumped down from his bunk, not bothering to use the ladder, and slipped his shoes on. Whilst he was searching for his jacket, he became aware of screams outside.
"What's happening?" Neville asked worriedly, his shoes and jacket already on and his wand clutched in a slightly-shaky hand.
"Have a guess," said Harry, who was already thinking of Voldemort. "Who likes to cause trouble and scare people?"
"Let's go," George said after glancing around to make sure everyone was ready. Harry nodded, following him out the tent.
"Go into the forest and stick together, all right?" Mr Weasley told them sternly, the only adult still sticking around. Ginny, Hermione and Luna were standing beside him, somehow managing to look both sleepy and alert at the same time. Mr Weasley waited until everyone had nodded before pushing them towards the forest and rushing off to where Harry could see spells flying through the air.
"Let's go," George said, repeating his comment from inside the tent earlier, pushing Harry and Ron towards the forest.
Away from the lantern-lit trail, the forest was extremely dark.
"Lumos," Harry said quietly, lighting his wand to help him see. "The Ministry isn't going to care, Hermione," he said in response to the look she sent him. After a moment, she nodded and lit her own wand, closely followed by everyone else. They were surrounded by children of all ages, some with their parents. It made the forests seem overcrowded; nobody wanted to go too far in and were crowded around the edge of the forest. Harry and Fred led the group, pushing through the crowds, trying to find a slightly emptier part to stand at. When they finally did reach a small clearing, away from the crowd, they turned around and groaned. The only person with them was Ginny.
"They got pushed back by the crowd, I think," Ginny told them shakily, her eyes wide. "They'll be okay, won't they?"
"They'll be fine," Harry assured her after glancing at Fred. "They're surrounded by witches and wizards, they'll be fine."
"Should we look for them?"
"We won't find them," Fred shook his head before Harry could reply. "You saw the crowd, Gin. It'll be like looking for hay in a needle-stack."
"It's a needle in a haystack," Harry corrected Fred with a small smile. "We'll just stay here, right? When we hear things die down, we'll head back to the tent."
"Will we be okay here?" Ginny asked, glancing around them uneasily. "It's all deserted here."
"Don't leave yourself stuck in an open-space," Harry murmured to himself, causing Ginny and Fred to stare at him. "That's what Moony told me… we were okay when there was a group of us, but maybe we should go back towards everyone else now."
"Yeah, I've got a bad feeling about sticking around here," Fred agreed, resting a hand on Ginny's shoulder to push her back towards the way the came. Just as they were about to start walking, though, Harry lunged at them, knocking all three of them to the ground as a purple spell soared high over their heads.
"Too late now," Harry grumbled, pushing himself back up and holding his wand out in front of him. Fred and Ginny coped him a moment later, all three of them turning on the spot, trying to see their attackers. It wasn't long before Harry noticed four cloaked figures walking towards them out of the trees.
"Death Eaters," Ginny said to herself quietly, pointing her wand at them. Harry threw up a shield in front of her as a red light shot towards her.
"Who do we have here?" a soft voice drawled. "Two Weasleys and the ever-famous Potter."
"I want the girl," a colder voice said, cruel amusement tingeing it. Seeing an orange spell shooting towards him, Harry threw up a quick shield, but that left Ginny defenceless and she was struck by a red spell barely a second later.
"It was only Stupefy," Fred told him quietly, and Harry nodded. So long as she was unconscious, that was okay.
The four figures then started walking towards them and Harry backed up a little until he was standing directly beside Fred.
"When I say, stun the two on the left, right?"
Fred didn't reply, but Harry knew he had heard him.
"Now!" Harry hissed, raising his wand and shooting two "Stupefy!"'s at the two Death Eaters on the right. Only the two outside Death Eaters fell, which seemed to anger the remaining two Death Eaters who instantly started flinging spells and curses at the two. Harry found himself being slowly separated from Fred and Ginny as he battled his Death Eater, trying to do everything he had in his training. He dodged an orange spell, dropped to one knee and threw a stunner, rolled to the side, threw a confusement charm, jumped back up, stepped to the side to avoid what looked like the Cruciatus curse.
"You've been taught well," the Death Eater said, his voice making it obvious that he was smirking. "You're playing with fire, though, kid. Do you really believe you can take on a Death Eater?"
Dodge, step back, drop to one knee. Harry gasped as a cutting curse slashed across his stomach. He didn't have time to check it, though, as he threw himself to the side and threw another stunner at the Death Eater. A quick shield easily deflected the spell back at Harry, who rolled across the ground, groaning as it put pressure on his injured stomach. He felt his face pale slightly as he realized there was dark red liquid on the ground beneath him. He quickly got back to his feet, breathing heavily against the pain as he threw more spells at the Death Eater; stunners, stinging hexes, throwing fire at him; anything that came to mind, really. He smiled triumphantly as his fire burned the Death Eater's hand, causing him to drop his wand. Taking his chance, Harry threw a stunner at the Death Eater, who slumped to the ground unconscious. After using Incarcerous to tie the Death Eater up, Harry turned to help Fred. The Death Eater had his back to Harry and was unable to see the stunner sent at him. Once he had slumped to the ground and been bound by Harry, Harry turned to look at Fred, relieved to see nothing worse than a small cut on Fred's face.
"Bloody hell, mate!" Fred exclaimed, his whole face paling. "What'd that bastard do to you?"
"Cutting curse," Harry told him tightly, stumbling over to a tree and sliding down it until he was sitting on the root, with his back leaning against the trunk. "Don't suppose you know any healing charms? I can't heal anything more than a paper cut."
"We don't learn First Aid 'til after Christmas in seventh year," Fred shook his head. "How deep is it?"
"Bloody deep enough," Harry ground out. "Can't believe I didn't dodge it." He glanced past Fred at Ginny who was still lying, unconscious. "Best wake her up," he told Fred, motioning his head towards Ginny. Fred nodded, heading over to her and casting 'Ennervate'.
The best they could do whilst they waited was have Fred conjure a cloth, which Harry held against his still-bleeding stomach. The blood did, at least, seem to be slowing down – but so did Harry. He felt himself slipping away; his vision blurring, his concentration slipping.
"Stay awake, Harry," Ginny tapped his cheeks. "If there's anything I've learned over the years, it's that you need to keep injured people awake." Harry nodded groggily, knowing she was right. He had to stay awake.
"Havn'they got ever'fing sort'd yet?" he slurred.
"Apparently not," Ginny scowled. "How long does it take to stun a few Death Eaters?"
"There'll be more than just a few, Ginny," Fred said softly. "It took us awhile to knock out those two," he added, pointing his thumb towards the Death Eaters he and Harry had been fighting.
"Yes, but Aurors and Ministry workers know a lot more about duelling!"
"And a lot of Death Eaters are harder to fight than those two," Fred argued back. "Look," he said, lowering his voice. "I'm worried, too, but we need to keep calm. Why don't you go keep an eye out, and yell if you see anyone coming."
"What if it's Death Eaters?"
"Stun them. I'll be watching; if you stun anything I'll come help. Right now I'm going to try and keep Harry awake, all right?"
"Okay," Ginny sighed, glancing at Harry once more before moving off to get a clear look around the trees. After watching his sister worriedly for a few moments, Fred turned back to Harry and helped him hold the now-red cloth against his stomach; Harry's strength was slipping fast.
"Just hold in there," Fred said in as strong a voice as he could muster. "We'll have help here soon."
What felt like hours later, Fred look up to see Ginny running towards him, closely followed by Sirius, Remus, Mr Weasley, Mr Lovegood and all the children.
"See? I told you help would come," Fred told Harry quietly.
"Yuh," Harry slurred vaguely aware of someone picking him up. He winced as the movement irritated his stomach, letting out a small whimper of pain. Knowing he was safe now, Harry stopped fighting the urge to sleep and sank blissfully into darkness.
Here we go : ) Sorry, I know I promised this would be a really cheerful chapter, but when I was writing the last scene something told me to injure Harry. Like the Imperius curse, but impossible to fight off... it was mostly cheerful, though, so I do hope you'll forgive me! Also, please excuse the lack of 'Marauder lessons'. I'm not much in the mood to write about his first lessons... I'd rather write about the lessons once he's gained some skill, and write about the actual pranks he pulls - speakig of which, if anyone has any good prank ideas (doesn't matter who he plays them on), I'm all ears!
Now, I have a quick question before I upload this: can anybody tell me the correct way to pronounce Lycanthropy? It's been bugging me for weeks!
/editted on 20th Jan 08/ I fixed a little part, where I made out Cedric died rather than Viktor. My beta pointed it out to be, and yet I still uploaded the chapter without fixing it! Woops.