Here we go again!
Chapter 9: Life Goes On
9th October 1977
It was seven o'clock in the morning and the rays of the early morning sunlight shone across the Hogwarts grounds, the lake was sparkling with the Giant Squid lazing in the water. Only the Forbidden Forest remained dreary and dark in the autumn weather.
Two figures were walking slowly back to the castle, looking refreshed and energized after running and stretching.
"No, I reckon I'm the better runner," Brittany said confidently.
"You wish, I have to slow down when we're running to keep at your pace," Harry retorted.
"I could go quicker if I wanted Watson, and you always seem to be more out of breath than me so forgive me if I don't believe you," Brittany shot back.
"I forgive you. If you don't want to accept what's right in front of you, who am I to stop you?" Harry said, continuing the banter.
"I know exactly what I see when we run, Harry and it's me who always has more stamina than you," Brittany said, scowling playfully.
"Denial is the first stage to acceptance," Harry said loftily, at which Brittany slapped his shoulder playfully, "And then comes anger, we mustn't forget that." He finished, nodding sagely.
"The same could be said of you, denying that I am the better runner," Brittany smirked.
"You like to put a lot of emphasis on words, that's three times you did it in the last sentence," Harry commented.
"Helps me get my point across to people on a less intelligent level than me," Brittany answered.
"Oh, you wound me with your cutting words," Harry said, dead-pan.
"I know. I do posses a fantastic amount of wit, don't I?" Brittany said, fanning herself with her hand.
"We all believe what we want to believe," Harry stated, "However, in some cases cough yours cough what we believe, isn't true."
"You speak a lot of nonsense sometimes, Harry," Brittany said, shaking her head.
"Well, if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black," Harry said dryly, "Or is it the other way round…the kettle calling the pot black," He said to himself, looking thoughtful.
"I don't speak rubbish," Brittany defended.
"Really, what about all that crap about you being better than me at running," Harry said triumphantly.
"We're not back on that again, are we?" Brittany said exasperatedly.
"Back again? We were never off it."
"Yes we were,"
"And when was that?"
"When we were talking about…oh forget it. Let's just stick with I'm the better runner," Brittany said in frustration.
"But you're not," Harry smirked.
"I am,"
"Fine. Prove it." Harry challenged
"How?" She questioned, her eyes gleaming at the chance of a contest.
Harry looked thoughtful, "Ok, there's about…two hundred metres between here and the castle doors. We race each other, whoever gets there first wins."
"Pffft, easy," She said, blowing it off.
"Ok then, take your time to get ready, you still must be tired from the run." Harry said, goading her.
"And you're not?" She scowled
"Of course I'm not. I'm a waterfall of youth and energy. And don't scowl, it doesn't endear you to anyone," Harry smirked, she scowled even further at that but Harry could tell there was no real anger there.
"What happens if I win, then?"
"Umm…what do you want if you do?" Harry asked, now a bit wary
"I get to ask you a question and you have to answer me truthfully," Brittany said, determined.
Harry nodded slowly, "Ok, as long as it's not a question on whether I wear boxers or briefs, or if I got to bed wearing nothing."
"Do you go to bed wearing nothing?" Brittany asked, grinning
"I'm not telling you that!" Harry cried.
"Fine, don't. Much better ways for me to find out," She said deviously.
"Is that enough chatter? Are we gonna start?"
"Ok, I'm ready." Brittany said, taking position.
Harry took position as well, alongside her as they prepared themselves, "On the count of three?"
"Ok…I'll count down. Three…two…one…Hey what's that?" Brittany asked, pointing somewhere behind Harry.
Harry turned quickly to see what it was before seeing in confusion that nothing was out of the ordinary until he heard Brittany's shout.
"GO!"
Harry groaned as he realized he'd just fallen for the oldest trick in the book, and turned around quickly and started sprinting after Brittany who had a ten metre head start on him.
"CHEAT!" He shouted after her.
"NO, YOU'RE JUST GULLIBLE!" She shot back laughing
Nevertheless he started to catch up slowly as they neared the castle doors, their feet hitting the ground rhythmically. He was nearly level with her with around sixty metres to go when he said:
"Hah! Even when you have an advantage I still—aagh!"
Harry tripped on a loose piece of gravel and went sprawling awkwardly on the grass, rolling gawkily about, faintly hearing Brittany's laughter and shout of, "Don't count your eggs before they've hatched, Harry."
He got up clumsily but to his dismay saw she was only ten metres away to the finish and he trudged their grumpily, thoroughly pissed that he had lost, losing all of his dignity with it.
"I win!" Brittany crowed
"Only because I fell," Harry protested grumpily
"Not my fault if you're about as graceful as a cow on ice," Brittany said flippantly.
Harry just grunted as they made there way inside the castle, and up the moving staircases. The halls were virtually silent, except for the mutterings of the Portraits. No students were up, or if they were they didn't pass them in the hallways. Harry glanced over at Brittany, who was biting her bottom lip, softly.
"So, one question then?" She said, sounding nervous.
"Yeah, sure," Harry said warily.
She was silent for a while, and then she spoke, "Do you remember when I was going to ask you something before?"
Harry grinned, "You have to be more specific. Half the time you talk to me, you're asking me questions."
She rolled her eyes, "In the common room, we were playing chess before you wowed us all with your flirting,"
"Oh, yeah. How'd the flirting work for ya?" Harry asked, trying to change the conversation.
Unfortunately, she caught on to that, "It was really cliché and don't try and change the subject, you owe me an answer to a question."
"Alright then. Seems like I'm not getting out of this one." Harry said, resigned.
"Right," She nodded before pausing, "Okay…here goes…what do you normally do after we finish running?"
"Huh?" Harry said eloquently.
"I mean, you say you enjoy really long showers as well but I doubt you have one that's an hour and a half long," She explained nervously before looking suspicious, "Or do you?"
Harry scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Would you believe me if I said I did,"
"No, but if you really do I would be slightly worried," Brittany said.
Harry laughed a little at that, "Ok, well…it's just…you might think it a bit over-the-top or weird…" He said hesitantly.
"Harry, half the things you do I find weird. Like who gets into an argument with a chess piece for Merlin's sake, or who's able to fight as well as you do when it comes to duelling," Brittany said, light-heartedly.
"Obviously me," He said dryly, still a bit apprehensive. Should he tell her? Did he want to? Well, he did owe her…"All right…well's it's slightly to do with the last thing you said."
"How so?"
"Ok, well it's exactly to do with the last thing you said. About how I duel so well." Harry said, trying to find the words.
"You practise?" Brittany said in confusion.
"Erm-yeah, pretty much," Harry said.
"Oh," she said, looking thoughtful for a moment, "But where? I mean where can you find a place to do that all that…training?"
"Er…I found…a place," He said cautiously.
"Can I see?" She said eagerly, before faltering, "I mean…you don't have to show me if you don't want to but it--,"
Harry laughed and cut her off, "You can, I suppose it won't do no harm, though can you…keep it to yourself the place I'm going to show you…It's not a well-known area at Hogwarts, in fact I don't think anyone knows about it in the castle apart from the House-elves,"
"Is that how you found out about it? Did the House-elves show you?" Brittany said, sounding excited.
"You sound like a little girl on Christmas Morning," Harry teased, which made her scowl, "and yeah…sure the House-elves told me," He said, after all it wasn't a total lie.
She accepted that before her brow furrowed, "But wait…how did you get them to tell you? I doubt they'd reveal something as special as this room like you said…if it is special…to just anyone. It sounds like something even Dumbledore doesn't know about,"
Harry thought quickly but struggled to come up with an answer so he just said, while grinning roguishly, "Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies," She frowned slightly at that.
"Oh come on," Harry protested, when he saw her displeased at that, "Isn't it enough that I'm telling you something that I've told no one else?"
"Makes me feel very special," She said dead pan before saying, "It's not against the rules or anything is it?"
"I always went by the notion that rules were made to be broken," Harry said lightly.
"Harry!"
"Ok, ok it's not going to get us expelled or anything." He said, she still looked a bit dubious at that so Harry cried, "Come on, why won't you just trust me?"
"Because you're male," She said simply.
Harry sighed, "Fair enough, alright it's not that far now." They were on the sixth floor corridor and walked to the end of it in comfortable silence. They took the staircase, which thankfully was on the right track to where Harry wanted to be on the seventh floor and did not deviate towards another landing. Eventually, after five minutes Harry reached the blank stretch of wall opposite the tapestry of the trolls.
"Here we are," He said proudly.
"This? There's nothing there? Bit of an anti-climax," Brittany said, looking bewildered.
Harry just gave her a slight grin before pacing in front of the wall, thinking of what he wanted while Brittany looked at him, probably thinking he had gone insane.
"Harry, what the hell are y—oh!" Brittany said, completely surprised as a smooth, wooden oak door appeared out of nowhere looking for the entire world that it had always existed.
"Behold, the Room of Requirement," Harry announced, opening the door and hearing Brittany's intake of breath at the inventory of the magical and muggle objects and items inside.
It was like it always was for Harry when he required it. Bookshelves lined the wall with volumes on all manner of magics, there were training dummies with the expected buttons and dials on them, targets for him to hit, weapons for him to wield and machines that could be used for additional exercise.
"This is…this is incredible!" Brittany whispered in awe, looking everywhere and taking stock of everything, "How…what…?" She asked incoherently.
"Impressed?" Harry asked, grinning
She could only nod dumbly as she stared. She walked around silently before frowning slightly and coming to the wall, which was lined with weapons.
There were swords of different lengths and sizes each with there respective scabbards. Long swords, broad swords and great swords. Some were double-edged while others were single-edged, but each one of them having very sharp blades that could cut through skin like butter.
"All these weapons…," she whispered, Harry walked over to her and picked up one of the swords, gripping the hilt of it, which made her slightly apprehensive.
He tried to smile reassuringly at her, as he drew the curved blade out of its scabbard with a sound of metal sliding on metal. "You know much about swords?"
She shook her head.
Harry laughed a bit, "Neither did I much till a month ago…something my…teacher didn't instruct me in," He said, lying at the end.
"So you decided to learn?" She said, wide-eyed.
"It's a good skill to have and sword-fighting can be a sport," Harry explained, although he knew it would be very unlikely if he were to enter any competition of sorts to do with sword-fighting. He knew he'd be more probable to use it in battle…if the need for it should arise.
"Are you any…good?" She said sounding a little eager to see something.
Harry frowned thoughtfully and shook his head slowly, "I've just been reading techniques mostly, different manoeuvres before handling a blade. I've tried a little but I'm nowhere near perfect yet, but I'm a quick learner…hopefully I can pick up on this quickly."
He took a few paces backwards from Brittany before settling into a sword stance in front of him, his entire body focussed. He swung his blade through a few motions, the point cutting through the air as he performed the moves he'd read about and learnt.
He was working on building his balance with a sword before he attempted doing what he was quite excited to try out. That was sword-fighting against the dummies, he was certain he could require the room to provide him a dummy which could challenge him, it would undoubtedly help him improve.
He started to explain about the Art of swords to Brittany who was watching his movements interestedly, "You have longswords, broad swords and great swords. They're either double-edged or single-edged, the long or true edge is the one used for straight cuts or strikes, while the short or false edge is the one used for backhand strikes. It depends on the design of the sword to define which side is long and which is short."
She nodded, "Which sword is that?" She asked; her head cocked to the side questioningly.
"It's a single-edged sword, the Tiger Katana, a Japanese sword of battle. It's the one I've been practicing with," Harry said, admiring the blade and wondering when he would master it.
The Tiger Katana was a hand-forged powder steel blade from what Harry knew. It was fairly light at around 2lbs heavy and had a black steel scabbard. The sword overall was around 44 inches in length with a curved razor-sharp blade.
"Wait, I've heard of those. They were used by the Samurai's weren't they?" Harry nodded and she continued, "Weren't they given to only the most skillful warriors?"
Harry smiled sheepishly, "I never like to do things half-way, so I figured I might as well learn with one of the hardest swords,"
"Mental," she said, reminding him very much of Ron at the moment as she stared at him, "Completely mental,"
"You wouldn't be the first to tell me that," Harry said lightly, replacing the katana back in its scabbard.
"I doubt I'll be the last, either," she muttered, as he placed the sword back on the rack with all the others, "What else do you do? Apart from learning to be a sword wielding madman?"
Harry gave her a faint grin before moving over to the bookshelves and waving a hand in there direction.
"What? You study?!" She said incredulously, "At…what? Seven o'clock in the morning,"
Harry just shook his head, "If you knew what was in some of these books, you wouldn't mind reading through them no matter what the time was."
Brittany looked at him before moving to where he stood a picking a book randomly out of the shelves. Harry couldn't see the title of it as she looked down at it and her face turned cautious before she looked up at him, waving it in his face.
"The Dark Arts: Advanced. You've been learning from this. The book practically looks evil, Harry!" She exclaimed, and it did. It was a cold black color, with the words to the title written in blood red ink with grotesque images of what various curses did hanging around it.
"Well, it's wise to know what the enemy might throw at you," Harry defended, taking the book out of her hands.
"What enemy?" She said stupidly.
Harry just looked at her before she flushed in embarrassment before defending herself, "Well sorry if I don't expect Death Eaters to come storming in to the castle."
Harry grimaced at that, "You never know…" He just said, opening the book and flicking through it. After a while he was aware of Brittany staring at him, so he looked up at raised his eyebrows.
"You…actually know what curses that book teaches, don't you?" She asked a little apprehensively.
"I'm not evil just because I want to know what I might have thrown at me if I'm in a bad situation, Brittany," Harry sighed.
"You mean like against Voldemort in the summer?" Brittany asked which caused Harry to look up sharply. He'd suspected she'd been told by Lily but this was confirmation of the fact.
"How…?"
"Lily told me. And Grace," she responded, staring at him intently, "At first we didn't really know what to make of it. That the awkward-looking teenager we'd met who could hardly string a proper sentence together when talking to us had dueled the Darkest Lord in a century."
"Hey!" Harry said, slightly affronted and embarrassed as he remembered what a fool he'd made out of himself, "Oh who am I kidding? Well, what do you think now?"
She shrugged her shoulders, "It's not exactly real to me if you know what I mean. I wasn't there. But you have been pretty awesome in the dueling tournament so far…" she trailed off.
Harry nodded absently at that, "I've got Lily next," he commented, frowning.
Brittany grinned, "I know, she's been looking up spells like mad, you know? I think she really wants to beat you,"
"Why? What have I done to her?" Harry asked
"Nothing," she shrugged, "But most people want to know whether they can beat the 'new boy' after you wiped the floor with the Slytherins and Sirius,"
"Really?"
"Why do you think all those whispers follow you about? Or why people stare at you?"
"I'm guessing you're about to tell me it's not because of my good looks,"
She snorted, "Far from it,"
They fell silent for a bit and Harry thought of wanting a chair which appeared for him. He took a seat and flicked through the pages, pausing on one which detailed a curse where all the organs spilled out from the body. Nasty, he thought. He looked up and saw Brittany looking through the bookshelves, examining a few of the volumes.
"I doubt some of these are even in the Restricted Section," she said in wonder.
"They probably aren't," Harry commented.
"How did you get them here? How on earth does all this work?"
"It's the Room of Requirement," He said vaguely, still reading his book
"So you've said," she said, dead-pan. "But how does it function?"
"Work it out," Harry smirked.
She cast him an irritated look before turning thoughtful. Harry saw out of the corner of her eye she had closed her eyes and her brow was furrowed before a bucket of water appeared with a small pop!
"Ha!" She cried triumphantly, "If you require something, the Room will provide it."
"Your powers of deduction are outstanding," Harry said sardonically. He saw Brittany scowl at him before her eyes lit up in way he knew meant trouble. He looked up and said warily, "What are you—aargh!"
SPLASH!
The bucket of water that was previously on the floor had flown across the room and landed on his head covering him, the chair and his book with water. He stood up and blew the damp hair out of his eyes, and scowled at her.
"Very mature. What are you, like eight?" He asked irritably.
"All's fair in love and war," she said brightly
Harry grumbled under his breath as he cast a drying charm on himself with his wand so that he didn't catch a cold.
"Well if you're done, maybe I could get back to doing some work," Harry said, attempting to guide her out of the room.
"Ohhh! But can't I stay and practice as well?" She asked innocently.
"Stay and practice or annoy me?" He asked curtly.
"Well…the last one does sound appealing…" she said cheekily
"Out you go," he said gruffly
"Ok, Ok, practice. Where's your sense of humor gone?"
"It's grown thin having to deal with you," he muttered. "Well, do what you will."
That said he moved back to what he was doing before as Brittany also pulled up a chair with a thought and started reading. Looks like I'm going to have to share this room now in the mornings, He thought a little sullenly. He looked at Brittany across from him and his thoughts brightened; At least the company won't be too bad.
Harry just finished his shower and stepped out of the stall before he started changing in the makeshift bathroom in the Room of Requirement after his training session.
He'd done the same routine he had set out for himself when he had gotten here a month ago. Read, hand-to-hand combat and then magical combat, followed with practicing with the sword. It was a lot to fit in to one and a half hours but Harry managed his time well and there was always later at night when he could fill in with a few more hours.
Brittany had thought him a little mad when he started hand to hand fighting but had gotten very eager to try out with the dummies herself. They had made the room larger so they didn't get in the others way as Brittany tested herself magically against the simulations. She wasn't as good as Harry but would be tough to take in a fight and he supposed she would get better if she continued training like he did.
Of course having her training with him had shown her quite a bit of what he was really capable of and it had led to her looking at him with more than a little awe. Once she had seen him perform wandless magic she had been speechless, something she wasn't very often as she nearly always had something to say.
She had begged him to teach her and Harry had told her a few of the basics of it to get her going but he knew learning wandlessly would be a struggle, only Dumbledore and Voldemort were known to be exceptional in it. Harry had obviously asked her at the end of the session to keep all of what he could do a secret. She had agreed and had in turn thanked him for letting her train as well before kissing him on the cheek and exiting the Room to go have a shower in her dormitory.
Harry had been left dazed after the kiss and when he'd regained his senses she'd been too faraway for him to tell her about the Room being able to provide a shower stall for her. Still a little confused as to what had happened he had shrugged it off and entered a door that had appeared for his own shower.
He made his way down to breakfast in the Great Hall, aware that the owls with the Daily Prophet would be arriving in around fifteen minutes. He entered the large room, hearing the chatter of students from all houses reverberate around the hall.
The first thing he was aware of was that the Headmaster wasn't in his seat, but shook it of as it was nothing new. The second was that Professor McGonagall wasn't present either but he reasoned that could have been for a number of things.
He made his way to where his friends were and shared a smile with Brittany before sitting down. James and Sirius were boisterously chatting, while Remus was his calm self along with Peter looking characteristically timid. He tried not to scowl as he looked at the rat and turned his attention to the porridge bowl in front of him.
Grace and Lily were chatting silently with Brittany about something that was related surely to the weird things girls regularly did. After Harry had served himself some porridge he was just in time to hear Sirius make his bizarre comment of the day, something which Harry had grown used to.
He was sniffing his porridge and looking at it pensively, unaware everyone else was staring at him strangely. He suddenly looked up when Lily remarked, "What are you doing?"
"Since there's a speed of sound and speed of light, shouldn't there be a speed of smell?" He asked, looking strangely serious.
All the other just stared at him before Harry said in a dry tone, "You would think."
"I know!" He said, nodding his head not picking up on Harry's cynical tone. He started muttering to himself and Harry rolled his eyes with Brittany at him.
Suddenly the Hall went peculiarly silent and the main sounds were those of footsteps. Harry looked up and saw Professor Dumbledore walking with a slight limp with the Gryffindor Head of House behind him. But what had caused the abnormal silence were their expressions.
McGonagall, who was normally emotionless and stern had faint red rimmed eyes which were unmistakable signs of crying.
What could have happened that was so terrible that it made the strict, uncompromising Transfiguration Professor cry?
But what was worse was Dumbledore's expression. It was deadly grave and tired, the Headmaster looking every inch of the one hundred and thirty years he was. A horrible feeling clawed in Harry's stomach as they walked over to where his group was sitting, knowing that horrible news was lying in the Headmaster's wake.
The feeling only intensified as he placed a grandfatherly hand on James's shoulder.
James looked up at Dumbledore, his face terrified and deathly pale as he dreaded what news he was about to receive.
"James, my boy…" Dumbledore said softly, his tone commiserating. Whispers had started up again, as people stared at the scene trying to hear what was being said.
"If you'll follow me…" He said quietly, as James got up shakily and everyone around him exchanged troubled glances. Dumbledore and McGonagall led James in the direction of the Head Table and past it; into the chamber which Harry remembered entering in his fourth year.
As soon as the doors closed behind them, the chatter started up again, all of the students coming up with their own theories of what had happened.
"What do you think that was about?" Remus asked worriedly, to which everyone shook their heads except Harry who was looking upwards.
"I think…I think we're about to find out," Harry said, inclining his head towards the flock of owls that were descending around the Great Hall carrying letters, packages but what Harry was most interested in was The Daily Prophet.
One of the owls dropped one of to Lily, who quickly paid it and untied the scroll hurriedly. Her face grew pale and she covered her hand with her mouth before whispering, "Oh my god…"
The front page of The Daily Prophet bore the headline:
HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED
KILLS
THE POTTERS
A cold feeling covered Harry as he realized what James was being told right now. He was an orphan! Harry could relate a bit to that but it would be infinitely worse for James who had lived with his parents for seventeen years and then for him to have them violently ripped away from him…
Sirius had gone pale as well and Harry remembered that the Potters often had Sirius over for the holidays. They would have been to him what the Weasleys were to Harry. That he could relate to!
"Fuck…" Sirius cursed, his face forlorn as they all read the article silently:
Late last night, You-Know-Who and his followers engaged battle with the Ministry's Aurors in the city of Westminster, more precisely Westminster Abbey.
The battle saw many dead and wounded severely, the death count being around two hundred and fifty. Nearly a third of those were Aurors, while many innocent's lives were claimed from the collateral damage that occurred. The building of Westminster Abbey was reduced to ruins as well, a structure that had been built nearly one thousand years ago.
Thirty Death Eaters were killed in the battle and the Ministry managed to capture twenty who are currently being kept in a Ministry Holding Cell and awaiting trial for a sentence in Azkaban.
However throughout this, the most notable casualty of the night was that eyewitness reports say You-Know-Who personally killed Henry Potter, formerly second-in-command of the Auror Department, and his wife Emily Potter. Both died from the effects of the Killing Curse by the Dark Lord, and with them a strong resistance against the Dark Side also died.
The article continued from there going into detail about the Potters and their lives and how prominent alongside Dumbledore they had been in the war and society. The group sat in a subdued silence, their appetites gone as they wondered how James was taking it.
There would be a funeral, Harry knew. That would be difficult for James to get through, not to mention adjusting to the fact that he couldn't rely on his parents ever again. A lot more seriousness was going to be needed by him as well; he was now going to have to take full control of his own life.
Harry looked at his watch, nine o'clock. Quidditch would be cancelled, he thought fleetingly before wondering about the day ahead. After another half-an-hour without James showing up from the room he had entered with Dumbledore, Lily surprisingly volunteered to stay behind and wait while the others went.
The Marauders were a bit reluctant to go but did, deciding Lily was better at comforting James than they ever would be. It would be a hard few days for him and it was the first time in a while the war had really hit close to home.
Harry spent the rest of the morning lounging silently in the common room, it was around Eleven-thirty when James entered with Lily in tow and he was barely keeping up a brave face. He sat around with them in an uncomfortable silence for a while, nothing being said before he spoke:
"I have…I have to sort some things out…paperwork and stuff to do with o-ownership," he started haltingly, "So I have until Tuesday off." He said his voice slightly stronger.
"We here for you, mate," Sirius said strongly, "We're best friends. We help each other,"
"Thanks," James said gratefully, "There's also the funeral…" his voice choking on the last word.
The rest of the day had been spent somberly, Harry spent a short time practicing but felt depressed himself from the relative lack of cheer around his friends. He was asked later on, by James whether he could to attend the funeral as a pallbearer. Harry was going to respectfully decline before somewhere in his mind it registered that it was his grand-parents that had died and found himself nodding his acceptance.
12th October 1977
The skies were shining faint orange as the sun began to set along the horizon at around six o'clock on Tuesday evening. The weather was ironically wonderful for such a day of sadness that it almost seemed to be mocking them.
A congregation of people were huddled around, in a cemetery which was located in Wales. It had rows and rows of graves built into the ground, each having names and dates carved into the stone.
The burial for Henry and Emily Potter was taking place after a long restless day of classes, the priest was reciting the Lord's Prayer before the coffins were to be placed in their graves after Harry and eleven others had carried them.
It was a fairly private funeral, only few present. Probably not to draw attention to Voldemort, Harry thought. He was certain that the others that were present were members of the Order; he had gotten quite a few curious and interested glances as well as a hostile glare from one such party. There was no other family present; Henry and Emily were both only children just like James and their parents were also not around any more.
Harry, along with the rest of the Marauders had come, them being pallbearers as well. Surprisingly, Lily had come, abandoning school after James had asked her, but Grace and Brittany were unable to. Lily had probably been the one that had helped James the most for the first few days, his male friends not really knowing what to do for him.
Nothing eventful had been reported in the papers after the Potter's deaths and the days at school following it were relatively dull. There was no spark from the Marauders after James had left to sort out his parent's estate. But the first real sign of life from James since Saturday was when he was taunted by Snape this morning about his dead parents. James snapped and started hurling nearly everything short of the Unforgivables at Snape and the fight would have turned brutal had Professor Gardner not intervened.
The other Quarter Final had taken place today between Bellatrix and Snape. The two, despite being in the same house, did not have any qualms about trying to hurt each other as they threw Dark curse after Dark Curse at each other. It was supposedly a duel between the best two fighters and it would have been exciting to watch had Harry's thoughts not have been about attending a funeral later on in the day. In the end Snape won, just, though Harry couldn't remember how now.
Harry had spoken to James briefly before coming here as well, saying sorry even though he knew it wouldn't mean much but James accepted it.
"I can't say I know how it feels. I mean I lost my parents but I never knew them so it wasn't as hard and it was easier to accept…" Harry had trailed off.
James had nodded jerkily before saying, "How did you do it though? Live without them?"
"I…had someone to take care of me…but I always wanted to know what my parents were like and I guess it got harder thinking about them as I got older instead of easier,"
"I guess I'm kind of lucky," James whispered to himself, almost, "I at least knew them and had seventeen years with them," He had said it with such desperation that he was almost willing himself to believe it.
"Yeah…that's one 'positive' way of looking at it although I'm not really sure there are any in circumstances like this." There was a bit of awkward silence before Harry continued; "Besides it's not as if you'll never see them again.
"You think there's life after death?"
"I hope so." Harry replied, thinking about Ron, Hermione, his real parents and Sirius along with Remus.
Religion was not big in the Wizarding World, Harry knew as with magic, thoughts of Creation and God were often pushed to the back of the mind.
As the priest went on, reading from the Muggle Holy Scriptures, Harry suddenly wondered if there was God or whether the world had been created by chance or some other unknown force. He thought there was some sort of higher deity up above, something that had to control Fate and Destiny. Two things that had shaped Harry's entire life.
He supposed that he would like to think there was a God. It was comforting thought that there was a divine being that controlled the world and the universe. The Balance of Life and Death.
Or was it?
If there was a God why would He let an evil being like Voldemort kill his own people unhindered? Why would He allow so much suffering to occur like it had done?
Unless God didn't care.
Unless we were all puppets on a string manipulated by Him, taking part in a sick game and playing out our own lives for His amusement.
"And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
Evil.
Evil is what had brought everyone here, the evil that was festering inside Voldemort that led him to rip apart another family with no hesitation. Voldemort who had been tempted by the seductive darkness and had succumbed freely to it…because he was too weak to fight it, Harry thought viciously.
"Amen."
It was over. The coffins were lowered into the grave by magic and then covered up with dirt just as quickly. The attendants made their way mournfully back, having to return to their daily lives.
Harry walked with the Marauders and Lily who, like James had tear tracks on her face. It was time for them to return to school and get over this, to keep on living…
To keep on fighting.
At midnight, the very next day, two students exited their cold, dank common room, silently and stealthily making there way to the Entrance Hall from the dungeons.
They had both received identical letters which had ordered them to come to their Lord, and both were pale with fright. They had yet to complete the task they had been set and feared punishment for not having done so, but they still went.
To not would mean death.
They reached the Entrance Hall unhindered and thankfully the huge oak doors were open. They stepped out into the pitch dark night, the skies fully clouded so no stars could be sighted. Rodolphus Lestrange and Severus Snape both made their way down the path to the gates, dreading what was to come but similarly hoping no-one noticed two figures that were shrouded in the blanket of the night.
After they had exited the gates and were past the ancient wards erected around Hogwarts, they both simultaneously apparated to the co-ordinates they had been given and immediately appeared in a sparsely furnished hallway, where in front of them a large door loomed forebodingly, it's frame glittering with jewels.
They had no idea where they were, last time they had similarly been given co-ordinates to an unknown place and the wards had been modified to recognize them. It was the same location but where in the world they were, they had no idea. It was better this way supposedly; they couldn't accidentally or purposefully give away the location of the Dark Lord then. They were still school children after all; they weren't to be trusted with important information of that kind.
"Should w-we knock?" Rodolphus's slightly wavering voice came, displaying his fear.
"Scared?" Snape sneered, hiding his own terror.
"You would be a fool not to be," the Slytherin replied, his voice slightly stronger.
Snape and Rodolphus made their way shakily to the door and Snape reached out with his hand to knock but before he could rap his knuckles on the door a voice that sounded as if it belonged to the devil itself sounded from within:
"Enter."
They both swallowed and with a deep breath Snape opened the door to a room, which was lavishly decorated with trophies, portraits and ornaments. In the middle of the room there was an elongated table with chairs down either side of it and a throne built for a king at the head.
Seated in the throne was the source of evil that had riddled the country of Britain, a vision that would put most men's imagination of what Satan would look like to shame.
Lord Voldemort
His pale face was looking at his arrivals impassively and the air around the Dark Lord emanated with evil and power. He looked scarcely human but only just, more like a demon that resided in the fiery depths of hell. But the most frightening thing about the Dark Lord was his eyes.
By god…his eyes
Glowing red, tainted with His exposure and fascination of Dark Magic. They swept across everyone with no feelings but cruelty and hatred that were forever etched into them. There were no hints of kindness or warmth in those cold red orbs.
Five other men were seated at the table; these people were known as Voldemort's Inner Circle. Lucius Malfoy, Antonin Dolohov, Nicolai Black, Devon Jugson and Renold Lestrange occupied the chairs that many Death Eaters would do anything to be in.
As they walked in, Renold Lestrange gave no acknowledgment to his son as the rest looked at them with barely unconcealed disdain. They saw two stiff, wooden chairs that had been pulled out and tentatively sat down in them.
"You are on time…good. We can begin," Voldemort said softly, "Firstly, Lucius anything to report on Harry Watson and the tournament."
The two teenagers started at the name and their expression were stunned, "Harry Watson, why do you want to know about him?" Rodolphus blurted out foolishly.
The air turned frosty as Voldemort surveyed him with annoyance while the others looked at him with contempt and Rodolphus went sheet white.
"Do not speak out of line!" Renold hissed threateningly at his son.
Fortunately for Rodolphus, Voldemort turned away and focused his attention on Lucius again, "Well?"
"He looks set to reach the final and challenge Dumbledore…most likely. He has seen through most of the competition with ease, not many really challenging him. He performed minor wandless magic against Black to summon his wand however it was nothing extraordinary."
Voldemort looked as if he was recalling something before responding, "His opponents apart from Black have been two Slytherins, have they not?"
"Y-yes, my lord," Lucius said, hesitating slightly.
"The two Lestranges," Voldemort whispered, turning his gaze to Rodolphus, who gulped, "You fought against Harry Watson, didn't you?"
Rodolphus nodded, "Y-yes, my Lord," he said, his voice quivering with fear
"He embarrassed you, as well as your brother," Voldemort stated which caused Rodolphus to flush and then scowl darkly and forget his fear.
"I was unlucky, my Lord," He said, before he could stop himself.
Amusement flashed in those red eyes, "How so? From what I know his progression has been made with absurd ease," Rodolphus kept his mouth shut after that.
"Has he approached or made any indication about the Letter we sent him?" Voldemort asked Lucius.
"No, my Lord. He has not made any move on that front. From what I know he spends most of his time with Gryffindors," Lucius reported his distaste in the last word evident.
"If he does not accept…then he will have to suffer. He could be a potential thorn in my side if he allies with Dumbledore against me. We all know he has prodigious talent. However, hopefully he will not be foolish enough to decline the power I am willingly offering him," Voldemort said, speaking to himself almost.
"Now onto others matters, pertaining closely to why our guests are here," The Dark Lord announced, smiling unpleasantly
"If you will remember I set you a task…a mission to be completed at the end of your school year,"
"Y-you did, my Lord," Snape replied for the both of them
"Well?" Voldemort said dangerously.
"I-It has not been easy. We are working on it, however my Lord and we want to ensure the murder cannot be traced back to us," Snape answered, his voice wavering slightly.
"Very well…I did say I wanted you two to be able to claim ignorance," He said, his crimson eyes boring into them, "However, I have decided you two are to…discontinue this…perhaps for a while."
"My L—"
"Silence!"
The two students were stark white with terror wondering if they were to be killed or punished as they were now useless.
"With Potters parents out of they way, the son is open to influence. Along with Black. They are young like Mr. Watson. Both pureblood. If they can see that fighting against us is useless…fighting for Dumbledore is foolish, is what had caused the death of Henry and Emily Potter then maybe they can be swayed."
"You wish to recruit them, My Lord?" Nicolai Black asked.
"Your nephew has a chance of redemption if he accepts, and Potter…They are both gifted, if they can be manipulated to become allies then it will be a victory. If not…then you two will be given the mission once again of disposing of them."
If possible, Snape's hate for Potter and Black grew even more as he realized he may not have a chance of pleasing the Dark Lord. The two students were dismissed, both making their way back to Hogwarts, Snape being torn with hatred for the two Marauders who had seen, however inadvertently, that he may be denied a life changing opportunity and relief that he needn't not worry for now about compiling a stealthy assassination.
After the students had left Voldemort turned his attention to Dolohov.
"What I asked you to do, Dolohov. It is to be done soon."
"Yes, my Lord."
"You must not fail," His Master hissed, "If all is successful, this attack should rock the Muggle world to it's very core and set things faster into motion."
"I will not disappoint you, my Lord."
"See that you don't. You have command over one hundred of my followers, Dolohov. Use them wisely. Avery and Mulciber are also to aid you as your second and third-in-command."
Dolohov nodded begrudgingly at that.
"Good…all of you leave me. Until next time."
Time waited for no man as life went on at Hogwarts. Harry often had Brittany join him in the mornings, after the first session she was hesitant to intrude but Harry had assured it was fine for her to train with him. She was often amazed at some of the things he could do and Harry had in turn taught her a few things which would help her.
James became more withdrawn after his parents death and a change in character had come about. For the first few days however he was quite shaky and it had resulted in him being defeated by Brittany in the Quarter Final.
No one made any comment about the match apart from a few words of congratulation and sympathy but James did not look overly bothered about losing. It seemed that he thought there were more important things than a game or couldn't really bring himself to care at that moment.
There had been a few days without an attack but that made Harry apprehensive, wondering whether Voldemort was planning something big and catastrophic.
In the mean time, Harry's duel with Lily was coming up and he had found Lily often looking up spells and hexes. She had been teased by Sirius about taking it seriously but Lily had shot back in his face that she didn't want to make the mistake of losing when the win was more or less in the bag.
She had also shook hands (metaphorically) with Harry that there would be no hard feelings. Harry had agreed but he was a bit more wary of this duel as Lily had seen him fight against Voldemort but he wasn't going to give it everything he had. It was a friendly duel, not one that consisted of life and death.
Quidditch practice had started up slowly again on the weekend before the semi-final as James had come to decision that he couldn't stop living his life. Instead he seemed to have developed a whole new hate and anger at Voldemort and his Death Eaters which made in turn everyone else cautious and worrying that he might do something that was stupid, reckless and unmistakably Gryffindor.
Teachers were now setting more homework so that often meant late nights, in Transfiguration they were still working on Human Transfiguration though they were moving on to harder animals.
Eventually, the 19th October came by and with it, the match between Harry and Lily.
They were both called up on the platform and were both cheered on equally by the Gryffindors though Harry suspected James was cheering more for Lily.
The atmosphere was animated as all the viewers beheld the semi-final which was just one step away to the final that was taking place in a week's time
There was a good distance between them as they both bowed to each other and Professor Gardner told them to start.
"Begin!"
Lily immediately raised her own wand to herself and tapped it on her head, as she disappeared slowly under the effects of the Disillusionment Charm.
Harry was confused as he remembered he had easily countered that against Rodolphus. She must've forgotten…he thought…Oh well…
"Homenum Revelio," He muttered.
Like last time a wave of magic swept though the room, casting over everyone and creating a white glow around them. Harry waited for a white glow to appear in the platform but to his shock it didn't.
Shaking himself quickly, as he heard whispers erupt around him, he reached with his Sensing to try and detect Lily's magical signature…but he couldn't find that either!
Before Harry had time to think on that he became aware of a jet of energy heading towards him from behind so he dived to the floor blindly, feeling the spell rush against him and miss him by inches.
He rolled around the floor so he wasn't a sitting target before jumping up to his feet, his entire body now alert with concentration as he tried to figure what was happening.
He could only assume she had added another spell to herself after the Disillusionment Charm to mask her presence. He knew the Homenum Revelio incantation worked the same way as Sensing as it detected magical signatures so she must've found some spell that hid hers.
Clever, he thought grimly.
He tried not to panic and still kept his Sensing 'on' and this helped him detect a non-verbal Stunning Spell heading towards him from his left hand side.
Fortunately, it was from a good distance away so he was able to turn quickly and bring up his shield.
Protego!
The Stunning Spell deflected back in the opposite direction after clanging! with Harry's shield but it encountered nothing as it passed through the area it originated from, unobstructed.
She must've moved…Thinking quickly and knowing he wouldn't have much more time left in this if the duel carried on as it were, Harry raised his wand to the ceiling as he moved around, making sure he wasn't a stationary target.
He moved his wand in a circular motion, thinking Pluvia Supremus!
In the platform, all around it rain was now falling from an invisible source. Some students backed away as they became slightly wet from the drops of waters splattering on the ground near them.
Harry cast an Impervius Charm on himself to become waterproof and made sure he now looked around the area intently, until smiling satisfactorily when he saw what he wanted.
There was a patch of air in the platform which flickered slightly as raindrops impacted on seemingly empty space. Wasting no time, Harry lifted his wand and fired the counter-curse at Lily. The beam of light struck as she tried to fight it off to no avail and she reappeared, with her clothes and hair wet, looking slightly frustrated at being found but resigned.
Harry flicked his wand in the air again canceling the rainstorm and immediately sent a Stunner at Lily. She brought up a shield, non-verbally, which deflected the red light but shattered from the impact.
Harry's mouth quirked upwards at her as she looked desperately for a way to win, knowing that Harry was by far the better dueler. She shrugged slightly at his half-smile before coming to a mental decision of giving it everything she had.
"Confundo! Stupefy! Mucos!"
Harry dodged the first and deflected the Stunner effortlessly with his shield before recoiling and ducking a green slimy substance. Mucus he thought grimacing.
"Intoxico!"
Harry knew what that one was; he had intended to use it on Sirius but didn't get the chance. He moved out of the way again, avoiding the charm that would have caused drunkenness to befall him. That was the last thing that he needed. To become totally smashed from the effects of a spell he didn't know how to counter.
Harry decided to end it now before he made a mistake like last time against Sirius. He raised his and made a lasso gesture as fiery ropes descended around Lily. Unfortunately, she parried them and fired a non-verbal triple Stunner at Harry.
Protego!
He poured all his strength into the shield as the three Stunners slammed into as he pushed back, aiming to direct it back at Lily. With a grunt, they did go back in her direction but were slightly off target and as he was focusing on that, Lily fired off another spell which caught him unawares.
"Oxoculus!"
He's never heard of it before as it bypassed his shield and struck him in the eyes, causing him to close them. He tried to open them but found his eyelids were sealed shut so he couldn't see. He made a noise in the back of his throat as he brought his hands up to his eye line but it seemed they were waxed closed with super-glue. He didn't know a counter-curse to this and he mentally slapped himself, also recalling that his mother was fantastic at Charms and knew many of them.
Harry was angry…angry at himself. This was the second time in two matches that he'd been caught off-guard because he had played easy and it could've cost him last time and it might just do now.
Enough was enough, he thought.
He abandoned trying to open them and backed away. Everyone was aware that he couldn't see and were counting, like last time for Lily to finish him. They were writing him off, but Harry still had one trick up his sleeve.
Harry pushed out fully with his Sensing and found Lily's magical core, thanking God that it wasn't masked anymore and must've come undone when her Disillusionment Charm failed. He saw her blurry outline, with the different colors of magic shooting across it.
Her wand was raised and she looked apprehensive and cautious wanting to make sure she didn't blow her chance. Harry turned slightly away from her so it looked like he didn't know where she was.
He saw sparks of magic emitting from her wand as a non-verbal Stunning Spell closed in on him. He kept himself still, aware that the crowd was holding their breath. At the final moment, Harry spun out of the way evading the Stunner and set his sights on ending the duel, feeling more than hearing nearly everyone's exclamation of shock.
He fired the same red light as the Stunner however it was twice as big in size. It sizzled through the air towards Lily at an awesome speed, who getting over her surprise, conjured a hasty shield.
However Harry, remembering something he had learnt out of one of Dumbledore's private books, jabbed his wand forward and intently focused on the red ball of energy splitting into two. It did and Harry, controlling them, made both of them veer in different directions as they arced away and then towards Lily, converging on her from separate sides and avoiding her shield.
The two red lights struck her as she fell motionless and Stunned to the floor. He made his way over to her, not hearing any noise as the students beheld yet again another dramatic finish from Harry.
"Ennervate," he muttered, waving his wand over her limp body and looking very much like he had no problems seeing.
She groaned and mumbled as she got up groggily and the rest of the class started to hesitantly and then properly clap before cheering at the fantastic end to the duel. Harry wasn't sure but he doubted the Slytherins were joining in on the applause.
"Well done," she said. Harry thought she was smiling from her tone but he couldn't really tell
"Thanks," he muttered, "Erm…can you…do you…?" He asked awkwardly gesturing to his eyes.
"Oh…right!" She said, as she started moving her wand for the counter-curse before looking back in confusion (or he thought it was at least), "Wait, how come you're looking at me right now as if you can see me…and before when you fired that spell at me you knew exactly where I was. Has the spell not worked?"
"Oh it worked," Harry said grinning, "I can't see crap all out of my eyes,"
"Then how…?"
Harry just tapped his nose in secret and he felt her shake her head in bewilderment before she waved her wand across his eyes and then he felt full control over them.
"Perfect," He said blinking repeatedly before walking off the platform to his friends, with Lily, who immediately pounced on them with 'WOWs' and 'Ahs.'
"Did you use that Sensing thing to know where she was?" Brittany asked him in a sideways whisper, to which Harry nodded his head.
"See, it is useful," he teased, "Not a load of bollocks like you said,"
"I didn't say it was bollocks Harry," Brittany defended, "I just said it sounded way too complicated."
"Complicated for you?" He asked innocently, to which she glared.
"Funny. What was that last spell you used?"
"Just a little something," Harry said vaguely.
"It looked cool. Can you teach me it?" She asked hopefully.
"Well…" he said hesitantly.
"Pleeeease…." She persisted, with a puppy dog look.
"Oh…Ok," Harry grumbled to which she kissed him on the cheek, causing him to blush hotly and James and Sirius to snigger and make noises.
"Sod off," he said half-heartedly, "Unless you want me to kick your ass as well," They immediately abated after that.
21st October 1977
Harry stumbled up to bed at midnight refreshed from the training session he had just had with Brittany although he had put off a Charms essay in favor of it.
He had become a bit of a hero around Gryffindor tower after reaching the final and people he had never said a word to before were coming up to him and wishing him luck. He was a bit uncomfortable with it at the start but after a day or so he had learnt to just say 'thank-you' instead of mumbling awkwardly.
Harry's opponent for the final that day had been decided when Brittany had lost to Severus Snape. Harry winced when he remembered some of the injuries the two, but mainly Brittany, received from the vicious duel. She had given it her all, making Harry feel a strange pride, and used quite a few of his tricks but it hadn't been enough unfortunately against Snape who knew more Dark Magic than anyone save Harry.
He noticed that James, Sirius and Remus were up talking and frowned slightly when he realized Peter was asleep and ignored. Harry couldn't remember ever talking to him and hadn't heard him speak in ages. He just seemed to follow everyone around, like a dog following its master.
He stepped into the shower; he had neglected to take one in the Room. He had suggested to Brittany a few hours earlier whether she wanted to go train and Harry had spent a fair bit of time teaching different spells and techniques which she tested against the magical dummies. She had taken out all her frustration on them as they had been mercilessly torn to shreds with Harry wincing involuntarily.
While she was doing that, Harry had finally had his first 'sword-fight' with a dummy which had been produced solely for that purpose. Thankfully, the Room wouldn't require him to get severely hurt and the blades had been enchanted to not be as deadly.
He had started at a low skill level at four which he had after some time been able to keep up with but Brittany did still have to heal a few minor cuts and bruises he had sustained.
He got out of the shower a while later and dressed for bed, picking up his watch that he had put by the sink. It was twelve-thirty now. He had around five and a half hours before he woke up again, not really enough but he didn't really care. He could catch up on sleep tomorrow or on the weekend.
He exited the showers and entered the dormitory again and saw that Remus, James and Sirius were just heading to bed. He called out goodnight to them as he walked over to his bed before he could plop down on it, there was a Tap Tap noise coming from the window nearest to him.
"What's that?" Sirius called groggily from his covers within his bed.
Harry went over to the window and unlocked the latch, whilst James, Remus and Sirius looked up interestedly from their bed sheets. A midnight black owl appeared in Harry's sight whereas previously it was camouflaged by the dark sky. It was carrying two letters which it unceremoniously dropped off as soon as it could before flying off hurriedly.
Weird, Harry thought, Owls normally delver their letters properly instead of flying away as quickly as they can.
"What's that, mate?" James called out, turning on the lights with his wand.
Harry looked down at the two separate envelopes and his blood ran cold as he instantly recognized what they were.
Recruitment Letters
Exactly the same in design compared to Harry's, with the blood red ink and Dark Mark insignia. The only major differences were the names on the front.
These two were delivered to James Potter and Sirius Black.
He picked the two envelopes up carefully and looked at both James and Sirius before saying quietly, "There for you two."
The two Marauders exchanged a quick glance before getting up properly and taking them out of Harry's outstretched hand. They both looked at him questioningly before looking at their respective envelopes and almost immediately all the color drained out of their faces.
"This…isn't w-what I-I think it is, is it?" Sirius asked weakly.
"Looks like it," Harry said flatly.
They both silently and shakily opened their as Remus came and looked over their shoulders with wide disbelieving eyes. They unfolded the parchment and with one last fearful glance, started reading.
As they progressed, Harry noticed James's face growing redder and redder with rage. After he finished he tore it up viciously and shouted, nearly loud enough for the whole tower to hear:
"BULLSHIT!"
He stood there with a crazed look, panting heavily in anger after he punched the wall with his fist, repeatedly, ignoring any pain he might have felt from the impact, his anger making him numb to it. Luckily, no one else in the tower came to investigate the source of commotion.
"They don't honestly expect you two to believe that, do they?" Remus asked uncertainly.
"What does it say?" Harry asked in an unreadable tone.
"It says that his parents didn't need to die and so on…and then convincing him to join."
"It's Crap! It's full of shit!" James raved on, "My parents did not die foolishly! They died fighting against that bastard and I sure as hell am not going to JOIN HIM!" He finished in a deafening shout and another punch in the wall which caused it to crumble from the accidental magic that was manifesting from James's anger.
"Calm down, James. Relax…" Remus said quietly, going over to his friend and trying to mollify him, "We don't want someone to come up and see what the noise is about."
"What—what are we going to do?" Sirius asked, looking uncharacteristically shaken.
"What do you mean what are we going to do?!" James said harshly, "We're gonna do jack-all!"
"I know that!" Sirius snapped back, "But we have to tell Dumbledore or someone, they're going to kill us if we refuse,"
"Let them come then!" James said hysterically.
"Whoa! James calm down, you have to calm down," Remus said raising his voice slightly, "Your parents didn't die just so you could focus your entire life on revenge," Remus reasoned, to which James flinched but did deflate slightly.
Harry stayed silent while his thoughts drifted to his own letter which was in his trunk, he was broken out of them by James saying again, "We'll just…keep it to ourselves okay? No one needs to know, we can handle it. And if they come for us…well, like I said, let them," He finished in a slight growl.
"Easy for you to say, I'm too pretty to die," Sirius muttered but consented as he headed back to bed.
They all eventually went back to their own beds although now more than slightly troubled than before and with a night ahead of restless tossing and turning.
AN: Another Chapter! Slightly shorter than the last two. I separated my next planned one into two parts as they thought they it might be too long otherwise. Plus I could post this earlier. Thanks for the reviews again guys! Well appreciated and now I have over 100!
There was a bit more Brittany-Harry time but that ship will progress with time. I don't want to screw it up too fast.
I finished my exams just yesterday so I'll have a lot more time on my hands but I might be going on holiday so there might be a slight period with no updates.
Next Chapter should include Hogsmeade, The final and one other event.
E. M. Emyrs: Halloweens are never good for Harry :D And something apart from the duel does occur. Snape in a pink clad dress…that does have merits for the Final. Thanks for the review and your speculations do help my imagination as well.
Hash4uall: His scar link is weakened in the past and however much it would have been cool for him to the rescue I had no way of coming up with a plausible way of knowing about the attack. Plus I decided that war needs major casualties and as much as I hated doing it, the Potters had to go,
DunaPotter: I'm still working out what their reaction would be as well and how to tell them. After all, how do you explain that you're from the future, never mind that you're their son? That might not be for a while yet but I intend have Brittany find out before the others save perhaps Dumbledore.
Edus: Harry will meet Voldemort again soon enough but not for a while yet.
GinnyLover14: All good things come to those who wait ;)
Please leave another review guys and tell us whether this one was any good or a pile of
Cheers,
LDR