Chapter 10
(A/N I do not own any of these characters they belong to J K Rowling)
Severus stared at Harry. He had no idea how long he had sat there and just stared at him, but he continued. It had been about two days since he had had that breakdown and he still hadn't regained consciousness. Neither Albus nor Granger had wanted to leave him, but the stress and tiredness was showing. After some coaxing, Minerva was able to force them both to go and get some sleep and ensured them that someone would always be with Harry, just in case he woke. Harry was currently lying in one of Albus' spare rooms. Severus didn't know why, but he was worried, worried that the boy wouldn't recover completely from this, from his guilt. Severus was all too familiar with guilt; it was guilt that had made him become a spy for Albus. Guilt and Lily. Contrary to popular belief that Severus was in love with Lily, that simply wasn't the case. Lily had been a good friend to him, she was like a younger sister, and as always he took her advice to go and confess to Albus. He always listened to her apart from two occasions; one was when he refused to leave the Marauders alone and was determined to find out about where they went each month. The second was when Lily had told him to tell her what he felt for her, but he faltered and by then it was too late, she married another, but still.
Damn you, Lily. Look at me sitting here worried for a student and Po... Gryffindor no less. He's so much like you. I miss you my friend.
If Severus was honest, he wanted to leave Voldemorts circle, to stop spying and playing this deadly game of cat and mouse. He was so tired. However, his loyalty to Albus wouldn't allow him to do that, despite the fact that he knew Albus himself wanted Severus to stop to escape the endless cycle of death and darkness he was trapped in. Severus was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he never noticed Harry begin to stir and his eyes open, it was only when Harry groaned that he realised he was awake. Severus helped Harry sit up and then gave him a drink of water. Harry opened his mouth to speak but Severus stopped him.
"Save it Harry, you're still pretty weak. I'm just going to go and call for Pomfrey."
Ten minutes later, Madam Pomfrey burst into the room. She immediately started to scan Harry for any after-effects, but to her relief she found that whilst Harry had suffered from severe shock, the chances of him slipping back into his depression were slim, as long as there were no further repeats.
Harry groaned. His head was hurting and he felt so weak, but had no idea as to why.
"What happened?"
Severus and Pomfrey shared an anxious look. Pomfrey turned and walked out of the room to summon Albus, Minerva and Hermione. No doubt they probably wanted to see Harry. Severus moved closer to Harry.
"You don't know? What do you remember last, Harry?"
"I was talking to Draco and then I was walking with Hermione. I was talking to Ron about something..."
Harry frowned he couldn't really remember what he and Ron were talking about but it was clear that they had argued he could remember Ron's angry face. It then all came back, the truce, Ron's anger and then what has said about Sirius. Harry felt the despair that had plagued him at the start of the summer cave in again. He found it hard to breath, as his guilt seemed to increase. Its all my fault, God Sirius, I'm so sorry I got you killed its all my fault; it's my entire fault. Harry was distracted slightly from his self-loathing by Albus and Hermione running in. Harry took a good look at them. They seemed so tired. There were bags under their eyes, but they were relieved to see him up. Dumbledore walked up to Harry and squeezed his shoulder gently.
"Are you okay, Harry?"
Harry couldn't look up at his mentor and guardian. He felt shame.
"Harry, son, look at me. What is the problem?"
This seemed to release something in Harry as he suddenly found himself shouting.
"How can you stand to touch me, to talk to me? I don't deserve it. I don't deserve for you to care about me or anyone to care about me."
Dumbledore looked heart broken as he listened to the raw pain and anguish in Harry's voice, but he carried on. Harry needed to get everything out.
"And why do you think that, Harry?"
"Because everyone who comes near me gets killed. Mum, Dad, Sirius. If I hadn't been so stupid he wouldn't have died. I KILLED HIM!"
"Harry you didn't kill Sirius, nor are you stupid. As I said in your second year, older and wiser wizards have fallen to Voldemort's tricks, he is a master of manipulation. You can't let yourself get down like this, Harry. Mourn for the ones you lost yes, but don't let their sacrifice be in vain, Harry. Draw courage and strength from this."
Harry listened to Dumbledore and while a part of him understood what he was saying, he still couldn't let it go.
"I don't deserve people to care about me. You should hate me. I failed Remus; he should hate me. Everyone he cares about is dead because of me. The Dursleys were right. I'm a freak and a waste of space. I'm like a cancer don't you under..."
Harry didn't get too finish his sentence as he suddenly heard a loud crack and he felt pain against his left cheek. He looked up at Hermione in astonishment while she stared at him in fury.
"How dare you tell us what we should and shouldn't feel for you Harry! Don't you understand how much everyone in this office cares for you? We all love you damn it and you keep pushing us away. How many times do we have to tell you, you can't and won't do this alone? Do you know how worried we've been, how worried Professor Dumbledore has been? He's hardly left your side at all. As for Sirius, Harry, he died protecting you because he loved you. Do you have any idea how he would feel if he knew what you are doing to yourself? So get this through that thick head of yours, we are not going to leave you and it is not your fault!"
Harry stared up at Hermione in shock. Hermione's whole demeanour seemed to change. Gone was the fury and in the next second, Hermione threw herself at Harry, almost choking him as she sobbed. Harry just held her. He really didn't know what else to do. He looked around the room to see the others reactions Severus seemed amused, McGonagall had a look of pride and Pomfrey had a small smile on her face. Dumbledore on the other hand seemed to have all of those reactions but he also seemed to have one more emotion, gratitude, and that was towards Hermione. Not really knowing what to do, Harry simply held onto Hermione and let her cry. He realised after a few minutes that Hermione was silent and no longer crying. Looking down he noticed that she had fallen asleep
"Poor dear, she's been so tired and so worried, Severus will you..."
Snape followed McGonagall's instructions and walked forward to pick Hermione, but to his surprise and amusement realised that Hermione seemed to have a rather strong grip around Harry and was refusing to let go, even in her sleep. One looked at Harry and he saw that he was starting to go to sleep as well.
"On second thoughts, perhaps we should leave Harry and Granger together. Besides they're both too tired and modest to do anything in Albus' room."
Snape smirked as he watched Minerva get flustered and blushed while Dumbledore smiled and assured her that Harry was a perfect gentlemen and besides, he was going to be there to keep an eye on them both. Snape helped Harry and Hermione get more comfortable, as they both fell asleep holding each other. Smirking he summoned a camera and took a few photos. At Dumbledore's questioning look, he muttered 'blackmail.'
It took two days for Harry to convince Madame Pomfrey and Dumbledore that he was fine. The old man could be a real mother hen when he wanted to. In those days, he had hardly seen anyone else. He was either in Dumbledore's room or in his own training rooms. The incident had seemed to weaken him physically and he was determined to get back into shape again. Hermione was attending classes again and brought him his assignments from his own classes. However Harry had to go back to his schedule now he had the DA tonight and he was determined to attend.
In all honesty, Harry was glad that Dumbledore had insisted that he stay in his rooms. The chats that he had with both him and Hermione went a long way to help him heal. He had also received a letter from Remus. Dumbledore had apparently informed him of what had happened and Remus assured Harry that he didn't blame him for anything that had happened and that the only person top blame was Voldemort. Even better, Remus also told him that he would be back in time for Harry's first Quidditch match, which was surprisingly against Hufflepuff, and not Slytherin as usual.
Sighing, Harry got changed and walked out of the Gryffindor common room as he had Transfiguration, Charms and DADA that day. Outside, he met up with Hermione who was waiting for him and together; they walked towards McGonagall's class. Since the incident, Harry had not seen Ron once, although he really couldn't be blamed for that as he had practically avoided everyone over the last few days, but still... Hermione had told him that as punishment, Ron had received two day's worth of detention with Snape, even though the teachers wanted to give him more punishment, Ron hadn't technically broke a school rule. Harry smiled. He had been afraid that Ron had been punished badly. It would cause further problems. Still, he didn't want to think about what would happen once Remus got back. That reminded Harry he still needed to get Remus back for his comments at Grimmauld Place over the summer, he wasn't a Marauder's so... well, godson, for nothing.
But still, what to do about Ron? Harry knew that his friendship, on some level, would always be strained. Ron placed too much value on money, fame and wealth and ignored what Harry always wanted, a family. Their friendship had almost been ruined by jealousy in their fourth year and Harry thought they were past all that, but what he said about Sirius was wrong. Harry had to talk to Ron and he had to understand, otherwise their friendship could seriously end.
Harry was glad that the classes were finally over. He had to endure strange looks from people all day and several questions about where he had been the last few days. Even worse, almost the entire female population seemed to be afraid for his health and wanted to touch him, just to make sure he didn't have a temperature! It took a few well-placed curses from Hermione and Ginny to get them to back off. The worst offenders were Lavender, Parvati and Cho.
Harry watched as everyone entered the Great Hall, this the last time Kingsley Shacklebolt helped out with the DA. The three of them had decided to let the students have a few duelling matches against each other, to help them to compare their skills. Harry signalled for the advanced group to walk towards the front. Ron was also with them and he wouldn't look at Harry, Ron had avoided him all day.
"Okay everyone, first we are going to go over the Patronus again, I think a few of you should be able to get something today, and then we are going to have a few duelling matches..."
Harry waited as the students muttered excitedly between themselves. They wondered who was going to duel and against who. Harry picked up a bag that was lying on the table next to him.
"In this bag I have folded strips of parchment, each of which has one of your names on it. I will randomly pick one out and that person will then pull out another, which will have the name of their opponent on it. This means that you will be picking your own opponent out. Not everyone will duel today, but we will get through as many as we can. This will be a tournament. Losers have their names taken out of the bag and we will continue until we have a winner. I have discussed this with the Headmaster and there is a rather valuable prize for the winner, but I won't say what it is."
Splitting everyone up, Harry once again had them all attempting to conjure a Patronus, and Cho after a few attempts was once again able to conjure her swan and she smiled in a winning sort of way at Harry. Harry smiled tentatively back and looked at the others. He was surprised and happy to see that three others had been able to also conjure a Patronus and three others were close. The close ones were Ron, Susan Bones and Justin. The three successful were Neville, whose Patronus was lion, Ginny, who had a cat that looked remarkably like Crookshanks and Malfoy, whose Patronus was a large bird that looked remarkably familiar to Harry, but he had no idea what sort it was.
Soon it was time for what all the students had been waiting. It was duelling time. Harry pulled out a piece of parchment and read the name "Seamus" off it. Seamus nervously got up and pulled out a piece of parchment with the name Michael Corner on it. By this time, Hermione and Kingsley had finished with both their groups and walked towards the others, many of their students deciding to stay and watch the duels. Harry had the two opponents face each other and conjured a shield, so that no one else would be hit with a stray curse.
Kingsley counted to three and the two opponents immediately attacked. Seamus threw a tickling charm followed by the full body bind at Michael, who dodged the first and conjured a shield for the second. Michael retaliated with an Expelliarmus and ducked as Seamus reflected the spell back at him. The two continued for a few minutes, dodging and reflecting spells at each other and eventually Seamus won by hitting Michael with an itching curse, causing him to drop his wand and frantically scratch everywhere he possible could. Harry walked forward and used the counter curse on him, and declared Seamus the winner from that match. He then ripped up the parchment of paper with Michael's name on it.
"That was fantastic guy's, just a few things at the start. You were both using typical first year jinxes. Don't be afraid to use something stronger. Obviously you will not use the unforgivables and the Dark Arts, but the stronger hexes you use, the more your shields will grow. As for the way Seamus won, while I understand Michael's predicament, you need to not let anything distract you in a duel. Try to ignore the pain or use a counter curse on yourself. Now, since Seamus won, he will pick the name for the next duel."
A tired, but pleased Seamus walked forward and put his hand in the bag, pulling out Cho's name amidst the cheering still coming from the Gryffindors.
"Cho, will you come and choose your opponent please?"
Cho sauntered up towards Harry, not noticing the glare she was getting from Hermione and her boyfriend Michael. She pulled out Pansy Parkinson's name.
"The next match will be between Cho Chang and Pansy Parkinson, Professor Shacklebolt. if you will do the honours please."
Once again, Shacklebolt counted the two opponents down. The match was quite similar to the way that Seamus and Michael had duelled, although Pansy was using mild pain curses. Cho was retaliating with some rather interesting charms, including one that caused Pansy to scream in anger and frustration, allowing Cho to use glacius, the freezing charm. Pansy slipped on the ice, allowing Cho to summon her wand and win.
After the applause, which was thunderous from the Ravenclaws, Harry used incendio to melt the ice and vanished the water away. He also used the counter spell to the hair loss jinx, which had caused Pansy to lose concentration during the duel.
Similar to the last match, Harry once again got up to give a quick summary.
"Well done, guys. Parkinson, I'm glad you took my advice and kept the curses fairly mild. You both were good, as in you threw hex after hex and didn't waste time. Parkinson, as I said for the last match, don't allow things to distract you, especially something as trivial as a hair loss jinx. We don't have time for another duel, however if Cho Chang wants to come up so we now who will duel first next lesson."
Cho walked up and pulled out a name. It was obvious that she didn't like the person. She had a look of disgust on her face as she practically spat out Hermione's name. Harry, seeing the confusion on some faces, got up.
"I know some are wondering why Hermione's name is entered. Basically, she wanted to join and felt she needed the duelling practise. Hermione, do you want to pick your opponent?"
Hermione calmly walked up to Harry and drew a name. Her eyes slightly widened in surprise, but she calmly read out Marietta's name.
"Okay, so the first match in the next lesson is between Hermione Granger and Marietta Edgecombe. See you all then."
Harry watched as everyone got up to walk out. There was a lot of talking, especially amongst the girls in the Ravenclaw house. It was well known that Marietta hated Hermione, but then again, Hermione wasn't the smartest witch in Hogwarts for nothing. Harry watched as the Gryffindors started to walk out. He could see Ron hurriedly put his things away. Harry decided to take the first step.
"Ron, can you stay behind please?"
Ron jumped when he heard his name called out, but did as Harry asked and moved towards the front where Harry was. Kingsley congratulated Harry on another successful DA lesson. The Auror had to admit that he was enjoying teaching, however after the week, it was Moody's turn to teach. Harry could only smile at the thought. It was bound to be interesting. Kinsley then walked out of the hall leaving only Harry, Ron and Hermione behind, who nervously stared at each other. Once again taking the initiative, Harry decided to take the first step.
"How have you been, Ron?"
Ron went red but shrugged as he replied, "Fine. I was given a lecture from McGonagall, received two detentions with the greasy git for no reason at all, and also, you missed our last Quidditch Practice."
Harry took a deep breath. He could mentally hear a voice telling him to stay calm, and collected strangely that the voice sounded like Snape.
"I haven't been well Ron. That's why I missed the practise. I'm sure that Professor McGonagall explained, and as for Professor Snape", Harry stressed, "I'm not responsible for what he assigns in detentions. Ron, I need to know something. Did you mean what you said a couple of days ago, about Sirius?"
"No."
"They why did you say that, Ron? Do you have any idea how much that hurt? I've been thinking that for months. You saw how I was during the holidays. Do you know what went though my mind after I heard you say what I had thought?"
By the end Harry's voice was starting to break. Again, he could feel the pain rise again but kept it in control. Hermione then spoke for the first time, causing both Harry and Ron to jump. They had forgotten she was even there.
"Ron, do you want to know why Harry was ill? It's because what you said hurt him so much. You guys are best friends and you shouldn't let small things end that."
"It's not small things, and I'm not the one that's affecting our friendship. It's Harry, by acting like a traitor towards our house and making friends with Slytherins, especially the bloody ferret!"
Harry sighed. Ron could sound like a broken record at times.
"Ron, this has nothing to do with Malfoy or Slytherins, that's a different issue. This is between us two. Ron, what you said hurt and I'm afraid to say that if you do think like that, then we can't be friends. I'm sorry."
Ron looked up at Harry in shock. Things weren't that bad, were they? He hadn't even said anything that bad! Well, if Harry couldn't take things so be it, but he wasn't prepared to lose the 'boy-who-lived' s friendship just yet. Swallowing, he looked up.
"I'm sorry, Harry. What I said was totally out of line. You know that I would never really think that. You know what I'm like, famous Weasley temper and all. I don't think before I open my mouth. Friends?"
Harry looked up at Ron. He seemed sincere and he didn't want to lose his friend. He smiled and nodded at Ron, looking at his watch, he noticed the time he was supposed to be with Albus.
"Shit Guys, I've gotta run. I have to see the Headmaster. I'll meet up with you both later."
With that Harry grabbed his bags and ran out before the room, but not before noticing a small nod from Hermione, which he knew meant 'I'll see you later.' Harry ran out of the hall with Ron and Hermione behind him and went towards his room. He didn't see Ron's confused look as he went in the opposite direction of Dumbledore's office.
Running into his room, Harry grabbed the books he had found on Hogwarts and went towards Albus's office. There, he was met with a cheerful welcome.
"Harry, my boy. Come in. How were classes today? Nothing too stressful were they? You don't need to see Madam Pomfrey?"
The last part was met with a glare from Harry, who mouthed 'mother hen' at Dumbledore who chuckled. "I see you've brought some books anything in particular you wanted to show me."
Harry sat down and showed the books he had selected. Both settled down to look through the books together. Surprisingly, Harry didn't seem to have any difficulty with the old English that they were written in. He supposed that he had his father to thank for that. They were both still reading an hour later when Hermione and McGonagall turned up. They both shared a smile as they were met by two very identical looks that clearly said, 'sit down and help us.' Shaking her head, Minerva grabbed a book and sat next to Albus as Hermione sat next to Harry. They shared a relatively comfortable silence, only speaking when someone had seen something that they wanted to share. It was during this that Snape walked in and raised an eyebrow when he saw how they were sitting. Together and yet separate in groups. He repressed the thought of Albus and Minerva together. He had enough nightmares due to the Dark Lord. He didn't need Minerva and Albus mixed in with that. Snape let out a mental scream as horrible forbidden images came into mind that he desperately tried to ignore.
"Well, isn't this a nice little cosy family."
If it wasn't for his ability to hide his emotions he would have laughed as he met three annoyed and one amused glare, no prizes for guessing whom the amused look belonged to. Half an hour later, Snape threw his book on the table, despite his huge patience that came to Potions, it unfortunately didn't stretch to books.
"This is ridiculous!" He practically growled out. "We can't find anything about Hogwarts spirit or why Harry had those visions. It would be a hell of a lot easier if we could ask bloody Hogwarts itself."
At this, Hermione let out an excited squeal, which Harry had to admit was rather cute, as she bounced excitedly on her seat.
"Oh, but we can!" At Snape's questioning look, she explained, "We can ask Hogwarts, but just not here. Follow me."
She practically ran out of the room in excitement as the others followed her in amusement. Thankfully, it was well past curfew, so there wasn't any risk of running into anyone. They followed Hermione as she led them. Harry at last understood what Hermione meant when she stopped at the corridor where the room of requirement was.
"Granger, perhaps you've been studying too long and have fried your brain, but you've brought us to a blank wall."
Hermione ignored Snape as she did what she had often seen Harry do, walk up and down the corridor three times all the while thinking about what she needed. She smiled as she heard two gasps when the door appeared, and she led them in.
The room of requirement, as usual, changed to whatever was needed. Harry gasped as he saw the room. At first look, it looked exactly like Albus's office, but there were subtle differences. It then clicked. He knew where he had seen this room before. It was the room his mother had come to see him in, in his dream.
"I thought you would recognise this room." Five people turned sharply towards the feminine voice that came from the corner of the room, all five also had their wands drawn.
Harry watched as the person moved from out of the shadow. It was a rather beautiful woman with long, silky brown hair. She was fairly tall and was wearing a dark purple robe. She had warm dark brown eyes and was smiling at the group. Her smile widened as she saw Harry. The woman walked towards Harry, and to his surprise, hugged him.
"Oh, Harry. You look so much like Godric but with Lily's eyes! Godric is so proud of you, do you know that?"
Harry suspected who the woman was, but still needed to hear it.
"I'm sorry, but who are you?"
The woman looked at him as if insulted that he didn't know who she was, but Harry could see the amusement in her eyes.
"I'm you Godmother, Rowena Ravenclaw of course!"
Rowena lead the group towards the chairs and sat down gracefully as the others followed.
"Now, as to why I'm here. I know that you saw what you thought were visions, Harry. In a sense, that's what it was, although you only see the present that is happening at Hogwarts, and only if Hogwarts wants to show you something. This will often be if someone is in danger or is planning to cause you harm. I'm afraid you can't control this. It will happen when it happens. Hogwarts is rather temperamental that way."
"Excuse me, Lady Ravenclaw." Dumbledore spoke up "But what do you mean when you say Hogwarts? You refer to it as if it is a person."
"In a sense, Albus Dumbledore, it is. When the others and I founded Hogwarts, we each placed a part of ourselves into the castle. This is very old magic; in a sense the castle took parts of our personalities and given a sense of awareness. Hogwarts is not just a building, it, in essence, lives. It communicates to you Albus when you set the wards for the castle. You just never listened. It recognises Harry as Godric's son, and that is why she is communicating with Harry."
"If that's true, then did Hogwarts communicate with Voldemort? After all, he is Salazar Slytherins heir."
"Ah Miss Granger, a rather intelligent question. Godric told me about you. You really should have been in my house, you know." Rowena smiled as Hermione blushed with pride.
"The answer is no, Miss Granger. Hogwarts watched Tom Riddle as he grew up and she rejected him, although she did try to stop him from opening the Chamber of Secrets, but Riddle ignored her warnings. There is also another factor. Riddle is the blood heir of Salazar. Harry is the son of Godric and is also my Godson. Hogwarts knows that, but she sees one more thing in Harry."
"Salazar Slytherin."
Rowena looked sharply at Snape. He had been sitting there rather quietly the whole time.
"Yes, Severus Snape. Harry also has some of the magic of Salazar in him, a side effect of the failed Avada Kedavra curse. I must leave, my time is almost up. Harry, come to this room whenever you need us. We may be able to come, but I can't guarantee it will be always. This room was also a gift to you from ourselves. Until you turned up at Hogwarts, it was kept locked, although the house elves knew of its existence."
"Will I get to meet you or my father again here? It's just you turn up a few minutes, tell me something, and disappear. I hardly get to know you."
Rowena looked at Harry with sadness. She could see why Godric had been both happy and remorseful when he had returned. Harry was so much like Lily. Kind, warm and loving.
"I'm sorry child. While we both wish we could be with you, we are only allowed a small amount of time to tell you what we need to. I know that you probably would have preferred your father to have come instead, but the spell we used can only be done a certain number of times. It will take Godric a few years to be able to come for a short period of time again."
Rowena got up and smoothed down her robe. "Just one more thing Harry. Take a trip to Salazar's lair. When you can, there may be some useful things there. Also, learn Parseltongue magic, as Riddle will try to use that to his advantage. However inadvertently, you may be Salazar's heir you should be proud of it. He had been a good man at one time and our friend."
She hugged Harry once again then whispered in his ear "Try to talk to them."
Taking a step back, she smiled and disappeared.
Dumbledore turned and stared at the others. He had just met another of the Hogwarts founders!
"Well, that was certainly interesting, It's been a long day, Harry, and you still need rest. I suggest we talk about all this tomorrow."
Agreeing the group walked out the room in a slight daze towards their relative rooms to get some much needed sleep.
Harry smiled the Gryffindor Quidditch practise had just finished and as their first match was the coming Saturday the practise had gone much better than expected. Since his and Ron's small talk things were a lot smoother between the two and they had come up with several new tactics to use against the Hufflepuff team. The Hufflepuffs played differently to the Slytherins in that they would play a fairly clean game so Harry didn't have to worry about dirty tricks. They had the same Seeker as last year, Summerby, and from what Ginny and the others had told him, he played very much like Cho, as in he constantly trailed the other Seeker and tried to get to the snitch before them. Overall, Harry was really pleased with the team, despite a few shaky parts at the start. They all worked well as a team and after their first match, he would be able to see just exactly what problems they still had. The other good news he had heard, and he had no idea how they had managed to do it, but the Weasley twins had convinced McGonagall to be the Match Commentators. As far as Harry could see, that had to be good news for the Gryffindor team. Smiling, Harry congratulated the team on a good performance and walked towards the castle. He had just walked up the stairs when he suddenly felt cold, a feel of fear and despair shutting his eyes. He saw Snape working alone in his dungeons when he suddenly gasped and grabbed his arm. The next thing Harry saw was Snape grabbing his Death Eater robes and mask and leave the room. Harry shook his head. Whatever Hogwarts wanted to show him, he had seen it. Whereas someone else might have seen that as a sign that Snape was a traitor, Harry knew what that meant Hogwarts was just as afraid for Snape as Dumbledore was. Harry hurried towards Dumbledore's office, and to his surprise, he realised that he didn't need to give the gargoyle the password anymore. 'I suppose that's Hogwarts doing' he thought, knocking on the office door he walked in.
"Ah, Harry. How was Quidditch practise? I have to admit, I was surprised to see you come in from that entrance. I suppose I've gotten used to you appearing out of nowhere."
"It happened again. Hogwarts communicating with me, I mean." Harry got straight to the point, Dumbledore frowned when he noticed how agitated Harry was.
"Sit down and tell me what happened."
Harry explained the vision and the fear and worry he had felt at the time, expressing his own concerns for Snape's life.
"But that's the problem, Harry. Despite the number of times I have asked Severus to stop spying, he refuses. He believes that this is about the only useful thing he can do towards the Order. What that child, and yes, to me he is a child, refuses to see just how important he really is."
"Why does he do that then?"
"Guilt, Harry. Severus blames himself for so many things that went wrong and were out of his control. Above all, he blames himself for his best friend's death, Lily your mother's."
Harry shook his head. "It wasn't his fault Voldemort killed them, he needs to let go of his guilt."
Dumbledore looked at Harry with sadness in his eyes. "Can you let go of yours Harry?"
At the time that Harry and Dumbledore were discussing him, Severus had apparated to Voldemort's latest hideout. Where it was not even Severus knew he simply apparated to where he felt the pull of his Dark Mark. He looked around. There were about 30 Death Eaters and from what he could guess, although the masks made it difficult, was that this was most of the inner circle, minus the few in Azkaban of course. Severus repressed a shudder as Voldemort and Nagini came into the room, followed by a snivelling Pettigrew. Immediately, one by one, all the Death Eaters walked towards their Dark Lord and kissed the hem of his robes. Severus too walked forward and dropped to his knees. As he murmured a 'my lord', he carefully made sure that his Occulmency shields were in place, as he felt Voldemort subtly test them. Severus turned and walked back to his place. Voldemort rose and looked towards his Death Eaters.
"My loyal followers, I am glad that you have all come tonight as summoned, for I have some important news. By tomorrow night we will be joined by the rest of your brothers and sisters, who were imprisoned by those fools, in Azkaban."
Voldemort stopped as a cheer went up from the Death Eaters, as they grew excited, Severus could only think about how quickly he could get back to Albus with this news.
"We will attack as soon as it turns dark. My spies in the ministry have told me that that fool Fudge is more bothered with his press and Dumbledore than the security at Azkaban. The Dementors, who have once again agreed to take the Dark Side, will also join us. We will free those loyal to us, and give the Dementor's Kiss to the fools who are against us, and the guards that will be there."
Voldemort then split the Death Eaters into groups and gave them their orders. To Severus's surprise and relief, he was not chosen for the rescue mission, which meant that he would be able to fight with the Order in secret. Severus shook himself into concentration as Voldemort addressed the group once again.
"There are a few more things. I want to hear more reports from those of you have children at Hogwarts. Have them report Potter's, his friends' and Dumbledore's actions. Leave the Malfoy brat. I'm sure Lucius will enjoy dealing with him once he is back with us. I have to say I am disappointed with the amount of news that your children have brought me. My spy in the Gryffindor house has given me some rather interesting news. It seems that Potter disappears at night and does not stay in the tower with his friends. He was also taken rather suddenly ill, wasn't he Severus?"
Severus stood and carefully gave the answers that he had already thought up. He spoke, thinking of James Potter to try to get the useful venom in his voice, for when he used to talk about Potter.
"My Lord, Dumbledore spends time with him as he has become his new guardian. As for Potter, he has apparently been suffering from depression since his godfather's death, and this caused him to become ill."
Dumbledore and Snape had agreed to make Voldemort think that Harry was weaker than he really was.
"I see, and what is this about his changed appearance, Severus?"
"The brat has had a growth spurt, My Lord. He has also taken to wearing muggle contacts and has grown his hair out, My Lord."
"I wish to hear more news Severus, now leave before that fool wonders where you are."
Snape turned around and hurried out, but not before he felt himself being hit by the Cruciatus Curse. He fell to his knees in pain, but didn't scream. After several seconds, he felt the curse being lifted. He rushed out and apparated as quickly towards Hogwarts as he could.
Harry was surprised to see Snape for his morning lesson the next day. Normally whenever the man attended a Death Eater meeting he was usually unable to attend. Still Harry could see the jerky pain filled movements. As soon as the lesson was finished, Harry told Snape about what he had seen yesterday. Snape seemed surprised at the fact that Hogwarts seemed to be concerned about him. Snape didn't elaborate on the meeting, though he simply informed Harry to go to Dumbledore's Office as soon as his lessons for the day were over. It was Friday, so he didn't have much to do that night, aside from the DA that day. It was the Quidditch match tomorrow, and Harry planned to end the class early that night.
As soon as the lessons were over, Harry and Hermione walked towards Dumbledore's Office. Although Hermione hadn't been specifically invited, they both took for granted that she was. Walking in, they saw to their surprise and delight that Remus was back. Walking in, they both hugged him and sat down. McGonagall and Snape had also joined them. Dumbledore got straight to business and explained, for Remus' benefit, what had been happening at Hogwarts, and then told them about the Death Eater meeting. Harry sat up straight as soon as he heard that the break out was planned for that night.
"What plans have you made, Albus?"
"I have informed Fudge and advised him that he needs to increase security, but I doubt he will listen. However don't worry, Harry. The Order will be there and we will ambush them as soon as they get there."
"How many order members will be there?"
"Almost all of the senior members of the Order, minus Minerva and Molly Weasley, will be there. I suggest that you go to your rooms for now there isn't much you can really do, and I mean that, Harry. You are not ready to face Voldemort yet."
Harry grudgingly agreed. He knew that Albus was right, but still it left him feeling frustrated that he couldn't help. A question then came to him.
"What about Professor Snape, is he going?"
"Yes I will be, Harry. However the Death Eaters won't see me."
The evening passed slowly for both Hermione and Harry. They were not even ale to tell people exactly why they were feeling so restless either. Eventually, they went to Harry's room and decided to talk, but even that didn't work, so Harry suggested a duel. Hermione accepted, and soon both fell into a routine and started to duel with their swords. Harry was undoubtedly better than Hermione, but she was able to take advantage of Harry's lack of concentration. It was almost midnight when the door to the training room opened, and in walked a rather pale McGonagall. She refused to answer any of their questions, but instead, suggested that they follow her. McGonagall's silence did nothing to help their fears, and all sorts of terrible scenarios were running through their minds. They finally reached Dumbledore's office. The door was pushed open, and to Harry's relief, he saw a tired and slightly bruised Remus sitting there. Harry couldn't help it and he rushed forward and hugged him, his relief clearly seen.
"I hope you have one of those for me too."
Harry spun to see a smiling yet worried Dumbledore standing there; Harry hugged him as well and led Dumbledore down to a chair.
"Are you all okay? What happened? Was anyone hurt? Did any of the Death Eaters esc...?"
"One at a time Harry, one at a time. I can say that although we are all a little worse for wear, no one was killed, although Hestia Jones and Mundungus Fletcher were both placed under the Cruciatus curse, but thankfully, not for too long. They are both resting and will be fine. The plan worked well. Voldemort's Death Eaters were surprised, so we were able to attack well. Unfortunately, a few Death Eaters were able to escape. One of those was Lucius Malfoy. Also, several of the Dementors escaped with Voldemort which is not good news."
"Were we able to catch any Death Eaters? Was anyone kissed?"
"A few junior Death Eaters were captured and I am sorry to say that the ministry guards at Azkaban were all given the Kiss. As expected, no help arrived from Fudge."
Harry drew in a sharp breath as he heard about the poor guards who were simply doing their jobs, yet a deep, selfish part of him was glad that it was no one he cared about. He also felt anger at Fudge. Dumbledore had warned him that Azkaban was to be attacked, and yet he did nothing. Fudge was more of a hindrance than help. Harry looked at Dumbledore seriously.
"Something needs to be done about Fudge."
"I agree Harry, but we will discuss this later. I believe that Miss Granger will be a big help in that."
"Me, Professor?"
Dumbledore nodded "I suggest you both get some sleep, you are both welcome to stay the night here."
"What about Professor Snape? Is he okay? I can't see him..."
"Severus is fine. He is resting in the Infirmary. He was hit by several curses defending me. If it hadn't been for Severus, I perhaps wouldn't be here today."
"Why, what happened?"
"Voldemort was going to curse me from behind, when Severus stepped out from where he was hidden and cursed Voldemort. I am just glad that Severus was able to escape alive and unseen. Anyway, sleep. There will no doubt be a lot of talk tomorrow at breakfast, and Harry, you also have a Quidditch match."
Harry agreed. He knew that they had to keep appearances in front of all the others, and turned towards the room he had stayed in when he was ill. Hermione opted to go back to the dormitory, and McGonagall escorted her back. Wishing everyone goodnight, Harry went to sleep. He needed his energy to face tomorrow.
Harry got up and rushed back to his rooms; quickly changing into his Quidditch robes. He had agreed to meet the rest of the team in the Gryffindor common room, and go to the Great Hall together. Running in, he noticed the whole team there waiting for him, smiling. At the rather nervous faces, he led them towards the Hall, all the while going over the tactics they had planned and reassured them all. The most nervous of the team, in Harry's opinion, seemed to be Seamus and Parvati.
Walking in, Harry realised that the news of the breakout had already reached everyone, and sure enough, he noticed that the news was all over the Daily Prophet. Rita Skeeter had pretty much written the facts about what happened, along with demands for Fudge to take personal blame and for him to be removed as Minister.
"Leave the Prophet, guys. There isn't much you can do about that. I suggest you eat and concentrate on the match that's coming up."
It was easier said than done, but still, almost everyone was able to eat a small amount even Parvati, although Lavender and Ginny had to keep reassuring her that she was going to be fine. Harry swepped his gaze across the other tables. The Hufflepuff team looked just as nervous as they did, almost all of their team was also made up of new players. Harry's eyes narrowed as he took in Nott and company. They were all reading the Daily Prophet with smug smirks
"Harry, look at Malfoy."
Harry followed Hermione's command and looked at Draco Malfoy. He was extremely pale and looked worried as he read. Harry knew why. Lucius had escaped, and he would no doubt hunt his wife and son down. Malfoy then looked at Harry and caught his gaze. Harry slightly nodded his head at him. He would meet Malfoy to discuss this as soon as he could.
"I bet the Ferret's glad that his Daddy escaped."
"Not now, Ron." Harry snapped.
Soon it was time to get ready, and the team got up, heading towards the changing rooms to get changed. The whole time, no one really spoke. Soon they were out, and Harry turned to his team.
"I know that most of you are no doubt nervous and a little scared. That's understandable. So was I when I played my first match, but believe me when I say that we have got a great team here, and we will win. All of you work well in your individual teams, especially you three Chasers. You keep doing what you did in practice, and we will produce score after score. Jack, Dean prove just how deadly you guys are. The Weasley twins are going to be there. Show them that you're just as good. Ron, you will do great. Hufflepuff also have several new players, but they haven't worked as hard as we have, so let's go out there and win."
The whole team looked slightly better and soon, they were there waiting for the match to start. Harry shook hands with the Hufflepuff Captain when he heard something welcome.
"Welcome everyone, to the first Quidditch match of the season. Gryffindor verses Hufflepuff! We are your esteemed Hosts... Commentators, the proud owners of Weasley Wizard Wh..."
"Weasley, you are not here to advertise your shop, so get on with it."
Harry laughed. Those two were going to drive McGonagall batty. They were both speaking as one, and Harry wondered how they did it. He waved at the twins. Both were sitting there wearing identical suits made of dragon hide. The only difference was that they were a dark purple colour. In truth, they looked like two aubergines sitting there, but still.
"...And their Seeker, whoever he is and if anyone cares, is Summerby. In the Gryffindor team we have Weasley, Weasley (we're so proud) Patil, Finnegan, Thomas, Sloper, Kirke and POTTER! And look at those guys go. We have to say that the Gryffindor team seem to look strong at the moment. They're working well as a team. And aren't those Chasers good! Finnegan passes to Kirke, who fakes a dive to the left, and chucks to Weasley. (Go Ginny kick their butts!)
"Fred Weasley, I'm warning you..."
"Sorry Professor, anyway, look at Weasley, and yes, she scores 10 points to Gryffindor!"
"Congratulations sister, and we are going to have to celebrate our little sister being the first scorer of the season. To celebrate guys, come to our shop and mention the goal, and we will give you a 5 percent discount!"
"Weasleys, do that again and I will throw you out."
Harry drowned out the twins' commentary; he had a job to do. He watched his team. They seemed to be fine. The Chasers were doing their jobs well, and Dean and Jack were whacking the bludgers as hard as they could, although aim could do with some work. He scanned the ground for the Snitch, but to his annoyment, Summerby kept flying in front and blocking his vision. Then he realised that Hufflepuff had scored, the score was 40 – 10 to Gryffindor. Groaning, Harry decided to get rid of Summerby when he suddenly put his broom to speed and sped towards the end of the pitch.
"And would you look at Potter go. It seems as if he has spotted the snitch, and Gryffindor has just scored again. They are leading by fifty points. Summerby is hot on Potters tail and look at him, folks. Potter's gone into a dive and Summerby's following. This is close people; they are going to hit the ground and no! Potter has pulled up. It was a trick, students. Potter has just pulled off a perfect Wronski Feint!"
Harry smiled. The whole thing had worked beautifully and he was free to look for the Snitch. Scanning the grounds, he frowned. Ron seemed to be distracted by something and wasn't watching the Chasers as he should be. He followed his line of vision. He was looking at the Gryffindor stand. What on earth was he staring at?
Harry could see Hermione amongst the other students. She was jumping up and down in excitement, causing Harry to smile and laugh, when his laughter suddenly turned to horror. Hermione was falling!
Harry seemed to be frozen for a second. That couldn't be right! Hermione had not fallen out of the stands! He saw Dumbledore pull out his wand and mutter a charm to slow her down, but still, she was rushing towards her death. Harry urged his Firebolt towards her. He noticed that Ron was also heading towards her, but the Firebolt easily outstripped his broom. Harry was closer, but Hermione had almost reached the ground. Going as fast as he could, he felt something hit the back of his neck and fall down his robe, but he ignored it. Hermione had almost hit the ground when...
You know I really can't help but end chapters like that!
Anyway I'm back hope this wasn't too long a wait for you guys, still as usual read and review people your reviews help more than you think!
Also I realised something the other day I've reached chapter 10 and have wrote over a 100 pages and received well over a 100 reviews so thank you to everyone who reviewed. The fic wouldn't be here without you all.
Thanks to my beta reader SmellyCat-190 for putting up with my many errors and doing a great job!!!!
Author responses –
Mrs C Lupin – I cant help it Ronnie annoys me so much! As for the traitor just wait and see. Also the werewolf looked nothing like I imagined it had hardly any bloody fur!
Eliza Chang – Portraits should be hopefully next chapter now that Remus is back.
David M. Potter – I like Draco's character and I think that as a whole the Slytherins get a really bad press. Ron's definitely a loose cannon but I think Percy's just an idiot.
Hexe605 – The whole sleepwalking thing will be important but as for why that will have to wait. Harry and Ron over-reacting to Malfoy umm... maybe but if Harry and Ron fall out it would be due to other reasons not really Draco Malfoy. Hope this chapter answered all your questions about Harry and his dad and Hogwarts. Thanks for the review! (Oh yeah Shrek 2 will be realised here in a few days cant wait to go and see it!)
ChrismKing208 – Thanks for the review and your comments much appreciated! Like I said above the whole weird night thing wait and see!
ChoChangLookAlike – You have a suspicion? I hope I manage to surprise you then! Thanks for the review!
Anonymous9 – Thank you and HA HA! Potter Reader – Draco will definitely be surprised when he finds out about Snape.
lmill123 – I agree with all of your comments on Ron. Thanks for the review.
Obsessed14 – Oh don't worry that will happen!
Athenakitty – The list will feature again but the names on the list were the ones Harry saw as most important.
RedVenom – As you've probably noticed I cant help writing cliffhangers either!
Mdemanatee – I Love reading long reviews! So the more you send the happier I will be! Thank you for the review. I decided to not have Harry being related to any one of the staff, as relations are not just based on blood. Dumbledore loves Harry as a son even though he isn't family. Hope you like this chapter too!
RogueBHS – Despite the teachers being pissed off at Ron there really wasn't much they could technically do although Remus is back and if you add Snape to the picture. (Besides it's not as if Snape needs a reason to torture Gryffindors does he) Harry reacting like that well he had to have one major relapse after the way he was depressed all summer. Hope you enjoyed this chapter please review!
John1234 - No I wont abandon this story and as for the last part of your review. I am very very confused!
EPaNoNa – I am going to be innocent and say I don't have a clue what you're talking about LOL!
Aconite Snape – Thank you for the review I hope you continue to like the story.
Also thanks to Ezmeralda, Shadow Beast1, AtieJen, yaminy-grint4eva, jeangab057, Digi Bonds, The Vampire Story Hunter, Ninotsjka, Wytil, love-2- flirt-1, usagi342 and RPG obsessed bookworm for their reviews.
I've already started working on Chapter 11 so it should be up soon.
Next chapter should include – Azkaban from Voldie's view, Hermione's duel, More on the spy oh and Narcissa Malfoy!
(A/N I do not own any of these characters they belong to J K Rowling)
Severus stared at Harry. He had no idea how long he had sat there and just stared at him, but he continued. It had been about two days since he had had that breakdown and he still hadn't regained consciousness. Neither Albus nor Granger had wanted to leave him, but the stress and tiredness was showing. After some coaxing, Minerva was able to force them both to go and get some sleep and ensured them that someone would always be with Harry, just in case he woke. Harry was currently lying in one of Albus' spare rooms. Severus didn't know why, but he was worried, worried that the boy wouldn't recover completely from this, from his guilt. Severus was all too familiar with guilt; it was guilt that had made him become a spy for Albus. Guilt and Lily. Contrary to popular belief that Severus was in love with Lily, that simply wasn't the case. Lily had been a good friend to him, she was like a younger sister, and as always he took her advice to go and confess to Albus. He always listened to her apart from two occasions; one was when he refused to leave the Marauders alone and was determined to find out about where they went each month. The second was when Lily had told him to tell her what he felt for her, but he faltered and by then it was too late, she married another, but still.
Damn you, Lily. Look at me sitting here worried for a student and Po... Gryffindor no less. He's so much like you. I miss you my friend.
If Severus was honest, he wanted to leave Voldemorts circle, to stop spying and playing this deadly game of cat and mouse. He was so tired. However, his loyalty to Albus wouldn't allow him to do that, despite the fact that he knew Albus himself wanted Severus to stop to escape the endless cycle of death and darkness he was trapped in. Severus was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he never noticed Harry begin to stir and his eyes open, it was only when Harry groaned that he realised he was awake. Severus helped Harry sit up and then gave him a drink of water. Harry opened his mouth to speak but Severus stopped him.
"Save it Harry, you're still pretty weak. I'm just going to go and call for Pomfrey."
Ten minutes later, Madam Pomfrey burst into the room. She immediately started to scan Harry for any after-effects, but to her relief she found that whilst Harry had suffered from severe shock, the chances of him slipping back into his depression were slim, as long as there were no further repeats.
Harry groaned. His head was hurting and he felt so weak, but had no idea as to why.
"What happened?"
Severus and Pomfrey shared an anxious look. Pomfrey turned and walked out of the room to summon Albus, Minerva and Hermione. No doubt they probably wanted to see Harry. Severus moved closer to Harry.
"You don't know? What do you remember last, Harry?"
"I was talking to Draco and then I was walking with Hermione. I was talking to Ron about something..."
Harry frowned he couldn't really remember what he and Ron were talking about but it was clear that they had argued he could remember Ron's angry face. It then all came back, the truce, Ron's anger and then what has said about Sirius. Harry felt the despair that had plagued him at the start of the summer cave in again. He found it hard to breath, as his guilt seemed to increase. Its all my fault, God Sirius, I'm so sorry I got you killed its all my fault; it's my entire fault. Harry was distracted slightly from his self-loathing by Albus and Hermione running in. Harry took a good look at them. They seemed so tired. There were bags under their eyes, but they were relieved to see him up. Dumbledore walked up to Harry and squeezed his shoulder gently.
"Are you okay, Harry?"
Harry couldn't look up at his mentor and guardian. He felt shame.
"Harry, son, look at me. What is the problem?"
This seemed to release something in Harry as he suddenly found himself shouting.
"How can you stand to touch me, to talk to me? I don't deserve it. I don't deserve for you to care about me or anyone to care about me."
Dumbledore looked heart broken as he listened to the raw pain and anguish in Harry's voice, but he carried on. Harry needed to get everything out.
"And why do you think that, Harry?"
"Because everyone who comes near me gets killed. Mum, Dad, Sirius. If I hadn't been so stupid he wouldn't have died. I KILLED HIM!"
"Harry you didn't kill Sirius, nor are you stupid. As I said in your second year, older and wiser wizards have fallen to Voldemort's tricks, he is a master of manipulation. You can't let yourself get down like this, Harry. Mourn for the ones you lost yes, but don't let their sacrifice be in vain, Harry. Draw courage and strength from this."
Harry listened to Dumbledore and while a part of him understood what he was saying, he still couldn't let it go.
"I don't deserve people to care about me. You should hate me. I failed Remus; he should hate me. Everyone he cares about is dead because of me. The Dursleys were right. I'm a freak and a waste of space. I'm like a cancer don't you under..."
Harry didn't get too finish his sentence as he suddenly heard a loud crack and he felt pain against his left cheek. He looked up at Hermione in astonishment while she stared at him in fury.
"How dare you tell us what we should and shouldn't feel for you Harry! Don't you understand how much everyone in this office cares for you? We all love you damn it and you keep pushing us away. How many times do we have to tell you, you can't and won't do this alone? Do you know how worried we've been, how worried Professor Dumbledore has been? He's hardly left your side at all. As for Sirius, Harry, he died protecting you because he loved you. Do you have any idea how he would feel if he knew what you are doing to yourself? So get this through that thick head of yours, we are not going to leave you and it is not your fault!"
Harry stared up at Hermione in shock. Hermione's whole demeanour seemed to change. Gone was the fury and in the next second, Hermione threw herself at Harry, almost choking him as she sobbed. Harry just held her. He really didn't know what else to do. He looked around the room to see the others reactions Severus seemed amused, McGonagall had a look of pride and Pomfrey had a small smile on her face. Dumbledore on the other hand seemed to have all of those reactions but he also seemed to have one more emotion, gratitude, and that was towards Hermione. Not really knowing what to do, Harry simply held onto Hermione and let her cry. He realised after a few minutes that Hermione was silent and no longer crying. Looking down he noticed that she had fallen asleep
"Poor dear, she's been so tired and so worried, Severus will you..."
Snape followed McGonagall's instructions and walked forward to pick Hermione, but to his surprise and amusement realised that Hermione seemed to have a rather strong grip around Harry and was refusing to let go, even in her sleep. One looked at Harry and he saw that he was starting to go to sleep as well.
"On second thoughts, perhaps we should leave Harry and Granger together. Besides they're both too tired and modest to do anything in Albus' room."
Snape smirked as he watched Minerva get flustered and blushed while Dumbledore smiled and assured her that Harry was a perfect gentlemen and besides, he was going to be there to keep an eye on them both. Snape helped Harry and Hermione get more comfortable, as they both fell asleep holding each other. Smirking he summoned a camera and took a few photos. At Dumbledore's questioning look, he muttered 'blackmail.'
It took two days for Harry to convince Madame Pomfrey and Dumbledore that he was fine. The old man could be a real mother hen when he wanted to. In those days, he had hardly seen anyone else. He was either in Dumbledore's room or in his own training rooms. The incident had seemed to weaken him physically and he was determined to get back into shape again. Hermione was attending classes again and brought him his assignments from his own classes. However Harry had to go back to his schedule now he had the DA tonight and he was determined to attend.
In all honesty, Harry was glad that Dumbledore had insisted that he stay in his rooms. The chats that he had with both him and Hermione went a long way to help him heal. He had also received a letter from Remus. Dumbledore had apparently informed him of what had happened and Remus assured Harry that he didn't blame him for anything that had happened and that the only person top blame was Voldemort. Even better, Remus also told him that he would be back in time for Harry's first Quidditch match, which was surprisingly against Hufflepuff, and not Slytherin as usual.
Sighing, Harry got changed and walked out of the Gryffindor common room as he had Transfiguration, Charms and DADA that day. Outside, he met up with Hermione who was waiting for him and together; they walked towards McGonagall's class. Since the incident, Harry had not seen Ron once, although he really couldn't be blamed for that as he had practically avoided everyone over the last few days, but still... Hermione had told him that as punishment, Ron had received two day's worth of detention with Snape, even though the teachers wanted to give him more punishment, Ron hadn't technically broke a school rule. Harry smiled. He had been afraid that Ron had been punished badly. It would cause further problems. Still, he didn't want to think about what would happen once Remus got back. That reminded Harry he still needed to get Remus back for his comments at Grimmauld Place over the summer, he wasn't a Marauder's so... well, godson, for nothing.
But still, what to do about Ron? Harry knew that his friendship, on some level, would always be strained. Ron placed too much value on money, fame and wealth and ignored what Harry always wanted, a family. Their friendship had almost been ruined by jealousy in their fourth year and Harry thought they were past all that, but what he said about Sirius was wrong. Harry had to talk to Ron and he had to understand, otherwise their friendship could seriously end.
Harry was glad that the classes were finally over. He had to endure strange looks from people all day and several questions about where he had been the last few days. Even worse, almost the entire female population seemed to be afraid for his health and wanted to touch him, just to make sure he didn't have a temperature! It took a few well-placed curses from Hermione and Ginny to get them to back off. The worst offenders were Lavender, Parvati and Cho.
Harry watched as everyone entered the Great Hall, this the last time Kingsley Shacklebolt helped out with the DA. The three of them had decided to let the students have a few duelling matches against each other, to help them to compare their skills. Harry signalled for the advanced group to walk towards the front. Ron was also with them and he wouldn't look at Harry, Ron had avoided him all day.
"Okay everyone, first we are going to go over the Patronus again, I think a few of you should be able to get something today, and then we are going to have a few duelling matches..."
Harry waited as the students muttered excitedly between themselves. They wondered who was going to duel and against who. Harry picked up a bag that was lying on the table next to him.
"In this bag I have folded strips of parchment, each of which has one of your names on it. I will randomly pick one out and that person will then pull out another, which will have the name of their opponent on it. This means that you will be picking your own opponent out. Not everyone will duel today, but we will get through as many as we can. This will be a tournament. Losers have their names taken out of the bag and we will continue until we have a winner. I have discussed this with the Headmaster and there is a rather valuable prize for the winner, but I won't say what it is."
Splitting everyone up, Harry once again had them all attempting to conjure a Patronus, and Cho after a few attempts was once again able to conjure her swan and she smiled in a winning sort of way at Harry. Harry smiled tentatively back and looked at the others. He was surprised and happy to see that three others had been able to also conjure a Patronus and three others were close. The close ones were Ron, Susan Bones and Justin. The three successful were Neville, whose Patronus was lion, Ginny, who had a cat that looked remarkably like Crookshanks and Malfoy, whose Patronus was a large bird that looked remarkably familiar to Harry, but he had no idea what sort it was.
Soon it was time for what all the students had been waiting. It was duelling time. Harry pulled out a piece of parchment and read the name "Seamus" off it. Seamus nervously got up and pulled out a piece of parchment with the name Michael Corner on it. By this time, Hermione and Kingsley had finished with both their groups and walked towards the others, many of their students deciding to stay and watch the duels. Harry had the two opponents face each other and conjured a shield, so that no one else would be hit with a stray curse.
Kingsley counted to three and the two opponents immediately attacked. Seamus threw a tickling charm followed by the full body bind at Michael, who dodged the first and conjured a shield for the second. Michael retaliated with an Expelliarmus and ducked as Seamus reflected the spell back at him. The two continued for a few minutes, dodging and reflecting spells at each other and eventually Seamus won by hitting Michael with an itching curse, causing him to drop his wand and frantically scratch everywhere he possible could. Harry walked forward and used the counter curse on him, and declared Seamus the winner from that match. He then ripped up the parchment of paper with Michael's name on it.
"That was fantastic guy's, just a few things at the start. You were both using typical first year jinxes. Don't be afraid to use something stronger. Obviously you will not use the unforgivables and the Dark Arts, but the stronger hexes you use, the more your shields will grow. As for the way Seamus won, while I understand Michael's predicament, you need to not let anything distract you in a duel. Try to ignore the pain or use a counter curse on yourself. Now, since Seamus won, he will pick the name for the next duel."
A tired, but pleased Seamus walked forward and put his hand in the bag, pulling out Cho's name amidst the cheering still coming from the Gryffindors.
"Cho, will you come and choose your opponent please?"
Cho sauntered up towards Harry, not noticing the glare she was getting from Hermione and her boyfriend Michael. She pulled out Pansy Parkinson's name.
"The next match will be between Cho Chang and Pansy Parkinson, Professor Shacklebolt. if you will do the honours please."
Once again, Shacklebolt counted the two opponents down. The match was quite similar to the way that Seamus and Michael had duelled, although Pansy was using mild pain curses. Cho was retaliating with some rather interesting charms, including one that caused Pansy to scream in anger and frustration, allowing Cho to use glacius, the freezing charm. Pansy slipped on the ice, allowing Cho to summon her wand and win.
After the applause, which was thunderous from the Ravenclaws, Harry used incendio to melt the ice and vanished the water away. He also used the counter spell to the hair loss jinx, which had caused Pansy to lose concentration during the duel.
Similar to the last match, Harry once again got up to give a quick summary.
"Well done, guys. Parkinson, I'm glad you took my advice and kept the curses fairly mild. You both were good, as in you threw hex after hex and didn't waste time. Parkinson, as I said for the last match, don't allow things to distract you, especially something as trivial as a hair loss jinx. We don't have time for another duel, however if Cho Chang wants to come up so we now who will duel first next lesson."
Cho walked up and pulled out a name. It was obvious that she didn't like the person. She had a look of disgust on her face as she practically spat out Hermione's name. Harry, seeing the confusion on some faces, got up.
"I know some are wondering why Hermione's name is entered. Basically, she wanted to join and felt she needed the duelling practise. Hermione, do you want to pick your opponent?"
Hermione calmly walked up to Harry and drew a name. Her eyes slightly widened in surprise, but she calmly read out Marietta's name.
"Okay, so the first match in the next lesson is between Hermione Granger and Marietta Edgecombe. See you all then."
Harry watched as everyone got up to walk out. There was a lot of talking, especially amongst the girls in the Ravenclaw house. It was well known that Marietta hated Hermione, but then again, Hermione wasn't the smartest witch in Hogwarts for nothing. Harry watched as the Gryffindors started to walk out. He could see Ron hurriedly put his things away. Harry decided to take the first step.
"Ron, can you stay behind please?"
Ron jumped when he heard his name called out, but did as Harry asked and moved towards the front where Harry was. Kingsley congratulated Harry on another successful DA lesson. The Auror had to admit that he was enjoying teaching, however after the week, it was Moody's turn to teach. Harry could only smile at the thought. It was bound to be interesting. Kinsley then walked out of the hall leaving only Harry, Ron and Hermione behind, who nervously stared at each other. Once again taking the initiative, Harry decided to take the first step.
"How have you been, Ron?"
Ron went red but shrugged as he replied, "Fine. I was given a lecture from McGonagall, received two detentions with the greasy git for no reason at all, and also, you missed our last Quidditch Practice."
Harry took a deep breath. He could mentally hear a voice telling him to stay calm, and collected strangely that the voice sounded like Snape.
"I haven't been well Ron. That's why I missed the practise. I'm sure that Professor McGonagall explained, and as for Professor Snape", Harry stressed, "I'm not responsible for what he assigns in detentions. Ron, I need to know something. Did you mean what you said a couple of days ago, about Sirius?"
"No."
"They why did you say that, Ron? Do you have any idea how much that hurt? I've been thinking that for months. You saw how I was during the holidays. Do you know what went though my mind after I heard you say what I had thought?"
By the end Harry's voice was starting to break. Again, he could feel the pain rise again but kept it in control. Hermione then spoke for the first time, causing both Harry and Ron to jump. They had forgotten she was even there.
"Ron, do you want to know why Harry was ill? It's because what you said hurt him so much. You guys are best friends and you shouldn't let small things end that."
"It's not small things, and I'm not the one that's affecting our friendship. It's Harry, by acting like a traitor towards our house and making friends with Slytherins, especially the bloody ferret!"
Harry sighed. Ron could sound like a broken record at times.
"Ron, this has nothing to do with Malfoy or Slytherins, that's a different issue. This is between us two. Ron, what you said hurt and I'm afraid to say that if you do think like that, then we can't be friends. I'm sorry."
Ron looked up at Harry in shock. Things weren't that bad, were they? He hadn't even said anything that bad! Well, if Harry couldn't take things so be it, but he wasn't prepared to lose the 'boy-who-lived' s friendship just yet. Swallowing, he looked up.
"I'm sorry, Harry. What I said was totally out of line. You know that I would never really think that. You know what I'm like, famous Weasley temper and all. I don't think before I open my mouth. Friends?"
Harry looked up at Ron. He seemed sincere and he didn't want to lose his friend. He smiled and nodded at Ron, looking at his watch, he noticed the time he was supposed to be with Albus.
"Shit Guys, I've gotta run. I have to see the Headmaster. I'll meet up with you both later."
With that Harry grabbed his bags and ran out before the room, but not before noticing a small nod from Hermione, which he knew meant 'I'll see you later.' Harry ran out of the hall with Ron and Hermione behind him and went towards his room. He didn't see Ron's confused look as he went in the opposite direction of Dumbledore's office.
Running into his room, Harry grabbed the books he had found on Hogwarts and went towards Albus's office. There, he was met with a cheerful welcome.
"Harry, my boy. Come in. How were classes today? Nothing too stressful were they? You don't need to see Madam Pomfrey?"
The last part was met with a glare from Harry, who mouthed 'mother hen' at Dumbledore who chuckled. "I see you've brought some books anything in particular you wanted to show me."
Harry sat down and showed the books he had selected. Both settled down to look through the books together. Surprisingly, Harry didn't seem to have any difficulty with the old English that they were written in. He supposed that he had his father to thank for that. They were both still reading an hour later when Hermione and McGonagall turned up. They both shared a smile as they were met by two very identical looks that clearly said, 'sit down and help us.' Shaking her head, Minerva grabbed a book and sat next to Albus as Hermione sat next to Harry. They shared a relatively comfortable silence, only speaking when someone had seen something that they wanted to share. It was during this that Snape walked in and raised an eyebrow when he saw how they were sitting. Together and yet separate in groups. He repressed the thought of Albus and Minerva together. He had enough nightmares due to the Dark Lord. He didn't need Minerva and Albus mixed in with that. Snape let out a mental scream as horrible forbidden images came into mind that he desperately tried to ignore.
"Well, isn't this a nice little cosy family."
If it wasn't for his ability to hide his emotions he would have laughed as he met three annoyed and one amused glare, no prizes for guessing whom the amused look belonged to. Half an hour later, Snape threw his book on the table, despite his huge patience that came to Potions, it unfortunately didn't stretch to books.
"This is ridiculous!" He practically growled out. "We can't find anything about Hogwarts spirit or why Harry had those visions. It would be a hell of a lot easier if we could ask bloody Hogwarts itself."
At this, Hermione let out an excited squeal, which Harry had to admit was rather cute, as she bounced excitedly on her seat.
"Oh, but we can!" At Snape's questioning look, she explained, "We can ask Hogwarts, but just not here. Follow me."
She practically ran out of the room in excitement as the others followed her in amusement. Thankfully, it was well past curfew, so there wasn't any risk of running into anyone. They followed Hermione as she led them. Harry at last understood what Hermione meant when she stopped at the corridor where the room of requirement was.
"Granger, perhaps you've been studying too long and have fried your brain, but you've brought us to a blank wall."
Hermione ignored Snape as she did what she had often seen Harry do, walk up and down the corridor three times all the while thinking about what she needed. She smiled as she heard two gasps when the door appeared, and she led them in.
The room of requirement, as usual, changed to whatever was needed. Harry gasped as he saw the room. At first look, it looked exactly like Albus's office, but there were subtle differences. It then clicked. He knew where he had seen this room before. It was the room his mother had come to see him in, in his dream.
"I thought you would recognise this room." Five people turned sharply towards the feminine voice that came from the corner of the room, all five also had their wands drawn.
Harry watched as the person moved from out of the shadow. It was a rather beautiful woman with long, silky brown hair. She was fairly tall and was wearing a dark purple robe. She had warm dark brown eyes and was smiling at the group. Her smile widened as she saw Harry. The woman walked towards Harry, and to his surprise, hugged him.
"Oh, Harry. You look so much like Godric but with Lily's eyes! Godric is so proud of you, do you know that?"
Harry suspected who the woman was, but still needed to hear it.
"I'm sorry, but who are you?"
The woman looked at him as if insulted that he didn't know who she was, but Harry could see the amusement in her eyes.
"I'm you Godmother, Rowena Ravenclaw of course!"
Rowena lead the group towards the chairs and sat down gracefully as the others followed.
"Now, as to why I'm here. I know that you saw what you thought were visions, Harry. In a sense, that's what it was, although you only see the present that is happening at Hogwarts, and only if Hogwarts wants to show you something. This will often be if someone is in danger or is planning to cause you harm. I'm afraid you can't control this. It will happen when it happens. Hogwarts is rather temperamental that way."
"Excuse me, Lady Ravenclaw." Dumbledore spoke up "But what do you mean when you say Hogwarts? You refer to it as if it is a person."
"In a sense, Albus Dumbledore, it is. When the others and I founded Hogwarts, we each placed a part of ourselves into the castle. This is very old magic; in a sense the castle took parts of our personalities and given a sense of awareness. Hogwarts is not just a building, it, in essence, lives. It communicates to you Albus when you set the wards for the castle. You just never listened. It recognises Harry as Godric's son, and that is why she is communicating with Harry."
"If that's true, then did Hogwarts communicate with Voldemort? After all, he is Salazar Slytherins heir."
"Ah Miss Granger, a rather intelligent question. Godric told me about you. You really should have been in my house, you know." Rowena smiled as Hermione blushed with pride.
"The answer is no, Miss Granger. Hogwarts watched Tom Riddle as he grew up and she rejected him, although she did try to stop him from opening the Chamber of Secrets, but Riddle ignored her warnings. There is also another factor. Riddle is the blood heir of Salazar. Harry is the son of Godric and is also my Godson. Hogwarts knows that, but she sees one more thing in Harry."
"Salazar Slytherin."
Rowena looked sharply at Snape. He had been sitting there rather quietly the whole time.
"Yes, Severus Snape. Harry also has some of the magic of Salazar in him, a side effect of the failed Avada Kedavra curse. I must leave, my time is almost up. Harry, come to this room whenever you need us. We may be able to come, but I can't guarantee it will be always. This room was also a gift to you from ourselves. Until you turned up at Hogwarts, it was kept locked, although the house elves knew of its existence."
"Will I get to meet you or my father again here? It's just you turn up a few minutes, tell me something, and disappear. I hardly get to know you."
Rowena looked at Harry with sadness. She could see why Godric had been both happy and remorseful when he had returned. Harry was so much like Lily. Kind, warm and loving.
"I'm sorry child. While we both wish we could be with you, we are only allowed a small amount of time to tell you what we need to. I know that you probably would have preferred your father to have come instead, but the spell we used can only be done a certain number of times. It will take Godric a few years to be able to come for a short period of time again."
Rowena got up and smoothed down her robe. "Just one more thing Harry. Take a trip to Salazar's lair. When you can, there may be some useful things there. Also, learn Parseltongue magic, as Riddle will try to use that to his advantage. However inadvertently, you may be Salazar's heir you should be proud of it. He had been a good man at one time and our friend."
She hugged Harry once again then whispered in his ear "Try to talk to them."
Taking a step back, she smiled and disappeared.
Dumbledore turned and stared at the others. He had just met another of the Hogwarts founders!
"Well, that was certainly interesting, It's been a long day, Harry, and you still need rest. I suggest we talk about all this tomorrow."
Agreeing the group walked out the room in a slight daze towards their relative rooms to get some much needed sleep.
Harry smiled the Gryffindor Quidditch practise had just finished and as their first match was the coming Saturday the practise had gone much better than expected. Since his and Ron's small talk things were a lot smoother between the two and they had come up with several new tactics to use against the Hufflepuff team. The Hufflepuffs played differently to the Slytherins in that they would play a fairly clean game so Harry didn't have to worry about dirty tricks. They had the same Seeker as last year, Summerby, and from what Ginny and the others had told him, he played very much like Cho, as in he constantly trailed the other Seeker and tried to get to the snitch before them. Overall, Harry was really pleased with the team, despite a few shaky parts at the start. They all worked well as a team and after their first match, he would be able to see just exactly what problems they still had. The other good news he had heard, and he had no idea how they had managed to do it, but the Weasley twins had convinced McGonagall to be the Match Commentators. As far as Harry could see, that had to be good news for the Gryffindor team. Smiling, Harry congratulated the team on a good performance and walked towards the castle. He had just walked up the stairs when he suddenly felt cold, a feel of fear and despair shutting his eyes. He saw Snape working alone in his dungeons when he suddenly gasped and grabbed his arm. The next thing Harry saw was Snape grabbing his Death Eater robes and mask and leave the room. Harry shook his head. Whatever Hogwarts wanted to show him, he had seen it. Whereas someone else might have seen that as a sign that Snape was a traitor, Harry knew what that meant Hogwarts was just as afraid for Snape as Dumbledore was. Harry hurried towards Dumbledore's office, and to his surprise, he realised that he didn't need to give the gargoyle the password anymore. 'I suppose that's Hogwarts doing' he thought, knocking on the office door he walked in.
"Ah, Harry. How was Quidditch practise? I have to admit, I was surprised to see you come in from that entrance. I suppose I've gotten used to you appearing out of nowhere."
"It happened again. Hogwarts communicating with me, I mean." Harry got straight to the point, Dumbledore frowned when he noticed how agitated Harry was.
"Sit down and tell me what happened."
Harry explained the vision and the fear and worry he had felt at the time, expressing his own concerns for Snape's life.
"But that's the problem, Harry. Despite the number of times I have asked Severus to stop spying, he refuses. He believes that this is about the only useful thing he can do towards the Order. What that child, and yes, to me he is a child, refuses to see just how important he really is."
"Why does he do that then?"
"Guilt, Harry. Severus blames himself for so many things that went wrong and were out of his control. Above all, he blames himself for his best friend's death, Lily your mother's."
Harry shook his head. "It wasn't his fault Voldemort killed them, he needs to let go of his guilt."
Dumbledore looked at Harry with sadness in his eyes. "Can you let go of yours Harry?"
At the time that Harry and Dumbledore were discussing him, Severus had apparated to Voldemort's latest hideout. Where it was not even Severus knew he simply apparated to where he felt the pull of his Dark Mark. He looked around. There were about 30 Death Eaters and from what he could guess, although the masks made it difficult, was that this was most of the inner circle, minus the few in Azkaban of course. Severus repressed a shudder as Voldemort and Nagini came into the room, followed by a snivelling Pettigrew. Immediately, one by one, all the Death Eaters walked towards their Dark Lord and kissed the hem of his robes. Severus too walked forward and dropped to his knees. As he murmured a 'my lord', he carefully made sure that his Occulmency shields were in place, as he felt Voldemort subtly test them. Severus turned and walked back to his place. Voldemort rose and looked towards his Death Eaters.
"My loyal followers, I am glad that you have all come tonight as summoned, for I have some important news. By tomorrow night we will be joined by the rest of your brothers and sisters, who were imprisoned by those fools, in Azkaban."
Voldemort stopped as a cheer went up from the Death Eaters, as they grew excited, Severus could only think about how quickly he could get back to Albus with this news.
"We will attack as soon as it turns dark. My spies in the ministry have told me that that fool Fudge is more bothered with his press and Dumbledore than the security at Azkaban. The Dementors, who have once again agreed to take the Dark Side, will also join us. We will free those loyal to us, and give the Dementor's Kiss to the fools who are against us, and the guards that will be there."
Voldemort then split the Death Eaters into groups and gave them their orders. To Severus's surprise and relief, he was not chosen for the rescue mission, which meant that he would be able to fight with the Order in secret. Severus shook himself into concentration as Voldemort addressed the group once again.
"There are a few more things. I want to hear more reports from those of you have children at Hogwarts. Have them report Potter's, his friends' and Dumbledore's actions. Leave the Malfoy brat. I'm sure Lucius will enjoy dealing with him once he is back with us. I have to say I am disappointed with the amount of news that your children have brought me. My spy in the Gryffindor house has given me some rather interesting news. It seems that Potter disappears at night and does not stay in the tower with his friends. He was also taken rather suddenly ill, wasn't he Severus?"
Severus stood and carefully gave the answers that he had already thought up. He spoke, thinking of James Potter to try to get the useful venom in his voice, for when he used to talk about Potter.
"My Lord, Dumbledore spends time with him as he has become his new guardian. As for Potter, he has apparently been suffering from depression since his godfather's death, and this caused him to become ill."
Dumbledore and Snape had agreed to make Voldemort think that Harry was weaker than he really was.
"I see, and what is this about his changed appearance, Severus?"
"The brat has had a growth spurt, My Lord. He has also taken to wearing muggle contacts and has grown his hair out, My Lord."
"I wish to hear more news Severus, now leave before that fool wonders where you are."
Snape turned around and hurried out, but not before he felt himself being hit by the Cruciatus Curse. He fell to his knees in pain, but didn't scream. After several seconds, he felt the curse being lifted. He rushed out and apparated as quickly towards Hogwarts as he could.
Harry was surprised to see Snape for his morning lesson the next day. Normally whenever the man attended a Death Eater meeting he was usually unable to attend. Still Harry could see the jerky pain filled movements. As soon as the lesson was finished, Harry told Snape about what he had seen yesterday. Snape seemed surprised at the fact that Hogwarts seemed to be concerned about him. Snape didn't elaborate on the meeting, though he simply informed Harry to go to Dumbledore's Office as soon as his lessons for the day were over. It was Friday, so he didn't have much to do that night, aside from the DA that day. It was the Quidditch match tomorrow, and Harry planned to end the class early that night.
As soon as the lessons were over, Harry and Hermione walked towards Dumbledore's Office. Although Hermione hadn't been specifically invited, they both took for granted that she was. Walking in, they saw to their surprise and delight that Remus was back. Walking in, they both hugged him and sat down. McGonagall and Snape had also joined them. Dumbledore got straight to business and explained, for Remus' benefit, what had been happening at Hogwarts, and then told them about the Death Eater meeting. Harry sat up straight as soon as he heard that the break out was planned for that night.
"What plans have you made, Albus?"
"I have informed Fudge and advised him that he needs to increase security, but I doubt he will listen. However don't worry, Harry. The Order will be there and we will ambush them as soon as they get there."
"How many order members will be there?"
"Almost all of the senior members of the Order, minus Minerva and Molly Weasley, will be there. I suggest that you go to your rooms for now there isn't much you can really do, and I mean that, Harry. You are not ready to face Voldemort yet."
Harry grudgingly agreed. He knew that Albus was right, but still it left him feeling frustrated that he couldn't help. A question then came to him.
"What about Professor Snape, is he going?"
"Yes I will be, Harry. However the Death Eaters won't see me."
The evening passed slowly for both Hermione and Harry. They were not even ale to tell people exactly why they were feeling so restless either. Eventually, they went to Harry's room and decided to talk, but even that didn't work, so Harry suggested a duel. Hermione accepted, and soon both fell into a routine and started to duel with their swords. Harry was undoubtedly better than Hermione, but she was able to take advantage of Harry's lack of concentration. It was almost midnight when the door to the training room opened, and in walked a rather pale McGonagall. She refused to answer any of their questions, but instead, suggested that they follow her. McGonagall's silence did nothing to help their fears, and all sorts of terrible scenarios were running through their minds. They finally reached Dumbledore's office. The door was pushed open, and to Harry's relief, he saw a tired and slightly bruised Remus sitting there. Harry couldn't help it and he rushed forward and hugged him, his relief clearly seen.
"I hope you have one of those for me too."
Harry spun to see a smiling yet worried Dumbledore standing there; Harry hugged him as well and led Dumbledore down to a chair.
"Are you all okay? What happened? Was anyone hurt? Did any of the Death Eaters esc...?"
"One at a time Harry, one at a time. I can say that although we are all a little worse for wear, no one was killed, although Hestia Jones and Mundungus Fletcher were both placed under the Cruciatus curse, but thankfully, not for too long. They are both resting and will be fine. The plan worked well. Voldemort's Death Eaters were surprised, so we were able to attack well. Unfortunately, a few Death Eaters were able to escape. One of those was Lucius Malfoy. Also, several of the Dementors escaped with Voldemort which is not good news."
"Were we able to catch any Death Eaters? Was anyone kissed?"
"A few junior Death Eaters were captured and I am sorry to say that the ministry guards at Azkaban were all given the Kiss. As expected, no help arrived from Fudge."
Harry drew in a sharp breath as he heard about the poor guards who were simply doing their jobs, yet a deep, selfish part of him was glad that it was no one he cared about. He also felt anger at Fudge. Dumbledore had warned him that Azkaban was to be attacked, and yet he did nothing. Fudge was more of a hindrance than help. Harry looked at Dumbledore seriously.
"Something needs to be done about Fudge."
"I agree Harry, but we will discuss this later. I believe that Miss Granger will be a big help in that."
"Me, Professor?"
Dumbledore nodded "I suggest you both get some sleep, you are both welcome to stay the night here."
"What about Professor Snape? Is he okay? I can't see him..."
"Severus is fine. He is resting in the Infirmary. He was hit by several curses defending me. If it hadn't been for Severus, I perhaps wouldn't be here today."
"Why, what happened?"
"Voldemort was going to curse me from behind, when Severus stepped out from where he was hidden and cursed Voldemort. I am just glad that Severus was able to escape alive and unseen. Anyway, sleep. There will no doubt be a lot of talk tomorrow at breakfast, and Harry, you also have a Quidditch match."
Harry agreed. He knew that they had to keep appearances in front of all the others, and turned towards the room he had stayed in when he was ill. Hermione opted to go back to the dormitory, and McGonagall escorted her back. Wishing everyone goodnight, Harry went to sleep. He needed his energy to face tomorrow.
Harry got up and rushed back to his rooms; quickly changing into his Quidditch robes. He had agreed to meet the rest of the team in the Gryffindor common room, and go to the Great Hall together. Running in, he noticed the whole team there waiting for him, smiling. At the rather nervous faces, he led them towards the Hall, all the while going over the tactics they had planned and reassured them all. The most nervous of the team, in Harry's opinion, seemed to be Seamus and Parvati.
Walking in, Harry realised that the news of the breakout had already reached everyone, and sure enough, he noticed that the news was all over the Daily Prophet. Rita Skeeter had pretty much written the facts about what happened, along with demands for Fudge to take personal blame and for him to be removed as Minister.
"Leave the Prophet, guys. There isn't much you can do about that. I suggest you eat and concentrate on the match that's coming up."
It was easier said than done, but still, almost everyone was able to eat a small amount even Parvati, although Lavender and Ginny had to keep reassuring her that she was going to be fine. Harry swepped his gaze across the other tables. The Hufflepuff team looked just as nervous as they did, almost all of their team was also made up of new players. Harry's eyes narrowed as he took in Nott and company. They were all reading the Daily Prophet with smug smirks
"Harry, look at Malfoy."
Harry followed Hermione's command and looked at Draco Malfoy. He was extremely pale and looked worried as he read. Harry knew why. Lucius had escaped, and he would no doubt hunt his wife and son down. Malfoy then looked at Harry and caught his gaze. Harry slightly nodded his head at him. He would meet Malfoy to discuss this as soon as he could.
"I bet the Ferret's glad that his Daddy escaped."
"Not now, Ron." Harry snapped.
Soon it was time to get ready, and the team got up, heading towards the changing rooms to get changed. The whole time, no one really spoke. Soon they were out, and Harry turned to his team.
"I know that most of you are no doubt nervous and a little scared. That's understandable. So was I when I played my first match, but believe me when I say that we have got a great team here, and we will win. All of you work well in your individual teams, especially you three Chasers. You keep doing what you did in practice, and we will produce score after score. Jack, Dean prove just how deadly you guys are. The Weasley twins are going to be there. Show them that you're just as good. Ron, you will do great. Hufflepuff also have several new players, but they haven't worked as hard as we have, so let's go out there and win."
The whole team looked slightly better and soon, they were there waiting for the match to start. Harry shook hands with the Hufflepuff Captain when he heard something welcome.
"Welcome everyone, to the first Quidditch match of the season. Gryffindor verses Hufflepuff! We are your esteemed Hosts... Commentators, the proud owners of Weasley Wizard Wh..."
"Weasley, you are not here to advertise your shop, so get on with it."
Harry laughed. Those two were going to drive McGonagall batty. They were both speaking as one, and Harry wondered how they did it. He waved at the twins. Both were sitting there wearing identical suits made of dragon hide. The only difference was that they were a dark purple colour. In truth, they looked like two aubergines sitting there, but still.
"...And their Seeker, whoever he is and if anyone cares, is Summerby. In the Gryffindor team we have Weasley, Weasley (we're so proud) Patil, Finnegan, Thomas, Sloper, Kirke and POTTER! And look at those guys go. We have to say that the Gryffindor team seem to look strong at the moment. They're working well as a team. And aren't those Chasers good! Finnegan passes to Kirke, who fakes a dive to the left, and chucks to Weasley. (Go Ginny kick their butts!)
"Fred Weasley, I'm warning you..."
"Sorry Professor, anyway, look at Weasley, and yes, she scores 10 points to Gryffindor!"
"Congratulations sister, and we are going to have to celebrate our little sister being the first scorer of the season. To celebrate guys, come to our shop and mention the goal, and we will give you a 5 percent discount!"
"Weasleys, do that again and I will throw you out."
Harry drowned out the twins' commentary; he had a job to do. He watched his team. They seemed to be fine. The Chasers were doing their jobs well, and Dean and Jack were whacking the bludgers as hard as they could, although aim could do with some work. He scanned the ground for the Snitch, but to his annoyment, Summerby kept flying in front and blocking his vision. Then he realised that Hufflepuff had scored, the score was 40 – 10 to Gryffindor. Groaning, Harry decided to get rid of Summerby when he suddenly put his broom to speed and sped towards the end of the pitch.
"And would you look at Potter go. It seems as if he has spotted the snitch, and Gryffindor has just scored again. They are leading by fifty points. Summerby is hot on Potters tail and look at him, folks. Potter's gone into a dive and Summerby's following. This is close people; they are going to hit the ground and no! Potter has pulled up. It was a trick, students. Potter has just pulled off a perfect Wronski Feint!"
Harry smiled. The whole thing had worked beautifully and he was free to look for the Snitch. Scanning the grounds, he frowned. Ron seemed to be distracted by something and wasn't watching the Chasers as he should be. He followed his line of vision. He was looking at the Gryffindor stand. What on earth was he staring at?
Harry could see Hermione amongst the other students. She was jumping up and down in excitement, causing Harry to smile and laugh, when his laughter suddenly turned to horror. Hermione was falling!
Harry seemed to be frozen for a second. That couldn't be right! Hermione had not fallen out of the stands! He saw Dumbledore pull out his wand and mutter a charm to slow her down, but still, she was rushing towards her death. Harry urged his Firebolt towards her. He noticed that Ron was also heading towards her, but the Firebolt easily outstripped his broom. Harry was closer, but Hermione had almost reached the ground. Going as fast as he could, he felt something hit the back of his neck and fall down his robe, but he ignored it. Hermione had almost hit the ground when...
You know I really can't help but end chapters like that!
Anyway I'm back hope this wasn't too long a wait for you guys, still as usual read and review people your reviews help more than you think!
Also I realised something the other day I've reached chapter 10 and have wrote over a 100 pages and received well over a 100 reviews so thank you to everyone who reviewed. The fic wouldn't be here without you all.
Thanks to my beta reader SmellyCat-190 for putting up with my many errors and doing a great job!!!!
Author responses –
Mrs C Lupin – I cant help it Ronnie annoys me so much! As for the traitor just wait and see. Also the werewolf looked nothing like I imagined it had hardly any bloody fur!
Eliza Chang – Portraits should be hopefully next chapter now that Remus is back.
David M. Potter – I like Draco's character and I think that as a whole the Slytherins get a really bad press. Ron's definitely a loose cannon but I think Percy's just an idiot.
Hexe605 – The whole sleepwalking thing will be important but as for why that will have to wait. Harry and Ron over-reacting to Malfoy umm... maybe but if Harry and Ron fall out it would be due to other reasons not really Draco Malfoy. Hope this chapter answered all your questions about Harry and his dad and Hogwarts. Thanks for the review! (Oh yeah Shrek 2 will be realised here in a few days cant wait to go and see it!)
ChrismKing208 – Thanks for the review and your comments much appreciated! Like I said above the whole weird night thing wait and see!
ChoChangLookAlike – You have a suspicion? I hope I manage to surprise you then! Thanks for the review!
Anonymous9 – Thank you and HA HA! Potter Reader – Draco will definitely be surprised when he finds out about Snape.
lmill123 – I agree with all of your comments on Ron. Thanks for the review.
Obsessed14 – Oh don't worry that will happen!
Athenakitty – The list will feature again but the names on the list were the ones Harry saw as most important.
RedVenom – As you've probably noticed I cant help writing cliffhangers either!
Mdemanatee – I Love reading long reviews! So the more you send the happier I will be! Thank you for the review. I decided to not have Harry being related to any one of the staff, as relations are not just based on blood. Dumbledore loves Harry as a son even though he isn't family. Hope you like this chapter too!
RogueBHS – Despite the teachers being pissed off at Ron there really wasn't much they could technically do although Remus is back and if you add Snape to the picture. (Besides it's not as if Snape needs a reason to torture Gryffindors does he) Harry reacting like that well he had to have one major relapse after the way he was depressed all summer. Hope you enjoyed this chapter please review!
John1234 - No I wont abandon this story and as for the last part of your review. I am very very confused!
EPaNoNa – I am going to be innocent and say I don't have a clue what you're talking about LOL!
Aconite Snape – Thank you for the review I hope you continue to like the story.
Also thanks to Ezmeralda, Shadow Beast1, AtieJen, yaminy-grint4eva, jeangab057, Digi Bonds, The Vampire Story Hunter, Ninotsjka, Wytil, love-2- flirt-1, usagi342 and RPG obsessed bookworm for their reviews.
I've already started working on Chapter 11 so it should be up soon.
Next chapter should include – Azkaban from Voldie's view, Hermione's duel, More on the spy oh and Narcissa Malfoy!