AN: I'm so very sorry for the late update. My exams were more trying than I anticipated, and I got sick during exam period too(I was bleeding from the nose due to all the coughing I was trying to contain because otherwise it would hurt my chest muscles during one of the exams...) Anyway, I'm all better now, so here 's the next chappy! Enjoy.

Chapter Twelve

Interlude: Calm between Tides

Earlier in the day…

'Look! The Clouds are converging on Harry! And those weird shinny birds too!' Ron yelled anxiously to Hermione.

'Ron! I have eyes, I can see for myself, thank you very much!' Hermione replied, unfairly vent her worries on her friend. 'And stop shouting. I'm standing right next to you!' Hermione yelled back.

'Sorry…' Ron conceded, not in the mood to argue. 'It's hard to see well from this distance… Just thought I'd tell you what I can see.'

Hermione and he were both safe and unharmed, with the warm sunlike light still radiating a serene glow upon the shore. However, things were very different above the island in the middle of the waters. As far as they could tell, the clouds were sending generous amounts of lightning upon their famous friend, and appeared to be raining some sort of green liquid upon him as well.

'What's that green…' Ron started to ask, but quickly changed his words in mid sentence to: 'Bloody hell! What is that?'

'It… it looks like a sea serpent… but I've never seen anything as fierce…' Hermione informed Ron absently.

'I can't see Harry anymore! Did he get eaten?' Ron asked, worried.

'Ron! Don't say such… No, wait! He must be all right! Look! The sea serpent seems to have been knocked out!' Hermione exclaimed happily, pointing at the collapsing mile high serpentine body.

'Woah! Way to go Harry.' Ron said, impressed.

Suddenly, the dark, rainy clouds turned into an innocent white once more, and dispersed in the sky. The shinny seabirds soon followed suit.

'Well, I guess this means he made it, somehow.' Hermione stated, not entirely convinced of the fact.

'Yeah. I'm sure he did. Don't worry, Hermione.' Ron padded her gently on the shoulder.

'So now we wait, huh…' Hermione said dejectedly, after a while.

'Do you have anything to eat?' Ron asked, automatically falling back on his favorite pass-time.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

'So, what do you think of this Celeste girl?' Hermione asked after Ron has satiated his hunger.

'She's very pretty.' Ron said reflexively. He then quickly added: 'But I think there is something fishy about her.'

'Ah, so it is not just me who thinks she's hiding something from us then.'

'No. And I think Harry suspects something too. He's not as blind as he appears, you know.' Ron replied thoughtfully. 'Still, he seems fairly attached to her. I suppose he got to know her during the last few weeks.'

'Yes. Though I can't really tell if he likes her as a good friend or if he fancies her. He's not acting like he use to with Cho, but he's not acting like he does with me either.' Mused Hermione, biting her lower lip. 'I also got the impression that whatever this girl is hiding isn't something that would put us in danger. She seems too nice of a person to do something like that.'

'Ok… What's your point?' Ron asked, a bit tired with all the confusing talk about the new girl.

'Well, just trying to figure this Celeste girl out.' Hermione replied with the strangest wishful expression on her face. 'I tried reading her expressions and body language to see how she feels toward Harry, you know. But for some reason, her body gestures are all wrong, and very wild. It's almost as if she has no established pattern of behavior… And her expression is understandably always pretty gloomy.'

'Maybe you just can't read people's body language that well.' Ron replied crossly.

'Maybe…' Hermione admitted pensively, thrusting her hands into her pockets. 'Hey, what's this? Oh, just a washed up ball of paper.' Hermione added, pulling out a vaguely ball shaped mass of dried paper paste out of her pocket.

'What in the heck is that?' Ron asked, having never seen such a thing due to the wizarding world's far more practical cleaning spells used to wash clothes.

'That's just a piece of paper I forgot in my pocket, and then my mum must have washed this sweater with the paper still in it.' Hermione tried to explain, but decided to give up, since Ron probably had no idea how muggles wash their clothes anyway. 'Err… Hey, I just learned this pretty useful Restoration charm for old parchments and the such the other day. It's supposed to be really effective. Let me try it on this.' Hermione said tentatively, having nothing better to do.

And Hermione promptly cast the charm onto the ball of paper. Slowly, the ball unfolded into a neat envelope with a letter inside, which Ron recognized with horror. It was, after all, the 479th draft of his love letter to Hermione. He had completely forgotten that he had given it to her weeks earlier, when they were both depressed about Harry's supposed passing.

'Hey, Ron! This looks like one of your envelopes, no?' Hermione said, ever observant.

'Hmm… yeah! I remember now. I gave you that letter for safekeeping.' Ron said, inventing the semi-credible story in his panic. 'Though I think I will have it back now, Hermione. Since you obviously didn't keep it that safe.'

'Really? But it says To Hermione on the front here. It's in your hand writing too.' Hermione pointed out, having flipped the envelope right-side-up.

'Oh, eh… Well, this must be a different letter then…' Ron replied, giving up.

'Hmm… This is rather thick for a letter from you. What's in it?'

'I… err… forgot. Why don't you read it?' Ron offered, deciding that perhaps this was as good a moment as any to let her find out. 'I will just be sitting over there… to give you some priv…'

He was spared from finishing his awkward sentence by the sudden arrival of a monstrous silvery dragon.

'Oh. My. God.' Hermione yelled out in awe, reflexively storing away the letter she was holding back into her pocket. She and Ron instinctively huddled together, and were just about to draw their wands out when they spotted, to their surprise, a familiar raven-haired teen waving at them from the dragon's back.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

The last of the giant armor suits fell before the combined spells of twenty-five French aurors, all clad in heavy battle gear designed to withstand tremendous physical attacks.

'That's the last of them.' Said one of the younger members of team, needlessly.

'Good. Spread out. Sweep the area for any survivors.' Commanded the team leader, a veteran of the Grindelwald wars. 'Perrault! Apparate back to HQ and inform them of our progress. And extend my thanks to the British ministry for informing us of these creeps' weaknesses.'

'Gotcha, boss!' Said the auror named Perrault. He quickly disapparated before his superior could reprimand him for using such informal language.

'Kids these days…' mumbled the team leader. He swept his gaze across the now silent battlefield, a haunted look in his eyes. His team, with their special protective gears, had survived through the battle intact, albeit with a few flesh wounds here and there. But he could clearly see that the normally clad aurors were far worse off, with almost half of their number dead or injured. All in all, their success today felt like a very shallow victory.

God knows how many of these creepy creatures that bastard can conjure up again this time tomorrow. Thought the team leader darkly as he strode through the field of mostly enemy corpses. We will not be able to win this war without some significant reinforcements of our own, that's for sure.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

'Ah, good morning, Dumbledore!' Said Fudge with a somewhat genuine cheerfulness upon seeing the old headmaster. 'Good news came in from the continent over night.'

'Indeed, Cornelius?' Dumbledore greeted, already knowing a bit about the good news, though he had no details.

'Yes, yes. The French and a coalition of forces from other European countries, including two divisions of our best aurors, were able to rout You-Know-Who's army at the Maginot Line.' Fudge said proudly.

'Ah, yes. The Maginot Line.' Dumbledore mused. 'I still find it hard to believe that those French wizards preserved it over all these years. The muggle army never truly understood the extent to which it has been magically enhanced, did they?'

'Well, it was a joint venture between the muggle and magical French ministries at the time, because of muggle wars and the whole Grindelwald fiasco going on back then, as I'm sure you well remember.' Fudge explained eagerly, happy to know something Dumbledore didn't seem to. 'Of course, when that World War III, or was it II, came around, the entire French muggle ministry collapsed.

'After the war, the French muggles completely abandoned those fortifications, forcing the French ministry of magic to take over the entire thing. The French aurors and hit wizards have been maintaining the Line ever since, repairing cracks, reinforcing the magical wards, and even installing some new defensive systems here and there.'

'I presume that those new defenses helped against the Dark Army's advance?' Asked Dumbledore off-handedly, using the now popular nickname for Voldemort's vast and nefarious army.

'Helped? From what I heard, they are probably the only reason why France is still on our side right now.' Fudge replied. 'You-Know-Who apparently wasn't expecting the Maginot Line to have so much magical defenses still in place, and three-quarters of his army got burned to hell before it was able to move close enough to retaliate.'

'I suppose that is one of the drawbacks of having an army that can only move at a crawl at the best of times.' Dumbledore mused. 'Still, Voldemort is, amongst other things, a very brilliant strategist. He would have prepared for the eventuality of losing most of his army like this.'

'Well, I guess we will see. A counter-offensive is already in progress to retake the magical communities You-Know-Who annexed.' Fudge said dismissively. 'I'm so glad he decided to invade Europe. There are far more countries trying to take him down now. I'm sure it will be only a matter of weeks before he's defeated once and for all. By the way, the French auror corps sends their compliments for those very effective tips you gave them.'

'I am glad to hear that the tips helped.' Dumbledore answered, also dismissively. 'I'm more concerned about this counterattack you are planning on Azkaban, Cornelius.'

'How do you know about that?' Fudge asked, a bit miffed. The operation was supposed to be top-secret, after all.

'Might I suggest that we hold our forces back until the situation on the continent becomes more stable?' Dumbledore continued, ignoring Fudge's question. 'The auror forces are spread rather thin at the moment, no? Not to mention we should probably also try to figure out why Voldemort decided to invade Europe, rather than England, first?'

'Your suggestion is duly noted, Dumbledore.' Fudge replied, a now icy tone to his voice. 'However, I am the Minister for Magic here, and I will be the one deciding what I want to do with MY forces. I happen to think that Azkaban must be very weak right now, and that this is the perfect time for a counterblow. Now if you will excuse me…'

'Cornelius! Have you learned nothing from your past mistakes?' Dumbledore bellowed in an incredibly authoritive tone. 'Voldemort is, if nothing else, a very cunning man. I heavily doubt that Azkaban is as easy a target as you seem to presume. I am convinced that you'd be sending many to a meaningless death should you choose to proceed with this ill-designed plan of yours. I urge you to reconsider.'

'Out! Dumbledore!' Fudge cried, red-faced. 'I should have known better than to trust you again, and give you all your positions back! You haven't changed a bit! You still want to order me around like I'm some brainless twit! No more, Dumbledore! No more! I'm through being your puppet! Cornelius Fudge can think for himself! And by this time tomorrow, everyone will see what a clever minister I am! Now out! OUT!'

Dumbledore let out a heavy sigh and strode out of the Minister for Magic's office without another word…

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

'Harry!' Harry Potter heard the familiar voice of his female best friend yelling at him from seemingly five stories down.

'Err… Celeste.' Harry murmured so that only the dragon can hear. 'How am I supposed to get down there?'

In response to his question, the titanic silver dragon swung her head around, and, using her massive jaws, once again picked the Boy-Who-Lived up by the collar of his shirt, and not so gently deposited him in front of his more than shocked friends.

'Woah, Harry! How did you… When did you… what is this?' Hermione settled on asking.

'Hey, Hermione. Ron…' Harry began sheepishly. 'I err… met this dragon in Merlin's castle. She's agreed to help carry all of us to the island, since I don't have a broom anymore.'

'Oh… So it's, um, well-trained?' Ron asked warily, not taking his eyes away from the gigantic dragon for a single instant.

'Yes, she's not going to harm any of us, if that's what you meant, Ron.' Harry replied, angry that Ron used the term it to call Celeste, even though he himself was still unsure how to call her yet. His irritation did not escape Hermione's notice.

'Harry, are you ok? How's Celeste?' Hermione asked, thinking that, perhaps, her friend's anger was related to the mysterious girl.

'Oh! She's healed. She's waiting for us on the island.' Harry lied convincingly, using the rehearsed lines he came up with after having agreed with Celeste that they should probably not divulge her relation to the giant dragon until they return to the island, where she could dress more appropriately for the explanation.

'Ah, that's good to hear!' Hermione replied sincerely. Then, with a meaningful look toward Ron, she asked: 'So, she's all ok? No side-effects or something that needs you to be there to take care of her? And you're all healthy as well?'

'Yeah. We are both a bit weak, but besides that, we're all fine.' Harry replied happily.

He never saw the slap coming.

'Hermione, what the…'

Another slap.

A punch to the guts, this one from his red-haired friend.

Another well aimed punch came soon after.

Celeste watched in confusion as Harry's best friends started beating the daylight out of him. Not really knowing what's going on, and seeing only her one true friend getting beat up by semi-strangers, regardless of their relation to Harry, Celeste decided, for reasons that confused her even more, to protect the teen that her laws required her to kill.

She bared all of her razor sharp teeth, most of which were as tall as Harry himself, and lowered her neck so that her head was positioned directly above Harry. With a great intake of air, she let out a battle cry inborn to her race, with all her fangs poised to strike, and a glowing spark of red-hot flame at the tip of her throat, exposed for all to see. The threat couldn't have been more obvious.

Ron immediately jumped back a few feet, though Hermione stood her ground, casting a calculating look at the giant dragon that seemed very protective of their death-faking friend.

'It's… ok, Ce… Dragon. Don't… hurt them.' Harry managed to choke out between breaths, as his guts were still somewhat bruised.

Celeste gave him a questioning look.

'Don't worry. I… think I know what this is all about. I can handle this on my own. Just give us some privacy… Please. Don't worry about it.' Harry added, looking into the dragon's crystal blue eyes. Hermione also noticed this.

Celeste gave the most threatening look she could muster at Ron and Hermione, and, with a snort, swiftly turned her back on the trio and earthquakingly trampled away, giving the three friends some privacy.

'Alright, Harry.' Started Hermione, her voice forbidding. 'Now that you don't have a dying friend to worry about… Give us one good reason why we shouldn't beat you into a bloody pulp for faking your own death. Did you know how miserable you made us all feel?'

'But… Didn't Remus tell you…'

'Yes, he did.' Ron cut Harry off. 'But my sister and mum didn't know, did they? I had to sit there, every night, listening to them cry their eyes out, knowing I could end their depression with only a few words. But I didn't, Harry. You know why?

'Because I convinced myself that you had a really good reason for doing what you did. And I trusted your judgment, mate. I trusted yours over my own, and hurt my family in the process. So you'd better hope that your explanation right now will be to my satisfaction, or, I swear, I'll make Goyle look like a supermodel next to you!' Ron finished confusingly, crackling his knuckles for emphasis.

'Err… What he meant was that he's going to beat you so bad that your outward appearance will make Goyle look really nice in comparison.' Hermione clarified, standing by Ron's side. 'Not that he's going to give Goyle a makeover or anything like that…'

'Yeah, I understood the first time, Hermione.' Harry replied guiltily.

And then, he launched into the longest explanation ever about how he felt trapped staying at the Dursleys, how he had felt guilty over Sirius's death and had nobody to confide in, how he had wanted to kill himself, but couldn't, because of a prophecy, and how he eventually concluded that Dumbledore was more at fault than he was, how he now attributed most of his life's sufferings to Dumbledore and Voldemort, and how he finally decided to escape from the both of them, tired of being a pawn in the deadly game of chess the two powerful wizards played with each other.

During his retelling, the attitude of his friends went from skeptical to worried (about his suicidal thoughts), to shock (about his role in the prophecy), to concern (about the way he was blaming Dumbledore), and finally, to nothing, for they didn't really know how to feel anymore.

A few snorts and gruntings during Harry's account signaled to them that the giant dragon was listening in on the conversation as well, though Harry didn't seem to care.

Finally, Hermione, though fully understanding her friend's anger and saddened by what he had to live through, decided to speak up in defense of her headmaster: 'But Harry! Dumbledore is the greatest wizard there is! There is nobody more trustworthy than him! He constantly fought against evil and dark wizards during his life!'

'Perhaps. But he has a really disgusting way of doing it. And I will no longer abide by it. Whatever role I will play according to the prophecy, it will be the result of my own actions, and not his.'

'Harry… Be reasonable!' Hermione urged on. 'Without Dumbledore's guidance, how can you possibly hope to learn enough to defeat You-Know-Who?'

'Hermione… Be sensible!' Harry echoed. 'You of all people should realize that even with Dumbledore, heck, even if Merlin himself were alive and taught me, it will still take me a life time just to learn all that Voldemort already knows right now. There is no way I will survive that long.'

'But…'

'No buts Hermione. Think about it. I'm not the brightest student there is. I'm not even the second brightest. Plenty of people out there know far more than I do, and still perished at Voldemort's hands. Even Dumbledore had to rely on Fawkes to avoid the Killing Curse back at the ministry. I am very certain that whatever power this prophecy mentioned will not be acquired through learning.'

'Yeah… I… guess you're right, Harry…' Hermione admitted.

'So that's it?' Ron spoke up for the first time after Harry's explanation. He seemed to have finally come to a decision on how to react toward Harry's string of revelations. 'You made my mum and sister suffer through constant heartbreak just because you feel you're too tired of listening to other people telling you what to do?'

'Ron.' Harry started. 'I…'

But Hermione stepped in between him and Ron, deciding that she would probably do a better job explaining things than Harry could.

'Ron! That's not why Harry left, and you know it! Imagine for a moment that your dad died, and straight after, you've been told that it is your life's destiny to fight someone who can kill you without blinking an eye, and to top it all off, you are forced to go live with the Malfoy's for your own safety while the rest of your family were told to not write you anything, thus depriving you of any consolation you might have. How would you feel about that?'

'Hermione… I really don't think that's the same as…'

'Isn't it, Ron? Harry lost Sirius, the only father figure he'd known! And he's been told about the prophecy right after. Then, he was sent to live with a bunch of people who hate his guts, because it is safer for him there. And we were advised to not write to him at all because owls might be intercepted. How is that not the same?'

'Well… I guess if you put it that way…'

'Ron.' Harry decided to add his own two cents. 'I didn't even know that it was Dumbledore who made the final decision of sending me to the Dursley's until end of last year. At the time, I was too sad to think about that fact. But I've finally realized that even then, he was planning for the future. He was trying to protect his weapon the best way he could until that weapon, that is to say, me, is needed again, regardless of how much I had to suffer…

'Eleven years, Ron! Eleven years of constant torment and ridicule, of isolation and abuse when I could have lived almost as securely and far more happily in anonymity with any other muggles! Heck, I'd have taken an orphanage over the Dursley's! But no. Dumbledore decided he can't take that risk, and that my suffering during the best and most innocent years of my life is an acceptable sacrifice for what little extra safety the blood of my relative provided me with in those Voldemort free years.

'How can I not feel manipulated then, Ron? How can I still accept every single order given to me by that old man, knowing what he did to my childhood? And don't even get me started on everything that happened last year…

'So I had to escape. You understand me, don't you?'

'I…' Ron became silent, probably imagining how he would have felt in Harry's situation. 'I guess I do. But I still think faking your own death was a little bit over the top…You should have seen mum! She's lost so much weight because of this! And Ginny! And even Tonks! They were all so miserable back then. They are barely any better now.'

'I… I'm truly sorry for that, Ron… But… If people knew I'm still alive, then they'd try to track me down for sure. And we both know that I'm not nearly talented enough to evade a thorough search by either Dumbledore or Voldemort. I was mostly trying to avoid being found by the latter when I faked my own death.'

'Ron, Harry's right.' Hermione interjected. 'Though I really would have tried to reason with Dumbledore first, Harry. What you did, accepting the suffering of others for the greater good, is no better than what you are accusing Dumbledore of doing.'

'I know, Hermione… I know.' Harry admitted sadly. 'But it would never have come to this had Dumbledore not done what he did… I can barely stand the thought of that man right now. I don't think reasoning with him would have been of any use. I doubt he'd give me a straight talk anyway. He'll probably just deflect my questions with puzzling answers and then store me away at the Dursley's again.'

'Yeah, I guess you're right, mate… But don't ever do that again!' Ron finally conceded. 'And I guess I can't beat you up if I wanted to anyway. You're big friend over there has been giving me the evil eye for quite a while now.' Ron gestured toward the titanic dragon, whose massive head was peaking out from the small hill the dragon tried to conceal herself behind, a poorly feigned expression of innocence on her face.

AN: Pretty slow chappy for Harry and friends, huh? No worries, Harry and friends will come into their powers soon enough and save the day! Once again, please leave your views, comments, and suggestions (or complaints) in the form of a REVIEW!