CHAPTER 21: STEPPING INTO THE FUTURE

BELARION MANOR

Samuel returned to the manor to find that everyone had more or less scattered through-out the manor. He retired to his study to consider al of the options at his command and what they could do to help Harry come out of this alive and defeat Voldemort at the same time.

He wasn't quite sure about what he needed to do, but there had to be something.

BELARION MANOR

HARRY POTTER'S ROOM

Harry sat on his bed and let himself remember the day that Cedric Diggory died and Voldemort regained his body again.

'I wasn't strong enough. He still came back and Cedric died.' he thought, trapped in a loop of guilt and grief.

Katie stood outside his door and tried to pull up her Gryffindor courage to let her face Harry. She knew he was sitting in there and probably brooding about what had happened this past summer.

'NO! I won't let him go down that road again.' she decided as she raised one hand and knocked on his door.

"What?" Harry called out from inside, sounding a little stand-offish.

"Harry, it's me, Katie. I want to talk to you." she called out.

"Go away. There's nothing to talk about." he called back.

"Harry James Potter, we have plenty to talk about. You can't keep hiding from yourself." she argued through the door.

When Harry refused to answer her again, she steeled herself and opened the door, then walked through it, closing it behind her so that they wouldn't be disturbed.

Harry refused to say anything further so she walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed, facing him.

"No, Harry. You don't get to hide away from your problems and sulk. I'm not going to let you sit here and blame yourself for what happened. I've known you for four years, Harry, and I know what you're doing." she said sternly.

"You don't know anything, Katie. You can't know how I feel about Cedric dying, about Voldemort using me to get a body. You don't know about any of it!" he argued.

"Bullshit, Harry. I know how it feels to lose everything and feel helpless. The only difference between us is that my god-father came for me. Sirius wasn't allowed to come for you but he's stlll here, thanks to Uncle Samuel. And now that they're both here, we can try to help you." she said.

"Don't you get it?! I'm beyond help. The bastard doesn't care who he kills! He won't stop coming until he kills me!" Harry said as he tried to fight off her words.

"It doesn't have to be that way. Trust me, Harry. Uncle Samuel won't let you get killed. You just have to talk to him. If you won't talk to me, then talk to Samuel. He could help you if you let him." she tried to reason with him.

"Right! He can help me get killed." Harry scoffed.

"No. He can help you to survive. But we really need to talk to him. You need to talk to him." she pushed, refusing to give up on him.

Harry sat there and Katie let him think it through for himself. When he seemed about to fall from thinking into brooding, Katie decided to take action to prevent it.

Without a thought, she moved around next to Harry instead if facing him and pulled him into another hug.

While Harry was surprised by this, he surprised himself when he returned the hug and realized that he actually liked this feeling from Katie. She wasn't acting like an older sister but more like a real girl.

Harry decided that he wouldn't say anything right now, just enjoy the feeling. But he wanted to explore this more later.

BELARION MANOR

SECOND GUEST ROOM

Hermione Granger was laying on the bed, trying to puzzle out everything she had heard just a little while ago and it just wasn't making sense to her.

She had always had an inborn need to trust people in authority, but now she wasn't sure what to believe anymore.

As she thought this, other things she could remember from the years past came to mind that threw things into a stranger light now that she had a new context to examine them. As she slowly started to put together the pieces of the puzzle in a new way, the picture started to scare her and she realized that she couldn't keep it to herself.

In truth, the very ideas she was reaching started to scare the life out of her as she realized that all of the things Harry had lived through so far all seemed to be little more than elaborate tests. Tests designed for Harry Potter.

"SWEET BABY MAEVE! He's trying to get Harry ready for something." she concluded as the real picture finally revealed itself to her.

She jumped off the bed and headed for the door, deteremined to find somebody she could trust to reveal this to and hope they had some answers on how to fix this.

The one conclusion she had come to was that she wold have to be careful who she gave her trust to in the future.

BELARION MANOR

LORD'S STUDY

Samuel was sitting behind his desk when there came a knock on the door. It was opened at his invitation and several of his guests came through. But first in line seemed to be his god-daughter and her friend as well as the mundane-born Miss Granger.

With a gesture, he summoned chairs for everyone and motioned for them to sit.

"Well, this is a surprise. I hadn't expected to see so many of you at one time." he said in a light-hearted voice.

"Uncle Samuel, we need to talk to you about a few things and decided that it was best to do it all at once. Especially after everything that we put together." Katie started off.

"What is on your mind, Katie?" Samuel asked as everyone took seats and settled down while Katie took center stage, looking at everyone while she gathered her thoughts.

"Uncle, Harry needs training and fast. He has faced the dark jerk three times in the last four years and barely escaped by the skin of his teeth. He needs to be better prepared. If he's not then he's going to get killed for nothing." Katie finally just laid it out for him.

Before Samuel or Katie could say anything, Hermione stood and spoke up to gain their attention.

"Lord Belarion, I think it's worse than that. I have been considering things that I have seen and heard an it adds a new dimension to this problem. We need to get Harry out of reach before the Headmaster can reach him again." Hermione blurted out.

"What are you talking about, Hermione?" Harry asked, worried.

"Think about it, Harry. The way you were forced to live before coming to Hogwarts. The things we have been through every year and then forcing you to return there every summer. He's trying to condition you for something. Even the way you met the Wesleys and your time there every summer. You'd look at him like a hero for pulling you out of there every year. Not to mention the way you always selflessly throw yourself in to help where you can, even though the adults are supposed to be looking out for you. When you look at it all together what do you see?" she pointed out. Making them all take a closer look at the facts.

"Why don't you tell us about these adventures and then we'll have the full picture that you seem to have." Samuel suggested.

On that note, Hermione began telling them the full truth behind each of their adventures with Harry adding to them where he could when she didn't have the full story on certain things.

By the time they were done, the adults sat there dumb-founded for the most part. All except Samuel, who was sitting there with a calculating look on his face as he considered every word they had said, and a picture that he didn't like emerged in front of his eyes.

But he needed a little more information before he could obtain a full picture.

"Mr. Potter, Harry, I need to ask you a couple of questions. Is that alright?" he asked carefully.

"Sure. I don't have anything to hide." Harry agreed.

"First off, has Dumbledore offered you any extra tuition? Maybe extra defense lessons?"

"No, sir. Nothing. He just seems to let me slide along and muddle through on my own." Harry said after a moments thought.

"I see. Has he tried to do anything to make the situation better? Or give you any idea why Voldemort keeps coming after you." Samuel tried again.

"No. He keeps saying he'll tell me when I'm old enough." Harry said slowly.

"That's all I needed to hear. So he didn't even tell you about the prophecy?"

"Prophecy? What prophecy?" Harry asked, then shook his head, "Never mind. But I do need to go to Gringotts. I need to have them audit all of my accounts."

"That sounds like a good idea. But you will also need your Head of House ring. Not to mention, Sirius needs to get his as well. I will escort you both to see your account managers so that you can retrieve your Head rings and set that in motion. When we get there, Harry, I would also find out who appointed your account manager and if it was Dumbledore, respectfully demand that the Director of Gringotts be informed that you wish for a new account manager to replace him." Samuel pointed out to him.

"I get it. That way the old manager can't fudge the books." Harry said as he caught on.

"That's right. Now for the next piece of business, if you're willing to take a suggestion from an old friend of the family?"

"You haven't steered me wrong so far. What is it?" Harry said as he started to cheer up some.

"Well, you are enrolled in Hogwarts and you do have to go back on September 1st. But what about some extra training with me and a friend or two between now and then. The extra training that Dumbledore hasn't been giving you. But with a twist of two." Samuel suggested.

"What kind of twist?" Harry asked warily.

"The kind that will give you an edge if you need it." Samuel said, causing Remus and Sirius to give an involuntary shudder as they remembered all of the times they had seen it.

"Oh, hell!" Sirius said with a nervous look.

"Tell me about it. The last time he had that look, James had pink hair and ladies underwear for a week." Remus added.

"What's scary is the thought of what we may be turning loose on Hogwarts. Not even talking about Dumbledore." Sirius had to put in.

Both men had to smile about that and decided it was worth it.

"Sounds like a plan to me. If Katie, Sirius and Remus trust you, then I'll take the chance." Harry agreed.

"Alright, then. Tomorrow morning we'll go to Gringotts to get all of that done. Now, seeing as we have all of you gathered here and I'll be taking at least four of you with me, is there anybody else that would like to join Harry in training? I should warn you right now, you won't be learning to duel. You're going to learn how to get down and dirty." Samuel said with a growl.

"Ca..can I go along?" Hermione asked nervously, now that she knew he was leaving.

"What do you think, Harry. This is your party after all." Samuel asked carefully.

Harry studied Hermione as he let his memories of their friendship drift through his mind, bringing out all of the times she had been there with him.

"Hermione, you just heard Lord Belarion. This isn't going to be anything nice. Voldemort kills, he doesn't stun or stupify. It's out and out kill or be killed. I can't afford to play nice. Now if you think that you can follow that rule, then you're welcome to come along. You've been my best friend for the last four years. But I don't want you to jump in and wind up getting yourself killed. Do you understand me?" he demanded sternly.

Hermione stopped herself from giving a knee-jerk response and actually thought about her answer. Could she do what had to be done in a life and death situation?

She decided that she wouldn't leave her best friend in the lurch again.

"Teach me what I need to know!" she finally said firmly.

"Good enough for me. What about you?" Samuel asked Harry.

"She's stubborn, I'll give you that." Harry said with a nod before he turned back to Hermione with a stern look on his face, "But you are going to back off of me all the same. I can respect that there are some things you do know. But you will not try to argue or bully me into what you want or you'll be back here with Dumbledore before you can blink. I'm not somebody that can be threatened or browbeat anymore. Deal with it!"

Hermione huffed and was about to start in on him as she turned red in anger, but a stern look at the fire in his eyes had her backing down before she ever started. Then something else came to her mind.

"Harry, you took Ginny into service because of the life-debt! What are you going to do about her?" she asked quickly.

"I'll send a letter in a bit to let her know that she is to stay put until I call for her. Let them all sit and stew over that while we're gone." Harry said, a storm cloud on his face.

"With that, I suggest everybody get a good night's rest. We'll need to be up early in the morning to deal with Gringotts before we leave to start Harry's training." Samuel said in dismissal.

At his words Kami popped in and announced that dinner was reasy in the main dining room. They all immediately trooped out to follow her.

HOGWARTS HEADMASTER'S OFFICE

AFTER THE WIZENGAMOT MEETING

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office considering everything that had happened to him in the latest Wizengamot meeting and the loss of control of the Potter proxy. He knew that with the reading of the Potter's will, his goose was cooked and it wasn't going to be a pretty sight.

Black had once again locked him out of the wards on Grimmauld Place, so he couldn't return there even with Fawkes.

This was going to be a nightmare and about the only good thing he could see about it was the fact that Lucius has also lost the Black proxy. But maybe there was still hope as long as Harry returned to Hogwarts while he remained Headmaster.

"Merlin preserve us all if Harry falls to the dark." he muttered, convinced that he was the only one who knew what must be done to preserve the Greater Good.

Fawkes let out a sad trill as he realized how close to the line his friend was travelling.

Authors note: To all my reviewers and fans. Thank you for your support, reviews and constructive critiques. I apologize for the long waits between updates. But another story is coming soon that will be Hermmione-centric. I'll let you be the judge when its posted if you like it or not. as always, enjoy and bear with me please. Things have gotten a little more difficult for me. Soon I'll be trying out the talk to text feature for my writing.