Chances Are Keeperoliver Chapter Twenty Eight

Like they thought, Astoria had been chosen to Slytherin House and she took a seat next to Draco, who started a conversation with her. She was younger than Draco, but age didn't matter to them as they were just becoming friends. Daphne saw this and wanted to warn Astoria about the Malfoy ties. She had to wait until they were in the dorm before she could say anything.

After the meal, those Albus called stood up and went to the room behind the Professor's table and waited for the Minister to show up. He was soon there and took a seat across from them. "Thank you for agreeing to come here. There is something I need to ask all of you and only because of the bonds you share. I know Miss Lovegood and Mr. Finnigan have not yet fully bonded, but they are close. Do you share a mind link yet?"

Luna answered for the two, "A weak one Minister, but not with the others, just between Seamus and I."

"It will get stronger Miss Lovegood. Now as I was saying, the reason I asked you all here is to ask for your help. I was going to wait a few more years before I shared this, but I feel with what you share, it will be much easier to do it now than to wait. I don't want to tell you just yet what it is I need, as there is a story you must see before I can say more. For this entire year I will be staying here for the evenings to pass this story on and what I need from you. Will you agree with this?"

"Will this put us in danger sir?" Harry asked.

"Most likely very much danger. But it will definitely aid in defeating Lord Voldemort sooner."

"Are we all you will need for this?" Hermione asked.

"That I can't say. I know you have many friends who will be there to help if needed."

Ginny was the next to speak, "We don't like the idea of asking our friends to risk their lives if we can avoid it. Yes, they would help if asked and yes they will be mad if they find out we didn't ask them. So how much danger will there be and what type of danger are we talking about?"

"We are getting into an area I wish to avoid for now, but since you are so determined, the danger will be from Lord Voldemort himself and several of his Death Eaters. Lord Voldemort is not likely to come against you, but his magic is such that it reaches across great distances. The Death Eaters will probably be face to face, but who is not known."

"With this long distance magic, then Lord Voldemort most likely will not be using the Killing Curse as there is too much chance of being interrupted by the unknown. So the magic he uses can be blocked by a shield. As for his Death Eaters, Harry and I can deal with them while the others work, if they are asked to help." Ginny offered the Minister.

"So, you will agree with my idea?"

"If you want the others to help, then they have to be in on it from the start." Harry wanted them all to know what was being asked of them if needed.

Albus didn't particularly care for this condition, but he also saw the wisdom in it. "I agree with this, but there are some things they can't know. I will let you know when we come to them."

"Agreed. Now, there is something I must ask your help with sir. Draco Malfoy and his mother have fled the Death Eaters and Draco is in danger from his housemates because of it. Is there anything you can do to keep him safe?" Harry was looking out for him even though it may get him nothing in return.

"I will talk to Professor McGonagall about this. Now I better let you go so you won't get into any trouble on your first day." and they left for the dorm and entered to see everyone standing around another they couldn't see.

They went to the crowd to see Dean with a black eye and a swollen lower lip.

Ginny stepped forward and asked, "What happened to you Dean?" He couldn't answer because of his lip, so Percy answered for him.

"It seems he made a comment about another house member and someone else took offense to it."

"That told what happened, but not by who. So who did it?"

Fred stepped forward, "I did it. He started to say something about someone I know and I took offense to it, like Percy said."

"So, he was he talking about?"

"Daphne and Astoria. He was going on about how he would like to get to know them better, in a friendly manner."

"Frederick Gideon Weasley, that was no reason to hit someone, just because he would like to get to know someone better as a friend."

"It wasn't his words that got him hit, it was his motion he was showing everyone how friendly he could get." and Fred was showing them what Dean was doing.

"Dean is this true?" Ginny asked.

Dean looked embarrassed as he nodded his head.

"Did you know that Fred liked Daphne and would answer you in this way?"

Dean shook his head no at this.

"Well now you do, and you see what will happen if Fred finds out you did it again, so we won't be seeing a repeat of this again I hope."

Dean shook his head as if to enforce it's meaning.

Then they all gathered around the small group od bonded ones to hear what was said. They all found a seat as Harry went to the front to speak.

"I know you all wish to know what our meeting with the Minister was all about. It seems he needs our help and will be staying here in the evenings to teach us things we need to know before he has us do what is needed. I asked if he needed any others and he knew about all of you and he said if you were needed, you would respond. I told him if he wanted you to help, then you all need to hear what he is teaching us. He did say there were times when he couldn't let you hear a bit of information so he would let us all know when that is about to happen."

"You have no idea what it is all about, Harry?" Fred was beginning to sound serious and it scared Ginny.

"None at all Fred."

"Good because I hate it when we have all the answers before we begin something. It takes part of the thrill away from what we are doing. Oh, did you tell the Minister about Fawkes?"

"No, and I don't intend to just yet, if ever. It is best you forget about it as well. You say that around the wrong people and he will become useless to us."

"Not to worry there mate. I only asked so that we know where he stands with us. Like you said, we don't want to open up with the wrong people. It is evident that you don't completely trust him."

"I do, but only to a certain extent. He did leave me with the Dursleys."

Pavarti asked, "When is the first session?"

"He didn't say, but I'm sure he has his way of getting in touch."

The ice Dean used on his lip helped enough for him to talk, "Will we actually be helping you when it starts up, Harry?"

"Dean, we started out as a study group and now we are a team, which includes Slytherin students. I trust them as much as I trust you and the others. Without trust, we are not a team. So, yes you will assist us when we begin. However, I may include a few others in our team as I think we need some adult supervision. I will be talking to them tomorrow. I think we all know who I'm talking about."

They all approved of the idea of including Lupin, Black and Tonks. Their knowledge and skills would be of great help.

Chances Are-}

Transfiguration was the first class for Harry the next morning and Harry asked to talk with Tonks after class, which she agreed with. The class was easy for the group as all they had to do was change a mouse to a locket. Ron was having trouble with his work, and Harry went and helped him out. Ron soon got it right and he thanked Harry for his help. It was one of the very few times Ginny was proud of her brother.

Once the class was finished, Harry stayed behind, but opened his link to Ginny to hear what he said to Tonks. This also meant that Hermione and Neville heard it as well.

"Professor, I may be out of line, but I have been tasked to do something for the Minister of Magic and though I don't know what exactly it is, I do know it will be dangerous. What I would like to know is, if asked for your help, would you be willing to give it?"

"Am I the only one you will be asking?"

"No. I will be asking Remus and Sirius as well."

"In that case I will be there for you. I don't want to miss the chance to talk to Mr. Wolf about something."

Harry smiled at his Professor, "Has he caught your Interest, Professor?"

"Shut it Potter. And don't you go saying anything to him. You might scare him off. Now get out of here before you're late for next class."

"He is my next class and it's all of 100ft down the hall. Besides I have a connection with the Professor." and Harry made it to DADA in plenty of time before the bell rang to start class.

Once again Harry asked to speak to Sirius and Remus after class and they agreed.

In this class, Remus was teaching them about fear and how to control it. He did this by using a Boggart and the spell to prevent the fear, which was Ridikulous. The whole class was supposed to stand against the Boggart individually, but time ran out before Harry, Ginny, Neville and Hermione got to challenge it.

They all stayed behind to talk to them after class and Remus and Sirius sat down with them to listen to what they wanted to say.

They really didn't need to ask as they would help them no matter what, but when Remus heard that Tonks was in on it, he looked excited. He was the only one in the room that didn't know he was showing it.

They went to lunch after this and when they entered the hall, a first year gave a note to Harry, from the Minister. The first class would be tonight and Harry got word to Tonks, Remus and Sirius. He wanted everyone there to hear what was said.

Harry sat down to his lunch and just got started when he got another note. The first year handed it to him and ran off before Harry could ask who it was from.

Harry took the note and opened it:

Potter, I don't know how you did it, but My room assignment has been changed to a single room away from the other Slytherin. It was needed as Crabbe, Goyle, and Nott were doing their best to get to me.

I have to hand it to you. When you say you will look into something, it happens fast. If this keeps up, I will never be able to repay you, which sours my mouth and stomach. Don't be looking for any thank you from me as that is never going to happen. However, if you will allow me to join your group, I would feel safer. Let me know. Malfoy.

Harry looked to the Slytherin table and saw Draco talking with Astoria and when she pointed to the Gryffindor table he looked to see Harry watching him. Draco just used his hand and made a circular motion, telling Harry to turn around and quit watching him. Harry snickered and turned to Ginny and spoke with her, Hermione and Neville with their own way of talking. 'It seems that Draco has made a close friend with Astoria and Daphne looks like she wants to scream.'

'I know Harry, she told me that she tried talking to her to warn her of his ways, but she refused to listen to her. I don't know for sure, but he does seem different to me.' Hermione gave her thought on it.

'I saw it as well, but I think Daphne may be wrong in this as he does seem more receptive to our team members. Not quite friendly, but not even close to being hostile. Thats a step in the right direction.' Neville added.

Ginny made her observation, 'He needs friends to help holding off the Slytherin bad boys. Nott is a mean, dirty and untrusting person. He would just as soon stick you in the back rather than face you. With Crabbe and Goyle helping him, Draco could be in for a long year. Plus who knows what they are passing on to their parents to Voldemort. We may have to form our own guard to protect him without actually coming in contact with him. You know, like being around in case we are needed, but not talking to him.'

'I guess we can try it and see what happens. Right now though, we need to see what we can do for this meeting with the Minister. Without knowing what he will be showing us, leaves us with all kinds of questions. First being why is the Minister singleing us out for this. Surely there are more competent people he could use?'

Neville came back with, 'Competent, yes, but what about trust worthy. Dumbledore knows you Harry and has seen what you can do. Plus we have the link which gives us an upper hand when it comes to communication. We could have four teams with our connection that could move silently and with precision. Coordination would be a piece of cake.'

'You're probably right Nev. Hand communications become non-existant when you loose sight of your team members. But there is something else he is getting at and I would like to know what that is. More than likely, it has something to do with that Horcrux thing he goes on about. Ginny knows what I mean. It turned on Voldemort and he doesn't know it yet, I don't think.'

That ended any further thoughts on the matter and left for their next class.

Chances Are-}

The things that Albus showed the team were memories of different people that Voldemort knew and used to further his goal. Objects he took from people after he killed them and gain information on a certain subject from someone he worked for.

It all led up to the Minister asking them to join him in a hunt for the objects Voldemort used for his Horcruxes. He told them two had already been destroyed, or in Harry's case turned around to something good. He showed how Harry had to use this good against Voldemort. He also got them to think of him as Tom not Voldemort. This would be easier for them to talk about him.

They would begin the search when everyone knew a few certain spells needed in finding these items. It would point them in the right direction, if they were near one of the objects.

This took a few weeks as they were difficult to learn and use. Hermione and Ginny were the first to perfect them, even over Harry. Dumbledore felt it was the item Harry carried that made it difficult for him to learn these spells. He was still, in essance, a Horcrux.

Minerva was told what Albus was doing and that there would be times that certain members of the group would be pulled from class to help in the search. He would use four at a time so as not to loose too much time from classes and fall behind.

Harry led the first mission along with George, Cho and Pansy. Ginny would be the contact person and the coordinator of the mission. Albus would be the adult supervision on the first one.

They were taken to a seaside location, overlooking a violent sea that was crashing against the walls of the cove below them. Albus pointed to a cave at the bottom of the far wall as where they needed to go.

They aparated down to the opening and then walked into the cave where they came to a dead end. That is until Albus sliced his hand with a knife and smeared blood on the wall and it disappeared.

They walked into the opening to find a body of water and an island in the middle of the water. On this island was a pedestal and a basin. That was their objective. Once they were on the island, Albus found a boulder big enough to turn it into a goat. He had Harry drain the water in the basin and feed it to the goat while George held it's mouth open. Albus would keep the guards of the location at bay until it was completed.

The more the goat was forced to drink, the meaner it got. It finally came down to Pansy and Cho helping hold the goat quiet so that Harry could finish his work. It was finally drained where Harry could pull the Locket out and they could leave. Albus changed the goat back to a boulder, and then it happened. The Inferi guarding the island advanced on ther five members of the team and Harry and Albus had to use Fyend Fire to hold them off while the other members got into the boat. When Cho tried to enter, her weight shifted the boat and she fell into the water.

George saw the Inferi going for her and he Tried pulling her out. She was fighting everything he did to save her and he finally jumped in the water and picked her up and pushed her into the boat. The Inferi came to him and grabbed him and started to drag him down into the depths below. He fought them off continuously but was getting tired. Harry and Dumbledore finally came to his side to help him out of the water, but he was dead weight to them as the Inferi did their work and drained all George's strength. They did manage to get him in the boat and got in themselves and made their way back to shore.

Once outside the cave, Albus pulled out the cane he used for the port key and got them all back to Hogsmeade and finally to Madam Pomfrey. George had burn marks on his shoulders and legs where the Inferi grabbed him and tried pulling him down. His magic level was near non-existant. His mind was blank and not responding to stimulation. Poppy looked to Albus and said, "I will try everything I know, which is very little when it comes to Inferi, and hope to bring back to us."

This is what Ginny told everyone sitting there and she saw where Fred was taking it the hardest. Even Daphne could not calm him down. He was ready to run to the wing give his own life to bring George back.

It didn't happen, as Albus and Harry made it to the group and reported what happened, as the mind link was lost while in the cave. Daphne asked where Pansy ans Cho were and Harry told them they were still with George. He had saved Cho's life and almost lost his own to the Inferi. They all knew what would happen if George made it through alright. Another bond would be formed.