Chapter 35

We all ate dinner really quickly. Unfortunately, Draco had to go back to his common room so he couldn't come back up to Gryffindor tower with us. Once we got back up to the Gryffindor common room, Harry continued looking.

He was almost running out of wall when he finally stopped and let out a cheer. He pointed to a section of the wall and told us he found it. It looked like a regular piece of wall. Now I know how everyone felt when I showed them the entrance to the library. It's a little bizarre when all you can see is someone gesturing at a solid wall. It reminds me of the entrance to platform nine and three quarters.

Harry grabbed me and shoved me through the wall. I found myself in a lit passage. Hermione came through after me. Soon everyone was in the passage. The wall shut behind Harry and he walked to the front to take the lead. We walked down the passage.

Soon we came to a door. Harry turned the door handle and it swung open. We all tensed, preparing for the worst. We entered the room. I didn't see anything dangerous. The room was huge. bout half the size as a football field. Various weapons lined the wall opposite us. There was also gym equipment. I assumed that it had been added in by one of the other descendants. There were lots of dummies that we could use for target practice in one corner and a few actual targets in another.

I didn't see any monsters. I walked into the middle of the room. I noticed some writing on the floor and crouched down to read it. Suddenly flames sprung up around me. I looked up to see everyone else surrounded by their own circle of flames too. I quickly read the inscription. "The flames will cease once my heir summons my sword. It will only come to a true heir with the heart of a Gryffindor. You have a minute before you will be cast out of this room."

I stood up and saw Hermione trying to put out the flames with water but nothing was happening. "Harry!" I yelled as he was across the room. "Summon the sword of Gryffindor." He looked at me for a second before holding his hand out.

"Come to me sword of Gryffindor." He called uncertainly. There was a flash and the sword appeared in his hand. Immediately the flames went out.

"Brilliant!" Exclaimed Hermione. "Only a true Gryffindor can wield the sword and only the heir can summon it. Rowena was wrong, there is no monster, that was the test to see if you are a true Gryffindor, Harry."

"Will that happen every time we come in?" Ron half asked half wined.

"No, I think it was just a test for the first time. The room probably knows Harry's magical signature now." Hermione informed them.

"So we've found the place. Now what do we do?" Asked Neville.

"We need to arrange a meeting somewhere so we can tell people and ask if they want to join." I said.

"Then we need to find a way we can secretly communicate with the members." Hermione said.

"But where can we have the meeting?" I asked.

"I don't know but I can take care of the communication issue." Hermione replied.

"We could have the meeting in the Room of Requirement." Harry suggested.

"So we'll tell all the third years, Ginny, her friends, George and his friends to meet us in the seventh floor corridor." I said.

"Sounds good." Harry agreed.

"I'll tell Ginny." Said Ron.

"I'll George." Fred said.

"And the rest of us will tell all of the trust worthy first years." Harry said.

...

Fred POV

We all left the Gryffindor room and took the passage to our common room. As soon as we came in I were spotted by George and split off from the rest of the group. He looked kind of angry when he saw us. He lead me over to a empty corner and cast a privacy charm. "So you've been blowing me off to hang out with our brother and his little friends?!" He asked angrily. "You haven't hung out with me in days."

"You don't understand." I spluttered quickly.

"You've been keeping secrets from me!" He said and I opened my mouth to protest but he cut me off. "Don't deny it. What are you keeping from me."

"It's not my secret. I can't tell you." I pleaded with him.

"We never keep anything from each other. Ever." He said. He sounded hurt and it broke my heart to hear my twin sound so sad. Thinking it's my fault just made it shatter to pieces. "If you were really my brother you'd tell me." He said.

I flinched. It felt like he had just punched me in the gut. I did hate keeping secrets from him but Joanne told me not to tell anyone. She already hates me because of what I did in second year during that quidditch match. I don't know why but I really want her to like me. But I can't not tell George! We do tell each other everything. I suppose he'll find out soon enough. I wouldn't be too bad if I just sped up the process. "Fine." I sighed. He looked at me expectantly. "Joanne's from the future."

What ever he thought I was going to say, that wasn't it. He looked absolutely shocked. "What?" He asked.

"Well, last year, I saw her get a letter at the dinner table and she shoved it in her pocket looking all mysterious. Naturally, I was curious so that night in the common room, I snatched it and read it, expecting it to be some kind of embarrassing letter from her mum or something. But then it was about pieces of You-know-who's soul and it was from the goblins at Gringott's." I began.

"Again, what?" He asked.

"I'll get to that later." I said before continuing. "I confronted her about it and she said she couldn't tell me before dragging me off to talk to Dumbledore. She told Dumbledore to tell me she wasn't a death eater and he did. Then she told me to leave so she could talk to him. Obviously, I waited outside the door and listened. I didn't get the whole conversation but I heard her yelling at Dumbledore and I thought she was blackmailing him or something. Then I heard something about her being from the future. Then she came out and asked how much I had heard. I lied and said I heard all of it because I wanted to scare her."

"Wait, so is she a death eater?" George asked, his eyes wide.

"No! I'm getting to that." I continued. "Anyway, I thought she was a death eater and I didn't want her hanging around our brother and our honorary brother Harry, so at the quidditch match I didn't protect her from bludgers. You remember that, right?"

"Yeah, I thought you just didn't see her." He told me.

"Well anyway, she confronted me about it. She told me that she was yelling at Dumbledore because he had lied to her and that she's not a death eater and stuff."

"And you believed her just like that?" George asked.

"Well not really. She did help save our sister though so I let it go. But then this year on Halloween she told me to meet her at the whomping willow at midnight and that she would explain everything. So I met her there. Harry, Ron, Neville, Hermione and Professor Lupin were there to. We took the passage under the willow to the shrieking shack where we met Sirius Black."

"But this was when he was still a suspected murderer!" George exclaimed.

"Yeah but because Annie's from the future she knew he was innocent. He explained what happened with Peter Pettigrew and then Annie started telling us her story." I said. I went on to describe what she had told us. The stuff about the horcruxes, Dumbledore, what she did in the holidays, her curse, everything. By the time I was finished George's mouth was hanging open.

"Dumbledore did that?" George asked in shock. I nodded. "He really tried to obliviate her?"

"Lupin heard him say it and everything." I said. I decided to leave out the dementor attack as I hadn't told him that Joanne was an animagus. "Anyway, I haven't finished. A few days ago she showed me this library. The Secret Library of Rowena Ravenclaw."

"But only heirs of Ravenclaw can get in there and Joanne is muggle-born." George interrupted.

"Ravenclaws granddaughter and Hufflepuffs Grandson got married and had kids. Joanne's great grandmother was there heir but she was a squib." I explained.

"Joanne's the heir of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff!" George exclaimed.

"Yeah, and Harry's the heir of Gryffindor and Voldemort's the heir of Slytherin." I told him.

"You said You-know-who's name!" He hissed.

"Annie and Harry are right, that is really annoying." I muttered.

After that I explained Harry's dream and how we're starting a defense club. I took down the privacy charm. "You can't tell anyone I told you any of this stuff, okay?" I told him when I was finished. "Joanne would kill me." He nodded and mimed sipping his lips.

...

Joanne's POV

I was tasked with telling the Hufflepuffs about the Defense club. I went over to Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones. They were chatting quietly in the library. "Hello." I said to make my presence known.

"Oh hi." Susan said. "You're Joanne, right?"

"That's me." I said. "Anyway, Harry Potter is starting a defense club and we wanted to know if you wanted to learn how to defend yourselves."

"Why?" Hannah asked.

"Well the DADA professors are inconsistent and there are death eaters running around." I explained. "Not to mention that Voldemort- (They both flinched violently) -isn't dead and could come back in our later years or maybe even this year. We need to know how to defend ourselves."

"You-know-who is dead." Susan said in a shaky voice.

"They never found a body." I said. "He wasn't human enough to die. Harry met him in first year. His soul had latched itself onto Quirrell's and he was attached to the back of his head. That's why Quirrell wore a turban."

"Yeah right." Susan snorted.

"You can choose not to believe me but either way, you probably want to learn how to defend yourselves." I said.

"I suppose." Hannah said.

"Great! Meet me on the seventh floor by the tapestry after dinner. Tell anyone who you think will want to come and don't tell any teachers." I said before I left.

That's that done. I went back to the Gryffindor common room to meet Harry. I came through the portrait hole and saw Fred and George talking in the corner so I walked over. "You can't tell anyone I told you any of this stuff, okay?" I heard Fred telling George. They hadn't seen me yet. "Joanne would kill me." I saw George nod and mime sipping his lips.

"Why would I kill you? What did you tell him?" I asked Fred as I had reached the couch where they were sitting. Fred jumped about a mile in the air and looked at me. His face was full of guilt and shock. "You didn't?" I asked him angrily. He can't have told George. I specifically told him not to tell anyone. He looked down and I knew he had.

"I-I'm s-sorry." He stuttered.

"I trusted you with all my secrets and as soon as I turn my back you go and tell your brother." I growled.

"It's not like that." He said.

"Whats it like then?" I demanded. He opened his mouth then shut it again. "That's what I thought." I turned and stormed towards the stairs to my dorm.

"Annie wait!" He called after me. I turned around to face him.

"Only my friends can call me Annie." I said before turning back around and angrily climbing the stairs.

I got to my dorm room and sat on my bed. Thoughts of Fred's betrayal flew through my head. I don't even know why it hurt so much. Why do I even care? He tried to kill me in second year for crying out loud. I know he was just trying to protect his family though. It was almost lunch time so I went and found Hermione.

...