What was he going to do now? There still was plenty of time before the clock struck eleven, but he knew from experience that on occasions of crisis, time flew and this was such an occasion. Harry had no idea what he was going to do.
And then his sharp, observant eyes noticed a shift in the muggle's attention, for there was a tall formidable woman dressed in, what Harry could only assume to be, robes and a stuffed vulture hat, walk briskly towards platform nine. A little round-faced boy pushing his trolley and trying to keep up with her long strides at the same time.
Harry pushed his own forward and walked up to the lady. In times of crisis, he learnt, no matter how terrible a form help decides to take, accept it before it's too late.
"Excuse me, Ma'am!" Harry called after her as the muggle's turned their attention back to their own business.
The formidable woman stopped short, her little companion almost pushing his trolley into her. She turned to Harry as he hurried forward.
"Yes, young man."
Harry suddenly felt nervous.
"Um, are you going to Hogwarts?"
Damn! Harry winced at his lack of tact.
The old lady simply lifted a fine eyebrow and said, "No, I am not going to Hogwarts. I've already finished my seven years there and I have no intention of repeating them again. However, my grandson is attending the school this year and I believe the two of you will be in the same class, Mr. Potter."
Harry's eyes opened wide and so did the round-faced boy
"How did-"
"I know your name?... Your mother and my daughter-in-law had become quite close a few months prior to when we all went into hiding...Your eyes, told me all there was to know."
Harry blushed and she gave him a small smile.
"It looks like, I will be teaching not one, but two of you how to gain access to the platform nine and three-quarters.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Harry was now on platform nine and three-quarters and he waited patiently for the round-faced boy and his grandmother to come through that barrier.
The boy came through first with his trolley and ran walked up to him.
"Hello, my name's Harry. What's yours?"
The boy looked at him owlishly for a second or two and then said, "N-Neville. I'm Neville Longbottom. It's n-nice to meet you, Harry."
They were shaking hands when Neville Longbottom's grandmother came through.
"Go on," she said. "Get on the train and find a compartment to keep your trunks."
So they moved their trolleys to the last compartments and Harry helped Neville put his trunk in an unoccupied one first and then, they put Harry's trunk in and Harry's sharp eyes noticed a large toad trying to escape Neville's trolley and he caught it before it hit the floor.
"Er, Neville, is it yours?"
"Trevor!" Neville exclaimed. "Yes, he's mine! I almost forgot about him. I've got a terrible memory." Then he spoke so quietly, that Harry almost lost what he was saying to the noise on the platform. "I going to be the worst in my class! I'm pathetic! Even Gran say's so."
Harry frowned.
"She shouldn't have said that, you know." he said after a moment.
Neville's eyes widened again.
"But she's right!" he insisted.
Harry's frown deepened.
"Do I look like a freak to you?"
Neville shook his head violently.
"That's what my relatives called me most of the time."
Neville gasped, but Harry ploughed on. "I used to believe it too! And then I realized that as long as I believed it, I was always going to be pushed down. It took a little time, but now I know I'm not a freak. I'm a wizard. And I'm going to make you believe that your not pathetic."
Harry nodded firmly. "We are going to make a good pair and if you don't mind, I'd love to be your friend."
Neville smiled.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
They were left to themselves the entire journey. And Harry learnt of a lot of things.
Such as Professor McGonagall was their Transfiguration Professor and she was a friend of Neville's Gran.
The Wizarding World was quite prejudiced.
There was a game called Quidditch that many were crazy about.
Accidental Magic was something that couldn't be controlled and it shouldn't be suppressed.
Accidental Magic was something that couldn't be controlled and it shouldn't be forced out either.
Neville's family was very mean.
Neville's parents were still alive but they were seriously injured in the war and they couldn't recognize Neville (the boys remained silent for a long time after that).
There was a Wizarding hospital called St. Mungo's.
The Ministry of Magic was quite a corrupt place.
There were many Ministries of Magic and Schools of Witchcraft and Wizardry all over the world.
Harry missed Neville at Diagon Alley by a couple of hours.
Tom the bartender also was the innkeeper at the Leaky Cauldron and anyone in need of shelter for a few days could go there.
If you were stranded on the way all you had to do was hold out your wand arm and a magical bus would come to get you.
Wizarding sweets were very fascinating.
Magical photo occupants could move.
Albus Dumbledore liked to play ten pin bowling... etc. etc. etc.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Longbottom, Neville." Neville's Gran's friend, the stern, severe, Professor McGonagall called.
"GRYFFINDOR!" yelled the hat.
.
.
.
.
"Potter, Harry!" she called.
"GRYFFINDOR!" yelled the hat.
And the two friends were together again.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Gringotts was robbed on our birthday, Neville!"
"Yes, it was." Neville said firmly. "But we are going to stay out of it."
"But they must have been looking for that package Hagrid took out.
"It's none of our business, Harry!"
"That package must be hidden on the third floor!"
"Forget it, Harry!"
"There's probably something terrible guarding it!"
"It isn't nice to go poking our noses into other people's affairs, Harry." Neville said flatly.
"Alright." Harry gave up. "You win."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"I challenge you to a duel." said Draco Malfoy.
"Don't bother, Malfoy." Harry said, when he saw Neville shake his head furiously. "It will only result in your hair matching mine. And I will not let anybody imitate my hair, even if his is burnt."
In his embarrassment, Malfoy turned to Neville viciously, "What's come of your remembrall? Still forgetting things are you, Longbottom?"
Neville said coolly, "Actually, I don't need it anymore, Malfoy, but since you seem so desperate to have it... " Neville took the glass ball out of his pocket and handed it to the blonde. "... you can have it. I hope it helps you remember whatever you've forgotten."
Draco's face was priceless. It served him right. He'd been after that ball right from the time Neville received it! Even on the Quidditch pitch, he tried to take it when Neville fell off his broom broke his wrist. But Harry was quicker.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Hermione!" Harry said to Neville as they followed Prefect Percy Weasley to the Gryffindor Tower. "She's in the bathroom! She doesn't know about the troll!"
Neville sucked in a deep breath and then yelled, "Percy! Percy!"
"Oh, what is it?" Percy growled as he turned around, his eyes alert.
"Percy! Hermione is in the Girl's bathroom and she doesn't know about the troll!" Neville yelled and Harry felt proud at the amount of confidence his friend had gained over a period of two months!
Percy looked aghast, but pulled himself together in no time and asked the other fifth-year Prefect to take the Gryffindor first-years to their destination and he went to the girls bathroom with a remorseful and horrified Ronald Weasley following him discreetly.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Harry, Neville, Ron, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Hermione Granger said as Ron (who finally mastered Wingardium Leviosa) rubbed the sore ear that Percy pulled him with ("But I saved your life!" he protested).
And the four of them were now friends. And Ron who was closer to Seamus and Dean, got them into their little circle, but the three weren't that close to Harry as Neville and Hermione."
Harry and Neville were now helped a lot by Hermione and it was declared by Dean that every morning, they should play football, three on three.
"It will keep us active!" he said.
And so they reluctantly agreed. And they started playing the game on the grounds every early morning hence.
They kept their noses to themselves and obeyed the rules (absolutely not tempted by the wonderful invisibility cloak, so as to not get Neville's disapproval) and soon, their first year was over, but due to some unfortunate accident, Professor Stutter-a-lot as the students fondly called him, died.
Harry wished his friends, Mrs. Longbottom, the Grangers, the Weasleys, Mrs. Finnegan and the Thomas' a good holiday before he followed his horrid uncle to his car.
HP-NL-HG
END OF YEAR ONE
HP-NL-HG
Lucius Malfoy shook Hagrid's hand off him and smoothed out his hair. Arthur Weasley had certainly had an upper hand in their brawl and Harry could clearly see Malfoy senior trying to gain his composure.
What Harry hadn't anticipated was Malfoy banging into him. The bigger surprise came in the form of Lucius Malfoy helping him pick up his books!
Harry didn't think much of it after that, but he got the impression that Lucius Malfoy had a good heart after all!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"You flew to school!" Neville said in disbelief, once Harry and Ron came up to their dormitory. "Hermione and the three of us were searching all over for you!"
"Would you believe us if I told you that the barrier didn't let us through?"
"Nope." said Neville, Seamus and Dean.
Harry threw his hands up in exasperation and headed to his four poster bed.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"I'VE BEEN SELECTED! I'M SEEKER!" Harry yelled as soon as he'd entered the dormitory, causing Ron too fall off his bed and Hermione to spill her ink bottle all over Seamus's robes. They were now using the dormitory as their own personal common room and no one else, save for Fred and George (whom the second years convinced to smuggle a table and six chairs into the dormitory) and Ginny, entered.
Harry gave Ron, Hermione and Seamus a hasty apology and headed off to start with his homework.
He opened one of Lockhart's books and out fell a diary that Harry was sure didn't belong to him. T. M. Riddle, it said on the front cover and Harry began to wonder how exactly it got there.
Then it struck him! Lucius Malfoy must have accidentally put it in his book while he was helping him pick up the fallen ones. Harry dearly wished to see what was written in it, but Neville's severe words ("It isn't nice to go poking our noses into other people's affairs, Harry.") repeated themselves in his head again.
So the next day when he crossed Draco Malfoy in the corridors, he handed him the diary, telling him to return it to his Dad.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hello Father,
How are you and Mother?
I'm fine as always.
I know I've written a little earlier than usual, but that Potter handed me a diary that, or so he adamantly claims, belongs to you. It doesn't look that great, but it has got T. M. Riddle on the cover and it writes back to you once you've written on it. It's pages however, remain forever blank.
I'll keep this diary, if you don't mind. And if it doesn't belong to you, could I still keep it? It's really very entertaining.
Write back to me soon.
Give my love to Mother.
Draco.
P. S.: Did you ever use this book to help you with your homework? I did! It's the best, easiest source of gaining knowledge ever!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Breakfast was quite an enjoyable affair, inspite of Gilderoy Lockhart's neon robes, until Lucius Malfoy banged his was into the Great Hall, his hair even messier than what it had been after his brawl with Mr. Weasley. Behind him was a pretty woman, Harry could only assume to be Draco's mother and she was followed by Dobby the house-elf!
Harry barely managed to stop himself from shouting and disrupting the rapidly spreading silence.
Dumbledore was on his feet in an instant and he began to move across the Hall and finally, he met Lucius Malfoy and company right by the seat occupied by Draco Malfoy.
"To what does Hogwarts owe you this pleasure so early in the day, Lucius?"
Lucius Malfoy ignored him and turned to Draco.
"Where's the diary?"
With a reluctant frown at his father and an unyielding pleading look at his mother, Draco Malfoy took out the diary Harry had given him the previous day from his pocket.
But before the diary reached Lucius Malfoy's hands, Dumbledore snatched it with a severe look and said, "I believe we should continue this conversation in my office."
That was all the excitement for the year (and Harry found it quite boring) save for the fact that the next day he came across a snake in Herbology and spoke to it and Neville and Hermione heard him and insisted that he visit Dumbledore. Dumbledore told him kindly that Voldemort had left a bit of him in Harry and there was nothing to worry about.
He also got Harry to have a cup of tea with him and when Harry asked, he told him about Harry's mother's sacrifice and how much she loved him.
"I must apologize for not telling you before Harry, but this ancient magic evoked by Lily, created a protection in you so powerful, you would remain safe so long as you lived with someone who carried her blood in their veins...Harry, that is why I left you at your aunt's house.
"It was foolish risk not to do so, with Lord Voldemort's followers still at large and waiting for revenge. I thought she would care for you, but I know now, that I was wrong... But Harry, you must stay at her place for at least two weeks of every summer vacation until you turn seventeen, to keep that protection alive... Voldemort cannot touch you as long as you consider that place as your home... "
Harry was speechless. He didn't know if he felt angry or sad, it was an in between feeling...but in the end, he considered it to be a good thing that Dumbledore chose to give him the reason as to why he was living at the Dursley's.
Rumour had it that Lucius had freed his elf in anger at the end of his meeting with Dumbledore and the house-elf was now working in the Hogwarts kitchens...this was confirmed when Dobby appeared in Harry's dormitory every evening with a six cups of milk and a plate of cookies.
The second rumor was a bit harder to believe. They said that Dumbledore was trying but failing to order Basilisk venom and according to Hermione, a Basilisk was the deadliest creature to have ever roamed the earth.
Aside from that and studies and Quidditch matches and football training wherein Fred, George, Ginny and Lee Jordan joined them, they passed their second year with flying colours.
Well, there was a little excitement in the form of Lockhart trying to obliviate Professor Snape -the mean old grouch of a potions professor - only to have the charm deflected back at him with a lot more force than necessary. Lockhart now was at St. Mungo's with little hope of regaining his memories.
All for the sake of trying to take credit for a complicated pain reliever potion.
HP-NL-HG
END OF YEAR TWO
HP-NL-HG
Harry left Privet Drive with his trunk and Hedwig and he got on the knight bus exactly after two weeks of living at the Dursley's.
Visiting Diagon Alley was a real treat, but living there for your holidays was even better. But Harry wasn't satisfied and he decided to take the knight bus and visit Godric's Hollow. Neville would probably be visiting his parents... Why couldn't Harry.
Oh his house was a mess to look at and to his good luck he found a small shop in one of the corners of Diagon Alley, just the previous day, called Archie's Renovation Centre. A trip back to the Alley and Harry was sitting opposite a very kind old man.
"So you want old Archie to help renovate that famous house?"
"Er, yes." said Harry. "But I want you to swear that you and your helpers will keep it a secret."
Archie and six other elderly men Harry hadn't noticed earlier stood up and raised their wands into the air.
"We," said Archie, "Archibald."
"Bernard." said one of the others.
"Conan." said the next.
"Desmond."
"Edward."
"Fernando."
"And Gerald." said the last.
"The seven sons of Archibald Geoffrey Solsons" they now spoke as one, "firmly vow upon their magic that they will not reveal to anyone anything they happen to find out about Mr. Harry Potter. His privacy shall be our priority and should one of us break this vow, we shall all lose our magic."
Harry's eyes widened as he felt a strong howling wind blow around that small office and when it stopped, the old men returned to their seats as though nothing happened at all.
Archie pulled out a large tomb from the crammed shelf behind him and said, "Let's see...That house was the place at which our world got it's relief and we will be obliged to give you a discount... Three hundred galleons will be the cost of rebuilding the house... Three hundred again for the furniture and other accessories including muggle equipment...
"One hundred galleons for the banishing all kinds of dark creatures, pests and magic in that place... One hundred galleons for putting up all kinds of wards around the place and making the house look like it's unrenovated self to any outsider and a private floo connection that won't be monitored by the Ministry... One hundred galleons for a house elf to look after the place for you."
"A house elf?" Harry said. "I thought they came with old houses?"
"That they do, Mr. Potter." Archie said as his brothers maintained an eerie silence. "However, we keep in contact with the young, freshly trained and unemployed ones who will be more than willing to look after you. And that is a total of nine-hundred galleons."
"Give me half-an-hour to decide." Harry said and Archie nodded graciously.
Harry dashed to Gringotts and refilled his money bag for this third year first. A slow and boring process of counting nine hundred galleons later, Harry realized that a little less than a quarter of his inheritance was consumed.
Very happily he took the money back to Archie's Renovation Centre and he got their receipt.
In four days, Harry's new home was ready. And the Archie brothers even managed to put a whole new array of garments for Harry, right from muggle wear to all kinds of robes. Apparently the clothes were a gift from them.
Harry's house-elf was a young one called Lulu. She wore nothing more than a pillowcase, not unlike Dobby. And Harry new she wouldn't like him to give her clothes. So he gave her some money and told her to buy herself a whole new wardrobe that she would wear. The smile he received in return told him that he had done the right thing.
All this time, Harry exchanged letters with Neville, Hermione, Ron, Seamus and Dean, but he didn't tell them about his new location.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Harry was going about his daily routine one morning, a week after his birthday, when the Daily Prophet dropped down the news of Sirius Black's escapade again. Along with that came Harry's Hogwarts books and other requirements he couldn't get from Diagon Alley before he shifted to Godric's Hollow.
With a sigh, Harry took his time to help Lulu make breakfast and they then sat together and ate their meal. Lulu may have found Harry's rules rather strange, but she never complained and Harry loved her company.
When he realised on his birthday (he bought Neville a book on rare Muggle plants and Neville gifted him a magical pocket knife) that he wouldn't be allowed to go to Hogsmead and that was that, he asked Lulu to change his appearance and take him to Hogsmead for the day (Elf Magic was now detectable at the Ministry thanks to Archie's forethought).
That very afternoon, Harry and Lulu were approached by a very emaciated black dog with lovely eyes, and Harry, who fell for it's eyes, took it into his home and bathed it. But as soon as he was dried, the dog shifted into a man!
Harry was startled and a little miffed for he had a lot of plans involving his new pet in mind. A moment later, Harry realised that the man was none other than Sirius Black! But before he or Lulu could do anything, Black fell to his knees.
"You have a wand, Harry. I don't. You have a house-elf to protect you. I don't. Just let me tell you something important before it's too late for me to convince you..."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
I'm sorry if I've interrupted your holiday, Sir, but something very strange and important has occurred at here and you will be the only person who can help me. Could you please come to my parents home at Godric's Hollow as soon as possible.
Waiting for you in anticipation,
Harry Potter.
"There! Short a sweet." said Harry as Sirius read over his shoulder. "Do you think he'll come?"
"Of course he will." Sirius said as he took the towel Lulu gave him and went for his second bath in a day. One meeting with his godson and his life was already turning for the better!
Harry shrugged and handed the letter to Hedwig who clamped it in her beak and rushed off into the darkening sky.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It didn't take Dumbledore long to get to Egypt and kidnap Scabbers, leaving a dying duplicate in his stead. Then he rushed to the Ministry of Magic and lucky for him, the Minister was having a conference with Amelia Bones, many Aurors and unspeakables.
They turned to him as he entered and Dumbledore said, "I have to speak to you about one of Mr. Crouch's gravest mistakes."
He pulled out the rat and cast the revealing spell.
.
.
.
.
"Shall we take the effects of Veritaserum off him?" Amelia Bones said with thinly veiled disgust.
Minister Fudge nodded numbly, his mouth agape, his eyes calculating.
The minute the Veritaserum was taken off, Pettigrew transformed into a rat. He dodged even the best aurors stunners. The pandemonium that ensued was one for the records. And Fudge was found standing on the table, as far away from the rat as he could get.
"And that," said Dumbledore, when the panicked confusion turned to that of quiet worry, "was how he framed and escaped Sirius Black."
Hence dementors would be of no use. They knew, however, that the rat wouldn't dare show his face without any powerful help and Dumbledore felt concerned.
"This means Black is innocent." Amelia said.
"Indeed." said Dumbledore.
"How did he escape Azkaban?" Fudge demanded.
Dumbledore said slowly, "I do not believe the founders of that prison to not take into consideration the innocent victims thrown in there."
They were satisfied and none the wiser of Sirius's animagus ability and most unfortunately, to Dumbledore's dissatisfaction and for the sake of the face of the Ministry, everything was hushed up and they claimed that Sirius was now of no harm.
No questions were asked and no warnings were given. No one would know of the dog who lived at Godric's Hollow, under Lulu's tender care.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Albus! Albus!"
Minerva banged her fist on the Headmaster's door and burst in before he finished saying "Enter!"
She looked disheveled, almost as though she ran all the way to his office.
"Albus!" Minerva said again. "See this!"
She deposited Harry Potter's Hogsmead permission slip on his desk.
"Ah," said Dumbledore. "Now, Minerva don't tell me that you are against a student enjoying himself?"
Minerva sputtered, she actually sputtered with a mixture of indignation, horror and annoyance.
"But Albus! Sirius Black has signed his form!"
"As he should." Dumbledore affirmed gently.
"How did Potter make it to school alive and unharmed?"
Dumbledore looked about the room in a very secretive manner and said with conspiracy.
"It's a long story Minerva. Take a seat and I shall reveal to you one of the greatest secrets of time... A secret I'm sure Remus would love to know too... When you happen to walk past him do take that man aside and share it with him."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Merry Christmas Harry, Neville!" Dumbledore said as the boys entered his office looking rather frightened. "What can I help you boys with?"
"Professor," Neville said, "Harry was having a fit in the boy's bathroom and now he says he had witnessed some conversation about V-V-Voldemort!"
Harry looked at his friend in admiration, but he turned back to Dumbledore almost immediately and nodded his assent.
Dumbledore got them to sit and he closed the door to his office with a flick of his wand and said to the boys.
"There is something I need to tell you. I would have told you earlier, but I believed you to be too young to know. But I fear if I keep procrastinating, I may be too late. You must remember however, that this isn't a burden that you will carry alone. Help and guidance will be there with you all through your way.
"Early in the year nineteen eighty..."
.
.
.
"Don't bother yourselves about this for neither of you have a reason to be afraid at the moment, however, I will be making myself busy, trying to locate exactly what is holding Voldemort to this earth... Oh, do either of you know Occlumency?"
Harry and Neville shook their heads in negation, their eyes wide with barely suppressed fear that, Dumbledore knew, would take a while to abate.
"Very well," he said. Reaching over to a shelf behind him and pulling out two identical books and handed one to each boy. Read this book, you two, and every Sunday morning, you will meet me in my office, and I will be teaching you this wonderful art.
"The two of you must remember to keep our classes as well as these books and the Prophecy a complete secret. Do not speak of it to anyone, nor are you to speak of it to yourselves anywhere but in this office..."
.
.
.
.
It was Harry's suggestion actually and so, without further ado, as soon as their last exam ended, Dumbledore collected Harry and took him to the Ministry of Magic where the boy took out his prophecy and replaced it with a plane glass orb...'just in case'.
HP-NL-HG
END OF YEAR THREE
HP-NL-HG
"Please Neville, you have to believe me! I didn't put my name in the cup!" Harry begged.
"I believe you, Harry." Neville said calmly.
"So do I, Harry." said Hermione, coming out of nowhere. They were by the lake away from the other sneering Hufflepuffs, Slytherins and a few Gryffrindors.
"You do?"
"Of course!" they said firmly.
Hermione added, "And I believe, Paddy has sent you a list of spells that you will need to practice..."
Harry nodded.
"Great!" said Hermione. "Let me bring a reliable book on DADA from the library so that we can learn how to cast those spells...I'll be back soon."
Once she had gone, Neville said, "It's a good thing you didn't tell Ron and the others about Paddy, eh?"
"Hmmm..." Harry said disheartened.
"We'll get you through this, Harry." Neville said. They had become even closer over the last year. There weren't many people around who had Prophecies controlling their future. "Think of all the teachers who will be by your side! By the way, you don't get those you-know-whos anymore, do you?"
Harry knew he was talking about the visions.
"No. Not a peak of them."
"I wonder what the first task will be." Neville said, sounding a little irritated.
Then something on a nearby rock, caught Harry's sharp eye and he sent a body-bind at it. The water beetle landed in his hand.
"Why'd you do that, Harry?" Neville said.
"Oh, nothing much, Neville. I'm very interested in coleoptera."
"Col-what!?" Neville said looking very astounded.
"Coleoptera, Neville! Beetles!"
"Beetles!"
"I've started making a collection this year. You won't believe how many of 'em are around my home! I never thought I'd ever find a water beetle though, they're rather rare at Godric's Hollow. It became a hobby over the summer"
"A collection of beetles?" Neville said faintly.
"Uh huh. Not only beetles. I collect other insects too, like spiders, I mount them though. Then I've collected different kinds of ants too, and for them I've built a -"
"Harry!"
"What?"
"What are you collecting insects for?"
"For fun. They're interesting and they're right pests in our garden. Come, let's sit and wait for Hermione."
And so they waited for her, each boy lost in his own thought. Neville thinking about all those creatures crawling around Harry's house. What exactly went on in that head of Harry's?
When she reached, Harry said, "Hermione, you don't happen to have a jar with you?"
Hermione frowned but conjured a jar out of a nearby stone and handed it over.
"Whatever for?"
"He's collecting beetles." Neville stated.
"Really?"
"Uh huh." said Harry.
"How do you do it?" she asked as Harry put the petrified beetle into the jar and closed it.
"I put them in special jars and fill it with chloroform. It's a kind of muggle preservative, Neville...So the insects are preserved for an indefinite period of time."
"They're dead, then?" Neville asked in relief.
"Of course!" said Harry. "Actually, Lulu's the one who-"
Hermione's jar burst and instead of the beetle Rita Skeeter lay unmoving on the floor, her eyes were wide with panic!
"She's an animagus!" Hermione squealed after a moment. "She's unregistered! They're only seven registered ones and her name isn't on that list! It's no wonder she heard about your conversation in that side chamber!"
Hermione's expression became gleeful.
"Oh, Rita." she hollered mercilessly. "I think we'll let you off this time, right boys? But, if you try to degrade anybody else ever again, we'll let the world know exactly how you poke your nose into their private affairs... Oh goodie! Won't that make a big sensation!"
"Let her go, Har." Neville said with a small smile.
Harry did as he was asked, thankful for having friends as wonderful as Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"He's back, Neville!"
"I know, Harry. I believe you."
"But Fudge doesn't."
"What!"
"Yes. His power's gone to his head. Dumbledore threatened him that he'd tell the world about the Ministry's mistake about Pettigrew."
"Yes! Dumbledore!"
"No, Nev. Not so fast. Fudge threatened to arrest Dumbledore on the grounds of attempting to threaten the ministry's name."
"Is that even an offense?"
"I," said Harry, "have no idea."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry said as he entered the Headmaster's office. He was standing in the middle of the room.
"Oh, hello, Harry. To what do I owe you this pleasure?"
"Professor, I just wanted to tell you that I lowered my shields a little while ago and I got a vision again."
Dumbledore looked aghast and disappointed and Harry felt guilt rise up his chest. He ploughed on, nonetheless, and said, "Professor, I'm sorry, but I thought I should tell you what I saw... You see, he made some strange stops."
"Stops?"
"Er, visits?...I'll make it short. You see, he first went to this place near that Graveyard in Little Hangleton and he entered a small shanty and took out a gold box with a ring in it from the floorboards and he put some spells over it and placed it back. Then he made himself invisible and Lucius Malfoy accompanied him to the Lestrange Vault and he checked out a goblet.
"Then, while at Gringotts itself, he asked Malfoy about the diary and Malfoy said that you confiscated it and he got very angry and his mind went to his younger self telling a tap in a bathroom to open! And his memory shifted and there was this huge statue to which he said, 'Let loose, the monster you hold, oh, Salazar Slytherin the greatest of Hogwarts' four!' And then, a huge gigantic dark snake with yellow eyes appeared from the statue's mouth...I closed the connection after that... I'm very sorry, Sir."
Dumbledore rubbed his face with one hand and led Harry to a chair by his desk.
"You know how important it is to keep him out of your head, don't you, Harry?"
Harry nodded, looking at his knees.
"Don't worry, Harry. No harm has been done this time. On the contrary, I believe you've told me something of great importance. I myself am not too sure how it connects up, but I would like if you told me about your vision again, slowly. But, before that, please repeat those phrases the younger Voldemort used... in Parseltongue."
"Er, Sir, I need to look at a snake for that."
Dumbledore nodded quietly and conjured a snake and Harry did as he was told.
Then Dumbledore put his wand to his own temple and pulled a memory out and placed it into the pensive that, Harry noticed just then, was on his large desk.
With that, Dumbledore got Harry to retell his tale with greater detail, intending to send the boy to attend the parting feast that would begin in another twenty minutes.
The feast would be in honour of Cedric Diggory.
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END OF YEAR fOUR
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Harry invited Neville and Hermione to stay with him in his house at Godric's Hollow. With Sirius busy rounding up the order members, Harry couldn't bring himself to live alone with Lulu. It would be too depressing for her.
He never brought his shield down again, but his scar was giving him a lot of discomfort, and this was the reason, he was afraid of living alone with Lulu. He feared he'r snap at his precious house-elf.
Dumbledore visited a few times, giving them bits of information here and there.
He told them once that that monster was real, and it was called a Basilisk. The tap, apparently gave way to a steep passage that led them into Slytherin's Chamber of secrets. Hermione confirmed that he had hidden a monster there.
Dumbledore and Snape went down after using Dumbledore's memories of Harry speaking Parseltongue, they conjured a rooster and got it to crow. According to Hermione, a rooster's crow was fatal to the Basilisk.
The next thing they learnt, this time from Lulu, was that Kreacher, the elf at Sirius's childhood home was her uncle. This came to light, when Kreacher apparated to their home and gave her a locket and asked her to destroy it. Apparently the new residents there were making his life a misery.
When Dumbledore arrived a few weeks later, they'd given up on destroying the locket.
Dumbledore pulled out a box from his pocket, enlarged it and took out what he said was a Basilisk fang.
"Please speak in Parseltongue and tell the locket to open, Harry."
Harry did as he was asked, but before anyone could actually comprehend what was happening, Dumbledore stabbed the locket with the fang and it elicited a loud, inhumane cry.
Dumbledore then collected the pieces and offered them to Lulu who left to give the remains back to her elderly uncle. Then, Dumbledore sat down and sighed.
"Do you know what a horcrux is?"
Then shook their heads.
Dumbledore sighed again.
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Umbridge was a toad by both, appearance and nature and Harry refused to let her get to him. His Occlumency was that well mastered by then.
But now, hidden in the room of requirements which had opened to reveal generations of hidden contraband, Harry, Neville and Hermione searched for the Diadem of Ravenclaw. Dumbledore was sure it was hidden at Hogwarts and he was certain that the Diadem was a Horcrux, because he interrogated the Gray Lady who happened to reveal where she'd hidden the Diadem before she died.
It was nearly midnight, and they had no luck yet.
Two more hours of searching and Harry's eyes caught sight of the Diadem.
Together, they made their way back to Gryffrindor tower. Harry dropped them off and made his way to Dumbledore's office to give him the Horcrux. Five Horcruxes, honestly! This was a bit too much. What exactly was Voldemort up to?
Dumbledore happily destroyed the diadem and on his way back to his dorm, Harry threw in a couple of miniature dungbombs along with a pellet of a thousand 'instant adult' frog spawn (simply place it in near proximity to a drop of water) and a lot of water into Umbridge's office through the keyhole.
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A day before Harry's History of Magic examination, Harry received a short missive that was signed 'Sirius Black' and Harry knew immediately that Sirius hadn't written in.
Harry,
Floo to the Ministry of Magic tomorrow evening at seven and head to the Hall of Prophecies, row 97.
I have something quite interesting that I think you have a right to know.
Sirius Black.
"Well, well, well, what have we here?" came Umbridge's sickly sweet voice from behind and before he knew it, the note was pulled out of Harry's hands.
She read it once and then twice and then read it a third time and smiled an ugly smile.
With one fluid motion, she pulled out several strands of Harry's hair and she left the Great Hall to demand from Snape, a flask of Polyjuice potion, which according to Hermione turned out to be something that helped one take the form of the person of your choice. You simply needed to have a bit of that person...and Umbridge had several strands of Harry's hair.
The next evening, Umbridge left Hogwarts a few minutes before seven.
She never returned.
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END OF YEAR FIVE
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Year six didn't have anything very important to recount...except maybe that Harry decided to take a pretty girl named Luna Lovegood out for a date. Neville asked Hannah Abbott.
Hermione was now dating Ron (He and Harry had made up and the football games still continued early in the morning, only now there were many others students joining in the fun.)
Romance aside, there had indeed been two or maybe three other details that needed recounting.
Voldemort had been spotted and the Wizarding World was currently in the middle of a large scale panic. That was expected... no surprise there.
Sirius was now the new DADA Professor for the year. That was okay. Dumbledore had made weirder choices regarding that job for over four decades, a fugitive from justice with a new appearance and name (Professor Jimmy Brown) wouldn't have been much of a surprise either had the students found out about Sirius's real identity .
The major, most important bit, that needed to be mentioned, however, was that Snape, Sirius and Remus were now able to not only see eye to eye, but also have a decent, civilised conversations. Would you believe that?
Harry almost fainted when he witnessed it for the first time and the three men had deliberately planned it so as to trick the boy, when he'd arrived to visit Sirius for tea one evening.
Oh, yes! And Harry was now the Quidditch captain of Gryffindor.
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END OF YEAR SIX
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Now came the holidays and Sirius was sent to Bulgaria to keep an eye on 'someone', 'somewhere' in that place, for 'some time' so as to alert the order if 'something' interesting happened. The some continues to remain a mystery.
Harry, Neville, Hermione and Lulu were sitting in the living room, enjoying a cup of tea when Lulu screamed and pointed out of the window blubbering in fluent elfish language.
Harry turned around and promptly dropped his cup.
Out there, moving by as though on an evening stroll, completely unnoticed by passing muggles was none other than Lord Voldemort...and Nagini.
The last of Voldemort's souls, according to Dumbledore who got the information from a friend (he claimed that getting the information from him was as difficult as manually pulling teeth out of the mouth of a crocodile).
If that slight inclination in his head was any indication, Voldemort was heading towards them and Harry's jaw set. There was no way on earth that he would let the beasts anywhere near his friends.
"Stay here!" he hissed his command and put on his invisibility cloak. He then summoned the fang, Dumbledore had left behind for them 'just in case'.
Harry had never been more confident in his life. He hurried out of the house and, with a flick of his wand, directed that fang deep into Nagini's head, just as she entered the garden.
Voldemort screamed and the sudden swish of Nagini's enormous tail during her last struggles forced Harry to lose his cloak as he moved away in order to avoid being hit.
"Avada Kedavra!"
"HARRY!"
"NO!"
And Harry saw nothing after the green light.
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Harry ached all over.
Wasn't he supposed to be pain free after his death? Death meant peace, didn't it?...Or was he in hell? What did he do to get there?
Harry strained his ears to hear the hissing of the fire or the Devil's cackle.
There was none.
"Accio fang!" a voice rang, loud and clear, in Harry's ears.
Wasn't that Neville? What was he doing in hell too? Why was his voice so hoarse?
Harry plucked up the courage and opened his eyes just a bit and was in time to see the Basilisk's fang he'd used, before he died, drive into Voldemort's chest! And Voldemort didn't fall to the ground, because he'd already been on the ground!...Just besides Harry! The fang simply made sure he, Voldemort, wouldn't get up ever again.
Harry pulled himself up right in the same garden he'd died in, a hand on his aching chest and he heard Hermione shrieked.
"Ah!" she screamed. "He's alive, Neville!"
Neville who'd been looking down at Voldemort looked up and started wide-eyed at Harry. Tears were running down his cheeks.
"Um... Am I really dead?"
With a sound that was between a laugh and a sob, Neville approached Harry and slapped him.
"Never." he said in a quiet voice that frightened Harry by how loud it's intensity seemed to be in his head. "Never! Never will you ever perform any more scatterbrained stunts without a proper plan! Did you hear me?"
"Yes, Neville, yes." Harry said rather quickly as Hermione came rushing over to crush him with her hug.
Neville joined a moment later.
"We thought you'd died, Harry!" he screamed in his ear.
"I heard you Neville!" Harry yelled back.
"There's no need to shout!" Hermione said. "I'm proud of you! Both of you!"
"You shouldn't be proud of him." Neville said as they broke apart. "He's as much of a pest as the insects in his garden. Maybe worse."
"I killed Nagini!" Harry protested.
"Ha!" said Neville, pulling them in for another hug as the pops of both, the members of the Order and the Death Eaters could be heard. "I killed Voldemort!"
Yes. This was the friend who considered himself to be pathetic that fateful day when they'd met for the first time.
How times changed!
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