Author's Note: Hey everyone! It's been a while since I last posted, well sort of. I may change the summary slightly just to sort of encourage people to read this story. I think many probably read the first chapter and think "uh oh: Mary-Sue fic, good-bye!" Did you guys think that at the beginning? Honestly? I know I would have. I've really tried to make the Stensons un-Mary-Sue-ish. Oh well. Anyways, if the reviews on this chapter make the number jump to over one-hundred, I'll give you guys an extra-long chapter next time (or 2 shorter chapters at once). Because of Phoenix220 I am going to continue review responses. So yeah!! Review Puhleeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaase! By the way, has anyone ever wondered if you could know someone from ff.net? I mean, for all we know, our favorite authors might actually be our next-door neighbors! Well don't mind my incessant ramblings. On with the story!!
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Harry woke with a start gasping for breath. He bolted out of bed and realized that it must still be early because nobody else was in the dorm. He raced down to the common room, thankful now that he hadn't bothered to change into his pajamas earlier. He saw Ron and Hermione talking with a game of Wizard's chess in front of them. He raced over.
"What time is it?!" he asked panicked.
"Um, it's 9:15. Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione asked worriedly.
"Voldemort's going to attack Hogwarts at midnight!" he whispered, not wanting to alarm anyone else. He raced out of the common room at full speed, ignoring shouts for him to come back from others concerned with losing house points. Harry ran the entire way to McGonagall's office, hearing Ron and Hermione somewhere behind him. He didn't bother running to Dumbledore's knowing that he always had problems getting past the gargoyle.
Luckily, the head of the Gryffindor house was still up grading papers. She looked up when Harry burst in the door.
"Mr. Potter, what in the name of Merlin…."
"Professor, I have to see Professor Dumbledore immediately. It's an emergency! I need to know the password to get in!" he said, gasping for breath.
"What's going on?"
"Voldemort's going to attack Hogwarts!" he shouted.
"How do you know…"
"Professor, please! The password!" he begged. There was only about two and a half hours to somehow prepare against an attack. McGonagall looked torn but gave in.
"Lemon Drop."
Harry nodded in thanks and once again broke out into a run, Hermione and Ron once again falling behind him. He shouted the password as he approached the entrance, sprinting past the gargoyle, which had jumped out of the way, growling at Harry for almost hitting it as he dashed by.
He sprinted up the moving stairs and knocked furiously on the door to Dumbledore's office.
"Professor!"
The door swung open and Dumbledore looked down at him with a concerned expression. Hermione and Ron were clambering up the steps all out of breath, looking like they had just run a marathon.
"Come in," the headmaster said standing aside, gesturing for them to enter. Ron and Hermione immediately fell into two chairs, gasping for air, but Harry remained standing.
"Professor, I had another dream. Voldemort was talking to the Death Eaters, telling them that they were going to attack Hogwarts at midnight tonight!"
Dumbledore's eyes lost their twinkle. He suddenly looked very serious.
"Was there anything else?"
"Erm…something about using me as an example to the wizarding world. They were supposed to find me first thing."
Hermione and Ron looked extremely troubled at this. Just then, the door burst open and several professors were following Professor McGonagall in. Dumbledore quickly explained the situation, adding the fact that Snape had been summoned earlier and it was safe to assume that this dream was actually happening when Harry had it.
"What are we going to do, Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked all flustered.
"We're going to get all the students out of here. Heads of houses, gather your students. Tell them only to bring their wands and cloaks. They don't have time to change if they're in their night clothes, they'll just have to go as they are. No student is to be allowed to send an owl; we must make this as secret as possible. Get them to Hogsmeade and load them all on a train towards Beauxbatons, then return immediately. I'll owl Madam Maxine to prepare her. Professor Vector, I'll need you to be in temporary charge of the Slytherins. We'll have Hagrid, Sybil, and Norton go with the students. I'm afraid that's all we can spare. The rest of us will strengthen up the wards. I need to owl some people to help. Go quickly and remember, nobody in Hogsmeade can be informed of this and no student is allowed to get word out."
The professors all turned and left quickly, McGonagall only stopping to tell the three students to follow her.
"Harry," Dumbledore said as they were standing to leave. "I'm sorry, but you cannot go with your friends."
"What? Professor, Harry has to come with us!" Ron cried.
"I'm afraid that's too dangerous for the rest of the students, but don't worry, Mr. Weasley, I assure you that your friend will be safe."
Professor McGonagall ushered Ron and Hermione out. Hermione yelled for Harry to be careful and he yelled the same back, and then they were gone. Harry was ordered to help write a few letters to wizards that might be able to help, including Sirius and Mr. Weasley. He was able to see the flood of students being led out of the castle. He couldn't see any of their faces from the height, but he could almost sense the nervous excitement and confusion.
'I never realized how many students we have,' Harry thought. 'Too bad they weren't trained better. If we had all of them fighting with us, we'd win easily. We could just tackle the Death Eaters and pile on top of them.' Harry smiled slightly at the thought of a bunch of first years sitting on Voldemort.
When he was done with writing letters, he figured he should bring up the fact that he wouldn't be able to match his earlier performance at the moment.
"Professor, I don't know if I can duel as well as I did earlier…"
"Harry, I'm not keeping you here."
"Huh? Then where am I going?"
"We're sending you home. I'm arranging the Portkey now."
"You mean, I'm going back to the Dursleys? Why?" Harry asked, quite disgruntled."There are protection spells for you there. Voldemort is looking for you to kill you if not something worse. If you stayed here, you'd be in danger. If you went with your classmates, it would lure Voldemort there. It will only be for a little bit."
"But Professor, surely I could help with defending the school. I mean, I have gotten a lot better at dueling and everything; I can surely do something. Please don't send me back there right now," Harry pleaded.
"I'm sorry Harry. First of all you're exhausted from dueling earlier. Second, that would give us one more thing to worry about protecting. Most importantly, though, I can't put you at that risk."
Harry was about to further protest when Professor McGonagall came in looking very ruffled.
"All right, Albus, all the students are safely on the train and we've made sure that there are no owls on board. We Obliviated a few wizards in the area so no one should know." Dumbledore nodded.
"Very good, Minerva. I need you to take Mr. Potter back to his relatives' house to make sure he makes it there safely. Then come back immediately. Harry, you are not to leave that house until a Hogwarts professor comes to get you, is that understood?" he said sternly, looking at Harry over his half-moon spectacles. Harry looked dejectedly downwards.
"Yes, sir."
"All right, Potter, follow me. We need to be outside the doors of the castle to use the Portkey," Professor McGonagall said firmly. Harry reluctantly followed her through the castle towards the back doors.
The scene was nothing short of chaotic. There were professors running everywhere and owls flying in and out of windows. There were wizards rushing in, many looking like they had gotten ready in a great hurry. One man had his robes inside out. Harry passed a woman who was still wearing fuzzy purple slippers. Occupied with the commotion, Harry almost collided with someone.
"Harry! Why haven't you left with the other students?" Mr. Weasley asked. Bill, Charlie, and Percy were standing behind him, nodding hellos.
"It's too risky for me to be with them right now and they won't let me stay to help. I have to go to the Dursleys," he said unhappily.
"Potter, come along, we have to hurry," said a frustrated Professor McGonagall, motioning for him to come. Harry started jogging toward her.
"Good luck and be careful!" he yelled over his shoulder. He followed Professor McGonagall out the door. He didn't even have time to muse over his last experience with a Portkey as the end of an old book was thrust into his hand. Immediately, he felt the familiar tug at his navel and closed his eyes.
When everything stopped spinning, Harry opened his eyes to find himself back on Privet Drive. It was about 10:45 now. He hung his head as he followed his teacher down the darkened street to the Dursley's front door. She knocked firmly and loudly.
'Uncle Vernon's not going to like this,' Harry thought to himself. He heard a muffled voice behind the door and the lock turning.
"What the bloody hell, it's the middle of the night," his uncle grumbled throwing open the door. He realized who it was and looked horrified. He quickly looked around to make sure no neighbors were watching.
"What are you doing here?" he hissed.
"Listen, our school is under attack at the moment and Harry will have to stay here until it is safe. It will probably be a few days. When it's safe, we'll have a Hogwarts professor come and retrieve him. Well, Harry, I have to go. Remember, don't leave this property!" she said and Disapparated away.
"Get inside before the neighbors see you in those clothes," growled Uncle Vernon.
"I'm really sorry, Uncle Vernon, but all the students had to leave the school. It was an emergency."
"Shut your trap. How disrespectful, waking us in the middle of the night with no warning that we would have to put up with you for a bit." He grabbed a handful of Harry's hair and dragged him toward the cupboard under the stairs. Harry was too worn out to protest. "This will result in a severe punishment, you realize. But I'm not up to it now. Now don't you dare make one peep or you'll be sorry." He threw Harry in and slammed the door. Harry heard the lock click into place.
Harry sighed and lay down on the small bed that he had outgrown. His feet hung over the edge like they always did. He curled up his legs so only his knees were slightly off, which was more comfortable than the other option. It would be midnight in about an hour and a half and he couldn't help but worry about what was going to happen. Nearly half of the Weasley family was going to be fighting, and losing them would be like losing his own family. He shook away the thought.
'They're prepared. The Death Eaters don't know they're prepared so we have the definite advantage,' he thought to reassure himself.
At first he thought that falling asleep sounded impossible, but the earlier dueling had really taken its toll and just before midnight, Harry was asleep and dreaming.
He was back at Hogwarts, standing outside the front doors. The whole castle was silent and dark.
He heard a rustling sound in the bushes. He looked around and saw dark figures creeping around. Harry squinted against the darkness toward the path to Hogsmeade. Somebody was coming up, walking purposely and confidently. A tall cloaked figure. With the throbbing in his scar, he could guess who it was.
As Voldemort got closer, Harry could see he was being followed by a mob of Death Eaters. It was eerie seeing them march up toward the castle in the middle of the night.
As they got closer, the group fanned out, some rushing off to the sides of the castle, no doubt to cover the other entrances as well. The majority, including their leader, stayed on the main path.
Harry moved off to the side, though it was obvious no one could see him.
As Voldemort approached the front door, Harry had to press his head against his forehead to fight the pain. The snake-like man in front of him smiled evilly. He raised his wand to the sky and hissed, "Morsmordre."
A green light erupted from the tip of the wand and shot into the sky. It exploded like a firework but formed a sparkling green skull with a snake protruding from its mouth. The dark mark.
Voldemort shot a spell at the doors and they burst open. Harry followed Voldemort as he marched into the dark front hall, Death Eaters following nervously behind.
"Remember, the Potter boy is mine. The children of those who have proved their loyalty are to remain untouched, unless they resist us. Everyone else can die," Voldemort coldly reminded his followers.
Suddenly, every torch along the wall lit up, illuminating the hall.
Harry laughed in triumph at the shocked faces of Voldemort and his followers. They were practically surrounded by Aurors, professors, and other wizards who had responded to defend Hogwarts, every wand pointing at either Voldemort or the followers that had made it inside. Voldemort found himself facing Dumbledore, who seemed to have authority and power radiating from him.
"None of my students will be dying tonight, Tom," Dumbledore said coldly.
"What? How did you…" Voldemort stuttered furiously. He was trembling with rage. "Avada Kedavra!" he shouted. A green light shot from his wand toward Dumbledore who dodged it and shot a curse at Voldemort with skill of an expert dueler. Harry mentally took notes.
Voldemort shielded himself from Dumbledore's curse. The Death Eaters and the other light wizards began to duel as well. Curses were being shot all over the place, many passing straight through Harry, giving him chills even though he couldn't really feel them.
He wondered why Dumbledore wasn't trying to kill Voldemort. The Unforgivables (which included the killing curse) were the only spells that couldn't be shielded against and Voldemort was blocking his curses right and left, so the headmaster obviously wasn't using any of the Unforgivables. He remembered Hagrid once saying that Voldemort wasn't human enough to die, so maybe Dumbledore had other plans.
Harry followed Dumbledore and Voldemort as they furiously threw curses at each other. In his dreams connected with Voldemort, Harry always felt as if he were there, but not to this degree. Usually he felt almost like a ghost, being pulled around to see what he would see, with total confidence that no one would be aware of his presence, but this was different. He felt as if he were physically in Hogwarts, except for the fact that curses passed right through him and no one could see or here him. He also felt the freedom to move around more, going where he wanted rather than being led around like a dog on a leash.
He passed Mr. Weasley fighting a Death Eater. The redheaded man stunned the masked figure and Harry punched the air in victory. He then turned back to watch the more intense battle.
"The students aren't here! Not even the Potter boy!" a masked figure yelled to his master. He must've somehow magically checked the building.
With a cry of fury, Voldemort turned and cast the Cruciatus curse on Mr. Weasley. Seeing that their master was busy, several Death Eaters attacked Dumbledore. He fought them, easily blocking and dodging their curses, but he couldn't get a clear shot at Voldemort.
Harry watched in horror as Mr. Weasley screamed and writhed on the ground. Several people were screaming his name, but everyone was caught up in dueling, unable to help him.
He couldn't stand the screams. This man was practically family to Harry. Harry wished with all his might that Voldemort would stop, that he would let go of his wand or something. Harry shook his head chanting, "Stop it, stop it, stop it," as he watched Mr. Weasley get tortured.
A change was coming over Voldemort's face. His expression had gone from furious to confused. His wand hand seemed to be slowly wrenching away so that the wand was no longer pointing at Mr. Weasley. The curse ended and Mr. Weasley scooted away, shakily trying to catch his breath. He was looking at the strange expression on Voldemort's face as well.
Suddenly, comprehension dawned over the snake-like visage.
"Potter!" he hissed, looking around wildly. Harry's eyes widened in surprise. Everyone near enough to have heard the word looked curiously at Voldemort. The Death Eaters who were fending off Dumbledore were distracted by this and were stunned within seconds.
Voldemort put up a strong shield around himself. His eyes glazed over in concentration. Harry was confused at what he was doing.
Suddenly, Harry's scar erupted in pain. He sank to his knees and screamed in agony. When the pain lifted, everyone around was looking around frantically, many calling his name in confusion. They had heard his screams.
"Aha, so you are here, Potter. Not physically, but somehow, you're here," Voldemort murmured nodding his head slightly. "Well, Dumbledore, I've decided to leave, but I assure you that next time, I will get what I came for." He then grabbed an unconscious Death Eater's arm and pressed his thumb against their mark.
He reached into his robes and grabbed a small pendent, the Death Eaters following his example.
"We'll meet again, Dumbledore," he growled as he disappeared.
Harry woke with a start. It was still night as far as he could tell. In remembering his dream, Harry lied back down grinning, his arms crossed underneath his head. They had won. Voldemort had been completely taken by surprise.
He frowned. But that dream had been definitely different than his others. It was like he was there. It reminded him of visiting Tom Riddle's memory in his second year. And they were able to affect each other through hard concentration. What was that all about? It seemed that when Voldemort had concentrated on him, on their connection, he almost brought Harry there more. Others could hear him!
He knew it must've been another side effect of the cancer. The illness was affecting him differently than he had thought it would. He knew he should feel happy about that, but he couldn't bring himself to work up any joy.
'All this power doesn't even matter,' he thought to himself. 'I'm going to die in a few months anyways, and then it will all be for nothing.'
Eventually, he fell asleep once again, but for the first time that night, he didn't dream.
The next morning Harry awoke to the sound of banging on his cupboard door and the lock clicking open.
He opened the cupboard door to find his irritated aunt coming from the kitchen.
"Here you spoiled brat," she spat thrusting some of Dudley's old clothes into his hands. "Change out of those…things before you make me sick." She walked away muttering about Harry always needing more clothes.
Harry sighed and went back into the bathroom to quickly change. He folded his robes and laid them on his bed. He looked mournfully at his school uniform as he left to start breakfast. It was like turning in his magic, even though he kept his wand hidden in the massive pocket of Dudley's old pants.
'It's only a few days. Probably less. I can do this,' he said to himself.
As much as his aunt and uncle complained about having him around the house, they certainly didn't waste the opportunity. Harry cooked them both breakfast, being denied food of his own. After Uncle Vernon left for work, Harry was given a list of chores to do that included cleaning basically everything in the house and everything having to do with maintaining the yard.
He was hoping the Stensons wouldn't see him. It would be the most painful thing if he had to tell them he couldn't stay with them when he so dearly wanted to.
'Why did Dumbledore have to make me promise to stay at the Dursleys?' Harry mentally whined. He knew the answer of course, but felt the need to blame somebody at the moment. He just kept saying to himself that he only had to make it through a few days before he'd be back to his real home and went on with his chores.
Harry had been walking on eggshells all day. He made dinner for his aunt and uncle, set it out on the table, and went back into his cupboard to stay out of their way. His uncle was pretty late coming home, but all seemed to be going smoothly until he heard the front door crash open and slam shut.
"WHERE IS THAT BOY?" his uncle bellowed. Harry's eyes opened wide. His cupboard door was thrown open and his uncle yanked him out by his arm.
"What did I do?" Harry asked in a panicked voice. He hadn't seen his uncle since that morning and he had left in a fine mood.
"Don't think I don't know your little tricks!" he spat. Harry remained perplexed. He was certain he smelled alcohol on his uncle's breath, but when could he have gone to the bar if he was working all day? "Petunia!" he called. His aunt came out of the kitchen looking slightly concerned for her husband.
"Yes, dear?"
"Don't you think that it's a little too much of a coincidence that the day after this little rat comes here, I lose my job?" Aunt Petunia gasped.
"You made him lose his job?" she screamed at Harry. "How dare you, you little piece of filth! After everything we've done for you!"
"I didn't do anything!" Harry protested. "I don't even know how to do something like that! Your company's been doing badly for a while. I'm sure they just had to let some people go for financial reasons."
"Liar!" Uncle Vernon hissed, punching Harry in the face.
"Uncle Vernon, please, I'm going back to school soon! A professor's going to come and pick me up and they'll see it if I've got bruises all over me!"
"I'm not going to beat you, boy."
Harry sat surprised on the floor looking up at his uncle who had turned and was walking into the kitchen. Harry began thanking any god that was listening.
"I'm going to kill you," he said turning back around with a kitchen knife in his hand. His eyes were filed with drunken rage. He looked out of his mind. Harry jumped up and ran toward the back door. He was just about to grab the knob when his uncle grabbed a handful of his hair and flung him back, right into a wall with a shelf that slammed right into Harry's back. Aunt Petunia screamed as her favorite vase broke.
Harry struggled against his uncle, knowing that this was a fight for his life. He tried to use his wandless magic, but in seeing his uncle's outraged expression, fear overwhelmed him and he froze. He couldn't concentrate enough to use it.
He suddenly remembered his wand, not knowing why he hadn't thought of it before. He reached for it, but Uncle Vernon realized what he was doing and threw a punch at Harry's face. The wand was forgotten as Harry tried to protect his face with his arms, all the while, kicking at his uncle as the man tried to get the wand himself.
The fact was that he was a skinny, defenseless, fifteen-year-old kid against an outraged man that weighed at least twice as much as him. He was in serious trouble.
Meanwhile, at Hogwarts, people were still trying to repair the damages done in battle. The light side had suffered no casualties, though many were injured (none too severely), and had caught a few Death Eaters who were now awaiting trial.
Unfortunately, parts of the castles were in ruins, including the protection wards around it. Therefore they had spent the entire day with Ministry officials, and anyone else not in the hospital, repairing walls and recasting protection spells, along with adding new ones.
Soon, Snape returned. Voldemort had been furious that they had lost, but there was no way he could pin it on Snape since he hadn't been able to return to Hogwarts to warn Dumbledore. During the fight, Snape had used his earlier training to make it look like he was fighting for Voldemort, but in actuality, either cast blank spells that did nothing or cast spells that helped the light side.
He explained all this to Dumbledore, who summed up all the events at Hogwarts in return.
"So all the students are at Beauxbatons now?" he asked, relieved that they were all safe.
"Yes. Well most of them. I sent Harry Potter home for protection. As you know, he was Voldemort's main target," he said distractedly as he watched some young Aurors trying to repair a wall. Snape stilled.
"Wait, you sent him back to his relatives house?"
"Yes, Severus, until a Hogwarts professor picks him up. You'll have to excuse me, Arabella is waving me over; they probably need help with the wards." He walked away, leaving a concerned Snape.
'Why me?' he asked himself, knowing what he had to do. He started jogging out to where the anti-Apparition wards ended.
Harry once again tried to reach into his pocket for his wand, but Uncle Vernon grabbed his arm and threw him to the floor, causing a sickening crack that let Harry know his arm was broken. He tried to scoot away, but was stopped by several kicks to the stomach. The scene was all too familiar in Harry's mind. He could see Aunt Petunia checking to make sure all the blinds were closed, always concerned about what the neighbors would think.
Harry's torso felt like it was on fire, but he somehow managed to roll away just as his uncle kicked again, making the grossly overweight man lose his alcohol-impaired balance and crash to the floor. Harry got up and started running toward the front door. If he could only make it to the Stensons!
But Uncle Vernon was filled with too much fury-ridden adrenaline to stay down for long. He soon closed the gap between them. He grabbed Harry's hair again and slammed his head back into a wall hard enough to make him dizzy and make his vision lose focus. He was thrown to the floor, his huge uncle leaning over him menacingly.
Before he could move out of the way, Uncle Vernon plunged the butcher knife right into Harry's stomach.
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A/N: Uh oh….CLIFFIE!! Hope that wasn't too psycho-scary movie killer-ish, though that does sort of describe Uncle Vernon in my opinion. I think this is my longest chapter ever!! Only four more reviews and I'll have 100!!! Yay!! I'm so so excited. The reason this chapter took so long is because I've been trying to take in some people's suggestions and my own new thoughts and adding scenes into the story later on. I've been trying to perfect my characters and their behavior, especially a certain escaped convict who we all love. (Well, many of us love anyways.) So Woo Hoo, you know what to do, click the button and review!! Any thoughts, any questions, any suggestions, any ideas, anything at all? Tell me please. It makes my day. Make me happy and I'll make you happy. (Well, I'll try my best anyways.) Also, if you ever don't want me to respond to your review, just put so in it. Now on with the review responses!!!
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Phoenix220: Thank you for your advice! I'm keeping review responses going because you said so!! Thank you so much for reviewing. The cancer is affecting Harry in strange ways, obviously. It hasn't had too much of a physical affect yet, but that won't last for too long. The physical affects are going to kind of sneak up on him. Let's just say that Harry's magic is trying to protect him as long as it can against the illness, causing it to be affected first, but the magical protection won't last forever. Basically I just wanted a dramatic scene that isn't that far off which couldn't be pulled off if he had started showing the physical affects really strongly already. J
Firemask: Thank you. I love it when people comment on specific things that I'm doing like characterization and such. Hahaha…Voldie's knickers in a twist. Voldie's knickers…. LOL!!
Maximum Poofy-Queen of AU: If you're a sucker for action, I hope this chappy tickled your fancy a bit. LoL. More action later. More dueling lessons, etc. Oh what am I telling you for. You'll just have to read!! Dumbledore suspects something, but as he's done before (when he suspected Harry knew something about the attacks in CoS) he's just going to leave it up for Harry to tell. That seems to be his method and he's going to stick with it in this fic. Adds to the drama methinks. (Love that word: methinks. Makes me laugh for some odd reason.) Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Eowyn of Ithilien: I know, Harry's friends were definitely over-reactive in the last chapter. It's just their way of adjusting and dealing with the situation. Harry's got them under better control though. Read my response above to Maximum Poofy-Queen of AU about Dumbledore. LOL about Harry's mouth dropping open in his dream, I didn't mean physically. You know when you dream and you're somewhere and you walk and you talk and you scream cause you realize you're naked? (Or is that just me?) You don't actually do that stuff, your dream self does! (Well, unless you're my sister who sleep walks and talks.) In this chappy, it was more like you described it. We was more actually there. I don't really know why I did that except for that I thought it would be cool. Evil magic chemo? LOL I am laughing sooo hard. That's just the most entertaining phrase I think I've ever heard. But I guess you'll just have to see what happens.
Temporary Insanity: Malfoy makes a few appearances in this fic but isn't central, though I must say I love one of the scenes that he's in, which won't be for a while yet. I think he's making an appearance soon though. Nothing jaw dropping, just being his usual self and all. I've always thought Harry would make a great teacher, if he ever got the confidence to do it. I guess OotP proved that. Dumbledore didn't want to hurt Harry while dueling. I'd imagine Dumbledore would usually be Apparating all over the place and use some harsher curses, but he's in Hogwarts and dueling a student and he can't do that. In this fic though, especially based on this chapter, I guess you're right, Dumbledore isn't the best dueler in the world, but come on, he's over a hundred, right? He's pretty good though, he just doesn't fight dirty and I think that can sometimes give his opponent the upper hand. (I mean Voldie and crew, not Harry.) Well I'll stop rambling now. Harry is getting powerful and I'd say you're right that he's breaking some shields and stuff. Hmm…good idea. I'll add that to his next dueling lesson. Thanks!!
Allison: Oh you were crying? Yes!!! I mean, oh how sad. I'm glad you're into my fic enough to get emotional. If you're crying already though, you might want to get a box of tissues because there will be some ultra-sad chappies later. Good point. Basically though, it doesn't matter how much searching of the library they do because Harry's been through it all. He's looked for the cure already. He practically devoted his first four months of school to searching through everything. But just for you, I included something about their fruitless research in a later chapter. I'm glad you brought it up because you're definitely right and I'm glad I put that little bit in later. I'm assuming that it would take years of research and devotion to invent a spell, even with Harry's cool new powers, and I don't think he wants to devote his last few months to that. I loved the long review. Thank you so much! Keep up with the comments and criticism. I love it!
Ckat44: Ooh, you're fav? You rock!! That makes me so happy!! I'm glad you liked the dueling last chapter. I'm sorry, but in this fic, Dumbledore isn't going to figure it out or something. He'll find out when some others do. Is that giving too much away? Merlin, I hope not. Anyways, I'm glad you liked the last chapter, hope you like this one as well.
Joe: Hmmm…I guess we'll just have to wait for that. This chapter has a battle, and Harry and Voldie are both there, good enough? Lol. Just joking. The battle you want will be later on.
Maha: Thank you! Keep reading and we'll see just what happens to our Harry. I hope you liked the chapter!!
Teri: Thank you!! Don't worry, Sirius is coming very soon. He doesn't know about all this yet because Harry hasn't told him, nor anyone else who would have told him. Your English is great!! Keep reviewing!
Jackie: Thank you! I already have this fic finished but am constantly adding and improving it. If you have any suggestions, please tell me 'cause it's not too late! Reviews help me post faster too!!
Arctic Wolf2: Sorry for the delay!! Review and I'll try get the next one up quicker! Hope you liked the chapter!!
Rain Warrior: Hoped you liked this chapter too!
Crazyfanfictionfanatic: LOL. Sure dude. Hehehehe.