Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot.
A Candle in the Dark.
Chapter Eleven: The DA at War.
"Now, would anyone care to tell me what this is all about?" said Dumbledore, still calmly. The other teachers were standing a little way behind him, Harry opened his mouth to speak, panting slightly from the wound on his shoulder, but before he could say anything Ginny stepped in front of him.
"Healify" she said quietly. The wound on his shoulder disappeared.
"Thanks, Gin," Harry said, "Ginny, Cho, Luna, Parvati, Lavender and Hermione go and heal anyone who needs it, heal any Slytherins aswell." They nodded and walked around, treating anyone who needed it.
"A group of Slytherins ambushed Ron, Hermione and me when we were going down to breakfast." said Harry
"Is this true?" Dumbledore asked the crowd of Slytherins
"Yes." Said Malfoy sulkily, knowing that there were too many of them for him to lie his way out of this.
"As you all know I could not expel or suspend you, nor could I take points off, simply because there are too many of you. Instead each member of Slytherin present will receive a months detention, and, naturally, you will join them, Mr Davies." Said Dumbledore grimly.
"What about Potter? Aren't you punishing him?" Blurted out Malfoy angrily.
"I see no need as his was an act of self defence." Said Dumbledore simply.
"You would think that! You always did favour Potter above anyone else." Sneered Malfoy. In a flash Harry had Malfoy by the collar and his wand pointing at his chest.
"Don't you dare insult Professor Dumbledore like that." Said Harry, his voice hard and dangerous.
"That will do Harry." Said Professor Dumbledore quietly. Reluctantly Harry let go of Malfoy's collar.
"I want everyone to return to the castle and I don't want anything else to happen." Said Dumbledore. As everyone was moving back to the castle Moody waited for Harry. When he saw him he held him back and waited for everyone else to disappear.
"That was very impressive, Potter."
"Thanks." Said Harry awkwardly.
"You've taught the DA very well and they are incredibly loyal to you. When Ron and Hermione ran into the Great Hall and told Professor Dumbledore what was happening they all jumped up and sprinted out of the Great Hall without hesitation." Harry didn't know what to say.
"I heard you giving orders and directing them. You did well and made the right decisions and although outnumbered you won. Afterwards you showed mercy and you made sure the Slytherin's injured were helped aswell. You showed immense bravery and skill." Moody stopped and looked at Harry for minute, "One day the ministry is going to have a very fine Auror." With that Moody strode off into the castle.
Harry entered the portrait hole five minutes later to a sudden loud noise. Every Gryffindor was in the common room and they were cheering.
"That was brilliant, Harry, you really put the Slytherins in their place!" said a seventh year.
"Wish Fred and George were still here, we could have a party!" exclaimed someone sadly. Harry grinned and disappeared up into his dorm. Having grabbed his invisibility cloak, he stuffed it inside his robes and climbed out of the portrait hole unnoticed, when outside he threw the invisibility cloak over himself and proceeded down to the kitchens. He tickled the pair and opened the door. He had barely entered when he heard a small squeak of excitement.
"Harry Potter has come to see Dobby!" Harry smiled at the elf.
"Hi Dobby."
"What does Harry Potter want?" Dobby asked him.
"Can I have some stuff for a party, please Dobby." Immediately four house-elves scurried up, struggling under the weight of four boxes.
"Two of them contain butterbeer, the other two contain food." Explained Dobby.
"Thanks Dobby. Locomotor boxes." Said Harry. The boxes followed him out of the kitchen; Harry knew that he couldn't possibly get all the boxes under the invisibility cloak so instead he just hoped that none of the teachers caught him. Fortunately he managed to get up to Gryffindor tower without trouble.
He gave the password and the entered common room followed by four large boxes. Everybody gave a loud cheer and rushed forward to grab some of the food and butterbeer.
Harry was a hero to the Gryffindors that night and he found himself asked to retell the story several times, no matter how modest he was, he could not disguise the fact, nor would anyone let him, that he had single- handedly defended himself for ten minutes against forty Slytherins and only get hit by one spell, whereas he took out eleven of them.
"Why did they do it, though?" A Gryffindor second year asked Harry when he was talking to Ron, Dean and Seamus.
"Because," Ron explained, "Malfoy hates Harry and will risk everything just so long that he hurts Harry in the process."
"But why was Davies there? What has he got against Harry?" asked Seamus
"Isn't it obvious?" asked Hermione as she joined them, "Davies wants Cho and he thinks that to get her he has to get Harry out of the way and he'll try anything."
"So wherever Harry goes, Davies could be waiting to attack him?" asked Ron. Hermione nodded, looking worried. Harry laughed at her expression.
"I've got the darkest wizard ever wanting to kill me, and I'm supposed to be worried about Davies, calm down for Gods sake!" Nevertheless Ron and Hermione signalled to Dean, Seamus, Ginny and Neville and the six of them went into a corner and started talking in low voices occasionally looking up at Harry before looking away hurriedly when he saw them looking at them, Harry just shrugged and went and sat down on a couch.
Eventually Hermione came over,
"Harry," she said in a timid voice, "could you just come over here for a minute." Harry shrugged again and followed her.
"Don't get angry or anything, Harry, but we've decided that we want someone of the DA to be with you everywhere you go." She said, looking at the floor and wringing her hands nervously. Harry looked at her in disbelief.
"Ok, think about this one," He said slightly angrily, "Cho do you want to come to Hogsmeade with me? Oh by the way someone will have to come with us because Ron and Hermione don't want Davies to try anything. Are you thick, Hermione? Do you realise how much this will cut down my privacy with Cho? I'm sorry but I won't do it." Harry said angrily, before turning on his heel and striding away. He threw himself down on a couch furiously, how thick does she want to be? Thought Harry angrily. Ginny came and sat down next to him.
"They're only worried about you." Said Ginny fairly.
"Funny, they don't seemed to be quite so worried about me when Voldemort tries something." Said Harry irritably.
"That's because they know that's when they need to be strongest, for your sake. They worry so much about you, they just don't show it because they need to give you strength, they don't want you to worry about them." Harry couldn't think of a reply to that.
"Thanks, Gin."
"Anytime." She said smiling at him. Harry reached over and gave her hug,
"I wouldn't, Potter, I think I'm the jealous type." Said a voice airily. Harry grinned up at Cho standing there. He reached over and gave Ginny another hug and kissed her cheek. Ginny blushed.
"I really wouldn't," said Cho casually, taking out her wand and twirling it around her fingers, "I don't like it when people annoy me on purpose." Harry grinned at her and stood up and gave her a hug.
"What are you doing here, I thought people aren't allowed into any common room apart from their own."
"Oh, you're not," Said Cho calmly, reaching for some crisps, "But Hermione sent me an owl telling me to meet her in the entrance hall. When she arrived she told me she was going to take me up to the Gryffindor common room, but," and here she gave Hermione an incredibly nasty glance, Hermione smirked back at her, "she insisted on blindfolding me."
"Well it was only right, you're not meant to know the location of other houses common rooms." Cho shrugged and sat down next to Harry. She reached over and took a butterbeer and looked around the common room.
"Quite a nice common room. But ours is nicer." She said teasingly,
"You would say that." Harry retorted.
"Ah, but I might be telling the truth, and you can't contradict me because you've never seen our common room."
"But you can't be telling the 'truth' because whether something is nicer than something else is an opinion, it isn't a fact so you can't be telling the truth and opinions can't be true." Pointed out Harry.
"I hate it when you're right and I'm wrong." Muttered Cho angrily.
"You should be used to it by now." Teased Harry. Cho hit him on the arm. Harry laughed. Cho sighed and put her head in his lap, looking up at him. Harry smiled down at her and stroked her hair softly. After a while Hermione came up to them.
"Is it all right if I have a word with Cho, Harry?" Harry nodded and Cho got up and followed Hermione into a corner of the common room wondering what this could be about.
"Could you sit down please?" Asked Hermione, indicating one of the chairs. Cho nodded feeling slightly puzzled.
"Right," said Hermione, "I don't know where to begin, but first of all, let's just get this straight, do you actually love Harry? Or are you just the girl who scored the Boy-Who-Lived?"
"I can't believe you asked me that, Hermione, of course I love Harry, I love him more than life itself." Hermione smiled,
"I knew you did, I just wanted to make sure," Hermione's smile disappeared, "Next, you know that Voldemort is after Harry? Well Voldemort will try to get whomever Harry loves because he knows that Harry will go after them. So, by loving Harry you are putting yourself in great danger. Voldemort, when he finds out about you and Harry will try to get you so he can get Harry. It would be safer for you not to love Harry at all."
"I can't, it would be like asking me to stop breathing, I can't live without breathing, I can't live without Harry."
"Finally, don't you dare hurt Harry or I will kill you and so will Ron," said Hermione, her voice stern, "I love Harry, but like a little sister, to me Harry is my big brother and if you hurt him, then I will hunt you down and I will kill you."
"I have no intention of ever hurting Harry, I love him too much."
"I know, now lets go and enjoy the party." Said Hermione smiling at Cho. They stood up and returned to the party. Two hours later, people gradually started going to bed.
"Better take you back to the entrance hall." Said Harry half an hour later, Cho nodded reluctantly. Harry led her out of the common room,
"Just don't," began Cho, Harry conjured a blindfold and tied it round her head, covering her eyes, "put a blindfold on me." She ended annoyed. Grinning Harry led her down into the entrance hall. He took her blindfold off. She turned round,
"Next time don't blindfold me." She said reproachfully.
"We'll see." Said Harry smirking at her. She looked at him smiling slightly. Harry leaned in and kissed her passionately. They broke apart and Harry returned up to the Gryffindor common room, expecting it to be empty. To his surprise Hermione was sitting in a corner with a textbook looking through it, she suddenly looked excited and quickly read the page. When she saw Harry walking towards her she hurriedly closed the book and without looking at him, ran up to the girl's dormitory. Harry shrugged and climbed the stairs up to the boy's dormitory.
He entered and saw that everyone else was asleep. He got changed and climbed into bed. Five minutes later he was asleep.
He woke up the next morning and went down to breakfast with Ron. They waited for Hermione but she didn't turn up for half an hour.
"Harry," she said excitedly, "when's the next DA meeting?"
"Uh, tomorrow, I think," said Harry, "why?"
"No reason, thanks." She said before running out of the Great Hall.
"And I thought that she wasn't mental any more." Said Ron before helping himself to his third plate of eggs and toast.
If possible, the hatred between Harry and the Slytherins rose. On his way to his first class, transfiguration, a group of mean looking Slytherins, stepped out from behind a suit of armour, their wands drawn, but they slunk off, looking disappointed when they saw that Harry was accompanied by Ron, Seamus, Dean and Neville all of whom were drawing their wands.
Once did they manage to catch Harry on his own, when he was on his way to lunch after charms, but after a short exchange of spells, Hannah Abbott, Ernie Macmillan, Susan Bones and Justin Finch-Fletchley came to his aid on their way back after herbology.
At lunch, Harry found out that several DA members had been attacked by the Slytherins throughout the day.
"We'll sort it out in the meeting tonight, but just be careful until then." Was Harry's response to everyone who told him.
"Come on, Hermione!" yelled Ron from the bottom of the stairs to the girl's dormitory, at ten to eight that evening,
"Just coming." Came back Hermione's voice. She came down the stairs carrying two boxes, one large and one small.
"Do you want me to take them?" asked Ron.
"No, I'll be alright, they aren't heavy." They hurried down to the room of requirement. At eight o'clock everybody had arrived and was seated.
"Ok," began Harry, "Today we- what Hermione?"
"Is it all right if I just say something, Harry?"
"Fine." Hermione stood up and proceeded to the front.
"Ok, well, what Harry said about us being an army, we are an army and we need to show that we are an army, so I made these, I don't know if you'll like them but I thought I would try." She bent down and opened the larger box, inside were some robes, she took one out and held it up, gasps of amazement went round the room, the robe was black with a cloak attached and in the centre of the cloak, in emerald green and about twenty centimetres high and twelve centimetres wide, were the letters DA. On the front, on the top left hand side of the chest, again in emerald green and five centimetres high and three centimetres wide were the letters DA.
"These robes are charmed so that when you say the incantation, indonus, followed by robus the robes, that you will choose in a second, will appear in place of the robes that you are wearing when you say the incantation, if you want to change back just say exdonus. Only touch one pair of robes because when you touch them they become yours." Everybody stood up and took a robe; soon people were standing round admiring them,
"Hermione, you haven't done enough." Said Ron, sure enough, everyone but Harry had one. Hermione smiled and moved to the smaller box, bent down and opened it,
"Go on Harry." Said Hermione. Harry moved to the box and picked up the robe inside. He held it up, another gasp went round the room, Harry's robe was black but where the letters of the other robes were in emerald green, Harry's were in gold and what made it most distinctive was, starting on the right shoulder, and running vertically downwards, about twenty centimetres long, was a gold lightning bolt.
"You're our leader Harry, you deserve to be special. Your incantation is, indona roba and when you want to change back the incantation is exdona." Said Hermione simply.
"Indona roba" said Harry, quietly, his voice unusually husky. He was immediately wearing the DA robes, they fitted him perfectly.
"Where have my other robes gone?" Harry asked Hermione.
"To the nearest convenient point, most likely to be your dorm in this case." Soon everyone was wearing their new robes.
"Right, now you all know the tricks that the Slytherins are trying to pull, just be careful, if you have to use wands only use spells like expelliarmus and delegaste, don't use spells like slasio." Harry gave a short laugh, "And I thought we were only going to be fighting You-Know-Who, it seems the DA are at war with the Slytherins." Harry paused for a moment before continuing,
"Today I thought I would teach you the burn curse, although not quite as powerful as the slashing curse, it still causes enough pain to lower an enemies guard. The incantation is 'flarus'. Get the dummies out and practice the curse." Everyone immediately moved to the back of them room to get one of the dummies, Cho walked up to Harry.
"Could you go with someone else, please Cho? I need to walk round checking, this is quite a difficult curse and I don't want anything to go wrong" Cho pouted at him, grinned, and went to join Ron and Hermione.
Harry started walking round the room, he noticed that Lavender was having trouble so he moved over to where she was practising with Parvati.
He had barely got there before pain exploded in his scar, causing him to drop to his knees, this was the worst it had ever felt, the pain ripped through it, it burned, it stung, it ached, it just hurt. This was not like last time where he had lost consciousness, it hurt worse this time but something was forcing him to hold onto consciousness.
Suddenly images of Sirius were flashing through his head, Harry first meeting him, defending him against the Dementors, speaking to him in the fireplace, Harry saw happy and sad images. Not only was Harry in pain, he was feeling sick, sadness was overwhelming him, he lost the will to fight, the will to survive. Malicious laughter filled his head, terrifying him, hurting him, he struggled against it but he couldn't get free, it was still there, tormenting him.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Harry screamed, unaware that he had screamed out loud. He continued to struggle. His strength was fading, he lost the will to fight and without the will to fight he could no longer fight the images, the pain, the fear. He was slowly subjecting himself to them, he could no longer remember what happiness felt like, so strong was the feeling of sadness that was enveloping him. He was almost gone, he could no longer fight. It was over, he had lost.
Just as suddenly as the images had started they stopped, he could see clearly again. He saw Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Moody looking at him, Dumbledore had his wand raised and pointed at Harry.
Harry was panting heavily, the images had stopped but the fear, sadness and sickness was still there, overwhelming him, threatening to drag him down into darkness. He needed to get away from it, he needed a way out, happiness would not work, he needed a new pain. He took his wand and pointed it at his arm,
"Slasio" he whispered. A violent pain shot through his arm, overpowering the sickness and fear that he had felt, Harry leaned back against the wall and held his left arm, which was bleeding freely. He was losing blood fast and was starting to feel light-headed, but he didn't care, this was ending the sadness and terror that he had felt only moments before.
Professor McGonagall and several of the DA took out their wands to perform the healing charm, but Professor Dumbledore held up his hand to stop them,
"But Dumbledore, he needs to stop bleeding!" exclaimed Professor McGonagall in surprise.
"Don't you think this is hurting me too, Minerva? But you don't know what Harry's just been through, he needs to be distracted or it will just overwhelm him." Said Dumbledore sadly; he left Harry alone for a few more minutes before bending down in front of him and healing him.
"Harry, can you hear me?" Dumbledore asked him urgently. Harry nodded, but he was light-headed and it hurt to do so.
"Minerva," ordered Dumbledore sharply, "Go and ask Madam Pomfrey to come here and bring a blood replenishing potion." Professor McGonagall nodded and hurried out of the room. Five minutes later she returned with Madam Pomfrey. Madam Pomfrey immediately knelt by Harry and made him drink the blood replenishing potion. Immediately Harry felt better and the light headed feeling was disappearing. After a few minutes Harry was all right, he looked around the room, everyone was looking at him extremely worried. Several of the girls had been crying and Harry could see it was taking all of Cho's self-control to stop her flinging herself on him. Harry stood up, shakily and walked over to where Cho was. Wordlessly he wrapped his arms around her and held her while she sobbed.
"Oh God, I thought I'd lost you Harry!" she sobbed into his arms.
"Shh, it's all right, I'm here, I'm ok." They stayed like that for a few minutes,
"Harry, I would like you to come to my office, please." Said Dumbledore quietly. Harry nodded and let go of Cho; he turned to the DA,
"This meeting will continue tomorrow." He said before turning to follow Dumbledore out of the room.
"Harry!" yelled Cho desperately, "Don't go, don't leave me!" Harry turned back and strode towards her, his primary concern was Cho, his second concern was whatever Dumbledore had to say.
Harry held in his arms for a moment before drawing back, he reached into the neck of his robes and he pulled out the necklace with half a heart on it that Cho had given to him for his birthday. She took out hers and they put them together, the crack disappeared and Harry Cho became one word.
"Still here, always here." He said before following Dumbledore out of the room. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Moody and Harry proceeded to Dumbledore's office.
"Right, Harry," said Dumbledore when everyone was seated, "Can you tell me what happened?" So Harry explained what had happened in the room of requirement. He explained the terrible feeling of sickness and fear he felt.
"After the images stopped, I just felt that I needed to get away from the fear, so I decided that the only way was to cut myself."
"I understand, Harry."
"But why? Why did it happen?" Asked Harry, Dumbledore sighed,
"I'm not sure, but what I can tell you is that it was Voldemort, that's how you were able to stay conscious, he was keeping you conscious. I think he was trying to break down your defences, I'm afraid you will have to continue with occlumency. Voldemort could do this at any time so it is vital that you are able block him out."
"A couple of questions, sir, how did he manage to get into my mind? I thought there were defences around Hogwarts that stopped him from being able to. Also could I have died from it? And why did it stop?"
"Starting from your last question, Harry, I stopped it. No you couldn't have died, the reason you were conscious is that Voldemort was keeping you conscious, eventually he wouldn't have been able to keep you conscious and you would simply become unconscious, although you held on much longer than many full grown wizards would have." Dumbledore paused before answering the last question, "It is as I have feared, the ancient wards of Hogwarts are failing," McGonagall gasped and Moody growled at these words and Harry felt sick, "Voldemort could attack at any moment, it is certain that he will when he realises that the wards are failing, his realisation would have been speeded up by tonight's episode." Harry's sick feeling intensified; he had sped up the fall of Hogwarts, for a moment he couldn't breathe, he wanted to run, he wanted to hide, he wanted it all to end.
"Don't you dare blame yourself for what happened tonight, Harry, there was nothing you could have done to prevent it." Said Dumbledore firmly. The sick feeling lessened slightly.
"Please do not repeat what I have told you to anyone, Harry." Said Dumbledore.
"I'm sorry, Professor, but I can't do that," said Harry, he heard an intake of breath from Professor McGonagall, "I'm the leader of an army, Dumbledore's Army, the Order of the Phoenix is fighting Voldemort, well so are we, I can't say I won't tell the DA what is happening, I won't tell anyone outside the DA and neither will anyone else in the DA, but the DA have a right to know and I'm going to tell them because when Voldemort attacks Hogwarts, Dumbledore's Army is going to be there fighting him and we won't be caught by surprise." Said Harry firmly. Dumbledore smiled sadly,
"You can tell the DA, Harry, but when Voldemort attacks I can't allow you to fight him."
"You can't stop us either, you told Voldemort that there are things worse than death, but there is little worse than knowing you could have done something to help prevent something horrific, and not done it, and then the horrific thing happens, and then knowing that you might have prevented it. No, you can't stop the DA defending Hogwarts." Harry held Dumbledore's gaze as he said this. Dumbledore smiled at him,
"As much as I dislike it, I will not try and stop you, and even if I did," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, "I get the impression that you would just disregard it and fight anyway."
"You're right, we would." Said Harry seriously.
"And now, Minerva, could I trouble you to escort Mr Potter along to bed, Harry I will be teaching you occlumency and your first lesson will be tomorrow at six o'clock tomorrow."
"Come along, Potter." Said Professor McGonagall. She and Harry left Dumbledore's office. At the bottom of the steps she stopped him,
"You are a very brave young man, Potter and I have no hesitation in saying that your father and Sirius would be very proud of you, as am I." She flashed one of her rare smiles before walking off.
A/N Right another chapter done, a darker chapter then most of the others but this is where the plot really starts, from now on updates are going to be every Friday. I am not going to be able to update on Friday the twenty first because I am going to be on holiday for four days and I won't have access to a computer, I will try and get updated on the Wednesday before but I can't promise it.
Sheen Rox: I'm English.
Thanks to all my reviewers so far, especially LogicalRaven and Anime- Master7. Keep reading and reviewing, 'cos I'll keep writing!
Fireboy.
A Candle in the Dark.
Chapter Eleven: The DA at War.
"Now, would anyone care to tell me what this is all about?" said Dumbledore, still calmly. The other teachers were standing a little way behind him, Harry opened his mouth to speak, panting slightly from the wound on his shoulder, but before he could say anything Ginny stepped in front of him.
"Healify" she said quietly. The wound on his shoulder disappeared.
"Thanks, Gin," Harry said, "Ginny, Cho, Luna, Parvati, Lavender and Hermione go and heal anyone who needs it, heal any Slytherins aswell." They nodded and walked around, treating anyone who needed it.
"A group of Slytherins ambushed Ron, Hermione and me when we were going down to breakfast." said Harry
"Is this true?" Dumbledore asked the crowd of Slytherins
"Yes." Said Malfoy sulkily, knowing that there were too many of them for him to lie his way out of this.
"As you all know I could not expel or suspend you, nor could I take points off, simply because there are too many of you. Instead each member of Slytherin present will receive a months detention, and, naturally, you will join them, Mr Davies." Said Dumbledore grimly.
"What about Potter? Aren't you punishing him?" Blurted out Malfoy angrily.
"I see no need as his was an act of self defence." Said Dumbledore simply.
"You would think that! You always did favour Potter above anyone else." Sneered Malfoy. In a flash Harry had Malfoy by the collar and his wand pointing at his chest.
"Don't you dare insult Professor Dumbledore like that." Said Harry, his voice hard and dangerous.
"That will do Harry." Said Professor Dumbledore quietly. Reluctantly Harry let go of Malfoy's collar.
"I want everyone to return to the castle and I don't want anything else to happen." Said Dumbledore. As everyone was moving back to the castle Moody waited for Harry. When he saw him he held him back and waited for everyone else to disappear.
"That was very impressive, Potter."
"Thanks." Said Harry awkwardly.
"You've taught the DA very well and they are incredibly loyal to you. When Ron and Hermione ran into the Great Hall and told Professor Dumbledore what was happening they all jumped up and sprinted out of the Great Hall without hesitation." Harry didn't know what to say.
"I heard you giving orders and directing them. You did well and made the right decisions and although outnumbered you won. Afterwards you showed mercy and you made sure the Slytherin's injured were helped aswell. You showed immense bravery and skill." Moody stopped and looked at Harry for minute, "One day the ministry is going to have a very fine Auror." With that Moody strode off into the castle.
Harry entered the portrait hole five minutes later to a sudden loud noise. Every Gryffindor was in the common room and they were cheering.
"That was brilliant, Harry, you really put the Slytherins in their place!" said a seventh year.
"Wish Fred and George were still here, we could have a party!" exclaimed someone sadly. Harry grinned and disappeared up into his dorm. Having grabbed his invisibility cloak, he stuffed it inside his robes and climbed out of the portrait hole unnoticed, when outside he threw the invisibility cloak over himself and proceeded down to the kitchens. He tickled the pair and opened the door. He had barely entered when he heard a small squeak of excitement.
"Harry Potter has come to see Dobby!" Harry smiled at the elf.
"Hi Dobby."
"What does Harry Potter want?" Dobby asked him.
"Can I have some stuff for a party, please Dobby." Immediately four house-elves scurried up, struggling under the weight of four boxes.
"Two of them contain butterbeer, the other two contain food." Explained Dobby.
"Thanks Dobby. Locomotor boxes." Said Harry. The boxes followed him out of the kitchen; Harry knew that he couldn't possibly get all the boxes under the invisibility cloak so instead he just hoped that none of the teachers caught him. Fortunately he managed to get up to Gryffindor tower without trouble.
He gave the password and the entered common room followed by four large boxes. Everybody gave a loud cheer and rushed forward to grab some of the food and butterbeer.
Harry was a hero to the Gryffindors that night and he found himself asked to retell the story several times, no matter how modest he was, he could not disguise the fact, nor would anyone let him, that he had single- handedly defended himself for ten minutes against forty Slytherins and only get hit by one spell, whereas he took out eleven of them.
"Why did they do it, though?" A Gryffindor second year asked Harry when he was talking to Ron, Dean and Seamus.
"Because," Ron explained, "Malfoy hates Harry and will risk everything just so long that he hurts Harry in the process."
"But why was Davies there? What has he got against Harry?" asked Seamus
"Isn't it obvious?" asked Hermione as she joined them, "Davies wants Cho and he thinks that to get her he has to get Harry out of the way and he'll try anything."
"So wherever Harry goes, Davies could be waiting to attack him?" asked Ron. Hermione nodded, looking worried. Harry laughed at her expression.
"I've got the darkest wizard ever wanting to kill me, and I'm supposed to be worried about Davies, calm down for Gods sake!" Nevertheless Ron and Hermione signalled to Dean, Seamus, Ginny and Neville and the six of them went into a corner and started talking in low voices occasionally looking up at Harry before looking away hurriedly when he saw them looking at them, Harry just shrugged and went and sat down on a couch.
Eventually Hermione came over,
"Harry," she said in a timid voice, "could you just come over here for a minute." Harry shrugged again and followed her.
"Don't get angry or anything, Harry, but we've decided that we want someone of the DA to be with you everywhere you go." She said, looking at the floor and wringing her hands nervously. Harry looked at her in disbelief.
"Ok, think about this one," He said slightly angrily, "Cho do you want to come to Hogsmeade with me? Oh by the way someone will have to come with us because Ron and Hermione don't want Davies to try anything. Are you thick, Hermione? Do you realise how much this will cut down my privacy with Cho? I'm sorry but I won't do it." Harry said angrily, before turning on his heel and striding away. He threw himself down on a couch furiously, how thick does she want to be? Thought Harry angrily. Ginny came and sat down next to him.
"They're only worried about you." Said Ginny fairly.
"Funny, they don't seemed to be quite so worried about me when Voldemort tries something." Said Harry irritably.
"That's because they know that's when they need to be strongest, for your sake. They worry so much about you, they just don't show it because they need to give you strength, they don't want you to worry about them." Harry couldn't think of a reply to that.
"Thanks, Gin."
"Anytime." She said smiling at him. Harry reached over and gave her hug,
"I wouldn't, Potter, I think I'm the jealous type." Said a voice airily. Harry grinned up at Cho standing there. He reached over and gave Ginny another hug and kissed her cheek. Ginny blushed.
"I really wouldn't," said Cho casually, taking out her wand and twirling it around her fingers, "I don't like it when people annoy me on purpose." Harry grinned at her and stood up and gave her a hug.
"What are you doing here, I thought people aren't allowed into any common room apart from their own."
"Oh, you're not," Said Cho calmly, reaching for some crisps, "But Hermione sent me an owl telling me to meet her in the entrance hall. When she arrived she told me she was going to take me up to the Gryffindor common room, but," and here she gave Hermione an incredibly nasty glance, Hermione smirked back at her, "she insisted on blindfolding me."
"Well it was only right, you're not meant to know the location of other houses common rooms." Cho shrugged and sat down next to Harry. She reached over and took a butterbeer and looked around the common room.
"Quite a nice common room. But ours is nicer." She said teasingly,
"You would say that." Harry retorted.
"Ah, but I might be telling the truth, and you can't contradict me because you've never seen our common room."
"But you can't be telling the 'truth' because whether something is nicer than something else is an opinion, it isn't a fact so you can't be telling the truth and opinions can't be true." Pointed out Harry.
"I hate it when you're right and I'm wrong." Muttered Cho angrily.
"You should be used to it by now." Teased Harry. Cho hit him on the arm. Harry laughed. Cho sighed and put her head in his lap, looking up at him. Harry smiled down at her and stroked her hair softly. After a while Hermione came up to them.
"Is it all right if I have a word with Cho, Harry?" Harry nodded and Cho got up and followed Hermione into a corner of the common room wondering what this could be about.
"Could you sit down please?" Asked Hermione, indicating one of the chairs. Cho nodded feeling slightly puzzled.
"Right," said Hermione, "I don't know where to begin, but first of all, let's just get this straight, do you actually love Harry? Or are you just the girl who scored the Boy-Who-Lived?"
"I can't believe you asked me that, Hermione, of course I love Harry, I love him more than life itself." Hermione smiled,
"I knew you did, I just wanted to make sure," Hermione's smile disappeared, "Next, you know that Voldemort is after Harry? Well Voldemort will try to get whomever Harry loves because he knows that Harry will go after them. So, by loving Harry you are putting yourself in great danger. Voldemort, when he finds out about you and Harry will try to get you so he can get Harry. It would be safer for you not to love Harry at all."
"I can't, it would be like asking me to stop breathing, I can't live without breathing, I can't live without Harry."
"Finally, don't you dare hurt Harry or I will kill you and so will Ron," said Hermione, her voice stern, "I love Harry, but like a little sister, to me Harry is my big brother and if you hurt him, then I will hunt you down and I will kill you."
"I have no intention of ever hurting Harry, I love him too much."
"I know, now lets go and enjoy the party." Said Hermione smiling at Cho. They stood up and returned to the party. Two hours later, people gradually started going to bed.
"Better take you back to the entrance hall." Said Harry half an hour later, Cho nodded reluctantly. Harry led her out of the common room,
"Just don't," began Cho, Harry conjured a blindfold and tied it round her head, covering her eyes, "put a blindfold on me." She ended annoyed. Grinning Harry led her down into the entrance hall. He took her blindfold off. She turned round,
"Next time don't blindfold me." She said reproachfully.
"We'll see." Said Harry smirking at her. She looked at him smiling slightly. Harry leaned in and kissed her passionately. They broke apart and Harry returned up to the Gryffindor common room, expecting it to be empty. To his surprise Hermione was sitting in a corner with a textbook looking through it, she suddenly looked excited and quickly read the page. When she saw Harry walking towards her she hurriedly closed the book and without looking at him, ran up to the girl's dormitory. Harry shrugged and climbed the stairs up to the boy's dormitory.
He entered and saw that everyone else was asleep. He got changed and climbed into bed. Five minutes later he was asleep.
He woke up the next morning and went down to breakfast with Ron. They waited for Hermione but she didn't turn up for half an hour.
"Harry," she said excitedly, "when's the next DA meeting?"
"Uh, tomorrow, I think," said Harry, "why?"
"No reason, thanks." She said before running out of the Great Hall.
"And I thought that she wasn't mental any more." Said Ron before helping himself to his third plate of eggs and toast.
If possible, the hatred between Harry and the Slytherins rose. On his way to his first class, transfiguration, a group of mean looking Slytherins, stepped out from behind a suit of armour, their wands drawn, but they slunk off, looking disappointed when they saw that Harry was accompanied by Ron, Seamus, Dean and Neville all of whom were drawing their wands.
Once did they manage to catch Harry on his own, when he was on his way to lunch after charms, but after a short exchange of spells, Hannah Abbott, Ernie Macmillan, Susan Bones and Justin Finch-Fletchley came to his aid on their way back after herbology.
At lunch, Harry found out that several DA members had been attacked by the Slytherins throughout the day.
"We'll sort it out in the meeting tonight, but just be careful until then." Was Harry's response to everyone who told him.
"Come on, Hermione!" yelled Ron from the bottom of the stairs to the girl's dormitory, at ten to eight that evening,
"Just coming." Came back Hermione's voice. She came down the stairs carrying two boxes, one large and one small.
"Do you want me to take them?" asked Ron.
"No, I'll be alright, they aren't heavy." They hurried down to the room of requirement. At eight o'clock everybody had arrived and was seated.
"Ok," began Harry, "Today we- what Hermione?"
"Is it all right if I just say something, Harry?"
"Fine." Hermione stood up and proceeded to the front.
"Ok, well, what Harry said about us being an army, we are an army and we need to show that we are an army, so I made these, I don't know if you'll like them but I thought I would try." She bent down and opened the larger box, inside were some robes, she took one out and held it up, gasps of amazement went round the room, the robe was black with a cloak attached and in the centre of the cloak, in emerald green and about twenty centimetres high and twelve centimetres wide, were the letters DA. On the front, on the top left hand side of the chest, again in emerald green and five centimetres high and three centimetres wide were the letters DA.
"These robes are charmed so that when you say the incantation, indonus, followed by robus the robes, that you will choose in a second, will appear in place of the robes that you are wearing when you say the incantation, if you want to change back just say exdonus. Only touch one pair of robes because when you touch them they become yours." Everybody stood up and took a robe; soon people were standing round admiring them,
"Hermione, you haven't done enough." Said Ron, sure enough, everyone but Harry had one. Hermione smiled and moved to the smaller box, bent down and opened it,
"Go on Harry." Said Hermione. Harry moved to the box and picked up the robe inside. He held it up, another gasp went round the room, Harry's robe was black but where the letters of the other robes were in emerald green, Harry's were in gold and what made it most distinctive was, starting on the right shoulder, and running vertically downwards, about twenty centimetres long, was a gold lightning bolt.
"You're our leader Harry, you deserve to be special. Your incantation is, indona roba and when you want to change back the incantation is exdona." Said Hermione simply.
"Indona roba" said Harry, quietly, his voice unusually husky. He was immediately wearing the DA robes, they fitted him perfectly.
"Where have my other robes gone?" Harry asked Hermione.
"To the nearest convenient point, most likely to be your dorm in this case." Soon everyone was wearing their new robes.
"Right, now you all know the tricks that the Slytherins are trying to pull, just be careful, if you have to use wands only use spells like expelliarmus and delegaste, don't use spells like slasio." Harry gave a short laugh, "And I thought we were only going to be fighting You-Know-Who, it seems the DA are at war with the Slytherins." Harry paused for a moment before continuing,
"Today I thought I would teach you the burn curse, although not quite as powerful as the slashing curse, it still causes enough pain to lower an enemies guard. The incantation is 'flarus'. Get the dummies out and practice the curse." Everyone immediately moved to the back of them room to get one of the dummies, Cho walked up to Harry.
"Could you go with someone else, please Cho? I need to walk round checking, this is quite a difficult curse and I don't want anything to go wrong" Cho pouted at him, grinned, and went to join Ron and Hermione.
Harry started walking round the room, he noticed that Lavender was having trouble so he moved over to where she was practising with Parvati.
He had barely got there before pain exploded in his scar, causing him to drop to his knees, this was the worst it had ever felt, the pain ripped through it, it burned, it stung, it ached, it just hurt. This was not like last time where he had lost consciousness, it hurt worse this time but something was forcing him to hold onto consciousness.
Suddenly images of Sirius were flashing through his head, Harry first meeting him, defending him against the Dementors, speaking to him in the fireplace, Harry saw happy and sad images. Not only was Harry in pain, he was feeling sick, sadness was overwhelming him, he lost the will to fight, the will to survive. Malicious laughter filled his head, terrifying him, hurting him, he struggled against it but he couldn't get free, it was still there, tormenting him.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" Harry screamed, unaware that he had screamed out loud. He continued to struggle. His strength was fading, he lost the will to fight and without the will to fight he could no longer fight the images, the pain, the fear. He was slowly subjecting himself to them, he could no longer remember what happiness felt like, so strong was the feeling of sadness that was enveloping him. He was almost gone, he could no longer fight. It was over, he had lost.
Just as suddenly as the images had started they stopped, he could see clearly again. He saw Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Moody looking at him, Dumbledore had his wand raised and pointed at Harry.
Harry was panting heavily, the images had stopped but the fear, sadness and sickness was still there, overwhelming him, threatening to drag him down into darkness. He needed to get away from it, he needed a way out, happiness would not work, he needed a new pain. He took his wand and pointed it at his arm,
"Slasio" he whispered. A violent pain shot through his arm, overpowering the sickness and fear that he had felt, Harry leaned back against the wall and held his left arm, which was bleeding freely. He was losing blood fast and was starting to feel light-headed, but he didn't care, this was ending the sadness and terror that he had felt only moments before.
Professor McGonagall and several of the DA took out their wands to perform the healing charm, but Professor Dumbledore held up his hand to stop them,
"But Dumbledore, he needs to stop bleeding!" exclaimed Professor McGonagall in surprise.
"Don't you think this is hurting me too, Minerva? But you don't know what Harry's just been through, he needs to be distracted or it will just overwhelm him." Said Dumbledore sadly; he left Harry alone for a few more minutes before bending down in front of him and healing him.
"Harry, can you hear me?" Dumbledore asked him urgently. Harry nodded, but he was light-headed and it hurt to do so.
"Minerva," ordered Dumbledore sharply, "Go and ask Madam Pomfrey to come here and bring a blood replenishing potion." Professor McGonagall nodded and hurried out of the room. Five minutes later she returned with Madam Pomfrey. Madam Pomfrey immediately knelt by Harry and made him drink the blood replenishing potion. Immediately Harry felt better and the light headed feeling was disappearing. After a few minutes Harry was all right, he looked around the room, everyone was looking at him extremely worried. Several of the girls had been crying and Harry could see it was taking all of Cho's self-control to stop her flinging herself on him. Harry stood up, shakily and walked over to where Cho was. Wordlessly he wrapped his arms around her and held her while she sobbed.
"Oh God, I thought I'd lost you Harry!" she sobbed into his arms.
"Shh, it's all right, I'm here, I'm ok." They stayed like that for a few minutes,
"Harry, I would like you to come to my office, please." Said Dumbledore quietly. Harry nodded and let go of Cho; he turned to the DA,
"This meeting will continue tomorrow." He said before turning to follow Dumbledore out of the room.
"Harry!" yelled Cho desperately, "Don't go, don't leave me!" Harry turned back and strode towards her, his primary concern was Cho, his second concern was whatever Dumbledore had to say.
Harry held in his arms for a moment before drawing back, he reached into the neck of his robes and he pulled out the necklace with half a heart on it that Cho had given to him for his birthday. She took out hers and they put them together, the crack disappeared and Harry Cho became one word.
"Still here, always here." He said before following Dumbledore out of the room. Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall and Moody and Harry proceeded to Dumbledore's office.
"Right, Harry," said Dumbledore when everyone was seated, "Can you tell me what happened?" So Harry explained what had happened in the room of requirement. He explained the terrible feeling of sickness and fear he felt.
"After the images stopped, I just felt that I needed to get away from the fear, so I decided that the only way was to cut myself."
"I understand, Harry."
"But why? Why did it happen?" Asked Harry, Dumbledore sighed,
"I'm not sure, but what I can tell you is that it was Voldemort, that's how you were able to stay conscious, he was keeping you conscious. I think he was trying to break down your defences, I'm afraid you will have to continue with occlumency. Voldemort could do this at any time so it is vital that you are able block him out."
"A couple of questions, sir, how did he manage to get into my mind? I thought there were defences around Hogwarts that stopped him from being able to. Also could I have died from it? And why did it stop?"
"Starting from your last question, Harry, I stopped it. No you couldn't have died, the reason you were conscious is that Voldemort was keeping you conscious, eventually he wouldn't have been able to keep you conscious and you would simply become unconscious, although you held on much longer than many full grown wizards would have." Dumbledore paused before answering the last question, "It is as I have feared, the ancient wards of Hogwarts are failing," McGonagall gasped and Moody growled at these words and Harry felt sick, "Voldemort could attack at any moment, it is certain that he will when he realises that the wards are failing, his realisation would have been speeded up by tonight's episode." Harry's sick feeling intensified; he had sped up the fall of Hogwarts, for a moment he couldn't breathe, he wanted to run, he wanted to hide, he wanted it all to end.
"Don't you dare blame yourself for what happened tonight, Harry, there was nothing you could have done to prevent it." Said Dumbledore firmly. The sick feeling lessened slightly.
"Please do not repeat what I have told you to anyone, Harry." Said Dumbledore.
"I'm sorry, Professor, but I can't do that," said Harry, he heard an intake of breath from Professor McGonagall, "I'm the leader of an army, Dumbledore's Army, the Order of the Phoenix is fighting Voldemort, well so are we, I can't say I won't tell the DA what is happening, I won't tell anyone outside the DA and neither will anyone else in the DA, but the DA have a right to know and I'm going to tell them because when Voldemort attacks Hogwarts, Dumbledore's Army is going to be there fighting him and we won't be caught by surprise." Said Harry firmly. Dumbledore smiled sadly,
"You can tell the DA, Harry, but when Voldemort attacks I can't allow you to fight him."
"You can't stop us either, you told Voldemort that there are things worse than death, but there is little worse than knowing you could have done something to help prevent something horrific, and not done it, and then the horrific thing happens, and then knowing that you might have prevented it. No, you can't stop the DA defending Hogwarts." Harry held Dumbledore's gaze as he said this. Dumbledore smiled at him,
"As much as I dislike it, I will not try and stop you, and even if I did," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, "I get the impression that you would just disregard it and fight anyway."
"You're right, we would." Said Harry seriously.
"And now, Minerva, could I trouble you to escort Mr Potter along to bed, Harry I will be teaching you occlumency and your first lesson will be tomorrow at six o'clock tomorrow."
"Come along, Potter." Said Professor McGonagall. She and Harry left Dumbledore's office. At the bottom of the steps she stopped him,
"You are a very brave young man, Potter and I have no hesitation in saying that your father and Sirius would be very proud of you, as am I." She flashed one of her rare smiles before walking off.
A/N Right another chapter done, a darker chapter then most of the others but this is where the plot really starts, from now on updates are going to be every Friday. I am not going to be able to update on Friday the twenty first because I am going to be on holiday for four days and I won't have access to a computer, I will try and get updated on the Wednesday before but I can't promise it.
Sheen Rox: I'm English.
Thanks to all my reviewers so far, especially LogicalRaven and Anime- Master7. Keep reading and reviewing, 'cos I'll keep writing!
Fireboy.