Harry Potter and the Wizard's Granddaughter
Chapter Eight: Soul Guard
Author's Note: Soul Guard, and all spells used belong to ME! Also Olivia, Trait, and a bunch of other stuff that I won't mention here. However, Harry Potter and Co. DON'T belong to me, they belong to Monty Python. Or was it J. K. Rowling? Anyway, they belong to some really great British person, I can't remember who right now.
Last chapter was short but intense, so this chapter will be long, slow, and full of explanations. Review if you like it! PLEASE! I mean it! I will not post any more if you don't review!
Oh, and another thing. If you think it's boring to trap your characters in a small confined area for hours just for the purpose of having an emotional event between them, then… Well, I apologize in advance. But I had to do this, and if you read, you'll find out why.
PG for language. (Malfoy has a dirty mouth.)
Olivia sank to the floor, hand still closed about the dagger hilt sticking out from her shoulder. Tears ran down her cheek for a moment, then she leaned back, and dropped her hand.
The dagger fell to the floor with a clatter.
"It's alright, she didn't stab me, just swiped me," Olivia said breathlessly, closing her eyes.
"That still looks pretty bad," Hermione said carefully, bringing out her wand. "Let me-"
"Don't touch me." Olivia sat up abruptly. "I'm fine." She blinked slowly, then turned her head. "Where'd the door go?"
"It disappeared," Hermione explained. "Olivia, I think Harry and Ron will want you to explain what's been going on. They still don't have a clue."
Olivia glanced up at Harry, and her blue eyes were so ice-like that they sent a shiver up his spine. "I don't owe them any explanations, or answers." Then she sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm a bit ticked off right now. Nearly getting spiked through the heart can do that to you."
Ron looked like he wanted to laugh, but that expression died away quickly.
"Who are you?" he asked.
Olivia gave them that grim smile again. "Do you want the short answer, or the full one?"
"The short one first, then the full one." Harry said, glancing around.
"If you're worried about Trait or Voldemort coming back, don't." Olivia said quickly, noticing his glances. "She's going to get arrested the moment she gets back to the castle."
"Good." Hermione said firmly. "Now, tell them who you are."
Olivia sat up straight, leaned back against the wall, and hugged her knees with her good arm. "My name is Selene Marie Dumbledore. My mom's name was Olivia, so that's what most people call me." She took a deep breath. "I'm actually a year older than all of you, even though I'm a lot smaller. My grandfather says that I'm a magical genius." She wasn't boasting, just stating a fact. "I started going to Hogwarts when I was nine, and graduated in my third year. In Slytherin. My grandfather put me in Slytherin even though the Sorting Hat wanted me in Gryffindor, because there were still a lot of Dark Wizards back then, and people were safer in Slytherin. That's where I met Malfoy."
"Malfoy!" Ron looked like he wanted to spit. "You two were friends?"
"Actually, no." Olivia tried to laugh. "He's a little ass. But he isn't evil. His father is a Death Eater, but Malfoy's not."
"How can you be sure?" Harry asked.
"Because he saved my life once. I was there at Hogwarts under an assumed name, Marie Gardener, because-" She paused. "My grandfather has this thing about protecting me. You see…" She stopped again. Then she shook her head. "I'm… My mother was Dumbledore's only daughter. And… she and I were both illegitimate. At the ministry, I work in an obscure office, and most people only know me by my nickname, 'Young Goddess.' Only a few people know who I really am. Most people if they did know would ridicule me and my family for the rest of my life. And if any Dark Wizards found me, they might use me against my grandfather. Malfoy found out who I really was by accident. He was a first year then, and so were you. He protected me from Quirrel, who almost found out who I was too, by vouching for me. Of course, he's never let me forget that I owe him."
Harry suddenly remembered Malfoy's words to Olivia after he had punched Crabbe: "That's two you owe me."
"And if you graduated in your third year, then why are you back here again?" Ron asked.
"When my grandfather realized that he wouldn't be able to be here at Hogwarts, and that Fudge," she said the name with intense hatred, "would be in charge, he knew that every Death Eater in the world with a reasonable alibi would be flocking here to try and kill you, Fudge, or otherwise help Voldemort rise to power. So he sent me." She stared Harry in the eye. "He appointed me Soul-Guard, Harry. Nobody can kill either of us with Avada Kedavra. They can't kill you with magic at all unless they kill me first. And if they do kill you through physical means, I'll die. So as long as I'm here, I'm sworn to protect you with everything I've got. Being able to see several years into the future helps."
"The Divination class, with that exploding chair…" Harry suddenly remembered.
"And the train!" Ron exclaimed. "That's why you left! You were helping to save it!"
"The troll in the girl's dorm!" Harry exclaimed.
"It was supposed to be in the boy's dorm, but Trait didn't have as good a control over it as she thought." Olivia smirked.
"And the armor," Ron said.
"And there was a lot of stuff we didn't know about," Hermione
said, "like several times the food at dinner was poisoned. There were also a bunch of invisible portals that would have sucked us into a non-existent dimension if Olivia hadn't found and closed them. Not to mention the monster from the lake which ended up in Transfiguration classes a whole bunch of times. And there was the-"
"But, if you can see years into the future, then why didn't you stop Trait from kidnapping us?" Harry interrupted Hermione before she could go on listing what seemed to be a never-ending list of dangers he had barely avoided because of Olivia's help.
Olivia stopped smirking. "Number one, she didn't kidnap you. You went quite willingly with her. Number two, I was rather distracted at the moment, if you remember."
Ulp. Harry suddenly remembered his harsh words about the girl, just before the incident. "I didn't mean that, Olivia. You know I didn't."
Olivia nodded. "Don't worry about it." But she bit her lip and looked away. His words were forgiven, not forgotten.
"So, when are we going to get out of here?" Ron asked, trying to be cheerful.
Olivia raised her wand, then, after a moment's hesitation, lowered it again. "The walls are blocked with a whole bunch of spells and charms. If we did manage to break out, Trait would know immediately, and one of us would probably end up dead."
Ron blinked. "Ooo-kay, then how are we going to get out of here?"
Olivia let her eyes go blank a moment, then told him quite seriously, "Somebody will figure out where we are and try to rescue us in… eighteen and a half hours."
"EIGHTEEN AND A HALF HOURS?!?!" All three of the others exclaimed at once.
"Give or take," Olivia said amicably.
All three of them groaned.
"And we didn't even eat dinner before we left," Ron complained, slouching against the far wall.
"The snakes!" Harry suddenly remembered. "The Great Hall was filled with snakes!"
"A diversion," Olivia spat out, "to keep the teachers from realizing that we're gone."
Eighteen and a half hours. Harry suddenly realized just how small the room, house, or prison, however you wanted to look at it, was, and how cold. The flickering torch didn't seem like it could last much longer; however, since they had their wands, it wouldn't be too much trouble if the torch went out.
Olivia seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "Could one of you light your wands and put out the torch?"
"Why?" Hermione asked.
"I don't like fire. I'd rather have magic light than a torch."
Hermione stood up and blew out the torch. A second later, she murmured, "Lumos." The room lit up.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Hermione asked, trying to look at Olivia's shoulder.
"I. Am. Fine." Olivia glared at Hermione. "Leave me alone."
And conversation ended there for the next few minutes.
However, after the rush of adrenaline from being attacked and the shock of finding out who Olivia really was wore off, there wasn't much left but complete and absolute boredom.
"Are you sure she was arrested?" Ron finally asked, breaking the pact of silence they had kept for the last few minutes.
"Yes, I'm sure." Olivia stated. She had her knees curled up to her chest, and had laid her head back against the wall, eyes closed. Harry had thought she was asleep.
"What's it like?" Harry asked, suddenly curious.
"What?" Olivia looked at him, and he was encouraged, because the look was a lot less angry and annoyed than her last few glances had been.
"Being able to see the future. I mean, I know Trewlaney is a seer, but when she gave her one prediction, she went into a trance and all. But you don't seem to do that."
Olivia smiled, a genuine shy smile, instead of the smirks and grimaces she'd been using. "It's like… It's like a dream that you had when you were a kid, that you suddenly remember. It's a constant feeling of déjà vu, where you think about something you're doing and you suddenly say, 'Hey, I know how this is going to turn out.' It's like you've lived your life a thousand times over, and now know every detail that has ever happened to you."
"Do you know if Voldemort will be destroyed?" he asked. "Or will he rise to power, and kill people, just like before?"
"I could know, if I wanted," Olivia said slowly. Her tone of voice should have warned him, but he didn't take heed.
"Why don't you want to know? I mean, it would be helpful to know if the entire world is going to come under an evil reign in the next few years. I wouldn't have to study so hard."
"I don't want to know," Olivia said steadily, "because it doesn't work like that. My memory is like… like a book where you can't skip ahead a few chapters. You have to read it straight through. If I wanted, I could read the whole thing ahead of time. But I don't. If I tried to see that far into the future, I would see everything that happens. Everything." She stared hard at Harry. "I could look at you and see whether you ace your final exams, whether you graduate, what job you take, who you marry, whether you're happy or not. And then I'd see how you die. And I'd try to look away, and you'd still be alive, but all I could think about is how you were going to die, and I couldn't prevent it. I'd try to run away, but then I'd see someone else, and the first thing I'd think of is 'How do they die?' It then becomes an obsession, because I'd start to look at everyone and see only death. All I'd be able to do is look at someone and see them in pain, dying." She shook her head, hard. "It happened before to me. A death obsession isn't very nice. Not like that."
"Well, gee, I feel like slitting my wrists now," Ron said sarcastically. "Please, Harry, stop with the stupid questions before I do."
"You won't." Olivia grinned at him.
"Won't what?"
"Slit your wrists." She giggled. "You opt for an overdose of sleeping pills."
"What?!?!" But Olivia was laughing now. It took Ron a minute to see the humor, but then he was laughing too. "Not really, right?"
"Of course not," Olivia said cheerfully.
"What time do you think it is?" Hermione asked. Nobody bothered to answer her.
"Are you sure we can't get out?" Ron asked about twenty minutes later for the twelfth time.
"I'm sure." Olivia gave her usual response, which had become just a instant reaction to Ron's voice.
Harry yawned, and stretched his arms up. "I think we should probably get some sleep if possible."
"Why, are you tired?"
"Yes," Harry admitted.
"So am I," Olivia replied, standing up. She paced for a moment, as if she didn't want to give in to the sleepiness, then sat down again next to Harry. "It's almost too bad Trait was arrested. I mean, if she hadn't been, at least we wouldn't be trapped here with nothing to do."
Nobody quite agreed with that, but everyone kept quiet, as Hermione stood and held up her wand. "I'm going to turn out the lights now, right?"
Ron and Olivia nodded, Harry waved for her to go ahead. She muttered the canceling spell, and sat down again as the room went completely dark.
Trying to ignore the rumbling in his stomach, he stretched out on the floor. He heard Olivia sigh deeply, and then he heard nothing at all.
He dreamed again.
This time, though, it wasn't the familiar dream of barely avoiding death. It wasn't the old dream of hearing Voldemort's laughter as his parents died, either.
This dream was the first non-nightmare he had had in a long, long time.
He was standing in front of a cage, like something you'd see at the zoo. Olivia was inside, wearing a long, white dress, with her hair, ten times longer than normal, in a long braid wrapped on top of her head. Harry vaguely thought that she looked like a Greek goddess from his history books.
"Let me out!" She was begging him to open the cage. And yet, there was danger all around. He couldn't let her out, because she'd get hurt. He had to protect her.
And yet, he stared around him. All around him, there were cages. He distantly saw Ron and Hermione inside cages, as well as all the other Gryffindors. In one cage he thought he saw the shimmering forms of his parents, just as he had seen them the year before, on that horrible night when he battled with Voldemort.
"Let us out!" They were all yelling at him.
"I can't let you out, you'll get hurt!" He tried to explain.
"Harry." He turned, and saw Olivia staring at him. She was older now, older than he was, and yet not very old. If his mind hadn't been clouded by the fact that he was dreaming, he would have said she was in her twenties. "Harry, let me out."
"You'll get killed!"
"Harry," Olivia said firmly. "You have to stop locking me up. You aren't alone any more." Her words stayed with him, echoing in his mind. A moment later, he reached forward, and touched the lock of her cage.
He suddenly felt free, as if he had been the one caged up, and now his locks were broken.
"Harry, you've been very brave to protect everyone. But you must remember that you aren't alone," the older Olivia was telling him. "You can protect them without locking them in cages. You can protect me, without shutting me off. I'm here to be with you." She reached out to touch his face with her long, delicate fingers.
And she shimmered away. Harry suddenly knew that he was dreaming, and that with the realization of this he would wake up. He drew his blanket closer to him, trying to stay asleep, and yet he failed, as all people do.
He kept his eyes closed, even after he was awake. He felt the warmth of his blanket on his left shoulder, and the contrasting cool winter air on his face.
Hermione must have lit the torch again, which was a pretty good idea, because it gave enough light to see by without keeping anyone awake. At least, Harry could tell that Ron was definitely not kept awake by the light; his snores would have bested even Neville's loud rumblings. Hermione too was fast asleep, one arm stretched above her head, the other arm bent so that her cheek was resting on it.
Brr. There must have been a draft somewhere in the confined building, because Harry could feel the cold winter wind licking at his face. It was a good thing he had a blanket- he could see Ron shiver in his sleep and roll o-
Wait a minute.
Harry turned back in his mind to process that train of thought again. Ron didn't have a blanket. He turned his head ever so slightly. Hermione didn't have a blanket.
He slowly and carefully turned to look to his left.
Olivia was quite comfortably curled up against him, her head resting on his shoulder and her left hand draped across his chest. And somehow in his sleep he had wrapped his arm around her, drawing her closer.
His first reaction, unconscious, was to blush furiously. His second reaction, this time meditated, was to slowly pull away his arm. He didn't want to wake Olivia: from what the two girls had explained, it didn't sound like Olivia had gotten much sleep in the past few months. And so he slowly, inch by inch, moved his arm out from under her head…
A tear ran down Olivia's cheek, and she clutched at the front of Harry's robes, trying to escape from some nightmare he couldn't see, some fear he couldn't understand…
He closed his eyes again. He'd move, but only in a minute, once the nightmare had passed. After all, she was so tired, and so was he. And the warmth was nice. And, after all, even if she wasn't who she had said she was, she was so sweet-
By the time *that* thought registered, and Harry jerked his arm away and sat straight up, Olivia was already awake and pacing restlessly, and Hermione was just beginning to yawn and stretch.
Author's Note: I was going to end it there, but then… Nah. Let's get them out of this stupid trap, so the REAL plot can begin.
He sat up, and caught Olivia's eye. She turned slightly red, and looked away immediately. So, she must have woken up before everyone else.
"Good morning," Hermione said, rubbing her eyes with her fist. She yawned again, then slowly stood up. "How's your arm?"
"Better," was Olivia's short answer. "Is Ron up yet?"
"No, I don't think so," Harry answered, assuming that the question was directed to him as Hermione had turned away to search for her wand. He walked over to Ron's prone body, and nudged the redhead with his toe. "Hey, wake up."
Ron rolled over, made a nasty face, and opened his eyes. "Damn, it wasn't a nightmare."
"You might want to get up," Olivia said, leaning over to pick up the dagger from where it still lay abandoned on the floor. "We're going to be rescued soon."
"By who?"
"I don't know," she answered. "All I can see is a large dog, and a student." She held her wand up in front of her with her right hand, and clutched the dagger hilt with her left.
"Why are you so tense?" Hermione asked. "If we're about to be rescued, and Trait has been arrested, you should be happy."
"I'm tense because I've never been wrong." She cast a sidelong glance at Harry. "Yet."
Then, very faintly, he heard a voice yell out something. A moment or two passed, then the voice sounded again.
"Olivia!"
Olivia grinned, and dropped the dagger. She held out her wand, and pointed it at the wall. "Lumos Orbis," she said softly. There wasn't any effect that Harry, could see, but Olivia looked satisfied.
"What was that?" Ron asked.
"I put a ring of light around this place," she explained. "Whoever it is should be able to see it, even if we're deep in the Forbidden Forest."
A moment later they heard the tramp of feet through the woods, and then…
"Olivia? Are you in there?"
Ron groaned in recognition of the voice: Malfoy.
"Duh I'm in here!" Olivia called nastily. "Geez you're thick sometimes. Get us out, now!"
"Us?" Even through the thick stone walls Harry could sense Malfoy's evil grin. "What, you and your imaginary friends getting lonely?"
"You idiot," Olivia snapped, "you know full well who's in here with me."
"Are you sure you aren't just schizophrenic?"
"GET US OUT!" Olivia lost her temper.
"Alright then, smart ass, how do you expect me to do that? There aren't any doors or windows."
Olivia sighed heavily. "Malfoy, just do something. Anything."
They heard something scraping against the rocks, and then…
"WHOA!" There was a thump. A moment later, "Damn it!" A few seconds later, "Did you know one of Hagrid's goddamn Skrewts was up here?"
Olivia looked like she wanted to giggle. "Of course not. Besides, it was only a baby."
A few moments later…
"The wards are packed tight around this place. I don't know how to get you out. I can't exactly blow the place up, you know."
Harry was shocked: Malfoy actually sounded apologetic!
"Listen, would you bang on the wall or something so I know where you are?" Olivia asked.
A moment later there was a slight knocking sound from the far wall. Olivia walked over there.
"C'mon, get your wands, I need your help." Then, to Malfoy, "How about 'Finite Incantatum?' That might take care of enough of the wards to let you blow a hole in the wall or something."
"Whatever, just hurry up. I'm missing breakfast to do this," he whined.
Olivia sighed again, and raised her wand. Harry and Hermione retrieved their wands and did the same: poor Ron had forgotten his wand in the school.
"Alright, now, let me see." Olivia ran her right hand along the wall as she walked around the room once. "Here." She stopped. "Right here. The wards have a bit of a weak spot."
"Hurry it up, will you?" Malfoy's voice came again.
Olivia rolled her eyes. "Are you guys ready?"
Harry nodded, and lifted his wand so that it was just barely touching Olivia's. Hermione did the same.
"Finite Incantatum!" The three of them called at once.
There was a sound like nails scraping a chalkboard, loud and long, echoing through Harry's bones. It jolted him so badly that he almost pulled away from the spell, but a moment later…
Malfoy called out a spell- what it was, Harry couldn't tell above the shrieking in his head.
A moment later, something exploded, and the room went black.
Harry woke up, to feel something cold and wet slowly dripping onto his forehead, dribbling down his nose and onto his chin, then dropping off again as another drop hit him, starting the process all over again.
He opened his eyes to see a pair of silvery-gray eyes staring back at him.
"Ah!" He sat straight up, bowling Malfoy over, and tried to stand, before he realized that his right leg was trapped under a large pile of rocks and wood. It was raining gently, which explained the dripping water. He stared at Malfoy kneeling in the mud and debris, who was scowling back at him.
"What happened?" Harry asked as he groped around for his glasses. They were lying on the ground beside him; he straightened them out as best he could and slipped them on, clearing up the scene in his eyes.
"The wards came down too fast," Malfoy said, standing and brushing his robes off. "Instead of blowing a hole in the wall, we blew it up."
"Blew what up?"
"Everything." Malfoy gave him a nasty smile. "Neatest thing I've ever seen."
Harry turned his head to stare around him. Olivia and Hermione were watching Ron with worry in their eyes: his red hair was also stained with scarlet from a cut just above his left eye.
Olivia stood up, and walked over to Malfoy, dynamite in her glare. "Y-y-you IDIOT!" she yelled angrily. The next second, she was hugging Malfoy with all of her might.
Harry watched a bit jealously as a very confused Malfoy patted her on the back. She let go of him, and turned to sit down next to Harry.
"We had better get back to the castle and explain what's going on to McGonagall and Fudge."
The end of the year came too quickly for Harry. Dumbledore, the newly reinstated Headmaster, had immediately picked out and locked away the several other Death Eaters that had snuck into Hogwarts. Hagrid was soon back as teacher of Care of Magical Creatures. And not only that, but Harry did decently on his O.W.L.'s.
And so life was back to normal. Until the day came to leave.
Olivia rode with the three of them on the train back to King's Cross Station. They tried to talk, but all four of them were really sad about having to leave.
Especially Harry. He stared at Olivia's blue eyes, and kept mentally berating himself over and over for ever having doubted her, for ever not including her as a good friend. Now their time together was up, and she'd be going back to work for the Ministry of Magic, while he returned to the Durselys.
Finally, as they got off the train, Harry turned to say goodbye.
"I guess this is goodbye," he tried to say, but Olivia stopped him.
"Not really. Just, see you next year." She smiled at him.
Something happened at that moment, that neither Olivia nor Harry would ever be able to explain. Neither could tell who started it afterwards. But the next minute, Harry had leaned forward and kissed Olivia on the lips.
She blushed and grinned at him, as she stepped backwards back onto the train. Ron was staring slack-jawed, while Hermione couldn't stop giggling.
"See you next year?" Harry asked.
"Oh yeah, definitely." Olivia said.
The train gave off a loud whistle.
"But wait a minute!" Harry suddenly realized something. "Dumbledore's back at Hogwarts! Are you still going to be a student?"
The train jerked, and Olivia stared at Harry over the top of her glasses, smiling a secret smile.
"No," she said as the train started to slowly pull out of the station, "I'm going to be a teacher."
And she stepped back into the compartment as the train slowly began its journey back to Hogwarts.
AN: Hey! End of PART ONE! Don't worry, there is a whole 'nother plot line coming up! Stay tuned for the next chapter!
Chapter Eight: Soul Guard
Author's Note: Soul Guard, and all spells used belong to ME! Also Olivia, Trait, and a bunch of other stuff that I won't mention here. However, Harry Potter and Co. DON'T belong to me, they belong to Monty Python. Or was it J. K. Rowling? Anyway, they belong to some really great British person, I can't remember who right now.
Last chapter was short but intense, so this chapter will be long, slow, and full of explanations. Review if you like it! PLEASE! I mean it! I will not post any more if you don't review!
Oh, and another thing. If you think it's boring to trap your characters in a small confined area for hours just for the purpose of having an emotional event between them, then… Well, I apologize in advance. But I had to do this, and if you read, you'll find out why.
PG for language. (Malfoy has a dirty mouth.)
Olivia sank to the floor, hand still closed about the dagger hilt sticking out from her shoulder. Tears ran down her cheek for a moment, then she leaned back, and dropped her hand.
The dagger fell to the floor with a clatter.
"It's alright, she didn't stab me, just swiped me," Olivia said breathlessly, closing her eyes.
"That still looks pretty bad," Hermione said carefully, bringing out her wand. "Let me-"
"Don't touch me." Olivia sat up abruptly. "I'm fine." She blinked slowly, then turned her head. "Where'd the door go?"
"It disappeared," Hermione explained. "Olivia, I think Harry and Ron will want you to explain what's been going on. They still don't have a clue."
Olivia glanced up at Harry, and her blue eyes were so ice-like that they sent a shiver up his spine. "I don't owe them any explanations, or answers." Then she sighed. "I'm sorry. I'm a bit ticked off right now. Nearly getting spiked through the heart can do that to you."
Ron looked like he wanted to laugh, but that expression died away quickly.
"Who are you?" he asked.
Olivia gave them that grim smile again. "Do you want the short answer, or the full one?"
"The short one first, then the full one." Harry said, glancing around.
"If you're worried about Trait or Voldemort coming back, don't." Olivia said quickly, noticing his glances. "She's going to get arrested the moment she gets back to the castle."
"Good." Hermione said firmly. "Now, tell them who you are."
Olivia sat up straight, leaned back against the wall, and hugged her knees with her good arm. "My name is Selene Marie Dumbledore. My mom's name was Olivia, so that's what most people call me." She took a deep breath. "I'm actually a year older than all of you, even though I'm a lot smaller. My grandfather says that I'm a magical genius." She wasn't boasting, just stating a fact. "I started going to Hogwarts when I was nine, and graduated in my third year. In Slytherin. My grandfather put me in Slytherin even though the Sorting Hat wanted me in Gryffindor, because there were still a lot of Dark Wizards back then, and people were safer in Slytherin. That's where I met Malfoy."
"Malfoy!" Ron looked like he wanted to spit. "You two were friends?"
"Actually, no." Olivia tried to laugh. "He's a little ass. But he isn't evil. His father is a Death Eater, but Malfoy's not."
"How can you be sure?" Harry asked.
"Because he saved my life once. I was there at Hogwarts under an assumed name, Marie Gardener, because-" She paused. "My grandfather has this thing about protecting me. You see…" She stopped again. Then she shook her head. "I'm… My mother was Dumbledore's only daughter. And… she and I were both illegitimate. At the ministry, I work in an obscure office, and most people only know me by my nickname, 'Young Goddess.' Only a few people know who I really am. Most people if they did know would ridicule me and my family for the rest of my life. And if any Dark Wizards found me, they might use me against my grandfather. Malfoy found out who I really was by accident. He was a first year then, and so were you. He protected me from Quirrel, who almost found out who I was too, by vouching for me. Of course, he's never let me forget that I owe him."
Harry suddenly remembered Malfoy's words to Olivia after he had punched Crabbe: "That's two you owe me."
"And if you graduated in your third year, then why are you back here again?" Ron asked.
"When my grandfather realized that he wouldn't be able to be here at Hogwarts, and that Fudge," she said the name with intense hatred, "would be in charge, he knew that every Death Eater in the world with a reasonable alibi would be flocking here to try and kill you, Fudge, or otherwise help Voldemort rise to power. So he sent me." She stared Harry in the eye. "He appointed me Soul-Guard, Harry. Nobody can kill either of us with Avada Kedavra. They can't kill you with magic at all unless they kill me first. And if they do kill you through physical means, I'll die. So as long as I'm here, I'm sworn to protect you with everything I've got. Being able to see several years into the future helps."
"The Divination class, with that exploding chair…" Harry suddenly remembered.
"And the train!" Ron exclaimed. "That's why you left! You were helping to save it!"
"The troll in the girl's dorm!" Harry exclaimed.
"It was supposed to be in the boy's dorm, but Trait didn't have as good a control over it as she thought." Olivia smirked.
"And the armor," Ron said.
"And there was a lot of stuff we didn't know about," Hermione
said, "like several times the food at dinner was poisoned. There were also a bunch of invisible portals that would have sucked us into a non-existent dimension if Olivia hadn't found and closed them. Not to mention the monster from the lake which ended up in Transfiguration classes a whole bunch of times. And there was the-"
"But, if you can see years into the future, then why didn't you stop Trait from kidnapping us?" Harry interrupted Hermione before she could go on listing what seemed to be a never-ending list of dangers he had barely avoided because of Olivia's help.
Olivia stopped smirking. "Number one, she didn't kidnap you. You went quite willingly with her. Number two, I was rather distracted at the moment, if you remember."
Ulp. Harry suddenly remembered his harsh words about the girl, just before the incident. "I didn't mean that, Olivia. You know I didn't."
Olivia nodded. "Don't worry about it." But she bit her lip and looked away. His words were forgiven, not forgotten.
"So, when are we going to get out of here?" Ron asked, trying to be cheerful.
Olivia raised her wand, then, after a moment's hesitation, lowered it again. "The walls are blocked with a whole bunch of spells and charms. If we did manage to break out, Trait would know immediately, and one of us would probably end up dead."
Ron blinked. "Ooo-kay, then how are we going to get out of here?"
Olivia let her eyes go blank a moment, then told him quite seriously, "Somebody will figure out where we are and try to rescue us in… eighteen and a half hours."
"EIGHTEEN AND A HALF HOURS?!?!" All three of the others exclaimed at once.
"Give or take," Olivia said amicably.
All three of them groaned.
"And we didn't even eat dinner before we left," Ron complained, slouching against the far wall.
"The snakes!" Harry suddenly remembered. "The Great Hall was filled with snakes!"
"A diversion," Olivia spat out, "to keep the teachers from realizing that we're gone."
Eighteen and a half hours. Harry suddenly realized just how small the room, house, or prison, however you wanted to look at it, was, and how cold. The flickering torch didn't seem like it could last much longer; however, since they had their wands, it wouldn't be too much trouble if the torch went out.
Olivia seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "Could one of you light your wands and put out the torch?"
"Why?" Hermione asked.
"I don't like fire. I'd rather have magic light than a torch."
Hermione stood up and blew out the torch. A second later, she murmured, "Lumos." The room lit up.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Hermione asked, trying to look at Olivia's shoulder.
"I. Am. Fine." Olivia glared at Hermione. "Leave me alone."
And conversation ended there for the next few minutes.
However, after the rush of adrenaline from being attacked and the shock of finding out who Olivia really was wore off, there wasn't much left but complete and absolute boredom.
"Are you sure she was arrested?" Ron finally asked, breaking the pact of silence they had kept for the last few minutes.
"Yes, I'm sure." Olivia stated. She had her knees curled up to her chest, and had laid her head back against the wall, eyes closed. Harry had thought she was asleep.
"What's it like?" Harry asked, suddenly curious.
"What?" Olivia looked at him, and he was encouraged, because the look was a lot less angry and annoyed than her last few glances had been.
"Being able to see the future. I mean, I know Trewlaney is a seer, but when she gave her one prediction, she went into a trance and all. But you don't seem to do that."
Olivia smiled, a genuine shy smile, instead of the smirks and grimaces she'd been using. "It's like… It's like a dream that you had when you were a kid, that you suddenly remember. It's a constant feeling of déjà vu, where you think about something you're doing and you suddenly say, 'Hey, I know how this is going to turn out.' It's like you've lived your life a thousand times over, and now know every detail that has ever happened to you."
"Do you know if Voldemort will be destroyed?" he asked. "Or will he rise to power, and kill people, just like before?"
"I could know, if I wanted," Olivia said slowly. Her tone of voice should have warned him, but he didn't take heed.
"Why don't you want to know? I mean, it would be helpful to know if the entire world is going to come under an evil reign in the next few years. I wouldn't have to study so hard."
"I don't want to know," Olivia said steadily, "because it doesn't work like that. My memory is like… like a book where you can't skip ahead a few chapters. You have to read it straight through. If I wanted, I could read the whole thing ahead of time. But I don't. If I tried to see that far into the future, I would see everything that happens. Everything." She stared hard at Harry. "I could look at you and see whether you ace your final exams, whether you graduate, what job you take, who you marry, whether you're happy or not. And then I'd see how you die. And I'd try to look away, and you'd still be alive, but all I could think about is how you were going to die, and I couldn't prevent it. I'd try to run away, but then I'd see someone else, and the first thing I'd think of is 'How do they die?' It then becomes an obsession, because I'd start to look at everyone and see only death. All I'd be able to do is look at someone and see them in pain, dying." She shook her head, hard. "It happened before to me. A death obsession isn't very nice. Not like that."
"Well, gee, I feel like slitting my wrists now," Ron said sarcastically. "Please, Harry, stop with the stupid questions before I do."
"You won't." Olivia grinned at him.
"Won't what?"
"Slit your wrists." She giggled. "You opt for an overdose of sleeping pills."
"What?!?!" But Olivia was laughing now. It took Ron a minute to see the humor, but then he was laughing too. "Not really, right?"
"Of course not," Olivia said cheerfully.
"What time do you think it is?" Hermione asked. Nobody bothered to answer her.
"Are you sure we can't get out?" Ron asked about twenty minutes later for the twelfth time.
"I'm sure." Olivia gave her usual response, which had become just a instant reaction to Ron's voice.
Harry yawned, and stretched his arms up. "I think we should probably get some sleep if possible."
"Why, are you tired?"
"Yes," Harry admitted.
"So am I," Olivia replied, standing up. She paced for a moment, as if she didn't want to give in to the sleepiness, then sat down again next to Harry. "It's almost too bad Trait was arrested. I mean, if she hadn't been, at least we wouldn't be trapped here with nothing to do."
Nobody quite agreed with that, but everyone kept quiet, as Hermione stood and held up her wand. "I'm going to turn out the lights now, right?"
Ron and Olivia nodded, Harry waved for her to go ahead. She muttered the canceling spell, and sat down again as the room went completely dark.
Trying to ignore the rumbling in his stomach, he stretched out on the floor. He heard Olivia sigh deeply, and then he heard nothing at all.
He dreamed again.
This time, though, it wasn't the familiar dream of barely avoiding death. It wasn't the old dream of hearing Voldemort's laughter as his parents died, either.
This dream was the first non-nightmare he had had in a long, long time.
He was standing in front of a cage, like something you'd see at the zoo. Olivia was inside, wearing a long, white dress, with her hair, ten times longer than normal, in a long braid wrapped on top of her head. Harry vaguely thought that she looked like a Greek goddess from his history books.
"Let me out!" She was begging him to open the cage. And yet, there was danger all around. He couldn't let her out, because she'd get hurt. He had to protect her.
And yet, he stared around him. All around him, there were cages. He distantly saw Ron and Hermione inside cages, as well as all the other Gryffindors. In one cage he thought he saw the shimmering forms of his parents, just as he had seen them the year before, on that horrible night when he battled with Voldemort.
"Let us out!" They were all yelling at him.
"I can't let you out, you'll get hurt!" He tried to explain.
"Harry." He turned, and saw Olivia staring at him. She was older now, older than he was, and yet not very old. If his mind hadn't been clouded by the fact that he was dreaming, he would have said she was in her twenties. "Harry, let me out."
"You'll get killed!"
"Harry," Olivia said firmly. "You have to stop locking me up. You aren't alone any more." Her words stayed with him, echoing in his mind. A moment later, he reached forward, and touched the lock of her cage.
He suddenly felt free, as if he had been the one caged up, and now his locks were broken.
"Harry, you've been very brave to protect everyone. But you must remember that you aren't alone," the older Olivia was telling him. "You can protect them without locking them in cages. You can protect me, without shutting me off. I'm here to be with you." She reached out to touch his face with her long, delicate fingers.
And she shimmered away. Harry suddenly knew that he was dreaming, and that with the realization of this he would wake up. He drew his blanket closer to him, trying to stay asleep, and yet he failed, as all people do.
He kept his eyes closed, even after he was awake. He felt the warmth of his blanket on his left shoulder, and the contrasting cool winter air on his face.
Hermione must have lit the torch again, which was a pretty good idea, because it gave enough light to see by without keeping anyone awake. At least, Harry could tell that Ron was definitely not kept awake by the light; his snores would have bested even Neville's loud rumblings. Hermione too was fast asleep, one arm stretched above her head, the other arm bent so that her cheek was resting on it.
Brr. There must have been a draft somewhere in the confined building, because Harry could feel the cold winter wind licking at his face. It was a good thing he had a blanket- he could see Ron shiver in his sleep and roll o-
Wait a minute.
Harry turned back in his mind to process that train of thought again. Ron didn't have a blanket. He turned his head ever so slightly. Hermione didn't have a blanket.
He slowly and carefully turned to look to his left.
Olivia was quite comfortably curled up against him, her head resting on his shoulder and her left hand draped across his chest. And somehow in his sleep he had wrapped his arm around her, drawing her closer.
His first reaction, unconscious, was to blush furiously. His second reaction, this time meditated, was to slowly pull away his arm. He didn't want to wake Olivia: from what the two girls had explained, it didn't sound like Olivia had gotten much sleep in the past few months. And so he slowly, inch by inch, moved his arm out from under her head…
A tear ran down Olivia's cheek, and she clutched at the front of Harry's robes, trying to escape from some nightmare he couldn't see, some fear he couldn't understand…
He closed his eyes again. He'd move, but only in a minute, once the nightmare had passed. After all, she was so tired, and so was he. And the warmth was nice. And, after all, even if she wasn't who she had said she was, she was so sweet-
By the time *that* thought registered, and Harry jerked his arm away and sat straight up, Olivia was already awake and pacing restlessly, and Hermione was just beginning to yawn and stretch.
Author's Note: I was going to end it there, but then… Nah. Let's get them out of this stupid trap, so the REAL plot can begin.
He sat up, and caught Olivia's eye. She turned slightly red, and looked away immediately. So, she must have woken up before everyone else.
"Good morning," Hermione said, rubbing her eyes with her fist. She yawned again, then slowly stood up. "How's your arm?"
"Better," was Olivia's short answer. "Is Ron up yet?"
"No, I don't think so," Harry answered, assuming that the question was directed to him as Hermione had turned away to search for her wand. He walked over to Ron's prone body, and nudged the redhead with his toe. "Hey, wake up."
Ron rolled over, made a nasty face, and opened his eyes. "Damn, it wasn't a nightmare."
"You might want to get up," Olivia said, leaning over to pick up the dagger from where it still lay abandoned on the floor. "We're going to be rescued soon."
"By who?"
"I don't know," she answered. "All I can see is a large dog, and a student." She held her wand up in front of her with her right hand, and clutched the dagger hilt with her left.
"Why are you so tense?" Hermione asked. "If we're about to be rescued, and Trait has been arrested, you should be happy."
"I'm tense because I've never been wrong." She cast a sidelong glance at Harry. "Yet."
Then, very faintly, he heard a voice yell out something. A moment or two passed, then the voice sounded again.
"Olivia!"
Olivia grinned, and dropped the dagger. She held out her wand, and pointed it at the wall. "Lumos Orbis," she said softly. There wasn't any effect that Harry, could see, but Olivia looked satisfied.
"What was that?" Ron asked.
"I put a ring of light around this place," she explained. "Whoever it is should be able to see it, even if we're deep in the Forbidden Forest."
A moment later they heard the tramp of feet through the woods, and then…
"Olivia? Are you in there?"
Ron groaned in recognition of the voice: Malfoy.
"Duh I'm in here!" Olivia called nastily. "Geez you're thick sometimes. Get us out, now!"
"Us?" Even through the thick stone walls Harry could sense Malfoy's evil grin. "What, you and your imaginary friends getting lonely?"
"You idiot," Olivia snapped, "you know full well who's in here with me."
"Are you sure you aren't just schizophrenic?"
"GET US OUT!" Olivia lost her temper.
"Alright then, smart ass, how do you expect me to do that? There aren't any doors or windows."
Olivia sighed heavily. "Malfoy, just do something. Anything."
They heard something scraping against the rocks, and then…
"WHOA!" There was a thump. A moment later, "Damn it!" A few seconds later, "Did you know one of Hagrid's goddamn Skrewts was up here?"
Olivia looked like she wanted to giggle. "Of course not. Besides, it was only a baby."
A few moments later…
"The wards are packed tight around this place. I don't know how to get you out. I can't exactly blow the place up, you know."
Harry was shocked: Malfoy actually sounded apologetic!
"Listen, would you bang on the wall or something so I know where you are?" Olivia asked.
A moment later there was a slight knocking sound from the far wall. Olivia walked over there.
"C'mon, get your wands, I need your help." Then, to Malfoy, "How about 'Finite Incantatum?' That might take care of enough of the wards to let you blow a hole in the wall or something."
"Whatever, just hurry up. I'm missing breakfast to do this," he whined.
Olivia sighed again, and raised her wand. Harry and Hermione retrieved their wands and did the same: poor Ron had forgotten his wand in the school.
"Alright, now, let me see." Olivia ran her right hand along the wall as she walked around the room once. "Here." She stopped. "Right here. The wards have a bit of a weak spot."
"Hurry it up, will you?" Malfoy's voice came again.
Olivia rolled her eyes. "Are you guys ready?"
Harry nodded, and lifted his wand so that it was just barely touching Olivia's. Hermione did the same.
"Finite Incantatum!" The three of them called at once.
There was a sound like nails scraping a chalkboard, loud and long, echoing through Harry's bones. It jolted him so badly that he almost pulled away from the spell, but a moment later…
Malfoy called out a spell- what it was, Harry couldn't tell above the shrieking in his head.
A moment later, something exploded, and the room went black.
Harry woke up, to feel something cold and wet slowly dripping onto his forehead, dribbling down his nose and onto his chin, then dropping off again as another drop hit him, starting the process all over again.
He opened his eyes to see a pair of silvery-gray eyes staring back at him.
"Ah!" He sat straight up, bowling Malfoy over, and tried to stand, before he realized that his right leg was trapped under a large pile of rocks and wood. It was raining gently, which explained the dripping water. He stared at Malfoy kneeling in the mud and debris, who was scowling back at him.
"What happened?" Harry asked as he groped around for his glasses. They were lying on the ground beside him; he straightened them out as best he could and slipped them on, clearing up the scene in his eyes.
"The wards came down too fast," Malfoy said, standing and brushing his robes off. "Instead of blowing a hole in the wall, we blew it up."
"Blew what up?"
"Everything." Malfoy gave him a nasty smile. "Neatest thing I've ever seen."
Harry turned his head to stare around him. Olivia and Hermione were watching Ron with worry in their eyes: his red hair was also stained with scarlet from a cut just above his left eye.
Olivia stood up, and walked over to Malfoy, dynamite in her glare. "Y-y-you IDIOT!" she yelled angrily. The next second, she was hugging Malfoy with all of her might.
Harry watched a bit jealously as a very confused Malfoy patted her on the back. She let go of him, and turned to sit down next to Harry.
"We had better get back to the castle and explain what's going on to McGonagall and Fudge."
The end of the year came too quickly for Harry. Dumbledore, the newly reinstated Headmaster, had immediately picked out and locked away the several other Death Eaters that had snuck into Hogwarts. Hagrid was soon back as teacher of Care of Magical Creatures. And not only that, but Harry did decently on his O.W.L.'s.
And so life was back to normal. Until the day came to leave.
Olivia rode with the three of them on the train back to King's Cross Station. They tried to talk, but all four of them were really sad about having to leave.
Especially Harry. He stared at Olivia's blue eyes, and kept mentally berating himself over and over for ever having doubted her, for ever not including her as a good friend. Now their time together was up, and she'd be going back to work for the Ministry of Magic, while he returned to the Durselys.
Finally, as they got off the train, Harry turned to say goodbye.
"I guess this is goodbye," he tried to say, but Olivia stopped him.
"Not really. Just, see you next year." She smiled at him.
Something happened at that moment, that neither Olivia nor Harry would ever be able to explain. Neither could tell who started it afterwards. But the next minute, Harry had leaned forward and kissed Olivia on the lips.
She blushed and grinned at him, as she stepped backwards back onto the train. Ron was staring slack-jawed, while Hermione couldn't stop giggling.
"See you next year?" Harry asked.
"Oh yeah, definitely." Olivia said.
The train gave off a loud whistle.
"But wait a minute!" Harry suddenly realized something. "Dumbledore's back at Hogwarts! Are you still going to be a student?"
The train jerked, and Olivia stared at Harry over the top of her glasses, smiling a secret smile.
"No," she said as the train started to slowly pull out of the station, "I'm going to be a teacher."
And she stepped back into the compartment as the train slowly began its journey back to Hogwarts.
AN: Hey! End of PART ONE! Don't worry, there is a whole 'nother plot line coming up! Stay tuned for the next chapter!