Chapter 13:

Chapter 13: Close Encounter

It was better than Harry had expected, although the scene was very disturbing. In the great hall several Death Eaters were causing havoc, up turning tables and causing mayhem. It seemed that Voldemort was more interested in the Halls of the Dead than the school. Most of the teachers had the situation under control. Before long the last death eater was stunned, and the teachers wiped their brows and took a rest.
"We should uncover some of these people" McGonagall said "Harry, Hermoine, Ron go up to your dormitories" Harry Ron and Hermoine trooped out of the hall with one last glance at Sirius and Remus.
"We'll be with you in a minute" Sirius said and turned to a stunned Death Eater.
As they were half way along the corridor they began to speak
"That was so scary" Hermoine said, "I wonder what they're going to do with Hogwarts now? If all of the dark forces can get in" She shivered
"Wonder what Moony's going to do about his transformation now" Harry said. He decided not to say anything about the day's events.
"I Dunno I don't think he'll let us out with him now" Ron said "Hey you still have the meeting with Professor McGonagall tonight Harry"
"Oh Yeah" Harry said, he had completely forgotten about the meeting he was supposed to have. As they reached the Common Room entrance Hermoine said the password
'Codswollop' and the Portrait of the Fat Lady leaned forward to open the door. As the group came in the common room everything went a deadly quiet, but as a few seconds passed everyone burst into chatter all at once.
"Hermoine, Ron, Harry!" Lavender squealed as she pushed her way through the crowd of people.
"You won't believe the rumors going round! And where have you been, and have you heard what's been happening?" Ron stared at her.
"Stop babbling" He said and Lavender scowled.
"Oh anyway" Harry said, so they launched into the story about what had happened and about the Halls of the Dead, and Voldemort and everything by the end of the story everyone was listening in silence.
"That's totally cool Harry!" George said
"Why couldn't you have brought us along!" Cried Fred. Harry didn't think that this was some 'Excellent Adventure' That the twins thought, but he didn't say anything.
"Aww" Said George "Is ickle Harrykins all miserable? Never mind, Harrykins have a toffee"
"I've had too much experience with your food thanks" Harry said
"Oh C'mon" Fred piped in "It'll cheer you up!"
"No!" Harry said, "Anyway are you ready for our first Quidditch game?"
"No!" Said both the twins at once "We don't even have a keeper yet! Who was the best in the trails Harry?"
"Oh yes!" Harry said, "I forgot!" He cleared his throat and said loudly "Can I have your attention please?" Everyone went silent all most at once.
"I would like you to meet our new Keeper! Ron Weasley!" Ron looked shocked
"Harry you idiot I was no good!" Harry grinned and said; "You really think so?"
At that moment Professor McGonagall came in.
"Will all of you follow me please! I've come to take you to dinner!" Silently the pupils trooped out of the common room; there feet clanging against the corridor floor, sighing deeply at the thought of all the places they would be escorted to in the future. Harry remembered back to the times of the Chamber of Secrets and shuddered. At least there wasn't a basilisk around now, though, although he'd rather have faced the Basilisk again without Fawkes to stop Voldemort coming back, to stop all the havoc.
After a totally uneventful trip to the hall Harry sat down in his usual seat and took the bowl of Casserole Hermoine handed him, thinking what Dumbledore could have left him in his office. It was probably something to do with his parents. Most of the other people around him were talking about the new Quidditch season. No one had seen Ron play, and there were rumors going round about 'favoritism'
Towards the end of dinner Professor McGonagall beckoned Harry over to her, Sirius and Remus. They both looked rather disgruntled, Harry didn't know whether this was because Harry, Ron and Hermoine couldn't go out tonight or whether it was to do with picking up the things from Dumbledore's office.
"I don't particularly like doing this" Sirius said "Isn't it like looting dead people?"
"Dumbledore told us to take them" McGonagall said, "I think that's alright" They reached the stone gargoyle that was the entrance to Dumbledore's office.
"Anti-Voldemort" Minerva said the gargoyle stood back, and she pushed the door open. Everything looked normal. The sliding staircase was sliding perfectly upstairs.
"This should be my office now," Professor McGonagall said. Harry saw her shudder. He followed the others on to the staircase. The ride seemed to take longer than usual, and Harry felt a rather gloomy atmosphere around himself, it was obvious to Harry that, like him, the three Professors were remembering Albus Dumbledore.
Yes, thought Harry. He remembered Dumbledore's speech at the Triwizard tournament.
'Remember Cedric' Harry remembered these words very well.
'Remember Dumbledore' He thought to himself.
They reached the top of the stairs and Sirius pushed the doors open. It was rather odd. Everything was covered in very thick dust. Dust didn't pick up that quick did it? Maybe it was something to do with Dumbledore's death. The only thing that wasn't covered in dust was a very large chest in the right hand corner of the office. It had a sign next to it saying 'Items to Inherit' suddenly something flashed past Harry. The something then settled on Harry's shoulder.
"Hello Fawkes" Harry said. The Phoenix piped up a little song and Harry laughed weakly.
"You go first, Harry" Professor McGonagall said. Harry walked over to the chest and opened it. It seemed Very light weight. Then something very strange happened. The whole world disappeared. It was replaced by purple void.
"Good Evening" Came a voice behind Harry. He swirled around to see none other than Dumbledore himself.
"Professor!" Harry shouted. Dumbledore chuckled "Yes it's me, Harry now, I believe I have some things for you"
Harry nodded his mouth slightly open at the site of the Headmaster up and about.
"Well, first you need these" Dumbledore past two large cardboard boxes to Harry. They were so big that Harry couldn't carry them all, so he used a shrinking charm to de-size them. "These contain all the things that were took out of the House after your parents died, a lot of the things were totally destroyed, but these were salvaged" Harry nodded. He wanted to look at some of the things now, but he resisted the urge.
"Next this is for you" He handed a watch to Harry. "This was also your fathers. It can do almost anything you want it to if you ask it nicely" Harry smiled and pocketed it.
"And this is probably the most valuable item" Dumbledore next pulled out a golden, long sword, it was glittering and a picture of a phoenix was engraved upon the hilt. Two green emeralds sparkled towards the end of the blade. "This is the Sword of Hogwarts" He passed it to Harry, who gasped and looked at the sword in wonder. "It is also known to people as 'the mystery of Hogwarts' as it's past is shrouded in mystery. Most People think the whole thing is just a Legend" He watched Harry swirl the sword around for a bit before launching into the Story.

"Long ago, before Gryffindor and Slytherin fell out with each other the Houses worked in complete harmony. Lots and Lots of people heard about Hogwarts and thought it was the best school ever, this is why many people wanted to take it over and make it into a school for their needs. Very soon a Dark Wizard named Rassafrassin rallied his forces and began attacking the school. With only 50 people in the school against 350 fully trained Wizards the battle was a bit one-sided. This is why the founders made to Sword of Hogwarts; it protects everything good for miles around and seems to kill everything evil straight away. From that day fourth the school was protected, apart from Voldemort's power, which is too strong. But if you single that power, Harry, the power of the sword is breath taking."

"So you're giving it to me?" Asked Harry apprehensively "It's wasted on me!"
"Oh I think you'll find out it isn't in time" Dumbledore replied, his eyes twinkling.
"So, is that all, sir?" Asked Harry
"Yes" Dumbledore said "But you'll have 1 more surprise soon" Harry nodded, wondering what the 'surprise' was but he didn't ask.
"So long for now, Harry"
"Bye, Sir" Suddenly, the world seemed to re-appear around Harry, and He saw Sirius, Remus, and McGonagall looking anxious.
"What happened?" Asked Remus. He looked quite interested.
"He gave me these" Harry said. He showed the group the bow full of his parent's stuff, the watch ('I remember this!' Sirius said 'We had hours of fun with it, didn't we Moony?') And finally he showed them the sheathed sword. They all gasped and asked to look at it properly, mind you when Harry unsheathed the sword it gave a strange feeling. A strange power surged through him, it was almost like the karmerkarmayka spell, and it gave Harry an odd feeling of comfort.
"ALBUS!" McGonagall suddenly shrieked.
"Wha, huh?" Harry asked, he twirled around and also gasped "Professor!"
Albus Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling as ever, was standing in the entrance of his office, his beard draping all the way to the ground.
"Hello there" Albus said
"Um, Hi" Sirius said, And Dumbledore chuckled
"Harry, I must thank you for saving me," Dumbledore said
"But" Harry gasped "I didn't do anything!" Dumbledore chuckled again.
"Oh, I think you did. Only a person of true power could have rescued me with that sword"
Harry couldn't particularly be able to speak any more, so he sat down. Dumbledore smiled, and sat in his usual seat. Harry noticed that all the dust on the desk and furniture was gone. The office looked cleaner than usual. Fawkes flew from Harry's shoulder onto Dumbledore's out stretched arm. Still smiling, he began to stroke it.
"Harry, I will see you tomorrow at 6:00pm, you can bring along Ron and Hermoine if you like, But now I think you should be off to bed. I'll continue with Professor Black, Lupin and McGonagall now" Harry nodded, bade goodbye and set off for the Gryffindor common room. Closing the door behind him, he wondered whether all this was just a dream. He hoped it wasn't, but in all his lessons teachers had said that you could not bring dead people back to life. Well, Dumbledore wasn't just a normal person. He always had his ways.