The weeks passed and soon it was a week before Halloween and the students first Hogsmeade weekend

Chapter Nine – Death of a Wizard

The weeks passed and soon it was a week before Halloween and the students first Hogsmeade weekend. Secretly, Cho and Harry had been going down to Hogsmeade almost every weekend thanks to Cho's pass. They were becoming very close and were soon almost to the level of Ron and Hermione at showing their intimacy.

Cho had soon convinced Harry to stop wearing his glasses all together. Now, the only time he ever wore them was to go down to visit Sirius. Speaking of Sirius, he and Harry had one of the funniest conversations imaginable. Harry had gone down to visit him one day towards the end of September and Harry began to tell him about Cho.

"Err, Harry. I suppose it's about time we had a little talk."

"Sirius, why are you acting so serious?"

"Well, since I'm your guardian I assume that it is my duty to talk to you about women. Harry do you know about protection?"

"From women? I think I could take Cho in a fight if that's what you're talking about." Harry knew perfectly well what Sirius was talking about but decided to have a little fun.

"You see, when two people get together and start to become intimate certain precautions have to be taken."

"Sirius, please stop. I know about these things, we had to take a health class back when I was at Muggle school."

Sirius seemed very relieved. "You did? Good, wizards don't usually talk about it till late in life and then it is usually too late."

"Well, I appreciate the effort. Speaking of women, when was the last time you were with one?"

"I don't think that I'm going to answer that if that's okay with you."

Harry tried to lay the guilt trip on him. "Fine, and I thought we were bonding here. If you don't feel comfortable talking with me then maybe I should just go back up to school. Maybe have some unprotected sex with Cho."

"Funny Harry, if it's really important to you then I'll tell you. The last time I was with a woman was a few months before going to Azkaban."

"Really, it's been that long?"

"Hey, when you're one of the most wanted wizards alive it's kind of hard to get a date."

"Depressing, I'll let it drop."

That was Harry and Sirius' conversation about women. One boy who learned it all while in school and a wizard that hasn't been with a woman in fifteen years. (A/N: Wasn't that interesting, I know.)

Other parts of Harry's life were also progressing besides his relationship. Although he wasn't seeing them as often as over the summer he was still spending a lot of time with the Delacour sisters. Because of a special request Harry was allowed to study with the Ravenclaw's in their common room. Thanks to this he was able to spend more time with Cho, Fleur, and Gabrielle. The four of them got along great and this made Harry very happy. Ron and Hermione were sneaking away more often. He rarely saw them apart aside from the time when the Gryffindors were practicing Quidditch.

The season was starting in a month and Harry felt that the team was coming along nicely. His Chasers were preparing Ron for the upcoming season and Ron was doing the same for them. They never had to practice against someone so big and quick before and it only made them train harder to try and get the Quaffle past him. The twins were slacking off a bit during the practice because of their now increasing business. They signed a deal with Zonko's and were now a producing some of their joke items.

Aside from his friends and Quidditch Harry still had his class work. Snape wasn't quite the same after their first lesson. For the most part he just let Harry do whatever he wanted and he just supervised. Harry came up with many new potions but for the most part they just went to waste. Snape would examine it, criticize it, then put it on a shelf in his office.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was coming along as well. He soon knew all of the Unforgivable Curses. He was forced to practice on engorged insects and winced every time he had to use the spells. He and Mrs. Figg came up with an idea when they were working together. Mrs. Figg brought up the idea of trying to use a shield charm against the curses.

"But the shield charm is too weak." Replied Harry.

"True, but I think you can find a way around it." Said Mrs. Figg.

"How?"

"The shield charm in its true form will block almost any low level spell. I have a theory that you can make a special shield just for certain spells."

"How would you do that?"

"By imbuing the shield with an essence of the spell itself. It's a long shot but it just may work."

With this theory they began to practice with various spells, all the while working up to the killing curse.

Transfiguration was also coming along nicely. Harry was soon able to transform into various beasts of the animal kingdom. His proudest moment was when he became a Falcon. After that day he took whatever free time he could flying through the air as the bird.

The Monday before the big Halloween trip to Hogsmeade was when he received his first scare of the year. It was at breakfast that morning that a rather menacing looking owl dropped off a letter before Harry. Harry opened the letter and his jaw nearly dropped. Hermione picked up the letter and took a look at what had spooked Harry.

Potter:

The time is coming. Neither you nor your friends are safe. Be ready for death. Be ready for pain. The Dark Lord has risen and he's coming for you.

An Enemy

"Harry, surely this is one of the Slytherin's idea of a joke." Remarked Hermione.

"You don't think they want me dead too? The whole lot of them have been getting into fights all year. I didn't think it possible but they actually have negative house points."

"Well, if it is one of them then we should go to Dumbledore." Said Hermione.

"Come on, I'm sure it's probably just someone trying to scare him." Said Ron.

"Ron, I'm your girlfriend and you are supposed to agree with me."

"Well, you thought it wasn't real too."

"I thought about it, and I think we should take it as being serious." Said Hermione.

"It's okay Hermione, I think I'm big enough to take care of myself. Besides, nobody would try anything with Dumbledore around."

"You'll never change." Huffed Hermione.

The rest of the week continued without much incident. Harry continued to work on his private lessons with the professors. He wasn't making any progress in Potions, Snape seemed rather strange to Harry. The shield charm was coming along nicely, he was soon able to imbue the shield with various spells and was able to deflect them. However, he didn't want to risk testing it with the killing curse without more practice.

Snape wasn't the only professor behaving strangely. McGonagall seemed both giddy and sad at the same time if it is possible. Just this week she helped Harry to become almost an exact copy of her Animagi form. The only difference being their markings.

Soon it was time to go to Hogsmeade. Fleur agreed to stay back with Gabrielle so she wouldn't feel so depressed. Ron and Hermione agreed to meet Harry and Cho at the Three Broomsticks for some Butterbeers after a while. Harry and Cho seized the opportunity of their alone time by going up to the Shrieking Shack. During one of their weekly visits Harry had convinced Cho that there was nothing dangerous about the house and that it would be safe for them to use as a quiet place to get away from people. For the most part, they just used the privacy to make out.

"Where are you going?" Asked Cho.

"I think I dropped my glasses on the road, go ahead and I'll meet you there." Replied Harry.

Harry made his way down the road towards where he was sure he last felt his glasses in his pocket. He began to search around but was not having any luck. However, his search soon ended. Somebody was coming up behind Harry, he had heard a twig snap behind him.

"Is that you Cho?" Asked Harry.

"No, but she's next." This made Harry jump around.

"It's you!" Gasped Harry.

Standing before Harry was a man he had seen before. The first time Harry saw him he was working for the Ministry. He had been sent to kill a Hippogriff named Buckbeak. The second time Harry saw him was just a few months ago. He was standing among his fellow Death Eaters about to kill the young boy. Yes, it was Avery that had Harry cornered.

"Surprised to see me?" Asked Avery.

"What do you want?"

"Why, I'm your executioner. Surely you've figured out that much."

At that moment Avery began to raise his wand. Harry knew what was coming, Avada Kedavra. Mostly relying on instinct Harry could feel himself going for his own wand. Just as Avery sent off his spell Harry had just raised his shield. They had never tested it on the killing curse before and Harry didn't know if he would survive.

All doubt was put to rest after a second. Harry opened his eyes when he realized he wasn't dead. However, lying in a heap on the ground was the body of Avery. The shield charm had deflected the curse back at its castor.

Harry was quite relieved until he heard a voice yelling. "Murderer! Murderer!"

Coming up the street was a group of wizards led by a very distraught witch. Harry was about to say that he was alright but he soon realized that they were talking about him. A second later a group of Auror's surrounded him but still being in shock, he didn't have time to react.

Stupefy

Harry awoke and found himself in a room that looked like none he had ever seen. There were no lights yet it was bright in the room. There was no window but he could smell the outdoors. The ground appeared to be grass and he even saw a cricket moving through the blades. Where the hell was he?

Harry got up and walked over to the wall. Putting his hand to the material sent a shock through his arm. He jumped back a few feet and landed on his back. Harry knew that this wasn't a normal room and decided to wait to find out what was going on.

After a few hours Harry got impatient. He decided that if he couldn't touch the wall then he would just apparate through. He thought of the Three Broomsticks main room and was surprised to see that he didn't move. The room must be protected like Hogwarts.

Finally, after another long while the room began to melt away. Harry saw that around where he had just been were ten wizards all with their wands drawn. Much to his surprise, he was still where he had been when Avery had attacked him.

"Harry, stay where you are."

Harry turned around and saw that it was Cornelius Fudge talking to him.

"Uh, what's going on here?" Asked Harry.

"We detained you until we could figure out for sure what happened here today."

"Where's Cho, is she alright?" Asked Harry.

"She's fine, but I don't think you should be worrying about her right now. Harry, you just killed a man." Replied Fudge.

"I only defended myself."

"If you were defending yourself then why did you kill him?"

"It was a counter-curse and I guess it rebounded on him."

"I'm sorry Harry, the only witness we have saw the curse come from you. We have to bring you up on charges on murder."

"What!?"

"We'll be bringing you to London to face a court of your peers. If you're innocent then nothing will happen and I hope that you will do nothing to make this worse."

"How could it get any worse?"

"All I'm saying is that the Auror's are instructed to kill if you make a move."

Harry was in shock, he had nearly been killed earlier and now he was being brought up on charges. All he could do was to nod his head.

"I know you can apparate Harry, are you willing to apparate to Diagon Alley or do we have to take you by force?" Asked Fudge.

"I'll go, just tell my friends what happened alright?"

"I'll do that, I'm sorry about this Harry."

With that the large group all disapparated to London for Harry's trial.

A/N I know the updates are few and far between but I don't have as much time. Just be patient and they'll come.