Harry Potter and the Dark Knight - Chapter 6 - The Meeting
Disclaimer: Wha? Hey, what are you guys doing here? What? The IRS? But I didn't steal Harry Potter, honest! Really! I don't own Harry Potter at all! JK Rowling owns'em all! What? I never said I owned them! Go away! *The men leave* Whew! *Wipes sweat off of forehead* Thank God they're gone. On with the story!
The School had the rest of the day off. Professor Snape's seizure was old news within the hour, and Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the deserted Gryffindor common room. Kaori had not yet come up to join them. Harry and Ron were playing chess, while Hermione secluded herself in her books.
"Checkmate," Ron announced proudly as he moved a bishop to corner Harry's king.
"Damn," Harry cursed. "Why do you have to be so good at this? I haven't beaten you once in the past five years! It's not fair," Harry pouted.
"Well, Harry, maybe if you practiced more, you wouldn't lose all the time," Hermione interrupted from her corner. "Here, move over," she told them as she got up from the chair and sat next to Harry. He scooted over to make room for the brunette.
Hermione studied the intricate board carefully, and after a few seconds, her eyes lit up. "I have it!" she exclaimed as she moved Ron's bishop back to where it was and took one of Harry's rooks. She moved it to the right five spaces. "Checkmate," she told Ron. Ron looked at her incredulously as he shrugged. Harry laughed out loud.
"You mean that was all I had to do? Well, that was easy," he said as he put his arm around Hermione's shoulder, much to Ron's annoyance. He went red, and scrunched his nose in disgust. He would have let it slide; they had been best friends for five years now, it was perfectly normal for them to touch each other once in a while. But she was still his girlfriend.
"Harry, get your own girlfriend. Ask Cho out or something," Ron said jealously. Harry and Hermione were taken aback.
"Really Ron, you don't have to get jealous just because Harry touches me. For Christ's sake Ron," Hermione retorted.
"Besides," Harry said sneakily. "I have someone else in mind," he said secretively. Ron and Hermione both leaned in closer to Harry.
"Who is it, Harry?" Ron asked interestedly. "Come on, you can tell us! We're your best friends!"
"Yeah, Harry," Hermione said authoritatively. "You have to tell us!"
Harry backed away from both of them. "Listen, I'll tell you when I want to. Until then, you'll just have to guess," he said just as Kaori swung the portrait door open and barged in.
"Hey, guys," she said as she went over to them and sat down. "What's up?"
Ron and Hermione looked at each other, nodded, and both got up to leave at the same time. Harry looked at them with bulging eyes. "Where are you going?" he asked them, perplexed.
"Oh, nowhere," Ron answered him. "Just, uh, to the library. Remember, Herms, we were supposed to study?"
"Of course! Harry, we have to be going now," she said hurriedly. Ron grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the portrait.
"We'll be seeing you, then," Ron said as he opened the wall. Kaori suddenly noticed something.
"Uh, Herms? Ron? Why are you going to the library without your books?" she asked them, truly confused at that point.
"Oh, of course! The books! How could we forget!" Hermione said as she ran out of Ron's clutches and moved over to where her books were lain. "We'll be going now," she said, exasperated as she pushed Ron out of the portrait hole and closed it. Harry and Kaori stared at the hole they had just gone through, and laughed.
"What was their deal?" Kaori asked through a flurry of giggles. Harry could barely answer her, he was laughing so hard.
"I actually have no idea," he replied. When they had finished laughing, Kaori pulled up a chair across from Harry and picked up the chess pieces Ron was using.
"You want to play?" she asked him. Harry looked at them, disgustedly.
"No way. Ron beat me like a thousand times. I'm not in the mood for more losing," he said as he took his pieces and put them away. Kaori shrugged, and put Ron's away as well. "So," Harry said, bringing up a new subject. "What happened to Snape?"
"Oh, I brought him to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey practically had a fit. Something about teachers who don't take care of themselves properly. She pushed me out a few seconds later. It would have been pretty funny if Snape wasn't there because of Voldemort." Harry looked up at her, startled.
"You said his name," Harry stated, shock and astonishment lining the tones of his voice. She dismissed it with a wave of her hand.
"If you're going to be so afraid of him as that you won't even say his name, you're already done for," she replied calmly. "Not that I'm planning on running up to him and demanding a duel. I'm not that brave," she laughed coyly. He laughed back, as she proceeded to speak. "My father has a saying. 'It's natural to be afraid. But letting people know is the thing that'll kill you.' It's a good rule of thumb. If your enemy knows you're afraid of him, he's going to take advantage of that. You'll be done from the start." Harry's eyes softened.
"You seem like you lived a hard life." Kaori looked down uncomfortably.
"It hasn't been easy. My family wasn't exactly normal. My father was - an incredible man. He was extremely gifted at magic. He made use of those talents in rather - unconventional ways. Didn't like being the same. So we traveled the world. Together, that is. My mother died when I was very young. I don't' really remember her. I get these visions sometimes. When I dream. They're so real most of the time. Other times, I really don't know what to make of them. They're just these images, jumbled into one big picture. Sometimes, I think she's trying to tell me something, you know? It's weird."
Harry moved his chair so that he was next to her. "Listen, maybe she is trying to tell you something. I mean, whenever I have dreams, they're usually about Voldemort, and they always mean something. Maybe you're mom is trying to warn you of something. You never know," he offered. She sighed loudly.
"Sometimes, I don't know what to think anymore." He put an arm around her shoulder.
"Hey, you want to go for a walk around the lake?" he asked her hopefully. She shook her head thoughtfully.
"Nah. I think I'll just hang around here for a while," she replied.
"Suit yourself," Harry said, trying unsuccessfully to hide his disappointment. Kaori looked at him strangely. "What?" he asked.
"Nothing. I think I will take that walk, actually," she told him, smiling.
"Well then, I'll have to accompany you then," he said jovially as he took her arm and walked her to the portrait door.
"To the lake?" she asked.
"To the lake," he replied as they started walking.
****
Meanwhile, two observers were watching them from the shadows.
"This is perfect," Ron whispered to Hermione. She giggled childishly.
"Well, of course it is. I thought of it, if you don't remember," Hermione said, acting mock stuck-up.
"You? If I can recall, it was me who came up with the brilliant idea that we had to go to the library, Hermie," Ron said conceitedly.
"If you say so, Ronny-kins," Hermione said, a smile starting to grace her lips. Ron's ears went red, and he turned to her angrily.
"DO NOT CALL ME THAT!!!!" Ron said agitatedly. Hermione put her index finger on his cheek. He froze, watching her finger trace his cheekbone.
"I like calling you that, though. It's cute for you. I like the way it sounds. Ronny-kins," she said, trying it out. "Don't you like the way it sounds?" Ron pulled away from her, and shook his head fiercely.
"No, I don't, so don't call me Ronny-kins," he said firmly. Hermione backed away, disappointed.
"Fine. Now, where did those two go?" Hermione asked. Ron looked around them. His eyebrows furrowed confusedly.
"I don't know. Did you hear where they were going?" he asked her. Her jaw dropped a little, as she looked at him shocked.
"Don't tell me we went to all that trouble and we can't even follow them to see what they're doing! Darn! Oh, now what are we going to do?" she pouted, crossing her arms around her chest. Ron walked up to her and uncrossed them gently and put them around his neck.
"I can think of something we can do," he grinned as he pulled her inside the common room.
((A/N: I'll leave you to figure out what they're going to do *ah-hem*))
****
"So Harry, what's it like living with muggles?" Kaori asked him as they circled the lake. He raised an eyebrow at her, and grinned.
"How do you think it is?" he replied on the verge of laughing. "You should see Aunt Petunia. 'Dudley-kins, mommy's got a nice present for you. Dudley- kins, eat your dinner so you can get even fatter then you are now,'" he said, imitating his aunt.
"That bad, huh?" she said. "I never had to live with muggles. You could say my father was rather eccentric about purity of blood. Didn't like muggles at all. He was never open-minded about things like that."
"That's a shame. They have good qualities, some of them. They're just like wizards. You find the nice ones, and then there are the ones who aren't so nice. It's a universal thing," Harry stated.
"I don't really like my father much. Sometimes, in my dreams, I see him killing people. Not just any people, though. There's a man that looks just like him. Could've been his twin. I see him killing him. It's weird. Whenever I ask him what happened to his brother, he never answers me. And then I found out that father was a twin. That was the thing that freaked me out. I mean, not just killing your brother, but your own twin."
"You really think he killed him?" Harry asked, concerned.
"I don't know. There's no evidence, so I can't exactly go to someone, and say, 'Oh yeah, my father killed his own twin, and I want to go to court because of it, but I really have no proof at all that he did. But I saw him kill him in my dream, so that counts for something.' That would work really well," she said sarcastically. "Listen Harry," she said tuning to him. "Can we please talk about something else for a while? It's a beautiful day. Let's talk about something nice, alright?"
"All right. What do you think of the new DADA teacher?" Harry asked her lightly.
"I don't like him at all," she said, laughing.
"Really?" Harry said, going along with her joking manner. "That's strange. Most of the girls can be seen drooling over him in the hallways. Even Hermione is rather fond of his looks," he said jovially.
"Well, I'm not Hermione now, am I?" she said, turning to him, He looked straight into her eyes. There was something there, something beyond what he had seen in her before. Something that looked like guilt. Abruptly, a clap of thunder sounded in the distance. Kaori broke away from his gaze and looked towards the sky. "Well, that's funny," she said. "When did those rain clouds appear?" Indeed, the sky was lined with the most unnatural kind of rain clouds Harry had even seen. Harry shrugged his shoulders in confusion.
"I don't know, but if we don't want to get drenched, I suggest that we head inside right now," he replied as wet droplets of rain started to graze his nose. Kaori giggled, as she wiped the water off his face.
"All right then. Let's go," she said as they headed inside. Little did they know that they were being watched by a short bald man named Peter Pettigrew.
****
"Shhh," Kaori said softly to Harry as they opened the portrait wall quietly to a rather embarrassing scene. Ron and Hermione were on the couch in rather comfortable positions. They didn't even notice Harry and Kaori were there until they noticed that they were drenched with water from head to toe, resulting from Kaori's pocket rain cloud that she hid in her robes. Harry and Kaori were laughing their socks off, while Ron and Hermione were sitting there, drenched and blushing.
"We uh-"
"We were just uh-"
They looked at each other for an answer. "Oh, save it," Kaori said to them. "Who do you think we are, your parents? Making out isn't anything new to us, you know," she moaned. "Anyways, dinner's in a few minutes, so we should be heading down to the great hall right about now," she said as she motioned them to follow her out of the common room. Harry followed her, as did a very embarrassed looking Ron and Hermione.
****
"Harry? You up?" Ron asked Harry in the darkness of their room.
"Yeah. I was just about to leave," he replied back to his best friend as he crawled silently out of bed and grabbed his invisibility cloak from under his pillow.
"Be careful," Ron whispered as Harry slipped out into the common room.
****
Harry climbed stealthily up the stairs towards the portrait of the four founders: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. The portrait was enormous; he wondered why he had never seen it before. Maybe he wasn't meant to see it. Or maybe it had just appeared overnight. Whatever the reason, he climbed up to the portrait and hissed in Parseltongue, "Open up," to the picture of Salazar Slytherin.
Nothing happened. Harry scrunched his nose in confusion. Abruptly, there was a soft hissing nose, like a valve that hadn't been opened in a long time was being moved. Then, where the four founders had stood, four identical doors appeared. Harry gave it a double take, and stared at the four doors. *Which one should I open? * He thought. *The person in the letter never said anything about doors. Great. * Suddenly, a low crying emerged from the room where Godric Gryffindor had once posed. It matured into a beautiful melody, one of nobility and elegance. It was the voice of a Phoenix. It filled Harry's very existence, swallowing him up in its melody.
Harry breathed in rigidly, unable to control his feet as they moved towards the door where Gryffindor had stood. His hand rose to the handle of the door; his fingers clutched around the knob. Slowly, he turned the handle, and opened the door to another set of staircases. Harry sighed as he regained his composure; it was back to what the letter had said. Slowly, he climbed staircase after staircase; the flights seemed to be endless. All the while, the song of the phoenix grew louder, until it was all Harry could hear. Finally, he reached the top of the stairs, and gazed upon a sight unfathomable to him.
It was a phoenix, shrouded in light, its wings flailing boldly in the light in manifested. It cried out to Harry as it saw him, and landed next to him. Harry studied the beautiful creature intently, afraid to touch it, but also scared that it would go away if he didn't. It glowed golden, magical sparks emitting from its body. Its feathers were a deep, crimson red, with gold lining the tips of its wings. The phoenix's head was tiny, but strong, and it held its head proudly. It's eyes were the colour of emeralds, glimmering brightly in its own radiance.
Harry held out one trembling hand to the phoenix. He quivered at the sight of such raw beauty and power as he gently touched the forehead of the phoenix. He started to shake violently, and pulled his hand back.
{No,} the phoenix's "voice" resonated in his head. {You will not be harmed.} Harry started at the phoenix.
{You can talk to me?} he asked the creature thorough his mind. The phoenix nodded its small head.
{Yes. Do not be afraid, young Potter. I am here to help you. I am the very essence of Godric Gryffindor, reincarnated. You are in need of much help, am I wrong?}
Harry shook his head. {Yes. Lord Voldemort has come back to power. He is - too powerful, I think even for Professor Dumbledore. I don't know what will happen-}
{And what of you, young Potter? Are you that faithless that you think you have no chance against the dark lord?}
Harry looked at the phoenix, and frowned. {I am not as strong a wizard as Professor Dumbledore. If Dumbledore couldn't-}
{But you contradict yourself, Harry. You have proven yourself many times against the dark lord, and yet you are still bent on thinking that you are inferior to him. Why do you think this, may I ask?}
Harry sighed deeply, and shook his head at the phoenix. {I just don't think I can. Wouldn't I have beaten him before if I could? I just don't think I'm strong enough.} Harry looked distraught at the phoenix.
{Harry, do you know where you are?} the phoenix asked him. Harry looked at him curiously, and shook his head.
{I don't believe I do,} Harry answered honestly.
The phoenix tuned towards the back of the room and nodded to two paintings on the wall over a fireplace. One of them, the one on top, was a picture of Godric Gryffindor. And the one below it was a picture of Harry.
{There. That's me. And look under it. That's you, Harry. You are my heir, by blood. The same blood that ran in my veins also runs in yours. Now do you still think that you are unable to combat the Dark Lord and defeat him?} Harry looked at the portraits in shock, his mouth gaping open.
{But how - how?}
{Harry, accept it. You are my heir. And that also means that the power that once enveloped myself also envelopes you. You do have the power to defeat him.}
Slowly, Harry nodded in resignation. {What do you want me to call you?} he stammered out.
{Godric. Just Godric. Now Harry, I promised you a gift, didn't I?} Harry nodded jerkily, as Godric placed a wing on Harry's chest. {All right. Now, close your eyes,} Godric said as Harry felt a sudden surge in his body. Everything was moving faster; his molecules felt as if they would burst. A golden light surrounded him and Godric, and it swirled around the two of them. Harry thought he would scream, but no sound would come out of his mouth. Suddenly, it stopped. All of it just stopped.
{Godric? What happened?} Harry asked the phoenix.
{You now have absorbed my power. You now have the use of the full extent of my magical power. At least now the playing field is quite even.} Godric replied.
{What do you mean, 'quite even?'} Harry asked Godric.
{Well, you didn't think that the Dark Lord got his power just from his own strengths, did you? No, he is the heir of Salazar Slytherin. He actually came to Salazar in his last year here. Did you think that his power was his own?} Godric replied.
{So you mean that my power is as great as Voldemort's now?} Harry asked.
{Well, you'll have to hone your skills more finely first, but yes, it will grow and eventually overtake the Dark Lord's. You see, I was always more powerful than Salazar was. And before the Dark Lord came to Salazar, I would say that you were quite a bit more powerful than him. A little training, and you'll be unstoppable, even to the Dark Lord.} Godric replied. {You should go now, Harry. You'll need all your rest for the next day.}
"Thank you, Godric," Harry said out loud as he turned down the stairs and started the climb down, invisibility cloak in hand.
((A/N: I'm done!!!! I got a severe case of writers block this chapter, so sorry for it taking this long. Hopefully, I'll have chapter 7 up soon. Please R&R!))
Disclaimer: Wha? Hey, what are you guys doing here? What? The IRS? But I didn't steal Harry Potter, honest! Really! I don't own Harry Potter at all! JK Rowling owns'em all! What? I never said I owned them! Go away! *The men leave* Whew! *Wipes sweat off of forehead* Thank God they're gone. On with the story!
The School had the rest of the day off. Professor Snape's seizure was old news within the hour, and Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the deserted Gryffindor common room. Kaori had not yet come up to join them. Harry and Ron were playing chess, while Hermione secluded herself in her books.
"Checkmate," Ron announced proudly as he moved a bishop to corner Harry's king.
"Damn," Harry cursed. "Why do you have to be so good at this? I haven't beaten you once in the past five years! It's not fair," Harry pouted.
"Well, Harry, maybe if you practiced more, you wouldn't lose all the time," Hermione interrupted from her corner. "Here, move over," she told them as she got up from the chair and sat next to Harry. He scooted over to make room for the brunette.
Hermione studied the intricate board carefully, and after a few seconds, her eyes lit up. "I have it!" she exclaimed as she moved Ron's bishop back to where it was and took one of Harry's rooks. She moved it to the right five spaces. "Checkmate," she told Ron. Ron looked at her incredulously as he shrugged. Harry laughed out loud.
"You mean that was all I had to do? Well, that was easy," he said as he put his arm around Hermione's shoulder, much to Ron's annoyance. He went red, and scrunched his nose in disgust. He would have let it slide; they had been best friends for five years now, it was perfectly normal for them to touch each other once in a while. But she was still his girlfriend.
"Harry, get your own girlfriend. Ask Cho out or something," Ron said jealously. Harry and Hermione were taken aback.
"Really Ron, you don't have to get jealous just because Harry touches me. For Christ's sake Ron," Hermione retorted.
"Besides," Harry said sneakily. "I have someone else in mind," he said secretively. Ron and Hermione both leaned in closer to Harry.
"Who is it, Harry?" Ron asked interestedly. "Come on, you can tell us! We're your best friends!"
"Yeah, Harry," Hermione said authoritatively. "You have to tell us!"
Harry backed away from both of them. "Listen, I'll tell you when I want to. Until then, you'll just have to guess," he said just as Kaori swung the portrait door open and barged in.
"Hey, guys," she said as she went over to them and sat down. "What's up?"
Ron and Hermione looked at each other, nodded, and both got up to leave at the same time. Harry looked at them with bulging eyes. "Where are you going?" he asked them, perplexed.
"Oh, nowhere," Ron answered him. "Just, uh, to the library. Remember, Herms, we were supposed to study?"
"Of course! Harry, we have to be going now," she said hurriedly. Ron grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the portrait.
"We'll be seeing you, then," Ron said as he opened the wall. Kaori suddenly noticed something.
"Uh, Herms? Ron? Why are you going to the library without your books?" she asked them, truly confused at that point.
"Oh, of course! The books! How could we forget!" Hermione said as she ran out of Ron's clutches and moved over to where her books were lain. "We'll be going now," she said, exasperated as she pushed Ron out of the portrait hole and closed it. Harry and Kaori stared at the hole they had just gone through, and laughed.
"What was their deal?" Kaori asked through a flurry of giggles. Harry could barely answer her, he was laughing so hard.
"I actually have no idea," he replied. When they had finished laughing, Kaori pulled up a chair across from Harry and picked up the chess pieces Ron was using.
"You want to play?" she asked him. Harry looked at them, disgustedly.
"No way. Ron beat me like a thousand times. I'm not in the mood for more losing," he said as he took his pieces and put them away. Kaori shrugged, and put Ron's away as well. "So," Harry said, bringing up a new subject. "What happened to Snape?"
"Oh, I brought him to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey practically had a fit. Something about teachers who don't take care of themselves properly. She pushed me out a few seconds later. It would have been pretty funny if Snape wasn't there because of Voldemort." Harry looked up at her, startled.
"You said his name," Harry stated, shock and astonishment lining the tones of his voice. She dismissed it with a wave of her hand.
"If you're going to be so afraid of him as that you won't even say his name, you're already done for," she replied calmly. "Not that I'm planning on running up to him and demanding a duel. I'm not that brave," she laughed coyly. He laughed back, as she proceeded to speak. "My father has a saying. 'It's natural to be afraid. But letting people know is the thing that'll kill you.' It's a good rule of thumb. If your enemy knows you're afraid of him, he's going to take advantage of that. You'll be done from the start." Harry's eyes softened.
"You seem like you lived a hard life." Kaori looked down uncomfortably.
"It hasn't been easy. My family wasn't exactly normal. My father was - an incredible man. He was extremely gifted at magic. He made use of those talents in rather - unconventional ways. Didn't like being the same. So we traveled the world. Together, that is. My mother died when I was very young. I don't' really remember her. I get these visions sometimes. When I dream. They're so real most of the time. Other times, I really don't know what to make of them. They're just these images, jumbled into one big picture. Sometimes, I think she's trying to tell me something, you know? It's weird."
Harry moved his chair so that he was next to her. "Listen, maybe she is trying to tell you something. I mean, whenever I have dreams, they're usually about Voldemort, and they always mean something. Maybe you're mom is trying to warn you of something. You never know," he offered. She sighed loudly.
"Sometimes, I don't know what to think anymore." He put an arm around her shoulder.
"Hey, you want to go for a walk around the lake?" he asked her hopefully. She shook her head thoughtfully.
"Nah. I think I'll just hang around here for a while," she replied.
"Suit yourself," Harry said, trying unsuccessfully to hide his disappointment. Kaori looked at him strangely. "What?" he asked.
"Nothing. I think I will take that walk, actually," she told him, smiling.
"Well then, I'll have to accompany you then," he said jovially as he took her arm and walked her to the portrait door.
"To the lake?" she asked.
"To the lake," he replied as they started walking.
****
Meanwhile, two observers were watching them from the shadows.
"This is perfect," Ron whispered to Hermione. She giggled childishly.
"Well, of course it is. I thought of it, if you don't remember," Hermione said, acting mock stuck-up.
"You? If I can recall, it was me who came up with the brilliant idea that we had to go to the library, Hermie," Ron said conceitedly.
"If you say so, Ronny-kins," Hermione said, a smile starting to grace her lips. Ron's ears went red, and he turned to her angrily.
"DO NOT CALL ME THAT!!!!" Ron said agitatedly. Hermione put her index finger on his cheek. He froze, watching her finger trace his cheekbone.
"I like calling you that, though. It's cute for you. I like the way it sounds. Ronny-kins," she said, trying it out. "Don't you like the way it sounds?" Ron pulled away from her, and shook his head fiercely.
"No, I don't, so don't call me Ronny-kins," he said firmly. Hermione backed away, disappointed.
"Fine. Now, where did those two go?" Hermione asked. Ron looked around them. His eyebrows furrowed confusedly.
"I don't know. Did you hear where they were going?" he asked her. Her jaw dropped a little, as she looked at him shocked.
"Don't tell me we went to all that trouble and we can't even follow them to see what they're doing! Darn! Oh, now what are we going to do?" she pouted, crossing her arms around her chest. Ron walked up to her and uncrossed them gently and put them around his neck.
"I can think of something we can do," he grinned as he pulled her inside the common room.
((A/N: I'll leave you to figure out what they're going to do *ah-hem*))
****
"So Harry, what's it like living with muggles?" Kaori asked him as they circled the lake. He raised an eyebrow at her, and grinned.
"How do you think it is?" he replied on the verge of laughing. "You should see Aunt Petunia. 'Dudley-kins, mommy's got a nice present for you. Dudley- kins, eat your dinner so you can get even fatter then you are now,'" he said, imitating his aunt.
"That bad, huh?" she said. "I never had to live with muggles. You could say my father was rather eccentric about purity of blood. Didn't like muggles at all. He was never open-minded about things like that."
"That's a shame. They have good qualities, some of them. They're just like wizards. You find the nice ones, and then there are the ones who aren't so nice. It's a universal thing," Harry stated.
"I don't really like my father much. Sometimes, in my dreams, I see him killing people. Not just any people, though. There's a man that looks just like him. Could've been his twin. I see him killing him. It's weird. Whenever I ask him what happened to his brother, he never answers me. And then I found out that father was a twin. That was the thing that freaked me out. I mean, not just killing your brother, but your own twin."
"You really think he killed him?" Harry asked, concerned.
"I don't know. There's no evidence, so I can't exactly go to someone, and say, 'Oh yeah, my father killed his own twin, and I want to go to court because of it, but I really have no proof at all that he did. But I saw him kill him in my dream, so that counts for something.' That would work really well," she said sarcastically. "Listen Harry," she said tuning to him. "Can we please talk about something else for a while? It's a beautiful day. Let's talk about something nice, alright?"
"All right. What do you think of the new DADA teacher?" Harry asked her lightly.
"I don't like him at all," she said, laughing.
"Really?" Harry said, going along with her joking manner. "That's strange. Most of the girls can be seen drooling over him in the hallways. Even Hermione is rather fond of his looks," he said jovially.
"Well, I'm not Hermione now, am I?" she said, turning to him, He looked straight into her eyes. There was something there, something beyond what he had seen in her before. Something that looked like guilt. Abruptly, a clap of thunder sounded in the distance. Kaori broke away from his gaze and looked towards the sky. "Well, that's funny," she said. "When did those rain clouds appear?" Indeed, the sky was lined with the most unnatural kind of rain clouds Harry had even seen. Harry shrugged his shoulders in confusion.
"I don't know, but if we don't want to get drenched, I suggest that we head inside right now," he replied as wet droplets of rain started to graze his nose. Kaori giggled, as she wiped the water off his face.
"All right then. Let's go," she said as they headed inside. Little did they know that they were being watched by a short bald man named Peter Pettigrew.
****
"Shhh," Kaori said softly to Harry as they opened the portrait wall quietly to a rather embarrassing scene. Ron and Hermione were on the couch in rather comfortable positions. They didn't even notice Harry and Kaori were there until they noticed that they were drenched with water from head to toe, resulting from Kaori's pocket rain cloud that she hid in her robes. Harry and Kaori were laughing their socks off, while Ron and Hermione were sitting there, drenched and blushing.
"We uh-"
"We were just uh-"
They looked at each other for an answer. "Oh, save it," Kaori said to them. "Who do you think we are, your parents? Making out isn't anything new to us, you know," she moaned. "Anyways, dinner's in a few minutes, so we should be heading down to the great hall right about now," she said as she motioned them to follow her out of the common room. Harry followed her, as did a very embarrassed looking Ron and Hermione.
****
"Harry? You up?" Ron asked Harry in the darkness of their room.
"Yeah. I was just about to leave," he replied back to his best friend as he crawled silently out of bed and grabbed his invisibility cloak from under his pillow.
"Be careful," Ron whispered as Harry slipped out into the common room.
****
Harry climbed stealthily up the stairs towards the portrait of the four founders: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. The portrait was enormous; he wondered why he had never seen it before. Maybe he wasn't meant to see it. Or maybe it had just appeared overnight. Whatever the reason, he climbed up to the portrait and hissed in Parseltongue, "Open up," to the picture of Salazar Slytherin.
Nothing happened. Harry scrunched his nose in confusion. Abruptly, there was a soft hissing nose, like a valve that hadn't been opened in a long time was being moved. Then, where the four founders had stood, four identical doors appeared. Harry gave it a double take, and stared at the four doors. *Which one should I open? * He thought. *The person in the letter never said anything about doors. Great. * Suddenly, a low crying emerged from the room where Godric Gryffindor had once posed. It matured into a beautiful melody, one of nobility and elegance. It was the voice of a Phoenix. It filled Harry's very existence, swallowing him up in its melody.
Harry breathed in rigidly, unable to control his feet as they moved towards the door where Gryffindor had stood. His hand rose to the handle of the door; his fingers clutched around the knob. Slowly, he turned the handle, and opened the door to another set of staircases. Harry sighed as he regained his composure; it was back to what the letter had said. Slowly, he climbed staircase after staircase; the flights seemed to be endless. All the while, the song of the phoenix grew louder, until it was all Harry could hear. Finally, he reached the top of the stairs, and gazed upon a sight unfathomable to him.
It was a phoenix, shrouded in light, its wings flailing boldly in the light in manifested. It cried out to Harry as it saw him, and landed next to him. Harry studied the beautiful creature intently, afraid to touch it, but also scared that it would go away if he didn't. It glowed golden, magical sparks emitting from its body. Its feathers were a deep, crimson red, with gold lining the tips of its wings. The phoenix's head was tiny, but strong, and it held its head proudly. It's eyes were the colour of emeralds, glimmering brightly in its own radiance.
Harry held out one trembling hand to the phoenix. He quivered at the sight of such raw beauty and power as he gently touched the forehead of the phoenix. He started to shake violently, and pulled his hand back.
{No,} the phoenix's "voice" resonated in his head. {You will not be harmed.} Harry started at the phoenix.
{You can talk to me?} he asked the creature thorough his mind. The phoenix nodded its small head.
{Yes. Do not be afraid, young Potter. I am here to help you. I am the very essence of Godric Gryffindor, reincarnated. You are in need of much help, am I wrong?}
Harry shook his head. {Yes. Lord Voldemort has come back to power. He is - too powerful, I think even for Professor Dumbledore. I don't know what will happen-}
{And what of you, young Potter? Are you that faithless that you think you have no chance against the dark lord?}
Harry looked at the phoenix, and frowned. {I am not as strong a wizard as Professor Dumbledore. If Dumbledore couldn't-}
{But you contradict yourself, Harry. You have proven yourself many times against the dark lord, and yet you are still bent on thinking that you are inferior to him. Why do you think this, may I ask?}
Harry sighed deeply, and shook his head at the phoenix. {I just don't think I can. Wouldn't I have beaten him before if I could? I just don't think I'm strong enough.} Harry looked distraught at the phoenix.
{Harry, do you know where you are?} the phoenix asked him. Harry looked at him curiously, and shook his head.
{I don't believe I do,} Harry answered honestly.
The phoenix tuned towards the back of the room and nodded to two paintings on the wall over a fireplace. One of them, the one on top, was a picture of Godric Gryffindor. And the one below it was a picture of Harry.
{There. That's me. And look under it. That's you, Harry. You are my heir, by blood. The same blood that ran in my veins also runs in yours. Now do you still think that you are unable to combat the Dark Lord and defeat him?} Harry looked at the portraits in shock, his mouth gaping open.
{But how - how?}
{Harry, accept it. You are my heir. And that also means that the power that once enveloped myself also envelopes you. You do have the power to defeat him.}
Slowly, Harry nodded in resignation. {What do you want me to call you?} he stammered out.
{Godric. Just Godric. Now Harry, I promised you a gift, didn't I?} Harry nodded jerkily, as Godric placed a wing on Harry's chest. {All right. Now, close your eyes,} Godric said as Harry felt a sudden surge in his body. Everything was moving faster; his molecules felt as if they would burst. A golden light surrounded him and Godric, and it swirled around the two of them. Harry thought he would scream, but no sound would come out of his mouth. Suddenly, it stopped. All of it just stopped.
{Godric? What happened?} Harry asked the phoenix.
{You now have absorbed my power. You now have the use of the full extent of my magical power. At least now the playing field is quite even.} Godric replied.
{What do you mean, 'quite even?'} Harry asked Godric.
{Well, you didn't think that the Dark Lord got his power just from his own strengths, did you? No, he is the heir of Salazar Slytherin. He actually came to Salazar in his last year here. Did you think that his power was his own?} Godric replied.
{So you mean that my power is as great as Voldemort's now?} Harry asked.
{Well, you'll have to hone your skills more finely first, but yes, it will grow and eventually overtake the Dark Lord's. You see, I was always more powerful than Salazar was. And before the Dark Lord came to Salazar, I would say that you were quite a bit more powerful than him. A little training, and you'll be unstoppable, even to the Dark Lord.} Godric replied. {You should go now, Harry. You'll need all your rest for the next day.}
"Thank you, Godric," Harry said out loud as he turned down the stairs and started the climb down, invisibility cloak in hand.
((A/N: I'm done!!!! I got a severe case of writers block this chapter, so sorry for it taking this long. Hopefully, I'll have chapter 7 up soon. Please R&R!))
