~Harry Potter and the Battle of Heirs~

~Rachie.V.~

Author's Note: So sorry about the delay in this chapter – but school has just started up again and I've been quite busy. And I had to sort out this new Chaptering System, which took me a few days, as I didn't know what to do. But never fear, a friend helped me out, and I'm back! **Creepy music plays** Kim, THANK YOU SO MUCH! You don't know how much your instructions helped me out, there! Otherwise, I would have to start up my account all over again! And my reviews kept, too! J That made me happy. OH! I forgot to mention this: Warning: This chapter has a bit of gory parts in it!! Blood and stuff. An example is  "…blood seeping from the stomach". See what I mean? Okay, I'll stop rambling now. Disclaimer and a proper A/N are at the bottom. Enjoy! J

Chapter IX

"Beep, beep, beep, beep!"

"Arggggh, shut up," Harry moaned hoarsely to his alarm clock. It didn't obey, so he took out his wand and blew it up. "That's better," he said, getting out of bed and taking a shower. He walked into the common room, only to see the remains of a party that had happened last night. He still couldn't get Spiller's song "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" out of his head. Suddenly, the words to the song came floating into the common room, but it was missing the music. Hermione appeared, and she was singing the song. Harry laughed.

"You can't get that song out of your head either, huh?" he asked.

"No, I just like it! I ordered the single out of Merlin Records by their owl post service," Hermione answered, rubbing her wet hair with a towel.

Harry raised his eyebrows.

"You're actually interested in music?" he asked.

"Sure! I have the Backstreet Boys, Madison Avenue, Five, B*Witched, Britney Spears and more at home, you know," Hermione answered. Harry grinned.

"Join the club," he replied, laughing. Ron and Rachel joined them then, and the four friends walked into the Great Hall for breakfast, singing "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)".

                                                                                                                                                                                  

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   "What a day," Ron groaned, sitting down at the table where Harry, Rachel and Hermione were sitting at in the library. He plonked down a stack of dusty volumes on History of Magic and Charms, which were the lessons that they had just been to. They were getting read to study for their N.E.W.T.s, so their work was piled up mightily high.

"Has anyone found Rera the Ridiculous, yet? I can't seem to find her in this book," Rachel spoke up after a minute. Hermione pushed aside her stack of books.

"Here, Rachel, I found her," Hermione said, shoving the book over to Rachel. Rachel pushed aside her stack, and took the book, asking, "Are you finished with it?"

"Yeah," Hermione answered, pulling a book off the top of the pile that had the words "Kean the Mean" on the front.

Suddenly, there was a tap at the window, and everyone except for Ron looked up. A kookaburra was tapping on the window.

"Chuckles!" Rachel cried, jumping up and throwing open the window. The kookaburra came in and gave its native call. Ron, not seeing the kookaburra, swore and took out his wand, making Harry and Hermione burst out laughing.

"Hon, calm down! It's Chuckles, my kookaburra! We use kookaburras in Australia for our postal service, like you use owls!" Rachel said, giggling. Ron blushed, and put his wand away. The bird perched on a bookcase. It held out its leg and Rachel untied the letter that was tied to it. Rachel's smile widened as she read the letter. When she finished it, she yelled out, "WAHOO!"

"SHHHH!" hissed Madam Pince. But the four barely heard her.

"What?" Harry, Hermione and Ron asked.

"My Mum said that I could have friends over for the summer!" Rachel exclaimed. They all asked if they could come and planned what they would do at Rachel's house, until there was another tap on the window. Harry opened it, and a black raven fluttered in. It's eyes were red, and it's claws were not pink, but a ghastly white.

It fluttered to Harry, who opened the letter it carried. His face paled.

"We need to go to Dumbledore, at once!" he cried, sprinting out of the library. The letter fluttered to the floor. The remaining three read it. The words on it scared them:

Watch your back, potter. Otherwise you will end up playing my favourite game - death. But later on, you will have no choice but to take part. And there is only one rule: Evil always wins. Watch yourself.

Then there was the Dark Mark on the bottom of it. It burst into flames, then all evidence was gone.

"Craaark!" the raven called, then spread its wings. It soared gracefully out of the window.

Hermione spoke up after a few minutes of silence. "What are we going to do?"

"First of all, we catch up with Harry at Dumbledore's office," Ron replied. They nodded, and had just started to run through the corridors, when somebody ran into them. They all fell to the floor, and rubbing his head, Ron realized who it was - Harry.

"Harry! What happened?" Ron asked him.

"Dumbledore said that it might be a hoax, but if not, I'll have to keep on my toes. That's all he said, apart from, 'I cannot change the future, yet help it occur.' At least he trusts me, but come on! Can't he do better than that?" Harry said angrily.

"Cool it. He trusts you, which is very important, but also, You-Know-Who could just be trying to scare you! Harry, you shouldn't be angry at him," Ron replied.

"Oh, I suppose. You're right, Ron. C'mon, I need to practise my wizard chess," Harry replied, and the two boys walked off.

"Well, that leaves us," Rachel said.

"Yeah…hey! I forgot! Your letter from your Mum! Let's reply to her," Hermione suggested, running up to the Owlery. Rachel followed.

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THE NEXT MORNING

Harry was standing in the middle of the Great Hall. All around him on the floor were students and teachers – all bleeding and dead, and the floor had become one huge blood puddle, and only him, Ron and Hermione were still standing. Rachel was in Ron's arms, blood seeping from her stomach. She was dead. Ron was weeping. He kissed her forehead and laid her on the floor. Then Hermione spotted Harry and walked over to him. She grasped his wrist and led him to Ron. They comforted him, then looked around the scene. The Great Hall walls were flecked with blood, the ceiling no longer had sparkling stars in the night sky, but lightning bolts were zigzagging across it. The sky was pitch black.

Dumbledore was dead and among the hundreds of other dead bodies, his face in a determined manner, his wand still in his clenched, lifeless wrist. Harry blinked a few times in utter disbelief. He never thought Dumbledore would die. Then the Great Hall shuddered violently. The walls shook, then crumbled to the floor. The roof did likewise. All around them were the Hogwarts grounds – red and black and burning. It was like hell. The Dark Mark hovered over the Forbidden Forest, and the remains of the castle were on the floor, burning. The grass was no longer grass, but black ashes, and puddles of blood were spread around the grounds. The lake was an expanse of bubbling lava, shooting pieces of red debris from its surface. Then the lightning bolts in the black sky turned red, and the Dark Mark grew bigger and bigger until a body smoothly slid from it's mouth to the black ground. It was Voldemort. He laughed after spotting the last living trio, and pointed his wand at them. He spoke those horrifying words, there was a flash of blinding green light, a whooshing noise, and then Ron fell to the ground with a thud, next to Rachel. He had no marks on him, unlike the hundreds of bodies surrounding him. Then Harry and Hermione spotted the bloodstained dagger in Voldemort's robe. He had murdered them all (except for Ron) without magic.

Voldemort used the killing curse on Hermione, and she joined Harry's best friends on the ground. Harry was so angry he couldn't show any emotion except anger. Then, two figures appeared beside Harry. It was his parents.

"NOOOO!!! Stop! No!!!" Harry thrashed around in his bed; the other boys sharing his dorm were staring at him, horrified. Harry continued to thrash around in his bed, while his blankets got tangled around his legs. He was clutching his scar, and suddenly, he let out a yell, and fell to the floor beside his bed, the blankets still twisted around his body. His eyes flew open. His breathing was quick, short and uneven, and his hair was so tousled it looked as though he had just locked himself in a broom closet with a tornado inside it. He tried to get to his feet, but the blankets around his legs prevented that, and he fell to the floor with a THUD. Harry managed to scramble up eventually and pulled on his glasses. The boys hadn't moved from their places at the door, and they were string at him with wide eyes. Harry gulped and ran a hand through his untamed hair.

"Are – Are you alright, H-Harry?" Ron spoke up tentatively.

"I'm fine, I just – I just had a nightmare. If you'll excuse me, I need to go to Dumbledore," Harry said, his voice wavering. His scar was still burning so fiercely, Harry was scared he would pass out. He pulled on a shirt and a pair of jeans over his boxers (which had Mr Happy on them) and grabbed his wand.  Pausing at the mirror to straighten his wild hair (but was unsuccessful), he ran from the Gryffindor tower to Dumbledore's office. When he reached the stone gargoyle, he called out the password (Wise Old Man), which Dumbledore had told Harry (when he had gone to Dumbledore about Voldemort's note) to use if he ever needed to see him. The gargoyle leapt to the side. Harry sprinted up the stairs and knocked on the door. It sprung open, and Dumbledore stood before him. Harry caught a glimpse of the clock behind the Professor, and saw it was 6:15 a.m.

"Sorry, Professor, did I wake you?" Harry asked.

"No, Harry, it is quite alright, I was writing a letter to Fudge, he seems to need advice – once again," Dumbledore chuckled, then he turned serious. "Why is it you have come to seek me?"

"Well, you see, I just woke up from a nightmare…" Harry proceeded to tell the Professor about his dream.

"Well, Harry. That is very interesting, and I am honoured for you to think of me as immortal and strong. Strong as I may be, I am not immortal, and I beg you not to be upset when I do slide from Life's grasp. However, your dream is not a prediction, so there is no need to be afraid. I doubt, also, that it is a warning. In conclusion, that note you received may have frightened you to believe that evil always wins, as Voldemort was trying to convince you. But he is mistaken – evil does not always win. When it comes to Dark against Light, we (the Light side) are quite as strong. Now go and get your breakfast and prepare for your classes," Dumbledore said to him. He stood up and opened the door, and Harry walked out. He turned around.

"Professor, I can't say how much I thank you for telling me that," Harry said.

"You're welcome, Harry," Dumbledore said, then he saw Harry turn and walk down the corridor to go and change into his robes.

^^^^^^^^^^ End of chapter, folks!!!

Author's Note: I'm really sorry that this chapter was short and not much happened! But I promise there will be more action in the next chapter! PROMISE!!! **Puts hand over heart**

   Okies, now's the time for my usual begging routine…(wait for it, wait for it…)…PLEASE REVIEW!!!!! I really wish that you would! It's you people who give me NICE reviews that make me happy! The people who tell me I have a talent really deserve more than a thanks, but there's nothing much more I can do. The nice reviewers, this is for you: THANK YOU EVER SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!! J Okay, but with the reviews, constructive criticism and compliments only, thanks! Any nasty things can be sent via e-mail. And if you want to e-mail me to give me suggestions, comments, etc., you can e-mail me, too! Click here to e-mail me!!! And please check out the fics out of my "Favourite Authors" list!!

Disclaimer: "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" belongs to Spiller and Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Rachel and the plot belong to me. "Merlin Records" is a name I thought up for a wizarding cd shop, but if there really is a place called "Merlin Records", then it belongs to them. The idea of kookaburras being the postal service in Australia belongs to my good friend Kim. Harry Potter and everything else to do with Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. Erm…anything else you don't recognize is mine. Bunches of flowers to J.K. Rowling for being such a genius…and 'til next chapter, bye from me!!

~~~*~~~ Rachie.V.