"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)".
^^^^^^^^^^
"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.
^^^^^^^^^^
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.