Author E-Mail: agathad@look.ca
Category: Action/Adventure
Keywords: 5th year, Harry, Special Powers, Hogwarts, Order of the Phoenix
Rating: PG-13 (just to be safe)
Spoilers: All Four Books
Summary: During the summer, Harry is chosen by a special stone. Once at Hogwarts, he learns about the currents of magic. Will this help him defeat Voldemort or will it lead to his own destruction?
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. May also have similar theories of magic introduced in the books of Mercedes Lackey. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Chapter 4: The Prefect BadgeThe Animagus training was not going well, for Harry anyways. Ron and Hermione were right on schedule with the book, but when Harry tried anything in the book, it didn't work. None of them knew what was wrong, even when they looked through most of the Weasleys library. They had decided not to worry just yet, as they would look in the school library later.
Today they were going to Diagon Alley, to get some of their school supplies. They had already gotten most of their supplies via the Diabooth, but they needed to go personally to get the focus stone and sword.
After Breakfast, they all surrounded the fireplace, Mr. Weasley holding a large pot full of a glittering powder.
"Ok, everyone! Floo time! Bill, you go first, then Harry'll go, then Ron and Hermione, followed by Fred and George, Go to Diagon Alley you two, then Charlie and Percy will go with Ginny, then I'll follow in behind." Mr. Weasley handed the pot to Bill who took a large pinch and threw it in the fire, handing it to Harry before walking in the fire and saying calmly, Diagon Alley.
"Now Harry, if you take more, it'll be easier to get to your destination, so take a good wallop, will you?" Mr. Weasley looked a bit worried, since last time Harry flooed to Diagon Alley; he ended up in Knockturn Alley,
Harry nodded and took a small handful, handing the pot to Ron, then throwing the powder into the fire. The fire turned an emerald green and when Harry stepped in, the fire felt like a comfortable warm breeze. When Harry said Diagon Alley, before he knew what happened, he was dumped out of a large fireplace, landing on a large cushion. He saw Bill looming above him, hand stretched out to help Harry up.
Harry got up with the help of Bill and when Ron shot out of the fireplace, he was just finishing brushing all the soot off. He helped Ron get up and handed him the brush.
Soon, the whole group was outside in the warm sunshine, walking towards an old focus-stone store. As Harry walked in, a very old man rushed up to him, poking him several times with his wand and finally nodding.
Behind him, Ron and Hermione were looking at him strangely, wondering what the old man poked him for. Harry looked back, and seeing their faces, shrugged and walked over to them.
"I wonder what that was for…" He asked in an annoyed voice, rubbing his cheek where he was poked.
They shrugged and walked up to the old man. The old man quickly went through all of them and soon they all had stones.
Ron had a deep red ruby in the shape of a cone, Hermione had an amber one, which was a half-sphere. Fred and George had both gotten very different stones, Fred a pyramid of light blue, and George a cylinder of dark green. Ginny, who was only a fourth-year, didn't need to get one, so they all walked out, chatting about what sort of sword they would get.
They walked down the alley, past several shops, until Mr. Weasley stopped at an old iron sign, which said "Swindler's Swords and Supplies". They all walked in slowly, looking around the small dark shop. The store had a quality in it, which made you want to be silent.
They all walked through the spooky shop to a large glass countertop, where one could see kits for sword maintenance. On the countertop, you could see a small display of various books on swords.
A brightly dressed young man walked out and introduced himself as Sam Swindler the third. He looked at Mr. Weasley, asking if all of them would need swords.
"All of them except Harry will need them. He has a sword already. He may want to buy a maintenance kit though, right Harry?" Mr. Weasley looked at Harry, who nodded and also grabbed a book on Mythical Swords, putting it on the counter.
Sam looked at him for a moment, before turning to Fred and George. He took a clear round sphere out and asked each of them to hold it. Both Fred and George had the same colour, a deep bluish purple.
Sam nodded and took the sphere back, before turning to go back inside the back room. He was soon back with two boxes that obviously held swords. Sam handed each of them a box, and turned to Ron and Hermione, starting the process all over again.
When all the swords and supplies were paid for, the walked back out of the store, into the welcoming sunshine. Harry, who had brought his bottomless bag, put all the swords in it and they walked off to a small expensive restaurant.
Soon, they had all stuffed themselves and were walking towards Madam Malkin's. When they walked in, Harry was immediately surrounded by several young female assistants, who were dragging him off. Harry tried fighting them off, but it was no use. He waved to Ron and Hermione, but stopped and glared at them, as they were both snickering at Harry's dilemma.
When Harry came back, with many bags of clothes, all the Weasleys were waiting for him. Fred and George were snickering and Ron and Hermione were both looking like they were trying very hard not to laugh. Harry was already beet red and mumbled to them to stop, brushing past them and walking towards the Floo station, head bowed down.
They quickly followed him out and soon were back at the Weasley Manor, which they named the Hovel.
Harry, followed by Ron and Hermione, was soon upstairs, dumping all the clothes he had gotten into the trunk. He had left his sword out, so he opened the room compartment and climbed in, waving for Ron and Hermione to come in.
When they came in, Hermione looked at all the books on the bookcase and Ron looked at the box of Wizardly Wheezes with wonder. He walked over to the box and saw a letter on the top. Ron looked over at Harry, who was showing Hermione the different books he had gotten, and decided to read the letter. After all, if he didn't want it read, it wouldn't be out in the open, right?
Suddenly, a very happy Ron tackled Harry. Both Harry and Hermione looked at Ron strangely, Hermione finally pulling Ron off after some struggle.
"Uh, Ron? Why did you just attack Harry?" Hermione inquired.
Ron just shoved the letter into Hermione's hand and began jumping around. Hermione quickly read over the letter and looked up at Harry.
"You gave them your tournament money, didn't you?" Harry just nodded and smiled.
"I didn't think all this would happen, I just gave it to them because with the up-coming war, we'll need something to keep our spirits up, right?" By now, Ron had stopped jumping around and turned to Harry.
"Anything you want, anything you need, just ask. You need bookcases, come on!" Ron pulled them out of the trunk and slammed it closed. He picked it up and pranced out the room, Harry and Hermione both looking shocked at Ron.
Harry snapped out of his shock first, and dragged Hermione after Ron. They ran after him, going through several passages and running up more than a few staircases.
Finally, Ron stopped at a ladder going into the ceiling. He dropped the trunk on the ground and scrambled up the ladder. He opened the trapdoor and climbed in. Harry looked at Hermione, shrugged, and grabbed his trunk. He looked up the ladder and climbed up, one hand holding onto the trunk. Harry dumped the trunk on the dusty floor and looked around, moving away from the trapdoor when Hermione's head popped through the floor.
They were in a very dusty room, full of very old looking furniture. Ron quickly started pulling large pieces of furniture in front of Harry. Harry and Hermione quickly sat on a large red couch and watched Ron with interest.
Soon enough, there was a pile of very dusty, very old, and very ornate furniture. Ron stuffed what he could into the room and then made Harry shrink everything else so they could fit it in through the trunk's opening. After everything was in the trunk, Ron carried the trunk down to the workroom in the library. When they were down in the workroom, all three clambered in.
When the three had unshrunk everything, they started moving everything around. Everything was very dusty, so when they were finished, they were covered with dust. Harry performed a quick cleaning charm on them, but it only cleared a bit of the dust away. Hermione looked at him disapprovingly and cast the charm over all three of them, making them much cleaner than before.
The room itself looked much better than before. The old bookcase was thrown out of the room, as were the other blocks of wood. The new bookcases were a lot sturdier and looked better too. Ron had found a screen and had placed it across the room, so it because more like 2 very small rooms, a bedroom and a sitting room. In the bedroom, they had put in a bed much like the beds at Hogwarts and a dresser with a very smart talking mirror. The mirror acted like a very smart kind old lady, one that would give you a large pile of candy if you visited.
The sitting room had the 2 bookcases, 3 large armchairs surrounding a small coffee table, and a large table in the back to work on. Ron had to enlarge the room, using a charm he had seen his father using. It didn't work very well the first time, but when all three did the charm, the room doubled in size.
When they had finished arranging the room and cleaning everything, they all collapsed on the armchairs.
"There, least I could do!" Ron said happily, looking very satisfied.
Harry just looked at him and thanked the two of them for helping with everything. " Maybe we should test out those Wheezes on Fred and George? They did tell me to give me their opinions on them and I can't do that if I don't test them out, right?"
They all looked at the large table, where they had carefully placed the pranks in another box, and nodded, grins on Ron and Harry's faces, while Hermione just looked at them disapprovingly. Seeing her face, Ron began trying to get Hermione to join in.
"Come on Herm, we aren't at school yet! We need to get it out of our system before we have to start acting all perfectly. Please??"
This seemed to make Hermione's mind up. She walked over to the box and carefully began looking at the different pranks. Harry and Ron immediately joined her and they soon had the perfect prank in mind.
* * *
Over breakfast that morning, everything was perfectly normal, that is, until the houseelves brought out the bacon. Fred and George both took a large helping of bacon, oblivious to the looks that the trio was giving them.
As they took their first bite, they noticed something was wrong with it. They tried to spit it out, but it was too late. It started by making the two jump around the table quacking like ducks, then there was a pop and a boom and standing there were two braying donkeys. By this time, everyone was laughing, some of them rolling on the floor. The trio was laughing with the rest of them, while the donkeys slowly turned back into Fred and George, who were staring at Harry. They knew who it was, as he was the only one they had given the Braying Bacon to. They both took a small notepad out of their back pockets and consulted, writing furiously on the paper.
"Hmmm…tastes a bit wrong, shouldn't have the duck, response time a bit quick…" The two of them mumbled as they walked out of the dining room. The rest of the Weasleys turned to stare at Harry, Hermione and Ron, who just looked sheepishly back.
They quickly finished breakfast and ran up, back into their respective rooms, to start packing everything up, as they would be going to Hogwarts early tomorrow. Harry had moved all his muggle clothes into the dresser in his room and placed all his robes in their former compartment. He also packed all his unusual things that he needed within reach in one of the other compartments. He had put a lot of his things into the room, so the compartments were comfortably filled, not overly stuffed. Harry kept the clothes he needed for tomorrow out and spent the rest of the day with Ron and Hermione, duelling in the workroom.
The next day, the trio and Ginny looked amusingly at Fred and George, who were rushing all over the manor, looking for things they had forgotten. Soon enough though, everyone was standing in front of the fireplace, as they were flooing to Platform 9 and ¾.
"Be careful you two! Your NEWTs are this year and you'll really need to work hard. I don't want you turning the whole school green or anything, you hear?" Mrs. Weasley lectured the twins for several minutes, then hugged them tightly. Next, she turned to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
"I'm so proud of all of you! You're all prefects! You'd all better study hard for the OWLs and not give Charlie any trouble. Oops! I wasn't supposed to say that. Nevermind that, just be careful!" She blushed and bustled away to Ginny.
The three of them turned to Bill, questioning looks on their faces.
"Ok, ok, I'll tell you, just don't say anything to anyone else! I'm going to teach Care of Magical Creatures for a while before Hagrid comes back from his mission. Don't tell anyone else, remember!" Bill looked a bit angry with himself, but he said good-bye and walked through the fireplace after Fred and George.
"Bye, Mrs. Weasley, Mr.Weasley! Thank you for letting me stay!" Harry and Hermione smiled happily and turned to follow Ron, who had just left.
A very nauseating trip, and they were soon on the platform, scarlet train right in front of them. Ron dragged them onto the train and they were soon on the Prefect car. Taking the compartment labelled '5th year Gryffindor', the three stored their trunks and picked up the letter sitting on the small build-in table in the compartment. The compartment was much larger then the normal ones, and everything was decorated in Gryffindor colours.
Grinning, Ron and Harry surrounded Hermione, who was opening the letter.
Welcome 5th Year Gryffindor Prefects!
You are to be at the front of the Prefect car before the train begins to move, in your Hogwarts robes for the Prefect Ceremony. You will accept the prefect badge and rule book in an acceptable fashion. When finished, you are to make a round of the train, looking for any disturbances. I wish you well in your new prefect duties.
-Minerva McGonagall
Head of Gryffindor House
Ron and Harry carried their clothes into Harry's trunk, while Hermione changed in the compartment. They quickly changed and were all soon at the front of the car, where a small platform was set up, along with more than a few chairs. They walked to the chairs designated for the three of them, noticing that several professors and prefects were sitting behind them.
When everyone was seated, Dumbledore walked out of a small, unnoticed door behind the stage and began to speak.
"Welcome all of you, prefects old and new. Today you will be joining a respected group of people. Many prefects go on to high positions in the outside world, and I wish you all the luck.
This is the first time we have had 3 prefects in a year for 30 years. This is due to the rise of the dark arts and prefects are needed to improve student morale.
Your duties as a prefect are very important to us. You are the intermediary between the professors and the students. You are to report whenever there is trouble, stop any disturbances throughout the school, and, if necessary, protect the student body from danger. You will be getting extra training throughout the year, which you will hopefully never use.
Now, to all those things, you will need help. This help will come in the shape of your badge and your rulebook. These badges are one of Rowena Ravenclaw's contributions to the school. When you come up here, you will touch this orb," He revealed a deep blue orb from under the podium "And it will give you an official Hogwarts prefect badge. This badge is very advanced magic. You may touch it whenever you need a teacher's help, and the teacher will be notified. It will notify you in much the same way. If there is a disturbance in the school and you are the closest, it will speak to you. This may seem strange, but you will understand when you are called. It may also speak to you if you yourself need help.
The rulebook will be your reference throughout your prefect career. It will shrink with a tap of your wand and reappear when you need it. When you open it, it will flip immediately to the page needed. Now, with these tools I will give you, I wish you the best of luck."
Everyone clapped while Professor Sprout came up and called out the 3 Hufflepuff prefects of 5th year. They each received a rulebook from Professor Sprout and touched the orb of blue Dumbledore was holding. As they touched it, they each got a strange expression on their face, but after they let go, glimmering prefect badge and all, they walked calmly to their seats, slight smiles on their faces.
Soon the Ravenclaw and Slytherin prefects were announced and, to their disgust, Malfoy was one of the Slytherin prefects. They didn't have time to ponder this, as they were called up immediately after the Slytherin prefects.
As he received the rulebook from Professor McGonagall, he looked up and saw her looking down at him, a big smile on her face and tearing eyes. He was sure he saw her wink at him, but there was no time to think about this, as he walked up to the blue orb a proud Dumbledore was holding and placed his hand on it.
: Well, Well! I was wondering when I was going to meet you! By the way, I'm Farione, your very own Prefect badge. I bet it's going to be fun being your badge! Well, anyways, time to get off this old stage! Come on, hurry up! What, you've never had a piece of metal talk to you in your head? Wait, you haven't! Well, I'll have fun with you! :
Harry, looking very shocked, walked off the podium and back to his own seat. As soon as he was seated, everyone started clapping politely as Dumbledore put the orb back under the table and spoke up.
"I should let you get acquainted with the badges, but first, you must walk through the train, taking care of any disturbances. Now, off you get!" He waved them off and walked back through the small door in the back.
"Well, that was strange! My badge started talking to me, but it seemed a bit grumpy. It's name is Youle." Ron got up, asking them.
"Well, mine's very nice, and doesn't sound like yours at all. Her name is Opvine. Harry, what's yours?" Hermione answered bossily.
"Hmm? Oh. Mine's name is Farione. She seems nice enough, but keeps saying that she'll have fun with me. Frankly, I think this is all rather weird. I wonder if we're allowed magic right now?" Harry asked absentmindedly.
: Well, how else are you supposed to 'calm the disturbances'? You don't need permission, I see… Oh, we will have fun together. That Fred and George need a good prank to be played on them…" :
She's letting me pull pranks??? Isn't she a prefect badge??
: Well, fight fire with fire, as I always say. Anyways, as long as you don't get caught, you don't get in trouble, right?? :
Harry just looked shocked, not noticing the hand Hermione was waving in front of him until she poked him with her finger.
"Earth to Harry! Harry, what did your badge say? Mine just grumbled and told me to ask someone else. Herm was having a jolly conversation with her badge until just now." Ron waited impatiently for an answer.
"Oh? Oh! Yeah, we're allowed. My badge also told me that we'd be allowed to play pranks as long as we don't get caught. She told me to fight fire with fire when it came to Fred and George. Not bad, eh?" Harry grinned and stood up.
"Your PREFECT badge told you to play pranks? That can't be right…Oh, wait, nevermind. Opvine just told me there's always a prankster or two in the badges." Hermione looked at Harry's badge disapprovingly, and stood up.
Ron stood up and they started their patrol of the last quarter of the train. They were soon finished, nothing much happening, just saying hello to everyone and finding Neville's toad.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione soon had an avid discussion going, arguing about the new teachers, with comments from all three badges, even Ron's, which had woken up a bit and seemed a bit nicer.
* * *
The Chapter has now Ended