(A/N: Alright. I got this one up Sunday. A day earlier than I expected.
I went on vacation for Thanksgiving weekend and so I was unable to update.
I am really sorry. However, I did use the time to write this chapter and
half of the next. It should be up tomorrow, or if I stay up late, perhaps
tonight. I must say that I didn't think that I was going to be able to get
this up because I also had to write a school report.
Oh yes, and I believe an explanation is in order. Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. To be honest with you all I have read fan fiction for such a long time now, mostly fifth year stories, that it never even occurred to me that they didn't take these classes in first year. However, I have decided to keep these classes in the story. One because instead of Divination Harry will be taking another class, one which he wants to take and will evolve into something in the course of this story. Two, I'm just to lazy to make the necessary changes. Heh. Well, thanks to all reviewers!)
Chapter 9: Friendship
Harry cracked his eyes open and light flooded in. He slammed his eyelids shut. A minute later he tried again with the same results. 'Where am I?' he thought, 'What happened?' He tried to force his mind to recall the last events that he remembered and it all came flooding back to him: the dragon, the chaos magic, HERMIONE! Harry opened his eyes and this time ignored the light. He looked around, and found that he was lying on a bed in the hospital wing. To his surprise he saw hundreds of gifts of chocolate frogs, Bernie Botts' Every Flavor Beans, and lemon drops. Looking at the mountain of sweets in front of him he noticed a toilet seat.
'Ha, must be Fred and George.' Harry rolled over to see if there were more gifts on the other side of him. This movement attracted the attention of Madam Pomfrey, the mediwitch at Hogwarts.
"Oh goodness! You are awake!" she exclaimed as she came over to check on Harry. "How are you feeling dear?"
"Terrible," came the response. Indeed it was true. Harry was sore all over, physically and mentally. He felt exhausted and yet at the same time felt well rested. 'How is that possible?' he asked himself.
"Well I should think that you would be feeling bad after the case of magical shock that you went through. Been in bed for a week now! I thought that we had lost you at first, but you pulled through. Should have expected it out of you dear." Harry grimaced at that. He never liked being referred to as something extraordinary.
"Well I suppose that I must get Professor Dumbledore. He wanted me to alert him as soon as you came around. I believe that he has a few questions for you." With that the mediwitch left the room.
Harry took the opportunity to search the room for Hermione. He was really worried about her. He had collapsed right after the spell, and because he was alive he assumed that the dragon left, but he couldn't be sure. Harry absentmindedly grabbed a chocolate frog and opened it. He caught the frog as it tried to jump off the bed and stuffed it in his mouth. Then he grabbed the card; Merlin.
'Wow, Ron is going to have a fit! This is the rarest card and he doesn't have it! Maybe I'll just give it to him as a gift, it should make a great Christmas gift.' Harry didn't even notice as the door to the hospital wing opened again and the headmaster came inside. Harry didn't notice until Professor Dumbledore was standing right next to him. Harry looked up and was met by a pair of twinkling eyes.
"Hello Harry," said Dumbledore kindly, "How are you feeling." Harry repeated his answer for the Headmaster. "Ah yes, terrible." Dumbledore smiled. "You know Harry that I and the rest of the staff witnessed your encounter with the ridgeback."
Harry sighed. "No, I didn't know that Headmaster, "though it makes sense. I suppose you are here to ask me about the fight then?"
"Yes Harry, I must say I was very intrigued by your chanting. I couldn't find what it meant anywhere in any books I looked in."
"You heard the chanting?" Harry asked nervously.
"Yes my dear boy. If I am not mistaken I believe that the entire school heard it, perhaps it was heard even further than that." Harry groaned and Dumbledore continued. "I knew that you were something special when I first set my eyes upon you Harry. How special I never knew. So far this year though I must say that you have surprised every teacher in the school with your knowledge. Now I must ask you, how much did Sirius teach you, and what did he teach you?"
"Headmaster, I will answer these questions, on one condition."
"And what is that Harry?
"I don't want you to tell the ministry anything. I trust you but if what I tell you gets out then I'm not sure that I could continue to be here. I will tell you right now that I could more than likely pass both the O.W.L.S and the N.E.W.T.S with flying colors."
Dumbledore kept a passive face up at this information, but Harry could vaguely sense the man's surprise. "Harry, I'm not sure that I can make that promise, unless you promise that you will give the ministry to ask you the same question that I have."
"I will allow them to ask, but it doesn't mean that I will answer. I have no reason to distrust you Headmaster, and according to Sirius, every reason to. I will tell you what I think that you need to know, but I will not explain to you the principles behind some of my knowledge."
Dumbledore nodded in agreement.
"Alright then. I will start off by telling you that Sirius began to teach me magic at a very young age. I believe that I learned the lumos spell at age four, though at that age I didn't learn many other spells. Sirius taught me that mostly to placate my whining to learn magic." Dumbledore smiled. "By the age of eight I knew roughly 400 spells, many hexes and the like. I didn't know many curses except those that Sirius deemed necessary for pranks. However, something very strange happened on my eighth birthday." Dumbledore seemed to perk up at this. "A voice visited me in my dreams. It said that I would now have a photographic memory, that learning would no longer be a problem. As it is now, I can read a book and recite off every detail from that book to you."
Dumbledore nodded, "Did this voice ever say anything besides tha tyou had gained this power?"
Harry shook his head, "Not on that visit."
"It came more than once?"
"Yes. It came on my ninth, tenth, and eleventh birthdays as well. Except on these birthdays I was granted magical powers, not just memory."
"Continue."
"On the eve of my ninth birthday, I gained control of the elements." Harry made a fireball appear in his hand as a demonstration. Dumbledore seemed mildly impressed.
"Yes," Dumbledore began, "I should have expected that, your father had control of the elements as well. I believe that that is a trait of the heir of Gryfindor. He was an elemental. But I don't believe that the spell you used was that of one of the elements."
"No you are correct, it was not. I was getting to that. On my tenth birthday I was visited again, and this time I learned that I had the capability to learn necromancy." Dumbledore looked slightly alarmed. "Don't be afraid Headmaster. I know what necromancy is and how to use it. I also know that there is no such thing as dark magic. Necromancy is considered a dark practice, because most who use it use it for their own desires, and thus it became evil. However, I do not use it to further my own needs, and so in my position it is not evil."
Dumbledore relaxed, "I see that you have progressed far beyond your years in knowledge and experience." It was Harry's turn to smile.
"Headmaster, when forced to live as I did, constantly worried that you would be found, one tends to grow up a lot faster. Though sometimes I wish that I hadn't." Harry was sent into his own thoughts until Dumbledore brought him out of them with a soft cough.
"Ah yes - where was I?"
"Eleven?" Dumbledore offered with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Yes. When I turned eleven I was again visited much to my dismay. You see all I really wanted was to be normal, and knowing that others did not have these powers that I was being presented with was quite disheartening for me. However, the voice came anyway, and presented me with my final power to date. A power that I fear; the power that I used yesterday. And seeing the results, I'm sure that you can appreciate why I fear it. It can be deadly to those who use it and it is easily corrupted. I have yet to lose control of the magic though if I did you would know. I would be insane, my sanity being pulled away a along with my magic. Yes, to fail with this magic is to lose your own."
Dumbledore looked rather dumbfounded, and was a loss for words. So Harry continued.
"Yes Headmaster, this power that I gained on my eleventh birthday was power over the chaos magic." Dumbledore drew in a breath. "Yes, the power over the very magic of the Earth. In drawing this power I subject myself to the great reserves of energy of the Earth. They are always looking for more power you know. If one loses control of the spell then the magic is pulled back into the Earth, along with the magic of the caster. If used correctly, the magic is powerful, more powerful than any other."
Dumbledore spoke, "Yes, I have heard of this magic before. It is rare that such a gift be given to a mortal, to control the very magic that holds together the Earth. It is a near infinite supply of energy if I am correct?"
"Yes, a near infinite supply of energy that can be accessed at near infinite risk. Even to complete a spell is to drain oneself. I have only attempted very small variations of the spell that I used a week ago, and those put me out for near two hours."
"Very interesting. If I may ask, where have you been practicing these spells?" "Surely Headmaster you must know that the founders all created rooms for their heirs' use?" Dumbledore nodded his head.
"I have heard that that was true, but have never been able to find any. Though I know that the Chamber of Secrets, the Slytherin room exists."
"Yes, well my father while here found the Gryfindor common room. Only the heir and those he invites may enter." Dumbledore nodded his head.
"You shall have to show me this room sometime Harry, I think that it would be very interesting to see it."
Harry replied that he would.
Dumbledore raised himself from the bed "If you are feeling up to it Harry, I give you leave to go."
"Thank you Headmaster." Dumbledore nodded his head and then left the room. Harry gathering some of the gifts left up to the Gryfindor study. Upon arriving he was greeted by Merlin. After a quick conversation involving where Harry was and how he was doing, Merlin let him through. There he deposited the sweets and grabbed a bag.
Then he left back up to the hospital wing for the rest of his sweets. Upon arriving he grabbed the rest of the sweets and stuck them into his bag and then he returned to the Gryfindor study. There, Harry went to thinking about how the entire school had heard his chanting. Nobody had said anything about it before when he had done it before. After an hour Harry came up with a hypothesis.
Harry believed that however far he drew energy from was how far the chanting could be heard. For the spell that he used against the dragon he had called for energy from all throughout Hogwarts, and perhaps well beyond. How far he didn't know, or care to know. After formulating this theory he decided that Dumbledore should know and so he set off in the direction of the Headmaster's office.
He arrived just in time to see the Minister of Magic and a few aurors go through the passageway to Dumbledore's office. As they went through however, the strangest thing happened. The passageway did not fully close. Harry of course, being the honest individual he was, stepped closer to eavesdrop.
"Dumbledore! You must allow us to speak with the boy!"
"Cornelius! I have allowed you to speak with him once before, he left that meeting. It is my belief that he will not wish to speak with you again!"
"Albus! I am the Minister of Magic! He will speak with me if I so demand it!"
"Cornelius you fool! Your power is not so great as to control others at a whim! That is a trait of a dark wizard Cornelius. That was a trait of Voldemort!"
Harry could almost hear Fudge wince at the name. "Do not speak his name Albus! It brings ill tidings."
"It brings nothing Cornelius! Are you so afraid to speak a name?"
"Of course not!" yelled Fudge trying to regain some dignity. "It is simply brings ill tidings to speak of one so evil."
Harry could hear Dumbledore sigh. "Cornelius. I will give you one day to find and question Harry Potter. Neither I nor any of the faculty at this school will aid you in finding him. I suspect that he will not want to be found by you."
Harry did not stick around any longer, but fled to the Gryfindor study, where he planned to reside for the rest of that day. However, plans sometimes change. Harry glanced at the clock, it read noon. Harry conjured up a lunch and then began to study some more on his necromantic magic. After two hours of this Harry decided to practice sword fighting. This became tiring after an hour and Harry was unable to continue that practice. So, with nothing else to do, Harry decided to explore the room. It was about five o' clock and Harry was in the third room of the study, when Harry found something interesting. As he tried to pull out a book he found that it wouldn't move. Harry cleared out the books by it and examined the book from all sides. It looked like a normal book, but the title was written in runes.
'Curiosity killed the cat,' Harry reminded himself, but to no avail. Harry opened the book. As he did Harry heard shifting and to his surprise the bookshelf on which the book was shelved began to move aside. Once it had fully moved aside a door opened on the wall behind it. Harry quickly pulled out his Marauder's Map, which he kept with him at all times. After a quick looking over Harry was very sure that not even the Marauders had found this passage. Harry, because of Sirius' influence no doubt, decided to explore.
Harry noticed with interest that as he walked down the path, the map automatically recorded its existence. Harry could not, however, see where the passageway ended, as the map only recorded where he had explored. The path took many twists and turns and Harry was at a loss as to where it could possibly go, finally however, it straightened out. When Harry finally came to the wall at the end of the passage he took out his map, and almost dropped it in surprise.
The passage was from the Gryfindor study to the Gryfindor common room. Quickly Harry checked to see if there was anybody inside the common room that could see him enter, there was not.
"Excete Revealus," Harry said as he tapped the wall with his wand. Two words appeared in the air. These words were the password to open the wall. 'Godric Gryfindor.' Harry shrugged at the password, it seemed almost to easy. He put his wand against the wall and said the words and it opened up. To Harry's surprise he was staring out at the common room from behind the fire.
'Great, how am I supposed to get in?' As if on instinct Harry took a step forward into the fire, and to his great surprise, he wasn't burned. The fire it seemed, though it gave off heat, could not burn one who stepped or fell into it. Harry imagined that this was to prevent injuries and loss of property. Harry stepped through the fire and into the common room, and the passage closed behind him. As the passage closed he heard footsteps coming down the stairs into the common room. Soon after he saw the brown hair of Hermione Granger. When she saw Harry she screamed out his name and ran over to give him a hug, which he accepted.
"Harry we were so worried about you! I was so worried about you. You saved me you know from that dragon, I probably would've died if you hadn't done what you did. And then when you collapsed, I thought that you had died. I was so scared, but then Dumbledore came out and took you up to the hospital wing and told me that you had a good chance of coming out all right. But even after that we were all scared, even some of the Slytherins looked worried about you. I mean, you did save the entire school." She smiled at his obvious embarrassment of being called a hero.
"I wouldn't go to that extent. I mean, Dumbledore could have taken the ridgeback probably."
"Harry don't be so modest, he may have been able to, but he didn't, you did."
"I know, but I don't like all the attention that I am likely to receive because of it. I mean the Ministry of Magic is here right now wanting to question me. But the last time they questioned me things didn't go that entirely well and so I think that I will avoid them for a while yet. Dumbledore only gave them a day to find me."
Hermione smiled at this. She knew that Harry had been the son of a great man, a man who incidentally found many secret passages in Hogwarts. Harry probably knew them all, and could evade the Ministry for as long as he wanted.
"Do you know if they have access to the common room?" she asked, "Because if they don't you could stay in here a while."
"I'm not sure, but lets see where they are at this moment." Harry pulled out his map, and very quietly spoke, "Moony, Padfoot, and Prongs forever." Lines began to spread across the paper forming a very accurate map of Hogwarts, including the passage that Harry had just discovered. Almost instantly Harry saw the name Cornelius Fudge walking around the hallways. A quick check of his position revealed that he was on his way to the Gryfindor tower, and that meant that Harry needed a quick escape. A dilemma was presented however, in the form of Hermione. She would know where he had gone to and most assuredly ask him about it later. Harry could leave her here and face those questions at a later time, or he could take her with him to the Gryfindor study. Harry chose the later.
Quickly he grabbed Hermione by the wrist and drug her over to the fireplace where he stepped in. Hermione screamed but Harry silenced her with a glare.
"Don't worry, the fire is enchanted to not burn those who touch it. Hermione nodded her understanding and Harry put his wand against the back wall and whispered, "Godric Gryfindor." The passage opened and Harry pulled Hermione through. The passage shut just as the portrait hole opened. Harry watched the men search the common room and then the dormitories before giving up in disgust with that room. Harry then pulled Hermione along the long passage until he got to the other wall. Again he put his wand up to the wall and whispered the password. When the wall slid open Hermione asked if he should not have checked to see if there were anybody inside. Harry said that there couldn't be anybody inside without him inviting them in. His point was proved as he walked in but Hermione found that there was an invisible barrier blocking her way.
"Oh, said Harry, um, she is here at my invitation." With that Hermione found no difficulty in sliding through to the dueling room of the study. She looked around in awe.
"Harry? What is this place?"
"This, Hermione, is the study of Godric Gryfindor."
"How did you find it?"
"My dad did when he was here at Hogwarts."
"You said Godric Gryfindor right?"
"Yes."
"Then how come only you can get in."
Harry sighed, "Do you promise not to tell anyone?" Hermione nodded. "Okay then, I'm his heir."
"His heir?" Hermione exclaimed putting her hand over her mouth.
"Yes, his heir. I have access to this room because I am his heir. Only I and those I invite may enter. You are lucky enough to be the first person that I have invited into this room." "Oh," Hermione said nervously, "thanks?"
Harry laughed. "You enjoy reading don't you?"
"Yes I love reading. I have read all sorts of interesting things. Being muggle born I had to read about the wizarding world. And I had to read about Hogwarts. After I had done that I read all the spell books that I could get my hands on." Hermione smiled sheepishly, "But you probably don't want to hear all that."
"No go on," Harry waved his hand signaling for her to continue, "I want to hear about how muggles grow up. My godfather raised me and so I have always been around magic. However there were some things that I had to get muggle. We had a muggle radio and a muggle T.V. Of course we enchanted them so they could run off magic instead of electricity."
Hermione smiled and pointed out that it was illegal to charm muggle appliances. Harry shrugged and replied that what the Ministry didn't know couldn't hurt them. Besides there were no muggles within a hundred miles of where he lived. Harry then invited Hermione to look at the enormous collection of books held in the study, which she did. After being asked if she could borrow some for light reading he asked her which books. A few of the books he had said no to because they were obviously topics that would have been in the restricted section and Harry didn't want to have to deal with questions if anybody found out that she had got them from Harry. Hermione did get five books though.
One was on the history of wizarding England, another on the witch hunts of Medieval Europe, another on ancient civilizations, a fourth on the founders, and finally one on dragons. This last Harry guessed Hermione wanted because of the ridgeback attack. Harry didn't take Hermione back to the common room until ten o' clock. They had ate together at eight and Hermione had been more than slightly impressed with his conjuring of food. When they finally returned the two had to wait a while for the common room to clear out some before they could reenter. When the opportunity came Harry and Hermione quickly slipped through the fire and emerged unscathed on the other side. Soon after Angie and Ron came into the common room and set upon Harry, questioning him as to his whereabouts the entire day. Harry told them that he was avoiding some unwanted company and had to explain the Ministry situation once again. He did not however, mention the room and this told Hermione not to mention it either.
Harry then "introduced" Hermione to the group and though they were a little hesitant Ron and Angie accepted her pretty quickly. The four stayed up until midnight asking questions and giving answers. It was in this question and answer session that Harry asked Angie about her life before Hogwarts.
"Well, you see I'm an only child, and muggle born, or at least I thought I was. I was in much the same position as Hermione here except that when I got my letter, my parents didn't want me to go. I did though and sent a letter back with the owl that had came with my Hogwarts letter. It was then that I learned that I had been adopted when I was very, very young. My parents it turned out were killed by Voldemort," Ron flinched at the name, "during the height of his power. When the owl delivered the letter to Hogwarts, Professor McGonnagal came to my house and took me with her. We went to Diagon Alley and I found that I was quite rich, my real parents had left me quite a bit of money. So after buying my supplies I was taken back home. There my parents discovered that I had gone and decided to go to Hogwarts. They told me that if I were to go here then they would not allow me to come back. I loved them a lot but I decided to come nonetheless." Angie's gray eyes radiated sadness. She turned to face each one of them in turn and each offered their sympathy. Her eyes rested upon Harry's.
"Harry?" she asked, "What is your real eye color?"
Harry took out his gold and silver contacts and looked up at her, his emerald green eyes showing brightly.
"Wow," Angie breathlessly muttered, "Harry those are great eyes. Why do you wear contacts?"
"I don't know, I just did. I mean, I need contacts anyway and I figured that I might as well get some weird colors." Harry smiled at his friends who laughed at this revelation.
"Harry," Hermione started, "There is a spell that would allow you to correct your vision. I don't think that I could perform it but I'm sure that you could. Harry looked at her curiously. "You say that there is a spell to correct eyesight? Is it a new spell?"
"Yes, fairly new."
"Must be why it wasn't in any of the spellbooks at my house. Do you think that you could get it for me?"
Hermione ran up to her room as quietly as she could and returned with a large book that had the Hogwarts library seal on it. She flipped through about two-hundred pages before stopping. "Here it is, the eyesight correction spell. The incantation is 'Ocularous Repario.'"
Harry took out his wand and pointing it at his eyes said the incantation. A bright white light enveloped him, centering at his eyes. When the light departed Harry found that he could see perfectly, perhaps even more than perfectly. Harry smiled at Hermione and gave her a big hug telling her that it worked.
"Harry," began Ron, "do you think that you could do that spell on me? I've had a bit of trouble lately seeing the board and I don't want to get glasses." Harry gladly complied and soon Ron too was exclaiming at how well he could see.
At midnight Harry declared that he was too tired to continue talking and he and Ron said goodnight to the girls and ascended the stairs to the boy's dormitories. The girls left up the stairs to their dorms as well. As soon as the four hit their pillows, all fell asleep.
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(A/N: hope you all like the chapter. Next one should be coming up tomorrow!)
Ashley - thanks and here is the update
Nexus - This chapter is a little slow but the next picks up a little bit more
Gabriella - heh, did I keep you on your toes with the dragon?
Time Twins - thanks a lot! Heh, I did plan something like that for Hermione and the others
Jordan - I hope that you like that Harry took out the contacts. :D I was getting a few too many complaints about it.
Rachel A. Prongs - Thanks for reviewing yet again! Oh, and I hope my A/N at the top explains
Old Fawkes - Thanks a lot for the great review!
Otaku Freak - Thanks for the kind words. Hope you liked.
Makulit - Harry did kill the dragon, well, it was disintegrated. There was nothing left. No blood no mess. I know I really need a beta reader, but that slows the time that I will get the chapters out in. So I'm not sure. Thank you for your excellent review.
Jpalmegrin - Thanks for all of the advice! I will use some!
Rysu-koshi - I may include a song from them. I love them too.
Serry - Thanks for sticking up for me!
Tigerdrake - Thank you for sticking up against that reviewer. Also, thanks for expressing your dislikes in a in a more polite fashion. I know that I may have been able to put this in original fiction, but I don't mind. It is hard to think up new names and such. Besides, it is very disheartening in original fiction. Those stories get hardly any reviews.
(A/N: Thanks again to all reviewers. Oh and I suggest that you check out my favorite stories! There are some really great ones in there!)
Oh yes, and I believe an explanation is in order. Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. To be honest with you all I have read fan fiction for such a long time now, mostly fifth year stories, that it never even occurred to me that they didn't take these classes in first year. However, I have decided to keep these classes in the story. One because instead of Divination Harry will be taking another class, one which he wants to take and will evolve into something in the course of this story. Two, I'm just to lazy to make the necessary changes. Heh. Well, thanks to all reviewers!)
Chapter 9: Friendship
Harry cracked his eyes open and light flooded in. He slammed his eyelids shut. A minute later he tried again with the same results. 'Where am I?' he thought, 'What happened?' He tried to force his mind to recall the last events that he remembered and it all came flooding back to him: the dragon, the chaos magic, HERMIONE! Harry opened his eyes and this time ignored the light. He looked around, and found that he was lying on a bed in the hospital wing. To his surprise he saw hundreds of gifts of chocolate frogs, Bernie Botts' Every Flavor Beans, and lemon drops. Looking at the mountain of sweets in front of him he noticed a toilet seat.
'Ha, must be Fred and George.' Harry rolled over to see if there were more gifts on the other side of him. This movement attracted the attention of Madam Pomfrey, the mediwitch at Hogwarts.
"Oh goodness! You are awake!" she exclaimed as she came over to check on Harry. "How are you feeling dear?"
"Terrible," came the response. Indeed it was true. Harry was sore all over, physically and mentally. He felt exhausted and yet at the same time felt well rested. 'How is that possible?' he asked himself.
"Well I should think that you would be feeling bad after the case of magical shock that you went through. Been in bed for a week now! I thought that we had lost you at first, but you pulled through. Should have expected it out of you dear." Harry grimaced at that. He never liked being referred to as something extraordinary.
"Well I suppose that I must get Professor Dumbledore. He wanted me to alert him as soon as you came around. I believe that he has a few questions for you." With that the mediwitch left the room.
Harry took the opportunity to search the room for Hermione. He was really worried about her. He had collapsed right after the spell, and because he was alive he assumed that the dragon left, but he couldn't be sure. Harry absentmindedly grabbed a chocolate frog and opened it. He caught the frog as it tried to jump off the bed and stuffed it in his mouth. Then he grabbed the card; Merlin.
'Wow, Ron is going to have a fit! This is the rarest card and he doesn't have it! Maybe I'll just give it to him as a gift, it should make a great Christmas gift.' Harry didn't even notice as the door to the hospital wing opened again and the headmaster came inside. Harry didn't notice until Professor Dumbledore was standing right next to him. Harry looked up and was met by a pair of twinkling eyes.
"Hello Harry," said Dumbledore kindly, "How are you feeling." Harry repeated his answer for the Headmaster. "Ah yes, terrible." Dumbledore smiled. "You know Harry that I and the rest of the staff witnessed your encounter with the ridgeback."
Harry sighed. "No, I didn't know that Headmaster, "though it makes sense. I suppose you are here to ask me about the fight then?"
"Yes Harry, I must say I was very intrigued by your chanting. I couldn't find what it meant anywhere in any books I looked in."
"You heard the chanting?" Harry asked nervously.
"Yes my dear boy. If I am not mistaken I believe that the entire school heard it, perhaps it was heard even further than that." Harry groaned and Dumbledore continued. "I knew that you were something special when I first set my eyes upon you Harry. How special I never knew. So far this year though I must say that you have surprised every teacher in the school with your knowledge. Now I must ask you, how much did Sirius teach you, and what did he teach you?"
"Headmaster, I will answer these questions, on one condition."
"And what is that Harry?
"I don't want you to tell the ministry anything. I trust you but if what I tell you gets out then I'm not sure that I could continue to be here. I will tell you right now that I could more than likely pass both the O.W.L.S and the N.E.W.T.S with flying colors."
Dumbledore kept a passive face up at this information, but Harry could vaguely sense the man's surprise. "Harry, I'm not sure that I can make that promise, unless you promise that you will give the ministry to ask you the same question that I have."
"I will allow them to ask, but it doesn't mean that I will answer. I have no reason to distrust you Headmaster, and according to Sirius, every reason to. I will tell you what I think that you need to know, but I will not explain to you the principles behind some of my knowledge."
Dumbledore nodded in agreement.
"Alright then. I will start off by telling you that Sirius began to teach me magic at a very young age. I believe that I learned the lumos spell at age four, though at that age I didn't learn many other spells. Sirius taught me that mostly to placate my whining to learn magic." Dumbledore smiled. "By the age of eight I knew roughly 400 spells, many hexes and the like. I didn't know many curses except those that Sirius deemed necessary for pranks. However, something very strange happened on my eighth birthday." Dumbledore seemed to perk up at this. "A voice visited me in my dreams. It said that I would now have a photographic memory, that learning would no longer be a problem. As it is now, I can read a book and recite off every detail from that book to you."
Dumbledore nodded, "Did this voice ever say anything besides tha tyou had gained this power?"
Harry shook his head, "Not on that visit."
"It came more than once?"
"Yes. It came on my ninth, tenth, and eleventh birthdays as well. Except on these birthdays I was granted magical powers, not just memory."
"Continue."
"On the eve of my ninth birthday, I gained control of the elements." Harry made a fireball appear in his hand as a demonstration. Dumbledore seemed mildly impressed.
"Yes," Dumbledore began, "I should have expected that, your father had control of the elements as well. I believe that that is a trait of the heir of Gryfindor. He was an elemental. But I don't believe that the spell you used was that of one of the elements."
"No you are correct, it was not. I was getting to that. On my tenth birthday I was visited again, and this time I learned that I had the capability to learn necromancy." Dumbledore looked slightly alarmed. "Don't be afraid Headmaster. I know what necromancy is and how to use it. I also know that there is no such thing as dark magic. Necromancy is considered a dark practice, because most who use it use it for their own desires, and thus it became evil. However, I do not use it to further my own needs, and so in my position it is not evil."
Dumbledore relaxed, "I see that you have progressed far beyond your years in knowledge and experience." It was Harry's turn to smile.
"Headmaster, when forced to live as I did, constantly worried that you would be found, one tends to grow up a lot faster. Though sometimes I wish that I hadn't." Harry was sent into his own thoughts until Dumbledore brought him out of them with a soft cough.
"Ah yes - where was I?"
"Eleven?" Dumbledore offered with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Yes. When I turned eleven I was again visited much to my dismay. You see all I really wanted was to be normal, and knowing that others did not have these powers that I was being presented with was quite disheartening for me. However, the voice came anyway, and presented me with my final power to date. A power that I fear; the power that I used yesterday. And seeing the results, I'm sure that you can appreciate why I fear it. It can be deadly to those who use it and it is easily corrupted. I have yet to lose control of the magic though if I did you would know. I would be insane, my sanity being pulled away a along with my magic. Yes, to fail with this magic is to lose your own."
Dumbledore looked rather dumbfounded, and was a loss for words. So Harry continued.
"Yes Headmaster, this power that I gained on my eleventh birthday was power over the chaos magic." Dumbledore drew in a breath. "Yes, the power over the very magic of the Earth. In drawing this power I subject myself to the great reserves of energy of the Earth. They are always looking for more power you know. If one loses control of the spell then the magic is pulled back into the Earth, along with the magic of the caster. If used correctly, the magic is powerful, more powerful than any other."
Dumbledore spoke, "Yes, I have heard of this magic before. It is rare that such a gift be given to a mortal, to control the very magic that holds together the Earth. It is a near infinite supply of energy if I am correct?"
"Yes, a near infinite supply of energy that can be accessed at near infinite risk. Even to complete a spell is to drain oneself. I have only attempted very small variations of the spell that I used a week ago, and those put me out for near two hours."
"Very interesting. If I may ask, where have you been practicing these spells?" "Surely Headmaster you must know that the founders all created rooms for their heirs' use?" Dumbledore nodded his head.
"I have heard that that was true, but have never been able to find any. Though I know that the Chamber of Secrets, the Slytherin room exists."
"Yes, well my father while here found the Gryfindor common room. Only the heir and those he invites may enter." Dumbledore nodded his head.
"You shall have to show me this room sometime Harry, I think that it would be very interesting to see it."
Harry replied that he would.
Dumbledore raised himself from the bed "If you are feeling up to it Harry, I give you leave to go."
"Thank you Headmaster." Dumbledore nodded his head and then left the room. Harry gathering some of the gifts left up to the Gryfindor study. Upon arriving he was greeted by Merlin. After a quick conversation involving where Harry was and how he was doing, Merlin let him through. There he deposited the sweets and grabbed a bag.
Then he left back up to the hospital wing for the rest of his sweets. Upon arriving he grabbed the rest of the sweets and stuck them into his bag and then he returned to the Gryfindor study. There, Harry went to thinking about how the entire school had heard his chanting. Nobody had said anything about it before when he had done it before. After an hour Harry came up with a hypothesis.
Harry believed that however far he drew energy from was how far the chanting could be heard. For the spell that he used against the dragon he had called for energy from all throughout Hogwarts, and perhaps well beyond. How far he didn't know, or care to know. After formulating this theory he decided that Dumbledore should know and so he set off in the direction of the Headmaster's office.
He arrived just in time to see the Minister of Magic and a few aurors go through the passageway to Dumbledore's office. As they went through however, the strangest thing happened. The passageway did not fully close. Harry of course, being the honest individual he was, stepped closer to eavesdrop.
"Dumbledore! You must allow us to speak with the boy!"
"Cornelius! I have allowed you to speak with him once before, he left that meeting. It is my belief that he will not wish to speak with you again!"
"Albus! I am the Minister of Magic! He will speak with me if I so demand it!"
"Cornelius you fool! Your power is not so great as to control others at a whim! That is a trait of a dark wizard Cornelius. That was a trait of Voldemort!"
Harry could almost hear Fudge wince at the name. "Do not speak his name Albus! It brings ill tidings."
"It brings nothing Cornelius! Are you so afraid to speak a name?"
"Of course not!" yelled Fudge trying to regain some dignity. "It is simply brings ill tidings to speak of one so evil."
Harry could hear Dumbledore sigh. "Cornelius. I will give you one day to find and question Harry Potter. Neither I nor any of the faculty at this school will aid you in finding him. I suspect that he will not want to be found by you."
Harry did not stick around any longer, but fled to the Gryfindor study, where he planned to reside for the rest of that day. However, plans sometimes change. Harry glanced at the clock, it read noon. Harry conjured up a lunch and then began to study some more on his necromantic magic. After two hours of this Harry decided to practice sword fighting. This became tiring after an hour and Harry was unable to continue that practice. So, with nothing else to do, Harry decided to explore the room. It was about five o' clock and Harry was in the third room of the study, when Harry found something interesting. As he tried to pull out a book he found that it wouldn't move. Harry cleared out the books by it and examined the book from all sides. It looked like a normal book, but the title was written in runes.
'Curiosity killed the cat,' Harry reminded himself, but to no avail. Harry opened the book. As he did Harry heard shifting and to his surprise the bookshelf on which the book was shelved began to move aside. Once it had fully moved aside a door opened on the wall behind it. Harry quickly pulled out his Marauder's Map, which he kept with him at all times. After a quick looking over Harry was very sure that not even the Marauders had found this passage. Harry, because of Sirius' influence no doubt, decided to explore.
Harry noticed with interest that as he walked down the path, the map automatically recorded its existence. Harry could not, however, see where the passageway ended, as the map only recorded where he had explored. The path took many twists and turns and Harry was at a loss as to where it could possibly go, finally however, it straightened out. When Harry finally came to the wall at the end of the passage he took out his map, and almost dropped it in surprise.
The passage was from the Gryfindor study to the Gryfindor common room. Quickly Harry checked to see if there was anybody inside the common room that could see him enter, there was not.
"Excete Revealus," Harry said as he tapped the wall with his wand. Two words appeared in the air. These words were the password to open the wall. 'Godric Gryfindor.' Harry shrugged at the password, it seemed almost to easy. He put his wand against the wall and said the words and it opened up. To Harry's surprise he was staring out at the common room from behind the fire.
'Great, how am I supposed to get in?' As if on instinct Harry took a step forward into the fire, and to his great surprise, he wasn't burned. The fire it seemed, though it gave off heat, could not burn one who stepped or fell into it. Harry imagined that this was to prevent injuries and loss of property. Harry stepped through the fire and into the common room, and the passage closed behind him. As the passage closed he heard footsteps coming down the stairs into the common room. Soon after he saw the brown hair of Hermione Granger. When she saw Harry she screamed out his name and ran over to give him a hug, which he accepted.
"Harry we were so worried about you! I was so worried about you. You saved me you know from that dragon, I probably would've died if you hadn't done what you did. And then when you collapsed, I thought that you had died. I was so scared, but then Dumbledore came out and took you up to the hospital wing and told me that you had a good chance of coming out all right. But even after that we were all scared, even some of the Slytherins looked worried about you. I mean, you did save the entire school." She smiled at his obvious embarrassment of being called a hero.
"I wouldn't go to that extent. I mean, Dumbledore could have taken the ridgeback probably."
"Harry don't be so modest, he may have been able to, but he didn't, you did."
"I know, but I don't like all the attention that I am likely to receive because of it. I mean the Ministry of Magic is here right now wanting to question me. But the last time they questioned me things didn't go that entirely well and so I think that I will avoid them for a while yet. Dumbledore only gave them a day to find me."
Hermione smiled at this. She knew that Harry had been the son of a great man, a man who incidentally found many secret passages in Hogwarts. Harry probably knew them all, and could evade the Ministry for as long as he wanted.
"Do you know if they have access to the common room?" she asked, "Because if they don't you could stay in here a while."
"I'm not sure, but lets see where they are at this moment." Harry pulled out his map, and very quietly spoke, "Moony, Padfoot, and Prongs forever." Lines began to spread across the paper forming a very accurate map of Hogwarts, including the passage that Harry had just discovered. Almost instantly Harry saw the name Cornelius Fudge walking around the hallways. A quick check of his position revealed that he was on his way to the Gryfindor tower, and that meant that Harry needed a quick escape. A dilemma was presented however, in the form of Hermione. She would know where he had gone to and most assuredly ask him about it later. Harry could leave her here and face those questions at a later time, or he could take her with him to the Gryfindor study. Harry chose the later.
Quickly he grabbed Hermione by the wrist and drug her over to the fireplace where he stepped in. Hermione screamed but Harry silenced her with a glare.
"Don't worry, the fire is enchanted to not burn those who touch it. Hermione nodded her understanding and Harry put his wand against the back wall and whispered, "Godric Gryfindor." The passage opened and Harry pulled Hermione through. The passage shut just as the portrait hole opened. Harry watched the men search the common room and then the dormitories before giving up in disgust with that room. Harry then pulled Hermione along the long passage until he got to the other wall. Again he put his wand up to the wall and whispered the password. When the wall slid open Hermione asked if he should not have checked to see if there were anybody inside. Harry said that there couldn't be anybody inside without him inviting them in. His point was proved as he walked in but Hermione found that there was an invisible barrier blocking her way.
"Oh, said Harry, um, she is here at my invitation." With that Hermione found no difficulty in sliding through to the dueling room of the study. She looked around in awe.
"Harry? What is this place?"
"This, Hermione, is the study of Godric Gryfindor."
"How did you find it?"
"My dad did when he was here at Hogwarts."
"You said Godric Gryfindor right?"
"Yes."
"Then how come only you can get in."
Harry sighed, "Do you promise not to tell anyone?" Hermione nodded. "Okay then, I'm his heir."
"His heir?" Hermione exclaimed putting her hand over her mouth.
"Yes, his heir. I have access to this room because I am his heir. Only I and those I invite may enter. You are lucky enough to be the first person that I have invited into this room." "Oh," Hermione said nervously, "thanks?"
Harry laughed. "You enjoy reading don't you?"
"Yes I love reading. I have read all sorts of interesting things. Being muggle born I had to read about the wizarding world. And I had to read about Hogwarts. After I had done that I read all the spell books that I could get my hands on." Hermione smiled sheepishly, "But you probably don't want to hear all that."
"No go on," Harry waved his hand signaling for her to continue, "I want to hear about how muggles grow up. My godfather raised me and so I have always been around magic. However there were some things that I had to get muggle. We had a muggle radio and a muggle T.V. Of course we enchanted them so they could run off magic instead of electricity."
Hermione smiled and pointed out that it was illegal to charm muggle appliances. Harry shrugged and replied that what the Ministry didn't know couldn't hurt them. Besides there were no muggles within a hundred miles of where he lived. Harry then invited Hermione to look at the enormous collection of books held in the study, which she did. After being asked if she could borrow some for light reading he asked her which books. A few of the books he had said no to because they were obviously topics that would have been in the restricted section and Harry didn't want to have to deal with questions if anybody found out that she had got them from Harry. Hermione did get five books though.
One was on the history of wizarding England, another on the witch hunts of Medieval Europe, another on ancient civilizations, a fourth on the founders, and finally one on dragons. This last Harry guessed Hermione wanted because of the ridgeback attack. Harry didn't take Hermione back to the common room until ten o' clock. They had ate together at eight and Hermione had been more than slightly impressed with his conjuring of food. When they finally returned the two had to wait a while for the common room to clear out some before they could reenter. When the opportunity came Harry and Hermione quickly slipped through the fire and emerged unscathed on the other side. Soon after Angie and Ron came into the common room and set upon Harry, questioning him as to his whereabouts the entire day. Harry told them that he was avoiding some unwanted company and had to explain the Ministry situation once again. He did not however, mention the room and this told Hermione not to mention it either.
Harry then "introduced" Hermione to the group and though they were a little hesitant Ron and Angie accepted her pretty quickly. The four stayed up until midnight asking questions and giving answers. It was in this question and answer session that Harry asked Angie about her life before Hogwarts.
"Well, you see I'm an only child, and muggle born, or at least I thought I was. I was in much the same position as Hermione here except that when I got my letter, my parents didn't want me to go. I did though and sent a letter back with the owl that had came with my Hogwarts letter. It was then that I learned that I had been adopted when I was very, very young. My parents it turned out were killed by Voldemort," Ron flinched at the name, "during the height of his power. When the owl delivered the letter to Hogwarts, Professor McGonnagal came to my house and took me with her. We went to Diagon Alley and I found that I was quite rich, my real parents had left me quite a bit of money. So after buying my supplies I was taken back home. There my parents discovered that I had gone and decided to go to Hogwarts. They told me that if I were to go here then they would not allow me to come back. I loved them a lot but I decided to come nonetheless." Angie's gray eyes radiated sadness. She turned to face each one of them in turn and each offered their sympathy. Her eyes rested upon Harry's.
"Harry?" she asked, "What is your real eye color?"
Harry took out his gold and silver contacts and looked up at her, his emerald green eyes showing brightly.
"Wow," Angie breathlessly muttered, "Harry those are great eyes. Why do you wear contacts?"
"I don't know, I just did. I mean, I need contacts anyway and I figured that I might as well get some weird colors." Harry smiled at his friends who laughed at this revelation.
"Harry," Hermione started, "There is a spell that would allow you to correct your vision. I don't think that I could perform it but I'm sure that you could. Harry looked at her curiously. "You say that there is a spell to correct eyesight? Is it a new spell?"
"Yes, fairly new."
"Must be why it wasn't in any of the spellbooks at my house. Do you think that you could get it for me?"
Hermione ran up to her room as quietly as she could and returned with a large book that had the Hogwarts library seal on it. She flipped through about two-hundred pages before stopping. "Here it is, the eyesight correction spell. The incantation is 'Ocularous Repario.'"
Harry took out his wand and pointing it at his eyes said the incantation. A bright white light enveloped him, centering at his eyes. When the light departed Harry found that he could see perfectly, perhaps even more than perfectly. Harry smiled at Hermione and gave her a big hug telling her that it worked.
"Harry," began Ron, "do you think that you could do that spell on me? I've had a bit of trouble lately seeing the board and I don't want to get glasses." Harry gladly complied and soon Ron too was exclaiming at how well he could see.
At midnight Harry declared that he was too tired to continue talking and he and Ron said goodnight to the girls and ascended the stairs to the boy's dormitories. The girls left up the stairs to their dorms as well. As soon as the four hit their pillows, all fell asleep.
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(A/N: hope you all like the chapter. Next one should be coming up tomorrow!)
Ashley - thanks and here is the update
Nexus - This chapter is a little slow but the next picks up a little bit more
Gabriella - heh, did I keep you on your toes with the dragon?
Time Twins - thanks a lot! Heh, I did plan something like that for Hermione and the others
Jordan - I hope that you like that Harry took out the contacts. :D I was getting a few too many complaints about it.
Rachel A. Prongs - Thanks for reviewing yet again! Oh, and I hope my A/N at the top explains
Old Fawkes - Thanks a lot for the great review!
Otaku Freak - Thanks for the kind words. Hope you liked.
Makulit - Harry did kill the dragon, well, it was disintegrated. There was nothing left. No blood no mess. I know I really need a beta reader, but that slows the time that I will get the chapters out in. So I'm not sure. Thank you for your excellent review.
Jpalmegrin - Thanks for all of the advice! I will use some!
Rysu-koshi - I may include a song from them. I love them too.
Serry - Thanks for sticking up for me!
Tigerdrake - Thank you for sticking up against that reviewer. Also, thanks for expressing your dislikes in a in a more polite fashion. I know that I may have been able to put this in original fiction, but I don't mind. It is hard to think up new names and such. Besides, it is very disheartening in original fiction. Those stories get hardly any reviews.
(A/N: Thanks again to all reviewers. Oh and I suggest that you check out my favorite stories! There are some really great ones in there!)