Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Please don't sue.
"Harry, get up!" Ron groaned, tugging on Harry's pajama sleeve. "Ugh! And I thought I could sleep late – c'mon, it's well after noon!"
Harry barely heard his words. He was still tired, having not been able to get back to sleep after his nightmare. Although he didn't wake up with the scar burning, any dream of Voldemort was bound to disturb. And it didn't help any that there appeared to be two group of death eaters around now.
Ron finally decided to take a leaf from Angelina's book, and conjured a bucket of ice water. "WAKE UP!" Ron yelled, while pouring the bucket over on Harry.
"Agh!" Harry cried, jumping out of bed.
"Harry, it's 2:30 already! Why are you so tired?" Ron asked.
Harry looked at him with bags under his eyes, and Ron whispered, "You had a nightmare, didn't you."
Harry silently nodded, and grabbed a piece of parchment. "Well," Ron nervously asked, "what was it? Did Voldemort kill someone?"
Harry frowned and said, "Can I tell you later? Something really weird has happened,"
Ron looked at him with a hurt expression, and Harry softly said, "Ron, I will tell you. It's just, well, you know how those dreams can be."
Ron put his hand on Harry's shoulder, and then left the room. Harry wondered how he had managed to find a friend like Ron, and started writing his note.
Dumbledore,
I had a dream last night, and something odd happened with the Death Eaters. Padma, or Voldemort, was weak and couldn't perform the cruciatus curse at full power. Then Lucius Malfoy saw this, and decided to stage a coup. Malfoy dueled Voldemort and won. Voldemort left, and only about seven or eight of the death eaters followed. The rest I assume stayed with Malfoy.
I'll let you know if I get another dream. How is Snuffles doing?
- Harry
Harry rolled the parchment up and tied it to Hedwig's leg. "I need you to get this to Dumbledore. It's important, ok?" Hedwig gently nipped his finger, and took off out the window.
"Are you ok, Harry?"
Harry turned around, and saw Ginny standing in the doorway. Harry softly said, "No."
"Ron told me that you had a nightmare again," Ginny said, slowly walking over to him, "But he said you didn't want to talk about it."
Harry sat silent for a moment, not saying anything. As Ginny was about to leave, Harry asked, "Do you play chess?"
Ginny turned around and said, "Yes, it's impossible to live with Ron and not to. Why, do you want to play?"
Harry shook his head and said, "Chess is two forces, battling it out to see who wins. It's really easy to understand – you just play to defeat the other side."
Ginny stared at him, wondering what he was talking about. Harry continued talking, "But what if there were two opponents? What if there were two enemies? How would you fight them both?"
Ginny ran over to him and hugged him. She seemed like she wanted to say something to him, but couldn't find the words. Harry didn't know what to say either, and the two sat in silence.
Dumbledore's reply came several days later, and Harry read it anxiously on the couch in the Burrow living room. He had been worrying about what the schism of the death eaters could mean.
Harry,
Thank you for your letter, and for your news about what is going on with the death eaters. However, this was somewhat expected, and I ask you not to worry about it. Voldemort was a powerful wizard, but now he's held within the body of a relatively weak 17 year old. Voldemort will have to take some time to regain his powers.
Understand that Death Eaters rarely claim loyalty to an ideal, or even a person. Instead, most feel only kinship to power. I don't doubt that for a time, Lucius Malfoy will lead the majority of the Death Eaters, since he is for the time being more powerful.
No doubt you are slightly alarmed that there are now two separate groups of death eaters. However, keep in mind that this does not necessarily create a worse situation for us, and may in fact benefit us. Please keep up hope.
Snuffles sends you his regards as well, and regrets that he won't be able to attend your birthday.
- Albus Dumbledore
Harry let out a sigh, and wondered how the situation could be better for them. If you had to play chess against two opponents, what would you do? How would you fight them both? How could the situation be an improvement? What did Dumbledore see that he didn't?
Harry let out a quavering breath, and cleared his mind. How could two opponents be better than one? How could two forces seeking to destroy you be better than one? Harry suddenly looked up. That's it! Harry was too busy worried about there being two enemies, he forgot that the two hated each other as well! Voldemort would want to make Malfoy pay, and Lucius will want to remove any threats to his new power! So the big question was, would Lucius pose a greater threat to Voldemort or to the rest of the magical world?
"Dumbledore wrote you back?" Ron asked. Harry suddenly noticed his friend had sat down on the floor in front of him.
Harry nodded, and Ron softly asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"
Harry let out a weak grin, and said, "Sure, but let's get Ginny down here, too. That way I'll only have to tell the story once."
Ron smiled and went to knock on Ginny's door. Ron silently gestured for her to come down, and Ginny sat down next to Harry on the couch.
"Well, you know how I sometimes have dreams about what Voldemort is doing? Well, I had another one about a week ago," Harry started. Both Ron and Ginny simply nodded, already knowing that much.
"However, the dream was rather odd. Voldemort was in Padma's body, but he was really weak. He tried casting the cruciatus curse on one of the Death Eaters, but it didn't have much power. Well, Lucius Malfoy saw this and had this crafty look on his face. And he started to snidely talk back to Voldemort."
Ginny and Ron gasped. Harry didn't blame them, as he was rather surprised when he witnessed it. Harry continued, "Voldemort tried hurting Malfoy, but failed. They both dueled, and Malfoy humiliated Voldemort. Voldemort was forced to leave, and only a handful followed him. So there are two groups of death eaters now. One large group led by Malfoy, and a much smaller group led by Voldemort."
Ron and Ginny couldn't think of anything to say. Finally, Ron burst out, "That's great! The death eaters will fight against each other! This is… This is…"
Ginny shot him a look and said, "What if the death eaters don't attack each other, and decide to kill off muggles or good wizards instead? We could be facing an even larger problem!"
Ron frowned and shot back, "Well, well, if you're not a bit of sunlight on a gloomy day!"
"No, she's right, Ron," Harry finally said, "And so are you. We just don't know whether the situation will be better or worse for us." Harry handed the two Weasleys the note from Dumbledore.
"Oh, that's good," Ginny said, "Snuffles is doing ok. Oh, and I almost forgot about your birthday. When is it, July 29th?"
Harry corrected, "No, it's the 31st."
Ron burst out laughing and said, "Oh, you forgot, did you Ginny? I would've thought that would be hard, what with all the planning you've done for it." Ginny shot her brother a pleading look, which Ron ignored and continued, "She's even driving mum mad, trying to make sure the entire thing is completely perfect."
"Hi, Hermione!" Ginny said, looking over Ron's shoulder.
"What?" Ron cried, whipping around and seeing nobody. Ginny and Harry burst out laughing, and Ron said, "That isn't funny!" That only made the two laugh harder.
Ron threw his arms up in the air and stormed up to his room. "So, you've been planning my birthday party, have you?" Harry asked as Ron shut his door.
Ginny didn't answer him, and just gave him a small grin. "You know," Harry whispered, "I haven't really had a birthday party before. You didn't need to do much planning to be the best one I've ever had."
Ginny snuggled up close and said, "No, Harry. That's why it has to be so good. I can't imagine not having a birthday party before. Why are you so unlucky?"
Harry looked at Ginny in his arms and softly said, "I don't think I'd call myself unlucky."
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Hehe, let's here it for cheesy lines!
First off, I had an anonymous review that somehow didn't make it to the reviews page (I assume the poster deleted it somehow). It brought up a very good point about magic during the holidays. I admit I might have stretched the canon with how I created this story. But it's not that far-fetched. After all, Ron tells Harry that there are exceptions to the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry. I merely… bent it a little. Anyway, good point brought up.
TrueFan, I'm glad you love the Irish Drinking songs. You know, I when the idea popped up in my head for a singing leprechaun back in story one, I never imagined all this would happen! If you want, check out the reviews in the second story, which Atheis & Aeris write some of them, too!
Suzanne: I'm glad you enjoyed the Boot's fun with the Dursleys as well
Penda: Nope. I'm not going to tell you what happened between Ginny and Harry in the 7th year's room last year. In fact, I purposely made it so that you could take whatever stance you wanted. Sorry!
Also, about Dumbledore Vs. Hannah. Dumbledore was asleep when Hannah started attacking. Dumbledore had to wake up, and once he had done so, drove Hannah away.
Kaelli: Glad you like it!
Ariel: To tell you the truth, I was worried some people might see the first two chapters and think I was going to introduce a Larry and Mary Sue. Oh well – glad you like it!