Chapter 7: New Rooms and Dueling
Harry woke up the next morning. He was more tired than he had ever been in his entire life. He felt like a zombie walking down to breakfast, and was sure he looked like one too. He could almost feel the huge bags underneath his eyes. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night, not after, seeing the future.
"Harry? Are you ok?" It was Angie; she was looking at him, and looking very concerned.
"I'm fine!" Harry snapped. He changed his course from the Great Hall to the library. He needed something. A book, yes, that was what it was, an old book. He headed off with determination. Angie, looking hurt, went off to find Hermione.
Harry entered the library and immediately headed towards the back. He was being drawn to a book and could only vaguely see where it was he was heading. His entire focus was on the book. Too late he realized that he had entered the restricted section, he almost stopped, but the pull was too strong. He walked down many aisles to the very back of the restricted section. can't believe I just waltzed on back here.' Finally, after
'I am going to be in so much trouble,' he thought. 'I minutes of walking down endless rows and aisles he stopped. In front of him was a bookcase full of what Harry knew were the oldest books still in existence. His gaze went past many of the books and stopped on an old tome. His hand involuntarily reached out and he clasped the tome. He read the title off the spine, The Powers of Death. Harry flipped it over to see its cover. What he saw almost made him drop the book, a skull of the whitest bone stared out at him, locked in a screaming pose. Shaking, Harry opened to tome.
If you are reading this now then you are among the few gifted with the powers of the death element. It is by far the most powerful of all the elements, yet also the most dangerous to wield. Death does not discriminate, it cannot distinguish friend from foe, and thus its wielder must always have full control over every spell cast. Death is power, pure, raw, power.
Harry stopped reading. He was frightened, no not frightened, terrified, 'is it true? Do I have that much power?' He had just walked right into the restricted section of the library, that alone was enough to get 200 points taken from Gryfindor and detentions for the rest of the month. Then he had grabbed a book off the shelf, probably doubling his punishment, and read it. He knew that this was grounds for expulsion from Hogwarts.
'Oh my god, what am I gonna do?' Instinct took a hold of him right then as he heard voices.
"He ran this way headmaster." It was Filch, with Dumbledore.
"Right, Minerva, take those aisles."
'Jesus! McGonnagal too?!' Harry ran. He ran faster than he had ever run before, his robes whipping around behind him. As he ran blindly through the endless rows he shrunk the book, and donned his hood so that he could not be recognized. 'I'm never gonna get out of this one -' he thought as he ran. 'I have to get out unseen!' This last thought was almost a plea for help.
"Meow."
Harry stopped, in front of him was Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat. 'Oh shit.'
"Headmaster! Professor! Mrs. Norris found him! This way!" Harry could hear Filch closing the distance and he took off again. He ran as though his very life depended on it, and in a way, it did. It seemed he had been running for an eternity within those long rows when he saw it, the exit of the restricted section. Harry picked up his lagging pace with a renewed vigor and sprinted out of the restricted section, with Dumbledore, McGonnagal, and Filch right behind him.
Then Harry felt it, he was being pulled again, like when he was after the book. The pull was taking him straight to the wall, where a tapestry depicted the four founders of Hogwarts. As Harry neared, his pursuers exited the Restricted section. Harry saw the image of Godric Gryfindor shiver and at the same time heard in the back of his mind Dumbledore shouting,
"Stupefy!" Harry dove, and braced himself for the impact he was expecting. It never came. After a minute or so of laying on the ground, Harry dared to look up. What he saw startled him. He was lying on the floor of a room, a study by the look of it. He had escaped.
*********
After recovering from the shock that he had escaped from Dumbledore Harry decided to explore this room. He saw that opposite the 'entrance' was a door. However the two walls on the sides of the entranced were lined with bookshelves, and these were filled with books quite possibly as old as the one he was now carrying. Arrayed in the room were two couches which, when tested, were found to be quite comfortable. Harry also noted a desk off to the side of the room. Taking this all in Harry realized that he was in a secret room of Hogwarts. So secret in fact, that not even the Marauders had found it. Harry whistled. After lying on one of the couches for a little time he decided to see what the next room held in store.
He walked in and to his surprise he found a dueling room. Along the wall in front of him were many different types of weapons, everything from halberds to scimitars. Harry also noticed that the wall to his right was lined with bookcases, bookcases that were filled to the brink with spell books. After a cursory examination of the titles of the books, he found that most dealt with battle spells, a few with defensive spells, and a few with healing. The left wall was decorated with old suits of armor and another door stood in the center of this wall. The most awing thing in the room however, was the dueling ring in the center. It was a perfect dueling ring, and after a little playing around with, Harry found that it could summon an imaginary opponent of any skill the user set. After toying with this for a little Harry proceeded to the next room.
What he found was a little scary, but overall, quite nice. It was a potions laboratory. There were numerous tables on which were cauldrons, vials, and stoppers. The forward and left walls were lined with potion ingredients, both rare ones and not so rare ones. Harry found crushed dragon bone, unicorn tail hair, wyvern's blood, crushed anaconda scales, and much, much more. There were also a few books on these shelves, obviously dealing with different potions. Harry finally moved his eyes to the right side of the room where he noticed some more potion ingredients and yet another door. He cautiously walked through.
What he saw dropped his jaw. Along the walls of this room were portraits, beginning with Godric Gryfindor himself, and ending with -
'Oh my god! DAD?!' The last portrait smiled out at Harry and waved as James recognized his son. Then the portrait of James pointed towards the center of the room where stood a half column, and on top of that lay a scroll. Harry proceeded to the scroll carefully and lifted it up. He half expected a boulder to come crashing down like in the Indiana Jones's movies Dudley watched. When nothing happened, he unrolled the scroll and began to read.
You have found this room, as all have before you. You now are worthy of knowing the truth. My name is Godric Gryfindor and you are my heir. I created this room with the founding of Hogwarts for my heir, much as Salazar created the Chamber of Secrets. In this room I have stored all my books, all my knowledge. The books of this place contain knowledge of long lost elemental powers, potions, wand spells, and martial arts.
You are more than likely the only one who knows of this room and only you and those you specifically invite may enter. You must re-extend your invitation every time you wish for others to enter.
In the study there is a circle in the right top corner. If you stand within this circle you can say the name of any room within Hogwarts and instantly be teleported there. Also, you will be given the option of choosing a physical mark that will allow you to teleport back to this room at a whim. Use this room and its contents wisely, and never take anything from these rooms out of these rooms.
One last thing. As my heir you are entitled to special powers. These powers consist of being able to understand any language and speak it fluently; this includes written and spoken languages. Another power is that you will be able to use wandless magic as much as you want and it may be easier than magic with a wand, depending on the person. Finally, the most powerful ability you will have is the ability to shape-shift. As a shape-shifter you will be able to change into anything you wish, other people, animals, even plants, and non-living things such as rocks.
To gain these powers place the palm of your hand against the bottom of this parchment, on top of the three dots.
Harry didn't take long to make his decision and he firmly planted the palm of his hand against the dots at the bottom of the page, then he screamed as extreme pain racked his body. The last thing he felt was power flowing through him, power he had never had before. Harry blacked out.
************
"What in the?! Where did he go?!" Dumbledore nearly screamed in frustration. "He just ran straight into that wall. There is nothing there! Gods!"
"Dumbledore, I have searched the restricted section and there is one book missing. The Powers of Death. This book was not readable, but that is what is missing. Perhaps you know what the book was about?" Madam Pince asked.
"Yes I do, hmmm, this does not bode well. Tell Filch to leave his cat here to guard the tapestry. If anything comes or any new news is found, alert me immediately. I must contact some friends about this," replied Dumbledore thoughtfully. "If he shows up again, do not let him escape, and keep checking to make sure nothing else was taken." With that Dumbledore ran off through the door and down the hall.
***********
"So he just yelled that he was okay and then ran off towards the library?" Hermione asked inquisitively.
"Yes, he just - ran off, almost as if something was pulling him," was Angie's reply.
"Angie, I'm sure he wasn't snappy on purpose," Said Hermione trying to console her friend. "Let's see if we can find him. With that they headed off towards the library. They were rounding the last corner before the library doors when Dumbledore came flying around and bowled into Hermione knocking her over.
"Hermione! I'm sorry, I'm just in a hurry," Dumbledore said. He helped her up, muttered another word of apology and took off again at a run.
"That was - weird," was all Hermione could say. "His eyes weren't twinkling," noted Angie, "there must be something really wrong."
"Yeah, I just hope its not Harry, Dumbledore came from the library." With that they both took off, regarding decency and ran through the doors of the library at a full sprint, where Angie almost crashed into Professor McGonnagal.
"Girls! Slow down. What is your rush?"
"Oh, we uh, we were looking for Harry, we thought that he had come here. You haven't seen him by any chance have you?" asked Angie hopefully.
"No," replied McGonnagal quickly, then muttered under her breath, "unless he was the culprit."
"What professor?"
"Nothing, now get out of the library. We have had a - slight problem. Go back to the common room."
Angie and Hermione walked off towards the common room. "I'll bet you my copy of Hogwarts: A History that Harry was that 'culprit' McGonnagal muttered under her breath," said Hermione.
"Yeah," Angie had to agree, "I just hope he doesn't get caught. That was some search party they had in there. I counted ten teachers. And that was after Dumbledore left."
"Yeah, let's go find Ron." With that they sprinted off towards the Gryfindor common room.
***********
Harry woke with a groan.
"Where am I?" He took a quick glance around and remembered the room. "Oh, well at least I'm not in the hospital wing. As he got up he noticed that something was different, he felt different. He conjured a mirror with a wave of his wand and gasped at what he saw. The teenage boy with black ruffled hair, green eyes, and a scar on his forehead was not staring back at him. Instead there was a man with short-cut, spiked, frosted, hair and a completely normal face was. Harry examined this person more closely and realized that this man was completely average and would not extract undo attention. Nobody pays attention to a man that has nothing outstanding about him. Well, unless they saw his eyes. Harry felt weak as he stared into those eyes, almost as if they were hypnotizing him. They were a deep gray, with gold around the edges, and they seemed to - spin. Harry dragged himself away from the mirror and took a look at his new form.
'Wow, this is so cool, must be my ability as a shape-changer. Okay, now how to get back?' Harry imagined himself back in his own body and he immediately transformed back into his old self. He tried this transformation a few more times and quickly mastered it. Then he tried other things. Harry found that with a little effort he could transform into anything he wanted. He tried animals and could form into a phoenix, griffon, and a stag by the end of a half-hour. Delighted with this new power he attempted spells without a wand, and to his delight found that it was easier to cast them without a wand than it was with one.
Then, remembering the book, he returned to the study. He picked up the book, lay down on a couch and opened to the first page and continued from where he had left off:
The use of the death element requires a very steady and organized mind. It also requires a great deal of power from the mage to back it. Once a candidate is found that has both of these qualities, training can begin. It starts off simple, decaying and rotting plants. However, as the user becomes more powerful, these same things can be applied to animals and humans. It is whispered among the most powerful that once in complete and utter control of this element the master can simply tell something or someone to die and they will. However, it is also rumored that to come into complete control of death one must meet death, and live.
Many have tried to gain complete control but it said that the only person who has ever achieved this feat was the great Merlin himself, after defeating the Dread Lord Xaviori and his summoned Daemon, Slannesh.
Many death elementals have been accused of being necromancers, which is not quite true. Yes, many have power over death and can raise the dead, but they do not study death, as the name necromancers implies, they study the element itself. Thus they improve their powers.
The death element can be combined with any of the four basic elements to strengthen them. Turning a tidal wave into a tsunami, a blaze into a raw firestorm, a magnitude 3 earthquake to one of magnitude 10. Unfortunately, many death elementals become full of their power and decide to become evil. Yes, this is why the death elementals are the most powerful, and most feared.
However, people need not fear all death elementals as two prime examples of good ones were Merlin and Godric Gryfindor. These two men used their power over death to defeat many dark lords of their times. We can only hope that in the future the death elementals will realize that their power is better used for good than evil.
Harry stopped reading. 'Good god. That is a lot of power. Raising the dead, conquering death itself? How am I gonna do that? Nel'shira.' Harry entered a meditative trance as he contacted the druid.
"Nel'shira? Nel'shira I need to talk to you. I got the book, and I need your help understanding."
"I am here Harry, what did you need help with?"
"I need to learn how to conquer death itself so that I can master my element."
"Ah, yes, now that is a problem. I believe that the answer lies within your book. A specific spell, though it is harder than any other spell to cast, it requires so much energy, that most will die before completing it."
Harry whistled, "Thank you for the warning and hint Nel'shira. I'm gonna find that spell, no matter the cost. This may be the only way to defeat Voldemort."
Harry exited his trance and began looking through The Powers of Death for any spell that could possibly help him defeat death itself. After a couple hours of searching Harry took his eyes off of the tome for long enough to see the time. "Holy crap! It's past midnight!" Harry nearly jumped off the couch and ran to the corner circle that the scroll had mentioned.
"The Gryfindor Common Room," Harry stated. The world seemed to disappear and then reappear right in front of him, and he was standing right outside of the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Quaffle," Harry said, and he entered the common room as the portrait opened. The first thing he saw were three pairs of eyes glaring daggers at him.
'Great. just what I need, a good lecture,' he thought to himself.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER! Where have you been?! Do you realize that it is past midnight! I - WE have been worried sick about you!" screamed Hermione, Ron and Angie nodding their heads in agreement.
"Okay, I know how late it is, but I just found that out two minutes ago. I had a little - mishap today."
"Could that 'mishap' possible have anything to do with why the teachers were swarming the library today, practically brushing it with a toothbrush?" Angie asked, conviction in her eyes.
"Uh - yeah, that. Umm - well, where to start."
"At the beginning." This time it was Ron who had spoken.
"The beginning, okay. Well I woke up this morning after having a dream last night. I ran and told Dumbledore. The dream was about Voldemort. He was planning something big. I don't know exactly what though. Then I went back to sleep and got up late, as you all know. Well, I was heading down to the Great Hall when I met you Angie. I snapped at you, and I'm so sorry for that. I was very tired. Anyway, after that I was being drawn to something. I couldn't really control myself and didn't even realize it until too late that I had just waltzed into the restricted section. Anyway, I found the book that I was being pulled to, grabbed it and ran. Dumbledore, McGonnagal, Filch, and Mrs. Norris were after me. I actually ran into Mrs. Norris but had my hood down so she didn't see me." This brought gasps from Ron, Hermione, and Angie.
"Well, I ran faster because Filch had heard Mrs. Norris and now they were after me. I ran straight to a wall under instinct and just ran right through it, into a secret room that I'm sure no one knew about before, not event eh Marauders. I explored the place, it is a series of four rooms, a study, dueling room, potions laboratory, and a last room. It was in this last room that I found out something. Everybody - I am the heir of Gryfindor." This announcement brought shocked gasps and 'oh my god's' from the three listening. Harry continued.
"Anyway, I gained some new powers, among which are my ability to talk to animals now and I can now do wandless magic." He left out the part of him being able to shape-shift. That part only he would know about. "I spent the rest of the day reading the book that I 'stole' from the library and training with Nel'shira. I didn't realize how late it was until I came out of a trance. I'm really sorry guys, but that is what happened."
He looked up to find all of the staring at him goggled-eyed, with mouths hanging open, Ron drooling. "Good God," it was Ron who had spoken, "You went through a lot today. You need to rest.
Harry nodded his head in agreement, "Yes I do, and so do you all, I've kept you up late."
They all got up to leave but as Ron and Hermione started up the stairs Harry stopped Angie.
"I'm so sorry about this morning, and - the whole day really. You must have been really worried, what with the intruder and all."
"Oh, yeah, I really was worried Harry. Please don't do that again. Don't disappear like that again, I don't know what I would've done if." Harry silenced her with a kiss. She kissed him back, and pulled him onto the nearest couch, where they spent the next five minutes in bliss, ignorant to everything around them, absorbed only in each other. Finally, Harry broke the embrace and sent her to bed with one last 'I'm sorry.'
She looked a little disappointed but headed up to her dorm anyway. Harry ruffled his hair and walked up to his dormitory, thinking of what could've been if he had just given in.
**********
The next morning Harry woke to find his trio of friends waiting for him in the common room.
"Want to go get some breakfast together?" asked Angie.
"Sure," answered Harry, "then I can show you guys my room."
"Well let's get moving then!" said Hermione impatiently. Harry just laughed. Once down at the Great Hall Harry and Ron began talking about more pranks to play on the other houses. Angie listened in and offered her own ideas. Hermione surprisingly didn't say anything to the effect of 'you shouldn't be playing pranks, you're prefects' and actually nodded and smiled a few times at some of the ideas thrown out.
Harry, Ron, and Angie all agreed on a prank. They would rig the Great Hall entrance so that anyone who walked through would come out on the other side with maroon and gold hair, the colors of Gryfindor. They would also involuntarily start singing a song about how great Gryfindor was. Then the whole thing would be set up to look like a job of the Weasley twins. They decided to set everything up before dinner. But for now, they would head up to 'the study' as Harry had termed it.
They finished eating and Harry led his friends to the library, where they walked to a table next to the tapestry which contained the hidden entrance. One by one, starting with Harry, they slipped inside. Nobody saw them.
Ron was the first in and could only stare in wonder at how cool the room was. "Wow Harry, this is awesome!" He immediately wanted to explore, but Harry calmed him.
"We gotta wait for the others." Angie and Hermione stepped into the room after a little time and Harry showed them around the main room. Hermione asked if she could read the books after the formal tour of the place. Harry only smiled and nodded.
Harry led Ron, Angie, and Hermione through the dueling room and potions lab. Then he led them into the final room, the room of the heirs. Hermione gasped, Ron whistled, and Angie just looked around in wonder.
"Wow, there are so many," Angie commented.
"Yeah, well, there used to be a lot of heirs of Gryfindor. Not many anymore eh?" He tried to smile a bit but the context of his words was too sad.
"Harry -" said Angie comforting him.
"I'm fine Angie. I just want - want to be normal - have a normal year for once!" anger started welling in Harry's chest. He clinched his fist and punched the wall. Harry didn't even flinch as the cold stone cut his skin, he simply applied a small healing charm to his hand. With that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Angie headed back to the main room of 'the study.'
When they had reached it Harry began, "Okay, first things first. NOTHING - EVER - may be taken outside of this room. It is all too valuable and would be a dead giveaway to someone like Dumbledore that we have a room like this. Secondly, you must NEVER tell anyone else about this room. No slipping up, accidents of that sort on this topic will not suffice. Also, you will not be able to access this room without me in here first, and then I must give permission as each of you enters. Finally, don't be too liberal about giving away knowledge, especially spells, that are found in this room. They may give us away.
"Now, for the fun part. This room is where we will plan all pranks and such from now on. Also, we will practice dueling and developing our elemental powers here. Nobody will know. Finally, I plan on setting up a large spy network in Hogwarts." There were a couple gasps of surprise. "I want to keep an eye on people like Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle. People who's fathers have a reputation. I want to try to prevent people from turning to Voldemort's side. Therefore, I need all of you to get contacts in other houses. I need to find people we can trust. I'm sure we can do that. I'll find the one from Slytheran. Ron, take Ravenclaw. Angie and Hermione, take Hufflepuff, then help Ron if he has not found anyone yet, preferably two from each house. Report to me immediately when you have found someone."
"Harry, isn't this - a little - dangerous?" asked Hermione.
"Yes, extremely - in fact - I believe I could be expelled for it. Which is the reason we need trustworthy sources. I know that none of you will give it away. Besides, these sources will not know anyone involved except those who recruited them. By the way, I wanted to name this organization we are going to create, The Order Of The Phoenix. Sound good?"
"Yeah, but why phoenix?" asked Ron.
"Because a phoenix will never turn evil, like us. We will never turn from the light."
"Alright!" exclaimed Angie, "This sounds exciting! Let's do it!" Harry chuckled. "By the way, we have to set up that prank." She smiled evilly.
"Wait, said Harry. You all need to get something that will allow you to teleport back to this room at any time. You will also be able to teleport to any room of the castle by standing in this circle and speaking your destination. All four chose what physical mark they wanted. Harry chose a tattoo of a phoenix defeating a basilisk. Ron chose a tattoo of a ring of fire around his arm. Angie chose to get a tattoo of an ankh with the loop of the ankh around her navel. Hermione got to top of her ears pierced. After that was done, they all teleported to the Great Hall and began to prepare for their best prank to date.
***********
The Hall began to fill with people as the students and teachers came in for dinner. Dumbledore clapped and the food appeared. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Angie began to eat as if nothing spectacular was about to happen. About five minuets into dinner everybody jumped up out of their seats as a roar shook the castle. From the ceiling above the Great Hall came a dragon. It swooped down low over the Slytherans, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws breathing fire. Everybody screamed, and could only stare in shock as the fire didn't burn them. However, anyone who had been engulfed in the flame had become a clown. Almost everyone in the other houses began to dance around the hall, playing circus music, juggling, performing amazing acts of balance, and even sword eating. All of the Gryfindors and those of the other houses who weren't engulfed were lying on the ground in hysterics. Even the Slytherans and the Staff table found the sight very funny and were laughing out loud. Soon everything was reversed and people in ever house were talking about the prank, even though they did not know who played it.
When desert came out the platters did not appear on the table, instead, they appeared resting on top of shocked student's heads. The hall broke into more laughter as the puddings, cakes, and ice cream that they had been expecting were not there. Instead, out of every dish popped out dancing animals. There were everything from ducks to lions. The animals formed a line and started dancing the can-can. All students and faculty were now on the ground, rolling, laughing so hard. Finally, the animals disappeared and all that was left was a large symbol.
IT WON'T COME OUT RIGHT! GRRR!
This was the new sign of the quartet. They decided that they would from now on leave this mark where they 'struck'. All of the students and faculty now stared at the mysterious symbol wondering what it meant. The quartet decided to take this time of distraction to congratulate themselves on their best prank yet.
**********
After dinner the quartet headed up towards the Gryfindor Common room with mischievous grins plastered onto their faces. As they entered they found everyone still talking. Fred and George could only shake their heads in amazement at the monstrosity of the prank played as they had not done it. Harry and his friends grinned.
The four split up as Ron went to play chess, Hermione went off and grabbed a book, Harry sat down on the couch relaxing, and Angie came over and sat next to him. "Harry," said Angie, "we have classes again tomorrow. I don't want to go," she complained.
"I know!" said Harry agreeing with her. "I don't want to go either. But we do have dueling!" He smiled.
Ron hearing him said, "Yeah, I might actually do well in that class now!" he chuckled, and Hermione said something along the lines of 'you were never bad in that class.'
That night all four went to sleep and dreamed of the master prank they had played that night. All were well rested when they woke in the morning. They met in the common room and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. After a nutritious breakfast of pancakes dripping with syrup, eggs, and bacon, they headed towards their first class of the day, potions.
Ron summed up all their feelings, "Is this class really necessary to the curriculum?" Potions however, was quite uneventful. To the quartets surprise Gryfindor had only lost forty points during that class period.
"Stupid git," said Ron vehemently after coming out of the classroom, "he knew my potion wasn't done, and he still tested it and took off points for it not working."
"Ron," said Hermione putting her hand on his shoulder, "we know, it's alright. On the good side, we do have defense now."
The quartet reached the defense/dueling room quickly and chose four front row seats. Slowly the rest of the class leaked in.
"Hello class," began Sirius, "today I'm happy to announce that the school will be starting a dueling/defense tournament." This news was greeted with a mixed reply, some clapped and cheered, others, such as Neville, groaned. "I will be sorting you into one of two classes, the A and B classes. I will decide what class you belong in by how well you do when you duel, with me." A wave of groans sweat through the class and Sirius cracked a grin.
"Angie, you will be first, followed by Dean Thomas, Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Parvati Patil, Lavender Brow, Hermione Granger, and finally Harry. Alright come on up Angie."
Angie walked tentatively up to the stage and faced her teacher. "We bow," said Sirius, "and begin." He fired the disarming charm at Angie who nimbly dodged it and fired one of her own back. Sirius dodged and at the same time shouted, "stupefy!"
Angie shouted, "Caudex præbia!" and a shield was erected in front of her and the stunning spell just dissipated as it hit the shield. Sirius was slightly stunned that she knew this spell and was hit by Angie's next spell, the disarming charm. However, as it left his hand he reached out and grabbed it saving himself from a loss.
"Desitegratia!" yelled Sirius. The spell headed right for Angie and as it hit her shield it disappeared and took Angie's shield with it.
'I need to end this,' thought Angie and she scattered seeds on the ground using a charm. Sirius completely baffled by what she did, just stared at her. That was his last mistake of the duel. Angie began muttering, not many knew what she was doing, and the three others were sitting in the front row. Angie had called upon her element, and in seconds the seeds sprouted and completely engulfed Sirius, pinning him to the ground. Angie walked over to him and took his wand from his hand.
She then released Sirius from the plants and without hesitation he announced that she was to be placed into the 'A' group, to no ones surprise. "Very well done," he complemented her, and she returned to her seat. Dean was placed into the 'B' group, followed by Ron who made it to the 'A' group after very nearly beating Sirius. Hermione, also made it to the 'A' group. And finally it came time for Harry's duel.
Harry sighed in the realization that what was going to happen would only bring him more attention than before, and he walked up to the stage.
"I'm not going to be easy on you Harry," the words came from Sirius.
"It doesn't matter Sirius, go as hard as you want." Harry smiled at his godfather's obvious concern. Then he bowed, and before he had even stood all the way back up hit Sirius a shaky legs hex. Sirius tried to remove the hex but Harry yelled, "Wingardium Levosa!" Sirius had not been expecting this at all and panicked as he rose higher into the air. He was desperately trying to remember the counter-charm. "Forvise!" Harry yelled, and the floating Sirius was blown back into the wall. Within the next second Harry hit Sirius with 'stivine', freezing him, and 'expellimarius.' Harry had won the duel.
The class gaped. Even his friends couldn't hide their surprise. Sirius had not even gotten off one spell. Harry unfroze Sirius and apologized to him, but Sirius wouldn't have it.
"Harry, that was, amazing. You have no need to apologize." Then more loudly he said to the rest of the class, "Harry, as you no doubt know already, is in the 'A' class."
The rest of the day went smoothly. In DADA, they learned about vampires, and Dumbledore said that they would be continuing that subject for one week. In dueling Harry and Angie practiced their battle and healing spells. Harry, was not in a good mood however, because after word of his fight with Sirius inevitably leaked, he was everyone's hero - again.
Harry woke up the next morning. He was more tired than he had ever been in his entire life. He felt like a zombie walking down to breakfast, and was sure he looked like one too. He could almost feel the huge bags underneath his eyes. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night, not after, seeing the future.
"Harry? Are you ok?" It was Angie; she was looking at him, and looking very concerned.
"I'm fine!" Harry snapped. He changed his course from the Great Hall to the library. He needed something. A book, yes, that was what it was, an old book. He headed off with determination. Angie, looking hurt, went off to find Hermione.
Harry entered the library and immediately headed towards the back. He was being drawn to a book and could only vaguely see where it was he was heading. His entire focus was on the book. Too late he realized that he had entered the restricted section, he almost stopped, but the pull was too strong. He walked down many aisles to the very back of the restricted section. can't believe I just waltzed on back here.' Finally, after
'I am going to be in so much trouble,' he thought. 'I minutes of walking down endless rows and aisles he stopped. In front of him was a bookcase full of what Harry knew were the oldest books still in existence. His gaze went past many of the books and stopped on an old tome. His hand involuntarily reached out and he clasped the tome. He read the title off the spine, The Powers of Death. Harry flipped it over to see its cover. What he saw almost made him drop the book, a skull of the whitest bone stared out at him, locked in a screaming pose. Shaking, Harry opened to tome.
If you are reading this now then you are among the few gifted with the powers of the death element. It is by far the most powerful of all the elements, yet also the most dangerous to wield. Death does not discriminate, it cannot distinguish friend from foe, and thus its wielder must always have full control over every spell cast. Death is power, pure, raw, power.
Harry stopped reading. He was frightened, no not frightened, terrified, 'is it true? Do I have that much power?' He had just walked right into the restricted section of the library, that alone was enough to get 200 points taken from Gryfindor and detentions for the rest of the month. Then he had grabbed a book off the shelf, probably doubling his punishment, and read it. He knew that this was grounds for expulsion from Hogwarts.
'Oh my god, what am I gonna do?' Instinct took a hold of him right then as he heard voices.
"He ran this way headmaster." It was Filch, with Dumbledore.
"Right, Minerva, take those aisles."
'Jesus! McGonnagal too?!' Harry ran. He ran faster than he had ever run before, his robes whipping around behind him. As he ran blindly through the endless rows he shrunk the book, and donned his hood so that he could not be recognized. 'I'm never gonna get out of this one -' he thought as he ran. 'I have to get out unseen!' This last thought was almost a plea for help.
"Meow."
Harry stopped, in front of him was Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat. 'Oh shit.'
"Headmaster! Professor! Mrs. Norris found him! This way!" Harry could hear Filch closing the distance and he took off again. He ran as though his very life depended on it, and in a way, it did. It seemed he had been running for an eternity within those long rows when he saw it, the exit of the restricted section. Harry picked up his lagging pace with a renewed vigor and sprinted out of the restricted section, with Dumbledore, McGonnagal, and Filch right behind him.
Then Harry felt it, he was being pulled again, like when he was after the book. The pull was taking him straight to the wall, where a tapestry depicted the four founders of Hogwarts. As Harry neared, his pursuers exited the Restricted section. Harry saw the image of Godric Gryfindor shiver and at the same time heard in the back of his mind Dumbledore shouting,
"Stupefy!" Harry dove, and braced himself for the impact he was expecting. It never came. After a minute or so of laying on the ground, Harry dared to look up. What he saw startled him. He was lying on the floor of a room, a study by the look of it. He had escaped.
*********
After recovering from the shock that he had escaped from Dumbledore Harry decided to explore this room. He saw that opposite the 'entrance' was a door. However the two walls on the sides of the entranced were lined with bookshelves, and these were filled with books quite possibly as old as the one he was now carrying. Arrayed in the room were two couches which, when tested, were found to be quite comfortable. Harry also noted a desk off to the side of the room. Taking this all in Harry realized that he was in a secret room of Hogwarts. So secret in fact, that not even the Marauders had found it. Harry whistled. After lying on one of the couches for a little time he decided to see what the next room held in store.
He walked in and to his surprise he found a dueling room. Along the wall in front of him were many different types of weapons, everything from halberds to scimitars. Harry also noticed that the wall to his right was lined with bookcases, bookcases that were filled to the brink with spell books. After a cursory examination of the titles of the books, he found that most dealt with battle spells, a few with defensive spells, and a few with healing. The left wall was decorated with old suits of armor and another door stood in the center of this wall. The most awing thing in the room however, was the dueling ring in the center. It was a perfect dueling ring, and after a little playing around with, Harry found that it could summon an imaginary opponent of any skill the user set. After toying with this for a little Harry proceeded to the next room.
What he found was a little scary, but overall, quite nice. It was a potions laboratory. There were numerous tables on which were cauldrons, vials, and stoppers. The forward and left walls were lined with potion ingredients, both rare ones and not so rare ones. Harry found crushed dragon bone, unicorn tail hair, wyvern's blood, crushed anaconda scales, and much, much more. There were also a few books on these shelves, obviously dealing with different potions. Harry finally moved his eyes to the right side of the room where he noticed some more potion ingredients and yet another door. He cautiously walked through.
What he saw dropped his jaw. Along the walls of this room were portraits, beginning with Godric Gryfindor himself, and ending with -
'Oh my god! DAD?!' The last portrait smiled out at Harry and waved as James recognized his son. Then the portrait of James pointed towards the center of the room where stood a half column, and on top of that lay a scroll. Harry proceeded to the scroll carefully and lifted it up. He half expected a boulder to come crashing down like in the Indiana Jones's movies Dudley watched. When nothing happened, he unrolled the scroll and began to read.
You have found this room, as all have before you. You now are worthy of knowing the truth. My name is Godric Gryfindor and you are my heir. I created this room with the founding of Hogwarts for my heir, much as Salazar created the Chamber of Secrets. In this room I have stored all my books, all my knowledge. The books of this place contain knowledge of long lost elemental powers, potions, wand spells, and martial arts.
You are more than likely the only one who knows of this room and only you and those you specifically invite may enter. You must re-extend your invitation every time you wish for others to enter.
In the study there is a circle in the right top corner. If you stand within this circle you can say the name of any room within Hogwarts and instantly be teleported there. Also, you will be given the option of choosing a physical mark that will allow you to teleport back to this room at a whim. Use this room and its contents wisely, and never take anything from these rooms out of these rooms.
One last thing. As my heir you are entitled to special powers. These powers consist of being able to understand any language and speak it fluently; this includes written and spoken languages. Another power is that you will be able to use wandless magic as much as you want and it may be easier than magic with a wand, depending on the person. Finally, the most powerful ability you will have is the ability to shape-shift. As a shape-shifter you will be able to change into anything you wish, other people, animals, even plants, and non-living things such as rocks.
To gain these powers place the palm of your hand against the bottom of this parchment, on top of the three dots.
Harry didn't take long to make his decision and he firmly planted the palm of his hand against the dots at the bottom of the page, then he screamed as extreme pain racked his body. The last thing he felt was power flowing through him, power he had never had before. Harry blacked out.
************
"What in the?! Where did he go?!" Dumbledore nearly screamed in frustration. "He just ran straight into that wall. There is nothing there! Gods!"
"Dumbledore, I have searched the restricted section and there is one book missing. The Powers of Death. This book was not readable, but that is what is missing. Perhaps you know what the book was about?" Madam Pince asked.
"Yes I do, hmmm, this does not bode well. Tell Filch to leave his cat here to guard the tapestry. If anything comes or any new news is found, alert me immediately. I must contact some friends about this," replied Dumbledore thoughtfully. "If he shows up again, do not let him escape, and keep checking to make sure nothing else was taken." With that Dumbledore ran off through the door and down the hall.
***********
"So he just yelled that he was okay and then ran off towards the library?" Hermione asked inquisitively.
"Yes, he just - ran off, almost as if something was pulling him," was Angie's reply.
"Angie, I'm sure he wasn't snappy on purpose," Said Hermione trying to console her friend. "Let's see if we can find him. With that they headed off towards the library. They were rounding the last corner before the library doors when Dumbledore came flying around and bowled into Hermione knocking her over.
"Hermione! I'm sorry, I'm just in a hurry," Dumbledore said. He helped her up, muttered another word of apology and took off again at a run.
"That was - weird," was all Hermione could say. "His eyes weren't twinkling," noted Angie, "there must be something really wrong."
"Yeah, I just hope its not Harry, Dumbledore came from the library." With that they both took off, regarding decency and ran through the doors of the library at a full sprint, where Angie almost crashed into Professor McGonnagal.
"Girls! Slow down. What is your rush?"
"Oh, we uh, we were looking for Harry, we thought that he had come here. You haven't seen him by any chance have you?" asked Angie hopefully.
"No," replied McGonnagal quickly, then muttered under her breath, "unless he was the culprit."
"What professor?"
"Nothing, now get out of the library. We have had a - slight problem. Go back to the common room."
Angie and Hermione walked off towards the common room. "I'll bet you my copy of Hogwarts: A History that Harry was that 'culprit' McGonnagal muttered under her breath," said Hermione.
"Yeah," Angie had to agree, "I just hope he doesn't get caught. That was some search party they had in there. I counted ten teachers. And that was after Dumbledore left."
"Yeah, let's go find Ron." With that they sprinted off towards the Gryfindor common room.
***********
Harry woke with a groan.
"Where am I?" He took a quick glance around and remembered the room. "Oh, well at least I'm not in the hospital wing. As he got up he noticed that something was different, he felt different. He conjured a mirror with a wave of his wand and gasped at what he saw. The teenage boy with black ruffled hair, green eyes, and a scar on his forehead was not staring back at him. Instead there was a man with short-cut, spiked, frosted, hair and a completely normal face was. Harry examined this person more closely and realized that this man was completely average and would not extract undo attention. Nobody pays attention to a man that has nothing outstanding about him. Well, unless they saw his eyes. Harry felt weak as he stared into those eyes, almost as if they were hypnotizing him. They were a deep gray, with gold around the edges, and they seemed to - spin. Harry dragged himself away from the mirror and took a look at his new form.
'Wow, this is so cool, must be my ability as a shape-changer. Okay, now how to get back?' Harry imagined himself back in his own body and he immediately transformed back into his old self. He tried this transformation a few more times and quickly mastered it. Then he tried other things. Harry found that with a little effort he could transform into anything he wanted. He tried animals and could form into a phoenix, griffon, and a stag by the end of a half-hour. Delighted with this new power he attempted spells without a wand, and to his delight found that it was easier to cast them without a wand than it was with one.
Then, remembering the book, he returned to the study. He picked up the book, lay down on a couch and opened to the first page and continued from where he had left off:
The use of the death element requires a very steady and organized mind. It also requires a great deal of power from the mage to back it. Once a candidate is found that has both of these qualities, training can begin. It starts off simple, decaying and rotting plants. However, as the user becomes more powerful, these same things can be applied to animals and humans. It is whispered among the most powerful that once in complete and utter control of this element the master can simply tell something or someone to die and they will. However, it is also rumored that to come into complete control of death one must meet death, and live.
Many have tried to gain complete control but it said that the only person who has ever achieved this feat was the great Merlin himself, after defeating the Dread Lord Xaviori and his summoned Daemon, Slannesh.
Many death elementals have been accused of being necromancers, which is not quite true. Yes, many have power over death and can raise the dead, but they do not study death, as the name necromancers implies, they study the element itself. Thus they improve their powers.
The death element can be combined with any of the four basic elements to strengthen them. Turning a tidal wave into a tsunami, a blaze into a raw firestorm, a magnitude 3 earthquake to one of magnitude 10. Unfortunately, many death elementals become full of their power and decide to become evil. Yes, this is why the death elementals are the most powerful, and most feared.
However, people need not fear all death elementals as two prime examples of good ones were Merlin and Godric Gryfindor. These two men used their power over death to defeat many dark lords of their times. We can only hope that in the future the death elementals will realize that their power is better used for good than evil.
Harry stopped reading. 'Good god. That is a lot of power. Raising the dead, conquering death itself? How am I gonna do that? Nel'shira.' Harry entered a meditative trance as he contacted the druid.
"Nel'shira? Nel'shira I need to talk to you. I got the book, and I need your help understanding."
"I am here Harry, what did you need help with?"
"I need to learn how to conquer death itself so that I can master my element."
"Ah, yes, now that is a problem. I believe that the answer lies within your book. A specific spell, though it is harder than any other spell to cast, it requires so much energy, that most will die before completing it."
Harry whistled, "Thank you for the warning and hint Nel'shira. I'm gonna find that spell, no matter the cost. This may be the only way to defeat Voldemort."
Harry exited his trance and began looking through The Powers of Death for any spell that could possibly help him defeat death itself. After a couple hours of searching Harry took his eyes off of the tome for long enough to see the time. "Holy crap! It's past midnight!" Harry nearly jumped off the couch and ran to the corner circle that the scroll had mentioned.
"The Gryfindor Common Room," Harry stated. The world seemed to disappear and then reappear right in front of him, and he was standing right outside of the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Quaffle," Harry said, and he entered the common room as the portrait opened. The first thing he saw were three pairs of eyes glaring daggers at him.
'Great. just what I need, a good lecture,' he thought to himself.
"HARRY JAMES POTTER! Where have you been?! Do you realize that it is past midnight! I - WE have been worried sick about you!" screamed Hermione, Ron and Angie nodding their heads in agreement.
"Okay, I know how late it is, but I just found that out two minutes ago. I had a little - mishap today."
"Could that 'mishap' possible have anything to do with why the teachers were swarming the library today, practically brushing it with a toothbrush?" Angie asked, conviction in her eyes.
"Uh - yeah, that. Umm - well, where to start."
"At the beginning." This time it was Ron who had spoken.
"The beginning, okay. Well I woke up this morning after having a dream last night. I ran and told Dumbledore. The dream was about Voldemort. He was planning something big. I don't know exactly what though. Then I went back to sleep and got up late, as you all know. Well, I was heading down to the Great Hall when I met you Angie. I snapped at you, and I'm so sorry for that. I was very tired. Anyway, after that I was being drawn to something. I couldn't really control myself and didn't even realize it until too late that I had just waltzed into the restricted section. Anyway, I found the book that I was being pulled to, grabbed it and ran. Dumbledore, McGonnagal, Filch, and Mrs. Norris were after me. I actually ran into Mrs. Norris but had my hood down so she didn't see me." This brought gasps from Ron, Hermione, and Angie.
"Well, I ran faster because Filch had heard Mrs. Norris and now they were after me. I ran straight to a wall under instinct and just ran right through it, into a secret room that I'm sure no one knew about before, not event eh Marauders. I explored the place, it is a series of four rooms, a study, dueling room, potions laboratory, and a last room. It was in this last room that I found out something. Everybody - I am the heir of Gryfindor." This announcement brought shocked gasps and 'oh my god's' from the three listening. Harry continued.
"Anyway, I gained some new powers, among which are my ability to talk to animals now and I can now do wandless magic." He left out the part of him being able to shape-shift. That part only he would know about. "I spent the rest of the day reading the book that I 'stole' from the library and training with Nel'shira. I didn't realize how late it was until I came out of a trance. I'm really sorry guys, but that is what happened."
He looked up to find all of the staring at him goggled-eyed, with mouths hanging open, Ron drooling. "Good God," it was Ron who had spoken, "You went through a lot today. You need to rest.
Harry nodded his head in agreement, "Yes I do, and so do you all, I've kept you up late."
They all got up to leave but as Ron and Hermione started up the stairs Harry stopped Angie.
"I'm so sorry about this morning, and - the whole day really. You must have been really worried, what with the intruder and all."
"Oh, yeah, I really was worried Harry. Please don't do that again. Don't disappear like that again, I don't know what I would've done if." Harry silenced her with a kiss. She kissed him back, and pulled him onto the nearest couch, where they spent the next five minutes in bliss, ignorant to everything around them, absorbed only in each other. Finally, Harry broke the embrace and sent her to bed with one last 'I'm sorry.'
She looked a little disappointed but headed up to her dorm anyway. Harry ruffled his hair and walked up to his dormitory, thinking of what could've been if he had just given in.
**********
The next morning Harry woke to find his trio of friends waiting for him in the common room.
"Want to go get some breakfast together?" asked Angie.
"Sure," answered Harry, "then I can show you guys my room."
"Well let's get moving then!" said Hermione impatiently. Harry just laughed. Once down at the Great Hall Harry and Ron began talking about more pranks to play on the other houses. Angie listened in and offered her own ideas. Hermione surprisingly didn't say anything to the effect of 'you shouldn't be playing pranks, you're prefects' and actually nodded and smiled a few times at some of the ideas thrown out.
Harry, Ron, and Angie all agreed on a prank. They would rig the Great Hall entrance so that anyone who walked through would come out on the other side with maroon and gold hair, the colors of Gryfindor. They would also involuntarily start singing a song about how great Gryfindor was. Then the whole thing would be set up to look like a job of the Weasley twins. They decided to set everything up before dinner. But for now, they would head up to 'the study' as Harry had termed it.
They finished eating and Harry led his friends to the library, where they walked to a table next to the tapestry which contained the hidden entrance. One by one, starting with Harry, they slipped inside. Nobody saw them.
Ron was the first in and could only stare in wonder at how cool the room was. "Wow Harry, this is awesome!" He immediately wanted to explore, but Harry calmed him.
"We gotta wait for the others." Angie and Hermione stepped into the room after a little time and Harry showed them around the main room. Hermione asked if she could read the books after the formal tour of the place. Harry only smiled and nodded.
Harry led Ron, Angie, and Hermione through the dueling room and potions lab. Then he led them into the final room, the room of the heirs. Hermione gasped, Ron whistled, and Angie just looked around in wonder.
"Wow, there are so many," Angie commented.
"Yeah, well, there used to be a lot of heirs of Gryfindor. Not many anymore eh?" He tried to smile a bit but the context of his words was too sad.
"Harry -" said Angie comforting him.
"I'm fine Angie. I just want - want to be normal - have a normal year for once!" anger started welling in Harry's chest. He clinched his fist and punched the wall. Harry didn't even flinch as the cold stone cut his skin, he simply applied a small healing charm to his hand. With that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Angie headed back to the main room of 'the study.'
When they had reached it Harry began, "Okay, first things first. NOTHING - EVER - may be taken outside of this room. It is all too valuable and would be a dead giveaway to someone like Dumbledore that we have a room like this. Secondly, you must NEVER tell anyone else about this room. No slipping up, accidents of that sort on this topic will not suffice. Also, you will not be able to access this room without me in here first, and then I must give permission as each of you enters. Finally, don't be too liberal about giving away knowledge, especially spells, that are found in this room. They may give us away.
"Now, for the fun part. This room is where we will plan all pranks and such from now on. Also, we will practice dueling and developing our elemental powers here. Nobody will know. Finally, I plan on setting up a large spy network in Hogwarts." There were a couple gasps of surprise. "I want to keep an eye on people like Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle. People who's fathers have a reputation. I want to try to prevent people from turning to Voldemort's side. Therefore, I need all of you to get contacts in other houses. I need to find people we can trust. I'm sure we can do that. I'll find the one from Slytheran. Ron, take Ravenclaw. Angie and Hermione, take Hufflepuff, then help Ron if he has not found anyone yet, preferably two from each house. Report to me immediately when you have found someone."
"Harry, isn't this - a little - dangerous?" asked Hermione.
"Yes, extremely - in fact - I believe I could be expelled for it. Which is the reason we need trustworthy sources. I know that none of you will give it away. Besides, these sources will not know anyone involved except those who recruited them. By the way, I wanted to name this organization we are going to create, The Order Of The Phoenix. Sound good?"
"Yeah, but why phoenix?" asked Ron.
"Because a phoenix will never turn evil, like us. We will never turn from the light."
"Alright!" exclaimed Angie, "This sounds exciting! Let's do it!" Harry chuckled. "By the way, we have to set up that prank." She smiled evilly.
"Wait, said Harry. You all need to get something that will allow you to teleport back to this room at any time. You will also be able to teleport to any room of the castle by standing in this circle and speaking your destination. All four chose what physical mark they wanted. Harry chose a tattoo of a phoenix defeating a basilisk. Ron chose a tattoo of a ring of fire around his arm. Angie chose to get a tattoo of an ankh with the loop of the ankh around her navel. Hermione got to top of her ears pierced. After that was done, they all teleported to the Great Hall and began to prepare for their best prank to date.
***********
The Hall began to fill with people as the students and teachers came in for dinner. Dumbledore clapped and the food appeared. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Angie began to eat as if nothing spectacular was about to happen. About five minuets into dinner everybody jumped up out of their seats as a roar shook the castle. From the ceiling above the Great Hall came a dragon. It swooped down low over the Slytherans, Hufflepuffs, and Ravenclaws breathing fire. Everybody screamed, and could only stare in shock as the fire didn't burn them. However, anyone who had been engulfed in the flame had become a clown. Almost everyone in the other houses began to dance around the hall, playing circus music, juggling, performing amazing acts of balance, and even sword eating. All of the Gryfindors and those of the other houses who weren't engulfed were lying on the ground in hysterics. Even the Slytherans and the Staff table found the sight very funny and were laughing out loud. Soon everything was reversed and people in ever house were talking about the prank, even though they did not know who played it.
When desert came out the platters did not appear on the table, instead, they appeared resting on top of shocked student's heads. The hall broke into more laughter as the puddings, cakes, and ice cream that they had been expecting were not there. Instead, out of every dish popped out dancing animals. There were everything from ducks to lions. The animals formed a line and started dancing the can-can. All students and faculty were now on the ground, rolling, laughing so hard. Finally, the animals disappeared and all that was left was a large symbol.
IT WON'T COME OUT RIGHT! GRRR!
This was the new sign of the quartet. They decided that they would from now on leave this mark where they 'struck'. All of the students and faculty now stared at the mysterious symbol wondering what it meant. The quartet decided to take this time of distraction to congratulate themselves on their best prank yet.
**********
After dinner the quartet headed up towards the Gryfindor Common room with mischievous grins plastered onto their faces. As they entered they found everyone still talking. Fred and George could only shake their heads in amazement at the monstrosity of the prank played as they had not done it. Harry and his friends grinned.
The four split up as Ron went to play chess, Hermione went off and grabbed a book, Harry sat down on the couch relaxing, and Angie came over and sat next to him. "Harry," said Angie, "we have classes again tomorrow. I don't want to go," she complained.
"I know!" said Harry agreeing with her. "I don't want to go either. But we do have dueling!" He smiled.
Ron hearing him said, "Yeah, I might actually do well in that class now!" he chuckled, and Hermione said something along the lines of 'you were never bad in that class.'
That night all four went to sleep and dreamed of the master prank they had played that night. All were well rested when they woke in the morning. They met in the common room and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast. After a nutritious breakfast of pancakes dripping with syrup, eggs, and bacon, they headed towards their first class of the day, potions.
Ron summed up all their feelings, "Is this class really necessary to the curriculum?" Potions however, was quite uneventful. To the quartets surprise Gryfindor had only lost forty points during that class period.
"Stupid git," said Ron vehemently after coming out of the classroom, "he knew my potion wasn't done, and he still tested it and took off points for it not working."
"Ron," said Hermione putting her hand on his shoulder, "we know, it's alright. On the good side, we do have defense now."
The quartet reached the defense/dueling room quickly and chose four front row seats. Slowly the rest of the class leaked in.
"Hello class," began Sirius, "today I'm happy to announce that the school will be starting a dueling/defense tournament." This news was greeted with a mixed reply, some clapped and cheered, others, such as Neville, groaned. "I will be sorting you into one of two classes, the A and B classes. I will decide what class you belong in by how well you do when you duel, with me." A wave of groans sweat through the class and Sirius cracked a grin.
"Angie, you will be first, followed by Dean Thomas, Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Parvati Patil, Lavender Brow, Hermione Granger, and finally Harry. Alright come on up Angie."
Angie walked tentatively up to the stage and faced her teacher. "We bow," said Sirius, "and begin." He fired the disarming charm at Angie who nimbly dodged it and fired one of her own back. Sirius dodged and at the same time shouted, "stupefy!"
Angie shouted, "Caudex præbia!" and a shield was erected in front of her and the stunning spell just dissipated as it hit the shield. Sirius was slightly stunned that she knew this spell and was hit by Angie's next spell, the disarming charm. However, as it left his hand he reached out and grabbed it saving himself from a loss.
"Desitegratia!" yelled Sirius. The spell headed right for Angie and as it hit her shield it disappeared and took Angie's shield with it.
'I need to end this,' thought Angie and she scattered seeds on the ground using a charm. Sirius completely baffled by what she did, just stared at her. That was his last mistake of the duel. Angie began muttering, not many knew what she was doing, and the three others were sitting in the front row. Angie had called upon her element, and in seconds the seeds sprouted and completely engulfed Sirius, pinning him to the ground. Angie walked over to him and took his wand from his hand.
She then released Sirius from the plants and without hesitation he announced that she was to be placed into the 'A' group, to no ones surprise. "Very well done," he complemented her, and she returned to her seat. Dean was placed into the 'B' group, followed by Ron who made it to the 'A' group after very nearly beating Sirius. Hermione, also made it to the 'A' group. And finally it came time for Harry's duel.
Harry sighed in the realization that what was going to happen would only bring him more attention than before, and he walked up to the stage.
"I'm not going to be easy on you Harry," the words came from Sirius.
"It doesn't matter Sirius, go as hard as you want." Harry smiled at his godfather's obvious concern. Then he bowed, and before he had even stood all the way back up hit Sirius a shaky legs hex. Sirius tried to remove the hex but Harry yelled, "Wingardium Levosa!" Sirius had not been expecting this at all and panicked as he rose higher into the air. He was desperately trying to remember the counter-charm. "Forvise!" Harry yelled, and the floating Sirius was blown back into the wall. Within the next second Harry hit Sirius with 'stivine', freezing him, and 'expellimarius.' Harry had won the duel.
The class gaped. Even his friends couldn't hide their surprise. Sirius had not even gotten off one spell. Harry unfroze Sirius and apologized to him, but Sirius wouldn't have it.
"Harry, that was, amazing. You have no need to apologize." Then more loudly he said to the rest of the class, "Harry, as you no doubt know already, is in the 'A' class."
The rest of the day went smoothly. In DADA, they learned about vampires, and Dumbledore said that they would be continuing that subject for one week. In dueling Harry and Angie practiced their battle and healing spells. Harry, was not in a good mood however, because after word of his fight with Sirius inevitably leaked, he was everyone's hero - again.