Chapter seven: Surprise Surpise

Disclaimer: See chapter 1.

Harry turned onto his stomach, and yawned, feeling not at all refreshed. All this extra power is really getting to me…

The powers, which Harry had acquired the previous night, Halloween, had been drawing on his own energy and all the wand-less magic he had done the last night, practicing with Ginny, had tired him out.

'Hey, sleepy head! Get up!'

'Hmph,' Harry grunted.

'When did you get back last night?' Ron asked suddenly, an edge of suspicion in his voice. He appeared at Harry's bedside, standing tall at seventeen.

'Hmph.'

'How late were you out? Really, Harry, she's my sister!'

Harry opened an eye blearily. 'I know that, we were with Dumbledore.'

'What? Why? Did something happen?'

Harry sat up, realizing Ron had probably not seen him unconscious in their dormitory. Ginny must have been the first one to see him.

'Um, nothing. Just asking something, nothing… then we ran into Filch for a bit… got late,' Harry stumbled, remembering not to let anyone know about his and Ginny's enhanced powers.

'Oh, actually, now I remember, Ginny was having dinner, and she just sort of got up and ran out. I thought it had something to do with you.'

Harry didn't like lying to his best friend. He had a feeling he could see right through him. 'Uh, she remembered we had to meet Dumbledore.'

'Oh. Everything okay with Dumbledore?'

'Oh, uh, yes, fine. Nothing new.' Harry felt even more exhausted. If everything went on as it was, he'd be surprised if he'd be able to give his N.E.W.T.s, much less take his post in the battle against Voldemort.

~~~

'Master!' His breathing was ragged. 'The rumors, are they true? Kolson said that you found out –'

'Yes, what I worked hard to prevent has happened. If those idiot Malfoys had not failed so miserably… at least, they deserved their punishment.'

'What now, Master? This changes everything!'

'It does indeed. I had hoped that it would not be true but I sensed it myself, yesterday night at exactly twenty-nine past ten, the same time his muggle-loving parents died sixteen years ago! He does indeed now have more powers, and that Weasley girl, they've shared the power too!'

Voldemort was in a rage.

'Master, what should we do?'

'There is much to be done! If I could inflict more pain on Malfoys, I would, but unfortunately, death is irreversible. I could take my anger out on you, Wormtail!'

The little man backed away in fear.

'However, you are useful, you're the only Animagus in my Death Eater ranks, and you being a rat helps in some ways. You failed miserably that night though, and I shall remember it. You shall pay for that if you don't make up for it now. Potter slipped from your clutches, so simply. None of this would have ever happened. But you had to go and get Macmillian, you fool!'

The little man cringed. 'I shall be faithful –'

'SILNENCE! I have no more time to waste! Tell Gerhard and Felton I want to talk to them immediately. They are to station their ranks at their bases and come here immediately. Much time has been lost already! '

'But Master, Gerhard and his ranks are battling the Auror division at Manchester, a day's more battle will give them a stronger hand –'

'Silence! Follow my orders, or face the consequences. Get Gerhard and Felton, this is far more important! The end shall be brought forward, we can wait no longer!'

**

Harry went downstairs for breakfast and smiled at Ginny who was sitting with her friends that day. She smiled back at him and then resumed talking to her friends. Harry covered a yawn and then looked around to see what was for breakfast. He had just begun buttering some toast when the owls flew into the room, bringing the mail. A small brown owl flew straight towards Harry and landed gracefully beside a jug of pumpkin juice. Harry took the little note attached to the owl's leg.

Harry,

Meet me at my office at two o'clock. Please ask Ms. Weasley to come too. You both shall have to miss your last class for this.

Albus Dumbledore

Harry wondered what that was about. He pocketed the note and then suddenly realized he'd be missing Potions to go to Dumbledore's office. The day suddenly seemed brighter. Harry smiled and saw Ginny glance his direction, giving him a questioning look. She got up and came over to sit by him.

'What's made you so happy all of a sudden. I thought you were tired.'

'Can you let me and my feelings have some privacy some time?' Harry asked, his voice low. Ginny giggled.

'No, I can't help it since we both have to feel the same way. Now, what's so funny?'

'Nothing, Dumbledore's asked us to meet him at two o' clock… and I miss Potions for that.'

'Why is he calling us? We talked yesterday, and I'd be missing Arithmancy, that's my favorite class!' Ginny frowned.

'I don't know… I'm just glad I'm missing Potions.'

'Who's missing Potions?' Ron arrived at the table.

'I've got to see Dumbledore and no, he hasn't said why,' said Harry quickly. Harry resumed on his toast.

'Well, that's good… you're leaving me with Snape for the last two classes of the day so that he can torture me with that foul mood of his!'

' 'suppose so…'

'Well, great!' Ron said sarcastically.

'Ginny, could you pass an apple?' Harry asked.

Ginny peeked over her book, which she had just taken up. Her eyes twinkled for a moment before she glanced over at the dish full of bight red apples. Harry saw her finger jerk slightly, behind the book, and the next moment the apple was in his hands. He looked at her incredulously.

'I can do it better… so?' Ginny whispered, feigning innocence. Harry chuckled and then glanced at her hairgrip… which seemed to be holding a lot of her hair up decently. He simply raised a finger and the hairgrip came flying off, causing her hair to fall down to her shoulders.

'Harry! I spent ages fixing that up!'

'What can I do? I'm just better at it. Besides, your hair looks loads better this way.' He grinned, turning red on realizing what he had said.

'Thanks,' she said shyly, turning back to her book but Harry thought he distinctly heard her mutter -'Flatterer.'

***

Harry stepped into Dumbledore's office at two o' clock and gave a cry of surprise.

'Sirius!' It seemed quite impossible but it had been more than a year since Harry had seen Sirius. His godfather appeared to be in much better health, although a little exhausted. Harry grabbed him in a tight hug.

'How are you?! Why didn't you tell me you were coming?'

'It wouldn't be a surprise that way, then,' Sirius said, smiling widely. He glanced over Harry's shoulder at Ginny. Incidentally, Sirius and Ginny had never met before as Sirius had been away from England on a mission of the Order of Phoenix for the past year.

'And I believe this young charming lady is Ginny?' Sirius said, stepping forward. 

'Hello, Mr. Black,' she said, smiling shyly. He grinned, his eyes twinkling mischievously.

'No Mr. Black with me, call me Sirius,' he said, smiling back at her. 'And I do agree with Harry on this one, you are very pretty.'

Ginny's face burned red and Harry's mouth fell open. But Sirius seemed to ignore that.

'Make yourselves comfortable,' said Dumbledore, conjuring up soft, small sofas for them to sit. Next came a tray full of pastries, éclairs and cakes with hot tea.

'The weather has become quite chilly. All of us could do with some tea,' he said, pouring hot tea into little ceramic cups.

After that, they chatted lightly for a while, recounting the main events of the term so far. They were also able to update Sirius on the most important discovery… Harry and Ginny's newly acquired powers.

The news came as quite a shock to Sirius.

He choked on his tea.

'What?! Albus, is this true? The predictions –'     

'Yes, Sirius,' said Professor Dumbledore, setting down his cup on its sauces very calmly. 'The predictions… or prophecies, whatever you may call them, that a few have made over the years have some truth in them. It was yesterday… the same time Lily and James died, I surmise.'

Sirius glanced at Harry, his eyes wide, as if expecting to actually see all those powers around Harry.

'Harry, are you – do you… have powers?'

'Not only me,' said Harry quickly, 'Ginny too. It's because we've the same soul.'

Sirius put away his tea altogether. 'This, I never thought…'

'I agree, I hadn't expected this either,' said Dumbledore.

Harry was tired of all this talk as if he wasn't even there. 'Look, these powers… they aren't even that great. Isn't it normal to have power spurts when you're angry or upset? Like I had before coming to Hogwarts?'

'This isn't accidental magic, Harry,' said Dumbledore. 'You can control it… in fact, it is part of you. That makes a big difference.'

Dumbledore paused. 'Many people all over the world have been coming up with predictions that you, being Harry Potter, do have some significance over the rest of us. It has also been said by many that on the sixteenth anniversary of your parents' death, you would be bestowed with powers you never had before and power of such magnitude that many have worked all their life and never been able to achieve.'

'And since Ginny and he have the same soul, they shared it?' Sirius asked, still seeming quite stricken.

'I believe so,' said Dumbledore. 'However, it seems that they don't share it but… have the same powers… duplicated.'

'This… this could change everything,' sad Sirius in a low voice, surprised. He glanced at Harry and Ginny as he said this.

'The war,' said Harry simply. 'When I leave Hogwarts, I'm going to join it. If there is anyway that I can help the others, I will.'

Dumbledore smiled. 'That's not it. Harry, Ginny, with the right training you could very well become more powerful than Voldemort.'

***

'You summoned us, your Lordship?'

'I believe that is why you are here, Gerhard?' Voldemort's tone was dangerously sarcastic.

'I did not mean to offend –'

'Shut up… and I hope you handed over command to someone competent?'

'Yes, my Lord,' said Gerhard, recovering instantly, 'Halter… second in command.'

'Status?'

'Clear victory, my Lord, by nightfall. All except one Auror stations have been discovered and destroyed.'

'Satisfactory. Felton?'

'Your Lordship, I have been studying our proceedings. Excellent, my Lord, if we proceed according to plan, victory shall be in our grasp very soon.'

'Mere words, Felton… we have a change of plans.'

'Change? My Lord, what, may I ask?'

'The Potter prophecy. It proved true. Potter now has tremendous potential… this changes our plans.'

'The Potter prophecy? It's true?'

'Do I have to repeat myself, Felton?'

'No, my Lord,' said Felton quickly. 'What are we going to do?'

'That is why I have summoned you here… I have decided on a rapid change of plans. We must move our plan forwards before Potter plays any tricks. While he remains at that school, we have relatively less to be concerned about.'

'But sire, if he proves harmless? Or if we could persuade him to join us and –'

'Impossible… both. That idiot can only harm us. Dumbledore made sure to fill his head with all sorts of nonsense. Before Potter harvests his powers, we shall act.'

'You mean, move our forces forward to Yorkshire? That is about two months away –'

'No, fool. Yorkshire, Leeds, all are insignificant now. Gerhard, your forces are at Manchester, Lancaster and Preston?'

'Yes, my Lord.'

'Order the top regiments back immediately.'

'But, my Lord!'

'Do as I say. I want you to rally all the regiments at Grimsby in the headquarters. All actions elsewhere in the kingdom are to be stopped. Take caution, spread no word of anything!'

'Yes, my Lord but we shall lose Manchester!'

'And,' Felton spoke up, 'all our future plans shall be completely annulled!'

'No! Trust my decision! We have enough power now and the time may not come again. It is best to strike when the opponent is raw.'

'My lord… you mean…?'

'Yes, two months, I believe and we shall be ready, if you are ready to obey my orders?'

'Yes, My Lord,' said Gerhard and Felton in unison, hiding the hesitation they felt.

'We shall soon be paying Hogwarts a visit.'

***

Harry and Ginny spent quite a while with Sirius, talking, laughing and mainly relaxing. However, Sirius, having to leave on another mission soon, had to leave to prepare for it. Hugging Harry, Sirius said,

'I'll be here at Christmas,' and winked. Harry grinned. 'Take care of yourselves.'

'Ginny?' asked Sirius, looking at her hand. 'Is that…?'

Sirius was looking at the emerald encrusted ring on a finger of her right hand. 'It's the ring I sent you… Lily's.'

When Sirius looked at Harry, he was smiling widely. He grabbed Harry in a tight hug.

'Well done. Keep the gold bands with you, too,' he said, in a low voice so that only Harry could hear them.

'And,' said Sirius, turning to Ginny with a mischievous glint in his eyes, 'if he gives you any trouble, remember, he has his godfather to answer to. Send me an owl and I'll see to him.'

Harry and Ginny laughed and Ginny hugged Sirius warmly before he turned into his Animagus form and disappeared around the door.

'Harry,' said Dumbledore. 'Before you go, I wanted to discuss something else with you. I believe you agreed that you would practice on these powers.'

Harry and Ginny both nodded. 'We did try a few spells last night,' said Harry, trying not to smile. He felt warmth flow through the link with Ginny.

'Good. However, I want to ask you if you are ready to train seriously?'

'Seriously?'

'Yes, I'm referring to what I said a while ago. You both can develop these powers into something far greater, while you are still here at Hogwarts,' said Dumbledore slowly. 'If you realize your importance in the war.'

Harry glanced at Ginny. 'Yes,' said Ginny.

Harry frowned slightly. 'How seriously, Professor?'

'Well, for starters, you will have to have some advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts classes with Professor Lupin. Then, I have another idea, but that will have to wait until you master the Defense Against the Dark Arts classes.'

'The whole N.E.W.T.s course?' Ginny asked, surprised. Dumbledore smiled.

'Even more. Whatever Professor Lupin can teach you. Will that be okay? You will have to skip on or two of the other classes and have some practices in the evenings. We have to make the most of the time we have.'

'What about the others?' Harry asked. 'Ron? Hermione?'

'That,' said Dumbledore, 'is part of my next plan. Do not worry. All seventh years will train properly… but I have to finalize that with the Ministry before I can proceed.'

'But the Ministry isn't very trustable now,' said Ginny, thinking about all the people here father had been telling her mother about who had turned over to Voldemort, no longer in secret.

'Yes, unfortunately, but I know a few people. And Fudge, now being on our side will be helpful in what I am currently planning.'

Harry wanted to ask what Dumbledore had in mind but he decided he had heard too much news for one day.

'When should we go for these sessions?'

'I shall talk to Professor Lupin about them and he will let you know. We must start as soon as possible. Voldemort is currently focused on encroaching territory. From what I have heard, Manchester is almost in their control.'

Ginny gasped in audibly. 'The Aurors?'

'Defeated. The Death Eaters are growing in number.' Dumbledore suddenly seemed very sad. Harry gritted his teeth. Something had to be done.

Suddenly, a large eagle swept into the office, depositing a scroll in Dumbledore's hands. It seemed to be in a great hurry.

Dumbledore immediately unrolled the scroll and read through the message. He turned to Harry and Ginny and they could see a hint of surprise in his eyes.

'The Death Eaters have pulled away from Manchester.'

And just then, Harry's scar began to ache.

Author's Notes:

Once again, a wonderful response from the reviewers! Thankyou for reviewing and telling me what you think of this story so far! I'm trying to add new things without sounding clichéd and I hope it works – as in the Malfoys case and the wand-less magic part.

It's been tough finding time to write but school's off early for me and now it's the winter hols! More time to write!

You can expect early updates.

Please do keep reviewing… they make me go gaga! And do recommend a few stories, I've finished up everything at Gryffindortower.net and Sugarquill.net and I'm bored! If it's something you've written, do mentioned the name and I'll check it out AND review!

Until next time,

Toodloo,

-Ameera Khan (Aimen at Gryffindortower.net and GinnyK on ff.net)