Chapter eight: Wading into deeper waters

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to J.K.R…. now that she's been a dear and finished the BOOK!

~*~

Harry glanced at Ginny uncertainly. She shouldn't be doing this, he thought worriedly. But there was an expression of calm determination on her face, and she smiled at him. Checking himself, he turned to the door and knocked.

'Come in.'

Ginny turned the doorknob, and she and Harry stepped into the office of the current Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher – Professor Lupin.

'Ah, Harry, Ginny, I was expecting you, come on in!'

Despite his anxiety, Harry had a warm feeling on hearing the voice of one of his favorite teachers, and most importantly, one of his father's best friends.

However, Professor Lupin was currently out of sight. Books. Stacked high on every inch of his desktop were books of all shapes and sizes, old and new.

'Uh –'

Suddenly, he appeared around a particularly fat pile, smiling at Harry and Ginny.

'Hello, Professor, um… these books…' Ginny looked around, amused. Frankly, Harry thought a fair amount of the library must have been empty that night.

'Sit down, and I'll tell you all about them,' said Remus Lupin, waving his wand, and shifting the books on his desk to the floor.

'But first, let's have some tea. It's been chilly outside, and I can't think of anything better to stop the old bones from chattering than some nice, steamy tea!' Lupin grinned. He flicked his wand in the air, and with a 'pop', a large tray complete with a teapot appeared.

'Now… Dumbledore told me about the training,' he said, getting right to the point.

'You already know, then?' Harry said. Lupin nodded, handing Harry his tea. 'I was one of the first to know… in fact, the Potter prophecy hasn't been secret from too many people. Back in the seventies, during your parents' time, the prophecy was debated by many, but it was forgotten with time. Not many believed it would come true.'

'There actually was a prophecy about me?' Harry asked, curious.

'Well,' said Lupin, 'I don't remember exactly, but some astrologer prophesized about someone from the Potter clan to be bestowed with great powers on the sixteenth anniversary of their parents' death.'

Lupin put his teacup down, and looked at Harry through serious eyes.

'At that time, You-Know-How was at the height of his powers. The prophecy was made a few months before you were born, and was discussed a lot. When you were born, you were the youngest Potter that existed. James' brother and his family had been murdered by You-Know-Who earlier that year, and suddenly, the prophecy applied to you.'

'Mum and Dad knew?'

'Yes,' said Lupin slowly, 'and extra precautions were taken on Dumbledore's advice to avoid the first prophecy to come true: the death of your parents. However, that did happen, and even though that legitimized the prophecy, it was forgotten. Few remember that today, caught up in the war. But what has happened cannot go unnoticed. The prophecy has come true after all.'

Harry nodded grimly. Lupin leaned back in his chair, and looked from Harry to Ginny.

'It is quite amazing the way you both have duplicate powers, and it is only so much that I know. The rest, you will have to show me.'

'Dumbledore wants us to train, if we can be useful in the war –' said Ginny grimly. Lupin nodded.

'Yes, training is required; it will enhance your potentials. No one really knows the magnitude of the power that has been bestowed upon you – it can only show itself and magical power shows itself in anger and excitement – and of course, if you learn to control it.'

'And if we're not able to control it?' Ginny asked.

'Uncontrolled and untamed power is very dangerous,' said Lupin seriously, 'it should not be taken lightly, which is why I must stress upon the two of you to look upon this training seriously, and put in maximum effort. Otherwise, neither you, nor those around you would be safe in case of any mishap.'

Harry and Ginny nodded, and Lupin smiled.

'Now, to begin with, I'd like you to read these books.'

Harry's mouth fell open.

'What?'

'All of them?' Ginny repeated.

'Yes,' said Lupin calmly, gesturing at the books on his desk, and the stack on the floor. 'They cover the recent history of Dark Arts and its defense. As much as I know that you dislike History of Magic, this is important; you must know your enemy well before you are ready to defeat it. I expect you to at least go through them by the end of the fortnight, and then, we can begin formal training. And yes, these books' – he gestured to a particularly fat pile – 'concern the rise, fall, and return of You-Know-Who… you might find something on the Potter prophecy too. It would be very beneficial to go through them.'

Ginny began to protest but Lupin held up a hand to stop her. 'It is important… if you are to train, you shall train fully. And when we begin the practical training, you will have advanced classes in the Dark Arts sixth and seventh year course.'

'When would we complete the advanced course, Professor?' Harry asked, letting out a deep breath.

'I've targeted Christmas,' said Lupin casually.

'Christmas…?' Harry was surprised. That was only about two months away; it was already the end of October.

'Yes, after that, Professor Dumbledore plans to introduce a plan of his own, if it goes through with the ministry. But that is something else, I want you to focus on the tasks at hand, and be serious about them. We do not know how much time we have.'

~~~

Ginny and Harry retired to the Common room with the stacks of books in their arms, magically reduced in size or else they'd never fit. Ron's eyes went wide at the sight of them. He covered his face with his hands.

'Hermione, no, don't tell me you've addled their brains as well!'

Hermione put down her book, and regarding Harry and Ginny, she scowled at Ron.

'If they're being serious about their studies, I wouldn't mind taking the responsibility! But for your kind information, I have done nothing!'

'Mental,' Ron muttered, causing Harry to chuckle as he put the books away.

'Stop arguing, you two, it's some reading for Defense Against the Dark Arts that Professor Lupin has assigned us,' said Ginny.

'You? What's up? There wasn't any reading…' said Hermione, very interested. Harry glanced at Ginny before speaking. He knew he had to tell them.

'Ginny and I are taking advanced Defense classes from now on, and it's part of that,' he said.

'You didn't tell us,' said Ron slowly, looking from Harry to Ginny.

'We just found out,' Ginny lied.

'Oh, then you'll be ahead of us.' Hermione sounded almost sad.

'Well, congratulations on the extra studies, you'll be slogging like Hermione,' said Ron, earning a smack from Hermione.

'But, why the extra classes?' Hermione asked after a moment. Harry tried not to frown; he hadn't wanted her to ask that. He hated lying to Ron and Hermione.

'I don't know exactly, just that Dumbledore's putting us through them,' he said evasively. Hermione glanced at Ginny but said nothing.

Harry plopped down in an armchair, and decided to catch up on his Charms homework, which had been left complete in view of the meeting with Professor Lupin.

'Harry, you haven't assigned the Quidditch practices yet,' Ron reminded him a moment later. Harry nodded, remembering.

'We've been having morning practices all month, and its getting cold now. I don't think any of the younger players will practice wholeheartedly in a few days,' said Harry amusedly, looking around the Common room for his teammates. 'From tomorrow, we shall have practices at four in the afternoon. Malfoy's been trying to get the pitch for the morning, he can have it now.'

Harry hurriedly scribbled the notice on a blank piece of parchment, and Banished it to the Notice board on the main wall, where everyone could see it.

~~~

The next three weeks passed in a sort of blur for Harry. Coupled with extra Quidditch practices for the November match against Slytherin, he had also been given some thirty or so books to go through, by Professor Lupin. Every afternoon was spent in tiring Quidditch matches, which drained him enough. Then came the loads of homework, which in lieu of Seventh Year, was already colossal. And every night, after twelve, when the Common room was deserted, Harry and Ginny retired in front of the fire with Professor Lupin's assigned homework. It was quite tough concentrating already, well past midnight, and the text was boring too, which added to the burden.

Slow and steady, the pile of books reduced, and both finally calmed down, and became more easygoing about their tasks. One particular Wednesday, they shut their books earlier than usual, and lay down in front of the fire, silently enjoying the few pressure-free moments they had.

'I hate lying to Ron and Hermione,' said Harry at length, looking up at the Common room ceiling with a frown. Ginny propped herself up on an elbow, warming her toes in front of the fire.

'I know, Hermione's been persistent too… she, of course, knows something's up that I won't tell her.'

Harry smiled at that. 'True, Ron is only interested as far as Quidditch goes… he doesn't think twice about books.'

Ginny pulled a face. 'Well, I'm his sister, and I don't want to see another History book after this, even if I fail History of Magic!'

Harry smiled again at that, and turned to her, when she suddenly sat up.

'Oh, I almost forgot,' she said hurriedly, and scrambled to her feet, returning moments later with a fat tome with her.

'There's something I wanted to show you, I found it today when I was reading this in Divination,' she said, in a single breath, flipped open the book, and began rifling through the yellowing pages. Harry sat up, curious.

'You were reading this in Divination?'

'Nothing better to do,' Ginny muttered, squinting at the minute, old text. 'It was pretty boring, up till I found this –'

Her finger paused on a page somewhere in the middle of the book. She looked up at him, looking a bit uncertain. A frown creased her face.

'I didn't know what exactly to make of this,' she said in a low whisper, her voice heavy with apprehension. Harry pushed up his glasses, and leaned forwards. 'Let me see it.'

She pointed out the text. 'Of course, it can be anything, the source hasn't been mentioned.'

Harry squinted at the text, as Ginny began to read:

'It's a prediction of some sort, set in verse…

Sixteen suns pass…

When power comes…

Darkness spreads, high and low…

There is trouble ahead, brave warrior… tread carefully

Clear your mind, your heart…

Failure once, yes, but a lesson be learned…

Forward yet again, brighter than before…

Be warned! Failure ye cannot forego, but can learn…

On the path of thorns, walk twice not alone!'

Ginny looked up. 'What do you make of it?'

Harry frowned. 'I've known premonitions and predictions long enough to believe them, at least… significant ones… like Professor Lupin said. This could be the one made before I was born.'

Harry turned a page back, but it was clear the earlier verses were missing. A page had been torn out of the book.

'Looks like someone else has the earlier part,' he mused.

'You could be right about this being the same one. But then, this is authentic, it does mean something,' said Ginny, re-reading the verses. Harry followed her gaze quietly.

'Sixteen suns… sixteen years, that, we very well know already. When power comes, darkness spreads…'

'Is Voldemort going to get more powerful now that we've got these powers?' Ginny wondered.

'That wouldn't make sense,' said Harry slowly, 'unless, he knows.'

'He can't, no one knows,' said Ginny quickly.

'How do we know? A page's missing from this book, he could very well be re-reading it now. And besides, Professor Lupin himself said this was common knowledge during my parents' time. Voldemort's not entirely dumb… he must know.'

'If he knows, how much does he know?' Ginny said slowly. Harry glanced at her.

'With any luck, he knows just as much as we do, but I wouldn't put that past Voldemort.'

He took her hand, and squeezed it. His gaze wandered back to the book, and he reached out and ripped out the page with the verses.

'Harry!' Ginny exclaimed. 'That's property of the school library!'

'I know,' said Harry grimly. 'But I'd rather keep this… something tells me there's a lot more to these verses than what actually appears to be. I think we'd better show them to Dumbledore… or Professor Lupin.'

Ginny pursed her lips, and closed the book. She glanced at the page again.

'It talks of failure, what do you think that means?'

'Failure? It could be… about last term,' said Harry slowly, making Ginny look up, confused. She knew no more than Harry's reference: 'last term'; she did not know when or how she'd ever find out. What she did know was that Harry had suddenly gone from worried to fearful. Whatever had happened last term still haunted him terribly; she wished he would open up to her, but so far, he was strictly reserved on that topic.

'You really think so?' Ginny asked softly. He looked up at her, and Ginny tried to soften the atmosphere, but the waves of apprehension and fright emanating from him were too strong.

'I… don't know, it…'

He was on the verge of breaking, Ginny realized painfully. She reached for his hands, but he gave a low sigh, and took a deep breath, closing his eyes briefly.

'No, this says something about the future,' he said quickly, and consulted the verses. Ginny bit her lip, frowning. It would be so much better if he told her, but the opportunity had been missed.

'We do need to take this to Dumbledore, if he doesn't know already… if it talks about failure, we need to put up our guards,' said Harry, pulling Ginny out of her thoughts. He'd said it with sudden determination, and she could almost see the forced confidence driving away the fearfulness of only moments before.

He was probably aware that she could feel everything that he was feeling, and had been feeling, she thought, but he was as stubborn as usual. 

She nodded vaguely, trying not to look worried, as Harry pocketed the withering page and got up. She glanced up at him; he was tall, seventeen years old, and yet, sometimes, he was as simple as a child. For her, his feelings seemed to be written clear on his face. And yet, sometimes, she just couldn't guess what he was thinking.

'We'll go to Dumbledore tomorrow,' he said, and it wasn't entirely a statement. He was waiting for an answer.

Ginny's fists balled up; she was not angry or annoyed at him. She was simply irritated that he had closed himself up again – closed to the world, and to her.

She nodded. 'After classes.'

There was a short silence. Ginny could feel the uneasiness in the air, and she hated it.

'Won't you be coming up?' He seemed to feel it too.

'Not immediately. You go on,' she said quietly. She pulled her knees to her chest and stared into the fire, waiting. Harry simply stood there behind her for what seemed like an eternity. He took a slow step forward, but then turned around.

Ginny gritted her teeth. The uneasiness in the air around them was choking her.

'Goodnight, then,' he said softly, and went up the boys' staircase, every footstep clear in the silence.

Ginny shut her eyes. Something was happening, and neither she, nor Harry liked it. What was worse, she did not know exactly what was happening. Had it been the prediction? Or what? The extra load on both of them?

She glanced up at the boys' staircase, then thought back to the verses.

She hadn't voiced her thoughts to him, but she really thought that in some ways, Harry was moving away from her. She didn't like it. Not one bit. They were one… literally. Pulling away would hurt them both.

She couldn't stop herself from putting her head down, and letting a few tears fall. Harry was hurting himself and her. And she knew, that she'd have to do something about it eventually. But right now, she was completely helpless.

~~~

Harry saw down on the edge of his bed, and hung his head, dejected.

He had no idea what he was doing, or why he was so depressed. He suddenly stood up, wanting to hurry back downstairs. Ginny would still be there. But what would he tell her? He had upset everything… by thinking back to that time… but how could he forget that? Another had died because of him, he couldn't forget that. How many more?

Feeling terrible, he lay back down, and got under the covers before he got another urge to run downstairs.

It hadn't even been a proper 'goodnight'.

He hated himself for doing that to her. That had been purely selfish of him, he thought bitterly, thinking only of himself, and not Ginny. Cold sweat was breaking out on his face and hands, but he didn't seem to notice that.

He closed his eyes, let out a deep breath, but the dull feeling of pain didn't leave. Ginny. He covered his eyes with his hand. He hoped everything would seem brighter in the morning.

~~~

Her eyes flew open, and she wondered why she was so worried. She sat up in bed, and checked her wristwatch to find that it was around six-thirty in the morning. It was chilly, and her friends were still asleep.

Harry was not, she knew.

She got out of bed, and dressed into her uniform quickly. In a few minutes, her friends would get be awake too. She paused at the door, closed her eyes, and concentrated the way she always did. If she was right, Harry was hopeful too. She took a deep breath, determined to normalize everything immediately.

She went down the stairs, acting perfectly casual, and said 'good morning' to a few people on the way. It was almost breakfast time.

Her heart gave a small leap as she saw Harry, sitting in a corner of the Common room, his head resting in one hand, a book lying open in his lap. But he wasn't reading. A pair of emerald eyes was focused directly on her, and she paused at the foot of the staircase for a moment. He stood up, and the book in his lap fell to the floor. He retrieved it quietly, and almost threw it away, striding towards her.

'Ginny? How're you up so early?'

He had known she was awake, just like she had known that he was. But she decided to ignore that.

'Good morning to you too,' she said, grinning. The sudden smile on his face was worth everything, and he took her hand, leading her off the staircase. He was looking at her intently, a strange look in his eyes, as if he were trying to come to some sort of conclusion.

Before she could say anything, he had led her to a corner that lay in the shadows under the girls' staircase.

'Good morning,' he said, grinning at her in the semi-darkness, but there was an edge of unease too. However, Ginny ceased to ponder that, as he placed a hand on the side on her face, leaned in, and kissed her.

It was a slow, soft and long kiss… an apologizing kiss evidently, for the way he had acted that night. It was wonderful, and every bit sincere; Ginny wasted no time in accepting the unsaid apology, and kissed him back.

'NOT first thing in the morning!'

Surprised, Harry pulled away from Ginny suddenly.

Ginny groaned, and leaned her forehead against Harry's shoulder, closing her eyes and trying not to curse the redhead standing at the top of the boys' staircase.

'Good morning, Ron,' said Harry, seeming quite amused.

'Good morning? Is that all you can say? I demand an apology!' Ron said loudly, coming down the staircase.

'The only apology you will get is my fist, if you don't move. NOW.' Ginny's face was flaming where it still rested on Harry's shoulder. She felt him chuckle softly, his shoulders moving, and he closed an arm around her waist.

'If you know her, Ron, I'd advise you to go off to breakfast, it's getting cold,' said Harry. Ginny could feel him grin, but anger was one thing she could not simply switch off.

'Breakfast, of course, but first, let me investigate the sudden redness of my sister's ears. Why, good morning, Gin –'

Ginny twisted her hand behind Harry's back, and suddenly Ron was lying on his back, petrified under the Full-Body Bind.

She finally pulled away from Harry.

'Good one, Gin,' he commented, leaning over and inspecting her work. Ron was looking up at Ginny and Harry, confused that she had used no wand, nor said the spell.

Harry noticed that immediately. 'Accidental magic, Ron, I warned you,' he lied.

'You can lie there perfectly well, prince charming,' said Ginny waspishly. 'Your princess will probably wake you up with a kiss.'

Everyone around them sniggered, pausing to look at what was causing the commotion.

'Which reminds me!' Ginny exclaimed heatedly, glaring down at Ron. She whipped around, her bright red hair flying, and before Ron or anyone else standing around could blink once, she had flung her arms around Harry's neck, reached up and pulled him into a kiss.

The hooting was initiated by Seamus who, incidentally, was in the little crowd. Ron's face turned a nasty shade of red, as his sister made no secret of what she and Harry had been up to in the corner beside the staircase.

Amazingly, Harry had gone quite pale as Ginny pulled away, and his eyes were as wide as saucers.

'Do something about it if you can!' Ginny snapped, and shooting a death glare at the pale-faced Ron on the floor, she turned around and practically dragged Harry by the hand, out of the portrait hole.

… To be continued…

Author's notes:

Hi… and yes, it's been a while… but that's because I was down with a viral, yes, a viral! We all know how terrible they are! That lasted 2 weeks and then, my mother *banned* me from using the computer and the Internet. Ugh. Things couldn't have got worse.

But now, I'm back with a long chapter. I've decided to follow in Cygnus Crux's footsteps (GO READ HIS WORKS!), and keep every chapter at least around 4000 words long. He keeps his more than 4500 words long… :)

Speaking of this chapter, a disclaimer here: the part where Harry rips a page out of the book was inspired by Ashwinder's story "The Gift". Definitely one of the BEST out there!

And, the last scene there… yes, Ron's been troubling Harry and Ginny a lot, as you might have guessed. I guess he almost got what he deserved. Do one thing. Tell me if you think that was absolutely unnecessary, in your review.

Anyways, yes, trouble is coming up. Harry's right, those verses are *very* significant. 5o points to anyone who can comprehend their meaning (especially the last four lines) when they review. :) :) :)

Next chapter shall be up, hopefully, in a few days. And yes, *in a few days* means exactly that! Or does it?

Until then, DO DO DO DO DO keep reviewing, and putting my hopes up! New readers, thank you for reviewing TCE and "Of Love And War"! I appreciate that a lot!

Until next time,

Lots of love…

Best wishes…

~*~ Ameera Khan ~*~       ………     ameerakiran@yahoo.com

(Aimen at Gryffindortower.net and GinnyK at Fanfiction.net)