Chapter 10 Running the World

Harry sat awake for a while, petting Zarith and replaying the dream on his dream recorder, which had never left his side since fifth year…except when he'd been captured by Voldemort…and when he'd fought the Elementals. He'd never thought that the death eaters were anything like this. Of course his ever-active mind had figured out Voldemort's ultimate goal, more supporters. Now he could specially train his death eaters form childhood to be however he wanted them. Obviously he wanted them to be killers. It also gave his death eaters something fun to watch, their own special sport, they probably even betted on the outcome.

Shivering with disgust Harry got up and walked to the owlery, nearly forgetting to step over one of the fake stairs. In the owlery Hedwig, on her nest, greeted him with a hoot. The others were out hunting. Suddenly Hercules swooped in, he landed on Harry's arm. Harry tied the second dream recorder to it. It had recorded everything exactly the same as the other.

Dear Sirius,

It appears Voldemort has found a way to recruit death eaters, and to make sure they're exactly what he wants in supporters, while making them better fighters as well. The dream is short, but it is detailed and could be very useful. Fortunately what happens in the dream is a prediction of the future, yes I can tell the difference, it took place 200-290 miles away from Potter Manor. (You'll understand the next part after viewing the dream)

I know that's a large area to search, I believe that the two girls in the dream have already been captured; in fact one of them went missing at the attack on the town of Faerlow. As far as retaking the prisoners and preventing the battles, I have no idea, I will try to find out more, I am sending out a message through my snake network to search for the farmhouse, once it is found I'll have by best spies attempt to enter. We know that Voldemort isn't in any of his other bases, he may well be using an unsuspicious, out of the way place to hide. The forts he's building may just be so that he'll have a place to start once he has taken over, but that's just a guess.

I think it would help if the general public was informed of this.

HP

Harry handed Hercules the letter that the owl grasped tightly in his beak.

"Take this to Sirius Hercules, quickly please." The owl took off into the night. Harry went back to his rooms. Tiger greeted him with a soft meow as he entered and sat down on his bed. Sensing his distress Zarith gave a small trill and rubbed his head against Harry's arm. Sleepiness filed him, Harry smiled and stroked the phoenix before going back to sleep, he'd worry about the dream in the morning.

**

Stories, theories, and photos of Harry's presentation were in every newspaper around the globe for three days, and still Sirius hadn't replied to Harry's letter, except a quick note saying that Harry should go ahead with the snakes, and that the Order would patrol the area.

School would be starting that day, Harry went to the Order Fortress before going on to Hogwarts, Sirius had asked him to accompany Stilgar and tow other students, Merlie and Stephanie, both 12, back to Hogwarts. They had been staying at the Fortress ever since the attack on their towns.

"Harry!" Harry smiled at Stilgar, jumping up and down and waving at him. He went over to the three students.

"Hello Stilgar, Merlie, Stephanie. You ready?" All three nodded, "okay then." Harry called his lightning. He heard Stephanie gasp in shock as it hit, and then they were just outside Hogwarts.

"Wow, way cool!" Stephanie said, staring at Harry, Harry smiled and led the way up to the castle, floating their trunks alongside.

"Hello Harry, welcome back. Got any dangerous record breaking feats of courage planned for this year?" Dumbledore asked him good naturedly, his blue eyes sparkling as they heard the train whistle

"No actually, I never do, but…" Harry didn't continue as Dumbledore nodded knowingly.

They walked into the great hall, Harry went over to the Gryffindor table with Stilgar, the rest of the school would be coming in a few minutes. Across the hall Draco caught Harry's eyes with a questioning look, obviously wondering where he'd been for the past few weeks. Aside from meals Harry hadn't said a word to his fellow students who were staying over the summer. He'd been too busy. The great hall doors burst open and chattering students flooded the hall.

**

As seventh year students Harry, Ira, Ron, and Hermione were seated up next to the currently empty seats that the first years would take. Harry searched the crowd and finally spotted them, he waved them over.

"Harry! Need I ask how your summer was? I think the whole world knows what you've been up to." Ira said, sitting down beside him.

"Yes, it is very interesting, the source of magic I mean, and the stuff about Atlantis and our ancestors is really fascinating. Oh I've been working on this potion, it should awaken some of those people at Saint Mungo's who are in comas form the cruciatus curse. Sorry you all couldn't come stay at Potter mansion, I was really busy…I'll tell you all later. How was your summer?"

"A little boring, I actually finished my homework halfway through the break." Ron said, Hermione smiled at him approvingly. Larquan and Kylara came rushing over and took their seats.

"Hey almost didn't make it huh?" Harry asked, the elves didn't take the express but were escorted to Hogwarts by a Royal Guard.

"Mum wanted to talk to me, she and pa are coming here for another meeting later this year." Kylara said, the others looked up, excited at the prospect of seeing the king and queen of the elves again.

"Hmm, do you think they'd mind if I asked for blood samples from their entourage?" Harry asked.

"No no, actually dad's very interested in the whole Atlantis thing, and he likes the idea of humans and elves having a common ancestor." Kylara replied, the doors opened and McGonagal led in the first years. Harry checked his shields again, 90% of the students had blocking spells so he didn't have to hear their thoughts, but some of them had a lot of trouble performing the spell, and none of the new first years had it. He could feel their nervousness and fear swamping him and pushed it roughly aside.

The sorting was over quickly, twenty six new students, as per usual these days Slytherin got very few, seven in all. Harry clapped with the rest and greeted the new Gryffindors warmly, finally Dumbledore stood to make his announcements.

"Returning students, and new, please remember that the dark forest is forbidden. There has been a new corridor added coming off the entrance hall, this is also forbidden, any attempt to enter will likely result in immediate expulsion, if you don't get killed trying to enter first, just ignore its existence. It is part of an ongoing research project by the Order of the Phoenix which I am sure you've all heard about, the Focal Points of Magic and Atlantis?" Murmurs sounded all around the hall and almost every head turned to look at Harry. He calmly ignored them, petting Tiger who had leaped up onto the bench next to him. "You will see Order of the Phoenix agents around the school, please do not bother them, they're here for your protection. If you see ANY unusual or suspicious people or creatures around the school please tell a teacher, Order agent, or the head boy and girl" Harry and Hermione both raised a hand, "at once. Hogsmead visits have been cancelled do to increased activity of dark forces, but you know all about that." Groans form everyone here. "Since Hogwarts is a base of the Order's and one of the safest places in the wizarding world we will be hosting a number of guests and meetings here. You will be informed of when they are happening. Because of this you, Hogwarts students, will probably be more up-to-date in what is going on regarding the war than anyone else. Quidditch will continue of course. Now I know you're all hungry so, lets eat!" The food appeared and everyone began to eat.

**

The next morning Harry went down to his lab while his friends went to their first class, Potions. Having gotten his Potions Mastery the year before and having taken the NEWTs for Potions Harry was no longer taking the class. Besides he was needed for other things, namely the skull. Harry had basically given up on finding another human being who could possibly withstand it, and so there wasn't much to do. Instead he turned his attention to the strange mass of gold that had slowly begun to appear on the skulls forehead over the previous week. So far it was only a slight change in coloration, a faint goldish tinge to a large part of the center of the skull's forehead. Harry had no idea what it meant or what it was, but ever since the discoloration had started the urge to touch the skull's forehead had increased. He didn't know why but he shied away from doing so, he could handle the skull without trouble, but some inner instinct warned him a way form touching that spot. Careful magical examination had revealed a steady flow of power fro

m the discolored patch, a flow of power that grew stronger and stronger the closer Harry let his hand get to the spot. Harry was currently reading up on obsidian, seeing if it reacted this way to a magical substance that might somehow have come into contact with the obsidian skull. Though no one but Harry ever entered the room and he let nothing that didn't need to be in there into the skulls presence, unsure of what it could do.

Miranda had suggested putting different potions and substances around the skull to see what happened to them. Harry had begun to set up an elaborate system of enchantments that would make this safer. He had no way of knowing if the skull would explode when presented with a certain chemical or something. In addition he set up a observation spell, which acted rather like a hidden video camera, allowing him to observe the skull at all times without actually being there.

**

"Mr. Potter please stay after class." Harry nodded as everyone packed up he went up to professor McGonagal's desk.

"Harry how has your animagi transformations been going? Any luck?" Harry could have kicked himself, after the first two days of practice he'd completely forgotten about his animagi forms.

"I haven't worked on them recently, I've been a little too busy. But I can do the cobra, black unicorn, and caracal okay." McGonagal looked impressed.

"On your own Harry? That's quite an achievement, well try to find time to try out the others, if you can do those you can probably do more." Harry nodded and hurried out.

"What did she want Harry?" Ira asked him, the others had been waiting just outside the door.

"She wanted to know how my animagi transformations were going, I've got three of them down, cobra, black unicorn, and caracal."

" Yeah I've been working on mine too, I think I should be able to manage ocelot soon." Ira said.

"But that's illegal! Harry has permission from the ministry, and there are spells on Hogwarts so they'll know if you do!" Hermione exclaimed at once. Ira didn't reply, they hurried off to history, Harry went his labs, soon he could begin testing the reactions of chemicals and such when exposed to the skull.

**

Defense class with Albus Dumbledore as teacher, of course everyone got there early. The five Marauders took seats in the front, the slightly nervous class chattered softly until the headmaster arrived.

"Alright class today we are going to learn how to protect ourselves against vampires. Now there are many methods to killing a vampire, over exposure to sunlight, starvation, and driving a stake through their hearts. Contrary to popular belief crosses have no effect on them and garlic cannot kill them, though fire has been known to do so on some occasions, and drowning cannot, nor will decapitation." The class was writing everything down quickly, Harry, Ira, Draco, and Hermione had spelled their quills to take notes so they could still pay attention.

"If you have to enter vampire infested territory it is best to take your wand of course, plenty of light, and garlic. There are a few spells that can drive off or kill vampires and we will be learning them today. The first is the Lumos spell, which of course you all know. The second is the Whesilio spell which creates a barrier a vampire cannot pass, nor even get within ten feet of, more if you do it with more power. That is what we'll start with, the incantation is Whesilio." The class repeated it, then they were assigned in pairs to try it, Harry and Ira, already knowing the spell spent most of the class helping Draco. Hermione of course got it right away, Ron could only produce a faint orange mist, putting him in a rather bad mood.

**

We know that there were three almost identical comets, one hit Atlantis, the planet, one hit Earth, there's one left. Where is it? Is it coming back? How big is it? How can we guard against it if it comes back to Earth, if we can? Harry wondered quietly, watching the fifteen leading astronomers of the planet as they looked over the handouts he had given them, telling everything they knew about the comets and where Atlantis was located. The Ministry's had agreed to fund a huge project to 1-find Atlantis (the planet) 2-find out if the remaining comet would hit Earth, 3-if so what could they do? The main goal currently was finding Atlantis, without Atlantis's location they would never be able to find the comet's orbit. But since Atlantis was in another solar system how could it have an orbit? A confusing question.

"This data, it is exact?" Ben Dralim asked.

"Yes, as you can see our ancestors were very thorough. They've got the exact dimensions of all three comets, their distance apart, their speed, and a good guess at what they're made of." Harry replied. "Can we be sure that the comet that hit Earth was one of the original three?" He asked them.

"It has the same composition as one of the three, it's faster, and a bit smaller. But comets do get smaller constantly, that is to be expected. The faster speed, well it is coming closer to a sun so that is also expected. The same distance apart from one of the other comets, that is good evidence. But it is hard to tell." Ben replied.

"Three comets, two closer together and more alike than the other one. One hits Atlantis in another solar system. What are the chances of the remaining two breaking out of that star's gravitational pull?" Harry asked them.

"About 1 in five million." Was the prompt reply from Tarmina Lalues, the gray haired comet expert was scribbling note and calculations with the help of a pocket calculator.

"It is tough since we don't know how large Atlantis's star is, how far away it is, how many planets adding their gravitational pull, what other stars are nearby. What really need is to find the planet." Simon Jackari said, looking over at Dralim.

"He's right, we really need to know, Mr. Potter I am going to give out copies of everything we know about its location to everyone who wants to try." Dralim said, after three months he had decided that he really did need help.

"I will attempt to copy the map again. I'll make the copies form the chamber though, incase the one I gave you is missing something." Harry said, "sorry I can't be of more help." He stood and the others followed suit.

"More help? Mr. Potter without you we wouldn't be here to even try. Just keep Voldemort off our backs until we're done?" Dralim said, reaching over to shake Harry's hand as they left.

"As to that, the Ministry's agreed to fund the building of a huge research station, with the best telescopes there are and all the latest technology, and a staff of to help run it. The Order of the Phoenix is sending in a score of their animals and there will be regular checks by patrols on the buildings. We've got the best enchanters getting ready to set up every type of protection enchantment there is. Agents are working on nonmagic defenses, including plenty to keep out muggles." Harry said, this was greeting by wide eyes and astonished looks by all of them. "It's being given first priority, if that comet is going to return and hit Earth, we'd like some warning. And there's a huge interest form the general public for more information of their home. So don't pressure yourselves eh?" He smiled again and walked out of the meeting room, their stuttered thank yous following him down the hall.

Harry breathed a sigh, okay, the astronomers were his, the Ministry's were actually cooperating, the general public was unifying, Fudge was gone, the Order, though stressed, was growing and getting stronger, Voldemort would be out of action for a while, thanks to three compound fractures in his left leg, his two agents in the muggle world had assured him that they still had a little over ten years until the muggles discovered them, now all he needed was to remove Voldemort's apprentice. Things were bringing to look up. But now he needed to attend that Council meeting.