Chapter 7

It was easier to call up a storm outdoors in the air. Harry flew to the center of the grounds, just in front of the school, nearly eighty feet up. He stood up on his broom and raised his arm skyward. A low rumble of thunder was heard in the distance as a response to his summons. I'll see you again just before the battle Harry Sirius voice came through his mind, Harry fixed his attention on having the storm ready and waiting by that time. Ahead of him a score of order members on broomstick were spread out over the forest, flying low, jets of light issuing from wands as they set up the mist and traps. The castle glowed brilliantly, Sirius's powers triggering every defense enchantment the school possessed. Another flood of light around the school, this time Harry identified Sirius, Albus, Remus, Mundungus, and four others he didn't know. They had joined powers with Sirius working the magic, the spell would provide more then enough power to start up the defenses, all security possible was being enforced upon the students who had just been told of the attack. None were allowed outside or in certain sections of the building. Soon, soon they would know Voldemort's true strength. A wizards power could be matched to a wizard, like finger prints to a person, each unique. A spell was being cast over the school to catch a copy of all magic used against it. These could then be matched to the person casting the spell, if their magic was on record. If not it would be added to the Order, Auror, and Hit Wizard files as unidentified. Every death eater captured would have a copy of his power taken if it matched the copies made at Hogwarts and elsewhere then they'd know what to punish the death eater for. At his instruction spells that would identify dementors and Mesmerd as well as death eaters were being placed on the grounds and throughout the forest. It was a massive project to get the defenses up, straining all the Order's resources especially their powers. Harry turned his broom back to the school, Sirius had asked him to try to find our more information through his visions and dreams, though he cringed at the thought.

Harry flew through a window and landed in a small room with three chair and a table. A fire roared in the fireplace. Harry took the chair closest to the fire. Soon Arrabella Figg and a man he didn't know entered.

"Hello Harry, this is Aram. According to Albus your visions work best when you look into a fire. Just look at it now and describe anything you see. We'll record it." Arrabella said, Harry nodded and turned to the fire. His vision filled with flames and the room grew very quiet.

It was dark, spells flashed everywhere, thunder pounded and lightning shrieked through the air. Twin tornadoes suddenly spun up out of nothing, a voice counted to three and suddenly they were filled with flames. Lighting up the entire scene in orange and red. They burned dementors to nothingness while leaving Order members unharmed. Voldemort. He stood there in a circle of death eaters, black fire glowing, surrounding him. Mesmerd screamed as lightning hit them in far above lethal amounts, killing them instantly. Power filled the air, the earth shook and groaned. Everything began to speed up, scenes flashed before his eyes, just slow enough for him to grasp their meaning as if it had been implanted in his mind before they were swirled away. People lay dead and dying on the field in front of Hogwarts, thunder rumbled in the sky, images flew around and around, a fire burned in Harry's scar, he felt like the fire was creeping around him, burning him to a crisp. It felt like his skin was going to erupt into flames, Harry screamed reeled back from the fire. Thud! He rolled out of his chair and landed on the floor on his side. The pain slowly vanished, Harry lay there for a moment, shaking.

"Harry? Are you okay? What happened?" Harry recognized Sirius's voice, he tried to talk, but the force of his scream had torn his throat and only thing that came out was a soft rasp, he began to cough, a little blood coming out from his mouth. He reached up and touched his neck lightly, concentrating hard on his torn throat. His finger tips glowed white for a minute, then faded.

"Next time that happens, someone kick me. That hurt." He said hoarsely, he reached a hand up to Remus who pulled him to his feet. His legs shook and he had to grab the back of his chair to keep from falling. Besides Arabella and Aram, Sirius, Albus, Severus, Remus, and a woman he didn't know were in the room. They all conjured up chairs and sat down, Harry resumed his seat, avoiding looking at the fire.

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"- we'll use the five-pronged attack, the rest can keep the Mesmerd off us until the battle has really started." Sirius finished giving out his instructions to the Patrol leaders. They all bowed and left the room, leaving only Albus, and Sertisa. As he turned to them a glowing figure appeared in one of the empty chairs. Miranda slowly solidified, but never lost a slight silvery glow.

"The invasion of Azkaban Island is completed, five hundred dementors dead, ten taken captive. No casualties in the patrols, three injured. Everything went smoothly. We'll be leaving in one hour, we should reach Hogwarts by eight o'clock. I'm sending Ramoth on ahead. She should arrive in time for the battle." She reported, Sirius grimaced, the magical wall around Hogwarts extended for a one hundred miles, no human could fly in, or use any magical means of travel. Ramoth, being a phoenix, could get through if she didn't have a rider.

"Thanks, she'll be a real help healing people, she is the most experienced healer we've got, have you found Zarglash?" he asked nervously, the albino Basilisk was a friend of his, but he was rather like a centaur in that you could never get a straight answer from him. However Zarglash wielded great power among the basilisks, being close to a thousand years old and the largest basilisk ever. And though the old serpent might be blind in one eye he was still a ferocious fighter, if given a reason to fight.

"Yeah, he should arrive sometime after we do, you know he lives in Antarctica, and he has to avoid being spotted by muggles as he swims over, not an easy task. Well, I'll see you in three and a half hours, do try to save some death eaters, it would be a shame to come all that way and not get a part of the fight." Her image vanished. Sirius looked at the remaining three.

Sirius, why are you putting all our lives in the hands of a boy who's never even seen a wizards duel before, never mind fought in one? Came Severus's voice from his post outside the door. Sirius scowled, anger rising, Severus was, once again, questioning Harry's ability. He's seen more duels in his dreams then most would in ten life times, secondly I trust him, thirdly he knows what Voldemort is going to do, even if he doesn't realize it he reacts to it, fourthly we need him to help us in this fight, fifthly he's been preparing for a battle like this since the Tri Wizard Tournament and sixthly he can sense what the enemy is going to do, he's got a quick mind and reflexes, and he's a brilliant tactician and strategist, he'll react to any problem or sudden shift in any plans before half of us have noticed a difference. Is that enough? If it's not chew on this, he's got a power stone of his own making. It isn't complete yet, but he can use it, and it's the only one in existence. He sensed Severus's astonishment, despite the fact it was quickly hidden. He may not be able to fight Voldemort with his wand, since their wands are brothers, but he can use his lightning and wandless magic against him. Severus was still slightly unconvinced. As soon as he is old enough he will join the Order, if it is still in session, at which point if I am not dead I'm considering putting him in charge, just watch him tonight, the kids got power and a good heart to go with it, he's our most valuable ally right now. Severus was shocked into silence, never before had a living Phoenix given the command to another while the Order was still in session, though it was possible.

"Let's go see if Harry's got anything new." Sirius said, they all stood and left, just outside the door Remus and Severus had been keeping guard, they fell in behind Sirius as he led the way to a small conference room. Severus still looking angry. Sirius opened the door, Harry was sitting, staring into the fire, Arabella and Aram were both seated at a small table. Suddenly blood began to flow from Harry's scar, he let out a horrible scream of agony and slumped from his chair onto the floor, twitching slightly. Sirius ran forward and knelt beside him. "Harry?" The boy didn't seem to hear him. Sirius touched Harry's forehead and connected with his mind, Harry was in terrible pain, images were flashing everywhere, the swirl of color and sound and pain started to make Sirius feel sick. He pulled back his hand and shot a spell from his fingertips into Harry, driving away some of the pain, the rest would go away on its own. "Harry? Are you okay?" He asked again.

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Harry sat still with his eyes closed for a moment, reviewing what he was going to tell them. Finally he got it all ready and began, his voice trembling.

"Most of what I saw I already knew, but I did find out who's going to die." He waited for the startled gasps to stop then continued. All the deaths I saw were ones that could be avoided if those people didn't go into the battle." He stopped for a moment as horrid memories of decaying carcasses flew through his mind.

"Alright, can you tell us who they are?" Sirius asked, he was worried, he'd never seen Harry so shaken, hopefully the boy would get his strength back in the forty-five minutes that remained.

"Yeah, Severus, you must not go onto the ground, you can fight from the battlements, but if you go onto the field you'll be killed in the first attack. However it would be best to stay inside and not let anyone see you, so Voldemort won't think you've been spying on him." Prof. Snape nodded, apparently missing the fact that Harry had not addressed him formally, Harry almost never did that with Order members anymore. In the Order Harry was equal or better then almost everyone else, already some called him the Phoenix's right-hand-man. He was always around to help or give excellent advice on any problem. Harry continued, stopping occasionally to block out vivid images of the dead bodies. He could sense Sirius relaying this information to the correct people. Finally he was done, and twelve lives saved.

"Well done Harry, now how about you rest until the battle, you look like you got attacked by the Whomping Willow." Harry was quiet sure he did look that way and felt worse, but he knew he couldn't rest.

"No, I don't think I could rest at all." He said, reaching with his mind to make sure his thunderstorm was ready.

"Alright, how about you check on the traps in the forest, then start working on the passages out of the castle. We need them so that the only people who can use them are Order members, and students, with permission." Harry nodded, he stood up, glad that he wasn't shaking anymore and gabbed his broom, he jumped out the window and flew off.

The feeling of flying again quickly healed his strength and the gathering powers in the air from his storm refreshed him completely. Harry dipped down to the Order flyers as they worked over the forest. Harry spent most of the remaining time flying about, giving advice and encouragement. Checking his watch he landed, sad to be out of the air. And hurried inside to work on the passages.

Students hurried out of his way, nodding to him respectfully, Harry cleared the hallways the secret passages led into of students and concentrated on the delicate fabric of the tricky enchantments he needed to weave into the buildings magic.

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Harry, time to assemble the school and Order. Harry's eyes snapped open and he finished the last of his spells. Over the last ten minutes his storm had grown to frightening proportions, Harry took a deep breath, lightning crackled down through a window and hit him. Harry's form changed until he became one with the lightning, he then transferred into another bolt that hit the tower top he'd prepared for himself. It was a fancy form of teleportation through lightning. BOOM! The blast crackled through the air, instantly 5-7th years, staff, and Order began to assemble on the grounds. Another crash, seven groups of Order members appeared in a V shape facing the forest. In the foremost group were six he didn't know, Albus, Remus, Arabella, Sertisa, Aram, and Sirius. All of them were dressed for war, making a stunning sight in silver, red, gold, and black. Three Phoenixes swooped overhead and into the open hospital wing window. Harry winced mentally from his position high above, only 90 Order members were left in the building, the other 70 were on patrols.

"Where's Harry?" Hermione whispered to Ron as they stood with the rest of the Prefects, the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw prefects were fighting from the battlement. Slytherin and Hufflepuff were guarding the younger students in the great hall.

"Don't know, he should show up soon though. Maybe he's flying about, this storm is his work. Sirius turned to face the crowd.

"In just a few minutes the enemy will be coming at us from the Forest, we should be alerted shortly before they do. The enemy consists of Death Eaters, Dementors, Mesmerd, and a few snakes, and Voldemort. The Broom Brigade should give us a good amount of aerial coverage from the Mesmerd." The Broom Brigade, only fifteen strong since many were out on patrols, flew overhead. "However they won't be enough." Sirius turned to look up at one of the tower tops as twin bolts of lightning zapped down and lit up a figure there, crackling with power, a cloak swirling about behind it. All heads tilted back and looked up.

"Ron that's him!" Hermione gasped, grabbing Ron's arm, Ron gulped as the earth shook slightly. Raslith on Sirius's shoulder let out a cry, there was a resounding roar of thunder and the figure vanished. A bolt of lightning hit the ground beside Sirius, slowly it dissipated, leaving a hooded figure standing there in black robes of a cloth none of them could identify, the black cloak had strange runes in gold around the edges, a sword hung by its side in a gold and black sheath. "Harry will be giving us additional aid through his lightning, he's also got a little surprise in store for the dementors." Sirius nodded to Harry, Harry, standing between Sirius and Albus, facing Sirius sideways reached up and lowered his hood rather unwillingly. When he turned fully to the crowd there were gasps, his eyes blazed with gold fire and his scar glowed. Harry looked about, seeing everything with a slight gold tinge, he had so much power flowing through him it was showing visibly. He didn't pay any attention as Sirius continued with his speech. Harry sent out his mind through the storm, the enemy was coming, slowly, the traps were working.

"Sirius." Harry said, Sirius stopped and looked at him. The crowd went deathly silent. "They're here." Murmurs ran through the crowd.

"Go back to your post then, you can do more good where you can clearly see your targets, feel free to come down later and help out with the ground battle." He added, knowing Harry would only follow his orders without argument if he had a reason to. Harry bowed his head slightly, another blast of lightning and he was gone, back to the tower top.

With war cries a score of death eaters broke from the forest, followed by three Mesmerd. Harry hurled lightning, taking out two of the Mesmerd, the Broom brigade getting the other after a fierce battle.

Spells flew and lightning flared as the two armies met in the field. Screams cries and shouts echoed around, soon the ground was burned and the grass and shrubs had been ripped off by powerful spells. Harry sent out an advanced patronus, killing 80 of the dementors. The others spread out so it was harder for him to get them. The death eaters came running in, Mesmerd swooped down. For three hours the battle raged, neither side giving quarter or mercy, or asking it.

"Harry's still going strong, look at him." Ron said to Hermione as they met near a wall for a quick breather. Harry was still on the tower, blazing with lightning.

"Yeah, wonder how long he can keep it up." Hermione said before jumping into battle with a Mesmerd. They were on the battlements, which had been packed with student fighters, now only the best remained. "OW! She reeled away, her hat burned. Ron's stunning spell was deflected off the Mesmerd's shield.

"Damn, yikes duck!" They both ducked down behind a gargoyle as the Mesmerd sent a wave of its overpowering fear/weapon at them in the form of a hazy mist. Lightning shot down and electrocuted the Mesmerd into a hunk of stinking charred bone and fur.

"Thanks Harry!" Ron called out, though he doubted Harry, on the other side of the front door and two stories up, could hear him.

Sirius I'm coming down. Harry sent to Sirius before teleporting into the bloody battle below him. He and Sirius went back to back, most of the order had drawn their swords and wands. Using both to defend themselves.

Not sleeping for two days and nights, and those visions has cost you a lot hasn't it? Sirius asked Harry, he could sense his godson's weariness. Yes, Voldemort is sending that cage of black magic at us. Harry replied, Sirius and he ducked into the cage and faced eachother as the walls closed around them. They crossed their swords and wands, silently they joined their power, Sirius taking command since he knew the counter spell. Sirius was amazed, even when this tired Harry had an incredible store of power and a strong will. He drew on their combined power and blasted away the cage. He could see Voldemort as the cage vanished, standing at a safe distance from the fight, enraged.

Another two hours had passed, it was one a.m. almost all the students but Harry had left the fight, now they were roaming the corridors of Hogwarts, exhausted, whenever they came ot a window they would shoot out spells, but they were so tired that it did little good. Almost all the Mesmerd and the snakes were gone, dead, and there were only about six hundred dementors left, and about forty death eaters. Thirty two Order agents were out of the fight, some would be back soon though. The fight was noticeably slowing down.

Around three a.m. Harry called up his tornadoes of fire again, they were obviously smaller and less powerful then the ones he'd used at the beginning of the battle, but they whirled about wreaking massive destruction, lighting up the battle field with their red/orange flickering glow. The patrol arrived shortly after, adding their strength to the Order. The tide of the battle was now sharply against Voldemort and his forces.

At five a.m. Sirius began to sense increasing nervousness from Harry, worried he tried to make contact, but Harry ignored him, he tried to fight his way over to him. Well over a hundred more death eaters appeared near Voldemort, Sirius tried to send out a warning to Harry, no response. Then he noticed a large group of students, isolated in a crowd of death eaters. Realization struck him. They were going to leave with the students as hostages. Harry had fought his way to the students, a burst of lightning crackled down and teleported the students to a safe distance. All heads turned towards Harry as a blasts of power made a resounding boom. The scene lit up as the thunderclouds took on a dark golden sheen, the earth shook and heaved, rolling in waves, throwing only the death eaters to the ground. Rain pounded down, turning into spears of ice on the way down, driving themselves into Voldemorts' creatures. The fighting mostly stopped as Harry and Voldemort fenced in a circle of death eaters. Clash! Harry did a flip and whirled, foot lashing out, Voldemort ducked, Harry sword slashed down, slicing along Voldemort's arm, the other turned his wand to a jeweled dagger and stabbed, missing Harry by inches, Harry assumed a fighting stance and stood still, then went into motion, blade moving to fast to follow. The light from the clouds, lightning and tornadoes flashed brilliantly off the sword, blinding Voldemort temporally and making it look like Harry was wielding light in a cage of liquid light. Sirius speared a death eater as he watched, Harry had never told him about this, Harry was a Lightdancer! Harry took out Voldemort's left eye and slashed him up until the other was a mass of blood. Harry himself only had a few cuts and a stab from Voldemort's knife. Harry turned and took the heads off three dementors with one swipe, then he faced Voldemort and raised his arms.

"No!" Sirius screamed, the last of Harry's power smashed down in the form of a gigantic lightning bolt. The scene erupted into golden flames, every death eater and dementor present collapsed, unconscious or dead. The grass was scorched off the ground and the lake water boiled with electricity, lightning turned Hogwarts into a glowing ball of crackling light, a crater covered the area where the battle had been fought nearly fifty feet down, standing in solid rock was Harry, unharmed, but gasping for breath and kneeling on the ground, exhausted, a figure behind him struggled to it's knees, covered in muddy blood, slowly its hand moved. Harry whirled, Voldemort's spell shot towards the crowd on the crater edge, Harry jumped into its path with a shout. In a burst of black fire Harry and Voldemort vanished.

There was a long quiet, no one moved, the clouds cleared, the tornadoes dissipated, the rain stopped, the earth stood still and the glow around the castle faded, and went out. Slowly weapons were lowered and wands vanished, as one the Order turned towards the castle they had defended, and a golden sun rose over the horizon, turning the bloody battle field a glistening red.

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PART TWO

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The great hall was filled with people, packed in tightly, most of them sobbing. The Gryffindors were on the edge of hysteria, even the Slytherins were having trouble keeping back their tears. Order of the Phoenix agents sat at the extra tables or sat in chairs along the walls, wiping their streaming eyes. At the staff table Dumbledore stood to speak. The pale morning sun rose up higher and came streaming through the windows, a pale rainbow arched over last nights battle field.

"Our battle is over, Hogwarts is safe. Those who were injured are being healed by the best healers in the world and should rejoin us shortly. Students you have reacted to this emergency perfectly, thank you. And now I ask you to be still in a moment of silence for those we have lost." There was a long pause, broken by sniffles and sobs. Everyone knew that there had been not a single death besides Harry's.

"Thank you, now, there will be no classes tomorrow, and probably none the next day. We have won our battle, at a heavy price, a wizard we could not afford to lose gave his life to end the battle and save many lives. I am speaking of Harry Potter, my his soul rest in peace." At this moment a snowy owl flew in a dropped a parchment on the staff table. It unrolled and began to glow, then a voice issued from it.

"In the event you are receiving this message from my owl it means events have turned out as I hoped they would not. Voldemort's second force of death eaters arrived and attempted to take several students hostage. I used a special spell of my own creation to end the battle. This spell killed all dementors on the battle field, and knocked the death eaters unconscious. Then Voldemort, severely injured and attempting to flee took me with him." It paused for a moment as the hall sat in astonished silence.

"Order of the Phoenix please don't miss this perfect opportunity. My spell has knocked every single death eater on the planet out cold for five hours, it would be wise to attempt to capture as many as possible, they will glow faintly to you. Secondly please don't attempt to rescue me, it would only end in your deaths. Beyond this point I have no idea what will happen, but I cannot sense my death in the near future so I'm being optimistic and assuming I will survive. The students I saved will probably be felling very torn up, if they are not hearing this message tell them I know that they would have done the same for me, give my regard to the students who defended the school from the battlements. I will try to contact you whenever I get the chance." Harry's wand, knife, and sword appeared from nowhere, glowing brightly, and settled onto the table. "Please keep these safe for me, Voldemort must not get his hands on them, with their power fighting him would be next to useless, Good Luck." The students he had saved had been sitting in a little group sobbing hysterically, now they stared at the parchment, which quickly disintegrated, in awe and shock.

The silence that filled the hall shattered abruptly and screams and cheers echoed around the room.

Severus when Voldemort calls you be watchful of weakness in him, and please keep an eye out for Harry. Sirius sent to Severus as he held up a hand for silence, trying to calm the students. However he quickly saw it was a futile effort and sat down again, shrugging at Dumbledore who threw up his hands in despair of ever regaining order and left the hall.

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Harry woke in unfamiliar surroundings, he was lying, tightly bound, on a cold stone floor. And he was in pain, and he was more tired then he'd ever been in his life. He heard voices talking and opened one eye just enough to see.

Voldemort, looking incredibly exhausted and weak, was sitting on a throne, about a score of death eaters stood around him. His missing eye was covered with a patch, his robes were filthy with dried blood. His wounds had been healed, but horrid scars could be seen through his tattered robes. The death eaters near him were probably the only ones who had gone unnoticed by determined Order searchers. Suddenly someone kicked him hard in the ribs and sent him rolling into the center of the room.

"He is awakening my lord." Said a voice off to his right. Giving up pretending to be asleep Harry rolled to a sitting position indian style and glared at Voldemort.

"So, the famous Harry Potter, once more stolen from apparent safety. They do not do a good job of guarding you." He said, but Harry noticed a gasping weakness in his voice, and Nagini was absent from his side, Harry had personally beheaded eight of her kind but not her so he assumed she might just possibly be alive.

"Brave, gallant Harry Potter, helpless and defenseless, who ever would have thought? You made a mistake you know, you should let me guide you from now on. You could be powerful you know, my second maybe. What do you say to that?" Harry merely glared into Voldemort's red eyes. Voldemort nodded at a death eater behind Harry.

"Crucio!" Harry closed his eyes briefly until he got control. Then he continued glaring at Voldemort, the pain blocked out of his inner mind. Voldemort raised his wand,

"When I ask a question you answer. Crucio!" Harry took a deep breath and brought up his walls of iron pain control, they weren't going to get to him this way. He shivered as agony rolled through him, and gritted his teeth.

"You know Harry, many of us here have personal grudges against you, how about I let them torture you for a bit, maybe it'll get some obedience out of you Harry. I like my followers obedient, and you will soon be one of them."

Harry focused on control while two more death eaters held him under the Cruciatus Curse for half an hour. Then another stepped forward, harry fought off the two cruciatus curses, shaking slightly from pain, he rolled his flicking sweat dampened hair form his eyes and twisted his head up, forcing himself to stop shaking. Fear only made them torture you more. Harry glared up at him, at the mask. The figure shifted, uneasily, then very slowly raised its wand, and Harry, glaring, saw through the mask, it was as if the transparent mask had suddenly become slightly see-through, though he knew it was only one way. His gaze rolled around to another death eater coming forwards, but this one just knelt beside his master's throne and began to whisper a report. Harry shuddered as one of the two torturing him flicked his wand about to increase pain and he looked back up, concentrating hard on what he could see of the features...it was Prof. Snape. Clearly Severus had no intention of hurting Harry, they were on the same side and Harry had save his life. Harry tried, but couldn't find the power to send him a message to do so, *damn you, you're our best spy, go on, they expect you to do this, Voldemort will know you're a fake if you don't.* But it wasn't strong enough, Harry locked eyes with Severus and gave a slight inclination of his head, the other death eaters were behind Severus and couldn't see.

"Crucio." Harry almost relaxed in relief, Severus hadn't blown his cover, he'd gotten the message.

For hours this continued, Voldemort growing slowly angrier at no response from Harry.

"Take him down to the torture chamber, keep at least two Cruciatus Curses on him at all times, he'll tell us all he knows if I have to rip the information out of him!" he finally roared, and Harry was dragged off, still glaring angrily.

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"They just dragged him off, not many people are allowed down there, I doubt he'll come out alive much less sane. No one ever has." A highly distressed Severus Snape said, finishing his report on the events of the latest death eaters meeting. Once again Harry had defied Voldemort, going so far as to break the dark lord's wrist as soon as he got an arm free. How that had happened was anyone's guess, the chains had been rusty and broken…but not that rusty.

"He's been with them for a week, we have to do something, Harry can't hold out forever." Arabella said sadly.

"Harry hasn't been telling us everything about his powers, he may well be able to. For instance he didn't tell me until your trial Sirius, that he was immune to most poisons and Vertisaserum. But I agree, we must get him out of there." Albus agreed. Sirius sighed, he didn't want Harry to stay a prisoner either.

"He told us not to, I believe he had a reason for that, we'll wait. Anything else new?"

"Yes, Voldemort has other prisoners, for his new recruits to battle and kill. Mind you the recruit always wins. He wants Harry to practice with them, but Harry just held out his wand backwards so it hit the dementor behind him. He's put five other death eaters on the injured and/or maimed list. And he hasn't said a word, not one of the best torturers there are can get so much as a peep out of him. He just glares; he drove one guy insane with those eyes of his. He scares me, just glares; even Voldemort can't meet his eyes for very long, it sends shivers up your spine. Caused one man to pass out and another to start screaming and trying to kill everyone until someone managed to get him out of Harry's sight." Severus look scared, in his mind he saw once again those vivid emerald green eyes, with gold sparks flickering in them, burning with power, filled with rage. And Voldemort averting his gaze, visibly shaken. You could feel the power pouring from those eyes and the hate.

"You have to give it to him, no one else has ever managed half that well against Voldemort. I wish I had a tenth of his power and courage. His powers must have some how been converted into Eye Power during the fight, that's the reason why he's able to do that." Aram said, respect for Harry was at an all time high lately. Suddenly Sirius turned and looked out the window, a snake had climbed a rainspout and now entered the room.

Hello, why are you here little one? Sirius hissed at it, the snake slithered up onto the table and wrapped itself around its arm.

Harry ssssent me. He sayssss to tell you that Voldemort planssss to attack Diagon Alley in two dayssss. Ssseverus wasn't told becaussse he isn't among Voldemort'ssss inner circle. The dark sssspeaker will attack with five death eatrssss, eight dementorsss and Nagini. He will continue to ssend messagess through my kind whenever possible. Sirius thanked the snake, gave it some food and sent it off.

"Well, Harry's still bothering himself to help us. I hope Voldemort doesn't find out about this, Severus be careful, Voldemort doesn't trust you very much."

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Harry woke from the dream, so his messenger had gotten to Sirius, good. He looked around, in the cells around him were twenty other prisoners. He moved, his leg had fallen asleep. Pain, he was, as always, filled with never ending pain. He looked down to one hand, all five fingers were broken and a hole had been burned through the palm with a red hot poker. He stood, it wouldn't do if that injury got infected, and walked to the pail of water. He ripped off a small shred of his robe sleeve and dipped it, he then used it to clean the wound. As he moved the scabbing lash marks across his back and chest broke and began to bleed again. Pain from his shattered left elbow flashed up his arm and his head ache returned, he probably had a concussion, and the never-ending Cruciatus Curses were a constant torment.

"Who are you?" The voice startled Harry, all the prisoners were at the side of their cages closest to him and were watching him warily.

"My name is Harry… Potter. These death eaters sure aren't very civilized are they?" he asked, hoping to strike up a conversation.

"H-H-Harry Potter. Yes, I remember, it was in the papers that you'd sacrificed yourself for a bunch of students at the battle of Hogwarts." Someone whispered, Harry nodded, everyone went quiet as dementors approached, they came to the cage doors and stood there, glaring at the captives, who curled up into balls on the floor, shivering and covering their ears as if to cut out the depressing reek and the cold and the horrible depression. Harry stood and walked to his cage door, the screaming and shouting in his head starting and white fog gathering around the edge of his vision. Ever since the battle his powers had been weak, something was wrong with them, thought Harry hadn't a clue what, it was like he'd forgotten something about himself. Power he had to use, but had forgotten how, he was sure that once he figured it out he'd be fine. He extended his hand and summoned all his strength into a Patronus. It was small, but it glowed brightly, Harry watched as it chased the dementors away, noting that it was no longer the same stag, it had antlers of lightning. He sighed and sat down, examining his chains for the hundredth time.

"I wish they would just kill us, I just want to die." Harry looked up at the hoarse whisper.

"I agree, I might just strangle myself with these chains if I was strong enough." Another person murmured. Harry glared about.

"What is that all about? Have you completely lost your minds. What's this about giving up, suicide? Of course we'll get out of here, we just haven't found the way." All of them were staring at him again.

"You must be crazy, it is impossible to escape." The person on his left growled.

"It is possible, I just don't know how. How long have you lot been here? I've been in a different cell complex, on my own, for the past two weeks. Do you know exactly what time the dementors come?" Harry asked, his old cell had been much more difficult to escape from than this one. He'd been shackled ot a steel wall with small spikes sticking into his back for almost two weeks.

"No, we never paid attention, can we really escape Harry?" The person next to him asked, harry nodded, he already had a plan forming.

"Yes, we'll all be out of here in less then two days, I promise." He knew he could keep that promise, and he would. The prisoners settled down for the night, as he drifted off Harry listened to murmured conversations.

"I never thought, I always imagined Harry Potter as a lot older, and more grand. He's just a kid."

"Yeah, but a strong one, did you see the way he just cleaned that hand, without even a flinch of pain."

Harry waited until everything was quiet before standing and going to the window a million plans and thoughts swirling around in his mind. He had to get himself and a score of prisoners out of the Voldemort's castle, what a challenge! Suddenly a squeal woke them all, the other prisoners exchanged looks and went back to sleep.

"What was that?" Harry asked, "no human could make a sound like that."

"You didn't know? The dark lord's been collecting Order animals, and torturing them to death. Yesterday he got a mother Fire Lion and two cubs. The mother and one of the cubs are dead, they're killing the last one just now. Harry scowled, this wasn't good. He looked down at his chains, maybe they weren't cursed? He carefully called upon what lightning he could still summon. The lightning froze as it landed beside him. Harry picked it up, it was in the form of a lock pick. He picked the locks on his chains and his cell door, looking about for any guards he ran along the corridor towards the sounds.

"Who goes there?" Harry flattened himself in the shadows, sneaking up behind the guard he slammed a large rock into the side of the man's head.

Rounding a corner Harry ducked under a low doorway and into a dimly lit room. The tiny fire flickered madly, Harry ducked into the shadows and went around behind the death eaters. He surveyed the situation, this was going to be easy.

The little Fire Lion screamed as the Cruciatus Curse was applied, Harry looking around, saw the dead body of its litter mate laying on a windowsill above its dead mother. It was hanging half out the window, it would be easy to believe it fell and some wild animal ate it. As the death eater turned away to heat a poker Harry grabbed the kitten, muffling its startled squeak, and placed its already dead litter mate in its place. He ducked back out of the room and ran back to his cell. There were too many death eaters in the castle right now to attempt escape. Since the death eater he'd hit was still out cold Harry arranged him in front of the entrance to the cells. Whoever found him wouldn't know which prisoner had flung the rock.

Harry put his chains back on and lay down, releasing the kitten. It mewed a small "thank you" and took the piece of food Harry offered it, left over from his dinner, it curled up into a small ball of fur in the shadows, well hidden, and went to sleep.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Harry was leaning against his cell wall near the window when they came. He knocked the death eater who opened his cell out cold and broke another's right leg before they managed to drag him off. Two stunning spells managed to get him under control. Before they got him out of the room however he signaled the kitten to stay hidden, he'd established a type of communication with the little animal, training it to obey his commands for its own safety. Entering Voldemort's throne room another problem stopped them as Harry partially broke through the spells, Harry hooked his chains around a Gargoyle and held on tight. He couldn't move his legs very well. They had to stun him again to get him off. Harry broke through the stunning spell and punched a death eater on his right in the face, feeling great satisfaction as the other's nose broke. A blow to the head toppled him, he landed rolling and kicked out the man's legs from under him. Tumbling the masked man to the ground Harry proceeded to pound his face into the floor, deflecting the stunning spells shot at him, until ropes wound around him and dragged him off. The man was screaming, his nose and jaw broken, most of his teeth knocked out, his face a mass of blood. Slowly order regained and silence fell.

"So Harry, it has been three weeks. You have had time to consider my offer, now I want an answer. You will join me." Harry twisted his wrist painfully and grabbed a rock beside him, he threw it at Voldemort, it struck Voldemort in the face, leaving him with a split lip. Voldemort wiped the blood off and glared at Harry, who glared back twice as viciously, Voldemort averted his eyes slightly as Harry put all the anger and power he could into that stare, maybe he could kill Voldemort with a strong enough glare.

"This conversation is being shown at Hogwarts and the Ministry of magic Harry. Do be more polite and say yes. You know it will help you, you'll have anything you want, you will be my second, a feared and respected dark lord. My helper, ruler of the death eaters, when the world is mine you shall be second only to me, with the entire human population to do your bidding. Immortal, forever a king, all the armies will follow you, you'll have your own lands, palace, a kingdom, I do not offer this chance to many, I do not respect any enough to have them be my second, a great honor Harry." Harry, feeling more then a little ill, straightened up on his knees and spat in Voldemort's face.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Back in the cells lightning crackled down and melted to cell bars away, a rope of lightning appeared in a window, one by one the prisoners slid down. Harry's directions had been perfectly clear, go to the hill top near the rock, you'll be teleported to safety from there. They had asked ot be teleported ot Hogwarts, since the Order of the Phoenix was there, Harry had agreed. After a quick head count they started off towards the large boulder on a grassy hill top about a mile off. Behind them a little Fire Lion sat down in the shadows and watched them leave, wondering where Harry was.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Something is wrong with Harry, with his powers. I can sense it when I try to reach him, a throbbing power trying to be free. It could be that he is an magical animagus." Sirius said. The order was in the great hall with Hermione and Ron. Discussing Sirius's most recent failed attempt to get to Harry mentally.

"Why should it matter if he's an animagus?" Ron asked curiously.

"A magical animagus Ron, legendary, there's only been a few, Sirius and James, Merlin, and Gryffindor, Ambrosius and Emrys, you probably haven't heard of them much, twins about three thousand years back, named after Merlin, they saved the world with their lives, no one knows how. What animals would Harry be I wonder?" Albus asked no one.

"There is a book of all the magical creatures, Harry would have to be one of them." Mundungus said.

"There was a creature, named by the aurors the Guardian of Heaven and Hell, Spirit of good, Destroyer of evil. The creature of light, the star, a spark of hope in a black sky. There were only six at any given time. Rather like Phoenixes, one would die and a new, baby, not the one before, a different one, would come from the last spark of the other's life fire. No one knows what it looked like, they were killed by a joint union of fifteen darklords, together about five times as powerful as Voldemort. There was a picture in that book, but the darklords burned it, not even a trace of that page is left. They destroyed all evidence of the creature's existence, except that which was held by the Order of the Phoenix. Their name has been long forgotten." Miranda said, giving all the information anyone knew on the animal.

"We'll need to restore the book, Harry needs to know what he is, if he is one, he can use it to escape." Sirius said, summoning the book.

A large book, its cover burned off, appeared before Sirius who flipped to a space between pages 34211 and 34214. "Here, Order, we'll combine our powers, together we may be able to overcome the spell upon this book."

"Ron, Ira, Hermione, you'd best stay back or you might get caught in the weave of the spell, it would drain all your power and leave you a muggle." Dumbledore warned them as the Order got ready.

"Yes, stand back a ways, I'll begin the link." Miranda said, resting her fingertips on the table which suddenly had a circle of gold imbedded in it.

Ron, Ira and Hermione backed away. The table glowed and solidified into a circle, golden runes around the edges glowed. Each member touched their fingertips to the table. Sirius rested one hand on the table, one on the book, he closed his eyes and began to glow brightly, slowly he began to speak. The words of a language Ron and Hermione had never heard before rolled off his tongue. As he spoke the book glowed golden.

"Wow, do you think it'll work?" Ron whispered excitedly.

"Maybe, this is the largest Order ever called up, and they're really powerful, maybe it will." She whispered back, crossing her fingers, Harry's life might depend on this.

"For Harry's sake I hope it works, if it doesn't…" Ira didn't finish her thought.

"Don't even think that." Hermione whispered, the book glowed so bright they had to cover their eyes. Finally it dimmed, the two walked forward.

There on the table lay the book, the exhausted order stirred and everyone looked. The page was back, still burned in places, yet a picture remained.

Elegantly drawn to perfection. The creature, about the size of a dragon, stood on the page. A wolf's head, vicious teeth showing in a snarl, its tongue was red with a darker design on it like a snake's tongue, split. Muscles bulged along its sleek form and on its slightly serpent like neck, its front legs ended in huge claws while the back ended in clawed paws. Gigantic wings came from the shoulders, instead of a horse's mane it had a ridge along the top of its head and down its neck, it looked like each point was a flame, but they didn't flicker or shift. It had a horse's body, mixed with wolf and dragon, the eyes closely resembled a phoenixes, ringed with flames. A mane like a lions and a scale pattern on the spikes/feathers on the back of its legs. A long tail like a mix of wolf and horse, made from flames just barely touched the ground. The entire creature was different shades of gold, with silver claws and teeth and white wings with gold edges and black wingtips, the ridge was a sparkling black like the nose. The only really dragonish part was the spikes/ridge around the head where it joined the neck, rather like a triceratops neck armor. In the manner of wizard pictures it moved about, taking flight and rearing, tilting its head back in a howl.

"That's Harry's animagus form?" Arrabella whispered, staring at the magnificent beast in awe.

"Yep, that's him, what's it called?" Miranda asked, eager for the once lost knowledge. But before Sirius could answer the fire in the hearth turned black, then a pale, unnatural orange, they all wheeled around and stared at the events unfolding in a dark cold castle hundreds of miles away.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Voldemort was angry, that was plain to see, Harry had been defying him for nearly an hour. Harry, deciding it was time, activated his spells, melting the cells bars and making a rope of harmless lightning to let them out. To his astonishment he found he could barely manage the spells. Whatever was wrong with his powers might ruin the entire escape attempt. Blocking out the three Cruciatus Curses Harry concentrated, some power, violent yet peaceful, lying dormant in the back of his mind for so long, was trying to break free. Desperate to maintain control over his powers Harry clamped down on it. It fought like a live animal, and Harry knew letting it loose would help him, but he decided to save the surprise, for his own good, he wasn't sure if he could regain control after freeing this power, he had to wait until the other prisoners were far away before destroying the castle. With me in it he thought as he broke a rope and attacked Voldemort.

Harry was finally tied again, one death eater lay on the floor, unconscious, another nursed a broken wrist while two sobbed over snapped wands and one lay moaning on the floor, a leg and ankle broken. Another was being carried out, his rib cage almost completely crushed from a kick. There were three black eyes, a broken jaw, Nagini's mate was dead, and so were eight dementors. Harry surveyed his work, he had deflected almost all spells shot at him as long as he could before giving up. He was bruised, burned, gashed and bleeding from various spells shot during the fight, but he'd accomplished his goal.

"Take him back to his cell for a while, we have other things to deal with." Voldemort hissed, Harry let them drag him off, thankfully they put him in a different cell complex then he'd been in earlier. No one would know the prisoners were free until to late.

Harry called up some lightning to melt away the cell bars and unlock his chains. The lightning was weak and slow, it took him thrice the usual amount of time to accomplish the task. He stood and hurried down the hall. On his way he passed his old cell, the prisoners were gone, all the death eaters were at the meeting, he stopped to scoop up the kitten before ducking into the shadows, he peered around the half-open door and looked into the throne room

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Severus Snape stood silent in the death eater ranks as Harry knelt, glaring at Voldemort, his gaze angry enough to melt stone. He'd been on the opposite side of the room from the fight, and thanked his lucky stars for it. Harry was like a mad man, only mad men didn't fight so smoothly or coolly, or with that calculating anger that enabled him to break all a mans ribs with a single kick. Harry just glared, when Voldemort had attempted to make him recite the oath of loyalty all death eaters took before having the mark burned into him Harry had changed the point line I live solely to serve only my Lord, the Dark King, until my death and beyond. To Harry's version of it, I live solely to serve only the Light and Peace, to my death and beyond my loyalty shall not waver. What ever is required of me I shall remain, in the Light forever. Voldemort had been, well, furious didn't even begin to describe it. And Severus was sure Harry had meant everything he'd said, not even death would change Harry from the path he had chosen. Voldemort's rage had been almost comical, matched by Harry's smile of triumph as he had turned the Cruciatus curses and the Imperius Curse around on Voldemort, smiling grimly while the dark lord screamed and writhed under pain Harry could endure for weeks. Once that was over Voldemort's anger had been beyond belief, but despite this he still couldn't meet the power in Harry's emerald eyes. In fact, Severus thought to himself, Harry might well succeed in driving Voldemort to suicide with his eye power. Voldemort had tried everything, not matter what Harry still glared, and Voldemort quailed visibly every time he accidentally met Harry's eyes. Severus had almost laughed when Harry spat in the dark lord's face, a strong respect for Harry was forming in his mind, he'd never hear the end of it if the other Hogwart's staff found out. The continuos battle between the Potions master and Harry Potter was a source of great amusement for many. As Harry was the only student ever to openly defy Snape and spit insults and rude comments back at him, the boy had a lash for a tongue. Now he grew worried, why had Voldemort stopped with Harry? What was he up to?

"Now, we have many a loyal death eater in these ranks. And we have some that are not so loyal." Voldemort began, there was nervous shifting, Snape gulped, did Voldemort know about his spying???

"I do not like disloyalty, and I suppose I must do more to discourage it. So I will make of an example of one of you." Severus's throat went dry, he knew. "A death eater who has been with us for many years, unknown to us friends, he is a spy. Giving away our plans to the enemy." Voldemort paused for the angry murmurs to subside. Severus's eyes bulged, he knew, he suppressed a shiver, maybe it was someone else. Voldemort cast a glance around, meeting Severus's eyes briefly, he knew.

"I will make an example of this traitor for the world to see. Bring him forward!" The four death eaters around Severus Snape grabbed him and dragged him forward.

"Death to all who dare spy on me! You will die screaming for mercy, and get none!" Voldemort rose and pointed his wand at Severus, who struggled madly. "Crucio, crucio, crucio!!!" Severus screamed in agony, falling to the floor and rolling around.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Harry winced as Voldemort preformed the spells, he had to save Severus, but how? Finally he decided on a plan, it was risky, he didn't know if he had the power, but it might just work.

"Accio Severus Snape," Harry grimaced, normally he didn't even need to say the words. Snape jerked and can flying over, Harry took the spells off.

"Come on, this way!" He dragged Severus to his feet and they ran down the passage.

"Harry? How? What happened?" Severus choked out, his throat raw from screaming.

"KILL THEM!!!!!" Voldemort's roar echoed behind them. Green blasts of light banged off the walls as death eaters perused them, Voldemort in the lead. Suddenly a wall appeared in front of them, slowly it grew until the magical wall blocked the passage. They were trapped. The spell solidified into stone, the window on the other side impossible to reach.

"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort yelled, pointing his wand at Snape. Harry jumped in the way, knocking his teacher to the ground. The curse went just over their heads. Harry extended a hand, lightning blasted the fake wall out of the way.

"Avada Kedavra!" The death eaters seemed to mostly be trying for Snape, Harry stepped in front of the curse and blocked it, arms crossed in front of him. An icy cold feeling washed over him, followed by unimaginable pain. Harry jerked about, the power was trying to free itself, but he couldn't let it, not yet.

"GO! Out the window, get to the hilltop…spell, teleport you to Hogwarts…I'll deal with…them!" Harry gasped out, pushing Snape towards the window. His kitten jumped onto his shoulder, leaving his arms free, it dug in its claws and held on.

"What about you?" Harry ground his teeth, Voldemort raised his wand again.

"Avada Kedavra!" A score of death eaters yelled in unison with their lord, as one the spells joined and the gigantic jet of green light blasted towards Snape. Someone grabbed him, the Fire Lion breathed its fire on his hand and the death eater reeled back. Harry jumped in front of Snape and blocked the curse, crossing his arms over his face. Light flared, silence, no more pain, freedom, power. The prisoners were teleported to Hogwarts, appearing on the grounds in a slash of lightning. Snape was teleported to the hill top. He rolled as he landed and stood, looking towards the castle. The earth shook, soon the entire castle was a blazing, blindingly bright beacon of light. The thousands of watching people gasped in awe, a sound, a scream and a roar and a song in one penetrated the silence. A sound that hadn't been heard in the world for well over two million years. The castle exploded in white light, from the light rose an immense creature, glowing gold, silver, white, and black.

Harry, realizing he'd transformed into some type of animal, and took wing, lightning crackling down and hitting his wings, causing no harm. He rejoiced in his new freedom, power coursing through his veins. He dipped and flew, blasting the destroyed castle and at the fleeing creatures with fiery breath, finally he remembered Severus and went to him. The other ducked as he landed, and stayed well away. Harry scooped him up in one front talon, Harry roared to the night sky, a blast of lightning, and they were gone, leaving only a scorched hilltop, and a melted blob of magma where the boulder had been.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"There!" Ron pointed, lightning zapped down, when it was gone twenty people in ragged, torn robes stood there looking around.

"The other prisoners! Harry freed them!" Albus gasped, they had all watched the scene in Voldemort's throne room, as had millions of other wizards, the scene had appeared in the fireplace, vanishing shortly after Harry saved Snape and they ran off down the corridor.

"Where's Harry? And Severus?" Arrabella asked, no one could answer. Suddenly Sirius's head jerked up, his mouth worked, no words forming.

"He's transformed! Harry did it!" He whispered to the order, almost the entire school was gathered outside, already Order healers were getting the freed prisoners and taking them into the castle. Another bolt of lightning shot down, three times as large as the last, when it was gone Harry was there, rearing high above them, wings arching up high, glowing brightly. Inside a cup made of Harry's front talons was Severus, Harry tilted his claws and he rolled off and landed with a thump in the grass.

"That, ladies and gentlemen is the last Royal Aaron." Sirius said with pride, the creature arched its wings still higher and turned its wolfish head, it lowered its head until its chin was on the ground, almost on eye level with them. It studied them for a moment, then it stood again and tilted its head back, a deafening roar pierced the air, lightning zapped around it as it screamed to the sky, black and dark gray with thunderclouds. Then it stopped, and began to change, and shrink, until Harry Emrys James Gryffindor Ambrosius Potter, heir of Merlin, the last Royal Aaron. The Thunder King, stood there, Harry's legs crumpled as he fell, exhausted physically, mentally, and magically, his wounds tore and began to bleed, golden blood flowed heavily from his scar. A small Fire Lion landed on the ground, shaken after its wild ride, and nuzzled him, crying piteously for him to wake.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Well? Will he live?" Ron asked anxiously, Miranda ignored him, concentrating on applying a bandage and a strong healing spell to a gash on the back of Harry's neck. Ron hadn't really expected an answer, he'd been asking once a minute for the past half hour. Hermione was in Gryffindor tower with the students, explaining what had just happened. Harry, he lay there, pale as death, literally covered in his own dried, and fresh, blood, barely breathing.

"His injuries are horrendous, I don't understand, no one in this condition should be able to roll over, never mind walk and fight. I just don't know, he's lost half his blood." Miranda said, tying the bandage around his neck securely.

"What are his injuries, he just looks like a mass of blood." Remus asked, he was sitting beside Harry, wringing his hands worriedly.

"A knife wound on the back of his neck, a bleeding scar, broken elbow, broken ankle, seven broken fingers, four broken ribs, a shattered knee cap, two broken toes, and a light concussion. A torn ear, dislocated shoulder, knife wound on his left leg and just to the right of his spine, in the middle of his back, a hole burned through his left palm, burns from hot pokers all down his left arm, an 28 lash marks. From what I can get magically he was under at least two Cruciatus curses the whole time. he's also got numerous back wounds that look like he had thorns or pins driven into him." She shook her head, most of the more minor injuries were healed, but he was going to be in the Hospital wing for a long time. Ron felt sick, how could anyone, even Voldemort, do this to another living person? There were eight Order healers in the wing, working on the prisoners, none of them were in the condition Harry was. Besides them nearly two score of Order agents were sitting in out of the way places, Ron suspected they had magically widened the room, it didn't used to take nine paces to walk all the way across it, and there didn't used to be this many chairs. Remus, Ron, Arrabella, Aram, Sertisa, Ira, Albus, and Severus were sitting around Harry's bed, though Ron was astonished that Snape had stayed. Sirius was busy with some Order/Ministry matter or other. The broom brigade, now thirty strong, were surrounding the castle. The Gryffindor quidditch team was keeping watch over Gryffindor Tower. At that moment five prefects entered bearing food and drinks for the prisoners, all of whom hadn't eaten much since their capture, and hot cocoa for the Order.

"How is he?" Hermione asked, handing out drinks to those around Harry and pulling up a chair for herself.

"Not too good, but I bet he'll live, he's tough." Ron answered watching the freed prisoners, they all looked starved, and were more then grateful for the hot food. The prefects finished their job and stood back around the walls, loath to leave with so much going on.

"Poor thing, just look at it, all skin and bones, its injured too." Hermione said, conjuring up bandages for the baby Fire Lion, who refused to leave Harry's side, it had tried to burn Sertisa when she tried to pick it up. It dodged away from Hermione, ignoring her good intentions. She sighed in exasperation and summoned it with a charm, bandaging it just before a tiny jet of flame shot from its mouth and its flame tipped tail lashed out. "Ouch! I was only trying to help!" She yelped indignantly at it, the kitten turned its back on her and walked up to Harry, curling up on his pillow just above his head. No gratitude, that's your problem." She told it firmly, examining her hand.

There was a yowl from the window and Tiger leaped in, he looked the kitten over, and touched noses with it, before curling up beside his master. Ron looked out the window, a War Unicorn, a Basilisk, and a Dire Wolf were sitting next to the lake, the unicorn grazing quietly, the dire wolf lying next to the water, head on paws, the snake lay coiled on a large rock. There was a hoot, and Hedwig soared in, she landed on the back of Ron's chair and looked at Harry.

"HoooooT?" She asked, Ron smiled at the large owl.

"He should be okay," he said, reaching up to pet her, Hedwig hooted, seamed to nod, and took flight again, dipping out the window and off in the direction of the owlery.

"Do you think she understands?" Cynthia, a Ravenclaw prefect, asked from her place along the wall behind them, she sounded doubtful.

"Yeah, she's been Harry's owl for years, they practically have their own language to communicate by.

"Then why can't I do that with my owl?" Cho asked curiously.

"Probably because your owl isn't the only company you have all summer in a tiny room in a house where everybody truly loathes you." Hermione said, noting the shocked looks on the other prefects faces. None of them could really imagine what Harry had gone through at the Dursleys each summer since first year. At that moment Harry shuddered and his scar began to turn a little redder, as if it might start bleeding again.

"Uh ho." Ron murmured, Dumbledore reached over and touched Harry's scar lightly, and quickly drew back his hand and shook it.

"Its really hot, he's having more dreams, that's just what he doesn't need now. Perhaps it would be best if he woke up." The headmaster whispered.

"No, he must be asleep for another five hours before it is safe for him to wake." Miranda said, "but I don't know what would help him."

Snape conjured up a few never melting ice cubs and arranged them along Harry's scar so the entire thing was covered.

"These might work, cold to counter the heat." He suggested, the lion cub mewed and rubbed against Harry's chin, she mewed again and looked up at them as if to say, Can't you do anything more?

"No little one, there is nothing more we can possibly do for him." Dumbledore said sorrowfully, Harry twisted in his sleep, a look of agony crossing his face. Arrabella sighed and touched his hand sympathetically, the cub mewed again and curled up next to Harry, its head resting on its paws, gazing at its master sadly. The Hospital wing door opened Sirius, flanked by two Order members came in. He conjured up another chair between Albus and Miranda, the other two joined a group talking quietly in a corner.

"How is he?" He asked, stroking his god son's hair, careful not to touch the ice on his scar.

"Not very well, he'll live, most others would have died early on, but Harry's tough. He seems to be having another of those dreams, his scar's burning up. Sirius sighed and shook his head, he reached out and petted the cub, who did seem to care at all.

"Severus, what happened, after Harry stopped Voldemort from killing you?" He asked, everyone looked at Snape, who studied his clasped hands intently, not meeting anyone's eyes. Finally he lifted his head and looked at Sirius and began to speak.

Ron listened to the story, marveling once again at his friend's power and loyalty to the Order and all those who fought Voldemort, and his unwillingness to give up. It was surprising, not long ago Snape would have died of shame had Harry saved his life, and he never would have allowed Sirius to tell him to do anything without considerable argument, amazing what war did to people. Maybe Snape would be so despicable to Gryffindors, especially Harry, after this…Nah that'd happen the day hell froze over. Snape had great trouble on the part during the short fight just before Harry had transformed, he had to choke the words out. Ron couldn't help but be amused Snape was disgusted and enraged at having been saved by Harry.

"Well he knows his power now, it's about time he learned who he is." Sirius said, his voice lowered so the other people in the room couldn't hear. Hermione and Ron exchanged looks, what was he talking about?

"Yes, maybe we shouldn't have kept it from him for so long, he'll probably lose his temper and electrocute us all." Dumbledore said rather dryly. Sirius glanced at him in surprise, everyone else stared in shock at the sarcasm dripping from his voice..

"What?" Remus asked, Dumbledore didn't use that tone of voice often.

"Remember what he said when I asked him what the Basilisk had told him. He was hiding something, he is hiding something from us, and we need to know what. But I do think we should tell him, if he doesn't already know."

"He said that "I will look forward to learning what you are keeping from me headmaster." He knows we are keeping something important from him, and he doesn't like it. But he isn't telling us everything either. Though personally I feel he should have been told before now, he might have a perfectly good reason for keeping information from us. We can't know until he tells." Sirius replied, defending Harry, as he had seen and heard that little exchange from an observers point of view he heard what Dumbledore did not.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

(AN: the following is from Hermione's diary)

Dear Diary,

Well Harry woke up today, its been twenty nine hours since he got back, and he looks much better already, maybe.

We were all at breakfast, except Sirius, Remus, Miranda, and Snape (why that bugger stayed I'll never know) those four hadn't left Harry's bedside since he'd be brought to the Hospital wing. The Order agent Aram came into the hall and whispered something to Dumbledore, then Dumbledore stood and left the hall with him. Ron and I followed as soon as breakfast was over. We got to the Hospital wing and found them all seated around Harry, looking a little excited. Then suddenly his eyes opened and he tried to sit, Sirius pushed him back down again. Harry looked so tired and weak, I've never seen him like this. He lay back down and asked "how long?" Ron looked like he would hyperventilate with excitement. "Twenty nine hours." Snape told Harry, who scowled, as if he didn't understand just how serious his injuries were.

"Are the others okay?" He asked, Ron exploded.

"Why can't you just care for yourself instead of half the world for a change?" He growled, he hasn't completely learned to hold his temper I guess. Harry looked around at the other freed prisoners, then he gave us all that impish grin, the one that makes half the girls in the school(not me) drool over him.

"Is this really half the world? Oh my, what on earth could possibly have happened to the rest of it?" Ron looked like he might hit Harry, so did almost everyone else there. "I do care about myself Ron, but I like to be useful, what was I supposed to do? Leave them there in Voldemort's clutches, when I blew up that castle they'd have died to you know."

"Then you think he's dead?" Snape asked, he really surprised me, he's been more worried over Harry then Sirius has, how odd, does this extend to all Gryffindors? Ha! Never!

"No, just badly injured though he was already, fuming probably. Cursing everyone in sight, raving mad right now, in other words, having a royal temper tantrum." Harry grinned again, quiet pleased with the picture he'd just given us.

The rest of the day was, for me, normal, Harry'll be in the Hospital wing for a few days yet. But he's spending the time well, Dumbledore, Sirius, Miranda, Snape, Arrabella, Sertisa, and Aram and him are having a meeting, it'll probably last all day.