Chapter 9
"Good you're all on time. Now I have some important news for you. Half an hour ago Voldemort attacked the auror headquarters, without warning, he then used a number of means to destroy them and the Hit Wizard society of the Ministry." Sirius stopped, and let the news sink in. Harry was stunned, but he overcame it quickly. No one else did. Dumbledore looked shocked, Harry closed his eyes and leaned back. The whole room was silent, then there were a few disgruntled murmurs, but no one said much. The Order was well trained and they wouldn't start babbling away with no reason.
"Because of this we, the Order of the Phoenix, are the only defense the world has. There are 140 of us, not nearly enough. All the remaining aurors, there are twenty three, and the hit wizards, 6, will be allowed, if they wish, to attempt to join. Recruiting will be stepped up considerably. The Dragon Forces, 39 strong, are arriving at the Fortress today. The Hippogriff Forces, 28 strong and the Dire Wolves, 32 strong, are already there. Also arriving tomorrow are the War Unicorns, 36 strong, and the Basilisks, 25 strong. The Fire Lion Prides, 44 strong, will be getting there in two days. Our total strength is at 344, still barely enough as Voldemort has 6,000 dementors, 300 death eaters, 20 vampires, and 410 Mesmerd, bringing his total strength to 6,730." He waited again, letting them absorb the news. Harry grimaced, he'd been working for two weeks straight, using his dreams and a score of helpful snake friends of his to find Voldemort's strengths. With this and information obtained by other sources they now knew exactly how the attacks had been carried out, and where some of Voldemorts forces were. It was very difficult to hide and supply that many creatures.
"Unfortunately the Immortality Potion Voldemort is making is still brewing and will not need the ingredients we are still attempting to gather for five months." There were groans from the assembly, Harry closed his eyes, he'd tried to get the information needed, and he was tired. "We must prepare ourselves for the battle to come. We need help, tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. those who are left of the hit wizards and aurors will be given a chance to attempt to join our Order. Good luck to all of you." Everyone stood and slowly, those who weren't staying and had things ot do, left. Harry sighed and pulled himself to his feet, and left the room.
"Harry." There silence as Harry entered the common room, he ignored Ron and walked across the room to the fireplace. The despairing fatigued look on his face brought everyone's attention around to the problem. He sighed and leaned his forehead against the wall. The silence was deathly.
"You'll get the news tomorrow, no I'm not going into it now, be prepared for a shock. I'm going to bed." He whispered as Ron approached, the students parted quietly as he walked up to his dormitory. What he really needed now was some dreamless sleep potion and a long rest. Damn, things were going so good, why now? I'm so tired, I just need rest. 453 dead, that's what the headlines will read. Damn it, I didn't get word in time, and they're dead, oh why? Why me? I must be strong, for the students, for the Order. He closed his eyes and drank the potion before climbing into bed.
The next morning the Gryffindors were edgy and nervous, then the news paper arrived. Slowly the hall fell into horrified silence as the students read. No one spoke, slowly papers were put away and whispers of fear began. Harry didn't even glance at his paper and just tossed it into a his bag. Beside him Ron's jaw was hanging open, his eyes wide with horror. Dumbledore stood near the end of the meal, if it could be called a meal.
"Students, now that you've all read the paper and have heard of the crisis facing us I would like to reassure you if at all possible that the Order of the Phoenix is doing everything they can. This schools defense systems have been completely redone, Voldemort won't get passed them again. From now until the end of this year each year of students will have an extra defense class on Sunday. Now, I'll attempt to explain what has happened. The aurors, has I hope most of you knew, were an organization fueled by all the ministries of every country in the world. There were people of every nation and race among them, their headquarters was in China. 678 of them, all but twenty three, that we know of, are now dead. The Hit Wizards were set up by the English Ministry during Voldemort's rise to power, 43, all of them but six, are dead. Let us have a moment of silence for these brave fighters." There was a quiet, then gasps as twelve black owls swooped into the hall. Panicked murmurs carried around, Harry was confused, so was Hermione.
"A black owl is sent to tell you of a family member who has died." Ira whispered softly, one of the owls spiraled down, and landed in front of Ron. Harry gulped, Ron just stared at the black envelope it put before him. Slowly, with trembling hands, he opened it.
"Ron. Who is it, what happened?" Hermione asked in a whisper, Ron dropped the parchment and sighed, looking relieved, and sad.
"Its my cousin, Destria, she was an auror. He hung his head sadly, there were murmurs from around the table. The black owl took another letter, bearing the same message, to Fred and George. Two people at the Hufflepuff table were sobbing, so were three people in Ravenclaw. A soft wail echoed from down the table, Harry looked around, Ginny's friend Samantha was in tears. Hermione and Alicia went to comfort her.
"Students all classes are cancelled this morning, those who have lost family members don't have to attend classes today if they don't feel up to it. Prefects, please stay after the meal." Dumbledore said softly from the staff table. Slowly the tables emptied, leaving the prefects, they all joined the teachers at the head table, conjuring up more chairs.
"Classes are cancelled for you today if you need to stay in your house to comfort students. Needless to say you should all be on the lookout for danger. Voldemort has won a battle, he may attempt to do more damage while everyone is still in shock. Please take all the time and measures necessary to help students who have suffered losses. We have no reason to believe that Voldemort will attack us again any time soon." Here he glanced at Harry, Harry gave a very slight shake of his head, this was true. He indicated with a flick of his eyes that he needed to talk to Dumbledore after this meeting.
"Should we get word of an attack all students are to be brought to the great hall immediately. If the Order finds out about anymore attacks that will happen soon or have just happened you will be notified immediately." He turned to Harry again, so did everyone else.
"Harry, have you had any…warnings…of more attacks?" Harry thought that this was a little direct, in front of everyone, and it put him on the spot, but he had to answer, he gulped and nodded.
"Yes, at the time of the attacks on the aurors and hit wizards I passed out, I'm not sure why. I will attempt to find out more, but it's difficult, since I transformed my powers are much weaker, any dreams, visions, or warnings I get have not been as strong, and they're getting worse. I…I think…I know what is causing it, and how to solve the problem, get my abilities back…but it is too dangerous to… attempt… near a school full of students, we could all be wiped out." He gave Dumbledore a helpless look and shrug, and lowered his eyes, this wasn't fun.
"How far from here would you have to be, for it to be safe?" Dumbledore asked, Harry took a deep breath.
"I have no idea. The powers I might call into play…accidentally or purposely…they could cause an ice age, or any extreme natural disaster, anything. It could shake this world apart. There is a way to find out…I would have to just go ahead and try it. I am sorry, that's all I know." The students and staff were staring in awe that such powers existed, and that Harry could call upon them. But they also looked dejected that he couldn't really help.
"Alright, you try to find out more there, just concentrate on that. Hopefully Voldemort won't do anything for a while yet. I believe Sirius wanted to speak to you too." Harry nodded, stood and left the hall quickly.
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"Alright Harry, we'll do what we can, don't try to fix those stones yet, I have a team working on it, find all the information they can. What are your powers like?" Sirius asked softly, Harry looked gloomy; his powers had been so strong he almost couldn't handle them on the night of that battle, but now. Now he was still very powerful, but nothing so extraordinary.
"I don't know, I can still call lightning, though it isn't as strong. Call fire, freeze things, I can't call up tornadoes anymore. I can do wand less magic, but not nearly as well, I no longer wake up each morning feeling like information was put into my brain during the night. I haven't had any visions or dreams in a long time, in simple language, I'm not brimming with power anymore. But it's almost a relief, that battle, I couldn't control that much power all the time. I'm just back to being an almost normal wizard again, and I like it, I know that's not helpful to say, but I like it so much more then that endless supply of power, ideas, visions, it was just too much." Harry looked up, Sirius was nodding slowly.
"Yes, somehow you opened a huge door in your mind to those powers. They're always there Harry, muggles can't tap into them, but all those with magic can. You somehow broke through the wall, making a larger door for yourself then you normally have. It would have killed you, Ambrosius, Emrys, they both burned themselves out like that, they were unable to stop, that power cannot be controlled unless you've always had it. The thing that saved you was that backlash in the power you used at the end of the battle, you closed the wound in the wall, and saved yourself. Then, during that time in the Dark Castle, you were being tortured, and didn't have much time to worry about powers. But when you opened that door further then it was meant to be, that started up your Animagi form without you trying to get it. That too would have killed you if you didn't transform, and it drained more of you powers, the longer you kept it in your mind. When I took on the Phoenix power I was accessing a special reservoir of power, and I don't use it much, to keep from calling on too much from my own personal source. Be careful Harry, we don't want to lose you." Harry had been listening to Sirius with great interest, now he nodded and stood to go, he was supposed to be helping a patrol with organizing the arrival of Order creatures at the Fortress, to stop fighting among them in the Fortress they would all need to enter at different times and have different accommodations.
"Hey Harry, do you want to go enchant the food for dinner?" Ron asked as soon as Harry got into the common room, Ira came up beside him.
" I think Malfoy will look dashing with elephant ears." She commented, setting them all off into laughter. They had agreed that the twins could have the last two weeks of school, but until then…
"Sure, just let me put my homework away and warn the House." Harry said, running up to his dormitory and depositing his books on the bed. When he got back downstairs Ron had just finished telling the Gryffindors not to drink the pumpkin juice that night, only water or soda.
"Lets go, Invisibilatus!" He waved his wand over them as soon as they were through the portrait hole, and they were all invisible immediately.
"What year do we normally learn that spell?" Hermione asked, she'd already looked through half the library and all their school books for it.
"We don't." Harry replied, grinning at her shock, he ducked through a doorway woven into a tapestry and ran through the passage. They ended up just outside the door to the kitchens.
"Then how did you learn it?" Hermione asked suspiciously as Ira tickled the pear and the door opened.
"I found a certain book in the restricted section, and well…" Harry left the rest unsaid and Hermione's angry "humph!"
"They don't teach spells like that for a reason, they don't want students using it. If you want to learn it you've got to break a few rules." Harry protested her glare. They hurried in, dodging around the busy house elves to the tables. The goblets were there, filled with pumpkin juice. Harry reached into a pocket and pulled out a tiny book, about the size of his thumbnail. Two taps of his wand and it enlarged to a full sized book. He flipped to the right page and read the correct spell to the other three.
Ten minutes later they were out of the kitchens and running back through the passages and up to Gryffindor Tower. Outside the portrait hole Harry took off the invisibility spell and the climbed through. Ignoring the suspicious looks shot at them by everyone else in the common room. They'd been told what not to drink, but if the terrible three were going to do that, what else might happen? When one of the three, no four, Harry corrected himself, Ira had joined them, and been told about all their adventures, it felt as if she'd always been there. When any one of them went about with that certain maniacal smile on their face, the school shook in its foundations. That smile meant PRANK COMING UP in bold letters. To see all four, together, smiling like that, that meant major trouble. Harry might be drained of some of his powers, and a key person in the fight against Voldemort, but that didn't faze him any in his prank playing. The four gave eachother high fives and headed off to their dorms.
"Ouch!" Harry sat upright, and found himself glaring into a pair of yellow/gold and green eyes and furred face. "Jewelanarah! (JEWEL-an-ar-RAH) he groaned and pushed the young Fire Lion out of his way and swung his legs around, someone was laughing behind him. He turned, no make that the entire dormitory was laughing. They were all standing by the door, he must have fallen asleep, though he'd only sat down for a minute.
"Ha ha, very funny, break all my ribs by dropping a Fire Lion on me huh? Get em Jewel!" They all yelped and ran off down the stairs as Jewelanarah leaped playfully at them. She responded to her nickname and her real name, but Jewel took so much less time to say, and it was easier to pronounce. Harry grumbled unhappily, then checked his watch and realized that dinner, and their pranks, would start in ten minutes. He hurried out and joined Ron, Hermione, and Ira at the foot of the stairs.
At last! Thought you'd just stay in your dorm and let us take the blame for the pranks huh?" Ron commented, Ira snorted.
"Blame us? Not likely, there's no proof to show that we did it. And McGonagal can't get proof by asking the elves this time, they didn't see us either!" At that moment Hermione signaled them that they should turn around, Harry turned, Malfoy was coming, with Crabbe and Goyle, drat.
"Uh oh, not again." Ron muttered, Harry flicked his eyes at them and tilted his head slightly, they got the message. Ira bent to tie a shoe near the doorway, the other three stood talking, apparently waiting for her. There were no professors near the stairway, they were all in the dining hall already. Therefore it would be safest to have a fight out here. But the trio just walked by, talking rather loudly about priggish Gryffindors.
"Can't wait until they take a drink, oh that will be so nice." Hermione said, causing them all to stare, normally she protested their pranks.
"Come on, don't want to be that last in, that'd be suspicious." Ira said, they hurried in as the last of the students entered behind them.
"Go, drink it, dang! Not yet." Ron grumbled beside Harry, eyeing Malfoy, so far no one had taken a drink. Then a shout echoed up the hall, then peals of laughter. The four exchanged another round of high fives. In seconds the hall was filled with laughter and shouts.
"There! He drank it!" Ron yelped excitedly, they all turned in time to see Malfoy grow elephant ears and a long, white, furry, ferret's tail and ears. Beside him Crabbe and Goyle had turned into disgusting, ugly, hairy, Yeti.
Wow! Go Gryffindor Pranksters!" Dean yelled as soon as they were all in the common room. Harry Ron Hermione and Ira laughed at the praise coming from everyone and hurried out again and to a secret room on the stairway up to the tower where they could discuss the next prank. They had just reached the door when pain zapped through Harry's scar. He gasped and clamped a hand to it, blood started to flow out, he summoned the dream recorder without thinking as the pain increased. Visions flashed around too fast to be seen, the last thing he remembered was collapsing to the floor.
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"It's killing him, and after him it'll spread, to everyone." Harry blinked and sighed, there was a round of whispers and Sirius was beside him.
"Hey Harry." Harry gave them a weak grin, he was in the hospital wing Albus, Miranda, Sirius, Hermione, Ron, Ira, Snape, McGonagal, Aram, and Remus were sitting around talking.
"What's killing me?" He asked, Sirius sat back down and Harry sat up, touching his scar and finding it covered in a thick bandage.
"You've been out for four hours. Voldemort is using a very old, very powerful, dark spell. It starts up this sickness, it makes people feel all the pain they've ever been through over again, slowly, but constantly. It kills in the end, they went mad. However for some reason it has started with you and you are keeping it contained within only you. Your natural instinct to protect everyone around you." Harry could feel himself go pale, then his shoulders slumped.
"And once I'm gone, it goes on, to the rest of the wizarding and muggle world, those who don't side with Voldemort die of it right?" Sirius nodded. Harry thought, what could he do?
"Then it is obvious, I must attempt to correct those power stones." There were gasps, Harry tried to stand, and finally made it to his feet. Shaking his head at Sirius as his godfather attempted to push him back down. "I must, I know how." Albus got to his feet.
"No Harry. You know one way, and that way will kill you."
"Then I die, better that then everyone else too. With me dead, and no one else within twenty yards it will be gone." Harry snapped angrily, why didn't they let him go?
"No! You will not do that to yourself! You can get through it, and you will. Find another way to correct them! I will NOT allow you to kill yourself Harry!" Sirius told him, his eyes boring into Harry's, Harry felt Sirius call up Voice Command and his Eye Power, and together they were too much. Harry couldn't have disobeyed however hard he tried. He nodded, letting Sirius know his anger by glaring at the other angrily. Sirius frowned, Harry turned away and left the hospital wing. Outside a thunderstorm massed on the horizon.
Harry hurried up to his dormitory and through the wall to his rooms. In the room with the power stones he started up a fire in the center of the room and closed the door. He could feel Sirius projecting an image of everything he did back to the Order assembled in their largest meeting room. The students were assembled in the great hall. Everything that they needed to know, and no more, would be told to them. But they wouldn't get to see anything. He knelt on the floor and sank into a brief meditation, the fire roared higher as Harry added to it's flames mentally, now it was his powers that roared up high beside him, yet not burning him. Heat that could melt stone, but it wouldn't harm him. The thunder boomed and lightning flashed, Harry's uncertainty of his abilities grew. He really didn't know what he was doing, it was all just instinct. Then he stood, glowing golden with power and called one of the books from his library. This was a book of the most powerful ancient sells, written by Merlin himself. Harry flipped it open and found the right page. Examining it closely he tried to memorize what he might need to know. What he was going to do was a different version of this spell, and if it didn't work… That just didn't bear thinking about. Harry put the book down on the table and picked up the two stones and his knife. Calling up his lightning he vanished in a bolt of light. And reappeared on a treeless hilltop, in a circle of huge white blocks of stone. The stones stood upright on one end, all were the same size and rectangular shape, along the tops lay other large stones, making about fifty doorways. Outside this ring was another ring of stone, this one continued unbroken all around. Suddenly it began to glow, and pieces of the white stone vanished, making openings that became runes. And out beyond them were more stones, in a different shape. Harry was literally inside a small circle that was inside another circle that was inside a star. This star had twenty arms, five very large ones, five slightly smaller ones, and ten that were half the size of the largest ones. All built out of white sparkly stone arches, all connected, all evenly spaced so it looked, from above, rather like a star burst.
Harry was kneeling in the center, a fire burning in front of him, and two stones in front of him and knife in his hand. Harry began a soft chant, once sung by the first of the druids, and used to call upon forces long forgotten. He sliced a long gash on the inside of his left arm with the knife and gathered the blood in his right hand. He then covered both stones in his blood. Still chanting he reached up and dragged his right thumb down across his scar, golden blood flowed out. Harry covered the power stone with it, and stopped his chant. The fire turned silver and the ground began to shake, above Harry a huge tornado came down around the hill, leaving him at its center. Lightning was zapping everywhere, then the bolts switched and all came at him. The sky glowed with the electricity and the ground at Harry's knees became scorched.
"Ancestors of mine guide and protect me, for two worlds depend on my success." Harry whispered, calling up the last of his powers. The ground heaved and shook, the star glowed blindingly white, and the runes etched in the stones with acid turned shiny purple. The tornado grew and the roar of its winds was all that Harry could hear. Then the storm began to glow, all that power in it concentrated into lightning, and zapped down all at once into Harry. He screamed, and the power flashed down through his hands and blood into the stone. Leaving the one meant for Voldemort untouched.
The stone gathered in the power, for a few minutes it began partially transparent, liquid-like. Harry summoned up all the power he could and hurled it into the fire, then he grabbed the stone that now floated in front of him, still dripped gold-red with his blood, and reached out into the fire, the stone sitting on his palm.
Then voices started up around him, chanting even as he began the last spell. Faces swirled in the fire and storm about him, his ancestors, Merlin, Godric, Ambrosius, Emrys, they and him, they five formed the largest arms of the star. Then for the slightly shorter points there were the strongest of the leaders of the Order of the Phoenix. The greatest Phoenixes, who were not of Harry's blood. Then came the others, not as great, but important all the same. Their voices rose in a song-like chant about him, the storm and fire combined, now a funnel of flames surrounded him. Lightning blasted down, and Harry rocked as it threatened to shake him apart. Pain flared throughout him, but he didn't stop his spell. Then with a huge explosion of light it all vanished, and there was silence.
Harry stirred, the force of the explosion had knocked him out cold where he knelt. He had a throbbing headache, the stars shone down on him, the fire had gone out. The storm was gone and with it the tornado. He realized he still had his hand out stretched, he looked at the stone, it was silver. His hand was fine, not burned at all, the blood had been burned off, but the skin left unharmed. He turned the stone over looking for the mark he knew would be there, on the bottom, in blood-red, was a lightning bolt. The other stone was white, but it absorbed light and didn't shine, making it look rather dark and sinister. Then the silver stone turned gold and began to pulse as Harry put some of his power into it. He sighed and closed his eyes, that last thing he remembered was toppling to the ground, completely exhausted.
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"He did it, Harry did it! He fixed the stones!" The room where the order and watched the scene on the hilltop filled with cheers and shouts of joy. Harry's back in that room, we'd best go see if he's okay. Sirius said, he departed with Albus, Miranda, Snape, Remus, Arabella, Hermione, and Ron. Aram, Sertisa, and Sarlan would let the Order settled down a little before regaining order in the meeting room.
They hurried up to Gryffindor tower, the students were in the great hall. Hermione and Ron showed the others how to enter Harry's rooms. They found him lying on his side, the two stones beside him, the floor around him scorched and charred, the stone melted and hardened, yet it hadn't harmed him.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Shh! He's waking up!" Harry blinked once, and lifted his head a little, he was in the hospital wing.
"Hi guys, ya miss me?" He asked, trying to sound unconcerned and amused by the worried looks on their faces. Their grins of relief told him he'd succeeded.
"Back from dream land huh? Is it nice there?" Harry glared at Ira, who was sitting at the foot of his bed and grinning.
"You missed the first day of exams you know." Ron commented, eyeing Harry for a response, he wasn't disappointed.
"WHAT??? How? How long have I been out?" Harry yelped, trying to sit up, immediately the people sitting on either side of him reached out and pushed him back. He turned and glared at Professors Flairgold and Snape. Sirius on his right grinned at him.
"Don't worry, you still have time to make it up." He assured Harry, grinning at Harry's dismay.
"The stones? Where are they?" Harry asked, wondering which exams he'd missed.
"Here." Dumbledore said, touching a large blue box beside him. Harry nodded, and looked around. Sirius, Flairgold, Snape, Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione, Ira, Sam, Fred, George, How did they get here? And of course Madam Pomfrey.
"That lightning nearly tore you apart, all your muscles will ache and too much movement will be very painful for a few hours. It would be best for you to sleep until dinner, you can join the rest of the school then. Don't worry about the stones, no one can touch them except you. I tried when I put them in the box, they electrocuted me. Much more of it and I'd be dead." Albus said, sounding indignant, Harry grinned, the headmaster's fingers were bandaged and his hair looked a little frizzed. "Don't look so amused, they may not even let you touch them. You're sure they're working?" Harry nodded and, ignoring Madam Pomfrey's mutters, sat up.
"Yes, they work, both of them, I just need a little time and practice." He flicked his wand at the window, soon his books came flying in. Harry directed them to a pile on the bed beside him.
"We had Charms and Divination today, Transfiguration and Care of Magical Creatures tomorrow." Ron informed him, Harry groaned.
"What is the Divination exam this year? Not more crystal ball reading I hope?" Fred and George exchanged rather evil grins.
"No, this year you have to eat a raw and half decayed bat, then examine your puke for "mysterious signs and warnings of the fates". George said, Fred started cracking up at the look of faked horror on Harry's face.
"You two are nuts! You don't even take Divination! Ugh! Raw bats? Where do you get these ideas? Ron what is it really?" Harry asked, turning away from the twins.
"It's really absurd. She gives you a black piece of paper and a stick of white chalk. Then you're blindfolded and you have to make a score or so of dots on the paper. Then you find which constellation it most closely resembles. Then you have to tell her what that one means will happen to you." Harry wrinkled his nose in disgust, McGonagal look disapproving and exasperated.
"You shouldn't be telling him what's on the exams Weasely. I'm sure Professor Flitwick and Professor Trelwany will not approve. All the students present except for Hermione snickered evilly.
"That, dear Professor, is the point." Fred started,
" Besides, you don't really care about what Prof. Trelwany approves of and doesn't approve of do you?" George asked kindly.
" She predicts non-stop death for poor Harry here all year long, but he still gets As." Fred commented, smiling at her.
" It'll make her day if he draws, say, a bloody knife?" George finished triumphantly, and they hurried from the hospital wing as the Professors all started glaring at once.
"It'll be so much quieter around here when those two finally graduate! McGonagal said angrily.
"Maybe a little, but you'll still miss them, and you have to live with us for a few more years." Harry said, gesturing to the four students left and grinning. The Professors as one glared down their noses at him. He shrugged and opened a charms book.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Finally! We're free!" Ron gasped as they left the school and walked towards the lake.
"Summer! And no more exams!" Ira yelled happily. They joined the other students by the lake, laughing and talking, house rivalries momentarily forgotten as they relaxed for the first time in two weeks.
"So Harry, what are you doing this summer?" Hermione asked, for once not worried about work.
"I guess I'm staying here, or maybe at the Fortress, the Order is moving there over the summer. Voldie's keeping his claws to himself for a while, so most of the Order is going on vacations. Miranda mentioned a trip to Egypt, and Sirius said we might go to that tropical island he was hiding out on for a time after escaping Azkaban." Harry replied, grinning as Jewel picked her way among students over to them and lay down near the water.
"It must be nice to have some resemblance of a family again huh?" Ron asked, lazily petting Jewel, who soaked up attention like a sponge.
"Yeah, and no more Dursleys." Harry said with a happy sigh. "Ouch!" Tiger had just walked across his face. He slapped Harry with a his tail and went to join Jewel, stretching out beside the Fire Lion, who was nearly three times his size, though not yet full grown.
"It's to quiet around here, Fred and George aren't up to standard." Ron complained.
"We gave them the last two weeks, and all they say they'll need is the last twenty four hours. So…" Ira said, grinning devilishly. They all exchanged looks and drew their wands. Harry nodded, they all simultaneously set off color spells. Shrieks and screams sounded. Harry shot a bolt of orange at Dean, turning the left side of his face orange. He retaliated with a shot of purple that Harry ducked. Soon the field beside the lake was filled with yelling students shooting bright colors at eachother. Harry, Ron, Ira, and Hermione quietly left the fray and headed around the lake to a large rock that hung out over the water. Jewel and Tiger followed them to safety.
"Now this will make a good picture." Harry said, focusing a camera on the scene in front of the castle. Almost all the students, of all ages, shooting colors at eachother and laughing happily. You couldn't tell that not long ago they'd been fighting off the worst dark lord in history.
"Now, what havoc shall we cause at dinner?" Ron asked, pulling their list from his pocket. "Hmm. 256? Give them all rabbit ears with that enchanted mustard?"
"No good, we're having potatoes, rice, chicken, salad, soup, and ice cream cake. None of which require mustard. Is there any way to change the enchantment Harry?" Ira asked, Harry shook his head.
"No, it's a potion that only works when it's reacting to mustard, Hermione discovered it in a potions book." He replied and leaned in to read.
"I rather like 199, so long as we take the bushes from the forest it shouldn't matter." Hermione put in, turning towards the hedge that grew near the forest.
"Great idea! Come on, no one's watching." Ron hurried off, Harry grinned and stopped where he was for a moment.
Don't interfere Sirius. I assure you; you'll find it funny. Harry got a telepathic reply from his godfather, who he'd seen watching from a window.
"Come on Harry!" He sighed and ran after his friends.
That night during dinner everyone was entertained by nearly two score of bushes hopping around the great hall bouncing off people's heads and around on tabletops never spilling a thing, chanting insults at everyone they passed. While another score of bushes bounced around on the staff table singing the school anthem over and over again.
You know Harry, Lupin, James and I did something similar, with crystal balls shouting out horrid fortunes at people. Harry grinned, Sirius was laughing himself silly. Most of the Professors just shook their heads and chuckled, in too good a mood to bother catching the culprits, they couldn't anyhow so it didn't matter. Snape was glaring at Harry with the usual loathing, nothing had changed there.
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The last day in Hogwarts was almost torture, Fred and George used pranks 300-360 on the castle and students. No one got much sleep that night, to busy removing dungbombs, dye filled water balloons, ants and spiders from their beds. they dined amid Red and Gold banners with roaring lions on them. Fred and George agreed not to spoil the meal, but as for the rest of the day well…
"Bye guys, don't forget to write. I'll tell you what's going on with Voldie when I can. Enjoy the summer!" Harry said, as he waved them off to the train.
"We will, keep safe Harry!"
"Bye Potter!"
"See ya Harry!"
"Enjoy the summer Harry!"
"Good luck Harry!"
" See you next year Harry!"
" Good bye Harry!"
"Still the most famous dude on the block eh?" Ron said grinning, Harry smiled back.
"Don't say dude ever again Ron! It reminds me of cheap muggle tourists. " Hermione told Ron sternly.
"Good bye!" Harry shouted as the train whisked them off, he turned back towards the castle, maybe he'd go flying.
Like it? If you did there's a sequel. It can be read on Fanfiction.net. It is called World of War, by Miranda Flairgold. It's even longer than this story, a lot longer, and maybe more violent? It's about Harry's sixth year, very good please read. If you like that one there is yet another, about Harry's seventh year. It's still in progress, updated frequently. It too can be found on fanfiction.net and it is called End of an Era, by Miranda Flairgold again. Thanks for reading and I hope you liked it!
The crazed, obsessed, goddess of cool fighting scenes,
Miranda Flairgold
"Good you're all on time. Now I have some important news for you. Half an hour ago Voldemort attacked the auror headquarters, without warning, he then used a number of means to destroy them and the Hit Wizard society of the Ministry." Sirius stopped, and let the news sink in. Harry was stunned, but he overcame it quickly. No one else did. Dumbledore looked shocked, Harry closed his eyes and leaned back. The whole room was silent, then there were a few disgruntled murmurs, but no one said much. The Order was well trained and they wouldn't start babbling away with no reason.
"Because of this we, the Order of the Phoenix, are the only defense the world has. There are 140 of us, not nearly enough. All the remaining aurors, there are twenty three, and the hit wizards, 6, will be allowed, if they wish, to attempt to join. Recruiting will be stepped up considerably. The Dragon Forces, 39 strong, are arriving at the Fortress today. The Hippogriff Forces, 28 strong and the Dire Wolves, 32 strong, are already there. Also arriving tomorrow are the War Unicorns, 36 strong, and the Basilisks, 25 strong. The Fire Lion Prides, 44 strong, will be getting there in two days. Our total strength is at 344, still barely enough as Voldemort has 6,000 dementors, 300 death eaters, 20 vampires, and 410 Mesmerd, bringing his total strength to 6,730." He waited again, letting them absorb the news. Harry grimaced, he'd been working for two weeks straight, using his dreams and a score of helpful snake friends of his to find Voldemort's strengths. With this and information obtained by other sources they now knew exactly how the attacks had been carried out, and where some of Voldemorts forces were. It was very difficult to hide and supply that many creatures.
"Unfortunately the Immortality Potion Voldemort is making is still brewing and will not need the ingredients we are still attempting to gather for five months." There were groans from the assembly, Harry closed his eyes, he'd tried to get the information needed, and he was tired. "We must prepare ourselves for the battle to come. We need help, tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. those who are left of the hit wizards and aurors will be given a chance to attempt to join our Order. Good luck to all of you." Everyone stood and slowly, those who weren't staying and had things ot do, left. Harry sighed and pulled himself to his feet, and left the room.
"Harry." There silence as Harry entered the common room, he ignored Ron and walked across the room to the fireplace. The despairing fatigued look on his face brought everyone's attention around to the problem. He sighed and leaned his forehead against the wall. The silence was deathly.
"You'll get the news tomorrow, no I'm not going into it now, be prepared for a shock. I'm going to bed." He whispered as Ron approached, the students parted quietly as he walked up to his dormitory. What he really needed now was some dreamless sleep potion and a long rest. Damn, things were going so good, why now? I'm so tired, I just need rest. 453 dead, that's what the headlines will read. Damn it, I didn't get word in time, and they're dead, oh why? Why me? I must be strong, for the students, for the Order. He closed his eyes and drank the potion before climbing into bed.
The next morning the Gryffindors were edgy and nervous, then the news paper arrived. Slowly the hall fell into horrified silence as the students read. No one spoke, slowly papers were put away and whispers of fear began. Harry didn't even glance at his paper and just tossed it into a his bag. Beside him Ron's jaw was hanging open, his eyes wide with horror. Dumbledore stood near the end of the meal, if it could be called a meal.
"Students, now that you've all read the paper and have heard of the crisis facing us I would like to reassure you if at all possible that the Order of the Phoenix is doing everything they can. This schools defense systems have been completely redone, Voldemort won't get passed them again. From now until the end of this year each year of students will have an extra defense class on Sunday. Now, I'll attempt to explain what has happened. The aurors, has I hope most of you knew, were an organization fueled by all the ministries of every country in the world. There were people of every nation and race among them, their headquarters was in China. 678 of them, all but twenty three, that we know of, are now dead. The Hit Wizards were set up by the English Ministry during Voldemort's rise to power, 43, all of them but six, are dead. Let us have a moment of silence for these brave fighters." There was a quiet, then gasps as twelve black owls swooped into the hall. Panicked murmurs carried around, Harry was confused, so was Hermione.
"A black owl is sent to tell you of a family member who has died." Ira whispered softly, one of the owls spiraled down, and landed in front of Ron. Harry gulped, Ron just stared at the black envelope it put before him. Slowly, with trembling hands, he opened it.
"Ron. Who is it, what happened?" Hermione asked in a whisper, Ron dropped the parchment and sighed, looking relieved, and sad.
"Its my cousin, Destria, she was an auror. He hung his head sadly, there were murmurs from around the table. The black owl took another letter, bearing the same message, to Fred and George. Two people at the Hufflepuff table were sobbing, so were three people in Ravenclaw. A soft wail echoed from down the table, Harry looked around, Ginny's friend Samantha was in tears. Hermione and Alicia went to comfort her.
"Students all classes are cancelled this morning, those who have lost family members don't have to attend classes today if they don't feel up to it. Prefects, please stay after the meal." Dumbledore said softly from the staff table. Slowly the tables emptied, leaving the prefects, they all joined the teachers at the head table, conjuring up more chairs.
"Classes are cancelled for you today if you need to stay in your house to comfort students. Needless to say you should all be on the lookout for danger. Voldemort has won a battle, he may attempt to do more damage while everyone is still in shock. Please take all the time and measures necessary to help students who have suffered losses. We have no reason to believe that Voldemort will attack us again any time soon." Here he glanced at Harry, Harry gave a very slight shake of his head, this was true. He indicated with a flick of his eyes that he needed to talk to Dumbledore after this meeting.
"Should we get word of an attack all students are to be brought to the great hall immediately. If the Order finds out about anymore attacks that will happen soon or have just happened you will be notified immediately." He turned to Harry again, so did everyone else.
"Harry, have you had any…warnings…of more attacks?" Harry thought that this was a little direct, in front of everyone, and it put him on the spot, but he had to answer, he gulped and nodded.
"Yes, at the time of the attacks on the aurors and hit wizards I passed out, I'm not sure why. I will attempt to find out more, but it's difficult, since I transformed my powers are much weaker, any dreams, visions, or warnings I get have not been as strong, and they're getting worse. I…I think…I know what is causing it, and how to solve the problem, get my abilities back…but it is too dangerous to… attempt… near a school full of students, we could all be wiped out." He gave Dumbledore a helpless look and shrug, and lowered his eyes, this wasn't fun.
"How far from here would you have to be, for it to be safe?" Dumbledore asked, Harry took a deep breath.
"I have no idea. The powers I might call into play…accidentally or purposely…they could cause an ice age, or any extreme natural disaster, anything. It could shake this world apart. There is a way to find out…I would have to just go ahead and try it. I am sorry, that's all I know." The students and staff were staring in awe that such powers existed, and that Harry could call upon them. But they also looked dejected that he couldn't really help.
"Alright, you try to find out more there, just concentrate on that. Hopefully Voldemort won't do anything for a while yet. I believe Sirius wanted to speak to you too." Harry nodded, stood and left the hall quickly.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Alright Harry, we'll do what we can, don't try to fix those stones yet, I have a team working on it, find all the information they can. What are your powers like?" Sirius asked softly, Harry looked gloomy; his powers had been so strong he almost couldn't handle them on the night of that battle, but now. Now he was still very powerful, but nothing so extraordinary.
"I don't know, I can still call lightning, though it isn't as strong. Call fire, freeze things, I can't call up tornadoes anymore. I can do wand less magic, but not nearly as well, I no longer wake up each morning feeling like information was put into my brain during the night. I haven't had any visions or dreams in a long time, in simple language, I'm not brimming with power anymore. But it's almost a relief, that battle, I couldn't control that much power all the time. I'm just back to being an almost normal wizard again, and I like it, I know that's not helpful to say, but I like it so much more then that endless supply of power, ideas, visions, it was just too much." Harry looked up, Sirius was nodding slowly.
"Yes, somehow you opened a huge door in your mind to those powers. They're always there Harry, muggles can't tap into them, but all those with magic can. You somehow broke through the wall, making a larger door for yourself then you normally have. It would have killed you, Ambrosius, Emrys, they both burned themselves out like that, they were unable to stop, that power cannot be controlled unless you've always had it. The thing that saved you was that backlash in the power you used at the end of the battle, you closed the wound in the wall, and saved yourself. Then, during that time in the Dark Castle, you were being tortured, and didn't have much time to worry about powers. But when you opened that door further then it was meant to be, that started up your Animagi form without you trying to get it. That too would have killed you if you didn't transform, and it drained more of you powers, the longer you kept it in your mind. When I took on the Phoenix power I was accessing a special reservoir of power, and I don't use it much, to keep from calling on too much from my own personal source. Be careful Harry, we don't want to lose you." Harry had been listening to Sirius with great interest, now he nodded and stood to go, he was supposed to be helping a patrol with organizing the arrival of Order creatures at the Fortress, to stop fighting among them in the Fortress they would all need to enter at different times and have different accommodations.
"Hey Harry, do you want to go enchant the food for dinner?" Ron asked as soon as Harry got into the common room, Ira came up beside him.
" I think Malfoy will look dashing with elephant ears." She commented, setting them all off into laughter. They had agreed that the twins could have the last two weeks of school, but until then…
"Sure, just let me put my homework away and warn the House." Harry said, running up to his dormitory and depositing his books on the bed. When he got back downstairs Ron had just finished telling the Gryffindors not to drink the pumpkin juice that night, only water or soda.
"Lets go, Invisibilatus!" He waved his wand over them as soon as they were through the portrait hole, and they were all invisible immediately.
"What year do we normally learn that spell?" Hermione asked, she'd already looked through half the library and all their school books for it.
"We don't." Harry replied, grinning at her shock, he ducked through a doorway woven into a tapestry and ran through the passage. They ended up just outside the door to the kitchens.
"Then how did you learn it?" Hermione asked suspiciously as Ira tickled the pear and the door opened.
"I found a certain book in the restricted section, and well…" Harry left the rest unsaid and Hermione's angry "humph!"
"They don't teach spells like that for a reason, they don't want students using it. If you want to learn it you've got to break a few rules." Harry protested her glare. They hurried in, dodging around the busy house elves to the tables. The goblets were there, filled with pumpkin juice. Harry reached into a pocket and pulled out a tiny book, about the size of his thumbnail. Two taps of his wand and it enlarged to a full sized book. He flipped to the right page and read the correct spell to the other three.
Ten minutes later they were out of the kitchens and running back through the passages and up to Gryffindor Tower. Outside the portrait hole Harry took off the invisibility spell and the climbed through. Ignoring the suspicious looks shot at them by everyone else in the common room. They'd been told what not to drink, but if the terrible three were going to do that, what else might happen? When one of the three, no four, Harry corrected himself, Ira had joined them, and been told about all their adventures, it felt as if she'd always been there. When any one of them went about with that certain maniacal smile on their face, the school shook in its foundations. That smile meant PRANK COMING UP in bold letters. To see all four, together, smiling like that, that meant major trouble. Harry might be drained of some of his powers, and a key person in the fight against Voldemort, but that didn't faze him any in his prank playing. The four gave eachother high fives and headed off to their dorms.
"Ouch!" Harry sat upright, and found himself glaring into a pair of yellow/gold and green eyes and furred face. "Jewelanarah! (JEWEL-an-ar-RAH) he groaned and pushed the young Fire Lion out of his way and swung his legs around, someone was laughing behind him. He turned, no make that the entire dormitory was laughing. They were all standing by the door, he must have fallen asleep, though he'd only sat down for a minute.
"Ha ha, very funny, break all my ribs by dropping a Fire Lion on me huh? Get em Jewel!" They all yelped and ran off down the stairs as Jewelanarah leaped playfully at them. She responded to her nickname and her real name, but Jewel took so much less time to say, and it was easier to pronounce. Harry grumbled unhappily, then checked his watch and realized that dinner, and their pranks, would start in ten minutes. He hurried out and joined Ron, Hermione, and Ira at the foot of the stairs.
At last! Thought you'd just stay in your dorm and let us take the blame for the pranks huh?" Ron commented, Ira snorted.
"Blame us? Not likely, there's no proof to show that we did it. And McGonagal can't get proof by asking the elves this time, they didn't see us either!" At that moment Hermione signaled them that they should turn around, Harry turned, Malfoy was coming, with Crabbe and Goyle, drat.
"Uh oh, not again." Ron muttered, Harry flicked his eyes at them and tilted his head slightly, they got the message. Ira bent to tie a shoe near the doorway, the other three stood talking, apparently waiting for her. There were no professors near the stairway, they were all in the dining hall already. Therefore it would be safest to have a fight out here. But the trio just walked by, talking rather loudly about priggish Gryffindors.
"Can't wait until they take a drink, oh that will be so nice." Hermione said, causing them all to stare, normally she protested their pranks.
"Come on, don't want to be that last in, that'd be suspicious." Ira said, they hurried in as the last of the students entered behind them.
"Go, drink it, dang! Not yet." Ron grumbled beside Harry, eyeing Malfoy, so far no one had taken a drink. Then a shout echoed up the hall, then peals of laughter. The four exchanged another round of high fives. In seconds the hall was filled with laughter and shouts.
"There! He drank it!" Ron yelped excitedly, they all turned in time to see Malfoy grow elephant ears and a long, white, furry, ferret's tail and ears. Beside him Crabbe and Goyle had turned into disgusting, ugly, hairy, Yeti.
Wow! Go Gryffindor Pranksters!" Dean yelled as soon as they were all in the common room. Harry Ron Hermione and Ira laughed at the praise coming from everyone and hurried out again and to a secret room on the stairway up to the tower where they could discuss the next prank. They had just reached the door when pain zapped through Harry's scar. He gasped and clamped a hand to it, blood started to flow out, he summoned the dream recorder without thinking as the pain increased. Visions flashed around too fast to be seen, the last thing he remembered was collapsing to the floor.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"It's killing him, and after him it'll spread, to everyone." Harry blinked and sighed, there was a round of whispers and Sirius was beside him.
"Hey Harry." Harry gave them a weak grin, he was in the hospital wing Albus, Miranda, Sirius, Hermione, Ron, Ira, Snape, McGonagal, Aram, and Remus were sitting around talking.
"What's killing me?" He asked, Sirius sat back down and Harry sat up, touching his scar and finding it covered in a thick bandage.
"You've been out for four hours. Voldemort is using a very old, very powerful, dark spell. It starts up this sickness, it makes people feel all the pain they've ever been through over again, slowly, but constantly. It kills in the end, they went mad. However for some reason it has started with you and you are keeping it contained within only you. Your natural instinct to protect everyone around you." Harry could feel himself go pale, then his shoulders slumped.
"And once I'm gone, it goes on, to the rest of the wizarding and muggle world, those who don't side with Voldemort die of it right?" Sirius nodded. Harry thought, what could he do?
"Then it is obvious, I must attempt to correct those power stones." There were gasps, Harry tried to stand, and finally made it to his feet. Shaking his head at Sirius as his godfather attempted to push him back down. "I must, I know how." Albus got to his feet.
"No Harry. You know one way, and that way will kill you."
"Then I die, better that then everyone else too. With me dead, and no one else within twenty yards it will be gone." Harry snapped angrily, why didn't they let him go?
"No! You will not do that to yourself! You can get through it, and you will. Find another way to correct them! I will NOT allow you to kill yourself Harry!" Sirius told him, his eyes boring into Harry's, Harry felt Sirius call up Voice Command and his Eye Power, and together they were too much. Harry couldn't have disobeyed however hard he tried. He nodded, letting Sirius know his anger by glaring at the other angrily. Sirius frowned, Harry turned away and left the hospital wing. Outside a thunderstorm massed on the horizon.
Harry hurried up to his dormitory and through the wall to his rooms. In the room with the power stones he started up a fire in the center of the room and closed the door. He could feel Sirius projecting an image of everything he did back to the Order assembled in their largest meeting room. The students were assembled in the great hall. Everything that they needed to know, and no more, would be told to them. But they wouldn't get to see anything. He knelt on the floor and sank into a brief meditation, the fire roared higher as Harry added to it's flames mentally, now it was his powers that roared up high beside him, yet not burning him. Heat that could melt stone, but it wouldn't harm him. The thunder boomed and lightning flashed, Harry's uncertainty of his abilities grew. He really didn't know what he was doing, it was all just instinct. Then he stood, glowing golden with power and called one of the books from his library. This was a book of the most powerful ancient sells, written by Merlin himself. Harry flipped it open and found the right page. Examining it closely he tried to memorize what he might need to know. What he was going to do was a different version of this spell, and if it didn't work… That just didn't bear thinking about. Harry put the book down on the table and picked up the two stones and his knife. Calling up his lightning he vanished in a bolt of light. And reappeared on a treeless hilltop, in a circle of huge white blocks of stone. The stones stood upright on one end, all were the same size and rectangular shape, along the tops lay other large stones, making about fifty doorways. Outside this ring was another ring of stone, this one continued unbroken all around. Suddenly it began to glow, and pieces of the white stone vanished, making openings that became runes. And out beyond them were more stones, in a different shape. Harry was literally inside a small circle that was inside another circle that was inside a star. This star had twenty arms, five very large ones, five slightly smaller ones, and ten that were half the size of the largest ones. All built out of white sparkly stone arches, all connected, all evenly spaced so it looked, from above, rather like a star burst.
Harry was kneeling in the center, a fire burning in front of him, and two stones in front of him and knife in his hand. Harry began a soft chant, once sung by the first of the druids, and used to call upon forces long forgotten. He sliced a long gash on the inside of his left arm with the knife and gathered the blood in his right hand. He then covered both stones in his blood. Still chanting he reached up and dragged his right thumb down across his scar, golden blood flowed out. Harry covered the power stone with it, and stopped his chant. The fire turned silver and the ground began to shake, above Harry a huge tornado came down around the hill, leaving him at its center. Lightning was zapping everywhere, then the bolts switched and all came at him. The sky glowed with the electricity and the ground at Harry's knees became scorched.
"Ancestors of mine guide and protect me, for two worlds depend on my success." Harry whispered, calling up the last of his powers. The ground heaved and shook, the star glowed blindingly white, and the runes etched in the stones with acid turned shiny purple. The tornado grew and the roar of its winds was all that Harry could hear. Then the storm began to glow, all that power in it concentrated into lightning, and zapped down all at once into Harry. He screamed, and the power flashed down through his hands and blood into the stone. Leaving the one meant for Voldemort untouched.
The stone gathered in the power, for a few minutes it began partially transparent, liquid-like. Harry summoned up all the power he could and hurled it into the fire, then he grabbed the stone that now floated in front of him, still dripped gold-red with his blood, and reached out into the fire, the stone sitting on his palm.
Then voices started up around him, chanting even as he began the last spell. Faces swirled in the fire and storm about him, his ancestors, Merlin, Godric, Ambrosius, Emrys, they and him, they five formed the largest arms of the star. Then for the slightly shorter points there were the strongest of the leaders of the Order of the Phoenix. The greatest Phoenixes, who were not of Harry's blood. Then came the others, not as great, but important all the same. Their voices rose in a song-like chant about him, the storm and fire combined, now a funnel of flames surrounded him. Lightning blasted down, and Harry rocked as it threatened to shake him apart. Pain flared throughout him, but he didn't stop his spell. Then with a huge explosion of light it all vanished, and there was silence.
Harry stirred, the force of the explosion had knocked him out cold where he knelt. He had a throbbing headache, the stars shone down on him, the fire had gone out. The storm was gone and with it the tornado. He realized he still had his hand out stretched, he looked at the stone, it was silver. His hand was fine, not burned at all, the blood had been burned off, but the skin left unharmed. He turned the stone over looking for the mark he knew would be there, on the bottom, in blood-red, was a lightning bolt. The other stone was white, but it absorbed light and didn't shine, making it look rather dark and sinister. Then the silver stone turned gold and began to pulse as Harry put some of his power into it. He sighed and closed his eyes, that last thing he remembered was toppling to the ground, completely exhausted.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"He did it, Harry did it! He fixed the stones!" The room where the order and watched the scene on the hilltop filled with cheers and shouts of joy. Harry's back in that room, we'd best go see if he's okay. Sirius said, he departed with Albus, Miranda, Snape, Remus, Arabella, Hermione, and Ron. Aram, Sertisa, and Sarlan would let the Order settled down a little before regaining order in the meeting room.
They hurried up to Gryffindor tower, the students were in the great hall. Hermione and Ron showed the others how to enter Harry's rooms. They found him lying on his side, the two stones beside him, the floor around him scorched and charred, the stone melted and hardened, yet it hadn't harmed him.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Shh! He's waking up!" Harry blinked once, and lifted his head a little, he was in the hospital wing.
"Hi guys, ya miss me?" He asked, trying to sound unconcerned and amused by the worried looks on their faces. Their grins of relief told him he'd succeeded.
"Back from dream land huh? Is it nice there?" Harry glared at Ira, who was sitting at the foot of his bed and grinning.
"You missed the first day of exams you know." Ron commented, eyeing Harry for a response, he wasn't disappointed.
"WHAT??? How? How long have I been out?" Harry yelped, trying to sit up, immediately the people sitting on either side of him reached out and pushed him back. He turned and glared at Professors Flairgold and Snape. Sirius on his right grinned at him.
"Don't worry, you still have time to make it up." He assured Harry, grinning at Harry's dismay.
"The stones? Where are they?" Harry asked, wondering which exams he'd missed.
"Here." Dumbledore said, touching a large blue box beside him. Harry nodded, and looked around. Sirius, Flairgold, Snape, Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione, Ira, Sam, Fred, George, How did they get here? And of course Madam Pomfrey.
"That lightning nearly tore you apart, all your muscles will ache and too much movement will be very painful for a few hours. It would be best for you to sleep until dinner, you can join the rest of the school then. Don't worry about the stones, no one can touch them except you. I tried when I put them in the box, they electrocuted me. Much more of it and I'd be dead." Albus said, sounding indignant, Harry grinned, the headmaster's fingers were bandaged and his hair looked a little frizzed. "Don't look so amused, they may not even let you touch them. You're sure they're working?" Harry nodded and, ignoring Madam Pomfrey's mutters, sat up.
"Yes, they work, both of them, I just need a little time and practice." He flicked his wand at the window, soon his books came flying in. Harry directed them to a pile on the bed beside him.
"We had Charms and Divination today, Transfiguration and Care of Magical Creatures tomorrow." Ron informed him, Harry groaned.
"What is the Divination exam this year? Not more crystal ball reading I hope?" Fred and George exchanged rather evil grins.
"No, this year you have to eat a raw and half decayed bat, then examine your puke for "mysterious signs and warnings of the fates". George said, Fred started cracking up at the look of faked horror on Harry's face.
"You two are nuts! You don't even take Divination! Ugh! Raw bats? Where do you get these ideas? Ron what is it really?" Harry asked, turning away from the twins.
"It's really absurd. She gives you a black piece of paper and a stick of white chalk. Then you're blindfolded and you have to make a score or so of dots on the paper. Then you find which constellation it most closely resembles. Then you have to tell her what that one means will happen to you." Harry wrinkled his nose in disgust, McGonagal look disapproving and exasperated.
"You shouldn't be telling him what's on the exams Weasely. I'm sure Professor Flitwick and Professor Trelwany will not approve. All the students present except for Hermione snickered evilly.
"That, dear Professor, is the point." Fred started,
" Besides, you don't really care about what Prof. Trelwany approves of and doesn't approve of do you?" George asked kindly.
" She predicts non-stop death for poor Harry here all year long, but he still gets As." Fred commented, smiling at her.
" It'll make her day if he draws, say, a bloody knife?" George finished triumphantly, and they hurried from the hospital wing as the Professors all started glaring at once.
"It'll be so much quieter around here when those two finally graduate! McGonagal said angrily.
"Maybe a little, but you'll still miss them, and you have to live with us for a few more years." Harry said, gesturing to the four students left and grinning. The Professors as one glared down their noses at him. He shrugged and opened a charms book.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"Finally! We're free!" Ron gasped as they left the school and walked towards the lake.
"Summer! And no more exams!" Ira yelled happily. They joined the other students by the lake, laughing and talking, house rivalries momentarily forgotten as they relaxed for the first time in two weeks.
"So Harry, what are you doing this summer?" Hermione asked, for once not worried about work.
"I guess I'm staying here, or maybe at the Fortress, the Order is moving there over the summer. Voldie's keeping his claws to himself for a while, so most of the Order is going on vacations. Miranda mentioned a trip to Egypt, and Sirius said we might go to that tropical island he was hiding out on for a time after escaping Azkaban." Harry replied, grinning as Jewel picked her way among students over to them and lay down near the water.
"It must be nice to have some resemblance of a family again huh?" Ron asked, lazily petting Jewel, who soaked up attention like a sponge.
"Yeah, and no more Dursleys." Harry said with a happy sigh. "Ouch!" Tiger had just walked across his face. He slapped Harry with a his tail and went to join Jewel, stretching out beside the Fire Lion, who was nearly three times his size, though not yet full grown.
"It's to quiet around here, Fred and George aren't up to standard." Ron complained.
"We gave them the last two weeks, and all they say they'll need is the last twenty four hours. So…" Ira said, grinning devilishly. They all exchanged looks and drew their wands. Harry nodded, they all simultaneously set off color spells. Shrieks and screams sounded. Harry shot a bolt of orange at Dean, turning the left side of his face orange. He retaliated with a shot of purple that Harry ducked. Soon the field beside the lake was filled with yelling students shooting bright colors at eachother. Harry, Ron, Ira, and Hermione quietly left the fray and headed around the lake to a large rock that hung out over the water. Jewel and Tiger followed them to safety.
"Now this will make a good picture." Harry said, focusing a camera on the scene in front of the castle. Almost all the students, of all ages, shooting colors at eachother and laughing happily. You couldn't tell that not long ago they'd been fighting off the worst dark lord in history.
"Now, what havoc shall we cause at dinner?" Ron asked, pulling their list from his pocket. "Hmm. 256? Give them all rabbit ears with that enchanted mustard?"
"No good, we're having potatoes, rice, chicken, salad, soup, and ice cream cake. None of which require mustard. Is there any way to change the enchantment Harry?" Ira asked, Harry shook his head.
"No, it's a potion that only works when it's reacting to mustard, Hermione discovered it in a potions book." He replied and leaned in to read.
"I rather like 199, so long as we take the bushes from the forest it shouldn't matter." Hermione put in, turning towards the hedge that grew near the forest.
"Great idea! Come on, no one's watching." Ron hurried off, Harry grinned and stopped where he was for a moment.
Don't interfere Sirius. I assure you; you'll find it funny. Harry got a telepathic reply from his godfather, who he'd seen watching from a window.
"Come on Harry!" He sighed and ran after his friends.
That night during dinner everyone was entertained by nearly two score of bushes hopping around the great hall bouncing off people's heads and around on tabletops never spilling a thing, chanting insults at everyone they passed. While another score of bushes bounced around on the staff table singing the school anthem over and over again.
You know Harry, Lupin, James and I did something similar, with crystal balls shouting out horrid fortunes at people. Harry grinned, Sirius was laughing himself silly. Most of the Professors just shook their heads and chuckled, in too good a mood to bother catching the culprits, they couldn't anyhow so it didn't matter. Snape was glaring at Harry with the usual loathing, nothing had changed there.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The last day in Hogwarts was almost torture, Fred and George used pranks 300-360 on the castle and students. No one got much sleep that night, to busy removing dungbombs, dye filled water balloons, ants and spiders from their beds. they dined amid Red and Gold banners with roaring lions on them. Fred and George agreed not to spoil the meal, but as for the rest of the day well…
"Bye guys, don't forget to write. I'll tell you what's going on with Voldie when I can. Enjoy the summer!" Harry said, as he waved them off to the train.
"We will, keep safe Harry!"
"Bye Potter!"
"See ya Harry!"
"Enjoy the summer Harry!"
"Good luck Harry!"
" See you next year Harry!"
" Good bye Harry!"
"Still the most famous dude on the block eh?" Ron said grinning, Harry smiled back.
"Don't say dude ever again Ron! It reminds me of cheap muggle tourists. " Hermione told Ron sternly.
"Good bye!" Harry shouted as the train whisked them off, he turned back towards the castle, maybe he'd go flying.
Like it? If you did there's a sequel. It can be read on Fanfiction.net. It is called World of War, by Miranda Flairgold. It's even longer than this story, a lot longer, and maybe more violent? It's about Harry's sixth year, very good please read. If you like that one there is yet another, about Harry's seventh year. It's still in progress, updated frequently. It too can be found on fanfiction.net and it is called End of an Era, by Miranda Flairgold again. Thanks for reading and I hope you liked it!
The crazed, obsessed, goddess of cool fighting scenes,
Miranda Flairgold