Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of his friends, Ms. Rowling
does.
******************* AUTHOR'S NOTE:*****************
I had to make a small change in the last chapter. The raid on Azkaban by Voldermort would not really happen in Harry's dream. Please read Harry's dream (last few lines), from the last chapter, before throwing flames on me....(sniggers evilly)
Thanks!
******************************************************
~*~*~*~*~*~*
sew2100 : Thanks!
Devil-Angel-sWEETY: Thanks! I like being flattered.. (I am becoming evil)
Iniysa: Here ya go!!
Lilly Goddess : Yup! I am out of fluff. I want to put up a lot of action.
athena73 : Thank you!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~*~*
Chapter 13: Revenge is sweet
(Please read my note on the top, if you haven't already)
* * *
Harry recollected his dream carefully. If Voldermort is going to attack Azkaban, he realized he should inform Dumbledore immediately.
Harry took his invisibility cloak and the marauder's map along with him. He made sure there was no one in his way. To his surprise, Dumbledore was up and in his office.
'How come he is there whenever we needed him?' wondered Harry
"Harry! What is it that brings you here at such an odd hour?" smiled Dumbledore.
Shoving his thoughts aside Harry took the chair in front of Dumbledore.
"Professor! I had a dream. I saw Voldermort planning to capture Azkaban tomorrow. He also plans to get Dementors to his side", finished Harry.
Dumbledore thought for a few minutes.
"Harry! Thank you for this valuable information. I believe it is time for the Order of Phoenix to get into action", chuckled Dumbledore.
Harry nodded and as he stood up to walk Dumbledore spoke again.
"Harry! Please do not reveal this to anyone, excluding the Order of Light".
As Harry left, Dumbledore walked into another chamber to summon the Order of Phoenix.
* * *
Harry, Ron and Draco assembled in the Common room of Order of the Light.
"What is it Harry? It is still five in the morning. Why didn't you wake up the girls?" yawned Ron.
"Ron! Draco! I had a dream in which Voldermort is planning to free all the prisoners of Azkaban. I immediately informed Dumbledore about it. If my thinking is right, they will try and stop him." Stopped Harry.
"What do you think we should do?" asked Draco
Harry looked at Draco before saying something.
* * *
Voldermort walked with a mob of death eaters behind him. They stopped in front of Azkaban.
"Go free the prisoners and bring the Dementors to our side", ordered Voldermort.
However in the pride of a potential victory, Voldermort or his death eaters failed to notice the lack of chillness that Dementors usually bring when they are around.
The death eaters walked and blasted the gates open only to find Dumbledore, Sirius, Remus, Arabella, Moody and a bunch of aurors. The Dementors were nowhere to be found.
Dumbledore sized the dark side. There was Voldermort, Wormtail, Lucius Malfoy and another hooded figure whose face was not distinct along with several death eaters.
Voldermort was stunned. He didn't get how the light side got the information about his raid. He didn't even tell wormtail and Severes about the raid. Before he can recover from the shock, the aurors and the Order of Phoenix started to stun and bind as many death eaters as possible.
Sirius took up with Wormtail while Remus fought with Lucius. Arabella found that the hooded figure was left alone to fire curses and so she jumped in to fight with whoever it was.
The fight took an intense form with curses flying all around and smoke rising from the incessant duels. Voldermort was furious. Almost all his death eaters, except for wormtail, Lucius and a few others, were down.
"Don't run! Wormy! You will pay for your deeds....STUPEFY!" shouted Sirius making Wormtail unconscious.
Remus finally disarmed Lucius but before he can capture him, Voldermort aimed at him and yelled "CRUCIO" leaving Remus falling to the ground in pain.
"NO!" shouted Sirius but before he could reach his friend, Lucius retrieved his wand and spelled "CRUCIO" at Sirius. Lucius laughed evilly and trained his wand at Sirius.
"You will die like your friend, you pathetic dog" and before he could utter the death curse....
"EXPELLIARMUS", shouted Moody at Lucius making him loose his wand again.
Meanwhile, the hooded figure had many bruises and cuts fighting Arabella. But when Sirius got hurt, which distracted Arabella, the hooded figure fled from there.
The Light side was gaining upper hand. However, neither the aurors nor the light sides, except for Dumbledore, were able to counter Voldermort. The fighting took a nasty form with Sirius, Remus and Arabella hurt while several aurors lay dead.
Lucius and Wormtail now lay unconscious while Moody was hurt.
Dumbledore and Voldermort were all that were left to fight.
"Well....well. Old man. Show me what you've got", taunted Voldermort.
Dumbledore remained silent. He has grown quite old. He is no quicker like his enemy. He knows that any display rage from Voldermort can be dangerous for him. He needed to save as much energy as possible.
Both of them fought fiercely. But as time progressed, Voldermort was gaining upper hand. Voldermort threw many dark spells but were stopped by Dumbledore. He had to resort to dark spells himself to counter Voldermort.
"soul corpus" muttered Dumbledore making Voldermort weak. He grunted with pain. Finally Dumbledore had a chance to break the shields Voldermort had around.
"affligo aegis" muttered crushing the shields but Voldermort would not give up.
"debilito mentis" cursed Voldermort making Dumbledore's mind become clouded. He couldn't remember spells anymore. Dumbledore shut his eyes and started to fight the spell that clouded his mind. Slowly he gained some control.
"Incendio" yelled Dumbledore making flames erupt on Voldermort.
"Repellus" shouted Voldermort, stopping the flames, but burning his skin a little.
"You will have to do more than that Dumbledore", shouted Voldermort.
He trained his wand at rocks behind Dumbledore and muttered "Accio" which made the rocks soar towards Voldermort and in the process hit Dumbledore from behind. That broke Dumbledore's concentration and he felt the mind spell take over making him very weak again.
Voldermort laughed evilly. He aimed again at Dumbledore and yelled "Avada Ke.."
"EXPELLIARMUS" shouted someone making Voldermort's wand slip from his hand.
He looked up and saw Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley on their brooms hovering above the light side. There were more aurors flying towards their direction.
But before Harry could stun him, Voldermort took his wand and disapparated and so did most of his followers, who could.
All three quickly ran to Dumbledore and helped him on his feet. Severes, who was masked as an auror, ran forward and gave a vial of potion to Dumbledore, making him normal again. Sirius helped himself to his feet and held Remus who was unconscious.
Arabella helped Moody.
Sirius was furious.
"Harry! What the hell you think you are doing here? You could have been hurt. Why did you even come here?" shouted Sirius at Harry.
Before Harry could say something, Dumbledore stopped him and looked at Sirius.
"If not for Harry, would we be standing here and yelling at each other?" asked Dumbledore smiling.
Sirius realized immediately. He smiled at Harry and said "Thanks Harry!"
Harry walked forward and hugged both Arabella and Sirius. "I am glad you guys are alright", said Harry smiling back.
"Harry! I can't thank you enough. You have been of immense help to us. For that I thank you all", said Dumbledore.
All three teenagers smiled and nodded before everyone took a port key back to Hogwarts, into the Headmaster's office.
As soon as Harry stepped out of the office, he found Hermione in tears standing next to the gargoyle.
She was startled when the gargoyle moved, but found Harry reaching her concerned.
Hermione walked forward slapped him hard and hugged him tight.
"Where have you been? I was terrified out of my mind when McGonagall told me that you went to help Dumbledore at Azkaban. Why didn't you tell me? Do you know what I had been through the last few hours?" Hermione showered Harry with questions, all the while crying freely.
Harry, who was a bit disoriented from the slap, recovered quickly and hugged her tight.
"Hermione! Everything is alright. We went there just in time to help Dumbledore and disarmed Voldermort." Said Harry.
Hermione stopped crying for a few seconds, looked into his eyes and hugged back fiercely, crying more than ever.
"Hermione! Please! We are all Ok", assured Harry while Ron and Draco nodded.
Hermione controlled her crying but held onto Harry as they walked towards the common room.
"Draco! You might what to meet Ginny before you go back", said Harry.
Soon they found Lavender crying near the steps of Gryffindor common room. Ron ran and consoled her. She immediately jumped into his arms and they sat there hugging tight.
Now, Draco was a little afraid. He knows the temperament of Ginny. She is not as nice as Hermione and as girly as Lavender for sure.
"Draco! Hermione and I will take a walk. You go ahead and see Ginny", said Harry and mumbled "Hail Gryffindor" as the password.
Draco hesitantly stepped in. Ginny was there sitting in Indian style in front of the fire, seriously looking into it. As he stepped in, she turned to see him.
Draco smiled tentatively and Ginny's face lighted up for a moment. But soon she looked furious. She took her wand and started cursing Draco. His hair turned pink, he grew a tail, he had two horns, had some good tickling and what not. He had to run for his life.
Ron and Lavender stood up to go, but before they can Draco stormed out sprouting some feathers on his face and ran screaming out of the castle, closely chased by Ginny. Ron started laughing but stopped when Lavender scolded and led him inside, holding him tightly.
It was still early in the morning and there were not many students outside their dorms. Draco ran begging but fleeing a fierce Ginny all the way outside. He ran looking back and bumped into Harry and they both fell on the ground.
Hermione realized the situation and she quickly held Ginny before she could do something drastic to Draco.
"Thanks Hermione", muttered Draco and stood up facing them.
"What was all that about?" asked Harry.
Hermione released Ginny as she nodded silently in agreement. She walked towards Draco and undid all the curses. She then hugged him hard and started crying.
"Whoa! It's OK Gin! We are all OK. Now, please don't cry", pleaded Draco.
Ginny stopped crying and looked back at Harry and Draco. Her face grew red from anger.
"What are you three thinking by going away like that? You think we are not good for anything? Imagine we three girls leave you like that", admonished Ginny.
Hermione conveyed the same message silently. Harry and Draco lowered their heads and apologized. They vowed not to do anything like that ever.
Soon the atmosphere became normal again between all the six. They went to the great hall for breakfast as usual and then to their class.
"Ms. Parkinson! What happened to you?" asked Arabella.
She had bruises on her shoulders and arms.
"Blaise and I were playing and I fell over the stairs", replied Pansy.
Blaise stood up and apologized publicly for the accident and Arabella continued her class.
"Class, today we will study the rise of dark arts, the era of Grindelwald, to be precise." Said Arabella.
The rest of the classes went as usual.
Snape didn't take a single point out of Gryffindor even when Neville melted the cauldron. Infact, he gave 20 points to Gryffindor when Harry finished his potion.
After their classes, they returned to their training sessions after dinner. All of the six members were making smooth progress. They wee training for their elemental ability.
Harry was spending time with each to teach them spells that met them control their element.
"Ms. Granger! Concentrate", shouted Snape.
Snape is the trainer for Hermione in finding her elemental ability. She failed in air and fire till then. It was getting a little frustrated for her.
After two hours of excruciating session, she found that she had Earth element as ability. She could summon the earth guardian, lift rocks, mud, make burrows, control trees and even make the earth quake. Her partial control was in water. She could breath in water and control the flow of it. Harry was very happy for her.
Ron on the other hand had mastership of air and partial control on fire. Draco had mastership over water and partial control over air. Ginny was the master of Fire and partial control over earth.
Lavender stood there near tears as she failed in Air, Earth, Fire and Water elements. She always had doubts about her selection into the Order.
'I am neither smart like Hermione nor talented like Ginny. I think there has been a mistake in my selection', wondered Lavender.
Hermione could hear all she was thinking. She quickly walked over to her and held her hands.
'Lav! Don't even think about it. There has not been a mistake. You are special, just like everyone else. You have to believe in yourself. It's easy because we all believe in you", concluded Hermione.
Lavender smiled weakly. "But....but I failed in all the elements", she blurted out.
"Yes you did fail with Earth, Air, Water and Fire. That leaves you with Time, which you didn't test yet. Lav! I think you control time. Try it out", smiled Hermione.
Lavender hugged Hermione. "Herm! I am so lucky to have you has friend".
Arabella smiled, as Lavender got ready to practice again. She was surprised at how close and affectionate the teenagers behaved. They were always there for each other.
Lavender took a deep breath. She concentrated on the moving orbs in the air, animated by Arabella and in no time she found them almost frozen. They were moving very, very slowly, as if time has stopped.
"Congratulations Ms. Brown! You are controlling time. Now, try to move forward in time for about two minutes and back again", shouted Arabella.
"Harry!" called Arabella.
Harry, who had been helping Ron master Air, came running to Lavender.
"Think of the time you want to traverse and use the spell should be 'Aetas accendo' - to go forward and 'Aetas averto' - to come back", suggested Harry.
Lavender nodded and spelled to go forward in time. She felt a little disoriented and when she looked around, she saw Arabella, Harry and Hermione blinking at her. There was another girl; just like her....wait it was herself.
Before the future Lavender turned and looked at her, she quickly spelled the reversal spell and found herself staring at her friends and Arabella.
"Excellent Ms. Brown! Let's see the result now", smiled Arabella. Harry and Draco gasped as another Lavender appeared at the corner and disappeared before they can say anything.
Lavender shrieked like a little girl. They all hugged her. Ron came floating in the air towards her. He kissed and hugged her.
"Ron! Stop showing off", scoffed Draco.
"Alright everyone. Let's meet tomorrow. Hermione! Can I talk to you for a minute?" asked Arabella.
Harry kissed her and walked with others to their dorm.
"Are you in love with Harry?" asked Arabella.
"Yes Arabella! I am very much in love with him", replied Hermione looking at her.
She nodded and said, "Hermione! He will need you more than ever. Please promise that you'll be on his side"
"I will be always there for him Arabella", smiled Hermione.
"It is already late. Tomorrow we shall practice Animagus with Sirius and McGonagall. But I believe you and Harry doesn't need it", said Arabella smiling.
Hermione nodded and walked out. She started thinking about how their lives have changed in the past few months. So much has happened, that it would feel overwhelming sometimes. She stopped in the corridor to look at the full moon and the beautiful stars.
Hermione looked at the Quidditch pitch and smiled. She realized how much Harry has sacrificed for helping the wizarding world. As she looked towards the forbidden forest, she found someone under a cloak walk towards the forest cautiously.
Hermione got alarmed.
'Who could that be? I mean, who would want to sneak out into the forbidden forest at this hour of the night?' thought Hermione.
'If it is the same person that tried to hurt Ginny, I am not going to leave them', promised Hermione to herself and ran out of the castle towards the forest. She couldn't find the stranger anywhere.
Hermione changed into a Lioness and started sniffing the ground. She soon found a track that led deep into the forest. As she stalked she heard vague voices and Hermione walked further towards what seemed like a clearing.
Hermione found the cloaked person talking to two more people who seemed like a death eaters from the darkness that she could sense.
"Our Lord will be happy if you can do this. He will reward you soon. You cannot do it directly as you are not so powerful. Use this wand, specially made by the dark lord and kill the old fool. Do it after the classes. Get the password to the Headmaster's office and do it", told the death eaters to the cloaked figure.
"I already got the password from Potter", replied a female voice from under the cloaked figure. Hermione was startled about the fact that it is a female. But she couldn't place her.
Hermione realized that the cloaked figure is a student at Hogwarts. She got furious when she realized they are planning to assassinate Dumbledore. Being in the form of a Lioness, her bestiality overtook her rational thinking and Hermione leapt on to the death eaters.
She threw her paw onto the face of a death eater and hurt him bad. The other death eater was about to run.
"There are no lions in England, you fool. This is an Animagus", shouted the cloaked figure.
Both the cloaked figure and the death eater started firing curses. Hermione had to leap, jump and run around to escape the raining curses. However, she jumped onto the cloaked person, clawed on her shoulder and snatched the wand given by the death eater.
'That's for you Ginny!' smiled Hermione in her mind and started running back.
Hermione could hear the cloaked figure and death eater trying to follow her cursing, but couldn't keep up with her agility and speed.
Hermione ran all the way into the castle and morphed back to herself and ran all the way to Dumbledore. She jumped onto the staircase and practically rammed through the doors startling Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sirius and Arabella from their chairs.
"Hermione! I expected you to be in your dorm now", Arabella mildly showed her displeasure.
"Professor! There had been a plan to assassinate you, using this wand.... and I.... stole it...." blurted Hermione between breaths.
"Ms. Granger! Calm down. Sit here and tell me what happened", asked Dumbledore calmly.
Hermione sat and after breathing controlled, proceeded to narrate all the events that took place in the forest.
Everyone gasped at the horrific event planned by the dark lord.
"Seems like Potter is rubbing on you", stated McGonagall making Hermione blush.
"This wand is really powerful, but filled with dark magic." Said Dumbledore.
"What are you going to do Albus?" asked Sirius.
Dumbledore simply put the wand on the table and murmured some spell with his wand and the dark wand burst out in flames.
"Thank you Ms. Granger. It seems like I owe you one." Smiled Dumbledore.
Hermione smiled back not knowing what to say.
"Hermione! Did you get to see who that cloaked person is?" asked Sirius.
"No! But the person is a student here and from the voice it is a 'SHE'. Also, she got the password from Harry. So, as we know that the person is hurt and if we know who asked Harry the password to your office from yesterday, we can catch the person." Declared Hermione triumphantly.
Sirius patted Hermione proudly.
"Thank you Ms. Granger. We shall do that first thing in the morning. I suggest you to go back and take rest for the night." Said Dumbledore.
Hermione went to her dorm and slept immediately.
* * *
The next morning Hermione sent an urgent message through Telepathy to all the Order for an urgent meeting.
She explained everything that has happened to her friends. Harry held her to his heart and Hermione smiled at his startled face to assure him about her safety.
She also told them that the girl got the password from Harry.
"Harry! Who asked you the password to the headmaster's office, mate?" asked Ron.
Harry's face turned into a confused one and then into a horrified expression.
"Harry! What happened? Who is it?" asked Ginny as Hermione looked expectantly into Harry's face.
"It was.....CHO CHANG!" blurted out Harry drawing a gasp from everyone.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
******************* AUTHOR'S NOTE:*****************
I had to make a small change in the last chapter. The raid on Azkaban by Voldermort would not really happen in Harry's dream. Please read Harry's dream (last few lines), from the last chapter, before throwing flames on me....(sniggers evilly)
Thanks!
******************************************************
~*~*~*~*~*~*
sew2100 : Thanks!
Devil-Angel-sWEETY: Thanks! I like being flattered.. (I am becoming evil)
Iniysa: Here ya go!!
Lilly Goddess : Yup! I am out of fluff. I want to put up a lot of action.
athena73 : Thank you!
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~~*~*
Chapter 13: Revenge is sweet
(Please read my note on the top, if you haven't already)
* * *
Harry recollected his dream carefully. If Voldermort is going to attack Azkaban, he realized he should inform Dumbledore immediately.
Harry took his invisibility cloak and the marauder's map along with him. He made sure there was no one in his way. To his surprise, Dumbledore was up and in his office.
'How come he is there whenever we needed him?' wondered Harry
"Harry! What is it that brings you here at such an odd hour?" smiled Dumbledore.
Shoving his thoughts aside Harry took the chair in front of Dumbledore.
"Professor! I had a dream. I saw Voldermort planning to capture Azkaban tomorrow. He also plans to get Dementors to his side", finished Harry.
Dumbledore thought for a few minutes.
"Harry! Thank you for this valuable information. I believe it is time for the Order of Phoenix to get into action", chuckled Dumbledore.
Harry nodded and as he stood up to walk Dumbledore spoke again.
"Harry! Please do not reveal this to anyone, excluding the Order of Light".
As Harry left, Dumbledore walked into another chamber to summon the Order of Phoenix.
* * *
Harry, Ron and Draco assembled in the Common room of Order of the Light.
"What is it Harry? It is still five in the morning. Why didn't you wake up the girls?" yawned Ron.
"Ron! Draco! I had a dream in which Voldermort is planning to free all the prisoners of Azkaban. I immediately informed Dumbledore about it. If my thinking is right, they will try and stop him." Stopped Harry.
"What do you think we should do?" asked Draco
Harry looked at Draco before saying something.
* * *
Voldermort walked with a mob of death eaters behind him. They stopped in front of Azkaban.
"Go free the prisoners and bring the Dementors to our side", ordered Voldermort.
However in the pride of a potential victory, Voldermort or his death eaters failed to notice the lack of chillness that Dementors usually bring when they are around.
The death eaters walked and blasted the gates open only to find Dumbledore, Sirius, Remus, Arabella, Moody and a bunch of aurors. The Dementors were nowhere to be found.
Dumbledore sized the dark side. There was Voldermort, Wormtail, Lucius Malfoy and another hooded figure whose face was not distinct along with several death eaters.
Voldermort was stunned. He didn't get how the light side got the information about his raid. He didn't even tell wormtail and Severes about the raid. Before he can recover from the shock, the aurors and the Order of Phoenix started to stun and bind as many death eaters as possible.
Sirius took up with Wormtail while Remus fought with Lucius. Arabella found that the hooded figure was left alone to fire curses and so she jumped in to fight with whoever it was.
The fight took an intense form with curses flying all around and smoke rising from the incessant duels. Voldermort was furious. Almost all his death eaters, except for wormtail, Lucius and a few others, were down.
"Don't run! Wormy! You will pay for your deeds....STUPEFY!" shouted Sirius making Wormtail unconscious.
Remus finally disarmed Lucius but before he can capture him, Voldermort aimed at him and yelled "CRUCIO" leaving Remus falling to the ground in pain.
"NO!" shouted Sirius but before he could reach his friend, Lucius retrieved his wand and spelled "CRUCIO" at Sirius. Lucius laughed evilly and trained his wand at Sirius.
"You will die like your friend, you pathetic dog" and before he could utter the death curse....
"EXPELLIARMUS", shouted Moody at Lucius making him loose his wand again.
Meanwhile, the hooded figure had many bruises and cuts fighting Arabella. But when Sirius got hurt, which distracted Arabella, the hooded figure fled from there.
The Light side was gaining upper hand. However, neither the aurors nor the light sides, except for Dumbledore, were able to counter Voldermort. The fighting took a nasty form with Sirius, Remus and Arabella hurt while several aurors lay dead.
Lucius and Wormtail now lay unconscious while Moody was hurt.
Dumbledore and Voldermort were all that were left to fight.
"Well....well. Old man. Show me what you've got", taunted Voldermort.
Dumbledore remained silent. He has grown quite old. He is no quicker like his enemy. He knows that any display rage from Voldermort can be dangerous for him. He needed to save as much energy as possible.
Both of them fought fiercely. But as time progressed, Voldermort was gaining upper hand. Voldermort threw many dark spells but were stopped by Dumbledore. He had to resort to dark spells himself to counter Voldermort.
"soul corpus" muttered Dumbledore making Voldermort weak. He grunted with pain. Finally Dumbledore had a chance to break the shields Voldermort had around.
"affligo aegis" muttered crushing the shields but Voldermort would not give up.
"debilito mentis" cursed Voldermort making Dumbledore's mind become clouded. He couldn't remember spells anymore. Dumbledore shut his eyes and started to fight the spell that clouded his mind. Slowly he gained some control.
"Incendio" yelled Dumbledore making flames erupt on Voldermort.
"Repellus" shouted Voldermort, stopping the flames, but burning his skin a little.
"You will have to do more than that Dumbledore", shouted Voldermort.
He trained his wand at rocks behind Dumbledore and muttered "Accio" which made the rocks soar towards Voldermort and in the process hit Dumbledore from behind. That broke Dumbledore's concentration and he felt the mind spell take over making him very weak again.
Voldermort laughed evilly. He aimed again at Dumbledore and yelled "Avada Ke.."
"EXPELLIARMUS" shouted someone making Voldermort's wand slip from his hand.
He looked up and saw Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley on their brooms hovering above the light side. There were more aurors flying towards their direction.
But before Harry could stun him, Voldermort took his wand and disapparated and so did most of his followers, who could.
All three quickly ran to Dumbledore and helped him on his feet. Severes, who was masked as an auror, ran forward and gave a vial of potion to Dumbledore, making him normal again. Sirius helped himself to his feet and held Remus who was unconscious.
Arabella helped Moody.
Sirius was furious.
"Harry! What the hell you think you are doing here? You could have been hurt. Why did you even come here?" shouted Sirius at Harry.
Before Harry could say something, Dumbledore stopped him and looked at Sirius.
"If not for Harry, would we be standing here and yelling at each other?" asked Dumbledore smiling.
Sirius realized immediately. He smiled at Harry and said "Thanks Harry!"
Harry walked forward and hugged both Arabella and Sirius. "I am glad you guys are alright", said Harry smiling back.
"Harry! I can't thank you enough. You have been of immense help to us. For that I thank you all", said Dumbledore.
All three teenagers smiled and nodded before everyone took a port key back to Hogwarts, into the Headmaster's office.
As soon as Harry stepped out of the office, he found Hermione in tears standing next to the gargoyle.
She was startled when the gargoyle moved, but found Harry reaching her concerned.
Hermione walked forward slapped him hard and hugged him tight.
"Where have you been? I was terrified out of my mind when McGonagall told me that you went to help Dumbledore at Azkaban. Why didn't you tell me? Do you know what I had been through the last few hours?" Hermione showered Harry with questions, all the while crying freely.
Harry, who was a bit disoriented from the slap, recovered quickly and hugged her tight.
"Hermione! Everything is alright. We went there just in time to help Dumbledore and disarmed Voldermort." Said Harry.
Hermione stopped crying for a few seconds, looked into his eyes and hugged back fiercely, crying more than ever.
"Hermione! Please! We are all Ok", assured Harry while Ron and Draco nodded.
Hermione controlled her crying but held onto Harry as they walked towards the common room.
"Draco! You might what to meet Ginny before you go back", said Harry.
Soon they found Lavender crying near the steps of Gryffindor common room. Ron ran and consoled her. She immediately jumped into his arms and they sat there hugging tight.
Now, Draco was a little afraid. He knows the temperament of Ginny. She is not as nice as Hermione and as girly as Lavender for sure.
"Draco! Hermione and I will take a walk. You go ahead and see Ginny", said Harry and mumbled "Hail Gryffindor" as the password.
Draco hesitantly stepped in. Ginny was there sitting in Indian style in front of the fire, seriously looking into it. As he stepped in, she turned to see him.
Draco smiled tentatively and Ginny's face lighted up for a moment. But soon she looked furious. She took her wand and started cursing Draco. His hair turned pink, he grew a tail, he had two horns, had some good tickling and what not. He had to run for his life.
Ron and Lavender stood up to go, but before they can Draco stormed out sprouting some feathers on his face and ran screaming out of the castle, closely chased by Ginny. Ron started laughing but stopped when Lavender scolded and led him inside, holding him tightly.
It was still early in the morning and there were not many students outside their dorms. Draco ran begging but fleeing a fierce Ginny all the way outside. He ran looking back and bumped into Harry and they both fell on the ground.
Hermione realized the situation and she quickly held Ginny before she could do something drastic to Draco.
"Thanks Hermione", muttered Draco and stood up facing them.
"What was all that about?" asked Harry.
Hermione released Ginny as she nodded silently in agreement. She walked towards Draco and undid all the curses. She then hugged him hard and started crying.
"Whoa! It's OK Gin! We are all OK. Now, please don't cry", pleaded Draco.
Ginny stopped crying and looked back at Harry and Draco. Her face grew red from anger.
"What are you three thinking by going away like that? You think we are not good for anything? Imagine we three girls leave you like that", admonished Ginny.
Hermione conveyed the same message silently. Harry and Draco lowered their heads and apologized. They vowed not to do anything like that ever.
Soon the atmosphere became normal again between all the six. They went to the great hall for breakfast as usual and then to their class.
"Ms. Parkinson! What happened to you?" asked Arabella.
She had bruises on her shoulders and arms.
"Blaise and I were playing and I fell over the stairs", replied Pansy.
Blaise stood up and apologized publicly for the accident and Arabella continued her class.
"Class, today we will study the rise of dark arts, the era of Grindelwald, to be precise." Said Arabella.
The rest of the classes went as usual.
Snape didn't take a single point out of Gryffindor even when Neville melted the cauldron. Infact, he gave 20 points to Gryffindor when Harry finished his potion.
After their classes, they returned to their training sessions after dinner. All of the six members were making smooth progress. They wee training for their elemental ability.
Harry was spending time with each to teach them spells that met them control their element.
"Ms. Granger! Concentrate", shouted Snape.
Snape is the trainer for Hermione in finding her elemental ability. She failed in air and fire till then. It was getting a little frustrated for her.
After two hours of excruciating session, she found that she had Earth element as ability. She could summon the earth guardian, lift rocks, mud, make burrows, control trees and even make the earth quake. Her partial control was in water. She could breath in water and control the flow of it. Harry was very happy for her.
Ron on the other hand had mastership of air and partial control on fire. Draco had mastership over water and partial control over air. Ginny was the master of Fire and partial control over earth.
Lavender stood there near tears as she failed in Air, Earth, Fire and Water elements. She always had doubts about her selection into the Order.
'I am neither smart like Hermione nor talented like Ginny. I think there has been a mistake in my selection', wondered Lavender.
Hermione could hear all she was thinking. She quickly walked over to her and held her hands.
'Lav! Don't even think about it. There has not been a mistake. You are special, just like everyone else. You have to believe in yourself. It's easy because we all believe in you", concluded Hermione.
Lavender smiled weakly. "But....but I failed in all the elements", she blurted out.
"Yes you did fail with Earth, Air, Water and Fire. That leaves you with Time, which you didn't test yet. Lav! I think you control time. Try it out", smiled Hermione.
Lavender hugged Hermione. "Herm! I am so lucky to have you has friend".
Arabella smiled, as Lavender got ready to practice again. She was surprised at how close and affectionate the teenagers behaved. They were always there for each other.
Lavender took a deep breath. She concentrated on the moving orbs in the air, animated by Arabella and in no time she found them almost frozen. They were moving very, very slowly, as if time has stopped.
"Congratulations Ms. Brown! You are controlling time. Now, try to move forward in time for about two minutes and back again", shouted Arabella.
"Harry!" called Arabella.
Harry, who had been helping Ron master Air, came running to Lavender.
"Think of the time you want to traverse and use the spell should be 'Aetas accendo' - to go forward and 'Aetas averto' - to come back", suggested Harry.
Lavender nodded and spelled to go forward in time. She felt a little disoriented and when she looked around, she saw Arabella, Harry and Hermione blinking at her. There was another girl; just like her....wait it was herself.
Before the future Lavender turned and looked at her, she quickly spelled the reversal spell and found herself staring at her friends and Arabella.
"Excellent Ms. Brown! Let's see the result now", smiled Arabella. Harry and Draco gasped as another Lavender appeared at the corner and disappeared before they can say anything.
Lavender shrieked like a little girl. They all hugged her. Ron came floating in the air towards her. He kissed and hugged her.
"Ron! Stop showing off", scoffed Draco.
"Alright everyone. Let's meet tomorrow. Hermione! Can I talk to you for a minute?" asked Arabella.
Harry kissed her and walked with others to their dorm.
"Are you in love with Harry?" asked Arabella.
"Yes Arabella! I am very much in love with him", replied Hermione looking at her.
She nodded and said, "Hermione! He will need you more than ever. Please promise that you'll be on his side"
"I will be always there for him Arabella", smiled Hermione.
"It is already late. Tomorrow we shall practice Animagus with Sirius and McGonagall. But I believe you and Harry doesn't need it", said Arabella smiling.
Hermione nodded and walked out. She started thinking about how their lives have changed in the past few months. So much has happened, that it would feel overwhelming sometimes. She stopped in the corridor to look at the full moon and the beautiful stars.
Hermione looked at the Quidditch pitch and smiled. She realized how much Harry has sacrificed for helping the wizarding world. As she looked towards the forbidden forest, she found someone under a cloak walk towards the forest cautiously.
Hermione got alarmed.
'Who could that be? I mean, who would want to sneak out into the forbidden forest at this hour of the night?' thought Hermione.
'If it is the same person that tried to hurt Ginny, I am not going to leave them', promised Hermione to herself and ran out of the castle towards the forest. She couldn't find the stranger anywhere.
Hermione changed into a Lioness and started sniffing the ground. She soon found a track that led deep into the forest. As she stalked she heard vague voices and Hermione walked further towards what seemed like a clearing.
Hermione found the cloaked person talking to two more people who seemed like a death eaters from the darkness that she could sense.
"Our Lord will be happy if you can do this. He will reward you soon. You cannot do it directly as you are not so powerful. Use this wand, specially made by the dark lord and kill the old fool. Do it after the classes. Get the password to the Headmaster's office and do it", told the death eaters to the cloaked figure.
"I already got the password from Potter", replied a female voice from under the cloaked figure. Hermione was startled about the fact that it is a female. But she couldn't place her.
Hermione realized that the cloaked figure is a student at Hogwarts. She got furious when she realized they are planning to assassinate Dumbledore. Being in the form of a Lioness, her bestiality overtook her rational thinking and Hermione leapt on to the death eaters.
She threw her paw onto the face of a death eater and hurt him bad. The other death eater was about to run.
"There are no lions in England, you fool. This is an Animagus", shouted the cloaked figure.
Both the cloaked figure and the death eater started firing curses. Hermione had to leap, jump and run around to escape the raining curses. However, she jumped onto the cloaked person, clawed on her shoulder and snatched the wand given by the death eater.
'That's for you Ginny!' smiled Hermione in her mind and started running back.
Hermione could hear the cloaked figure and death eater trying to follow her cursing, but couldn't keep up with her agility and speed.
Hermione ran all the way into the castle and morphed back to herself and ran all the way to Dumbledore. She jumped onto the staircase and practically rammed through the doors startling Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sirius and Arabella from their chairs.
"Hermione! I expected you to be in your dorm now", Arabella mildly showed her displeasure.
"Professor! There had been a plan to assassinate you, using this wand.... and I.... stole it...." blurted Hermione between breaths.
"Ms. Granger! Calm down. Sit here and tell me what happened", asked Dumbledore calmly.
Hermione sat and after breathing controlled, proceeded to narrate all the events that took place in the forest.
Everyone gasped at the horrific event planned by the dark lord.
"Seems like Potter is rubbing on you", stated McGonagall making Hermione blush.
"This wand is really powerful, but filled with dark magic." Said Dumbledore.
"What are you going to do Albus?" asked Sirius.
Dumbledore simply put the wand on the table and murmured some spell with his wand and the dark wand burst out in flames.
"Thank you Ms. Granger. It seems like I owe you one." Smiled Dumbledore.
Hermione smiled back not knowing what to say.
"Hermione! Did you get to see who that cloaked person is?" asked Sirius.
"No! But the person is a student here and from the voice it is a 'SHE'. Also, she got the password from Harry. So, as we know that the person is hurt and if we know who asked Harry the password to your office from yesterday, we can catch the person." Declared Hermione triumphantly.
Sirius patted Hermione proudly.
"Thank you Ms. Granger. We shall do that first thing in the morning. I suggest you to go back and take rest for the night." Said Dumbledore.
Hermione went to her dorm and slept immediately.
* * *
The next morning Hermione sent an urgent message through Telepathy to all the Order for an urgent meeting.
She explained everything that has happened to her friends. Harry held her to his heart and Hermione smiled at his startled face to assure him about her safety.
She also told them that the girl got the password from Harry.
"Harry! Who asked you the password to the headmaster's office, mate?" asked Ron.
Harry's face turned into a confused one and then into a horrified expression.
"Harry! What happened? Who is it?" asked Ginny as Hermione looked expectantly into Harry's face.
"It was.....CHO CHANG!" blurted out Harry drawing a gasp from everyone.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~