Harry Potter and the Curse of the Gypsy

Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews! I hope you like the story, it hit a snag and slowed down for awhile but now it's right back on track! I hope you like it, and be sure to review, read my other works, and please e- mail me at megx87@yahoo.com with any questions, comments, requests to read your masterpiece, or whatever. I'd love to hear from you!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I own only Cory Johnson and the plot. Bah.

Chapter Twenty

Harry woke slowly, feeling as if his head were about to explode. This was a feeling which Harry was only too used to, but he did find it quite odd that not only did his head feel like it was being beat on by a league of drummers, he was also quite damp as well, and that was something he couldn't explain. In another moment, he realized that he wasn't in his comfortable bed, but lying on something quite cold and hard, and if he wasn't mistaken there seemed to be something heavy lying on top of him.

He peeked one eye open and then the other. The light that flooded into his eyes only served to make his head ache even more. Grimacing, he took a wild look around and suddenly, with a strange, sickening feeling remembered the night before. Glancing down, he saw exactly what the weight on his stomach was.

It was Cory. She was curled up, her head resting on his chest, a faint smile tugging at the corners of her lips. Her hair had dried over the night, but it was no longer straight...it had curled up quite a lot and it was tangled all the way to her waist.

He glanced over...Ron and Hermione appeared to be in the same position as he and Cory, with the odd exception that Ron was the one nuzzled next to Hermione...he suspected Hermione might have a few words to say about this in the morning. Neville was in between the two couples, using every bit of space he had and snoring quite loudly.

'What a way to end the weekend.' He thought as he slowly began to slide out from under Cory. She groaned and shifted, her eyes fluttering open. She glanced up at Harry and her eyes widened in shock before she too remembered the night before. With a glance around the room, a grin formed on her face to mirror Harry's.

"Come on..." Harry whispered, getting to his feet and giving Cory a hand to help her up also. "Should we wake them."

Cory pulled up Harry's arm to look at his watch. She paled. "Uhm...we better. Classes start in thirty minutes."

"What?" As if on cue, Hermione yawned, sitting up, in the process dropping Ron with a loud crack to the floor. Ron moaned as he sat up, rubbing his head.

"What's going on?" he said, ramblingly.

Hermione glanced down at him, blushing bright red when she realized the position they must have been in only a moment ago. "You three boys got drunk and now we're paying the price for helping you idiots." Hermione said with irritation, though the memory of the night before put a small smile on her lips. She looked with anguish at Cory. "Is it really only that long until classes start?"

"Nope...not exactly..."

"Oh good."

"We actually only have about twenty-five minutes." Cory said apologetically.

"WHAT?" Hermione dashed over and looked at Harry's watch herself, paling. "We have to get out of here...Cho doesn't have morning classes, and she always uses the bathroom at around this time...we have to go, now!"

"Wuzzat?" Neville groaned as he sat up. "What are you talking about Cho for?"

"She's going to be here any moment!" Hermione cried. "This is partly her bathroom after all!" She stated nervously.

"But...but she's a girl!" Neville cried as he got to his feet. At this statement everybody turned to him. Cory cocked a brow, grinning merrily. "Oh yeah...right." said a very red Neville.

"Listen..." Harry said after a long moment, looking at the door. "If we can just slip out of here, maybe we can manage to make our way unnoticed to Gryffindor Tower."

"You have your invisibility cloak." Ron said, glancing at the silvery pile of fabric on the floor in the corner. Harry walked over and picked it up.

"It isn't nearly big enough to cover five people, Ron." Harry said. "When we were in first year, it was barely big enough to cover all three of us."

"So what're we going to do now?" Neville said. "I mean, if Cho gets here..."

But, as always, Neville had perfectly awful timing. They all turned when they heard a faint click at the door. As a body they stiffened and stared as the door slowly opened. Cho glanced up and froze when she saw them standing there.

"Erm...good morning?" said Harry questioningly.

"How are you?" Neville stated. Cho was looking them up and down, and appeared to have noticed they were all extremely wet and most likely also noticed that the three boys appeared quite dazed at the moment.

"What...what is this?" she said, after a moment. She was glancing at Neville now, who had turned such a brilliant red he had the appearance of an oversized cherry.

"We...we had a bit of a problem last night." Hermione said, blushing.

"Yeah...thanks to these three." Cory said with annoyance.

"I'm somehow not surprised." Cho replied, glancing back at the boys. Ron and Harry appeared to be trying not to think of the circumstance that they were in, while Neville appeared to be trying not to think at all.

"Listen...all we're going to say is we saved these three last night." Cory said, shaking her head. "Not from anything serious...just themselves."

"Again...not surprised." Cho stated, now grinning as she got over her shock.

"So could you please not mention this to anybody?" Hermione pleaded. Cho now laughed openly, unable to stop herself.

"Of course not...in fact, I'll do better than that. I'll help you out of this fix." She smiled as she stepped in, closing the door.

"Really?" said Harry eagerly. "You will?"

"Of course...what fun would it be to just stand around doing nothing? Come on...I see you have an invisibility cloak, I can just imagine whose that is." Cho stated. "Why don't you boys leave under that? Hermione and Cory can stay here and get washed up...I have some extra robes for you, Cory, if you need them."

Cory smiled. "Thanks...I was wondering how I would sneak up to the bathrooms, I can't go on down with my hair like this. It's as greasy as Snape's..."

Harry snorted. "That'll be the day."

A moment later the boys were trudging carefully down the hall, trying to avoid the occasional straggler rushing their way to breakfast. "We're going to be late." Neville hissed. "We have Divination first, don't we?"

"Yeah." Harry sighed. "Won't miss much, I'm guessing. Just how many times can she predict my death in a day, do you ever wonder?"

When they finally reached the boy's prefect bathroom, though, it was not empty. Draco was looking at himself in the mirror, slicking back his white- blonde hair and sneering unpleasantly at himself. 'Why can't I have a shared bathroom with just one person, like the girls have it?' he thought unpleasantly.

"My, you look handsome today, Draco." Harry heard Ron hiss from nearby.

He felt Neville convulse beside him with nervous laughter and clapped his hand over Neville's mouth. "Move over near the wall." He whispered. As a group they shifted over. An agonizing moment passed before Malfoy finally left. When the door was properly shut, Harry threw off the cloak. After a long moment, the three boys burst out into laughter.

They had escaped.

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Harry yawned as Hedwig swooped down from overhead. She deposited a hastily scribbled letter in his lap and nibbled affectionately at his finger, taking a bit of his toast before she fluttered away. There were only a few people left in the common room, including Ron and Neville. He glanced around to make sure nobody was looking, sure that he recognized the scribble.

Harry,

Be at Hagrid's cabin around lunchtime. We need to discuss Christmas.

Snuffles

Harry felt a sick feeling in his stomach. He had suspected that, seeing as Remus and Sirius' place in Hogsmeade was now clearly capable of attack, he would no longer be allowed to visit them for the holidays. His suspicions were now confirmed. Sighing, he shoved the letter in his pocket and started up to the Divination tower, Ron and Neville throwing down their things and rushing after him.

"Hey, you weren't going to leave us behind, were you?" Ron snorted.

Harry shook his head. "Sorry...I had my mind on something else." He sighed.

They walked up, arriving in the room only moments before the bell signaling the start of the first class chimed. Neville left them to sit at his usual table as Ron and Harry moved over to where Cory was waiting for them. She grinned as they took their seat. "Made it, did you?" she snorted.

"Yeah, I guess." He said. Cory sighed.

"I didn't realize Cho was so much shorter than me, you know. Her arms, anyway. I keep having to pull down the sleeves...they keep pulling up to my wrists."

Harry didn't have time to answer. He was thinking. The thought of spending Christmas here, at Hogwarts, didn't bother him much...it was where he had spent every winter holiday for the past four years. But the fact was he knew that Dumbledore had no intentions of letting any student, let alone Harry, stay here this year. And that meant only one thing...the Dursleys.

He supposed he might have asked Ron if he could stay at the Burrow this year, but the thought of asking made him sick. He knew the Weasley's didn't have that much money this year...what if they couldn't afford to keep him this time around? They would never refuse to let him come, but he also knew that he couldn't cause any more problems for Ron or the rest.

So it was with resignation that he accepted the fact that, this year, he would be having a most unpleasant holiday.

And at the same moment, he realized that the entire room was staring at him...something not uncommon in this class. Trelawney was glaring at him. "What are you doing? I don't like my students to write notes in class."

"What?" Harry said stupidly. He then realized that, for the entire time he was thinking, he had been holding his quill over his parchment...and to his utter astonishment, the pen had been writing...and Harry hadn't. "I...I wasn't writing..." he said, dropping the pen and jumping back.

Trelawney got a very pleased look on her face and clapped her hands. "Of course, of course! Harry, you are indeed a gifted young man. I knew you were inclined to having visions, but never did I know that you were talented in the arts of automatic writing..."

"Excuse me?" he said, while Lavender and Parvati gasped in surprise.

"You are a medium, Harry...the spirit world has contacted you through writing. Tell us what it says! Perhaps we can tell you it's cryptic meaning." Harry turned red and glanced down at the paper...and suddenly realized that it would be much better for the class if they didn't know what the note said.

When days of darkness fall,

And the dark one rises once more,

The four shall return, headed by the one,

To defeat the fallen son,

The malevolent heir of Slytherin,

Defeated once by his brethren,

His fellows,

The Order of the Phoenix shall return.

Until then, Voldemort shall rein.

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Harry walked to Dumbledore's office, feeling a heavy weight on his chest. He hadn't shown the note to anybody, not even his friends though they had asked. No, he didn't want anybody seeing this. He had crumpled it up, saying it was nothing...Ron had joked it had probably just been a love letter to Cory, and Cory had replied by punching Ron playfully in the ribs.

When he finally stood outside the statue to Dumbledore's office, he paused, thinking. He knew that the password had most likely changed from last year. He was trying to think of what it might be when he heard a cold voice from behind him.

"Let me guess...Mister Potter has had yet another earth-shattering experience and must report it to Dumbledore at once, is that correct?" Harry turned around, meeting Snape's cold black eyes.

"Actually..." he sputtered, remembering the crumpled note in his pocket.

Snape sighed. "Yes, of course. We have all been given orders, of course, to take you to his office whenever you feel it is necessary. That doesn't mean I think it's necessary, but..." He sneered, "You are Harry Potter, after all."

Harry didn't know what to say. Snape turned to the gargoyle. "Candied Apples." The gargoyle sprang to life and slid aside. Harry walked to the moving stairs and got on. Snape followed, making Harry very uncomfortable.

When he reached the door, he knocked. "Who's there?" he heard through the door. "Erm...it's me and Sna-Professor Snape, sir."

"Come in, come in." Harry turned the handle and stepped into the now familiar office of Professor Dumbledore. Fawkes the phoenix was preening from his branch. When he saw Harry he swooped over. Harry reached out absently to pet him. Dumbledore smiled. "Not in trouble again, eh Harry?"

Harry thought for a second before realizing what Dumbledore must have thought. "Oh, no sir." He sputtered "Professor Snape and I just met in the hall...we're here together but not...together."

"That's always good news." Dumbledore grinned. "You had something to tell me, Severus?"

"Yes, of course." Snape looked suspiciously at Harry. "Mundungus Fletcher has just arrived, and he appeared quite frazzled. He's up in the owlery...he would like to talk to you immediately."

Dumbledore sighed. "Old Mundungus, always making me go out of my way...I'll be back in a moment, Harry. Sit down, make yourself comfortable. And no...spying..." As Dumbledore said this his glance moved to the cabinet Harry knew contained the pensieve. Harry reddened.

"No, of course not Professor." He leaned back in the chair. Fawkes watched as Dumbledore bustled out, Snape behind him.

As he waited, Harry pulled out the note and reread it. It didn't seem to make any sense to him...what exactly was the Order of the Phoenix anyway? He had heard mention of it in History of Magic before, but now he couldn't remember exactly where he had heard it or what it had all been about.

After a while, Dumbledore returned. He slid behind his desk and looked at Harry. "So, what is it this time, Harry?" he said.

Harry flushed as he slid the note across the desk. "I was writing that in Divination, Professor. Just...I didn't realize I was writing it. I don't even know where it all came from."

Dumbledore read it through before glancing up at Harry. "I think I do." He shifted the note over and sighed. "Harry, remember when I told you once that the prediction Professor Trelawney made was her second true prediction?"

Harry looked at Dumbledore...was he saying what he thought he was saying? "Yes..." he replied, looking down at the note.

"Well, this here mirrors almost exactly the first true prediction that she ever made." Dumbledore stated. "With a few minor details shifted, of course. Things have changed, since Voldemort rose for the first time."

"What?" Harry said with surprise. "You mean...she predicted Voldemort coming the first time?"

Dumbledore shook his head. "No, Harry...she predicted how he would be defeated. Nobody, of course, counted on you...I had thought it would be your father to do the job, in a proper duel..." Sadly he sighed. "But things do not always turn out as we at first believe they will."

"What...what are you getting at?" Harry said, looking again at the letter.

"The Order of the Phoenix." Dumbledore sighed. "Listen, Harry. The Order was, at first, only a name...but soon it became the thing that created destiny for the four." Dumbledore stood. "Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, Salazar Slytherin, and Godric Gryffindor."

"The four founders?" Harry asked, unsure what Dumbledore was leading him to.

"Yes. The four created this school, and did a lot more than that. They created the basic foundations of witchcraft and wizardry as we know them. But things were not so peaceful, that well enough could be let alone..." he shook his head and sat down once more. "Salazar and Gryffindor did not begin as rivals, that much I can say. But jealously and disagreement soon make them enemies."

Harry looked at Dumbledore, anticipation pulsing through his veins. "But what...what does this have to do with the note."

Dumbledore sighed and pushed down his half-moon spectacles. "Harry, I have told you often that you will know when you are older why...why Voldemort wanted to kill you. Your mother died, even though she did not have to...if she had handed you over to him, she would have lived, but then, the rest of us would have been left to a far worse fate."

Harry felt his tension rising. "But...but..."

Dumbledore shook his head. "Just listen. I did not know if I believed it at first...I knew he wanted your family, but I did not know why. It was Professor Snape who warned me that you were his next target..." Harry felt himself staring. "But of course, things changed and your parents were betrayed.

"I don't think I've ever forgiven myself for not understanding what it was Voldemort wanted." Dumbledore continued. "I did not know until you lived...and it was then that I knew everything." He sighed. "There is something I should have told you five years ago, Harry, when I realized that you had never seen the letter I gave to your aunt and uncle. You, Harry, are the heir of Gryffindor."

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YAHOO! YAY! Harry is the heir of Gryffindor, big surprise there, huh? *rolls eyes sarcastically.* Anyway, what do you think? This chapter was originally SO much different, but hey, things change, especially when you are a creative genius such as me! Hee-hee-hee. Well, please R & R, tell me what you think and all that jazz. I like to hear your opinions...as long as they are good opinions and you are not jerks! If you have any questions or comments you'd rather not put in a review, feel free to e-mail me at your own risk!