HI, EVERYONE!!!! Yes, I am FINALLY back! My summer was great, and I hope that everyone else had an equally pleasant vacation.

As for this story, I haven't gotten the entire thing finished, but I do have tons and tons of chapters done ranging from this one to the very last, so I can hopefully fill in the blanks pretty quickly. I really hope that you guys are still interested in this story, as I know it's literally been months since my last post. If you are still interested, please, Please, PLEASE review and let me know!!!!

Love ya all!

Disclaimer: They all belong to J.K. Rowling (who apparently has no interest in them any longer...)

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Later that evening, Harry found himself with Ron and Hermione in the Restricted Section of the library. They had been assigned their punishment by Mr. Filch and were supposed to be dusting the shelves in the side- section.

"Aren't we supposed to be in trouble?" Ron asked lightly as he glanced around at the many shelves of books. "Granted, I don't care too much for the library, but this is hardly punishment. Hell, this is an absolute picnic for Hermione!"

Harry laughed at this, but Hermione just rolled her eyes in Ron's direction. "Well, it certainly won't hurt you to spend some time in here. God knows you never step foot near a book unless you're forced to."

Ron scowled slightly, but he just shrugged his shoulders as he sat the ladder Filch had given him down and leaned it against a shelf. "So, where should we start?"

Harry and Hermione glanced all around them, too. There were more shelves in the Restricted Section than Harry had originally thought, and he started to think that perhaps this wouldn't be as much of a walk in the park as they'd imagined.

"Well, we better dust from the top to the bottom," he said, glancing up at the high, high shelf in front of him. "That way if the dust falls, it won't get on clean books."

Hermione nodded and started to move the ladder to the end of a particularly high shelf. "Who's going up there?"

Harry and Ron looked at each other with silent agreement and then turned back to Hermione. Ron smiled slyly at her. "Well, this ladder is probably really old, and I don't think it would hold Harry or me..."

""But I'm scared of heights!" Hermione protested at once. "Please don't make me go up there!"

Harry glanced at Ron and knew that neither of them was about to climb that rickety old ladder. Ron was right; it would definitely collapse under their weight, but Hermione was much lighter than either of them. "Hermione, it's either you go up there, or we don't get this finished. It's not like we can levitate ourselves up there and clean it. And that ladder won't hold us."

Hermione huffed up and glared at them both. "Fine!" she said angrily. "But you both have to hold the ladder because I don't trust either of you enough on your own."

Harry felt slightly offended, and Ron let out a loud huff of indignation. "Well, thanks, Hermione," he said sarcastically.

"You're welcome," she said bitingly. Reaching for a higher rung, she turned to look at them. "Now, both of you hold it. And please don't let me fall," she said helplessly.

"We've got you," Harry assured her, taking hold of one side of the ladder while Ron did the same on the other side. He reached down and picked up a dusting rag. "Here," he held it up to her, and she took it warily before placing one foot on the bottom step of the ladder.

She looked at them fearfully, and Harry felt just a little sorry for her. "Oh, go on," Ron told her finally. "You're not going to fall, and if you do, we'll catch you."

Hermione didn't appear to be too comforted by his statement, but she started up the ladder nonetheless. It was a very high shelf, and she climbed for several seconds before she finally got to a point where she could reach the top of the bookshelf. "Hold on tight," she called down to them, her voice wavering.

Harry looked up at her and quite immediately wished he hadn't. The first thing he noticed when he looked up was the fact that it was very, very easy to see straight up Hermione's skirt. 'Oh, God,' he thought to himself. 'Look away; look away!'

It didn't work.

As much as he wanted to turn his head, it didn't help. He found that his head simply wouldn't turn; it was as if some strange force was holding it in the upwards position and forcing him to look straight up his best friend's skirt. The thing that really bothered him was that it was quite a nice view...

'No!' he thought quickly. 'It's Hermione!'

Hermione or not, he was quite transfixed on the sight above him. Finally, after what seemed like several agonizing minutes of staring quite inappropriately at his best friend and, worse yet, enjoying it, he managed to look away and turn his head to Ron.

Ron, too, seemed to be taking in the view quite intently. As if sensing Harry's gaze on him, Ron turned his head, and both boys began to blush immediately. Then that invisible force, whatever it was, seemed to move their heads back to the original view, and they stared together for several more minutes.

"Should we tell her?" Ron finally muttered quietly.

Harry found himself shaking his head, though he was immediately appalled at whatever... thing... forced him to do so. "No, not yet," he muttered just as quietly.

He saw Ron nod slowly from the corner of his eye, and he heard a very soft, "Right."

At that moment, Hermione decided to raise herself onto her tiptoes, assumedly to reach a difficult, hard-to-reach spot. However, as she did this, her skirt rose even higher onto her hips, and the boys both found that they could see quite a bit more than they'd been able to previously. Harry found himself praying silently that Hermione would find an even more difficult spot to dust, and he heard Ron mutter, "Bloody hell..." from his right.

Bloody hell just about summed it all up.

"I'm almost done here." Hermione's voice drifted from above them and jerked them both instantly out of their reverie.

Harry swallowed quickly and nodded, though he knew she couldn't see him. Ron let out an awkward, "Okay," in which his voice cracked and turned the word into three syllables.

"Maybe we should tell her when she gets down," Harry whispered hurriedly to Ron.

Ron just shook his head rapidly, though. "No!" he hissed back. "She'll kill us for not telling her sooner! And she'll be embarrassed!"

Harry somehow thought that it was he and Ron who should be embarrassed.

"What are you saying down there?" Hermione's voice seemed distant despite the fact that she was in the same room with them.

"Nothing!" Harry called up quickly. "Are you finished yet?"

"Just about," came the reply. "I've got to get to the very back, though, so just give me a few more minutes."

Harry and Ron both watched as Hermione climbed a couple more rungs and rested one leg on a step higher than her other leg. This left even more to view than before, and Harry was quite positive that he was absolutely not supposed to be enjoying this. But despite what he was quite sure of, he was very much enjoying this little... show, or whatever. And he felt that whatever was causing him to enjoy it so much should be very, very ashamed.

Ron looked to be enjoying the demonstration perhaps even more than Harry was. His mouth was slightly open, and he had his head tilted to the left in what was quite obviously an attempt to get the clearest view possible.

"What the..." Hermione's almost exclamation instantly jerked them back to reality. It was followed by a very loud scream and then a horrible sounding crash. It took Harry a few moments to realize that the crash had come from first a large book tumbling and narrowly missing Ron's head and then Hermione herself falling several feet and crashing to the ground with yet another loud scream.

Harry instantly let go of the ladder and saw Ron doing the same thing as they both rushed toward their best friend who was now lying on the ground a few places away from them. Her eyes were closed, and she wasn't moving in the least.

"Hermione!" It was Ron who first exclaimed her name as they both dropped to their knees on either side of her. She gave no indication that she could hear him. "Hermione, are you okay?!"

Harry felt himself suddenly get very sick. 'Please be okay!' he urged her silently. He looked frantically at Ron. "What do we do?!"

Ron looked as frantic as Harry felt, and he shook his head rapidly. He reached out and touched Hermione's neck. "She's got a pulse!"

"Thank God!" Harry exclaimed as he used one hand to gently slap at her cheek. "Hermione, wake up!"

"Go get Madame Pomfrey!" Ron said quickly. "Hurry!"

Harry nodded and moved instantly to get up, but he heard a muffled sound coming from the ground. He looked down to see Hermione slowly stirring. She groaned a few times and moved her head just a bit.

Ron and Harry looked at each other, relief showing on both of their faces. Ron reached for her shoulder and shook her slightly. "Hermione, wake up."

Another muffled groan was their answer, and then Hermione's voice came out very quietly. "No, Mum... Just five more minutes..."

Once again, Harry and Ron looked across her at each other. Harry shrugged and tried again. "Hermione, it's us. C'mon, wake up."

Finally, Hermione's eyes fluttered open. She blinked several times in the light before looking from one of them to the other curiously. "Why are you two in my room?" she asked groggily.

"This isn't your room," Harry said slowly. "It's the library."

Ron snickered lightly despite the situation and said in a quiet undertone. "She probably doesn't know the difference."

Harry forced himself not to laugh at Ron's joke. Hermione was still obviously having a difficult time comprehending what was going on.

"Why am I on the floor of the library?" she asked warily, her nervousness showing on her flushed face.

"You fell off the ladder," Ron explained. "We're in detention, remember?"

"Oh..." Realization took over Hermione's features. "I fell off that huge ladder?"

Both boys nodded at her.

"And I'm still alive?"

"Apparently," Harry said in somewhat disbelief.

Hermione then attempted to raise herself into a sitting position, but she groaned loudly as she tried. "My head hurts really bad," she confessed, finally managing to bring herself upright.

Ron looked as worried as Harry felt. "Are you okay?" he asked timidly.

Hermione nodded vaguely. "Yeah, I'll be fine." Then a look of excitement and confusion took over her face. "Where's the book?"

Harry couldn't help but find the irony in the fact that Hermione had just woken up from nearly being killed and the first thing she thought about was a book. He just hoped Ron wasn't stupid enough to point this obvious irony out. To cut off any attempts that the redhead might make, Harry said, "What book?"

"The book that jumped out at me." She said this as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"A book jumped out at you?" Ron was biting his lip in what Harry strongly suspected was an attempt to cease any wavering laughter he might be about to exult. "Hermione, maybe you ought to see Madame Pomfrey..."

Hermione shook her head, rubbing the back of her neck softly. "No! Just before I fell, a book jumped off the shelf. That's what made me lose my balance."

Suddenly Harry remembered something. "A book fell off the shelf at the same time you did."

"Where is it?" Hermione asked quickly.

Harry leaned back a little and reached the aforementioned book. It was a thick book, one that would take him an entire year to read. Hermione, though, would refer to it as "light reading."

Hermione instantly reached for the book and looked at the cover. It was so old that she had to dust several inches of dirt from the front to see the title.

'Ancient Prophetic Predictions.'

The three friends looked at it curiously. Ron was the first to speak. "Looks like something Trelawney would make us read," he said, only half- joking.

Hermione paid him no attention as she laid the book in front of her and opened it to the first page. They were instantly met with a cloud of dust as the pages started turning themselves very rapidly. Harry, Ron, and Hermione all watched it in shock. After several moments, the book stopped turning its pages and fell open.

"Uh, I don't think we should mess with this book," Ron said uneasily. "It might be dangerous."

Harry hadn't forgotten the stories of the bewitched books that Ron had told him when they were second years and had found Tom Riddle's diary. But just as curiosity had gotten the better of him then, he shook his head. "No, I think we need to read it."

Hermione was one step ahead of them, though. She was already leaning over the book and studying it intently. The writing was so tiny that she had to bend very close to it to make out the words.

"What does it say?" Harry was eyeing Hermione curiously, but she just shook her head to silence him and continued reading.

"You guys, I'm serious," Ron said quickly. "This looks very fishy to me. Books aren't just supposed to fly off the shelf and nearly get someone killed! It just doesn't work that way!"

Ron might have been right, but Harry was way too interested in finding out exactly what the book had to say than to worry about whether or not it was dangerous. He was used to danger by now; his name might as well have been Harry "Danger" Potter. A book wasn't about to frighten him.

Hermione suddenly gasped and looked up at them both. Her eyes were wider than normal, and she was staring at them both in what appeared to be disbelief. "You have to hear this," she told them quietly.

"Hear what?" Harry leaned over and tried to read for himself, but Hermione was blocking the way and the print was too tiny to read from a distance.

Hermione pushed some of her hair away from her face and began to read out loud.

"In the year 1495 AD, the Dark Lord Manicalt reigned with unwavering power. The Dark Arts were at an all-time high, and Manicalt's followers continually brought terror to all who opposed them. That year marked the murder of over five-thousand witches and wizards who refused to follow Manicalt and resort to using the Dark Arts."

"Five thousand witches and wizards?" Ron repeated in disbelief.

Hermione continued. "Manicalt used his power to take over the entire European continent and bring them to his mercy. The most prominent wizarding school in Europe, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, was turned into the headquarters for Manicalt and his followers. All of the tenants of the school, save a select few, were forced to serve Manicalt and his people endlessly."

"What do you bet the 'select few' were the fifteenth century Slytherins?" Harry asked bitterly.

"The Hogwarts headmaster at the time was a man by the name of Trenon Crinnet. Crinnet was murdered brutally in front of several students. Three of the students who were forced to watch their headmaster's demise formed a secret counter-attack and attempted to lead their fellow students in an effort to overthrow Manicalt.

"Mary Pruitt was said to be the cleverest witch of her age, and it was her mind that concocted the plan to end the brutality taking over her school and the world. She enlisted the help of her two closest friends Thomas Whitton and John Layman. Whitton was orphaned at a very young age by a curse set upon his parents by Manicalt. He added the personal affliction for Manicalt that the operation needed. Layman, a very strong young man, fought forcibly for the safety of his friends and family and brought the physical strength needed to the plan."

Harry suddenly felt very, very sick. Ron was shaking his head slowly and muttering, "I knew we shouldn't have looked at this."

Hermione continued without a word. "The plan to overthrow Manicalt and his followers was successful. Manicalt fell in a final battle against the three young heroes; his death, however, brought the end to Pruitt, Whitton, and Layman, too, as their powers were completely exalted."

"Oh, how bloody wonderful," Ron muttered sarcastically.

Harry was feeling sicker by the second.

"Many prophets predict the rise of another Dark Wizard in the future, this one to take power five-hundred years after Manicalt's demise. The new Dark Wizard will be more horrible and more ruthless than anything the wizarding world has been exposed to in the past, and his reign of terror will frighten many into joining him.

"However, there will be hope because a new generation of good will be rising to power as well. Among them, three young wizards who will follow in the footsteps of Pruitt, Whitton, and Layman. With the power of "the brain, the heart, and the body," these young wizards will form a bond so strong that it will rival the Darkness which will be threatening to overtake them."

Hermione finished and looked up at Ron and Harry timidly. "Guess how many years it's been," she said quietly.

Ron threw his hands into the air and said quite loudly, "How fucking fantastic!" in the most sarcastic tone imaginable.

Harry felt the overwhelming need to throw up. This just couldn't be true. He refused to believe it.

His best friends were going to be in immediate danger all because of him.

"I have to go." He spoke suddenly and looked up at his best friends with clouded eyes. He stood up without another word and started toward the door.

"Harry, you can't leave," came Hermione's voice. "We're in detention."

Harry turned briefly. "I'm sorry. Make something up. Say I got sick." And with that, he exited the library without speaking again.

He didn't know where he was going, but he knew he had to get away by himself for awhile.

If the prophecy was correct, he might as well have killed his best friends already.

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