AN: Thanks for the reviews! I managed to get another chapter out despite
all my soccer stuff~
Harry was, at the time of the meeting, tracking down some Death Eaters in Austria. Sirius, the only one who knew that Harry was an Auror, had briefed him about a small band of Aurors that hadn't returned from their mission about a week ago. Harry had to check it out, against Sirius's will of course.
The Death Eater base seemed to be centered in the middle of a large, dark forest. Harry wore dark robes, not unlike those that the Death Eaters wore, and also brought his old invisibility cloak. He could turn himself invisible, yes, but that required energy and he needed all the energy he could get right now. He had transfigured himself before leaving Hogwarts, however. He was now a brown-haired, blue-eyed, pudgy man who looked mid thirties.
Following a lone Death Eater, he managed to find his way to their base with no trouble. There was no apparent way into the base. Harry tried to stay close to the Death Eater without alerting the man of his presence. After about ten steps, however, the Death Eater noticed him and turned around. Luck was with him tonight, fortunately.
"You're late too? Come on, I know a short cut," the Death eater said. Harry quickly followed, being careful to hide his face. He was disguised, of course, but he didn't want to take any chances. He scolded himself for being seen, but he had incidentally found a way in.
Once inside, the death eater led him to a small meeting room. The room, which looked more like a dungeon than a room, held about forty death eaters. Harry was stunned. If this was how many they had in a small base like Austria, how many did they have at the central base? He shuddered to think.
A man in dark robes like the rest of them caught their attention.
"All right. I've been informed that we may do what we like to the Aurors, Master already has enough for his plan. I'm going to assign four of you to dispose of them how you see fit." He pointed to four people close to Harry.
"You four, you're in charge. They're in the lower dungeon. Have fun," he said, his voice sickeningly smooth. Harry followed the others to the dungeons. When they got there, he silently stunned one of the death eaters.
When he fell to the ground, the other two spun around, looking for an attacker.
"Guys, come help me, I don't know what happened," Harry said in a voice lower than his own. When the two Death Eaters were close enough to him he stunned both of them before they had their wands out. Must be new recruits, Harry thought. That was just too easy. He called out to the prisoners to find out which cell they were in.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" He heard silence.
"I stunned the Death Eaters, but they'll be waking up soon. Which cell are you in?" Harry heard a faint croak in the cell straight in front of him. He quickly said, "Alohomora!" and opened the gate.
"Oh, shit," he said, looking at the Aurors. They were not in good condition. There were six all together. Two had dried blood all down their face, and one was holding his leg like it was broken. The other three had suffered the Cruciatus curse, he knew the side effects the Unforgivable. He grabbed some vials from his belt. They contained some low grade healing potions. It wouldn't heal them completely, but it would get them out alive.
"Here," he said, handing three identical vials to the three that had suffered through the Cruciatus. They drank them up greedily, and after a few seconds the effects began to wear off. Harry healed the gaping wounds in the one's head, and bandaged up the others. The man holding his leg looked awfully familiar. It was Fred Weasly. That's why he wasn't at dinner, Harry realized.
He healed Fred's leg, and he heard a muttered, "thanks." Harry simply nodded a short, "you're welcome," before turning to the others.
"All right, the Death Eaters will be awake any minute so." what ever he was going to say was cut off by the banging of the gate. Someone had locked Harry inside with the rest of the Death Eaters. Harry sighed. This was going to complicate things further.
"Oh good job Harry," he muttered to himself. "Way to be captured on a rescue mission. God, what a bloody idiot. I suppose the death eaters have security spells on them or something. Figures they would." he continued muttering to himself, not realizing the six Aurors could pretty much hear ever word.
"Don't worry about it mate, we're just glad someone tried. Sorry you're gonna be killed with the rest of us," Fred said. "By the way, you say your name's Henry? Got a last name, Henry?" Fred said, trying to make conversation. Harry frowned.
"I'm not going to die, this just complicates things. Honestly, do you think I'd come by myself if I couldn't handle things?" Seeing the look on Fred's face, Harry quickly apologized.
"Sorry, didn't mean to snap. You just sound so defeated. No hope left, know what I mean? Don't really like that attitude myself," Harry said. Fred nodded.
"I know, but honestly, what's left to hope for? Most Aurors hope to die in a small place like this rather than be captured for one of you-know-who's plans. You know, he's been gathering Aurors at his cell in Albania, I'm glad I wasn't stationed there. Who knows what they do to Aurors there?"
The other Aurors nodded in agreement. Harry frowned. He needed them to escape, he couldn't do it all.
"I came from Hogwarts just now, you know. And have you heard? It appears that Ron Weasly, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter have returned to Hogwarts."
"Really? If they returned then things must be pretty desperate for McGonagall. She has Sirius recruiting new Aurors. I know he can't find anymore. We were some of the last Aurors he's got," one man said.
"Are you sure they returned? McGonagall could just be lying to raise moral for Hogwarts. Have you seen them?" Harry nodded. Fred was oddly quiet.
"I haven't seen Ron in years. We all tried writing to him, trying to get him to come back, but he never responded to our letters. We thought he had died," Fred said.
"Well, he's there. They turned up Friday night, all three of them."
"Even Potter? I heard he was killed by Voldemort," an Auror said. He looked oddly familiar.
"Yes, Potter's there too. Listen, I'd love to chat about them after we've escaped, all right? Just remember that you can always have hope." With that, Harry stood up and blasted the gate open with a handy 'Reducio'. The three Death Eaters standing outside were killed in the blast, so the six Aurors and Harry quietly escaped without too much trouble. Remembering the way down here, Harry retraced his steps. They ran into problems along the way though.
A band of four Death Eaters came running down the hallway, obviously responding to the small explosion. They were quickly stunned/cursed, and the group continued on their way. Although they had been healed, the Aurors moved slower than usual.
They reached the front gates, but when Harry and the group tried to open them they were portkeyed into the same room Harry had been before. They were surrounded by thirty some death eaters.
"Well well well, what do we have here? A spy in our midst? Reveal yourself!" said the head death eater. He shot a spell at Harry, and his hood fell down. Thank god for the small miracles, Harry thought. His disguise was still in place, for no one shouted, "Harry Potter!"
"So, you thought you could get away undetected?" Harry rolled his eyes at the cliché line. This death eater was a horrible bad guy.
"I didn't think I could get away. I knew," he said. Then, with out warning, his eyes flashed a bright emerald green and a shock wave hit the room, spreading out like a ripple. The Aurors were amazed. He had leveled the whole room with one curse!
"Lets get out of here," he said. They quickly ran out the room into the forest, and apparated.
When they reached Hogwarts, Harry stopped.
"Report to Sirius, he's waiting for you." In a flash, he disappeared.
In reality, Harry had just put on his invisibility cloak. He wanted to arrive before they did, so they wouldn't draw conclusions about him and 'Harry Potter'. Plus, that spell took a great deal out of him. It was mostly all show, but it did take a great deal of energy.
The next day, the Daily Profit sold out. On the front page was an article about the trio, and how they had returned to Hogwarts. They had information on what Hermione and Ron had been doing, but surprising little on the 'boy-who-lived'.
The Trio Returns to Hogwarts
Just yesterday an amazing event occurred. Three key figures in the history of fighting Voldemort returned to Hogwarts Friday night. Hermione Granger, who was one of the three original starters of the second Order of the Phoenix, has been studying at the New Zealand Research and Developmental Center. Her latest research has been about the Unforgivable Curses. Ms. Granger was working on a way to block these three horrible curses when she received a letter from Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts. Along with her vast amount of knowledge, this young witch is also very powerful. In fact, some go as far to claim that she might be as powerful, if not more, as McGonagall herself. Ronald Weasly, the second original starter of the Order of Phoenix, also returned to Hogwarts late Friday night. Mr. Weasly was currently studying to become an Auror in Brazil, in South America. He is two weeks away from completing his training, and once he does he will become one of best Aurors to ever protect Hogwarts. His training masters say he has been one of the best Aurors to ever go through their program. With his fast reflexes and quick thinking, this reporter is sure that the residents of Hogwarts will rest easier knowing he is there. Harry Potter has also returned to Hogwarts. After leaving four years ago, it is unclear where he went. Some say he went to America and worked for the Ministry of Magic. Others say he started tracking down Voldemort. We were unable to question Mr. Potter last night, but we are sure he will be more than glad to grant us an interview at the soonest possible time. Mr. Potter, who is still know as the boy-who-lived, is said to be one of the most powerful wizards of our time. None know just how powerful, but some compare his power to Albus Dumbledore's.
The article went on to speculate where Harry had been, or how powerful he really was.
There was a second article in the paper as well, that did not make the front page but was just as important, if not more so.
Six Aurors Escape Captivity
Six Aurors that had been captured earlier this week returned to Hogwarts last night. They had been working on a mission in Albania when they were capture, taken to the Death Eater base, and presumed dead. However, a mysterious figure sneaked into the base last night, and freed the Aurors, leaving almost no Death Eater survivors. Fred Weasly, one of the Aurors, described this man for us.
'He had dark brown hair.he was shorter than I stand, but his power made up for lack of weight.his eyes were blue but they flashed green when he performed [the spell that destroyed the thirty two death eaters]. He said his name was Henry, but he had no last name.'
This 'Henry' figure could be the turning point in the war. Sources say that after the six Aurors arrived at Hogwarts, he mysteriously vanished. Madeline Rupert said he is middle thirties. If anyone spots this mysterious man, thank him for the lives of these six Aurors.
The rest of the article described the different Aurors that had been rescued.
Harry frowned as Hermione approached him. She looked angry.
"Harry! You missed our meeting last night, and I couldn't find you all morning! We have a class in twenty minutes, and I haven't had time to tell you everything you need to know," she said.
"I'm sorry Hermione, but I had something important to do. Maybe you should just teach the class yourself, and I'll just watch," he said, a bit angry and a bit tired from last night's escapades.
Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Now don't you take that tone with me, Mr. Potter- you will help me whether you like it or not." Harry fought back a grin, despite his anger, but kept his face serious- she sounded so much like McGonagall.
"Yes ma'am, Professor McGon- I mean, Professor Granger," he said, his eyes twinkling like Dumbledore's used to.
Hermione bit back a grin herself. She had to admit- she did tend to sound like Minnie every once in a while. Of course, she couldn't let Harry get away with that.
"Stand up, Mr. Black- er, Potter," she said, grinning. Harry's mouth opened in surprise.
"That's below the belt, Hermione- I am not that bad," he protested. "Am I?" She laughed.
"No, but if we don't get to our class in five minutes then we'll be in trouble. Then you'll be that bad," she said, teasing him. She walked out of his room, and he followed her.
Ron was waiting in the classroom when they got there, and their camaraderie seemed to vanish. Harry got in a foul mood when Ron sent him a glare.
There were probably close to forty people waiting in the class, and they were all children, probably ten to fourteen years old. They all got quiet when the two entered the room.
Ron went to the back of the room and stood by the door. Apparently his rounds included protecting the DADA classes, and this was the only class going on at that moment.
"All right. My name is Professor Granger," Hermione said, then pausing, waiting for Harry to introduce himself.
"I'm Harry. If you call me professor I won't respond," he said, quite seriously but with a small grin on his face. Ron rolled his eyes in the back of the class.
Hermione glared at Harry, but she continued. "We will be teaching you how to defend yourself from Death Eaters because in the unfortunate case that you would happen to meet one, you will need to be prepared. We will start with basic shielding." As she continued, Harry smirked. She was born to be a teacher. Hermione caught the smirk and narrowed her eyes.
"Harry will explain how you cast your basic shield," she said. Now it was Harry's turn to glare.
"All right, all you need to do is say 'Protecius Retero'. If you do it correctly, a soft white light will surround you for a second before disappearing. Observe."
He raised his wand. He really didn't need his wand to do this, but they needed to see how it was supposed to look. And he hadn't really told anyone about the wandless magic yet.
"Protecius Retero," he said, and a white light came from his wand and surrounded him briefly, before disappearing.
"It will last exactly five minutes before you need to renew it, and it will stop your basic curses," Hermione said. She raised her own wand, and cast a simple stunning curse towards Harry. It seemed to disappear, and Harry didn't feel a thing.
"However, if a more powerful curse is used, like one of the unforgivables, then it will break your shield. Ron, since you have permission, will you please cast Imperio on Harry? They need to see what the shield looks like when it breaks," she said. Harry groaned. Great, Ron gets to use him as a guinea pig. Ron came to the front of the class and cast an Imperious curse on Harry.
He allowed his shield to become visible and shatter. Harry felt the warming affects of the Imperious curse before throwing it off. He didn't know what Ron would do to him and he didn't want to.
The class looked amazed, not with the shield but with Harry and the Imperious curse.
Harry answered their unspoken questions. "That will be another lesson," he said. The rest of the lesson went smoothly.
The rest of the day their classes became progressively older. When they got to people their age, it felt strange to Hermione teaching her fellow peers. What was even weirder was when they had to teach people her parents' age.
A class came in that included Mr. and Mrs. Weasly and Sirius. Sirius was there just for observations purposes; he was already an Auror and already knew what they were teaching. However, two people walked in that Harry did not expect. Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape. Obviously, both knew how to defend themselves adequately, so why were they here?
The whole day had been tense for Harry. Ron had been periodically in and out, and he caused tension to build between Harry and Hermione. Harry was growing increasingly irritated because Hermione insisted that Ron show them how to do everything because he was an Auror. On the spells that Ron could cast, Hermione had tried them. She hadn't considered letting Harry do them.
Needless to say, they were doomed to blow up sometime.
"All right, Minerva has informed me that the defenses need to be strengthened, but until several people have enough power, no one can recreate what Dumbledore had started. She wanted me to teach you power exercises. Most of you don't know what I'm talking about because these exercises were invented within the last six months. They are supposed to increase your power, or at least make your power more available to you.
"First, we need to find people who are capable of fixing the shields, so we can train you. This can be done with a simple spell, 'Revealus Maximus'. Once we do that, I'll split you into two groups- one group will be working on the defenses with me, while the other group will work with Harry on the most advanced shield, one few people can do." Harry frowned as she went around the room testing different people. He got stuck with the shield people?
The simple spell Hermione was using basically showed a person's aura. The different colors represented different types of auras. She wasn't too surprised to see that the Weaslys were both orange, which meant they could work on the defenses. Harry started testing people as well, and he ended up with Malfoy. He glanced at Draco, not really feeling the same hatred as he had ten years ago.
"Well, Potter, I see you've come back from hiding. Nice of you to leave us all here and go off, prancing around America or where ever you were," he said. Ok, maybe he didn't hate Malfoy, but he sure as hell didn't like him.
"Shut up Malfoy, Revealus Maximus," Harry said. Malfoy's aura was yellow, which meant he was working on the defenses with Hermione. Harry sighed, and moved onto Snape. Snape merely glared at him.
"Don't think about it Potter, I've been instructed to work with you on the shields. They need someone who can do it, after all," he said, scathingly. Harry glared at him, but moved onto the next person.
Hermione finished. "All right, all of you who saw yellow, orange, or white, come with me. Everyone else is to go with Harry." Harry saw that most of the group was with him. He stood in front of them, waiting to explain the shield.
"This shield is the most difficult, and it requires the most power. I doubt very many of you will succeed at it. If you do, however, this shield could make you nearly immortal. It will block all curses, save the killing curse, but this has never been proven. The only people who tried to block the killing curse were not nearly powerful enough. Some say Dumbledore can- could do it," Harry said, hastily correcting himself. He didn't need people thinking he was delusional. "If you are powerful enough, you can return the spell to its caster," he said. "Perhaps Snape will demonstrate it for you, as I surely could not cast it myself," he said, extremely sarcastically.
Snape glared at him, and then explained the shield. Harry's eyes drifted over towards Hermione's group. She was currently explaining exercises that increased your power, exercises Harry had never needed.
"Potter, do you think you could manage to try and curse me?" Harry gladly accepted the offer and threw a simple leg locker curse at Snape. Snape concentrated, and returned the spell towards Harry, who dismissed it with a shield of his own.
"Come on, Potter, I know you can do better than that," Snape said.
Harry glared. "Do I have your permission, sir, to cast the Imperious curse on you?"
Snape nodded.
"Imperio!" Harry said, and he could see Snape struggle to keep his shield up. Harry had to keep from grinning. He hadn't even used half his power.
"Nice, that's what is supposed to happen. Split off into pairs and try it." Snape came over to Harry, baffled.
"Potter, since when did you become that strong?" he asked.
Harry shrugged. "I was always strong, but apparently not strong enough to be trusted with a simple shield," he said bitterly, almost to himself. Snape raised his eyes in surprise.
"You think you could do it?" It was a genuine question, not a scathing remark. Harry laughed.
"I don't think, I know. I've done it before just fine."
"Let's see, then," Snape said. Before Harry could respond he cast the Cruciatus curse towards him. Harry's quick reflexes got the shield up in time. He didn't put too much behind it, because he didn't want the curse to rebound upon his once professor. Snape looked surprised.
"Not bad, Potter," he said, and Harry simply nodded and muttered a small 'thanks'.
****~~~~****
As soon as the lesson was over, Hermione walked over towards Harry. She thought the lesson had gone badly. None of the people had auras strong enough to sustain the defenses for Hogwarts. She suddenly had an idea.
"Hey Harry, could you please test me? I never did have myself tested, and I'm curious to see if I should help with the defenses or not," she said. He nodded, but she didn't see the scowl on his face.
"Revealus Maximus," he said, softly. She glowed a soft white for a second, and then returned back to normal, looking pleased but surprised.
"It's white, Hermione," he said. "Maybe you should talk to McGonagall. I bet you could do the defenses all by yourself, just like Dumbledore," he added, sarcastically. Her face flushed with anger.
"I don't see you doing anything! You just sat there like a log the entire lesson and let me explain things!"
"That's because you wouldn't let me! You didn't even ask what I wanted to teach!" He stormed out of the room, with Hermione close on his heals. He could hear her panting to keep up with him, and he walked faster.
"I needed you to teach the shields, Harry!" They were almost at the Great Hall because Harry was walking so fast.
"Oh, so you couldn't teach the shields, huh?" he said, not bothering to lower his voice as they entered the Great Hall.
"I can't do them," she said harshly.
"Well, apparently I can't do them either because Snape had to come help me teach them," he said sarcastically. Hermione's eyes glinted.
"I thought you could use some help! But, forgive me for thinking the great Harry Potter needs help! He can do everything by himself!"
"That's your problem, Hermione, you think you know everything! I didn't need help with the shields. And I'm not the only one who thinks I don't need help- you handled everything today without my help! Never asked for it once- who says you didn't need help on the defenses?" Both of them were glaring bloody murder at each other. Minerva walked over to them.
"I think it would be best if you took this argument outside," she said quietly. "And don't mention Hogwarts' defenses so loud- there could be spies for you-know-who," she said.
"Say Voldemort!" they both shouted at her at the same time. Harry glared once more at Hermione before he stormed out of the Great Hall.
Hermione sat down at her spot at the table. Ron was not present, he was out checking the forest.
"ARG! I can't stand that boy!" she muttered to herself. She looked down at her food, found she was not hungry, and stormed out of the Great Hall. All of this was done in complete and utter silence. Minerva was still in shock at having two of her best pupils simultaneously yell at her. The rest of the Great Hall was shocked the two friends were that hostile towards each other.
Harry was, at the time of the meeting, tracking down some Death Eaters in Austria. Sirius, the only one who knew that Harry was an Auror, had briefed him about a small band of Aurors that hadn't returned from their mission about a week ago. Harry had to check it out, against Sirius's will of course.
The Death Eater base seemed to be centered in the middle of a large, dark forest. Harry wore dark robes, not unlike those that the Death Eaters wore, and also brought his old invisibility cloak. He could turn himself invisible, yes, but that required energy and he needed all the energy he could get right now. He had transfigured himself before leaving Hogwarts, however. He was now a brown-haired, blue-eyed, pudgy man who looked mid thirties.
Following a lone Death Eater, he managed to find his way to their base with no trouble. There was no apparent way into the base. Harry tried to stay close to the Death Eater without alerting the man of his presence. After about ten steps, however, the Death Eater noticed him and turned around. Luck was with him tonight, fortunately.
"You're late too? Come on, I know a short cut," the Death eater said. Harry quickly followed, being careful to hide his face. He was disguised, of course, but he didn't want to take any chances. He scolded himself for being seen, but he had incidentally found a way in.
Once inside, the death eater led him to a small meeting room. The room, which looked more like a dungeon than a room, held about forty death eaters. Harry was stunned. If this was how many they had in a small base like Austria, how many did they have at the central base? He shuddered to think.
A man in dark robes like the rest of them caught their attention.
"All right. I've been informed that we may do what we like to the Aurors, Master already has enough for his plan. I'm going to assign four of you to dispose of them how you see fit." He pointed to four people close to Harry.
"You four, you're in charge. They're in the lower dungeon. Have fun," he said, his voice sickeningly smooth. Harry followed the others to the dungeons. When they got there, he silently stunned one of the death eaters.
When he fell to the ground, the other two spun around, looking for an attacker.
"Guys, come help me, I don't know what happened," Harry said in a voice lower than his own. When the two Death Eaters were close enough to him he stunned both of them before they had their wands out. Must be new recruits, Harry thought. That was just too easy. He called out to the prisoners to find out which cell they were in.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" He heard silence.
"I stunned the Death Eaters, but they'll be waking up soon. Which cell are you in?" Harry heard a faint croak in the cell straight in front of him. He quickly said, "Alohomora!" and opened the gate.
"Oh, shit," he said, looking at the Aurors. They were not in good condition. There were six all together. Two had dried blood all down their face, and one was holding his leg like it was broken. The other three had suffered the Cruciatus curse, he knew the side effects the Unforgivable. He grabbed some vials from his belt. They contained some low grade healing potions. It wouldn't heal them completely, but it would get them out alive.
"Here," he said, handing three identical vials to the three that had suffered through the Cruciatus. They drank them up greedily, and after a few seconds the effects began to wear off. Harry healed the gaping wounds in the one's head, and bandaged up the others. The man holding his leg looked awfully familiar. It was Fred Weasly. That's why he wasn't at dinner, Harry realized.
He healed Fred's leg, and he heard a muttered, "thanks." Harry simply nodded a short, "you're welcome," before turning to the others.
"All right, the Death Eaters will be awake any minute so." what ever he was going to say was cut off by the banging of the gate. Someone had locked Harry inside with the rest of the Death Eaters. Harry sighed. This was going to complicate things further.
"Oh good job Harry," he muttered to himself. "Way to be captured on a rescue mission. God, what a bloody idiot. I suppose the death eaters have security spells on them or something. Figures they would." he continued muttering to himself, not realizing the six Aurors could pretty much hear ever word.
"Don't worry about it mate, we're just glad someone tried. Sorry you're gonna be killed with the rest of us," Fred said. "By the way, you say your name's Henry? Got a last name, Henry?" Fred said, trying to make conversation. Harry frowned.
"I'm not going to die, this just complicates things. Honestly, do you think I'd come by myself if I couldn't handle things?" Seeing the look on Fred's face, Harry quickly apologized.
"Sorry, didn't mean to snap. You just sound so defeated. No hope left, know what I mean? Don't really like that attitude myself," Harry said. Fred nodded.
"I know, but honestly, what's left to hope for? Most Aurors hope to die in a small place like this rather than be captured for one of you-know-who's plans. You know, he's been gathering Aurors at his cell in Albania, I'm glad I wasn't stationed there. Who knows what they do to Aurors there?"
The other Aurors nodded in agreement. Harry frowned. He needed them to escape, he couldn't do it all.
"I came from Hogwarts just now, you know. And have you heard? It appears that Ron Weasly, Hermione Granger, and Harry Potter have returned to Hogwarts."
"Really? If they returned then things must be pretty desperate for McGonagall. She has Sirius recruiting new Aurors. I know he can't find anymore. We were some of the last Aurors he's got," one man said.
"Are you sure they returned? McGonagall could just be lying to raise moral for Hogwarts. Have you seen them?" Harry nodded. Fred was oddly quiet.
"I haven't seen Ron in years. We all tried writing to him, trying to get him to come back, but he never responded to our letters. We thought he had died," Fred said.
"Well, he's there. They turned up Friday night, all three of them."
"Even Potter? I heard he was killed by Voldemort," an Auror said. He looked oddly familiar.
"Yes, Potter's there too. Listen, I'd love to chat about them after we've escaped, all right? Just remember that you can always have hope." With that, Harry stood up and blasted the gate open with a handy 'Reducio'. The three Death Eaters standing outside were killed in the blast, so the six Aurors and Harry quietly escaped without too much trouble. Remembering the way down here, Harry retraced his steps. They ran into problems along the way though.
A band of four Death Eaters came running down the hallway, obviously responding to the small explosion. They were quickly stunned/cursed, and the group continued on their way. Although they had been healed, the Aurors moved slower than usual.
They reached the front gates, but when Harry and the group tried to open them they were portkeyed into the same room Harry had been before. They were surrounded by thirty some death eaters.
"Well well well, what do we have here? A spy in our midst? Reveal yourself!" said the head death eater. He shot a spell at Harry, and his hood fell down. Thank god for the small miracles, Harry thought. His disguise was still in place, for no one shouted, "Harry Potter!"
"So, you thought you could get away undetected?" Harry rolled his eyes at the cliché line. This death eater was a horrible bad guy.
"I didn't think I could get away. I knew," he said. Then, with out warning, his eyes flashed a bright emerald green and a shock wave hit the room, spreading out like a ripple. The Aurors were amazed. He had leveled the whole room with one curse!
"Lets get out of here," he said. They quickly ran out the room into the forest, and apparated.
When they reached Hogwarts, Harry stopped.
"Report to Sirius, he's waiting for you." In a flash, he disappeared.
In reality, Harry had just put on his invisibility cloak. He wanted to arrive before they did, so they wouldn't draw conclusions about him and 'Harry Potter'. Plus, that spell took a great deal out of him. It was mostly all show, but it did take a great deal of energy.
The next day, the Daily Profit sold out. On the front page was an article about the trio, and how they had returned to Hogwarts. They had information on what Hermione and Ron had been doing, but surprising little on the 'boy-who-lived'.
The Trio Returns to Hogwarts
Just yesterday an amazing event occurred. Three key figures in the history of fighting Voldemort returned to Hogwarts Friday night. Hermione Granger, who was one of the three original starters of the second Order of the Phoenix, has been studying at the New Zealand Research and Developmental Center. Her latest research has been about the Unforgivable Curses. Ms. Granger was working on a way to block these three horrible curses when she received a letter from Minerva McGonagall, Headmistress of Hogwarts. Along with her vast amount of knowledge, this young witch is also very powerful. In fact, some go as far to claim that she might be as powerful, if not more, as McGonagall herself. Ronald Weasly, the second original starter of the Order of Phoenix, also returned to Hogwarts late Friday night. Mr. Weasly was currently studying to become an Auror in Brazil, in South America. He is two weeks away from completing his training, and once he does he will become one of best Aurors to ever protect Hogwarts. His training masters say he has been one of the best Aurors to ever go through their program. With his fast reflexes and quick thinking, this reporter is sure that the residents of Hogwarts will rest easier knowing he is there. Harry Potter has also returned to Hogwarts. After leaving four years ago, it is unclear where he went. Some say he went to America and worked for the Ministry of Magic. Others say he started tracking down Voldemort. We were unable to question Mr. Potter last night, but we are sure he will be more than glad to grant us an interview at the soonest possible time. Mr. Potter, who is still know as the boy-who-lived, is said to be one of the most powerful wizards of our time. None know just how powerful, but some compare his power to Albus Dumbledore's.
The article went on to speculate where Harry had been, or how powerful he really was.
There was a second article in the paper as well, that did not make the front page but was just as important, if not more so.
Six Aurors Escape Captivity
Six Aurors that had been captured earlier this week returned to Hogwarts last night. They had been working on a mission in Albania when they were capture, taken to the Death Eater base, and presumed dead. However, a mysterious figure sneaked into the base last night, and freed the Aurors, leaving almost no Death Eater survivors. Fred Weasly, one of the Aurors, described this man for us.
'He had dark brown hair.he was shorter than I stand, but his power made up for lack of weight.his eyes were blue but they flashed green when he performed [the spell that destroyed the thirty two death eaters]. He said his name was Henry, but he had no last name.'
This 'Henry' figure could be the turning point in the war. Sources say that after the six Aurors arrived at Hogwarts, he mysteriously vanished. Madeline Rupert said he is middle thirties. If anyone spots this mysterious man, thank him for the lives of these six Aurors.
The rest of the article described the different Aurors that had been rescued.
Harry frowned as Hermione approached him. She looked angry.
"Harry! You missed our meeting last night, and I couldn't find you all morning! We have a class in twenty minutes, and I haven't had time to tell you everything you need to know," she said.
"I'm sorry Hermione, but I had something important to do. Maybe you should just teach the class yourself, and I'll just watch," he said, a bit angry and a bit tired from last night's escapades.
Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Now don't you take that tone with me, Mr. Potter- you will help me whether you like it or not." Harry fought back a grin, despite his anger, but kept his face serious- she sounded so much like McGonagall.
"Yes ma'am, Professor McGon- I mean, Professor Granger," he said, his eyes twinkling like Dumbledore's used to.
Hermione bit back a grin herself. She had to admit- she did tend to sound like Minnie every once in a while. Of course, she couldn't let Harry get away with that.
"Stand up, Mr. Black- er, Potter," she said, grinning. Harry's mouth opened in surprise.
"That's below the belt, Hermione- I am not that bad," he protested. "Am I?" She laughed.
"No, but if we don't get to our class in five minutes then we'll be in trouble. Then you'll be that bad," she said, teasing him. She walked out of his room, and he followed her.
Ron was waiting in the classroom when they got there, and their camaraderie seemed to vanish. Harry got in a foul mood when Ron sent him a glare.
There were probably close to forty people waiting in the class, and they were all children, probably ten to fourteen years old. They all got quiet when the two entered the room.
Ron went to the back of the room and stood by the door. Apparently his rounds included protecting the DADA classes, and this was the only class going on at that moment.
"All right. My name is Professor Granger," Hermione said, then pausing, waiting for Harry to introduce himself.
"I'm Harry. If you call me professor I won't respond," he said, quite seriously but with a small grin on his face. Ron rolled his eyes in the back of the class.
Hermione glared at Harry, but she continued. "We will be teaching you how to defend yourself from Death Eaters because in the unfortunate case that you would happen to meet one, you will need to be prepared. We will start with basic shielding." As she continued, Harry smirked. She was born to be a teacher. Hermione caught the smirk and narrowed her eyes.
"Harry will explain how you cast your basic shield," she said. Now it was Harry's turn to glare.
"All right, all you need to do is say 'Protecius Retero'. If you do it correctly, a soft white light will surround you for a second before disappearing. Observe."
He raised his wand. He really didn't need his wand to do this, but they needed to see how it was supposed to look. And he hadn't really told anyone about the wandless magic yet.
"Protecius Retero," he said, and a white light came from his wand and surrounded him briefly, before disappearing.
"It will last exactly five minutes before you need to renew it, and it will stop your basic curses," Hermione said. She raised her own wand, and cast a simple stunning curse towards Harry. It seemed to disappear, and Harry didn't feel a thing.
"However, if a more powerful curse is used, like one of the unforgivables, then it will break your shield. Ron, since you have permission, will you please cast Imperio on Harry? They need to see what the shield looks like when it breaks," she said. Harry groaned. Great, Ron gets to use him as a guinea pig. Ron came to the front of the class and cast an Imperious curse on Harry.
He allowed his shield to become visible and shatter. Harry felt the warming affects of the Imperious curse before throwing it off. He didn't know what Ron would do to him and he didn't want to.
The class looked amazed, not with the shield but with Harry and the Imperious curse.
Harry answered their unspoken questions. "That will be another lesson," he said. The rest of the lesson went smoothly.
The rest of the day their classes became progressively older. When they got to people their age, it felt strange to Hermione teaching her fellow peers. What was even weirder was when they had to teach people her parents' age.
A class came in that included Mr. and Mrs. Weasly and Sirius. Sirius was there just for observations purposes; he was already an Auror and already knew what they were teaching. However, two people walked in that Harry did not expect. Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape. Obviously, both knew how to defend themselves adequately, so why were they here?
The whole day had been tense for Harry. Ron had been periodically in and out, and he caused tension to build between Harry and Hermione. Harry was growing increasingly irritated because Hermione insisted that Ron show them how to do everything because he was an Auror. On the spells that Ron could cast, Hermione had tried them. She hadn't considered letting Harry do them.
Needless to say, they were doomed to blow up sometime.
"All right, Minerva has informed me that the defenses need to be strengthened, but until several people have enough power, no one can recreate what Dumbledore had started. She wanted me to teach you power exercises. Most of you don't know what I'm talking about because these exercises were invented within the last six months. They are supposed to increase your power, or at least make your power more available to you.
"First, we need to find people who are capable of fixing the shields, so we can train you. This can be done with a simple spell, 'Revealus Maximus'. Once we do that, I'll split you into two groups- one group will be working on the defenses with me, while the other group will work with Harry on the most advanced shield, one few people can do." Harry frowned as she went around the room testing different people. He got stuck with the shield people?
The simple spell Hermione was using basically showed a person's aura. The different colors represented different types of auras. She wasn't too surprised to see that the Weaslys were both orange, which meant they could work on the defenses. Harry started testing people as well, and he ended up with Malfoy. He glanced at Draco, not really feeling the same hatred as he had ten years ago.
"Well, Potter, I see you've come back from hiding. Nice of you to leave us all here and go off, prancing around America or where ever you were," he said. Ok, maybe he didn't hate Malfoy, but he sure as hell didn't like him.
"Shut up Malfoy, Revealus Maximus," Harry said. Malfoy's aura was yellow, which meant he was working on the defenses with Hermione. Harry sighed, and moved onto Snape. Snape merely glared at him.
"Don't think about it Potter, I've been instructed to work with you on the shields. They need someone who can do it, after all," he said, scathingly. Harry glared at him, but moved onto the next person.
Hermione finished. "All right, all of you who saw yellow, orange, or white, come with me. Everyone else is to go with Harry." Harry saw that most of the group was with him. He stood in front of them, waiting to explain the shield.
"This shield is the most difficult, and it requires the most power. I doubt very many of you will succeed at it. If you do, however, this shield could make you nearly immortal. It will block all curses, save the killing curse, but this has never been proven. The only people who tried to block the killing curse were not nearly powerful enough. Some say Dumbledore can- could do it," Harry said, hastily correcting himself. He didn't need people thinking he was delusional. "If you are powerful enough, you can return the spell to its caster," he said. "Perhaps Snape will demonstrate it for you, as I surely could not cast it myself," he said, extremely sarcastically.
Snape glared at him, and then explained the shield. Harry's eyes drifted over towards Hermione's group. She was currently explaining exercises that increased your power, exercises Harry had never needed.
"Potter, do you think you could manage to try and curse me?" Harry gladly accepted the offer and threw a simple leg locker curse at Snape. Snape concentrated, and returned the spell towards Harry, who dismissed it with a shield of his own.
"Come on, Potter, I know you can do better than that," Snape said.
Harry glared. "Do I have your permission, sir, to cast the Imperious curse on you?"
Snape nodded.
"Imperio!" Harry said, and he could see Snape struggle to keep his shield up. Harry had to keep from grinning. He hadn't even used half his power.
"Nice, that's what is supposed to happen. Split off into pairs and try it." Snape came over to Harry, baffled.
"Potter, since when did you become that strong?" he asked.
Harry shrugged. "I was always strong, but apparently not strong enough to be trusted with a simple shield," he said bitterly, almost to himself. Snape raised his eyes in surprise.
"You think you could do it?" It was a genuine question, not a scathing remark. Harry laughed.
"I don't think, I know. I've done it before just fine."
"Let's see, then," Snape said. Before Harry could respond he cast the Cruciatus curse towards him. Harry's quick reflexes got the shield up in time. He didn't put too much behind it, because he didn't want the curse to rebound upon his once professor. Snape looked surprised.
"Not bad, Potter," he said, and Harry simply nodded and muttered a small 'thanks'.
****~~~~****
As soon as the lesson was over, Hermione walked over towards Harry. She thought the lesson had gone badly. None of the people had auras strong enough to sustain the defenses for Hogwarts. She suddenly had an idea.
"Hey Harry, could you please test me? I never did have myself tested, and I'm curious to see if I should help with the defenses or not," she said. He nodded, but she didn't see the scowl on his face.
"Revealus Maximus," he said, softly. She glowed a soft white for a second, and then returned back to normal, looking pleased but surprised.
"It's white, Hermione," he said. "Maybe you should talk to McGonagall. I bet you could do the defenses all by yourself, just like Dumbledore," he added, sarcastically. Her face flushed with anger.
"I don't see you doing anything! You just sat there like a log the entire lesson and let me explain things!"
"That's because you wouldn't let me! You didn't even ask what I wanted to teach!" He stormed out of the room, with Hermione close on his heals. He could hear her panting to keep up with him, and he walked faster.
"I needed you to teach the shields, Harry!" They were almost at the Great Hall because Harry was walking so fast.
"Oh, so you couldn't teach the shields, huh?" he said, not bothering to lower his voice as they entered the Great Hall.
"I can't do them," she said harshly.
"Well, apparently I can't do them either because Snape had to come help me teach them," he said sarcastically. Hermione's eyes glinted.
"I thought you could use some help! But, forgive me for thinking the great Harry Potter needs help! He can do everything by himself!"
"That's your problem, Hermione, you think you know everything! I didn't need help with the shields. And I'm not the only one who thinks I don't need help- you handled everything today without my help! Never asked for it once- who says you didn't need help on the defenses?" Both of them were glaring bloody murder at each other. Minerva walked over to them.
"I think it would be best if you took this argument outside," she said quietly. "And don't mention Hogwarts' defenses so loud- there could be spies for you-know-who," she said.
"Say Voldemort!" they both shouted at her at the same time. Harry glared once more at Hermione before he stormed out of the Great Hall.
Hermione sat down at her spot at the table. Ron was not present, he was out checking the forest.
"ARG! I can't stand that boy!" she muttered to herself. She looked down at her food, found she was not hungry, and stormed out of the Great Hall. All of this was done in complete and utter silence. Minerva was still in shock at having two of her best pupils simultaneously yell at her. The rest of the Great Hall was shocked the two friends were that hostile towards each other.