-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~Author's Note~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~~-~-~-~-~
Sorry for the long wait, I went on vacation for a couple of weeks, but I hope you like this next chapter. I think its long, but I can't tell. On wordpad its about 9 pages, but I'm not sure how big that is on here, but anyway, I figure the longer the better, because the more you are getting right. Anyway, please R/R, and enjoy the chapter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Chapter 9-Happiness is Nowhere to be Found~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ignorance is bliss. For Hermione Granger, this statement had never made sense. How could you be
happy not knowing something? When she was in doubt, she always turned to a book, and found comfort
in new found knowledge. She never truly understood this phrase. Not until now that is.
As Harry kissed Hermione, both there worlds died away, taking all of the problems with it, but as Harry
pulled back from her embrace, a flood of worries filled her head like a dam had just broken.
She started to think. She had always thought about her problems and analyzed them, but at the moment
Hermione wished she could stop all thought, because her thoughts were yelling at her. Screaming at her
for doing what she had just did.
'How can you let this happen?'
'You said you wouldn't forgive him so quick.'
'If you let your guard down now, he will see how easy it is, and hurt you again.'
'Remember how it was last time? How you spent so long crying and blaming yourself?'
'You were so sad before, and you've just put yourself in a position to let it happen again.'
'This wasn't how you planned the day to go. You were supposed to walk out of there making him feel as
you felt when he left.'
That last thought is what made her do it. She knew that she wasn't ready to open up to him so fast so
soon, but as all these thoughts spun in her head, she couldn't help feeling immense relief. She had just
kissed Harry Potter, which is what she had dreamed about for so long, and no matter how irrational it
seemed, she felt some form of happiness. That happiness brought in more thoughts to argue against
herself.
'He brought you sadness, but with him you feel happy.'
'How are you going to get over him unless you can forgive him first?'
'He has nothing to run from anymore, he wouldn't leave again.'
'This might not have been the plan, but right now, you need to talk about the 11 years with someone.'
They looked at each other for what felt like seconds, and then Harry began to talk.
"Hermione, I -"
"Harry, I don't know if I'm ready for this. It so soon, and I just, I need a little time." She said nervously.
She wasn't sure how he would react but at this point she didn't need to lie to him.
"I understand, but I want you to know that I'm here now, and I want to be with you. Please accept this,
and don't shut me out for 2 months while you think. I can be your friend first, and we can talk before we
start something more. But I want you to know I'm always ready for the next step when you are." He
replied.
"I know Harry, but right now, I don't know if its a good time, I mean you've only been back for barely 6
months, and you were gone for 11 years. You hurt me real bad last time, and even if I can forgive you for
it, I don't know if I can put myself in a position for it to happen again. I'll see you soon but I need to go
now."
And before he could tell her that he would never hurt her again, or even say goodbye, she disapparated.
Harry was feeling like a tornado of emotion. He was happy that she hadn't rejected his kiss. Happy was
an understatement actually, he was ecstatic.
On the other hand, he was torn at her sudden departure and the words she had left with him. If this is
what it was like to have someone walk out on you Harry couldn't see how Hermione could ever forgive
him, and yet she had, to a certain degree.
She said she needed time, but that left certain doors open, even if they couldn't be reached at the current
time, it was still possible, and that put Harry on his feet. He was convinced that things could definitely get
better.
Then he though of Ron, and felt enormously guilty. He thought he should have tried to contact Ron before
Hermione. Harry was feeling guilty again, a feeling he was very well acquainted with. He decided to go
back to the castle and write to Ron.
On his was back to the castle, Harry noticed something he had never really noticed about the castle. On
the west wall, just above the 8th floor was a small engraving. It was a picture of two men, and two
women, and they were all smiling at each other.
It was a picture of the four founders of Hogwarts, but that's not what Harry though was weird about it.
The stone the picture was on was much different from that of the rest of the castle. It was much darker,
and more black and shiny than the dull and worn stones that made up the rest of the castle.
Harry' attention to the stone was quickly drawn away when he noticed a few girls on the grounds giggling
at him. He walked briskly back to the castle. Not realizing that it was very late and the girls were out of
bounds and should have been in trouble.
Once he arrived there he conjured ink and a parchment, took out his quill and began to write.
Hey Mate,
How you doing. Its been a while since we talked, and I wanted to know if you could "do lunch" sometime
next week, only it would have to be after classes. I know last time didn't go so well, but that was a good
bit to do with me. Let me know if you can stop by the castle, send reply with my owl.
Old Pal,
Harry
That looked okay. Harry sent his owl off, and began to prepare for his lessons. It was now 12:30, and
Harry began to think of Sirius.
He had often relived his god-father's death, though it was so long ago, and he was thinking of it now. If
Sirius was alive, he could help me. He would realize that even though I messed up royally, I was back to
try and fix things.
He had just said it. He came back to try and fix things, but he just realized, he couldn't fix what he had
done to them, only make everybody's future a little bit brighter.
Harry was, as always deep in thought before he fell asleep. He could never sleep unless he had thought
thoroughly of his entire life before bed. It was an annoying habit he had, but he did it anyway, not aware
that he was repeatedly doing it every night.
As Harry began this process, and started to think on his adventure into the Whomping Willow in third
year, his office door sprung open, and in came an old, yet vicious looking creature.
It was covered in gray hair, and wearing a torn up t-shirt, and no shoes.
"Harry Potter, it has been so long." It exclaimed in a very familiar squeaky voice. The creature scuttled
over to Harry.
"Can I help you?" Harry asked, bewildered.
"Ah, Mr. Potter isn't recognizing me, but I is Dobby sir." Squeaked the creature in a strangely familiar voice.
"Dobby? No way, Dobby is a house-elf who is much different. Who are you?" Harry asked, but as he
spoke the words, he began to believe what his eyes were telling him wasn't true.
"It is the truth sir. Dobby has been doing magic to himself so that he could be finding Harry Potter. With
gray hair, people thinks that Dobby is an old goblin, and they becomes more interested in giving Dobby
information on you sir." Squeaked the house elf.
Dobby had changed his physical appearance tremendously, so that Harry would have believed him to be a
goblin if he had never met Dobby.
"You did that to try and find me, when not even my friends could?" Harry asked, still unsure of whether
the creature was being truthful.
"Oh yes, but Dobby knows of places good wizards isn't knowing of. He has heard of them when he was
in service to the Malfoy's sir. They was saying of places were one could learn Dark Arts, so Dobby
pretends he was goblin trying to find You-Know-Who." The house-elf said energetically.
"How did you...Why would you...Is it because...I don't understand..." Harry said, not sure what to say to
Dobby.
"Harry Potter is in danger once more. Dobby has been successful in his searching's, but he isn't finding
Harry Potter, he is finding Dark Wizards who is wanting Harry Potter to be dead."
"But Voldemort is dead, and his followers captured." Harry said but as he spoke the words, he
remembered Lupin's warning to him before the term started.
"Harry Potter is mistaken. There is only few, but they is having a Dark Magic. Dark Magic that can
make them very powerful indeed."
"What magic? They can't bring him back, I made sure of that. I made sure his soul would be lost forever.
His soul was sent away with B- my friend."
"Dobby isn't knowing much sir, for he was discovered. He heard only that there is Dark Magic that can
bring terror, but they need ingredients." And as Dobby spoke the words ingredients, his eyes lit up, and
his face looked eerily excited.
"There is only a few peoples involved, but they is smart and they is knowing were to get ingredients.
Dobby heard one of them say that they needed some ingredients from Hogwarts. Dobby isn't knowing
anything else, Dobby is wanting to warn Harry Potter sir."
And Dobby looked horrified at the idea of Harry in trouble, but thrilled at the idea that if Harry was at
Hogwarts, they would be meeting a lot.
"Dobby must be going now, he is needing to speak with the Headmaster about re-employment. Dobby is
looking forward to meeting Harry Potter again." Dobby squeaked again.
Then he left, quick as he came, to leave Harry in thought once more.
'What could he mean by "ingredients at Hogwarts"?'
'In 4th year, Voldemort needed my blood to return, but could it be a similar spell?'
'It would have to be, but they couldn't bring him back, so what were these Death Eaters planning?'
Harry drowned himself with these questions until he fell asleep, not being able to answer a single one of
them.
Harry spent the rest of the week awaiting the response from Ron, and hopefully word from Hermione. It
was Friday, and still no response. He had just finished teaching his 5th years how to defend themselves if
attacked by a dragon. There was no way they could defeat it, but he showed them several defensive
spells which he would have liked to have known in his 4th year.
It was newly discovered, that dragon's sight was tinted to a highly red color, so by using a clever
camouflage charm, victims could tint their own body red, and be hidden from dragon's vision which wasn't
sharp enough to catch the disguise.
He taught them the camouflage charm(chameleo redico for a red disguise), and the right way to move the
wand, in accordance with the part of the word being said. If the timing wasn't perfect, the color that was
desired might not be the result.
After the lesson, Harry returned to his office to find not 1 but 3 owls. He took the letter from the owl
closest to him, which was from Ron.
i
Oi Harry!
I'm still in Brazil, training with the Crusaders. Can you believe that I learned the wrong language! I spent
2 weeks trying to learn some Spanish, and got a bit of it down, when Parvati said she was playing a joke.
In Brazil the speak Portuguese(oi means hi), so I had to learn that instead. I've actually got quite a bit of it
down now. Anyway, about lunch, I'm afraid I can't get out of Brazil till we finish which won't be until 1
more week. We had one training session here already, and came back after a month, but coach thought it
was so effective he sent us over here for another 3 weeks. Since I can't get over there, I can tell you
you're welcome to come visit me. I know its not easy to apparate this far, but if the team can manage
it(except our reserve Keeper who only made it to Columbia), I'm sure you'd be up to it. If you can make
it write me(it might be a while because it takes a while for the owl to deliver), and I'll give you the location
of a huge field, about 22 miles long and wide, so you have a big target for apparation. Bring your broom
too, so you can play with the team, and also so you don't have to walk over 10 miles to get out of the
field. Hope you can make it!
Seu Amigo
Ron
/i
As Harry finished the letter, he felt quite a bit happier. He would try as hard as he could to meet up with
Ron in Brazil, though he knew he might have to wait until the weekend for such a long trip.
Harry realizing that there were two more owls decided not to reply to Ron's yet, but to reply to them all
after he had read each one. He reached for the letter tied to the leg of the second owl, and opened it to
raed:
i
Dear Harry,
I want to have dinner sometime this week so we can talk. Even if I'm not ready for a full relationship,
being friends first is a good idea, so tell me if you will be able to meet me for dinner this week, and tell me
were is best since you have classes and all.
Hermione/i
Harry wasn't sure how to react to this one. He was happy Hermione wanted to talk to him again, but
being friends first sounded like something that might never develop. He thought after that he was being
selfish, and he should take what he would get after what he did.
Harry went to the third owl, only it wasn't an owl, it was an tarmin, a black bird. Few people can
recognize one, but it was comparable to a snake in its role with the Dark Arts. Harry had only seen them
used by Death Eaters, and because of his dealings with them, he knew the only ways to tell the difference
between a tarmin and an owl.
A tarmin has two claws instead of the normal three, and an owl's beak is pointed, but a tarmin has a
hooked beak which is black not orange-ish.
Harry reluctantly took the parchment, after checking for common letter hexes. He opened it, and read:
i
Be at the Dracula's Other Form in Knockturn Alley on January 3rd. Come alone, and come prepared to
meet your end. If you don't come, or come with company, someone will be killed. They will be someone
you don't know, but with a family, and their death will be your fault. Harry Potter, you have little time to
live. /i
After Harry finished reading the letter, written in acid green ink, he realized what was going to happen, and
threw the letter to the desk right in time.
The reason a tarmin is used in carryin letters in Dark Arts and similar tasks, is because it always destroys
the letter after it recipient has read it. This was no different for Harry. The bird opened its mouth, and out
of it came a large purple-black ball of light, which shot straight at the letter, and when it hit it's target, that
letter was destroyed and the desk it was on became scorched and burned. Harry was left with just the
ashes of the letter. He knew better than to discard them, because if the hex wasn't advanced, the letter
could be restored, but he didn't hold too much hope.
It appeared as though the people he was dealing with were serious though he didn't know enough about
them from the letter, he also remembered Dobby's warnings of them, and thought that it was at least
enough to become alert of it.
Harry put Ron and Hermione's letters aside, and was about to go to Dumbledore when he thought better
of it.
'This isn't back at Hogwarts were Dumbledore needs to take care of me. I'm 28 years old, I can handle
stuff on my own. Maybe Dumbledore isn't whom I need to see. I should go to Lupin. He warned me the first time, he would want to know of this more. Yeah, that's what I'll do.'
And as soon as he had decided it, he headed back to the fire in his office, took out some Floo Powder,
and stepped into the grate to travel to Lupin's flat.
As Harry stepped out onto the hearth rug in front of the fire place, he saw a sleeping Lupin lying on the
couch, with the Daily Prophet open on his stomach as if he'd fallen asleep while reading it.
When Harry saw that, the thought occurred to him that he probably should have sent word that he was
coming instead of barging in, but it was too late now.
"Remus....Remus..." Harry said as he shook Lupin to wake him up.
Suddenly Lupin realized someone was shaking him, and without thinking about it, as if it was an automatic
action, he plunged his hand into his robes, pulled out his wand, and yelled "Stupefy" before Harry could
attempt to get out of the way.
Harry was sent back a few feet to fall only inches from the fireplace, unable to move.
"Oh! So sorry Harry, didn't know it was you. You should never startle a sleeping man. Sorry, so sorry.
Enervate." Lupin was mumbling, apparently still feeling a bit drowsy.
"Didn't mean to sneak up on you, but you don't have to be so defensive, are you worried about an
attack?" Harry asked curiously.
"Its not that, its that...Its not important really. Anyway, why did you come without word or anything, is
there a problem?" Lupin asked, finally waking up completely.
"Actually yes. At the start of the year you warned me about those Death Eaters on the loose remember."
Lupin nodded his head, and Harry continued. "Well just now I received a letter, delivered by a tarmin,
that told me to be at Dracula's Other Form on January 3rd, or somebody is going to die. They say they'll
kill someone, someone with a family, if I don't go."
"Naturally, because it was delivered by a tarmin, it was destroyed? Do you have the ashes?"
"Yeah, right here." And Harry lifted up the bottle containing the remains of Harry's threatening letter.
"Hmm, I don't hold out any hope to repair it if its a tarmin that destroyed it, but leave it here, I'll see what I
can do. Now, January 3rd is pretty close. Only about two weeks away. I think that if we get any sign of
danger or something we should take this a little more seriously, but right now, we'll play it low, and just
keep our eyes peeled. I'm going to talk to a few people I know, see if they know anything else. Just
keep a strong lookout Harry. From the looks of it, nothing will happen until January 3rd, because they
want you alive until then. Just keep your head up Harry, you can look after yourself."
"Alright, Ill see you soon Lupin. Tell me if you make any progress on that letter. Take care." And as
Harry finished his sentence, he turned towards the fireplace, took some Floo Powder out of his robes
which he had stashed for the return trip, and left back to Hogwarts.
When Harry stepped out of the fire however, his office was not empty, and in his chair sat Albus
Dumbledore.
"Can I help you Headmaster?" Harry asked, assuming that he was not about to hear good news by the
look Dumbledore bore.
He was right, as he found out after Dumbledore had addressed him.
"Please Harry, you are no longer a student here, call me Albus. I fear I have bad news. There was an
attack at St. Mungo's Research Extension Field. It's were all the Medical Researching goes on for the Healers in St. Mungo's. The people who attacked stole a few things, but the main reason I'm telling you, is that 6 people were killed in the attack, and 13 were injured. All of the victims are in some form of coma. They are all apparently having nightmares over and over. They're pale, sweaty, and often scream and shake. They're in bad condition right now but we know they're alive. Its like being stuck with a dementor, and reliving your fears as nightmares over and over. I'm sorry Harry."
Harry had just absorbed the shock of Dumbledore's news at full force, but before he could manage to say anything more, Dumbledore spoke again.
"Harry, the reason I am telling you personally, is that one of the thirteen victims, is Hermione, and she's in the worst condition of all of them."
Sorry for the long wait, I went on vacation for a couple of weeks, but I hope you like this next chapter. I think its long, but I can't tell. On wordpad its about 9 pages, but I'm not sure how big that is on here, but anyway, I figure the longer the better, because the more you are getting right. Anyway, please R/R, and enjoy the chapter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Chapter 9-Happiness is Nowhere to be Found~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ignorance is bliss. For Hermione Granger, this statement had never made sense. How could you be
happy not knowing something? When she was in doubt, she always turned to a book, and found comfort
in new found knowledge. She never truly understood this phrase. Not until now that is.
As Harry kissed Hermione, both there worlds died away, taking all of the problems with it, but as Harry
pulled back from her embrace, a flood of worries filled her head like a dam had just broken.
She started to think. She had always thought about her problems and analyzed them, but at the moment
Hermione wished she could stop all thought, because her thoughts were yelling at her. Screaming at her
for doing what she had just did.
'How can you let this happen?'
'You said you wouldn't forgive him so quick.'
'If you let your guard down now, he will see how easy it is, and hurt you again.'
'Remember how it was last time? How you spent so long crying and blaming yourself?'
'You were so sad before, and you've just put yourself in a position to let it happen again.'
'This wasn't how you planned the day to go. You were supposed to walk out of there making him feel as
you felt when he left.'
That last thought is what made her do it. She knew that she wasn't ready to open up to him so fast so
soon, but as all these thoughts spun in her head, she couldn't help feeling immense relief. She had just
kissed Harry Potter, which is what she had dreamed about for so long, and no matter how irrational it
seemed, she felt some form of happiness. That happiness brought in more thoughts to argue against
herself.
'He brought you sadness, but with him you feel happy.'
'How are you going to get over him unless you can forgive him first?'
'He has nothing to run from anymore, he wouldn't leave again.'
'This might not have been the plan, but right now, you need to talk about the 11 years with someone.'
They looked at each other for what felt like seconds, and then Harry began to talk.
"Hermione, I -"
"Harry, I don't know if I'm ready for this. It so soon, and I just, I need a little time." She said nervously.
She wasn't sure how he would react but at this point she didn't need to lie to him.
"I understand, but I want you to know that I'm here now, and I want to be with you. Please accept this,
and don't shut me out for 2 months while you think. I can be your friend first, and we can talk before we
start something more. But I want you to know I'm always ready for the next step when you are." He
replied.
"I know Harry, but right now, I don't know if its a good time, I mean you've only been back for barely 6
months, and you were gone for 11 years. You hurt me real bad last time, and even if I can forgive you for
it, I don't know if I can put myself in a position for it to happen again. I'll see you soon but I need to go
now."
And before he could tell her that he would never hurt her again, or even say goodbye, she disapparated.
Harry was feeling like a tornado of emotion. He was happy that she hadn't rejected his kiss. Happy was
an understatement actually, he was ecstatic.
On the other hand, he was torn at her sudden departure and the words she had left with him. If this is
what it was like to have someone walk out on you Harry couldn't see how Hermione could ever forgive
him, and yet she had, to a certain degree.
She said she needed time, but that left certain doors open, even if they couldn't be reached at the current
time, it was still possible, and that put Harry on his feet. He was convinced that things could definitely get
better.
Then he though of Ron, and felt enormously guilty. He thought he should have tried to contact Ron before
Hermione. Harry was feeling guilty again, a feeling he was very well acquainted with. He decided to go
back to the castle and write to Ron.
On his was back to the castle, Harry noticed something he had never really noticed about the castle. On
the west wall, just above the 8th floor was a small engraving. It was a picture of two men, and two
women, and they were all smiling at each other.
It was a picture of the four founders of Hogwarts, but that's not what Harry though was weird about it.
The stone the picture was on was much different from that of the rest of the castle. It was much darker,
and more black and shiny than the dull and worn stones that made up the rest of the castle.
Harry' attention to the stone was quickly drawn away when he noticed a few girls on the grounds giggling
at him. He walked briskly back to the castle. Not realizing that it was very late and the girls were out of
bounds and should have been in trouble.
Once he arrived there he conjured ink and a parchment, took out his quill and began to write.
Hey Mate,
How you doing. Its been a while since we talked, and I wanted to know if you could "do lunch" sometime
next week, only it would have to be after classes. I know last time didn't go so well, but that was a good
bit to do with me. Let me know if you can stop by the castle, send reply with my owl.
Old Pal,
Harry
That looked okay. Harry sent his owl off, and began to prepare for his lessons. It was now 12:30, and
Harry began to think of Sirius.
He had often relived his god-father's death, though it was so long ago, and he was thinking of it now. If
Sirius was alive, he could help me. He would realize that even though I messed up royally, I was back to
try and fix things.
He had just said it. He came back to try and fix things, but he just realized, he couldn't fix what he had
done to them, only make everybody's future a little bit brighter.
Harry was, as always deep in thought before he fell asleep. He could never sleep unless he had thought
thoroughly of his entire life before bed. It was an annoying habit he had, but he did it anyway, not aware
that he was repeatedly doing it every night.
As Harry began this process, and started to think on his adventure into the Whomping Willow in third
year, his office door sprung open, and in came an old, yet vicious looking creature.
It was covered in gray hair, and wearing a torn up t-shirt, and no shoes.
"Harry Potter, it has been so long." It exclaimed in a very familiar squeaky voice. The creature scuttled
over to Harry.
"Can I help you?" Harry asked, bewildered.
"Ah, Mr. Potter isn't recognizing me, but I is Dobby sir." Squeaked the creature in a strangely familiar voice.
"Dobby? No way, Dobby is a house-elf who is much different. Who are you?" Harry asked, but as he
spoke the words, he began to believe what his eyes were telling him wasn't true.
"It is the truth sir. Dobby has been doing magic to himself so that he could be finding Harry Potter. With
gray hair, people thinks that Dobby is an old goblin, and they becomes more interested in giving Dobby
information on you sir." Squeaked the house elf.
Dobby had changed his physical appearance tremendously, so that Harry would have believed him to be a
goblin if he had never met Dobby.
"You did that to try and find me, when not even my friends could?" Harry asked, still unsure of whether
the creature was being truthful.
"Oh yes, but Dobby knows of places good wizards isn't knowing of. He has heard of them when he was
in service to the Malfoy's sir. They was saying of places were one could learn Dark Arts, so Dobby
pretends he was goblin trying to find You-Know-Who." The house-elf said energetically.
"How did you...Why would you...Is it because...I don't understand..." Harry said, not sure what to say to
Dobby.
"Harry Potter is in danger once more. Dobby has been successful in his searching's, but he isn't finding
Harry Potter, he is finding Dark Wizards who is wanting Harry Potter to be dead."
"But Voldemort is dead, and his followers captured." Harry said but as he spoke the words, he
remembered Lupin's warning to him before the term started.
"Harry Potter is mistaken. There is only few, but they is having a Dark Magic. Dark Magic that can
make them very powerful indeed."
"What magic? They can't bring him back, I made sure of that. I made sure his soul would be lost forever.
His soul was sent away with B- my friend."
"Dobby isn't knowing much sir, for he was discovered. He heard only that there is Dark Magic that can
bring terror, but they need ingredients." And as Dobby spoke the words ingredients, his eyes lit up, and
his face looked eerily excited.
"There is only a few peoples involved, but they is smart and they is knowing were to get ingredients.
Dobby heard one of them say that they needed some ingredients from Hogwarts. Dobby isn't knowing
anything else, Dobby is wanting to warn Harry Potter sir."
And Dobby looked horrified at the idea of Harry in trouble, but thrilled at the idea that if Harry was at
Hogwarts, they would be meeting a lot.
"Dobby must be going now, he is needing to speak with the Headmaster about re-employment. Dobby is
looking forward to meeting Harry Potter again." Dobby squeaked again.
Then he left, quick as he came, to leave Harry in thought once more.
'What could he mean by "ingredients at Hogwarts"?'
'In 4th year, Voldemort needed my blood to return, but could it be a similar spell?'
'It would have to be, but they couldn't bring him back, so what were these Death Eaters planning?'
Harry drowned himself with these questions until he fell asleep, not being able to answer a single one of
them.
Harry spent the rest of the week awaiting the response from Ron, and hopefully word from Hermione. It
was Friday, and still no response. He had just finished teaching his 5th years how to defend themselves if
attacked by a dragon. There was no way they could defeat it, but he showed them several defensive
spells which he would have liked to have known in his 4th year.
It was newly discovered, that dragon's sight was tinted to a highly red color, so by using a clever
camouflage charm, victims could tint their own body red, and be hidden from dragon's vision which wasn't
sharp enough to catch the disguise.
He taught them the camouflage charm(chameleo redico for a red disguise), and the right way to move the
wand, in accordance with the part of the word being said. If the timing wasn't perfect, the color that was
desired might not be the result.
After the lesson, Harry returned to his office to find not 1 but 3 owls. He took the letter from the owl
closest to him, which was from Ron.
i
Oi Harry!
I'm still in Brazil, training with the Crusaders. Can you believe that I learned the wrong language! I spent
2 weeks trying to learn some Spanish, and got a bit of it down, when Parvati said she was playing a joke.
In Brazil the speak Portuguese(oi means hi), so I had to learn that instead. I've actually got quite a bit of it
down now. Anyway, about lunch, I'm afraid I can't get out of Brazil till we finish which won't be until 1
more week. We had one training session here already, and came back after a month, but coach thought it
was so effective he sent us over here for another 3 weeks. Since I can't get over there, I can tell you
you're welcome to come visit me. I know its not easy to apparate this far, but if the team can manage
it(except our reserve Keeper who only made it to Columbia), I'm sure you'd be up to it. If you can make
it write me(it might be a while because it takes a while for the owl to deliver), and I'll give you the location
of a huge field, about 22 miles long and wide, so you have a big target for apparation. Bring your broom
too, so you can play with the team, and also so you don't have to walk over 10 miles to get out of the
field. Hope you can make it!
Seu Amigo
Ron
/i
As Harry finished the letter, he felt quite a bit happier. He would try as hard as he could to meet up with
Ron in Brazil, though he knew he might have to wait until the weekend for such a long trip.
Harry realizing that there were two more owls decided not to reply to Ron's yet, but to reply to them all
after he had read each one. He reached for the letter tied to the leg of the second owl, and opened it to
raed:
i
Dear Harry,
I want to have dinner sometime this week so we can talk. Even if I'm not ready for a full relationship,
being friends first is a good idea, so tell me if you will be able to meet me for dinner this week, and tell me
were is best since you have classes and all.
Hermione/i
Harry wasn't sure how to react to this one. He was happy Hermione wanted to talk to him again, but
being friends first sounded like something that might never develop. He thought after that he was being
selfish, and he should take what he would get after what he did.
Harry went to the third owl, only it wasn't an owl, it was an tarmin, a black bird. Few people can
recognize one, but it was comparable to a snake in its role with the Dark Arts. Harry had only seen them
used by Death Eaters, and because of his dealings with them, he knew the only ways to tell the difference
between a tarmin and an owl.
A tarmin has two claws instead of the normal three, and an owl's beak is pointed, but a tarmin has a
hooked beak which is black not orange-ish.
Harry reluctantly took the parchment, after checking for common letter hexes. He opened it, and read:
i
Be at the Dracula's Other Form in Knockturn Alley on January 3rd. Come alone, and come prepared to
meet your end. If you don't come, or come with company, someone will be killed. They will be someone
you don't know, but with a family, and their death will be your fault. Harry Potter, you have little time to
live. /i
After Harry finished reading the letter, written in acid green ink, he realized what was going to happen, and
threw the letter to the desk right in time.
The reason a tarmin is used in carryin letters in Dark Arts and similar tasks, is because it always destroys
the letter after it recipient has read it. This was no different for Harry. The bird opened its mouth, and out
of it came a large purple-black ball of light, which shot straight at the letter, and when it hit it's target, that
letter was destroyed and the desk it was on became scorched and burned. Harry was left with just the
ashes of the letter. He knew better than to discard them, because if the hex wasn't advanced, the letter
could be restored, but he didn't hold too much hope.
It appeared as though the people he was dealing with were serious though he didn't know enough about
them from the letter, he also remembered Dobby's warnings of them, and thought that it was at least
enough to become alert of it.
Harry put Ron and Hermione's letters aside, and was about to go to Dumbledore when he thought better
of it.
'This isn't back at Hogwarts were Dumbledore needs to take care of me. I'm 28 years old, I can handle
stuff on my own. Maybe Dumbledore isn't whom I need to see. I should go to Lupin. He warned me the first time, he would want to know of this more. Yeah, that's what I'll do.'
And as soon as he had decided it, he headed back to the fire in his office, took out some Floo Powder,
and stepped into the grate to travel to Lupin's flat.
As Harry stepped out onto the hearth rug in front of the fire place, he saw a sleeping Lupin lying on the
couch, with the Daily Prophet open on his stomach as if he'd fallen asleep while reading it.
When Harry saw that, the thought occurred to him that he probably should have sent word that he was
coming instead of barging in, but it was too late now.
"Remus....Remus..." Harry said as he shook Lupin to wake him up.
Suddenly Lupin realized someone was shaking him, and without thinking about it, as if it was an automatic
action, he plunged his hand into his robes, pulled out his wand, and yelled "Stupefy" before Harry could
attempt to get out of the way.
Harry was sent back a few feet to fall only inches from the fireplace, unable to move.
"Oh! So sorry Harry, didn't know it was you. You should never startle a sleeping man. Sorry, so sorry.
Enervate." Lupin was mumbling, apparently still feeling a bit drowsy.
"Didn't mean to sneak up on you, but you don't have to be so defensive, are you worried about an
attack?" Harry asked curiously.
"Its not that, its that...Its not important really. Anyway, why did you come without word or anything, is
there a problem?" Lupin asked, finally waking up completely.
"Actually yes. At the start of the year you warned me about those Death Eaters on the loose remember."
Lupin nodded his head, and Harry continued. "Well just now I received a letter, delivered by a tarmin,
that told me to be at Dracula's Other Form on January 3rd, or somebody is going to die. They say they'll
kill someone, someone with a family, if I don't go."
"Naturally, because it was delivered by a tarmin, it was destroyed? Do you have the ashes?"
"Yeah, right here." And Harry lifted up the bottle containing the remains of Harry's threatening letter.
"Hmm, I don't hold out any hope to repair it if its a tarmin that destroyed it, but leave it here, I'll see what I
can do. Now, January 3rd is pretty close. Only about two weeks away. I think that if we get any sign of
danger or something we should take this a little more seriously, but right now, we'll play it low, and just
keep our eyes peeled. I'm going to talk to a few people I know, see if they know anything else. Just
keep a strong lookout Harry. From the looks of it, nothing will happen until January 3rd, because they
want you alive until then. Just keep your head up Harry, you can look after yourself."
"Alright, Ill see you soon Lupin. Tell me if you make any progress on that letter. Take care." And as
Harry finished his sentence, he turned towards the fireplace, took some Floo Powder out of his robes
which he had stashed for the return trip, and left back to Hogwarts.
When Harry stepped out of the fire however, his office was not empty, and in his chair sat Albus
Dumbledore.
"Can I help you Headmaster?" Harry asked, assuming that he was not about to hear good news by the
look Dumbledore bore.
He was right, as he found out after Dumbledore had addressed him.
"Please Harry, you are no longer a student here, call me Albus. I fear I have bad news. There was an
attack at St. Mungo's Research Extension Field. It's were all the Medical Researching goes on for the Healers in St. Mungo's. The people who attacked stole a few things, but the main reason I'm telling you, is that 6 people were killed in the attack, and 13 were injured. All of the victims are in some form of coma. They are all apparently having nightmares over and over. They're pale, sweaty, and often scream and shake. They're in bad condition right now but we know they're alive. Its like being stuck with a dementor, and reliving your fears as nightmares over and over. I'm sorry Harry."
Harry had just absorbed the shock of Dumbledore's news at full force, but before he could manage to say anything more, Dumbledore spoke again.
"Harry, the reason I am telling you personally, is that one of the thirteen victims, is Hermione, and she's in the worst condition of all of them."