Chapter Five: Ante Almare
"HARRY!" yelled a voice in his ear.
"WHAT?" Harry screamed, almost having a heart attack. He put on his glasses that had fallen off during the night on to see Ron and Hermione standing near his bed with broad grins on their faces.
"Harry it's wonderful to see you!" shrieked Hermione.
"Yeah, er, you too," Harry mumbled as he sat up, trying to wake up.
"How has your summer been?" asked Ron.
"Eh, you know, the usual," said Harry quite unconcerned with his summer after being yelled in the ear. Harry noticed Hermione and Ron standing close together. He raised his eyebrows and they stepped away from each other.
Ron cleared his throat.
"So, ready to go downstairs? Mum says breakfast is ready," commented Ron to shift the attention from him and Hermione.
"Yeah," said Harry. "Hey Hermione, about that mentala-"
"Oh yeah! Harry it is so great! When I found it I almost screamed. I mean because they are really rare and I've only read about them. So to come across one in a store in Hogsmeade is really extraordinary," Hermione said, interrupting him. She carried on about it while they walked down the stairs to go eat breakfast.
"-And it can grant you one wish in a dire situation. It is also said to have other mystic powers, but they don't say anything about them so that leads me to believe it just grants you a wish. Not to mention it is really pretty when the sun's rays hit it!"
As the walked into the kitchen Harry saw Dumbledore sitting at the table with Lupin and Tonks talking in whispers. Dumbledore turned his blue eyes to Harry and gave him a warm smile.
"Ah, Harry, I've been meaning to talk to you," said Dumbledore. He got up from the table and led Harry into the drawing room and closed the door and proceeded to put an unperturbed spell on the door.
"Professor Lupin as just told me about your dream from yesterday, Harry," said Dumbledore, surveying him. "I don't want you to be worried about your Aunt, Harry, she is fine." Harry nodded his head. But he couldn't shake off the feeling of foreboding that he felt whenever he thought of that dream.
Dumbledore looked down at his peculiar watch. "Ah, I must go now Harry, I have a meeting with Fudge. See you at Hogwarts Harry."
"Oh, Professor Dumbledore?"
He turned on his heel and looked back at Harry.
"Why has school been postponed?" Harry asked.
"I feel confident that your friends will tell you when they are given the chance, Harry," Dumbledore said. And with a swish of his cloak, Dumbledore was gone.
Harry walked back to the kitchen and sat down to eat his bacon and eggs. After he was done eating, he looked up at Lupin.
"Professor Lupin? Why has school been postponed? Dumbledore wouldn't tell me," he asked. Ron and Hermione shifted a little.
"Ah yes, well, I'm afraid that Hogwarts was broken into by Death Eaters a few weeks ago." started Lupin.
Harry sputtered, "What?"
"Dumbledore was made aware at once of course, but by the time he had arrived at the place they were at, they had already gone," said Lupin.
"But why would they break into Hogwarts?" Harry asked, thoroughly bewildered.
"Because Dumbledore is keeping something that they want, Harry."
"Like what?"
"It's Order business Harry, I can not tell you," Lupin said.
"Is it something like the prophecy from last year?" Harry asked.
"Did you go deaf, Potter? He said it was Order business," came a cold voice from behind him.
Harry whipped around to find Professor Snape standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He had a smirk on his face. As he always did when he got the chance to bully Harry.
"I've come to have a little chat with you Potter, if you would not mind," Snape sneered as he motioned for Harry to follow him. With cold dread seeping through him, Harry got up from the table with a desperate look at Lupin and Ron and Hermione. Ron shrugged his shoulders. "I have the joy to tell you that we shall not be continuing our Occlumency lessons," he said with a hint of triumph in his voice.
Harry continued to look at him.
"I am the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts so I shall be devoting most of my time to that," he smiled. Harry's worst fear was confirmed. His favorite subject was now going to turn into his most dreadful subject.
"That is how you got into the N.E.W.T. potions class. With that grade I certainly would not have admitted you. You got lucky, Mr. Potter," he said with a sneer. "But be warned, I don't care that you did get an Outstanding on your Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L., I will not tolerate your attitude in my new position Potter. If we do come across that bridge once more, I shall not hesitate to kick you out of my class," he said sourly. "Do I make myself clear, Potter?"
"Yes. SIR," Harry said defiantly.
"Good, I shall be going now, I unlike you, do not have leisure time at this moment."
Harry followed Snape out of the hallway but took a right towards the kitchen instead of going towards the door like Snape. When he got into the kitchen Ron and Hermione were the only ones at the table.
"What'd he say?" asked Ron anxiously.
"He won't be teaching me Occlumency this year," said Harry happily.
"Oh Harry, who will then? You must take it! After that dream, I'm sure that dream was not just a regular one," said Hermione.
"Give Harry a break Hermione, he just got some of the best news in his life!" said Ron, smiling.
"Well, I do have some bad news," Harry said reluctantly.
Hermione and Ron's faces turned into frowns.
"Snape got the Defense Against the Dark Arts job," Harry said disgustingly.
"He what?" yelled Ron.
"Ron, be quiet!" groaned Hermione.
"But I thought Dumbledore told you he thought that it would bring out the worst in Snape?" said Ron with a worried tone in his voice.
"Well, apparently he changed his mind because he's not teaching Potions anymore. That's how I got into N.E.W.T. Potions. I got an E on the O.W.L. and the letter said I was eligible for N.E.W.T Potions. I had a feeling that he got the job when I read that," Harry said.
"But Harry, Snape was a Death Eater, how could Dumbledore give him that position with his background?" asked Hermione. There was a long silence following these words.
"I really don't know Hermione. But as you said last year, if we can't trust Dumbledore, we can't trust anyone," Harry said finally.
"So, what N.E.W.T.s are you guys taking?" asked Harry, anxious to get off the subject of Snape.
"Well, I got an O in Defense Against the Dark Arts and an E in transfiguration. So those two," said Ron. "And then I got an A in Herbology, an A in Potions, a P in Divination and History of Magic and then an E in Charms."
"So in other words Ron," began Hermione, "You are taking, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Herbology, and Charms?"
"Err - - yeah!" said Ron. "Of course Hermione will be taking every subject she can." Ron added with a snort.
"Oh be quiet Ron," she said. But it wasn't with the usual annoyance that she usually responded to Ron's remarks. It was an almost playful response. Harry noticed this in an instant.
"What is it with you two?" Harry asked, quite amused.
"What do you mean?" Ron asked with a fake confused voice.
"You guys are acting really strange around each other. What's the deal?" Harry asked bluntly.
Hermione looked at Ron inquiringly. She sighed then turned to Harry.
"Well, over the summer, er, me and Ron er."
"Started going out?" said Harry, finishing her sentence for her, grinning.
"Er- - yeah," she said, blushing. Harry looked at Ron smiling to find him blushing crimson.
"We didn't want to tell you yet Harry. So don't be mad at us," Ron said quickly.
"Mad? Ha! Why would I be mad? I've been waiting for you guys to tell me that you've started going out for a while now." Harry laughed.
"What?" Ron said, surprised.
"Yeah, it's obvious you guys have liked each other," said Harry, grinning broadly.
"Hey Harry!" said a surprised voice behind him.
Harry turned around to see a girl with long flaming red hair smiling at him.
"Ginny! I didn't know you were here!" Harry said sounding equally surprised.
"Well, I just got here, I was at a friend's house for the beginning of the summer," she said.
Ginny opened her mouth to say something to Harry but was interrupted by a shout from downstairs.
"GET DOWNSTAIRS NOW YOU FOUR!" yelled Mrs. Weasley.
At that, they all ran downstairs to see what Mrs. Weasley was yelling at them for.
"We are going to Diagon Alley. I just got your supplies lists," she said.
The four of them went back upstairs to put on their robes since it was turning cold outside. As soon as they were ready, Mrs. Weasley brought them into the drawing room and took a cup of floo powder and offered it to each of them. Harry was not crazy about the idea of traveling by floo powder, as last time he ended up in Knockturn Alley. From then on, he became a little wary about using floo powder.
Ron was the first to go and cried, "Diagon Alley!" as green flames engulfed him and he was gone. Next was Hermione, then Harry, then Ginny. When the four of them met up, they waited for Mrs. Weasley to stumble out of the fireplace. As soon as she appeared, they made their way to Gringotts. Gringotts was a wizard bank. It was one of the safest places to keep things. When they came to Harry's vault, he hurriedly stuffed some of his gold, which had changed considerably since the inheritance of a portion of Sirius' fortune.
What was really surprising was when they opened the Weasely's vault, it was overflowing with gold. Everyone's jaws dropped.
"Oh dear!" cried Mrs. Weasley. Ron's mouth was still open in awe as his mum scooped some of the gold out of the vault to buy her children some new school supplies.
"Does this mean I can have new brass scales Mum?" asked Ginny. "My old ones are falling apart."
"Yes Ginny, of course," she said, as she smiled down at her daughter.
After they had gone to Hermione's vault, they went to Flourish and Blotts.
Mrs. Weasley said that she was going to buy their books for them and told them to just look around.
Harry and Ron were looking at Quidditch tactics (Harry had yet to tell Ron that he was made Quidditch captain) while Hermione and Ginny were looking at a book about different types of magic folk there were.
"Wow, look at this," came Hermione's voice from the next book shelf over, " 'An ante almare has the power to grant powers to a person.' It says they are really rare. 'There has only been one known Ante Almare in the last century'," read Hermione, obviously fascinated by this bit of information. "I wonder if that person is still alive," she asked, in wonder.
"Alright you four, let's go to the Apothecary. Then we have to go to Fred and George's shop," at this she scowled.
Their trip to the apothecary was a short one, as everyone in the group was anxious to see Fred and George's shop.
"HARRY!" yelled a voice in his ear.
"WHAT?" Harry screamed, almost having a heart attack. He put on his glasses that had fallen off during the night on to see Ron and Hermione standing near his bed with broad grins on their faces.
"Harry it's wonderful to see you!" shrieked Hermione.
"Yeah, er, you too," Harry mumbled as he sat up, trying to wake up.
"How has your summer been?" asked Ron.
"Eh, you know, the usual," said Harry quite unconcerned with his summer after being yelled in the ear. Harry noticed Hermione and Ron standing close together. He raised his eyebrows and they stepped away from each other.
Ron cleared his throat.
"So, ready to go downstairs? Mum says breakfast is ready," commented Ron to shift the attention from him and Hermione.
"Yeah," said Harry. "Hey Hermione, about that mentala-"
"Oh yeah! Harry it is so great! When I found it I almost screamed. I mean because they are really rare and I've only read about them. So to come across one in a store in Hogsmeade is really extraordinary," Hermione said, interrupting him. She carried on about it while they walked down the stairs to go eat breakfast.
"-And it can grant you one wish in a dire situation. It is also said to have other mystic powers, but they don't say anything about them so that leads me to believe it just grants you a wish. Not to mention it is really pretty when the sun's rays hit it!"
As the walked into the kitchen Harry saw Dumbledore sitting at the table with Lupin and Tonks talking in whispers. Dumbledore turned his blue eyes to Harry and gave him a warm smile.
"Ah, Harry, I've been meaning to talk to you," said Dumbledore. He got up from the table and led Harry into the drawing room and closed the door and proceeded to put an unperturbed spell on the door.
"Professor Lupin as just told me about your dream from yesterday, Harry," said Dumbledore, surveying him. "I don't want you to be worried about your Aunt, Harry, she is fine." Harry nodded his head. But he couldn't shake off the feeling of foreboding that he felt whenever he thought of that dream.
Dumbledore looked down at his peculiar watch. "Ah, I must go now Harry, I have a meeting with Fudge. See you at Hogwarts Harry."
"Oh, Professor Dumbledore?"
He turned on his heel and looked back at Harry.
"Why has school been postponed?" Harry asked.
"I feel confident that your friends will tell you when they are given the chance, Harry," Dumbledore said. And with a swish of his cloak, Dumbledore was gone.
Harry walked back to the kitchen and sat down to eat his bacon and eggs. After he was done eating, he looked up at Lupin.
"Professor Lupin? Why has school been postponed? Dumbledore wouldn't tell me," he asked. Ron and Hermione shifted a little.
"Ah yes, well, I'm afraid that Hogwarts was broken into by Death Eaters a few weeks ago." started Lupin.
Harry sputtered, "What?"
"Dumbledore was made aware at once of course, but by the time he had arrived at the place they were at, they had already gone," said Lupin.
"But why would they break into Hogwarts?" Harry asked, thoroughly bewildered.
"Because Dumbledore is keeping something that they want, Harry."
"Like what?"
"It's Order business Harry, I can not tell you," Lupin said.
"Is it something like the prophecy from last year?" Harry asked.
"Did you go deaf, Potter? He said it was Order business," came a cold voice from behind him.
Harry whipped around to find Professor Snape standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He had a smirk on his face. As he always did when he got the chance to bully Harry.
"I've come to have a little chat with you Potter, if you would not mind," Snape sneered as he motioned for Harry to follow him. With cold dread seeping through him, Harry got up from the table with a desperate look at Lupin and Ron and Hermione. Ron shrugged his shoulders. "I have the joy to tell you that we shall not be continuing our Occlumency lessons," he said with a hint of triumph in his voice.
Harry continued to look at him.
"I am the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts so I shall be devoting most of my time to that," he smiled. Harry's worst fear was confirmed. His favorite subject was now going to turn into his most dreadful subject.
"That is how you got into the N.E.W.T. potions class. With that grade I certainly would not have admitted you. You got lucky, Mr. Potter," he said with a sneer. "But be warned, I don't care that you did get an Outstanding on your Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L., I will not tolerate your attitude in my new position Potter. If we do come across that bridge once more, I shall not hesitate to kick you out of my class," he said sourly. "Do I make myself clear, Potter?"
"Yes. SIR," Harry said defiantly.
"Good, I shall be going now, I unlike you, do not have leisure time at this moment."
Harry followed Snape out of the hallway but took a right towards the kitchen instead of going towards the door like Snape. When he got into the kitchen Ron and Hermione were the only ones at the table.
"What'd he say?" asked Ron anxiously.
"He won't be teaching me Occlumency this year," said Harry happily.
"Oh Harry, who will then? You must take it! After that dream, I'm sure that dream was not just a regular one," said Hermione.
"Give Harry a break Hermione, he just got some of the best news in his life!" said Ron, smiling.
"Well, I do have some bad news," Harry said reluctantly.
Hermione and Ron's faces turned into frowns.
"Snape got the Defense Against the Dark Arts job," Harry said disgustingly.
"He what?" yelled Ron.
"Ron, be quiet!" groaned Hermione.
"But I thought Dumbledore told you he thought that it would bring out the worst in Snape?" said Ron with a worried tone in his voice.
"Well, apparently he changed his mind because he's not teaching Potions anymore. That's how I got into N.E.W.T. Potions. I got an E on the O.W.L. and the letter said I was eligible for N.E.W.T Potions. I had a feeling that he got the job when I read that," Harry said.
"But Harry, Snape was a Death Eater, how could Dumbledore give him that position with his background?" asked Hermione. There was a long silence following these words.
"I really don't know Hermione. But as you said last year, if we can't trust Dumbledore, we can't trust anyone," Harry said finally.
"So, what N.E.W.T.s are you guys taking?" asked Harry, anxious to get off the subject of Snape.
"Well, I got an O in Defense Against the Dark Arts and an E in transfiguration. So those two," said Ron. "And then I got an A in Herbology, an A in Potions, a P in Divination and History of Magic and then an E in Charms."
"So in other words Ron," began Hermione, "You are taking, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Herbology, and Charms?"
"Err - - yeah!" said Ron. "Of course Hermione will be taking every subject she can." Ron added with a snort.
"Oh be quiet Ron," she said. But it wasn't with the usual annoyance that she usually responded to Ron's remarks. It was an almost playful response. Harry noticed this in an instant.
"What is it with you two?" Harry asked, quite amused.
"What do you mean?" Ron asked with a fake confused voice.
"You guys are acting really strange around each other. What's the deal?" Harry asked bluntly.
Hermione looked at Ron inquiringly. She sighed then turned to Harry.
"Well, over the summer, er, me and Ron er."
"Started going out?" said Harry, finishing her sentence for her, grinning.
"Er- - yeah," she said, blushing. Harry looked at Ron smiling to find him blushing crimson.
"We didn't want to tell you yet Harry. So don't be mad at us," Ron said quickly.
"Mad? Ha! Why would I be mad? I've been waiting for you guys to tell me that you've started going out for a while now." Harry laughed.
"What?" Ron said, surprised.
"Yeah, it's obvious you guys have liked each other," said Harry, grinning broadly.
"Hey Harry!" said a surprised voice behind him.
Harry turned around to see a girl with long flaming red hair smiling at him.
"Ginny! I didn't know you were here!" Harry said sounding equally surprised.
"Well, I just got here, I was at a friend's house for the beginning of the summer," she said.
Ginny opened her mouth to say something to Harry but was interrupted by a shout from downstairs.
"GET DOWNSTAIRS NOW YOU FOUR!" yelled Mrs. Weasley.
At that, they all ran downstairs to see what Mrs. Weasley was yelling at them for.
"We are going to Diagon Alley. I just got your supplies lists," she said.
The four of them went back upstairs to put on their robes since it was turning cold outside. As soon as they were ready, Mrs. Weasley brought them into the drawing room and took a cup of floo powder and offered it to each of them. Harry was not crazy about the idea of traveling by floo powder, as last time he ended up in Knockturn Alley. From then on, he became a little wary about using floo powder.
Ron was the first to go and cried, "Diagon Alley!" as green flames engulfed him and he was gone. Next was Hermione, then Harry, then Ginny. When the four of them met up, they waited for Mrs. Weasley to stumble out of the fireplace. As soon as she appeared, they made their way to Gringotts. Gringotts was a wizard bank. It was one of the safest places to keep things. When they came to Harry's vault, he hurriedly stuffed some of his gold, which had changed considerably since the inheritance of a portion of Sirius' fortune.
What was really surprising was when they opened the Weasely's vault, it was overflowing with gold. Everyone's jaws dropped.
"Oh dear!" cried Mrs. Weasley. Ron's mouth was still open in awe as his mum scooped some of the gold out of the vault to buy her children some new school supplies.
"Does this mean I can have new brass scales Mum?" asked Ginny. "My old ones are falling apart."
"Yes Ginny, of course," she said, as she smiled down at her daughter.
After they had gone to Hermione's vault, they went to Flourish and Blotts.
Mrs. Weasley said that she was going to buy their books for them and told them to just look around.
Harry and Ron were looking at Quidditch tactics (Harry had yet to tell Ron that he was made Quidditch captain) while Hermione and Ginny were looking at a book about different types of magic folk there were.
"Wow, look at this," came Hermione's voice from the next book shelf over, " 'An ante almare has the power to grant powers to a person.' It says they are really rare. 'There has only been one known Ante Almare in the last century'," read Hermione, obviously fascinated by this bit of information. "I wonder if that person is still alive," she asked, in wonder.
"Alright you four, let's go to the Apothecary. Then we have to go to Fred and George's shop," at this she scowled.
Their trip to the apothecary was a short one, as everyone in the group was anxious to see Fred and George's shop.