Chapter 13
I can't believe he said that to me, thought Harry as he made his way out onto the flat rooftop of the Astronomy Tower. The frigid night air blew across his face making his eyes water mixing with a few tears that were already present. He was all I had left, and the one person my parents entrusted to protect and to take care of me. I just wish this would all go away, so I won't have to feel like this anymore, thought Harry. I want my mum here with me now, I want my dad and Sirius back so I can play Quidditch and goof around with them. "I don't want this burden anymore," said Harry out loud while he peered over the edge overlooking the snow covered grounds of Hogwarts. A million things started running through Harry's mind as a solution to his problems and heartaches. He knew not to think thoughts like these, but at this particular moment he didn't care.
It could all be over if I just run away and leave the Wizarding World behind, thought Harry. They don't need me, and everyone would be safer off if I was gone anyway. Then though, someone would just go looking for me, and end up being killed because of me. Damn that stupid prophecy...
If I ended it now though then no one would have to go looking for me, and I wouldn't have to deal with this pain anymore. I would be back with my parents and Sirius, thought Harry as continued to look over the edge of the rooftop. Everyone thinks they can just guard me till they thinks it's the right time for me to kill Voldemort or die, and they don't think I have a say in this. They think they can just control my life until its time, while everyone else gets to live their lives they way they want, not any more!
As the thought continued to mull over in Harry's mind as he contemplated on what to do he began thinking about what Remus had said to him earlier today. Then pictures of the way his mother held him and his father played with him as an infant from the photo album Hagrid had given him in his first year at Hogwarts started to form in his mind. Images of Sirius laughing also began forming in his mind as well making Harry feel even more pain for the loss of his parents and godfather, but also the strength and motivation he desperately needed to rid himself of his rash thoughts. No, I'm not a coward, I can't let my parents and Sirius sacrifice be made in vain. Voldemort and Bellatrix must pay for what they have done! I will kill them, and on my own time. I will not be lead to my battle with them like I am making a death walk to my execution. I will battle them when I feel the time is right for them to die.
"Harry are you okay?" Asked Hermione as she, Sarah, and Ron walked out onto the flat rooftop and set down by Harry who had slumped down onto the cold stone ground when he heard them come out on the rooftop.
"Mate, it is freezing out here, why don't we go back inside where things remain as they should," said Ron causing Harry to snort with laughter while Sarah and Hermione as usual gave Ron their disapproving stare.
"Ron stop being so insensitive, Harry is hurting right now," said Hermione.
"Harry do you want to talk about it? I know what ever it is, must really be eating you up inside. The best way to fix that is to let it out to the people who care about you," said Sarah.
"She's rite Harry, you shouldn't keep everything so bottled up inside. You can always come to us if you want," said Hermione.
"I know what Harry needs to do," said Ron while rolling his eyes in Hermione and Sarah's direction. Harry needs to come down to the Gryffindor Common Room right now and play a game of Wizards Chess with me. I haven't had a chance to whoop him in Wizard's Chess once this year."
"RON!" Hermione hissed. However, Harry loved Ron's idea and quickly agreed before Ron and Hermione could get in a row allowing Sarah to barred him with a million questions about what was bothering him.
"That's a great idea Ron, and your right, it is way to cold to look at the stars tonight. I don't know what I was thinking," said Harry.
"Exactly, so lets go," said Ron grinning from ear to ear.
"No, I think that we should talk so Harry can get whatever is bothering him off his chest while we are here to help him," said Hermione. He never even opened up to us last year after. You know," said Hermione as they began walking back towards the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Will you two stop it. Harry doesn't want to go have a good cry like you two are trying to get him to do. He want's to play a game of Wizard's Chess and put whatever it is behind him," said Ron in a perfect imitation of Herminoe when she would answer a question no one knew in class.
"Grrrr!" both girls growled while scowling towards Ron as they clambered through the portrait of the Fat Lady and into the Gryffindor Common Room.
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"Was it Harry?" Asked Tonks as Remus and Moody sat down at the kitchen table where she, Molly, and Arthur Weasley were all sitting.
"Yeah it was him and one of his friends, but they wouldn't say what they were there for," said Moody in his gruff voice.
"Oh, I am so mad at him. Arthur where is our Howler parchment at?" Said Mrs. Weasley.
"That won't be necessary Molly, I think Harry feels bad enough right now as it is," said Moody looking carefully over towards Remus who was starring down at the kitchen table.
"Why, what happened? Did he get hurt while he was away?" Asked Tonks in a fearfully.
"No, I said something that should have never been said in front of Harry ever, or for that matter it should have never been said at all," said Lupin while continuing to stare holes into the table.
"What did you say to him Remus," asked Arthur, but Remus had zoned out and was no longer paying attention to the conversation.
"Remus said to Harry that he thought that Sirius's sacrifice last year would have meant more to Harry then to just go out and gamble with his life the way he had," said Moody.
"Oh my," said Arthur. "How did he take it?"
"HOW DO YOU THINK HE TOOK IT?" Yelled Lupin. He became white as a ghost and the color left his eyes again. I caused that, ME, the last person Harry could talk to about his parents and Sirius, and I go and say something like that. I just destroyed the bond we had together because I am just a heartless wolf. Things will never be the same between us again," said Lupin as he banged his fists down on the table and stormed away to his room in utter disgust with himself.
"They both took it rather hard," said Moody. I thought Potter was going to drop right there in McGonagall office, and Remus tried every way in the world to think of something to say, but he seemed to have been at a loss for words at that moment. I could tell that he didn't mean for it to sound the way he said it, but none the less it still hit Potter full force. I had never seen Harry like that before. He just look like the life had been pulled from him, and now Remus feels like the foulest thing on the earth," said Moody.
"What did Harry say afterwards?" Asked Arthur.
"He just mumbled goodnight to McGonagall and walked out of her office after it appeared he had gotten his legs back under him. Remus tried desperately to say something to him, but he just couldn't. I thought he was going to break down in her office after Harry left, but he has held it together fairly well. I don't know though now that he has had time to think about what he said. All I do know is that nothing we say is going to make him feel any better, and he told me to tell you all to leave him alone for a few days. He also wanted you Tonks to write to Harry, and see if he would talk to you. He desperately wants Harry to come here for Christmas, but he is afraid Harry won't want to now," said Moody.
"Yes, of course I will, and I am sure Harry and Remus will work things out soon. He loves Remus as Remus loves Harry," said Tonks.
"Well how about a spot of tea?" said Molly as she began walking around the kitchen trying to find enough teacups for everyone and some Fire Whiskey to add to Remus's cup.
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Later that night Tonks was sitting up in her bed trying to put all of the things she wanted to say to Harry on the one piece of parchment that sat before her. She had made a rough draft of what she wanted to send to him, which was full of question and concerns. However, it had taken up three and a half pieces of parchment, and she new no one ever wanted to read a note that long.
Dear Harry,
Hey sweetie how are you doing? I heard what happened, and I know that you have to be feeling just awful right now. I can assure you though that Remus feels just as bad. You know he didn't mean for it to sound the way it apparently came out. Please write to him soon, he is afraid that you won't want to come here for Christmas now. I mean it mister, if you don't come here for Christmas after I have been so excited about you coming I will make you taste Moody turkey hash he has been practicing making for the last week for our Christmas dinner! Don't worry though, Molly has assured me that she will be making the main course.
Seriously though Harry, please, if you want to talk then you know I am always here for you. Remus is to even though he may not be your favorite person right now; he loves you very much. I think I will end this letter here in case you didn't want to here from us so soon after what happened. Hopefully though I did you a favor by writing such a short letter so it will give you ample time to reply to me faster. Although if I don't receive a reply soon I will finish the letter that I originally intended on sending you, which is just short of novel. With love,
Your goofy Tonks
Well that should be good enough, thought Tonks as she tied the letter to one of the owls Dumbledore had left at the house for them to use to communicate with Harry. ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ````````````````````````````````
"So mate, what kind of trouble did ol' McGonagall give you?" Asked Ron while they were playing Wizard's Chess.
"Yeah Harry, Luna told us that she couldn't go to the next Hogsmead weekend and she had like two weeks worth of detention," said Hermione.
"Well, I am not allowed to go on another Hogsmead weekend this school year, and I have two weeks worth of detention as well. Which is why I am designating you three to take the order meetings over for me while I am gone," said Harry.
"Wicked, so how are the three new recruits?" Asked Ron.
"We have two nurses that a very nice and friendly, and a specialist Healer in Potions that is pretty cool. I believe they all will help out tremendously with our order, and Mr. Lenoge, Mary, and April have all agreed to take on the same responsibilities that we all have, so I will need you all to inform the rest of the order of what they are. Mr. Lenoge will be assisting with our potions team and he will be brewing several antidotes at his own home for us. Mary will be assisting your group Hermione while she also will conduct her own research to bring to us from outside of Hogwarts. Lastly, April will be assisting your group Sarah, and she will also be teaching your group a few simple healing charms. She said they will just be for minor cuts and scrapes, and that the big things will be left to them to take care of," said Harry.
"Well I can't wait to meet them," said Sarah.
"You will meet them Friday where I will need you three to introduce them to everyone," said Harry as he and Ron were putting up their chess game to head to bed.
"Ok, goodnight Harry, Ron," said Sarah hugging Harry and waving to Ron before she left to go up stairs with Hermione.
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Later that night Harry looked back on how his day had went from wonderful to dreadful as he lay awake listening to Ron, Dean, Seamus, and especially Neville snoring rather loudly. Quietly Harry left the boy's dorm room to escape down to the Gryffindor Common Room where the fireplace still had a blazing fire going. For some reason since Dobby had taken over the responsibility of cleaning the Gryffindor Tower he always left the fire burning strong all night. As Harry sat down in a puffy red chair in front of the roaring fire he heard a tapping coming from one of the windows on the other side of the room. After getting up to investigate the annoying noise Harry observed that it was the owl that the order always sent his letters with.
"Go away, I don't want anything from him now. What, he thinks he can just say whatever he wants and then send some measly apology, and everything is right again?" said Harry to the owl fluttering its wings in the strong cold air to stay level with the window. Harry contemplated not opening the window for the owl in hopes that it would go away. However, after about five minutes of the small brown owl fluttering its wings outside in its pure determination to deliver the letter that was entrusted to him, Harry felt sorry for the owl and let it in.
"Sorry boy, I shouldn't have let my anger out on you, you haven't done anything wrong," said Harry as he untied the letter from the owl's leg and went to toss the letter into the fireplace. However, as he neared the fireplace the small brown owl began to hoot loudly and began flying all around Harry's head reminding him an awful lot of Ron's owl pig. "Okay, gees, I won't throw it into the fireplace," said Harry as the owl perched itself on a chair beside Harry where it intently watched what Harry was going to do with the letter.
"Fine!" said Harry as he turned the letter over to see that it was not a letter from Remus, but from Tonks.
After reading the letter Harry quickly found a piece of parchment and some ink that was on a near by table, and jotted a quick reply back.
Dear Tonks,
Hey Tonks, don't worry I will still come for Christmas. Besides no one is staying this year at Hogwarts so unless I want to be the only one here this year I better come. Besides Moody turkey hash can't be as bad as what I used to get stuck with while I lived at the Dursley's during Christmas. Believe me when I say that a Christmas present consisting of old gas station fruitcake is nothing to brag about. Any way I am still very mad at Remus, but I'm not mad at you or anyone else. Any way I don't want to talk about this anymore, so I look forward to seeing you soon. Also it seems that with the events that took place today, my order doesn't want anything to do with our little truce thing. Sorry, but I can't really blame them.
Love Harry.
Harry read over the letter two times before he was satisfied with it, and tied it back on the waiting owl to deliver back to Tonks. Knowing her she was probably waiting on a reply now, and would be pouty if she didn't receive one soon. "Here you go boy, sorry about two trips within an hour, but you know as well as I do that she is probably waiting," said Harry to the owl as it continued to hoot while he tied the letter to its leg. Then quickly flying out the window Harry felt the sudden wave of drowsiness sweep over him as he mad his way back to his bed, and was asleep within seconds of his head hitting his pillow.
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The next morning Dumbledore's order where all in his office again.
"What is it Severus?" Asked Dumbledore.
"The Dark Lord has gained control of the Dementors and I think he is planning an attack on some small wooded village where a herd of centaurs refused to join him," said Snape.
"When is this attack supposed to go down," asked Remus.
"I am not sure, but I think it will be around December 18," said Snape.
"That's a day before the students are leaving for the Christmas Holiday," said McGonagall.
"Well let us make sure that we are prepared for this attack, and make sure not a word of this gets out, we cannot afford to have Harry's order find out about this attack," said Dumbledore. "I don't want any of you discussing this matter any where except for my office, is that clear everyone?"
As they all agreed, Ron raced back to the Gryffindor Common Room to inform Harry on what he had heard while waiting outside of Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore had given the four of them the password to his office in case of an emergency. I bet he never thought of this happening thought Ron as he quickly scanned the common room for Harry.
"Harry, I was just up at Dumbledore's office, and I heard through the door that You-Know-Who is planning an attack around December 18," said Ron. They also said that not a word of this is supposed to be spoken on school grounds because they don't want you to get wind of it. They think we will just get in the way again. Can you believe the nerve of them?"
Harry's rage was beginning to bubble over again. "They always think they know best on how to go about handling all of these situations. So far my parents are dead, Sirius is dead because they withheld information from me, and dozens of others have been killed. I think that holds ground that they are not doing as good a job as they think, and they just want me to stay put again while we let the grown ups handle all of the problems! They think that we cannot handle things such as this because we don't meet their standards, well not any more. Ron we will be at the battle, and we will stop Voldmeort. The next meeting we have you make sure everyone in our order is there and then tell them exactly what you have just told me. Tell them that we will be at that battle and they had better be making every practice session count. This won't be a small battle because I intend to take the battle to Voldemort instead of him bringing it to us," said Harry pacing back and forth in the Gryffindor Common Room.
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Well there you have it, and let me tell you I can't wait to write the next few chapters. Again thank you for your reviews and for all of you that reviewed and told me that the killing curse could not be blocked, and that I had a few spelling errors on the last chapter. Sorry, but I didn't have time to really proof read it, and I didn't want to miss my deadline that I have always promised you so I rushed it out. A mistake on my part that I will try not to make again.
Now as I told everyone before I am giving my special thanks to George, ADJ, and Casey for reviewing telling me that the Killing Curse could not be blocked. My apologies for that mistake. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, and until next Saturday have fun. Oh yes, and I am still working on my e-mail account but it should be up by Sunday or early Monday. Sorry for the inconvenience Serena.
I can't believe he said that to me, thought Harry as he made his way out onto the flat rooftop of the Astronomy Tower. The frigid night air blew across his face making his eyes water mixing with a few tears that were already present. He was all I had left, and the one person my parents entrusted to protect and to take care of me. I just wish this would all go away, so I won't have to feel like this anymore, thought Harry. I want my mum here with me now, I want my dad and Sirius back so I can play Quidditch and goof around with them. "I don't want this burden anymore," said Harry out loud while he peered over the edge overlooking the snow covered grounds of Hogwarts. A million things started running through Harry's mind as a solution to his problems and heartaches. He knew not to think thoughts like these, but at this particular moment he didn't care.
It could all be over if I just run away and leave the Wizarding World behind, thought Harry. They don't need me, and everyone would be safer off if I was gone anyway. Then though, someone would just go looking for me, and end up being killed because of me. Damn that stupid prophecy...
If I ended it now though then no one would have to go looking for me, and I wouldn't have to deal with this pain anymore. I would be back with my parents and Sirius, thought Harry as continued to look over the edge of the rooftop. Everyone thinks they can just guard me till they thinks it's the right time for me to kill Voldemort or die, and they don't think I have a say in this. They think they can just control my life until its time, while everyone else gets to live their lives they way they want, not any more!
As the thought continued to mull over in Harry's mind as he contemplated on what to do he began thinking about what Remus had said to him earlier today. Then pictures of the way his mother held him and his father played with him as an infant from the photo album Hagrid had given him in his first year at Hogwarts started to form in his mind. Images of Sirius laughing also began forming in his mind as well making Harry feel even more pain for the loss of his parents and godfather, but also the strength and motivation he desperately needed to rid himself of his rash thoughts. No, I'm not a coward, I can't let my parents and Sirius sacrifice be made in vain. Voldemort and Bellatrix must pay for what they have done! I will kill them, and on my own time. I will not be lead to my battle with them like I am making a death walk to my execution. I will battle them when I feel the time is right for them to die.
"Harry are you okay?" Asked Hermione as she, Sarah, and Ron walked out onto the flat rooftop and set down by Harry who had slumped down onto the cold stone ground when he heard them come out on the rooftop.
"Mate, it is freezing out here, why don't we go back inside where things remain as they should," said Ron causing Harry to snort with laughter while Sarah and Hermione as usual gave Ron their disapproving stare.
"Ron stop being so insensitive, Harry is hurting right now," said Hermione.
"Harry do you want to talk about it? I know what ever it is, must really be eating you up inside. The best way to fix that is to let it out to the people who care about you," said Sarah.
"She's rite Harry, you shouldn't keep everything so bottled up inside. You can always come to us if you want," said Hermione.
"I know what Harry needs to do," said Ron while rolling his eyes in Hermione and Sarah's direction. Harry needs to come down to the Gryffindor Common Room right now and play a game of Wizards Chess with me. I haven't had a chance to whoop him in Wizard's Chess once this year."
"RON!" Hermione hissed. However, Harry loved Ron's idea and quickly agreed before Ron and Hermione could get in a row allowing Sarah to barred him with a million questions about what was bothering him.
"That's a great idea Ron, and your right, it is way to cold to look at the stars tonight. I don't know what I was thinking," said Harry.
"Exactly, so lets go," said Ron grinning from ear to ear.
"No, I think that we should talk so Harry can get whatever is bothering him off his chest while we are here to help him," said Hermione. He never even opened up to us last year after. You know," said Hermione as they began walking back towards the Gryffindor Common Room.
"Will you two stop it. Harry doesn't want to go have a good cry like you two are trying to get him to do. He want's to play a game of Wizard's Chess and put whatever it is behind him," said Ron in a perfect imitation of Herminoe when she would answer a question no one knew in class.
"Grrrr!" both girls growled while scowling towards Ron as they clambered through the portrait of the Fat Lady and into the Gryffindor Common Room.
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"Was it Harry?" Asked Tonks as Remus and Moody sat down at the kitchen table where she, Molly, and Arthur Weasley were all sitting.
"Yeah it was him and one of his friends, but they wouldn't say what they were there for," said Moody in his gruff voice.
"Oh, I am so mad at him. Arthur where is our Howler parchment at?" Said Mrs. Weasley.
"That won't be necessary Molly, I think Harry feels bad enough right now as it is," said Moody looking carefully over towards Remus who was starring down at the kitchen table.
"Why, what happened? Did he get hurt while he was away?" Asked Tonks in a fearfully.
"No, I said something that should have never been said in front of Harry ever, or for that matter it should have never been said at all," said Lupin while continuing to stare holes into the table.
"What did you say to him Remus," asked Arthur, but Remus had zoned out and was no longer paying attention to the conversation.
"Remus said to Harry that he thought that Sirius's sacrifice last year would have meant more to Harry then to just go out and gamble with his life the way he had," said Moody.
"Oh my," said Arthur. "How did he take it?"
"HOW DO YOU THINK HE TOOK IT?" Yelled Lupin. He became white as a ghost and the color left his eyes again. I caused that, ME, the last person Harry could talk to about his parents and Sirius, and I go and say something like that. I just destroyed the bond we had together because I am just a heartless wolf. Things will never be the same between us again," said Lupin as he banged his fists down on the table and stormed away to his room in utter disgust with himself.
"They both took it rather hard," said Moody. I thought Potter was going to drop right there in McGonagall office, and Remus tried every way in the world to think of something to say, but he seemed to have been at a loss for words at that moment. I could tell that he didn't mean for it to sound the way he said it, but none the less it still hit Potter full force. I had never seen Harry like that before. He just look like the life had been pulled from him, and now Remus feels like the foulest thing on the earth," said Moody.
"What did Harry say afterwards?" Asked Arthur.
"He just mumbled goodnight to McGonagall and walked out of her office after it appeared he had gotten his legs back under him. Remus tried desperately to say something to him, but he just couldn't. I thought he was going to break down in her office after Harry left, but he has held it together fairly well. I don't know though now that he has had time to think about what he said. All I do know is that nothing we say is going to make him feel any better, and he told me to tell you all to leave him alone for a few days. He also wanted you Tonks to write to Harry, and see if he would talk to you. He desperately wants Harry to come here for Christmas, but he is afraid Harry won't want to now," said Moody.
"Yes, of course I will, and I am sure Harry and Remus will work things out soon. He loves Remus as Remus loves Harry," said Tonks.
"Well how about a spot of tea?" said Molly as she began walking around the kitchen trying to find enough teacups for everyone and some Fire Whiskey to add to Remus's cup.
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Later that night Tonks was sitting up in her bed trying to put all of the things she wanted to say to Harry on the one piece of parchment that sat before her. She had made a rough draft of what she wanted to send to him, which was full of question and concerns. However, it had taken up three and a half pieces of parchment, and she new no one ever wanted to read a note that long.
Dear Harry,
Hey sweetie how are you doing? I heard what happened, and I know that you have to be feeling just awful right now. I can assure you though that Remus feels just as bad. You know he didn't mean for it to sound the way it apparently came out. Please write to him soon, he is afraid that you won't want to come here for Christmas now. I mean it mister, if you don't come here for Christmas after I have been so excited about you coming I will make you taste Moody turkey hash he has been practicing making for the last week for our Christmas dinner! Don't worry though, Molly has assured me that she will be making the main course.
Seriously though Harry, please, if you want to talk then you know I am always here for you. Remus is to even though he may not be your favorite person right now; he loves you very much. I think I will end this letter here in case you didn't want to here from us so soon after what happened. Hopefully though I did you a favor by writing such a short letter so it will give you ample time to reply to me faster. Although if I don't receive a reply soon I will finish the letter that I originally intended on sending you, which is just short of novel. With love,
Your goofy Tonks
Well that should be good enough, thought Tonks as she tied the letter to one of the owls Dumbledore had left at the house for them to use to communicate with Harry. ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` ````````````````````````````````
"So mate, what kind of trouble did ol' McGonagall give you?" Asked Ron while they were playing Wizard's Chess.
"Yeah Harry, Luna told us that she couldn't go to the next Hogsmead weekend and she had like two weeks worth of detention," said Hermione.
"Well, I am not allowed to go on another Hogsmead weekend this school year, and I have two weeks worth of detention as well. Which is why I am designating you three to take the order meetings over for me while I am gone," said Harry.
"Wicked, so how are the three new recruits?" Asked Ron.
"We have two nurses that a very nice and friendly, and a specialist Healer in Potions that is pretty cool. I believe they all will help out tremendously with our order, and Mr. Lenoge, Mary, and April have all agreed to take on the same responsibilities that we all have, so I will need you all to inform the rest of the order of what they are. Mr. Lenoge will be assisting with our potions team and he will be brewing several antidotes at his own home for us. Mary will be assisting your group Hermione while she also will conduct her own research to bring to us from outside of Hogwarts. Lastly, April will be assisting your group Sarah, and she will also be teaching your group a few simple healing charms. She said they will just be for minor cuts and scrapes, and that the big things will be left to them to take care of," said Harry.
"Well I can't wait to meet them," said Sarah.
"You will meet them Friday where I will need you three to introduce them to everyone," said Harry as he and Ron were putting up their chess game to head to bed.
"Ok, goodnight Harry, Ron," said Sarah hugging Harry and waving to Ron before she left to go up stairs with Hermione.
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Later that night Harry looked back on how his day had went from wonderful to dreadful as he lay awake listening to Ron, Dean, Seamus, and especially Neville snoring rather loudly. Quietly Harry left the boy's dorm room to escape down to the Gryffindor Common Room where the fireplace still had a blazing fire going. For some reason since Dobby had taken over the responsibility of cleaning the Gryffindor Tower he always left the fire burning strong all night. As Harry sat down in a puffy red chair in front of the roaring fire he heard a tapping coming from one of the windows on the other side of the room. After getting up to investigate the annoying noise Harry observed that it was the owl that the order always sent his letters with.
"Go away, I don't want anything from him now. What, he thinks he can just say whatever he wants and then send some measly apology, and everything is right again?" said Harry to the owl fluttering its wings in the strong cold air to stay level with the window. Harry contemplated not opening the window for the owl in hopes that it would go away. However, after about five minutes of the small brown owl fluttering its wings outside in its pure determination to deliver the letter that was entrusted to him, Harry felt sorry for the owl and let it in.
"Sorry boy, I shouldn't have let my anger out on you, you haven't done anything wrong," said Harry as he untied the letter from the owl's leg and went to toss the letter into the fireplace. However, as he neared the fireplace the small brown owl began to hoot loudly and began flying all around Harry's head reminding him an awful lot of Ron's owl pig. "Okay, gees, I won't throw it into the fireplace," said Harry as the owl perched itself on a chair beside Harry where it intently watched what Harry was going to do with the letter.
"Fine!" said Harry as he turned the letter over to see that it was not a letter from Remus, but from Tonks.
After reading the letter Harry quickly found a piece of parchment and some ink that was on a near by table, and jotted a quick reply back.
Dear Tonks,
Hey Tonks, don't worry I will still come for Christmas. Besides no one is staying this year at Hogwarts so unless I want to be the only one here this year I better come. Besides Moody turkey hash can't be as bad as what I used to get stuck with while I lived at the Dursley's during Christmas. Believe me when I say that a Christmas present consisting of old gas station fruitcake is nothing to brag about. Any way I am still very mad at Remus, but I'm not mad at you or anyone else. Any way I don't want to talk about this anymore, so I look forward to seeing you soon. Also it seems that with the events that took place today, my order doesn't want anything to do with our little truce thing. Sorry, but I can't really blame them.
Love Harry.
Harry read over the letter two times before he was satisfied with it, and tied it back on the waiting owl to deliver back to Tonks. Knowing her she was probably waiting on a reply now, and would be pouty if she didn't receive one soon. "Here you go boy, sorry about two trips within an hour, but you know as well as I do that she is probably waiting," said Harry to the owl as it continued to hoot while he tied the letter to its leg. Then quickly flying out the window Harry felt the sudden wave of drowsiness sweep over him as he mad his way back to his bed, and was asleep within seconds of his head hitting his pillow.
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The next morning Dumbledore's order where all in his office again.
"What is it Severus?" Asked Dumbledore.
"The Dark Lord has gained control of the Dementors and I think he is planning an attack on some small wooded village where a herd of centaurs refused to join him," said Snape.
"When is this attack supposed to go down," asked Remus.
"I am not sure, but I think it will be around December 18," said Snape.
"That's a day before the students are leaving for the Christmas Holiday," said McGonagall.
"Well let us make sure that we are prepared for this attack, and make sure not a word of this gets out, we cannot afford to have Harry's order find out about this attack," said Dumbledore. "I don't want any of you discussing this matter any where except for my office, is that clear everyone?"
As they all agreed, Ron raced back to the Gryffindor Common Room to inform Harry on what he had heard while waiting outside of Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore had given the four of them the password to his office in case of an emergency. I bet he never thought of this happening thought Ron as he quickly scanned the common room for Harry.
"Harry, I was just up at Dumbledore's office, and I heard through the door that You-Know-Who is planning an attack around December 18," said Ron. They also said that not a word of this is supposed to be spoken on school grounds because they don't want you to get wind of it. They think we will just get in the way again. Can you believe the nerve of them?"
Harry's rage was beginning to bubble over again. "They always think they know best on how to go about handling all of these situations. So far my parents are dead, Sirius is dead because they withheld information from me, and dozens of others have been killed. I think that holds ground that they are not doing as good a job as they think, and they just want me to stay put again while we let the grown ups handle all of the problems! They think that we cannot handle things such as this because we don't meet their standards, well not any more. Ron we will be at the battle, and we will stop Voldmeort. The next meeting we have you make sure everyone in our order is there and then tell them exactly what you have just told me. Tell them that we will be at that battle and they had better be making every practice session count. This won't be a small battle because I intend to take the battle to Voldemort instead of him bringing it to us," said Harry pacing back and forth in the Gryffindor Common Room.
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Well there you have it, and let me tell you I can't wait to write the next few chapters. Again thank you for your reviews and for all of you that reviewed and told me that the killing curse could not be blocked, and that I had a few spelling errors on the last chapter. Sorry, but I didn't have time to really proof read it, and I didn't want to miss my deadline that I have always promised you so I rushed it out. A mistake on my part that I will try not to make again.
Now as I told everyone before I am giving my special thanks to George, ADJ, and Casey for reviewing telling me that the Killing Curse could not be blocked. My apologies for that mistake. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, and until next Saturday have fun. Oh yes, and I am still working on my e-mail account but it should be up by Sunday or early Monday. Sorry for the inconvenience Serena.