"Wow," said Lavender. Harry had just finished telling her about what Dumbledore had said. Harry shifted in his seat uncomfortably. He knew that Dumbledore liked him, but he didn't exactly like bragging about it. Lavender noticed this, and decided to say something. "He's right you know. You are strong."
Harry looked at her. "Am I?" he sunk down in his chair. It was late, and everyone else was in their beds. "I don't know. I think Dumbledore's only saying that to try and make me feel good."
"Harry, if that's what he was doing, he would have expelled you, and you know it." Harry looked away. Maybe she was right. "You are strong, so much stronger than the rest of us. You're a great wizard," Lavender put her hand on his arm, "and you need to stay here. Stay here, pass your NEWTS, and…"
Lavender frowned suddenly and sat back. "Harry, what are you going to do when you've left Hogwarts?" Harry smiled wryly. Most people knew not to ask him that question. But he'd never been that close to Lavender; he'd just assumed that Hermione had told her.
"Well," he started. "Me and Hermione were going to set up, like, our own school. You know, a new one. There only are three schools like this one in the country. I was going to be in charge of building it, and she was going to be in charge of the money aspect." Lavender bit her lip, but Harry just shrugged. "Don't worry, it's ok. It was a stupid dream anyway. We'd never have managed it…"
"I think you would have." Lavender smiled kindly, and Harry returned it.
"But I don't want to do that now. People are always going on about how I need to move on and all that. So, basically…I have no idea!" Harry laughed, but Lavender stayed silent. "What about you?"
Lavender smiled. "I don't know either. All I know is, I love divination, so I might become a divinator, or maybe I'll get a job teaching it or something." Harry grinned. He hated Divination, but most people seemed fascinated by it. Hermione had hated it as well. Maybe that was one of the reasons why he hated it. Because of Hermione.
"I need to forget," Harry whispered. "No, not forget. Just…move on…"
Lavender frowned. "What was that?" she asked. Harry didn't answer.
He shook his head. "Nothing, it doesn't matter."
"Right, well, I'm going to bed then." Lavender got up and stretched, realising it was the end of their conversation. "You coming?"
Harry stayed in his chair. "No, I think I'll stay down here. Goodnight, Lavender."
"See you tomorrow, Harry. Don't stay up too late." Lavender walked passed and climbed the staircase to her dormitory.
Harry frowned and looked towards the fireplace. He needed to let Hermione go. He had loved her, and still did love her, more than anything. But he needed to move on. What would Hermione think if she saw the state Harry was in now she was gone? She'd be angry. Harry smiled to himself. Hermione had never let Harry worry about her. Never. She'd always said that Harry had his own problems to worry about. But their problems had always been the same ones…
Harry shivered. It was cold. He looked at the fireplace and suddenly wished it was on. …Oh, it was. Harry sat up straight and frowned. Fire was licking away at the walls of the fireplace. But, it hadn't been there a moment ago, had it? Harry got out his wand and stared at it. He hadn't used his wand. He'd just…looked, at the fireplace, and thought of fire, and then it was there. Harry stood up slowly. He concentrated on the fire, and in his mind, thought, make the fire go out. Suddenly, the fire was gone. Just like that.
Harry looked down at his wand, and back at the fireplace. A smile creeped along his face. Wow.
It was time for a test. Harry had wondered for ages, ever since he'd found out about this thing he could do with fire, if he could do it with anything else. Not just fire. Harry scanned the room quickly, wondering what he could do. He needed something small to try. Then he spotted a chess board across the room, lying left-open on a table. The chess pieces were scattered randomly across it. Harry fixated on the white queen, and, without pointing at it or anything, thought, come to me. The white queen flew across the room and hit Harry in the eyes.
"Ow!" Harry exclaimed, a hand instinctively flying to his eye. The chess piece dropped to the floor. Harry looked anxiously at the dormitories, hoping he hadn't woken anyone up. Then slowly, his gaze turned to the chess piece lying on the ground. Two words came to his mind that he didn't often say: Holy Shit.
"Harry what is your ambition for life?" Harry blinked. "What are you going to do once you've left here?" Dumbledore beamed down on him, his eyes twinkling through his half-moon spectacles.
Harry opened his mouth to answer, but Sirius interrupted him. "He's gonna be a famous Quidditch player, aren't you, Harry? You know you'd be good." Harry blinked again to find all six players of his team looking at him in admiration, expectantly.
"Well…" Harry began, but Dumbledore interrupted him this time.
"No, no, he's going to teach here, at Hogwarts. Like me." Dumbledore smiled.
Hermione tapped Harry on the back, and he whirled round. "Hermione…" he breathed.
Hermione gave him an irresistible look like that of a six year old. "Come on, Harry, finish my dream for me…a new wizards and witches school, where we…well…you, can control everything. And where elves have full pay," she added severely.
Harry frowned. "But…"
"Harry! I thought you said we could help my brothers in their new business!" said Ron, coming up from the side. "You know, help out in the Weasley Weasles."
"When did I agree to…" Harry started, but suddenly, another ghost came out through the fog, followed by another behind it. The whole place fell silent, as if in respect.
"Mum…" Harry started. He looked behind her. "Dad! How…how is this possible?"
"Harry…" Lily Evans came forward, and reached her hand out to touch Harry's cheek, but it simply went through it. She took it away sadly.
Harry was in awe. He couldn't believe it. He hadn't seen his parents for seven years, and then he'd only seen them in a mirror of desires. If you didn't include that, he hadn't seen them for sixteen years; since they'd fallen to death by the hands of Voldemort, the dark lord.
"Dad…" Harry said again, as his father walked up to him.
"Harry, this is real. Do not think it just a dream. Trust me, this is really happening." Harry and James Potter exchanged smiles. "Harry, my son, do whatever you wish to do. The rest of your life is completely up to you. But know that whatever you do will make us proud." The two Potters hugged each other tightly as they gazed at their son in happiness, and as they slowly vanished.
Harry blinked. Did that just happen? he thought. Then the room was filled with noises of quidditch, schools and shops again. Harry screamed and screamed…
The real Harry shot up in bed sweating. He breathed in heavily, and looked around him. The others were sitting around him on his bed looking worried; Seamus, Dean, Neville and Ron. Harry looked at Ron's face, not really seeing him. Ron raised an eyebrow. "You ok, man?"
"Yeah you were kinda, you know, screaming and stuff," Seamus put in.
Harry bit his lip. "I'm fine," he lied. "Go back to bed, I'm fine. It was just a nightmare, that's all." Harry didn't care about them laughing at him for having a nightmare when he was seventeen; he just wanted them to go. Neville, Seamus and Dean went, but Ron stayed on the edge of the bed, eyes narrowed. "Hermione?" he asked quietly.
Harry shook his head. "My parents."
Ron nodded and placed a hand on Harry's shoulder. Then he stood up and went back to his own bed.
Harry drew the curtains back and slowly lay down, pulling the bed covers right up to him. He still felt guilty about not telling Ron about his new…powers. Or whatever they were. But he had more important things to think about.
Harry was confused; he hadn't even realised that he was stressed about leaving Hogwarts. But he must have been to have had that dream. Maybe it was just the conversation he had had with Lavender. His parents had said they'd be proud of him whatever he did. He frowned. They also said that it wasn't a dream, it was real. But… they'd said that in the dream.
So…technically… Harry shook his head. It was too late to be thinking about such deep things such as whether dreams were real or not. For now, he decided he'd settle with the thought that his parents were always with him in spirit, and he was sure they were proud of him. And with that happy thought, Harry let his head drop sideways, softly back onto his pillow, and fell fast asleep.
"Potions again. Great. Love those potions," mumbled Ron sarcastically. Harry and Ron both hated potions, but Harry didn't want to go to it more than Ron didn't want to. He knew that Snape was going to make a fool out of him after what had happened the previous day.
Ron glanced at Harry sideways, then focused on the air in front of him again. "He can't do anything to you, you know. He's a teacher – there are rules."
"I know," said Harry normally. "He can't. …But I can."
Ron stopped and looked at Harry. "Maybe we better skip potions today…"
Harry laughed and kept walking. "I'm only joking!"
Ron looked like he was going to protest, but instead gave up and just laughed.
"I may be stupid but I'm not an idiot," Harry said. "I know I was really lucky not to be expelled this time. I'm not going to go off at Snape again if I can help it!" The two walked on the rest of the way in silence, both knowing how bad Harry was at controlling his anger.
Potions went better than Harry had expected. Snape hardly spoke to Harry once or even glance his way throughout the whole lesson. All they had to do was answer some questions from the book (in silence, of course) and they were pretty simple questions. Snape did walk up to Harry momentarily, just to say, "Potter, stay behind at the end. I want to have a word." Harry nodded then gulped. Ron kicked him under the table; a little reminder to say, watch it.
Half way through the lesson, a very small girl ran in looking flushed. She hadn't even knocked, and soon found herself being stared at by a very angry Snape. Harry smiled. The girl was probably only a first year. She quivered as Snape towered over her. "Yes?" Snape asked raising an eyebrow. "Why are you interrupting my lesson?"
The little girl shook. "D-D-D-…Dumbledore s-sent me…"
Snape sighed. "Yes? And?"
"He…He…"
"Well, spit it out girl, we haven't got all day."
The little girl looked like she was about to cry, but managed to whisper a name: "H-Harry Potter…" she mumbled.
Snape sighed. The little girl thought she needed to explain, and started to say "He…" but Snape cut her off. He glanced sharply in Harry's direction. "Take your things. I'll speak with you later."
Harry breathed out a breath of relief. He and Ron exchanged glances, then Harry stood with his bag and walked over to the door.
The girl followed him nervously. Harry smiled down at her and suddenly recognised her as a girl named Martha. "You're a Griffindor, right?" The girl nodded. "Isn't your name Martha?" The girl didn't nod this time, she just gasped; she was in awe to be standing next to Harry Potter, let alone having him know her name!
"I'm H…" Harry was about to introduce himself, but Martha cut in.
"Oh, I know all about you Harry Potter." Harry smiled. Didn't everybody? "You…you've met with…with…you know who," she whispered the name, "seven times and you're not dead!" Harry laughed. Martha went on. "That's why my mum sent me here. She said this'll be the safest place for me 'in these dark times'. She said with you in this school, I'll have nothing to worry about." Martha smiled up at him adorably.
Harry smiled, and remembered back to when he was a first year. He was never that sweet and innocent, was he? Somehow he doubted it. "Yes, well, you've not only got me, but you've got Professor Dumbledore as well. Did you know, he's the only one that…that you-know-who," Harry tried hard not to say Voldemort's name, not wanting to frighten the little girl, "is afraid of?"
Martha looked up at him in awe. "Really? Wow."
Harry walked on the rest of the way in silence. Martha was probably thinking about what he'd said about Dumbledore. Harry made a mental note that he was thought higher of than Dumbledore. Dumbledore was getting very old, though. But there was something in Dumbledore, something that created fear in people's hearts, which Harry thought Dumbledore would always have.
Harry reached the statue to Dumbledore's office and waved goodbye to Martha. She scuttled off, and Harry stood stupidly, having forgotten the password that Dumbledore had given him and Rebekah, as Head Boy and Girl. Then it came to him. "Fawkes."
The statue moved to show the familiar staircase leading to Dumbledore's office. Harry climbed them, thinking about how Dumbledore had said he had had to change his sweets passwords because he'd run out of all the ones he'd liked.
Harry knocked on the door, and heard a shuffle of chairs. He frowned, wondering how many people were in there, and what glory it was that had got him out of potions. Soon the door opened and Harry looked up to see Dumbledore's smiling face. "Come in, Harry," the headmaster said kindly, and Harry walked in. He set his bag down on the floor, and as he rose up, his eyes fell on two very familiar faces.
"Sirius! Professor Lupin! What…"
Harry was gob smacked. Lupin smiled at him kindly as Sirius (annoyingly) ruffled Harry's hair. "I'm not a professor anymore, Harry. You know that. Call me Remus."
"Oh yeah, right, sorry," Harry said. "What are you doing here? What's going on?" he asked looking from one to the other. Remus Lupin and Sirius Black had been good friends of Harry's parents. Sirius was also his godfather, and Remus had been his defence against the dark arts teacher about four years ago.
Remus, Sirius and Dumbledore all looked at each other with hidden meanings. Harry frowned. He was tired of being left out of things, and decided to voice this. "I'm not a kid," Harry said confidently. "I'm 17, you don't have to feel the need to protect me anymore."
The adults, who were all roughly Harry's height, smiled and nodded. Harry frowned again and sat down. "So, what's going on?" he repeated, as Dumbledore walked round his desk and sat, as the others did, next to Harry.
"Harry, as you know, Voldemort is very strong. Stronger than ever before, we feel." Harry nodded. Voldemort… Everything in my life always leads back to that murderous bastard, he thought bitterly. Dumbledore continued after having been thinking deeply. "We need to stop him." Harry nodded again this time more passionately. "I've asked for some help from various people…some you know well, some you met in your fifth year." Harry thought back to when Dumbledore had called in a type of council; Arabella Figg, who, ironically, had been Harry's babysitter for years without Harry knowing she was a witch; Mundungus Fletcher, a wise old man whom Harry had not met before his fifth year; Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. "The old crowd," said Harry, clearly remembering Dumbledore's words in those terrifying hours as he asked Sirius to go get everybody. Dumbledore nodded, seeing the memory in Harry's eyes. Harry had just witnessed the return of Voldemort. Things had had to move quickly.
Harry shook his head slightly. Back to the real world. Dumbledore sensed this feeling and continued. "For two years we have watched Voldemort grow stronger, as you know; you saw him last year…" Harry closed his eyes and nodded tightly. When he opened them again no one was looking at him. Sirius lay a hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry smiled up at the familiar friendly face then turned back to Dumbledore. "Yes?" he asked, urging the head master to continue.
Dumbledore looked up again. "We have the "old crowd" together, and we have some new people to help. Professor Snape and a few other teachers have volunteered in helping…" Harry narrowed his eyes. Despite what everyone said, Harry still didn't trust Snape. Even if he was no longer a death eater, one of Voldemort's followers, Snape still had been. Plus, he hated Harry. Dumbledore frowned and Harry shrugged, slightly put off by the fact that Dumbledore had known what he was thinking.
"But, why are you telling me this?" Harry asked, the sudden thought penetrating his mind. Dumbledore looked to Sirius and Remus, nodded then turned back to Harry once more.
"We want you to help."
a/n: and the plot thickens!!!