Chapter 32: New Year's Eve
After Christmas, winter break began to wind down. Harry made his way wearily up to Professor Dumbledore's office for his next
Occlumency lesson; he couldn't wait for it to be over so that he, Ron, and Hermione could all be together again. Hermione had
returned to her home for the week following Christmas, but would be returning to Hogwart's that evening because it was
New Year's Eve. Professor Dumbledore had set the Occlumency lesson early in the afternoon as a result of this. After giving
the gargoyles guarding the office entrance the password, Harry wound his way up the spiral staircase and knocked on Professor
Dumbledore's door.

"Please come in," he heard, and entered. Professor Dumbledore stood in the middle of the room, smiling warmly at him. His
brilliant blue robes fell nearly to the floor; they were spangled with stars. Harry looked sheepishly at his own now-worn
black Hogwart's robes; he made a mental note to purchase new ones the next time he was in Hogsmeade.

"We will begin momentarily, Mr. Potter," Dumbledore said. Harry nodded but was immediately caught off guard as he was shot 
with the Legilimens curse almost instantaneously. He tried to fight it off but ended up releasing a memory of a past Quidditch
game. Harry opened his mouth to protest but he was cut off.

"Constant vigilance, Potter!" he heard a voice bark behind him. Harry spun around.

"Professor Moody?" he asked incredulously, seeing the man standing in the corner of the room, his electric blue eye spinning
wildly. Alastor Moody shook his head in disgust.

"Potter, you have to be paying attention at ALL TIMES! I could have had access to a much more important memory - your prophesy,
perhaps!" he told him. Harry gulped and nodded silently. "And why are you still calling me Professor? I don't think I've ever
taught you once. Moody, or Mad-Eye if you prefer, would be fine." His face twisted into a crooked smile. Harry tried to look
pleased but failed.

"Alastor, I believe I'll take it from here," Dumbledore told him, laying his hand on Moody's shoulder. He nodded and bid 
Professor Dumbledore good evening, walking briskly out the door, his wooden leg thumping on the ground. Dumbledore smiled
benignly at Harry.

"Sometimes, Alastor Moody can be a little overbearing," he told him. "But he is right about the prophesy. Now that you know
about it, it is imperative that you learn Occlumency."

"What was he doing in here, Professor?" Harry asked, still confused. 

"The Order is holding a New Year's party tonight. Alastor had just come to discuss it with me. I would like to extend an 
invitation to you, Ron, and Hermione, if you wish to attend."

"Sure," Harry answered, grateful for a reason to leave Hogwart's; he had been there for ages, it seemed. He didn't think that
Dumbledore's explanation of why Moody had been in his office was sufficient, but he was sure if he inquired about it further
he would be told it was simply 'Order business'.

"Shall we begin?" Dumbledore asked politely. Harry nodded, and the two took their places across the room from one another. 
"I will no longer inform you when or in what manner I am about to attack," he told Harry warningly. "Please be prepared for
anything." Harry shut his eyes, clearing his mind as best he could. He opened them again and stared at Dumbledore across the
room expectantly. "So Harry, how's your Christmas break been?" Dumbledore asked conversationally. Harry was confused.

"Oh, er, well it's been fine since Hermione-" 

"Legilimens!" The curse shot through the air and Harry was not yet prepared for it. He was trying to throw me off and
I fell for it, he thought angrily. He fought hard against the impending force, not allowing it into his head, using all of
his powers to keep it away. Finally, the relentless pushing of his mind stopped. Harry found himself gasping for breath and
lying on the floor.

"Excellent Harry, although from the effort you had to exert, I gather that you were not well prepared for the attack?" Dumbledore
asked.

"No," Harry mumbled. He got up and after a few more tries, he managed to block out most of the attacks. A half hour later,
Dumbledore halted the lesson. 

"I am no longer going to attack your mind, Harry - you are now going to attack mine. Consider this your introduction to 
Legilimency," he said. Harry took a deep breath and nodded. "For the first attempt, I will make no effort to block you."
Harry took out his wand and pointed it at Dumbledore.

"Legilimens! he cried, concentrating hard. Nothing happened. He lowered his wand, frustrated.

"Try again, Harry, it just takes practice," Dumbledore said gently.

"Legilimens, Harry said again, forcefully but quietly. He felt an odd change and suddenly saw images begin to float
past his eyes: a classroom full of giggling students, a meal in the Great Hall, a duel-

He was abruptly thrown away from the memories with such a forcefulness that he hit the ground.

"Sorry about that, Harry," Dumbledore said apologetically. "But that was getting a little too easy for you. Search for a
specific memory this time, and I will try to block you." Nodding, Harry readied his wand.

"Legilimens, he said again, feeling the power of the curse as it escaped from his wand. He felt his own consciousness
fighting against an opposing force, but somehow he managed to break it. Now he was inside. What do I search for? he 
thought frantically. A specific memory... The first thing that came to mind was not something he wanted to relieve,
but he ended up doing so anyway. He was again inside the Ministry of Magic, but this time he could see himself sitting on the
floor, surrounded by the magical statues while Dumbledore dueled with Lord Voldemort... a shiver ran down his spine and he
stopped. Dumbledore's office came back into view. 

"Something wrong, Harry?" Dumbledore questioned carefully.

"I don't particularly want to relive that," he mumbled. Dumbledore nodded.

"Nor do I. You are dismissed, Mr. Potter. If you would like to join us for the party tonight, please meet at my office at 8:00.
I have a feeling you'd like to be there," he said, his eyes twinkling. Harry nodded, a bit confused, before leaving the office
and returning to the common room where Ron and Hermione were.

"Anyone up for a New Year's celebration?" he asked them, falling into a chair. 

"Where at, mate?" Ron asked, engrossed in the chess game he was playing against himself.

"Grimmauld Place. I guess the Order is having some kind of a party."

"Oooh, let's go, it would be fun!" Hermione said excitedly.

"Well then, that settles it," Ron replied, taking a rare glance up from his game. "When do we leave?"

"Eight o'clock," Harry said, glancing at his watch. 

********************

A few hours later, the trio gathered in front of the Headmaster's office. Dumbledore appeared, wearing a heavy cloak and
carrying a book. He touched his wand to it and it glowed blue for a moment before returning to its original brown.

"Gather round," he told them. "It will activate in a moment..." Each of them laid a finger on its cover and within seconds
they where whisked away, landing unevenly in the foyer of Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

Harry looked around the house, somewhat amazed. It was totally redone from the last time he had been inside; the picture of
Mrs. Black had been removed somehow (there were deep scratches on the wall that signified it had been an intense struggle), 
the walls had been painted a bright and cheery peach tone, and music blared from inside the living room. Cautiously, the 
three teenagers made their way towards the source.

"Wotcher, Harry!" a voice called out as he entered the room. Tonks stood in the middle of a small crowd, waving at him, her
shockingly green hair spiked in all directions. "Welcome to the party!" she exclaimed, rushing over to him and grinning. 
He smiled back, noticing her swaying a bit on her high heels; he had to wonder if it had anything to do with the glass of
wine in her hand. 

"Glad you all could make it," Kinglsey greeted them. Harry surveyed the room and was amazed at the number of people packed into
the house. Witches and wizards were everywhere, talking, eating, and laughing. Harry's head buzzed with the noise of it all.

"Oh! There's Lisa Turpin, from Arithmancy! I'll be right back," Hermione assured them, sweeping across the room toward a 
plain-looking brunette. Harry and Ron looked at one another and shrugged.

"Now what?" Ron asked, bored.

"I dunno..." Harry replied, shrugging. He nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt someone grab him from behind.

"Harry! Where were you? I've been looking all over!" Rachel cried, grinning at him as she wrapped her arms around him and 
rested her head on his shoulder while still standing behind him. She frowned. "Are you okay? Your heart's beating like crazy..."

"Yeah, I just got scared half to death when you did that, that's all," he said sarcastically, still gasping for breath. Ron
laughed.

"I think I'm going to go check out that table," Ron said, gesturing towards the enormous display of food with a twinkle in his
eye. He hurried off.

"Rach, what are you doing here?" Harry asked, still surprised by her sudden appearance. She shrugged.

"My aunt and uncle joined the Order a few weeks ago. I was still home with them over break, so they decided to bring me along,"
she replied, taking his hand as they retreated to the corner to sit in one of the sofas that had been pushed out of the way.
"My Christmas break has been so boring! How was yours?"

"Not bad, since we got Hermione back, everything's been fine."

"Did you hear about-" A loud noise interrupted Rachel's question; someone was making a sound like a ringing bell at the front
of the room.

"Attention, attention! We have a very important announcement!" drawled a drunken Mundungus Fletcher. "Loopy, 'Dele, where the
hell are you..." The room erupted in laughter. A very embarassed-looking Remus Lupin hurried to the front of the room, accompanied
by Adele Fleur, her hair bobbing prettily as she tried to keep up with Remus. The room quieted quickly. Remus glanced around,
seemingly nervous. Hermione and Ron appeared in front of Harry, emerging from the suddenly still crowd.

"What's going on?" Hermione whispered.

"No idea," Harry responded, staring intently at Remus, who smiled nervously before speaking.

"Well, we'd just like to announce that Adele and I are engaged." Applause and whistles filled the room. Ron looked at Harry
incredulously.

"They're getting married?? But they're so...." he began.

"So what?" Hermione snapped dangerously.

"So.. umm.... in love?" Ron answered timidly. Hermione grinned.

"I'm sure that's what you were going to say," she replied, rolling her eyes. Remus continued talking.

"Our ceremony will take place in Diagon Alley, on February 14. You're all invited." 

"We're invited to the wedding!" Rachel cried. "Oh, this is going to be so much fun! I can't wait!"

"Ron," Harry asked in a low voice, as Rachel and Hermione began to chat happily about the wedding. "What were you going to say?"
Ron grinned sheepishly.

"They're so old," he said, forgetting to lower his voice. Hermione spun around, her eyes narrowed angrily. Ron backed away
quickly, muttering something about getting more punch and running toward the food table. The three remaining friends laughed.

"He's well-trained, Hermione... knows not to cross you when you're mad..." Harry stated, causing even more laughter. 

"I better go find him," Hermione said, walking away. A rare slow song came on; most of the music had been loud and fast earlier,
as the guests had been enjoying their release from work and school. Harry smiled at Rachel.

"Would you like to dance?" he asked softly. She smiled back.

"I'd love to," she said. They walked out towards the middle of the floor; Harry was slightly nervous, since he had never
danced with Rachel before. They stood awkwardly together in the middle of the crowd of couples.

"I really don't know how to do this," Rachel confessed.

"Neither do I," Harry replied, and they laughed. He wrapped his arms around her waist and she put her hands behind his neck as
they began swaying slowly to the music. Staring into one another's eyes, they could only faintly hear the screaming crowd behind 
them.

"FIVE...FOUR...THREE...TWO...ONE..."

"Happy New Year's," Harry whispered moments before their lips touched. 

************************

Lord Voldemort stood inside a dark room, the only light inside a blue glow from some odd-looking candles in torches on the
walls. He stared out of a window at the beautiful landscape below, the white snow covering virtually everything. He clasped
his hands behind him, his back unnaturally straight. A deep growling sound came from his throat.

"Twice, Potter... twice this year I've tried to lure you out from that Muggle-loving fool... but no, you refuse to come. You
have learned something, for once... We can't have that happening. If you refuse to come to Lord Voldemort... then Lord Voldemort
will come to you."

**********************

Another chapter up! I really don't think that counts as a cliffy, it's more like foreshadowing. Sorry if the whole Hermione
situation wasn't explained well, I wasn't very inspired when I wrote that chappie, lol. And Harry really can't face off
with Voldemort yet - that would mean the story would be over!! But anyways, thanks for reading! You guys (and girls!) are
THE BEST!!! =)