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Chapter Nine: Decisions and N.E.W.Ts

            Harry eyed the parchment he had received not two minutes ago. It had only four words written on it. My debt is paid.

Nobody seemed interested in his letter. It didn't bother him, but he wasn't sure what to make of it. Ron was busy being spoon-fed by Parvati Patil. Hermione had a large book labeled "A Guide to N.E.W.T Level Charms" propped up on the milk and pumpkin juice pitchers. Alan was eating cereal, which would have been normal enough if he didn't keep putting scoop after scoop of sugar on it every two minutes.

            Harry took out his wand and tried a few identification spells. Nothing. His letter was completely normal. Not a shred of magic ever touched the parchment. He placed his wand away and crumpled the letter up and chucked it on the floor. He looked around and saw that Alan had finished eating and was paging through a large leather-bound book. Harry took a peek over Alan's shoulder at the words. He found that it was written in beautifully fashioned letters. He also found that those letters were not from any language on New Earth. He sighed and went back to his bacon and eggs.

((()))

            It was Monday and it began N.E.W.Ts week. Harry trudged to the common room to have a little rest near lunch. He had taken his Potions N.E.W.T and his Transfiguration N.E.W.T already and it was nearly time for lunch. He found Hermione flipping through another one of her study books. Alan was again reading the unnamed book. Ron and Parvati were busy "catching up" in one of the corners. He looked around and found one person unoccupied. Ginny. Harry took a deep breath and walked up to the youngest Weasley and sat in the chair next to hers.

            She looked at him with a raised eyebrow and curious eyes. "What's eating you?"

            "Just a little test anxiety."

            "Don't worry Harry," she said cheerfully, "You'll do fine."

            "I hope so. My Potions Exam wasn't exactly spectacular."

            "All you can do is your best."

            "Thanks," he said wearily, "Why are you so happy?"

            "No reason," she said.

            "C'mon Ginny. What could have possibly happened that I wouldn't like," he said sarcastically, "Besides I'm not one of your brothers so I don't have any say over what you do anyway." She began to stare at him, head cocked to one side, one eyebrow quirked.

            "Do you really want to know?"

            "Sure I've got nothing else to do until lunch."

            "Alright," she nodded and began, "I told my parents about Draco and I in a letter. Mum said that she had to calm Dad down but after they read through the letter a few times they accepted my relationship. As long as their okay with it my brothers can't do anything about it."

            "So aunt Molly and uncle Arthur are alright with you dating a Slytherin?"

            "Yeah."

            "That's good"

            Alan grunted and closed his book. He reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out a long sandwich. He unwrapped it from its rather messy packaging and began to eat. It was a seafood and crab hero sandwich on wheat bread. It seemed a little stale and Alan chewed loudly.

            "Alan," Harry questioned, "Why are you eating now and," he paused wondering if he wanted to know how long he had kept the hero but decided against it, "Uh…Yeah. Why are you eating now?"

            "I've got to go to my private N.E.W.T Examinations in twenty minutes so I'm eating lunch now."

            "What have you got first?"

            "Advanced Spirit Defense."

            "What?"

            "'Ts not important."

((()))

            The week dragged on at a crawl. They had N.E.W.T exams during the mornings and afternoons. During their free time, Hermione would study, Alan would page through the enormous unnamed book, Ron would "entertain" himself with Parvati, and Harry would talk to Ginny. Alan always had free time in the mornings and went to his private exams in the afternoon. Harry had asked him several times what he was taking. Sometimes it would just be N.E.W.T level basic classes. Other times he would be going to classes like "Advanced Ancient Artifice", or "Healing Through Meditation". Whenever Harry or one of the others would ask about one of the stranger sounding classes he would just reply with "'Ts not important."

            The last of their exams were taken on Friday morning. Harry had D.A.D.A. and Magical Healing. After dinner everyone turned in for an early night. Only two students were up late on Friday night.

((()))

            Alan sat in the Gryffindor common room paging through the Tome of Foreknowledge. He constantly retraced the same few lines over and over again. Prophecy always gave him a headache. Prophecy wasn't like divination at all. Divination was the study of the uses of magic in the Art of Seeing. Prophecy was the study of ancient texts claiming to tell the future. Divination was imprecise and unreliable. Prophecy was almost never wrong and, once translated could be clearly interpreted. This one passage however was conveniently obscure.

            A rough translation provided this much:

            When cometh the time for the meeting of the Light and Dark what once was two shall be so again. When the choice is made and the victor arises from the Battle all that was broken will be restored. The Void will be filled and the Lost will be recovered. The Weapon will continue its journey and the world will be right until the next rise of evil. Fear ye not for this will be the worst and should ye survive the Dark will be weakened and never tarry in full force again. Should the Light fail hang thy head in mourning for the world will be unmade yet again to correct the mistakes of old.

            He had worked out what 'once was two shall be so again" meant and found that the filling of the Void and the recovery of the Lost would be rewards to those who played the biggest roles. He reasoned that if Harry won there wouldn't ever be a Dark Lord of this magnitude ever again. He also reasoned that should Voldemort win another cataclysm would occur and the process would start over. What he couldn't understand is the part about the weapon continuing its journey. What kind of weapon could travel? What kind of journey was this weapon on? It just didn't make any sense.

            Another thing that annoyed Alan about Prophecy was that most of it was written in High Style. When a Prophecy is written it is usually taken down in the original language of the person who had his mind touched by the fates. Therefore most Prophets wrote in High Style and that dialect could go in circles for days before going anywhere. It didn't help that most Prophets were noblemen in the courts of kings either. No one would ever believe how hard it was to sneak into the Buried Ruins of Ecshat the Seventh of Babylon. The booby traps in those Hanging Gardens almost killed him. Thank the Council he had been using Astral Projection to retrieve the stupid book. Else he would have been charbroiled Swiss cheese for a book of an old mans chicken scratch. The thing was nothing but the ravings of a madman.

            He sighed and went back to racking his brain over the most obscure passage he had ever come across. He couldn't wait for the final battle. After the final confrontation he would have fulfilled his duty. He could be normal after this was over. He wanted it over with.

((()))

            Draco Malfoy lay on his four-poster bed thinking. He knew what would happen. He knew it would happen soon. Problem was that he didn't know if he wanted any part of it anymore. He pondered the point for nearly an hour before coming up with a solution. He wouldn't fight for Voldemort or Dumbledore. He would fight for Her. He would fight for the love of his life. Draco Malfoy would severely hurt anyone who tried to hurt Ginny Weasley.

            He rolled over and pulled his sheets tighter around him. He sighed and fell into an untroubled sleep. His dreams were all of a beautiful redheaded witch.

((()))

            Lucious Malfoy stood ankle deep in muddy water. His black robes and hood were damp with sweat and his feet were freezing. Others around him were in similar conditions. They waited for daybreak to commence the operation. It was eerily quiet during that night. Something just didn't feel right. Lucious hadn't seen even a squirrel since he had entered the woods where he and a squad of Death Eaters now waited. In fact he hadn't heard anything but the sound of his and his troops breaths, and the sloshing of fervid pacing. Tomorrow would definitely be unpleasant.

((()))

            Professor Severus Snape sat in his office grading exams. His mind was anywhere but with the horribly written essays. All of his posing and prying would come down to tomorrow. Everything would either pay off or he would die. It wasn't something he looked forward to either way. If the Dark Lord was defeated, he would have Potter to thank. Potter made him sick to his stomach. Always running around saving everyone. Being a hero.

            If Potter lost Snape would pay for his treachery. He may have hated Potter and his father but he feared the Dark Lord. Snape hated feeling afraid more than he could ever hate Potter. He supposed that if Potter won he would have to at least offer some token of appreciation. He didn't have to like Potter, he just had to thank him. That would be another reason to hate the Potters. Twice! Damnit! He would be twice indebted to them. Maybe, just maybe, if he had gotten to her first he would have no reason to hate Harry. The fact that she had to die because she loved both of them had clinched his hatred for the Potters as well as his espionage efforts against the Dark Lord.

            Professor Severus Snape would do everything to see the Dark Lord lose, even help a Potter.

((()))

            Professor Albus Dumbledore sat in his office contemplating all of the information. He had Order reports giving information about seeing alleged Death Eaters in the Scottish countryside. He had a report from Professor Snape about the event. He had even received an anonymous letter giving him detailed plans for the operation. He sat and watched the dawn break over the eastern horizon. It was going to happen soon. Fawks crowed on his perch. He knew it as well. He could sense his second feather approaching.

Albus Dumbledore stood and retrieved his wand from his pocket. He hoped that if he warned everyone early enough he could prevent casualties. There would be casualties no matter what happened but maybe he could lessen them. He did not want his students to be harmed. He knew that Mr. Potter was training many of them to defend themselves. He hoped that this would be enough.

Albus Dumbledore walked down the halls using an amplified voice to announce what everyone had been dreading since Mr. Harry Potter's fifth year.

            Hogwarts was under attack.

A/N: Action! Suspense! Drama! Stay tuned for the next exciting chapter of Harry Potter and the Exchange Student.