Disclaimer: Many of the characters, thoughts and ideas that are in this fan fiction are not of my own design. Though this story is from my imagination, I realize that this is the property of Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling. This is not J. K. Rowling's work. I also read many FFs and if you see something similar to another work it is entirely unintentional. I have posted this on harrypotter.com as well….
Becky (rebcschult and PrincessOfCliffiesRCS)
P.S. Please read and review!
In general to all of my fans – I am so sorry about my extended absence! Unfortunately it was not for a good reason… My computer crashed and I lost everything…. Yes I said everything…. Luckily I have back up on another site of the updated version…. I have now finished getting that back and am giving you the next chapter…. So sorry that it took so long! :'-(
Athenakitty – Thank you for all the questions…More clarification coming up! :-D
Romm – Definitely not! lol :-D
Jake –I truly apologize that that chapter was not enough to the point! I hope that this chapter will help to clarify! :-D
Tim – That is quite alright! Life has a way of getting in the way! Lol When ever you can read and review… It makes me happy! I'm so glad you are still with me! :-D
Oxi-Nu – Thank you!!! I'm so glad!!! :-D
Smileyfaces1 – WELCOME! Thank you so much for you comments and compliments! I'm really glad that you have enjoyed my ficcy so far! I hope that you will keep reading! *behind hand* Confidentially…. Those are my favorite parts too! :-D
Texasjeanette – Thank you so much for your wonderful comments and Holiday wishes! Aside from the computer mishap that I explained above…. I had a pretty good holiday! I hope that there is enough action coming up for you! Tee hee! :-D
Butler – Thank you very much! I'm glad that you approve! :-D
Manateegirl524 –Sorry it took so long for the updat! Well… now you know why! I hope you like it! :-D
The Keymaker – WELCOME! I'm very glad that you are enjoying this ficcy so far… I hope that by the time you get to the point of reading this you will be thoroughly enjoying what I have written! I'm glad that you took a chance on this even though you don't normally read ficcys on the books that are currently out! And as for Mrs. Figg being a squib… it was more what you said that I was trying to imply… I realize that she wasn't ever really a squib…. She just thought that she was! Sorry about not making that clear enough! :-D
CHAPTER TWENTY – THE HISTORY OF THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIXThe rest of break was very strained between Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Frankly, Harry was starting to get tired of having to deal with the two of them moping about. Fred and George too, seemed to have gotten sick of it, as they spent most of their time up in their dorm room.
Harry had decided to disappear into the library to do his homework. He tried to stay out of the dorm unless he was sleeping, so he found himself taking long walks, visiting Hagrid's and exploring the castle without the Marauder's map to see if he could find anything interesting that he had never seen before.
Finally, the Saturday before everyone returned and the new term began, Harry was awoken to Ron's voice just outside their dorm door. "What are you doing here? Get away from me! No! NO!! ARRRRRRRGH!!!!!"
All of Harry's aggravation at Ron was stripped away, as he thought Ron was in danger. He jumped out of bed, running. He threw open the door of the dorm and found a very unusual sight. Fred and George were standing there laughing hysterically and Ron was no where to be seen. Harry gave them a confused look, as he walked over to them. "What's going on here?"
Through his hysterics that now had him and his twin on their knees, George handed Harry a wrapper, that was, from the look of it, a newly developed product for their business. Written on the wrapper was "Super Bubble Gum Bubble Bomb."
"I don't understand…."
This phrase just made them laugh harder still. Somehow Fred was able to point up, and as he did a new bout of hysterics began anew. Against Harry's better judgment he looked up, slowly. His mouth dropped open at what he saw. He couldn't help himself, he began to laugh too….
Floating up about 8 feet off the ground was a huge pink bubble with Ron standing in it. His arms were crossed and he looked angrier than a Hippogriff. It looked like he was yelling something at Harry, something like, "Thanks for nothing, Harry," but the words never reached his ears, they seemed to somehow get lost inside the bubble.
After a few more moments of laughter, Harry thought it was time to get him out of there, so he reached up to grab the bubble and to bring it down. Fred still lying on the floor trying to catch his breath from laughing so hard, saw this and yelled a bit to late, "No, Harry! Don't it'll…."
BA-BOOM!!!
"….explode!"
The huge sound had filled the place and had blown Harry off of his feet. He slammed against the wall next to the door to his dorm, the wind knocked out of him. He was on all fours trying to catch his breath as the smoke cleared and Fred and George started laughing heartily again.
When Harry had finally caught his breath he looked up and the sight that met his eyes made him collapse to the floor in hysterics. George was rolling on the floor on his back kicking his feet in the air, and Fred was slamming his fist against the floor; they were laughing so hard. But the funniest part was Ron. All of the pink bubble that had been surrounding him before was now holding him high up on the wall, spread eagle. He looked very much like a huge glorified splattered bug, entangled in this pink sticky goo.
In a very flat tone Ron said, "Okay, very funny. Ha ha. Now will you please get me down." The three of them looked up at him as if trying really heard not to laugh and seemed to consider his request. But the moment all of their eyes met they were rolling on the floor laughing again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione and Ginny who had both heard the huge boom, got up, put on dressing coats and ran out of their dorm rooms, and nearly into each other trying to get to where the sound had come from. They heard some yelling coming from up in the boys dorm hallway. They ran up the stairs. The sight they witnessed before them was unbelievable. Fred, Harry, and George were all in hysterics rolling about the floor. "What…?" began Hermione.
"Hermione, thank Merlin, you're here! Could you please get me down?"
Hermione and Ginny looked over to where they heard Ron's voice. Ginny snickered to see her brother's predicament. Hermione would have found it a far more funnier thing had she not been in such a foul space with him. A small smile played at her lips briefly before she looked at him with fire in her eyes.
"You don't speak to me in almost a week and a half and you expect me to just drop everything and come running back to you the moment you need help?" Hermione scoffed, furrowing her brow. She took out her wand and aimed it at him at his most vulnerable spot, and not at the goo around him holding him in place.
Ron, trying to move to cover his unprotected lower portions, but having no success, started begging, "Hermione, please! Don't do anything rash. I'm sorry. I'll never do it again! I promise!"
Hermione raised her wand above her head. "Don't make promises that you can't keep. And sorry isn't good enough right now…. You should have thought about saying sorry back right after it happened." She started bringing her wand down as if about to perform a spell.
In desperation Ron said, "Please Hermione! I'm begging you! You were right, I was wrong! Please, please, please don't do this! I'm so sorry!!"
"It's too late for all of that! You should have thought about all that from the start…," she repeated in the same dangerously low tone she had used before.
By now Fred, George, and Harry had stopped their laughing and were watching the exchange between Ron and Hermione. Ginny took a step back from Hermione, not sure what she was about to do, but feeling the anger rise in her friend.
"W-what are you p-planning to d-do?" stuttered Ron, nervously.
"Have you ever hear the phrase 'Hell hath no fury, like a witch scorned'?"
Ron swallowed hard and nodded, a horrified expression spreading across his face.
"Be afraid. Be very afraid, Ronald Weasley…." Hermione raised her wand again and looked at Ron with such venom.
"Hermione, don't!" yelled Ginny as Hermione began to cast the spell under her breath.
"Relashio…"
The pink goo disintegrated around him with such heat it almost burned him. Ron dropped eight feet to the floor, as Hermione turned and stamped out of the hall and down the dormitory steps. Ron fell to his knees and seemed to be silently thanking Merlin while simultaneously making sure that all his body parts were still attached.
Ron noticed that there were just a few residual bits of the gum on him, on his face across his cheek and tangled in his hair. He gave his brothers and Harry an evil-look and stormed off into the dorm room, slamming the door behind him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The weeks that followed were perhaps the worst that Harry had ever had at Hogwarts. Neither Ron nor Hermione were talking to him or each other, for that matter. In fact Ron flinched every time he saw Hermione enter a room and left quickly there after if he was able to.
The advanced classes were strenuous in more ways than one. It was difficult to keep avoiding Hermione and Ron in that class since it was so small. Not to mention the material became increasingly more difficult. This was true, in fact, for all of the classes.
It was as if the Professors thought that they had best jam as much knowledge into their heads before the end of the term, they all were acting as if their class was the only one that the fifth years were taking. Professor Flitwick was the worst of them all. He had actually piled on ten different particularly difficult charms to learn and write short essays on in each one of them one week.
Homework had become a horrendous thing. And without the support and help of his two best friends, Harry felt that it was harder and harder to keep up. He felt as if he were nearly drowning in it. It became even harder when Quidditch got added into the mix. Between practice time and sitting with Angelina trying to devise strategies, his time was stretched so thin that he felt that he was nearly about to have a nervous breakdown. He suddenly realized why Hermione had been harping on Ron and him to really get studying ahead of time.
One day early February, he had truly had enough of it all and decided to take some time out. He went to the dorm room and pulled his trunk to him. He took out his father's invisibility cloak and the book with the raised phoenix emblem on the cover. It was the only thing he hadn't really looked at since Christmas, but he felt the needed to.
He sat down on his bed and covered himself with the cloak. He pulled the book onto his lap. He ran his finger over the emblem. It seemed to shimmer at his very touch. His finger fell into the notch in the emblem.
He lifted the book and looked very closely at it. He realized that it looked like the reverse of the stone in his father's ring. He looked at the ring and the notch together. They definitely matched. Harry slowly took off his father's ring and placed it in the notch, matching up the imprint of the GG on the side of the stone to where there was a little backwards GG on the notch in the emblem.
The book flew open knocking the ring out of Harry's hand and onto the floor. The wind emitted by the book made the invisibility cloak fly off of him and land across the room near the door….
Ron came up to the dorm, feeling badly about how he had treated Harry, especially since Harry really had nothing to do with the prank his brothers had played on him, though he had laughed and he was the one that popped the bubble. He had been miserable being with his brothers and their other friends. He wanted the trio back again. But he wasn't sure that would ever happen, because he was quite sure that Hermione would never forgive him, so he would settle for at least having Harry as his friend again.
When he reached the door, he tried to work through his mind what he would say to Harry in order to convince him that he was sorry for being so daft lately. He finally had it worked through in his mind. He swallowed his pride and opened the door and instantly felt as if something was wrong. He looked at Harry's bed, where he had thought Harry would be, but found only a book lying open there. He thought that maybe Harry was hiding under his father's cloak until he tripped on it.
Ron's heart was beating in his throat now. He croaked out, "Harry…. Where are you?" The silence that answered him was deafening….
Ron picked up the invisibility cloak and cautiously moved toward the bed. As he approached he noticed that there was something shiny on the floor next to it. The closer he got the more ominous he felt about it. He reached down and picked up what had caught his attention. He gasped when he realized it was Harry's father's ring. He never took it off. So now Ron really had a bad feeling.
Ron had never actually seen the ring up close to inspect it and there was something about it that made him feel like there was nothing more important in the world than to put it on his finger. Ron absentmindedly put down the cloak and it missed the bed by about five feet. Still mesmerized by the ring, Ron, forgetting why he had come up there in the first place, sat down on the bed and on top of the open book. But there was no bed there, he just fell backwards into darkness….
Harry opened his eyes and got to his feet. He stood in a darkened corridor. He looked down one direction and found it completely blocked, the other direction, what ever was down there was the only way out. He felt driven toward it for some reason and it was not to get out, but he couldn't pinpoint the real reason he was driven toward it.
He took out his wand and slowly and cautiously went in the direction away from the blocked end. He walked slowly at first and then more swiftly. Finally Harry was flat out running to get to the end. When the end came into view he skidded to a stop.
There standing before him was a door. He stood looking at it for quite some time. He couldn't explain why, but this door frightened him. In fact it filled him with fear greater than anything that he had ever known, and yet he was still driven toward it.
He took a step apprehensively and completely as if it were against his will. The door was approaching faster than Harry had expected. He crept along. Now hearing voices obviously coming from behind the closed door that almost seemed to become eerie whispers as traveled down the corridor at him. He inched closer to the door. It opened suddenly and Harry flattened himself against the wall in the shadows. The voices drifted down to him in echoes, but the words were now distinctively clear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ron opened his eyes and rubbed his head. Where was he and how did he get there? One moment he had been sitting on Harry's bed admiring Harry's father's ring, the next he was here, wherever here was. He was surprised to find that he still had the ring in his hand. He almost got drawn into it's power again, but since he felt that it was somehow the reason he was there in the first place, he decided to place it in his pocket to give to Harry when he found him.
He looked around. Not seeing any way out to his right he started off down the narrow corridor to his left. He slowly walked and listened to the sound of his shoes with each step echoing off of the walls. He looked around and saw that there was no way out. Feeling rather claustrophobic, he started walking a bit faster.
He walked for quite some time. Finally, he came to the place where there was only one exit. The door at the end was open and Ron could see a bit of the room beyond. He started walking toward it, figuring that Harry was in there.
He nearly jumped out of his skin and screamed at the top of his lungs when a hand came out of the shadows and grabbed his arm.
"Would you be quiet?" hissed a familiar voice.
"Harry! I was looking for you and somehow I ended up here with you! What's going on?"
"Ron, please… I'm trying to hear what is going on."
"Where?"
"In there." Harry indicated the room that was at the end of the hall.
Ron stood confused for some time. There was no one in that room that he could see. There was simply a quiet room, but Harry seemed intent on listening to something that Ron very clearly could not hear.
"Come on!" said Harry, as he began to creep off toward the room. They reached it and Harry peered around the room from outside the door. When there didn't seem to be anyone in it, he attempted to walk inside. Harry was repelled and blown ten feet away.
A deep voice echoed down the corridor, "Only the Heir may enter here!" A panel in the wall slid open. Harry got up and went to the wall. There was an impression of a hand in the wall and an impression of the stone from his father's ring.
Harry swore.
"What is it?"
"I need my father's ring and I don't have it. It was knocked out of my hand when the book on my bed opened."
Ron remembered he had it in his pocket. "I know."
Harry looked at Ron, confused.
Ron took it out and reluctantly handed it to Harry. "I found it on the floor next to your bed, before I fell into the book."
Harry looked at Ron skeptically. "What were you doing next to my bed? I thought you weren't speaking to me…"
"Yeah, about that, mate…. I'm…."
Harry could see that Ron was struggling to say something. Harry entered Ron's mind cautiously, not wanting to be intrusive. Ron's mind was full of things that Harry knew Ron was trying to say to him. Ron looked up into Harry's eyes suddenly aware that Harry was there. Ron was afraid of how Harry would react.
Harry was thrilled that his friend wanted to make amends. "I'm sorry too, Ron. I know that I should have told you about what was going on with me…. But the time just wasn't right. I found out about a lot of things that I really needed to think through. I promise you that when I am ready to talk about what I know, you will be the first one to know it." Harry smiled at Ron for the first time since the Super Bubble Gum Bubble Bomb incident. Ron smiled back relieved that Harry had forgiven him.
Relieved of his fear that Harry wouldn't forgive him, new questions entered his mind. "Harry, why do you need you father's ring?"
Harry smiled at Ron's question. Despite the fear Harry held for what lay in that room, he was happy to have his best friend by his side to face it. Harry took a deep breath and looked at Ron, who now seem to be almost as nervous about what they were facing as Harry.
"For this." Harry put his father's ring into the groove. The many torches that lined the corridor burst into flame two by two, heading back down the straight hall toward where they had come from.
"Where did those torches come from? They weren't there before were they?"
"I don't know."
Harry and Ron looked at each other. "Now what?"
"Well, I guess I put my hand here…"
"Why?"
Harry looked at Ron, who had a truly clueless expression on his face.
"Ron, think about it…. After everything that has happened to me this year, why do you think?"
Ron stood thoughtfully for several moments. Finally, realization spread across his face. "You're not…."
Harry nodded.
"…The Heir of Gryffindor?"
Harry continued to nod.
Ron stood in shock. He backed up slowly, ended up hitting the wall and sliding down to the floor.
"Ron…."
Ron looked up at Harry with a far away expression in his eyes.
"You are not going to back out on me now, are you? Think of the adventures we've been through. I'm still the same person. I'm still just Harry."
"You were never 'just Harry', Harry."
"So what if I wasn't…. I'm still your best friend."
Ron could not argue with that, nor did he wish to give that up. As if he had made a decision within himself, he got to his feet suddenly and walked with a determined stride back over to Harry.
"Do you see why now I hesitate to tell you what I just found out? I was afraid of a reaction like that… because it was how I felt when I learned about it myself…"
Ron nodded. "I'm sorry that I ever doubted you, mate."
Harry nodded.
"Right, now what do you need me to do?"
"Come with me into that room. I know the answers that I seek lie within it."
Ron nodded determinedly.
Harry took a deep breath. "Here we go…."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione was sitting in the dorm room when she got a really bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. She looked up from her books and glanced around the room. She hadn't seen Harry around all morning or afternoon. She was really starting to get worried about him…. Since the three of them hadn't been getting along, she had seen Harry actually sitting and studying most of the time. He looked fairly overwhelmed.
She wanted to tell him that she had told him so about trying to study more sooner, but she didn't think that that would go over well. She had to admit that she was really starting to miss both Harry and Ron, though she would never admit it to Ron until he apologized for what he had said, and maybe not even then.
But now that she thought about it, she had not seen Ron for most of the day as well. She decided that she would most definitely go up to the boy's dorm room and see if they were there. She closed her book with a snap and headed up the stairs to the boys' dorms.
When she got there she knocked, but when she got no answer she opened the door. Her bad feeling increased as she looked at Harry's bed and noticed it empty except for a book. She saw his father's cloak strewn on the floor. She went over and picked it up. Then she noticed the box on the page in the book. It had oddly enough just lit up completely. She looked into it and saw Harry and Ron. She dropped the invisibility cloak.
As it fluttered to the floor she picked up the book and watched what was going on. Harry's voice reached her ears, "Ron, think about it…. After everything that has happened to me this year, why do you think?"
There was silence.
"Come on, Ron. Figure it out. You know that Harry is the Heir of Gryffindor."
"You're not… the Heir of Gryffindor?"
Harry nodded.
Hermione knew that what she was witnessing must have been something that was similar to what had happened back in their second year when Harry was pulled into Tom Riddle's diary. It seemed to get very difficult to see and even harder to hear them. She put her nose closer and closer to the picture. The tip of her nose touched the page and suddenly she was flung forward.
~~~~~~~~~
Harry put his hand into the impression in the wall. It was a perfect match. And then he touched his father's ring again. A severe pain seared through his body. Harry fell to his knees, but kept his hand on the wall and tight grip on the ring. Ron ran to help Harry up and to help him let go, but he only succeeded in making Harry yell out in pain.
"No, Ron! Just let me go! Something is about to happen! I know it!"
A door in the wall beside them suddenly slid open. Harry took his father's ring from the wall, and pushed himself up to a standing position.
Ron looked concerned at his friend. "Why didn't you let me pull you away from the wall, Harry?"
"It was a test, Ron. I knew I had to endure it. Besides even though the pain was pretty bad, it was nothing compared to the pain I've gotten from Voldemort." Harry slipped his father's ring back onto his finger and grabbed his wand.
Harry and Ron cautiously approached the now open doorway in the wall. They walked through into another corridor. It was made completely of white marble that had obviously not been walked on in many years. Torches lit up going down the long corridor.
They took a stepped forward into the corridor and the door slammed shut with a resounding boom. They didn't look back. They just slowly walked down the corridor listening to the inconsistent beat of their own steps. When after some time they finally reached another door they were skeptical that it was getting them anywhere. Harry felt the wall next to the door to see if there were any other panels. He didn't feel any so he cautiously approached the door.
"You had better stand back," said Harry. He touched the doorknob and turned. Instantly he was being sucked into the room. Still holding onto the doorknob with both hands, Ron jumped at him to hold onto him. But Ron too was sucked in. Harry threw his hand out and caught Ron's hand. But now there was far less support holding him there and more weight that he was trying to keep from getting sucked in.
Harry felt his hand slipping. As if in slow motion, he felt it as all of his fingers started to let go, his thumb, pinky, ring finger, index finger, and finally….
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lina Clovis was standing in the library. She was researching the British History of shield regeneration for the next advanced class, when suddenly she became stood upright and became very stiff.
"It is time," came a voice within her mind. She turned and began walking.
She appeared to be under the Imperius Curse. She walked to the back corner of the restricted section and pulled out a book that was glowing with an emblem of a raised Phoenix on the front and an engraved notch. She placed the down on the table in front of the bookcase. She reached into the space where the book had been and pulled out a box.
She opened it and took out a ring with a red stone and the initials LG engraved into the side of the stone. She put on the ring and stuck the stone into the notch. Instantly the book flew open and an immense wind blew out of the book causing many of the books around her to protest. The wind reversed and she touched a small box on the page. She was sucked into the book head first, as the book slammed shut. Papers fluttered to the ground around the table the book was on.
~~~~~~~~~~
Harry was down to the last finger holding onto the doorknob. He was sweating from the effort. Feeling it slipping he knew there was nothing left to do. Suddenly there was a hand that grabbed a hold of Harry's hand just as his last finger let go. At the precise moment Harry and Ron fell to the floor with a thud, effectively knocking the wind out of both of them for a short time.
"Thanks… Hermione…." gasped Harry.
"What's going on here? Why are we here?" asked Hermione, keeping her eyes on the floor.
"I'm not exactly sure, but I know that it is important."
Ron looked up at his former girlfriend. He knew what he had to do to get her back, but wasn't sure if she would still accept it. "Hermione…."
"Yes," she answered softly still looking at the floor.
"I'm so sorry that I was insensitive to you at Christmas….. Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?"
As she lifted her head he built up the courage to look into her stone cold eyes….
Slowly her eyes began to melt, and a single tear rolled down her cheek.
"I'm so sorry that I didn't say it sooner. I was being an insensitive, blind, idiotic nitwitted git that can't see past the nose on his face, again wasn't I?"
A slow smile played at her lips, "Yes, you were. But you are still my insensitive, blind, idiotic nitwitted git that can't see past the nose on his face. That is if you still want to be with me." She waited with anticipation and slight anxiety for Ron to answer.
A wide grin spread across his face. She took that as a yes and smiled back. Ron and Hermione got up and flew into each other's arms and reveled in the warmth they found there. Hermione put her head down on Ron's shoulder. He rested his cheek on the top of her head.
The torches began to burst into flame and light the way down the corridor again. The door slammed, making everyone jump and turn around. Harry stared at the door for several moments and then got to his feet. He looked at Hermione and Ron and saw them back in each other's arms just as they had been in before the door slammed.
Harry smiled at the fact that his friends were finally back together and gave them a bit of time to enjoy what they had missed over the past month. He looked around the corridor they were now standing in, looking back only once briefly at Hermione and Ron to see if they were ready to move on.
"I missed you," Hermione whispered.
"I missed you, too."
They looked up at each other and were instantly drawn into each other's souls before their lips touched for the first time in a little more than a month. Their kiss intensified as they realized just how much they had missed each other's touch.
Seeing that they were not ready to go Harry continued to look around. He noticed that this hall too was thick with dust from lack of use, though the floor and walls were made of black marble this time.
Harry suddenly felt the need to go down the hall. He couldn't turn to see if Hermione and Ron were following, nor could he speak. His footsteps echoed around him in such a way that he could not tell if it were just he walking alone or if his friends accompanied him. The reverberation from the sound of his every footstep seemed to close in around him. And yet he was still driven forward.
The fear in him grew as he reached the end. In front of him were three doors. He looked each of them over before he heard a woman's voice reach his ears.
There are three doors as you can plainly see
One door leads you to eternity.
Another will leave you free to roam.
The last will take you back home.
The choice you must make, if you dare,
Is only valid if you are the Heir.
So now it has come to the time when thee
Must make the choice, so above all, choose wisely.
Harry stood there thinking through the poem he had just heard. He looked at the three doors. The one in the right was orange and appeared to be wet and slimy. He tried to feel what was beyond it, but there was no way to tell. He just felt the fear and pain of his life being washed away from him as he looked at it. The red door in the middle had an intricate pattern to it around the outside edge similar to a vine growing around the door. He felt comfortable when he looked at it, like he was at home. Finally the door on the left was yellow and filled Harry with fear.
As inviting as the red and orange doors were, Harry was skeptical of them. But the longer it took him to make the decision of where to go, the more these doors took a hold of him… particularly the red door. He stared at that door for sometime before he realized that it seemed to be coming closer to him. Now all he had to do was reach his hand out and he would be able to touch the doorknob.
He tore his gaze away from the red door and took a step toward….
~~~~~~~~~~
Ron and Hermione had been lost in their own embrace. They did not notice that Harry had gone off exploring. They seemed to be dancing to a song that was playing silently in their heads. After some time they were brought out of their reverie when they realized much time had passed.
They looked around and realized too that Harry was now gone. They glanced at each other horrified. They had done it again. They had let their feelings come between them and their friendship to Harry. They took off at full tilt to try to catch up to Harry.
The corridor almost seemed to lengthen. They kept running until Harry finally came into view. He was standing in front of three doors. They slowed down just a bit to try to catch their breath until they saw that Harry was heading toward the yellow door. They again took off at full tilt, and once again the corridor seemed to stretch and lengthen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry put his hand on the doorknob. White-hot burning pain seared the flesh on his hand. He yelled out, but pushed open the door and stepped through. Ron, seeing the door beginning to close, ran ahead of Hermione and slide through it just in time. He held the door open for her as he stood trying to catch his breath and rubbing his elbow, which he hurt when he dove for the door.
Hermione ran through the door and stopped just in time for the door to literally rip itself out of Ron's hand and slam shut, almost as if annoyed. They noticed that Harry had continued unfettered. He just kept walking without looking back. "Harry! Wait up!"
Harry turned and looked at them unblinkingly. His eyes eerily appeared to have no iris, as if they had been completely blackened out. He turned back around and continued.
Ron and Hermione shared a concerned look then decided to follow him, but not too close. They looked about them and noticed that they were walking down a very bright yellow marble corridor that was much shorter than the others were. At the end was a brilliant blue door. Harry reached for the doorknob and turned it. The whole corridor rumbled, though the sound came from behind them.
Ron and Hermione looked at each other and looked behind them to see….
~~~~~~~~~
Harry had walked through the yellow door and felt a strange tingling sensation as in his head. The fear in him grew to a new height, as he could not see a thing. The torches did not seem to come on. He felt as if he were in eminent danger. He thought he had heard someone call him, but when he turned around he could not see anyone or anything. He hoped that the corridor was as straight as the others were, as he still felt that he was driven to move on. He figured that if it were then he could make it to the end without any trouble.
Suddenly from out of the darkness he saw something bright blue. He began to blink his eyes furiously to clear his vision more. It became clearer that what he was seeing was another door. He reached for the doorknob and turned it. There was complete silence before a loud rumble began….
A huge flood of water was rushing toward them. Ron and Hermione turned around, screamed, and ran toward Harry, who was still just standing like a statue holding onto the doorknob. Ron and Hermione noticed that there was a hole that opened up right next to Harry's feet.
Harry could suddenly see again, as if all the torches had been turned on at once. He didn't know what the rumbling was, but it sounded as if the entire place they were in was about to come down. He could hear Hermione and Ron's approaching screams. He noticed a hole next to his feet and jumped into it. He was follow closely by Hermione and Ron.
They slid for what seemed like forever before landing in a tiny green room, with no way out except the hole that they had just come in from. Unfortunately water followed them in. The room very quickly filled up with water.
"So, what do we do, now?" Ron asked.
Harry looked at Hermione who shrugged with her eyes wide. "I would say transfigure something to help us get back up through the hole, but transfiguring a liquid into something has not been talked about yet! I think that will be next year."
"We could use a freezing spell…."
"But that would freeze us in here too Harry…"
"You're right…."
Something dawned on Hermione. "Harry, how did you get to Neville so fast when we were coming back from Hogsmeade before just before Christmas?"
"I…." Harry had not thought about that before. "To tell you the truth Hermione… I-I think I flew." He looked into her eyes and got the message. "But I was really motivated then, and…"
"And what? Now you're not?! Come on Harry! We need to get out of here! It's not going to be long before we run out of breathing room!"
"I'll try…"
Harry thought really hard and suddenly without warning he shot up through the hole in the ceiling. He fought against the water and made it to the surface in the hall they had been in, in no time. He gasped for air as he floated in mid air. Realizing he needed to do this quickly he dove back into the water and shot down the hole. When he got there so much water had come into the tiny room that there were only about six feet left of breathing space, about half of what had been there when he left. He floated in the air above the water. Hermione and Ron both reached their hands up in the air. Harry grabbed both of them and pulled very hard. He got them both up out of the water most of the way before he couldn't hold either of them any more. They eased them back into the water and told them he couldn't carry both of them.
"Harry, take Hermione. Come back for me… I'll be fine. Take her and get her out of here before the water drowns us all! Please!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! Go!"
Harry lifted Hermione out of the water and they both took deep breaths as Harry fought against the water flow to get to the surface. When he finally broke through he was exhausted and he and Hermione were gasping for breath. He placed her on top of a pedestal and taking deep breaths prepared himself for the task of getting back down to Ron and back up, alive with him.
"Harry, please bring Ron back to me… alive!"
"I'll try." Taking a final deep breath he dove through the hole back down to Ron. When he got there, what he saw horrified him….
There was no breathing space left and Ron was floating like a dead weight in the water and was very blue. Harry got to him and pulled him up through the hole. He felt as if his lungs were about to burst. And just as he thought he could not wait any longer to take a breath, he broke through.
Hermione saw Ron and started to cry. Harry was not about to give up on his best friend though. The waters had receded enough that he was able to get to the blue door again. He grabbed Hermione and flew down to the door. He tried the doorknob again, but was prepared to fly up with Ron and Hermione if he needed to.
He turned the knob and the door opened, surprisingly enough back into the hall that he had originally been in. They were pushed out be the force of the rest of the water rushing out of the door. He was sitting about where he had first met Ron before they had begun.
He put Ron down and took out his wand, which he had pocketed before he had started trying to fly. "Aqua Expellium!" Yelled Harry as he pointed his wand at Ron's chest. A white light emitted from Harry's wand and seeped into Ron's chest. The water in Ron's lungs was pushed out, but when he was still not breathing, Harry aimed his wand again. "Aerespirium!"
Ron took a breath, but just one. Harry tried again. And again Ron only took one breath. He continued trying. The little hope that Hermione had had that Harry could save Ron was slipping away. She had lost her parents and now she had lost the man she loved, all within a year. Why had she been so petty and not forgiven Ron sooner?
She collapsed to the floor in tears. Harry realized that it was no use and stopped trying. He moved to Hermione and pulled her into a comforting embrace. She cried for some time. She held onto Harry's arm and looked at Ron through the swirling tears.
Harry pulled Hermione's hand off of his arm and placed it on Ron's hand and rested his own hand over theirs. He didn't know why he had done it, but he just felt the need to do it. A light emitted from his hand and suddenly Ron gasped for breath and then started breathing normally. Hermione flung herself at Ron and sobbed uncontrollably into his chest.
Ron looked confusedly back and forth between Harry and Hermione. Harry projected into Ron's mind what had happened and he suddenly understood. He sat up and wrapped his arms around Hermione, whispering words of love and comfort.
"You didn't think you were going to get rid of me that easily, did you?" he said lightly.
"Ronald Weasley, you had best not ever do that to me again! Do you hear me? Or I'll kill you myself!"
"I wouldn't dream of it, love…."
Sitting there watching the tender exchange between his two best friends, Harry suddenly got a strange feeling like he was being watched. He looked to the door to the first room that he had seen and saw someone standing there. Curious as to who would be there, he got up and walked toward the room. He felt drawn to the spot. He walked to the doorway and hesitated briefly, remembering the last time he had tried to step into the room.
Then with his mind suddenly wiped clean from an unknown source, no further objection came to him. He took a step into the room….
Ron looked up and realized that Harry was gone once again. He looked around and saw Harry standing in front of the doorway that he had been thrown out of before. "Great Merlin's beard…," said Ron. "We have to stop him."
"What? Why?"
"Because he was tossed out of the door before." Ron got to his feet, as did Hermione. They took off down the corridor after Harry….
~~~~~~~~~~
Dumbledore had sensed that the time was near. He went to his vast Library and looked on his antiquated bookshelf. He ran his finger along the dusty volumes. His finger stopped on the "Book of Merlin."
"So that is where I put you. No wonder I could not find you last year when I needed to refer to you about the Goblet of Fire."
The book shuddered and said, "The Goblet of Fire was created after my time, Albus, you know that."
"Yes, but, you know more about things that were to happen and that will happen than anyone else I know."
"Ah, yes, but even I didn't see that my student Salazar would betray the rest of the young children I chose to found Hogwarts. I thought that since he was slightly older he would guide them, but instead he tried to change them to be like him."
"We are all only human. We all make mistakes."
"Too true, my old friend. Now what may I help you with today?"
"Actually, I'm looking for my copy of the Order of the Phoenix book, as I must guide a young wizard as you once did."
"Quite right. But, Albus, you know what is in store for the boy."
"Yes, unfortunately I do."
"Then, your book is on the second shelf on the right, five books in from the left end."
"Thank you, old friend."
Dumbledore went to the spot that "The Book of Merlin" had indicated and found it instantly. He pulled out the book and a small box behind the book. He opened the box and placed on the ring with GG engraved into the stone.
Dumbledore inserted the ring into the notch and said, "Conspicium."
The book opened and Dumbledore watched what was going on, in the little window.
~~~~~~~~
Harry had stepped into the room and saw a woman standing in the corner of the room with her back to him. He walked over and stood next to her looking out a window that looked out into an underwater palace.
"So here we are again, Helena."
"And this time I am the teacher… just as you predicted the last time when you were the teacher, Martinos."
Lina looked at him. "I see that you still carry the scar of seeing, marked of course with your green eyes, as well."
"Yes. And you still have the seven years of age on me."
"Why must we keep doing this?"
"Because we are needed. You know very well that we come when a change in the world could or could not happen. We are here to facilitate the change or to help keep the world from changing…"
"Yes, yes." Lina sighed impatiently. "This," said Lina nodding at the window, "is one of the changes that I wish that we had been able to stop."
"You know that Atlantis had to fall, my love. The rulers were getting far too powerful and eager to rule the world."
"But did we have to destroy the city as well? We could have spared the city at least."
"Yes, well. That was our first time working together. We just got a little carried away."
Lina and Harry were quiet for some time, lost in their own thoughts. "They have no idea, do they?"
"Come again?"
"Harry and Lina, our current incarnations. They have no idea what they are about to go up against, do they?"
"No."
~~~~~~~~~
Hermione and Ron had watched as Harry entered the room and the door disappeared. They reach the spot where the door had been and felt around to see if there were another way to get in. When they couldn't find one Ron yelled, "What is going on here!?"
Suddenly Ron and Hermione found themselves in Professor Dumbledore's office. They were standing staring straight at the Headmaster. Dumbledore drew two chairs in the air and they dropped next to Ron and Hermione.
"Sit, please."
They sat and looked at the very grave expression of their headmaster, and then watched what was happening in the book. They watched the odd conversation between their best friend and their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Dumbledore closed the book after the first few minutes.
"What you have just seen must never be revealed, even to Harry."
"Why not?" asked Ron.
"Because Mr. Weasley, Harry is not meant to be told about his past lives, but meant to find out about it on his own."
"But, Professor, what we just saw makes no sense. Are you saying that Harry and Lina are…"
"Yes. I believe that I should tell you the whole story so that you understand."
"But what about Harry?" asked Ron.
"Harry will be fine. Now….
Back in the days when Atlantis was a strong, thriving city of the world. There was a prediction that the two prominent families that were the heads of the council would have no more children save two. There would be a girl born first and a boy born seven years later, to completely barren women. These women were to be the best of friends. The prediction went on to say that these children would fall in love and bring down the corrupt leaders of the city, though by what means the prediction did not say. The boy would be endowed with the gift of sight and would have green eyes. The girl would be his teacher and protector.
These families got on quite well with each other, but because of the prediction and accusations that from one side to the other about being corrupt, a rift developed between the two families. All women of the two families were kept apart.
Needless to say, fate found a way to allow the prediction to come true, as Atlantis no longer exists today above the ocean. The girl's name was Helena and she was born 7 years to the day, hour, and minute from the boy, Martinos.
Now, because of their love for one another and because of the success of their mission, they vowed that whenever the world was in peril they would come back in a new form. But they would be using the exact same indications as they had before, so that it would be easy to find one another. Then they started the Order, which until Godric Gryffindor had been the head of it, simply had no name….
They sat speechless for many minutes soaking in what was just told to them.
"There is much more about Harry that you do not yet know, and he will have to tell you that when he arrives."
"But Professor, why would she be seven years older than him, why not seven years younger?" asked Ron.
"Because it had to be different. In our world, for the most part, men get together with younger women. So in order for it to stand out more, she had to be older."
"Oh."
~~~~~~~~~
"I see that Sebastian is still following you around, too. Trying to win your love away from me."
"Is that a hint of jealousy I hear in your voice, my love?"
"Yes, well. In the form of Severus Snape this time and Salazar Slytherin last time, he just seems to be getting slimier and more reclusive every time we meet."
"There is nothing that you need to fear from old Sebastian…. He means nothing to me, and he is one of your protectors right now."
"Not by choice…. At least we still have Sofus…. He has always protected and watched out for us."
"Yes. He was excellent as Merlin and now brilliant as Dumbledore."
"Well, my love, it is time that we head back to the new lives we lead. We must reconvene the Order. I will miss you until we can be together again."
"Yes. I will as well."
They kissed briefly and left through the walls that they had come in through.
~~~~~~~
Dumbledore's book flew open and out came Harry, dazed and confused, with a fading realization of whom he really was.
"Harry," said Dumbledore.
Harry turned and said, "It is time for the Order of the Phoenix to reconvene."
"Then it is time to for the initiation of those whom you wish to be part of the Order. It will occur in the next advance class, unless you have any objections."
Harry shook his head.