A/N: Sorry the chapter took awhile!  Not very many reviews, *tear*, lol.  Enjoy the chapter, and if you want the next one tomorrow, ReViEw!!!!!

Chapter 55:

            The days after Christmas passed rather quickly, until the day before they would be leaving.  Harry was awake and was working on a Potions Essay, around eleven AM, as Ron snored loudly next to him, when Lenore popped her head in the room.

            "Hi, Harry!" she said brightly.

            "Hey, Lenore," said Harry, not looking up from the essay. 

            "Dumbledore's here," she announced.  Harry looked up, putting down his quill on the desk. 

            "He wants to speak with you, Gin, Draco, and me, so come on."  Harry sighed and stood up.  He then proceeded to follow his cousin from the room.  She was quite talkative today, which was most likely attributed to the three glasses of hot chocolate she drank this morning and to the loads of caffeine she'd consumed the night before, when they played cards with Ron, Hermione, Draco, Tabby, Gwen, and Ginny the night before. 

            "Guess what; the dragon finally was sent back to Hagrid this morning.  Charlie let me and Tabby name it, too!"

            "Really?" asked Harry, with mild curiosity.  "What did you decide on?  Wait, do I even want to know?"  Lenore grinned. 

            "We named it Mango."

            "Mango?  What is it with you and fruit?  Mango is the name that a cute little orange would have, not a big mean dragon!" protested Harry, rolling his eyes.

            "Well I like the name Mango," said Lenore, grinning.  "She already responds to the name, too!"  Harry snorted.

            When they reached the kitchen, Dumbledore was seated, talking amiably with Ginny.  Draco sat at the far end of the table, with his arms crossed. 

            "Hi, Harry!  Hi, 'Nore," said Ginny cheerfully.

            "Good morning, Mr. Potter; Miss Felkes," said Dumbledore, smiling.  "I trust your holidays went quite well?"  Harry and Lenore nodded, smiling. 

            "Good, good.  Then have a seat, and I will get started."  They sat down and Dumbledore continued.  "Harry, I believe you know already, about the Prophesy Holly created.  I am not quite sure who else knows of it, but I think a trip to the Department of Mysteries is in order, just in case."

            "What Prophesy?" asked Draco curiously. 

            Dumbledore looked at Harry.  "Would you like to explain, or should-"

            "I'll do it, Professor," said Harry.  He turned to Lenore and Draco.  "Now, I already told Ginny, but when I was in the past, someone made a Prophesy to me, that said I could only defeat Acacia's heir if the heirs of Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin were with me."

            "You have to defeat You-Know-Who?" asked Draco quickly.  Harry looked at Dumbledore, who nodded slowly.

            "Yeah… no one else can.  There was a different Prophesy, but… I'd rather not talk about it."  Draco nodded, and Ginny looked a bit shocked. 

            "Anyway," said Dumbledore, clearing his throat, "Are you all up for a trip to the Ministry?"  Harry and the others all nodded.  "Okay, then, you all can Apparate, correct?"  Again, everyone nodded.  "All right then, the lobby of the Ministry."  He then closed his eyes and Apparated.  Harry turned to the others and shrugged.  He then closed his eyes and waited for the familiar whirring-through-the-air feeling.

            When he arrived, the first thing he noticed was that they had never fixed the statue in the fountain.  He then looked around.  There was a man sitting at the desk, and there were people coming on and off the lifts every few seconds. 

            "Good Afternoon, Eric," said Dumbledore to the man as Ginny, then Lenore, and then Draco appeared with loud cracks.  The man smiled wryly and collected all of their wands, returning them a moment later. 

            "Have a nice day," he said as they walked over to the lifts.  Every step to the Department of Mysteries filled Harry with horrible memories; it was as if a dementor was inside of him, replaying it all.  Harry stole a glance at Ginny, who looked just as afraid as he felt.  He reached out and touched her hand, and she smiled, looking up at him, though her eyes were filled with fear.  Before Harry knew it, they'd reached the round room with all of the doors.  Dumbledore, earlier, had told Mr. Weasley that they didn't need an Unspeakable to help them, but now Harry was having second thoughts.

            Before Dumbledore closed the door, he muttered an incantation, and an X appeared on the door.  He then closed it, and the walls spun around in an icy blue whirl.

            "Whoa," said Lenore, blinking, after it stopped.  Then Dumbledore tried the first door, which happened to be the locked one. 

            "That's not it," he said cheerfully.  Harry looked longingly at the door for a moment.  Whatever it was behind there- that was what separated him from Voldemort.  Harry shivered before turning to the next door to open it, and suddenly, his scar erupted in pain.  It brought him to his knees, clenching it.  The scar burnt white-hot, and there was another sensation in his midriff, like there had been once in Umbridge's office. 

            "Harry!  Harry, what's wrong?" asked Ginny, sitting beside him. 

            "He's- really happy," gasped Harry, still holding his scar, which was burning more fiercely at every second. 

            "Who is?" asked Lenore.  But at that second, Fawkes appeared with a distinct snap.  He somehow opened a door, and Dumbledore ushered all of them inside.  The door closed, and Fawkes disappeared.  Harry had a feeling that something; someone was coming, and he didn't like it at all. 

            "What is-" began Draco, but Dumbledore shushed him.  The old man looked very tense and alert, and he was staring at the door.  He looked ready to attack, and he attempted to open the door, but it wouldn't budge.  Fawkes must have had some reason for his abrupt actions.  Slowly, the pain subsided from Harry's scar, and, after another minute, the door clicked and slowly swung open. 

            There was an eerie hush over the department.  Dumbledore took out his pin and muttered something before putting it away.  "Come," he said quietly.  Harry took one last glance into the room they had just hidden in.  It was the room.  He caught sight of the veil, swaying slightly in a phantom breeze.  Sirius.

            They soon found the Cathedral-like room, and Dumbledore quickened his pace; he seemed to know where he was heading.  They turned down row 36.  About halfway down the row, Dumbledore stopped abruptly.  There were hundreds of glass orbs on the row, but the place Dumbledore stopped at- there was no orb there. 

            "It's gone," he muttered darkly. 

            "Who-?" began Harry, but Dumbledore shook his head.

            "Voldemort was just here.  He didn't attack the Ministry today, not with such high alert- but he has the Prophesy."

            "How does he know?" asked Ginny, frowning.  "There must be a-"

            "Traitor," finished Dumbledore darkly.  "Someone in the Order is betraying us once again."  He looked all four heirs in the eye.  "Suspect everyone.  If you see anything, report it.  It is very imperative that we stop the spy before it is too late.  And, Harry- I think you need to practice your Occlumency, now more than ever before.

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            Two days later the school term had started.  Harry was not having the best first day back, either.  He had Double potions for his first period, and Snape took a round 100 points from Gryffindor.  In Transfiguration, Harry couldn't get the hang of turning an aquarium into a penguin and was assigned extra work.  And Hermione certainly wasn't helping, suggesting various ways he could do it better and then tutting when he still couldn't do it.  

            And then, when his day could get no worse, he ran into Trelawney, who burst into tears upon seeing him.  ("Oh, my dear boy!  The end is drawing ever-nearer-")  Towards the end of the day he went down to visit Hagrid.  The dragon eggs had hatched, and a full grown dragon had arrived.  Harry spotted Mango among the baby dragons.

            "Why did Mango have to come to the Order?" asked Harry curiously.

            Hagrid paused, as if unsure of what to say.  "Harry, Mango- er…. 'as different needs, and 'as a different purpose."  Harry thought about laughing, but when Hagrid's beard didn't twitch, he frowned.

            "What do you mean?" he asked curiously. 

            "Nothin'; nothin', Harry; don' worry 'bout it."  Soon after, Harry left, and went to his private Auror lesson with Tonks. 

            The Auror lessons were very helpful.  Harry was learning many different curses and spells and defenses that were far beyond his years.  When Tonks arrived, Harry tried to ask her about Voldemort, and if Dumbledore had found out anything and told the Order, but she refused to answer his questions.  Quidditch Practice didn't go well either; Parvati and Ron had gotten into a row earlier, and she hurled Quaffles at his face with everything she had, and when he caught them, he hurled them at her.  Finally Lenore smacked a Bludger at Ron while Alex smacked one at Parvati.  Unfortunately, the two Beaters, though they tried not to, were a bit overenthusiastic, and practice ended with bot Parvati and Ron going to the Hospital Wing. 

            When Harry arrived in the Common Room, Hermione was cooing over Ron and his injury, and they soon began kissing.  Harry was finding it hard to ignore them as he practiced his Transfiguration, and ended the day by slamming his book on the table and storming up into his room.  The only thing he could think of as he went to bed was how he wished the Order members would all just start treating him as an adult.

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A/N: Review!