A/N: Okay, SORRY for the long update!!!! I will respond to a few reviews:
*Dreamer43: *grins* you'll see…….
*Midknight00711- Okay, about the reviews, you are completely right. I was in a very bad/sad mood, and I know I sounded like a prat. I'm very sorry!! About Evelyn and Calista finding Grimmauld Place- I realized right after I wrote it and it is ABOUT TIME someone noticed!! Lol; don't worry, though; Hermione is very smart- does it seem like she is hiding something? Oh, well, you'll find out soon enough. And, lastly, for the killing curse- where does it say it can't be blocked at all? If that's true, which it probably is, I'll have to change the last chapter a bit, because Tabby can't die!!
*Tseusetsu- Lol, your reviews make me laugh!
*Campeche- Lokelani is dead.
Okay, thank you LOTS to everyone else who reviewed: blahblah104, Queen Cari, Ariestar, Aduil Ohtar, moodyboy66, lil-angel-chik, dumbledave, loserlady, dark faerie luvr
Chapter 60:
Harry woke up several hours later. "He's awake!" came a familiar voice almost immediately, as he stirred. "Go get Madame Pomfrey!" There was the sound of footsteps, and, a moment later, someone was shoving a potion down his throat. He slowly drank it, as he was unable to argue. He fell back asleep, having fitful dreams about a dark potion.
When he awoke again, he was able to open his eyes. Harry sat up slowly. Next to him was Lavender Brown, of all people. "Harry!" she exclaimed as he looked around. "You're finally awake! Oh, we were all so worried- those of us that were conscious, that is- oh, would you like your glasses? Here you are—" Harry reached out for his glasses and everything came into focus.
Lavender was the only one sitting next to him, and her face was very concerned. Suddenly, he remembered—
"Lavender! Is Ginny all right? And what about Ron and Hermione- Lenore? Draco? Did Voldemort get away? Is Tabby all right-? The dragon! Need to speak with Dumb-"
"Shh, Harry!" said Lavender softly. "Lay back down. It's all right."
"What happened?" he asked, begrudgingly sitting back on his pillows, though he was poised to jump up at the slightest notice.
"It's okay." Lavender smiled. "Hermione, Tabby, and Draco haven't woken up yet… poor Tabby; she was under the Cruciatus for quite awhile- and Neville is upstairs studying; this was the first time he was out of the hospital wing in days-"
"Days?" asked Harry. How long had he been asleep
?
"Four days," said Lavender.
"Where's Ron? What happened to the drag-"
"Harry, calm down! Honestly, Madame Pomfrey will kick me out!" Harry sighed.
"Okay, sorry. Go on, Lav." Lavender narrowed her blue eyes.
"Don't call me that!"
"Parvati does."
"So? You're not Parvati. NOW. Ron woke up yesterday; he had a nasty battle with a Death eater- but he's asleep now- over there-" Lavender pointed to the bed on the far end of the ward. Harry could see Ron's tuft of red hair poking out of the sheets. Harry nodded.
"What about Ginny?" Lavender grinned, muttering something like-
"How sweet!" She then turned back to Harry. "Ginny got out safely. She's sleeping right now, in our room- she hadn't slept for days, and Mrs. Weasley forced a Sleeping Draught on her. She should be up in a few hours, though…" Harry nodded.
He was getting ready to ask about the dragon when suddenly Lenore entered the Hospital Wing. Upon seeing her cousin awake, her emerald eyes lit up and she hurried over.
"Harry!" she yelled.
"Shhh!" hissed Lavender. "Madame Pomfrey blames it all on me!"
"Oh! Sorry," whispered Lenore. However, she seemed to forget because the next moment, her voice was just as loud. Lavender just rolled her eyes.
"How are you feeling?" asked Lenore, perching on the end of Harry's bed.
"Okay, I suppose," said Harry truthfully. "Were you and Draco all right, in the entrance of the cave..?"
Lenore smirked. "That was the STUPIDEST thing tabby had ever done! After Charlie saved Tabby, all of the Death eaters and Order members started getting there. Draco and I got in the way of quite a few spells. When we were about to get trampled, I finally yelled, and a Death Eater uncovered us. An Order member accidentally hexed Draco and a Death Eater almost killed me, but then another Order member saved me. We could've been killed!" she exclaimed, the pitch of her voice getting higher with every word.
Harry frowned. "Sorry. I shouldn't have left you like that- I thought it would be safer. Wait, did you say Charlie was there? Did Voldemort get away? Who hexed me?" Lenore looked at Harry pityingly.
"First off- Dumbledore, of all people, hexed you. He knew you were about to be saved and he didn't think you were ready to fight You-Know-Who." Harry's mouth dropped open.
"Are you joking?" he asked quietly. Lenore shook her head, and Harry noticed that Lavender was watching with interest. Harry slammed his fist into his mattress. When would Dumbledore let him make his own decisions?
"There's more," said Lenore seriously.
"More?" asked Harry angrily. What else could there be? "Voldemort-" Lavender winced- "didn't get the dragon, did he? And I thought that there was only one Paramariban—"
"Listen, Harry," said Lenore in a soothing voice. "There is only one. Mango. At Hogwarts." This didn't make any sense!
"But then-"
"Shhh! The one at Gringotts was also real. Only…. Not a dragon. Did you know that Charlie Weasley was an unregistered animagus?"
"What?" asked Harry incredulously. This was crazy, but yet- it seemed to be coming together…
"The one at Gringotts, Charlie, was a hoax. He pretended to have been hit by a spell and die, and his plan was to wait.until You-Know-Who was about to take a scale or hurt someone- and then he'd attack. As it went, Tabby would've been dead, and we probably all would've been, too. The Order's timing was perfect, really. But the death Eaters got there as well, and You-Know-Who ended up disapparating… But Avery, Bellatrix, and Rookwood were found swooning in the corridor. Nobody still knows what's wrong with them! They're in Azkaban, and the guards don't seem to mind that they're not there to leer and all."
"But surely Dementors can't tell if they've fainted?" asked Harry, frowning. Lenore and Lavender exchanged dark glances.
"Well, Harry, the morning after the attack- the Dementors left Azkaban. Nobody's sure where they've gone, but loads of people have escaped. It's awful." Harry was only slightly shocked. It really had only been a matter of time, but, still…
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Over the next day, Harry had many visitors. Mrs. Weasley had broken down, crying about how he could have died. Lupin hadn't even been present, as it had been a full moon, and he seemed very upset.
"Don't let it bother you; you couldn't help it!" Harry tried to console him. But Lupin wouldn't listen; he had been moping around almost as much as Sirius used to.
Evelyn had come to visit, bringing mountains of chocolate. Her cheeriness had helped Harry quite a bit, though he didn't ask her any questions. He was able to talk to Ron a bit when Ron woke up, and then Harry actually beat him at Chess. When Ginny awoke, she came running to the hospital wing and squealed with joy to see Harry awake. Harry had then spent an hour talking alone with her until Fred and George stopped by, blowing up fireworks and getting kicked out of the Hospital Wing more than once.
Katie stopped by and threatened Harry, after only briefly asking if he was okay. "Now, since both Slytherin and Gryffindor have players out the match will be postponed. Now, don't go running off again, Harry! We can't afford to lose that match! It's probably a set-up by Slytherin. So, make sure you practice the Sloth-Grip Roll, and-"
"Katie?" asked Harry, yawning.
"What?" she asked crossly.
"I'm in the hospital Wing. How am I supposed to practice for Quidditch?"
Katie sighed. "Be creative, Harry! Think of something! Now, next time I stop by, I want full reports that you've been doing every twist and turn in bed you can think of!" She left in a huff after Madame Pomfrey began to escort her away.
Hermione was the first to wake up after Harry. She was just as surprised as Harry to find out about the dragon, and even more surprised at Charlie being an Animagus. She seemed thoroughly disappointed that she hadn't managed to figure it out, though. "It was right under our noses!" she exclaimed once Ron told her. She then sent Ron to the library for a certain Potions book and found the Potion almost immediately.
"It's the oddest thing!" she exclaimed after reading it.
"What is it?" asked Ron quickly. Harry listened attentively as well.
"Listen! The Potion of Puzzling Power forces the people it is fed to to play a game. The loser of the game dies; nothing could stop it… I bet He was trying to give it to you, Harry, and Lenore, Draco, and Ginny! Didn't that Prophesy say that you all have to be present if you're to defeat Vol- Voldemort?" Harry nodded slowly.
"You're right, 'Mione!"
"But, look here," pointed out Ron, "The dragon scale can only come off of a dead dragon." Hermione scanned the line he'd pointed to.
"You're right. So if we keep Mango alive, he can't get the scale."
"Or," said Ron, "We could kill Mango and burn it or something…" Harry nodded; the idea seemed much more foolproof.
"But fire can't destroy the dragon scale," explained Hermione slowly, as if afraid they wouldn't understand.
"Then what can?" asked Harry.
"The Paramariban's scales only are destroyed after 200 years after the dragon is dead. They just turn to dust. For Mango, we'd either need to preserve them in something unbreakable and hide them or transfigure them and hide them… but keeping Mango alive is a much better and easier way."
"I still think it'd be easier to kill it," muttered Ron darkly.
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The next day, Dumbledore finally paid the patients a visit. Now Tabby was the only one who still hadn't woken up. It was early in the morning when he entered, and Draco and Hermione were still asleep, Tabby hadn't even woken up, and everyone else besides Harry had been emitted. Harry had been reading over cards that he'd received from many people, most of whom he didn't even know. Harry was particularly looking forward to seeing Charlie and congratulating him on being an Animagus, and he read Charlie's card, with a miniscule explanation, over and over.
Harry-
Hey, mate! Wonderful job the other day- you managed to keep a lot of people safe! Sorry I left you all in the dark like that, but I was on orders not to come out until either one of you was in mortal peril or the order finally arrived! And, again, I was on orders not to tell anyone I was an Animagus, which I only achieved last year. It was to everyone's amazing luck that I ended up being a Paramariban! It was the perfect hoax, and You-Know-Who would never know.
I feel that I should tell you what we're doing. There's a Potion, several actually, which are very dark and require the scales of a Paramariban Dragon. They were used for nearly everything in Grindewald's time and the Dark followers managed to drive them almost to extinction. Unfortunately, the other side saw them as very dangerous and killed them all out. They were all thought to be dead, until one day when I was exchanging letters with my penpal from Brazil, who also works with dragons. He told me about a dragon that was seen in Suriname and was brought in after being saved from Poachers. Anyway, the dragon he described seemed to have all of the qualities of the Paramariban, which was inappropriately named, as it was originally from Scotland but was named by researchers from Suriname. I passed the news to Dumbledore, and I, along with several other animals trained in Care of Magical Creatures, went to get it, and it turned out it was only a baby, which had been cloned, believe it or not. We took it over Christmas, as some Death Eaters found out about its existence, and Dumbledore told the Order it would be in Gringotts. There is definitely a leak in the Order, for the Death Eaters knew that it was there soon after. The real dragon, however, was at Hogwarts. The other dragons are going to be there for protecting Mango- not the students. We still might move Mango, but we aren't quite sure.
Get well soon, Harry! Talk to you soon,
Charlie Weasley
The letter did explain a lot, and Harry knew that Hermione would be perfectly delighted.
A moment later, Dumbledore entered the ward. "Hello, Albus," greeted Madame Pomfrey. Dumbledore smiled and nodded.
"How are you feeling, Harry?" he asked, concerned. Harry frowned. Why hadn't Dumbledore given him a chance?
"Fine," he said in an aloof voice. Dumbledore smiled understandably.
"Now, Harry, I know you're upset with me about not giving you a chance, but you have to understand, Harry, I—"
"What is there to understand?" asked Harry crossly. "The Prophesy has to come true sometime! Why not the other day, Professor?" he continued angrily. "I've been having lessons all year! Why do I even take them if you won't let me fight?"
"I was afraid you would take it this way," said Dumbledore sadly.
"Why shouldn't I have?" demanded Harry. Suddenly his scar burned for a moment. He ignored it. "Go on! Explain!"
Dumbledore sighed. "Harry… you're perfectly right. To tell the absolute truth, I was afraid. Afraid of losing you or any of the others. Last year, I promised myself that I wouldn't do this anymore, but I have, Harry. I allowed my emotions get in the way, and I am terribly sorry. You have my solemn oath that I will never do something like that again." Harry was a bit taken aback.
"That's okay, Professor. I forgive you, of course. You were just trying to keep me safe…. But please, don't do it again! Sirius died doing that. My parents died doing that. I'm tired of people getting hurt because of me, Professor." Dumbledore nodded, and Harry mustered a wry, plaintive smile. "Who do you think is the traitor?"
"Oh, I have some suspicions, Harry… but I will never be sure. I will try to find a way, though, mark my words." Harry nodded.
"Do you think they're under the Imperius Curse?"
"It's quite possible, yes." Harry was beginning to get the drift that Dumbledore wasn't going to tell him who the supposed traitor was. "Oh, before I forget, Harry, I believe Remus will be stopping by a little bit later.
"Oh?" asked Harry. "Why? He's already come twice."
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled behind half-moon glasses. "I believe he and somebody have some, er… rather pleasant news." Dumbledore smiled.
"What is it?" asked Harry, though he already had some suspicions.
"Lemon drop?" offered Dumbledore. Harry looked at him incredulously. Dumbledore continued. "I'll leave Remus to share the news..."
A/N: Okay, I'm going to change the last chapter as soon as I can, because everyone was right. I'll make it have been some other type of curse, not Avada Kedavra. Thanks! Review!
***~Jinglez~***