Goliath

'Balls,' whispered Harry as he waved his wand around. The feather he had been trying to turn into marble had no effect whatsoever. He was getting extremely tired of waving his wand and having to results whatsoever. Hermione, on the other hand, had managed to transform more than a quarter of her quill into marble. Harry and Ron were so bad that they had been reduced to practicing on feathers instead of quills for the meantime. Ron was gazing forlornly at his feather, not even bothering to say the words. Hermione was no where to be found. It was the last week of October, and they were going to leave for Hogwarts in a few days. Harry, however, couldn't help but think about how wasted his October was. He had missed the chance to go out with Seamus to Hogsmeade and couldn't stop dwelling on it. Eventually, Ron got so fed up of Harry's moodiness that he left the room.

    The next day, Harry woke up to see Dumbledore's head in the fire with Mr. Weasley talking to him quietly. No one else was in the room, and when Harry made his presence known, the two of them stopped talking immediately. 'Hello, Harry,' said Dumbledore.

    'Hello, Professor,' nodded Harry.

    'Well, Arthur, I think I'd best be getting along now,' Dumbledore turned to Mr. Weasley. 'I still have to see Mr. Kublan. We have a meeting set up at ten this morning,'

    'Sure you wouldn't like a bit of breakfast, Dumbledore?' asked Mrs. Weasley, coming into the room. 'I made toast with honey which I'm sure you'd enjoy,'

    'No, thank you, Molly,' declined Dumbledore. 'No time to lose. It's getting close to ten, and I have to make sure Cornelius doesn't see me. Oh, and Harry—' Dumbledore turned to him, '—Alastor would like to apologize for not meeting you in the Ministry the morning of the trial, but he had to leave urgently on a trip and has just returned,'

    'I was supposed to meet Moody?' Harry frowned.

    'Indeed. I believe he sent you a note telling you to meet him in a secret location which I would take you to,'

    Suddenly Harry remembered the unsigned note that he had gotten before the trial. 'Oh, it's okay,' he said. Dumbledore nodded and disappeared within the flames.

*

    The return to Hogwarts was uneventful. Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in the last carriage alone, and Harry told them about what Dumbledore said about Moody. Hermione was looking past Harry and didn't seem to even be listening. Only when Ron nudged her in the shoulder did she look at them. 'Sorry,' she apologized. 'I've just been thinking … what if Voldemort didn't want anything?'

    'What are you talking about?' Ron raised his eyebrows.

    'Well, think about it. Harry said he heard that the Slytherins are all Death Eaters now right? And Voldemort clearly isn't pleased with the performance his current Death Eaters have been displaying. Maybe he wants to bring all the Slytherins for … I don't know … debriefing or something. It would be pretty much impossible for the school to notice that a quarter of its students were missing one morning, so Voldemort decided to have Hogwarts evacuated or something,'

    'Can someone even plan that flawlessly?' asked Ron doubtfully.

    'Yes,' replied Harry immediately, his mind on his fourth year. 'This is Voldemort, Ron. He doesn't do anything without considering all the things that could go wrong first. I bet that's what he was up to,'

    'Well, it would be a bonus if he got the Orb now, wouldn't it?' said Hermione. 'Something created by Merlin … Voldemort would surely be after it if he was aware of its existence.'

    'Oh, he's aware,' said Harry darkly. 'He's probably been aware of it since he started his first year at Hogwarts. He probably just couldn't find it before,'

    'It's really strange, isn't it?' said Ron. 'Why do you suppose Filch had it when Siri—they stole it?' he amended, casting an uncertain look at Harry. Harry shrugged.

    'Dumbledore probably gave it to him,' said Harry. Ron nodded, relieved to see that he hadn't made a mistake in nearly saying Sirius's name.

    When they arrived in school, the three of them were practically starving, and Ron said a little prayer of thanks at being able to return to Hogwarts without having to endure the Sorting ceremony before eating. They burst through the door of the Great Hall, and the first thing Harry noticed was that Dumbledore wasn't at his usual seat in the teachers table. His eyes scanned the room to see if anyone else was missing, and he was surprised to find that Professors McGonagall and Snape were not around either. He pointed this out to his friends.

    'Where do you suppose they went?' whispered Hermione.

    'I dunno … maybe they went to make sure the castle was secure?' said Ron doubtfully. Neither Harry nor Hermione bothered to point out that Dumbledore would have made sure that the castle was completely safe before allowing the students to return. When they walked over to the Gryffindor table, they passed Lorena, who was talking to Cho Chang. Lorena looked up in time to wave to the three of them, but Cho kept her eyes steadily averted, apparently still not forgiving Harry for their failed relationship last year.

    Percy, it seemed, had not missed the disappearance of his colleagues and was seen asking Professor Sinistra something, but back down at the sour look she gave him. Five minutes passed while the students sat down talking amongst themselves before the door to the Great Hall opened again and Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape walked in. Dumbledore's face showed no emotion, but McGonagall looked angry and Snape was scowling. They sat down at the teachers table, and Dumbledore surveyed them smilingly. 'I know you are all hungry, so I will no deny you the pleasure of food tonight,' he said. 'Enjoy,'

    At this last word, the food the house-elves had prepared magically appeared before them and the students immediately began to pile the food on their plates. Harry saw students chattering happily, giving no acknowledgement to the fact that they had just returned to the school after being sent home from an attack. Finally, he heard Dean Thomas say to Seamus, 'My mum was really worried. My parents didn't want me to go back,'

    'Gram was reluctant too,' Neville piped up. 'But she knew that with Dumbledore around, nothing's going to happen,'

    'Me mam was the same,' said Seamus, helping himself to some potatoes. 'I was beginning to think I needed to run away and take the Knight Bus,' he winked at Harry. 'Good thing it wasn't … er, blown out of proportion,'

    Harry blushed at the reference Seamus made about the summer before his third year at Hogwarts when he had accidentally blown up his Aunt Marge. Ron and Hermione seemed to have gotten it too, because they both started sniggering. Dean and Neville raised their eyebrows in confusion and Harry inwardly cursed himself for telling the story to Seamus, but couldn't help but grin.

    That night, the common room was filled with Gryffindors excitedly talking about the events before the break. Harry, Ron and Seamus went up to their room to check if the Orb of Confusion was still there, and to Harry's immense relief, they found it in his bed, where he had put it last.

    'Strange, though, isn't it?' said Ron as the three of them walked down the stairs. 'Why didn't they go after the Orb? It was in plain sight, and we know they went into our room,'


    'Maybe they didn't know that it was,' Seamus offered.

    'Voldemort would know,' said Harry, and was pleased to see that Ron didn't wince. However, Seamus did, and Harry realized he needed to work on that.

    'But he didn't come, did he?' Ron pointed out. 'Maybe it was a stupid Death Eater like …' he paused, his eyes widening. 'Like Crabbe and Goyle!' he breathed. Harry paused. He didn't know how Crabbe and Goyle would know the layout of Gryffindor Tower enough to sneak up and get out within five minutes, but perhaps the reason they had disappeared was so that they could spy on the Gryffindors. Harry had to admit, that didn't make sense. Malfoy was surely more capable of something so complicated, and he hadn't pulled any disappearing acts. In fact, Harry remembered seeing him in the Great Hall tonight as well.

    'Maybe,' he said to Ron, though he wasn't too convinced. He looked over the crowds of students still awake and realized that he felt no urge to mingle with them—not even Hermione. He faked a yawn and turned to his best friend and boyfriend. 'Well, I'm knackered. I think I'll just go to bed now,'

    'Right, right,' said Ron distractedly, peering at the students, obviously trying to find Hermione to tell her his theory. 'I'll see you tomorrow then,'

    'Yeah, you will,' said Harry darkly. 'Defense first period with Percy, remember?'

    This got Ron's attention because he groaned audibly. 'Damn. I forgot,' he sighed. 'Alright. You're going to need a good night's sleep if that's the case. See you,' and he went off to the common room.

    'That was the fakest yawn I have ever had the misfortune of seeing,' Seamus smirked. Harry grinned sheepishly. 'Well, I would love to keep you company while you sleep, but Dean made me promise to play a game of Wizard Chess tonight,'

    'You go ahead,' said Harry. 'I'm going to try to go to sleep anyway,'

    'See you at breakfast then,' Seamus said, leaning in and kissing him on the lips quickly.

    'See you,' Harry grinned.

*

    Harry's was watching as Nearly-Headless Nick played ping-pong with his now completely severed head with an unseen person. Nick was very happy that he had finally gotten totally headless. Looking around, Harry noticed that they were in the Great Hall and that all the students were present, clapping merrily. Harry saw Hermione laughing at a parrot that was laughing back. Ron was dealing cards to no one and Seamus was lying down on the floor playing Wizards Chess with Dean.

    The scene changed and Harry found himself sitting in what appeared to be a desert. The sun was blocked out by clouds and Harry was shivering from the cold. There was nothing there. There were no trees and all Harry could see before him was an endless stretch of sand. Then his scar began to hurt.

    Harry sat up in bed, gasping for breath. 'Fuck,' he whispered. Another dream involving Voldemort. Though Harry hadn't seen him, the prickling of his scar told him that Voldemort had been close by. He moaned and lay back down on his mattress. However, he didn't return to sleep, choosing to stay up for the remainder of the night.

    As a consequence, Harry was completely unprepared for classes the next morning. Ron had to nudge him awake five times the next day while they listened to Percy lecture them on Gremlins. It seemed that anything inhuman was classified as a Dark Creature to Percy, and Harry wondered how long it would be before the class was taught about the evils of house-elves. 'I know he's boring, mate,' said Ron after class, 'but what's gotten into you? Even Binns didn't make you fall asleep that soon in an hour. You barely waited five minutes!'

    Harry tried to fight off a yawn and failed. 'Couldn't sleep,' he lied. All night long he had wanted nothing better than to fall asleep, but couldn't for fear of dreaming. He hadn't forgotten the end result of his last batch of dreams. It had gotten Sirius killed.

    It was then and there that Harry resolved to find Snape and resume his Occlumency classes again.

    Double Potions was next, and Snape told them to go to their partners and begin what he had written on the board. 'This is the Anti-Aging potion,' announced Snape, gesturing to the board. 'If made too strong, the user will disappear off the face of this earth forever, and not in a very pleasant way. You will all be tested on it before you hand it up to me,'

    There was hushed whispering as everyone went to work. Malfoy, too, seemed to be anxious not to mess up the potion. Harry made extra sure that he read everything correctly. There was silence as they worked feverishly. Harry added his ingredients carefully and stirred his potion three times before adding the frog tongue. After an hour, Snape said, 'Your potion should be yellow and odorless by now,'

    Harry checked his and was pleased to see that his potion was more or less yellow and he couldn't smell a thing.  Hermione looked immensely relived too, but Ron was hastily checking the ingredients on the board. Snape passed Harry and Draco, and Harry fought back a smile when Snape's eyes narrowed at his potion. Snape couldn't find anything wrong with it, so he moved on. He didn't say anything about Hermione's potion either, but stopped at Ron's.

    'Weasley, I thank you for volunteering your services to be the first to test your potion,' Snape said in a mockingly polite way. Ron turned green as Snape walked away, and Hermione turned to him and told him what to do. Ron nodded and quickly began to doctor his potion.

    When there was only five minutes left in the class, Snape told them to dip their vials into their potions. 'If you have made it correctly,' he told them, 'you will all remain the same. However, if overdone, you will be reverting back to your childhoods. If underdone, you shall age years in the space of seconds. Drink.'

    Nervously, Harry tipped his head back and finished his potion in one gulp. It was tasteless, so he had to wait to see if anything happened. Happily, he noted after a few seconds that he seemed to be at the correct age. Malfoy seemed to be normal too. Hermione let out a sigh of relief, and Harry knew that her potion had been made correctly too. Ron seemed to be a little paler, but otherwise normal. Snape surveyed the scene with distaste oh his face. Obviously, he had been hoping that something bad would happen to Ron or some other Gryffindor.

    'To my utmost surprise,' he sneered, 'all of you seem to have—yes, Ms. Parkinson, you have a question?'

    'No, sir,' said Pansy Parkinson in a sweet voice. 'I was just wondering if you had given Ms. Granger permission to tell Weasley how to correct his potion,'

    There was a gleam in Snape's eye. 'Indeed I didn't,' he said. 'Ten points from Gryffindor, Ms. Granger, for telling Mr. Weasley the correct order of the potion when I didn't tell you to. And ten points from Gryffindor, Weasley, for being a sheep and following her words blindly,'

    Ron opened his mouth in indignation, but one warning look from Hermione caused him to close him. Snape nodded, satisfied. 'Pack up,' he ordered. 'And get out of my classroom,'

    After all the students had left, Harry went up to Snape. 'Professor?'

    'I have a class now with the fourth-years, Potter,' said Snape, not bothering to look up from the papers on his desk. 'So if you could make yourself scarce …'

    'I, er …' Harry wished now that he hadn't told Ron and Hermione to go on to Transfiguration without him. 'I wanted to ask you if you could … um …'

    Snape sighed impatiently. 'Hurry up, Potter,'

    'IwantedtoaskyoutoteachmeOcclumencyagain,' Harry said very quickly. Snape watched him, and Harry thought for a moment that he had to repeat it (it wouldn't be the first time he had to repeat something when he talked this fast). However, Snape, opened the drawer on his desk and stuffed the papers in and closed it.

    'Absolutely not,' he said. 'Now, if you please …' he pointed to the door. Harry contemplated refusing to leave until Snape gave in to him, but knew it was no use. Nodding bitterly, he walked out of the dungeon and up the stairs to the Transfiguration room. Professor McGonagall was already there when Harry took his seat, and she told him to take out his quill and practice his Marble Transformations. He was so angry at Snape that he barely even noticed that he had transformed half of his quill into marble in just twenty minutes and earned a round of applause from the class.

    'That was really good, Harry!' said Hermione enthusiastically once they were let out for lunch. 'I never knew you had been practicing so much!'

    'Huh?' grunted Harry. 'Oh, right,'

    Hermione looked put out that Harry wasn't more interested in the progress he had made in Transfiguration but let it slide as they entered the Great Hall for lunch. Ron took a seat next to Ginny, who was busily scarfing down her food. After Harry and Hermione sat down, the door to the Great Hall opened again and the rest of the sixth-years came in. Kalana Kolaris gave him a little wave before sitting next to a friend of hers, another girl whose name Harry didn't know.

    'By the way, Harry, we haven't been getting much Quidditch practice lately,' said Ginny, looking at him.

    'I know,' said Harry apologetically. 'Sorry. We're going to do it on Wednesday,'

    'Did you get it checked with Madam Hooch?' asked Ron. 'Or else the Slytherins might take that slot away from us,'

    'Not yet …' said Harry. 'But I will,'

    He looked up at the Great Hall again. Percy was reading a book at the teachers table; Lorena was examining her nails; Ernie Macmillan was pointing at his prefect's badge on his chest while talking to Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Malfoy was smiling smugly while Pansy talked to him, wand in his hand.

*

    That night, Harry's dreams were fitful. He was in the Department of Mysteries again searching for something. Once again, just like the last times, he heard Sirius's voice in his head. 'Harry, it's there, Harry … it's there …'

    'What's there?' Harry wanted to ask, but the words wouldn't come. But it turned out that he didn't need to ask the question, for Sirius answered. Unfortunately, it was as cryptic as all of Sirius's previous messages. 'It's there … just waiting for you … all it takes is time …'

    Harry felt frustrated and wanted to scream at Sirius to tell him what he was supposed to be searching for, but before he could do anything, the scene shifted and Harry found himself staring at the desert again. This time, he felt a gentle breeze brushing against his skin. He closed his eyes, hoping to will himself back into the Department of Mysteries, but to no avail. When he opened his eyes, he found that he was still in the desert alone.

    'Harry!' Harry jolted awake to see Ron standing over him. 'Wake up. We have to get to breakfast,'

    Harry blinked in confusion. 'Oh, yeah,' he said vaguely, getting up. He grabbed his uniform and his robes and went off to the showers. Ten minutes later, he reemerged fully dressed and ready and he and Ron went down to the Great Hall. Hermione was already there, absorbed in the Daily Prophet and taking a bite out of her toast.

    'Hello,' she said brightly as they approached.

    Ron and Harry nodded in hello and sat down. Harry wasn't in a good mood, and it spiraled downwards when he remembered that he had Care of Magical Creatures with Professor Grubbly-Plank that morning with the Slytherins. When they got down there, they saw Grubbly-Plank waiting with a box next to her.

    'Originally, Hippogriffs were meant to be taught to the sixth years,' she said. 'But Hagrid told me that he taught it to you previously, so we shall be doing something a little harder. In this box,' she gestured to it with her hand, 'is a Kroll,'

    Many of the students gasped, including Ron and Hermione. Harry, Dean, Lavender and one of the Slytherins merely raised their eyebrows in confusion.

    'But Professor, they're really dangerous,' said Hermione.

    'Unfortunately, Ms. Granger, I would spare the students this, but it is a sure question to come out for the NEWTs,' Grubbly-Plank said. 'Now, Krolls are extremely dangerous, as they have many defenses surrounding them, so be sure to keep back,'

    The students took this warning to heart and ran back and watched fearfully as Professor Grubbly-Plank opened the box. What came out next was a creature that could be described at best, in Harry's opinion, was part-snake, part-lion. It had no legs and slithered around with beady eyes, but there was a mane of hair from the head. Its body was green, its eyes yellow and it had white teeth that was stained in what Harry thought looked disturbingly like blood.

    'Keep back,' Grubbly-Plank warned them again. 'Now, who can tell me what the defenses of a Kroll is?'

    Hermione's hand shot up. 'The tongue of a Kroll is its most powerful weapon,' she said when the teacher chose her. 'When the Kroll lashes out its tongue, it burns off the skin of the attacker. The skin of a Kroll is its second most powerful weapon. When attacked, the Kroll's skin will protect itself immediately and touching the skin would be dangerous,'

    'Twenty points to Gryffindor,' said Grubbly-Plank. 'That's exactly right. Notice what happens to the skin when the Kroll is attacked,'

    The students watched in bated breath and Grubbly-Plank took a pebble and heaved it at the Kroll. The monster let out a hiss and Harry was shocked to see porcupine quills shoot out. Everyone jumped out of its way when the Kroll started to slither around hissing and snapping at their heels. 'Watch the tongue!' Grubbly-Plank kept telling them over and over.

    After a while, the porcupine quills retracted and everyone breathed a little easier, though the Kroll was still suspicious of them all and kept hissing. Grubbly-Plank motioned for them to join her with her hand and the students crept over slowly, eyes still trained on the Kroll. 'Now,' she instructed once they had reached her, 'take down these notes'

    By the end of the lesson, the students were visibly shaken up, but the Kroll hadn't attacked them. It turned out that Krolls weren't normally very aggressive creatures unless they saw something they classified as food; luckily, humans didn't appeal to them. As they walked away, Harry wondered how Grubbly-Plank planned to get the Kroll back into its box without risking the porcupine quills.

    In Charms, Flitwick was set on teaching them Warming Charms. 'A highly useful charm in the cold weather,' he said. 'And next lesson, we shall be learning Cooling Charms. Now, simply flick your wand like this—' he pointed the wand to himself and swished it side to side three times, '—and say 'Calidus','

    'Calidus!' the class chanted. Flitwick clapped his hands in delight.

    'Wonderful. Mr. Longbottom, please point the wand at yourself, not the person next to you,' Neville hasted to point the wand in his face. 'Now, let's do it one more time.'

    'Calidus!' the class chanted and Harry was again greeted with a warm sensation tingling all over his body.

    After Charms, they headed down to Potions. Neville said goodbye and hurried off as it was his free period. 'Lucky,' Harry heard Ron mutter, and couldn't help but feel the same. They lined up in front of the dungeons and after a few minutes, Snape appeared to open the dungeons and they went in. 'Now,' said Snape, 'we shall be attempting an extremely hard potion which I feel will not be achieved quickly by any weak students in this class,'

    His eyes drifted over the Gryffindors.

    'The directions are all on the board,' he took his wand and waved it at the blackboard behind him and the words appeared. He walked away and Harry and Malfoy got to work. As time progressed, Snape said to the class, 'This potion is a sure-fire question to appear in the NEWTs, and is one of the most used potion in the Ministry of Magic, so if anyone here is even dreaming of doing work for the Ministry in your post-Hogwarts life, you had better master it by the time your NEWTs arrive and—yes, Ms. Granger?'

    'Please, sir,' Hermione said, lowering her hand. 'What kind of potion are we making?'

    Harry swore that he saw Snape grin maliciously at him, but it was gone within a second. 'Veritaserum,' he said.

    After Potions, they went to Herbology and then to Transfigurations, where Professor McGonagall had decided to move on from Marble Transformations and on to Liquid Transfigurations. Harry was frustrated to see that Liquid Transfiguations were just as bad as Marble Transformations, and Defense Against the Dark Arts wasn't a bag of laughs either.

    That night, Harry drifted off to an unpleasant sleep. He saw images of Voldemort standing before him, laughing. 'Foolish boy,' growled Voldemort, raising his wand. 'What will your precious friends say when their Golden One falls?'

    Harry saw himself trying to jump out of the way, but he was too late. Harry winced as the green curse hit him straight in the chest, sending him flying. When he landed on the ground, Harry saw that his body was broken, with his head at an odd angle. The next thing he felt was a very solid slap.

    Harry gasped, his eyes flying open and saw Ron, Dean and Seamus standing over him, looking extremely worried. Harry let out a breath and sat up. 'I—I'm fine,'

    'Like hell,' said Ron angrily. 'This is hardly the first time you've been screaming bloody murder in your dreams. Harry, you have to go to Dumbledore with this,'

    Harry saw Seamus's scared face and found himself nodding. 'Okay,' he agreed. 'I'll go tomorrow. First thing in the morning,'

    Ron, Dean and Seamus visibly relaxed and went back to bed. Neville slept soundly.

*

    The next day, Harry skipped his first class to go to Dumbledore, sure that Snape would understand when Ron gave his excuse for him. He stopped at the stone gargoyle which looked as good as new. 'Er …' Harry paused. 'Canary Creams?' The gargoyle didn't move. 'Cockroach Clusters? Lemon Drops?'

    The gargoyle jumped out of the way and Harry ran inside. He walked up to the door and knocked. There was a beat of silence before he heard Dumbledore's voice call out, 'Enter,'

    Harry pushed the door open and walked in and to his surprise saw Mr. and Mrs. Weasley there along with Moody and Tonks. Sturgis Podmore was there too. Dumbledore's table had been elongated so that the five visitors could sit down with him. 'Ah, Harry,' said Dumbledore. 'What brings you up here at his early hour?'

    'Er, I had a dream, Professor,' Harry muttered, not feeling comfortable telling his story with everyone around.

    'Speak up, Potter,' growled Moody.

    'I … had a dream last night, Professor,' Harry said in a louder voice. 'About Voldemort,'

    Dumbledore leaned back, looking thoughtful. 'I see,' he said slowly. 'What was it about?'

    'It was …' Harry paused. Suddenly, in front of everyone, the dream seemed quite ridiculous. 'I was in a desert,' he said, remembering one of his previous dreams. 'And there was nothing there. No trees or anything, but then my scar began to hurt. And then Voldemort was there and he tried to—I mean, he did—kill me with the Avada Kedavra curse,'

    Dumbledore sat up straighter, and Moody looked very interested at this bit of news. 'A desert, you say,' said Dumbledore, stroking his chin. Harry nodded. He saw the members of the Order share significant looks with each other and realized that they knew something that they weren't sharing. 'I see,' continued Dumbledore. 'Well, thank you, Harry. I think you should be getting on to your class now. You have Potions with Professor Snape, don't you?'

    'Yes,' said Harry, floored. He didn't understand what Dumbledore was telling him. Was he honestly not going to do anything about what Harry had told him? He willed Dumbledore to look at him, but the headmaster was taking out a piece of parchment and scribbling something on it quickly. Harry nodded at everyone in the room and left.

    He was late for Potions and Snape was in a bad mood, but miraculously, he didn't deduct any points from Gryffindor, instead telling Harry to take his seat and do his work. Today, they were making an Aging potion, which was the opposite of what they had done the previous lesson. After class, Harry told Ron and Hermione about what had happened in Dumbledore's office and was glad to see that they too were puzzled by Dumbledore's strange behavior.

    'But you said that the—' Hermione looked around to make sure no one was listening, then whispered, 'Order was there, so maybe he didn't want to say anything in front of them,'

    'Why would he want to keep anything away from them?' demanded Ron. 'I mean, they have to work together, and it's not like he can use that "you're too young" excuse on them like he can on us,'

    Hermione didn't reply and they went to their next class, which was Defense Against the Dark Arts.

    'Well, there's something they're hiding,' said Harry after classes when they were in the Common Room. 'Something they're not telling us. And your parents are in on it, Ron,' he turned to Ron. 'There's something significant about that desert, and I want to know what,'

    Ron looked unhopeful for a minute, but then his face brightened. 'Hey, if my parents know, then maybe Fred and George do too!' he suggested. 'Or Bill. Or Charlie.'

    Hermione looked impressed. 'You know, you could be right,' she said. 'And I'm sure the twins wouldn't mind sharing it with us. After all, they know how frustrating it is to be kept in the dark as well,'

    'Can you contact them through the fire?' asked Harry.

    'I suppose the safest way would be to owl them,' said Ron. 'Let's go to the Owlery,'

    When they got there, Hermione handed Ron a piece of parchment and he hastily wrote a message on it. 'Get down here!' he roared at Pig, who was twittering madly above them. Pig flew down to them and he tied the letter to the owl's leg. 'Now, send this to Fred and George's new shop,' he told his pet. 'You've been there; I took you there during the summer. And get them to answer as quickly as they can,'

    Pig twittered and zoomed off, leaving the three friends in silence around the sleeping owls. 'Well then,' said Ron, 'I guess we should just … let them sleep,'

    'Right,' nodded Harry.

    'Let's go,' said Hermione and the three of them left the Owlery.

    At breakfast the next day, Pig dropped off their letter, which Ron ripped open excitedly. The content of the letter, however, was less than exciting.

Dear brother of George and I—

    As much as we would love to tell you every little dark secret the Order is hiding, we know about as much as you do. Probably less, knowing you three. Mum seems to have found a new use for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes—a suitable excuse of keeping us out of the meetings. The number of times she's said, 'Shouldn't you be off to work now, dears,' is enough to drive me and George wonky. Anyway, wish we could help. How about a box of jokes at full price as a consolation? Only kidding.

Wishing you the very, very, very best in your sixth year and hoping you don't die of exhaustion

Fred and George

'Darn' said Ron, crumpling up the letter in disgust. 'Should have known Mum would have found a way to keep them away from the meetings,'

    'Well, that's shot,' sighed Harry. 'What else could we do to find out?'

    'We could owl Bill,' Ron said, not sounding very optimistic. 'He's still doing that desk job for the Order in England. Might get some answers out of him,'

    'He'd probably refuse us because we're too young,' sighed Harry. 'No offense, he's great and all, but I doubt he would be irresponsible enough to give us any information,'

    'Harry's right,' agreed Hermione. 'We'd best get to class now,'

    'Harry and I don't have class,' said Ron. 'Divination is next,'

    Hermione rolled her eyes. 'Well, then I certainly hope you use this time to catch up on your homework,' she said. 'See you, then,'

    No sooner had she left did Professor McGonagall come up to them and hand Harry a piece of parchment. 'From Professor Dumbledore, Potter,' she said before walking off.

    Harry unrolled the parchment.

I, Professor Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, hereby reinstate Harry James Potter as a Divination student to be supervised in the art under the care of Professors Trelawney and Firenze.

Signed,

Albus Dumbledore

Harry's jaw dropped.

    'He wants me to start Divination again!' he exclaimed. 'He can't do that! Can he?'

    Ron snatched the letter away from Harry. 'It looks quite official,' he said. 'I suppose he can, Harry, but why would he want to?'

    'I don't know,' said Harry, horror-struck at the thought of being stuck in the stuffy classroom with Trelawney again. 'I guess I'd better go then. You don't think this has anything to do with the dream, do you? Because if it does, then this is all your fault,'

    'Sorry,' said Ron humbly. Harry got up from his seat and went off. Halfway to the stairs leading up to the North Tower, he remembered that Firenze couldn't climb up the ladder, and decided that class would be held in Classroom Eleven. Turning around, he ran to the class and entered it just as everyone was sitting down.

    He saw immediately that "everyone" consisted of Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, who were probably the only two Gryffindors who actually liked the subject. When they caught sight of Harry, they started giggling. Firenze looked up and waved in hello and Professor Trelawney drifted over to him. 'Ah, yes,' she said in her misty voice, 'I had predicted that you would return to Divination this year, my dear. You see, the allure of the unknown is too great for your Inner Eye to resist. It wants to flourish. Flourish like a flower,'

    'Um, yeah,' said Harry uncomfortably, walking into class. Parvati and Lavender were still giggling behind their hands when he sat down.

    'Now, my dear,' said Trelawney, turning to the board behind her. There was a very poorly drawn diagram there, and if it had not been for the caption that read 'Mars', Harry would have not known what it was. 'As you can see, Mars is drawing quite close to Earth—' she pointed at the circle before the one captioned as Mars, '—thus telling us that accidents are very likely to occur as the year progresses,'

    Parvati and Lavender were listening with rapt attention but Firenze let out an impatient sigh. 'Nonsense,' he interrupted. Trelawney glared at him.

    'I beg your pardon?' she said in gritted teeth.

    'Nonsense,' repeated Firenze, who didn't seem to have picked up on her angry tone. 'Mars is not the bringer of accidents, it is the bringer of war,'

    'I'm afraid,' said Trelawney coldly, 'that throughout the year, you have given very general ideas to the students, and ideas that do not apply to all of them—'

    'The war shall affect everyone,' Firenze interrupted again. 'I am afraid that it is you who has been giving general ideas to the students. If we were to follow your explanations, we would be seeing cuts on every student in the school, and that is simply too improbable. The war is approaching and the wizarding world has been alerted. Even to those who do not participate in the war shall be affected by it just as they were fifteen years ago,'

    'I have been constantly criticized in my line of duty, as we Seers always are,' Trelawney said with the air of someone who had just come out of a great battle. 'If you would be so kind as to remember that my gift was inherited by the most celebrated Seer of five hundred years—'

    'The centaurs all know the story of Cassandra Trelawney,' said Firenze. 'And she was celebrated for having warned the world of a coming evil before her execution,'

    'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has already been warned of,' said Trelawney. She sat down on one of the chairs. 'I do not feel very well today, my dears,' she murmured. 'Maybe it would be best to call off the remainder of the class. And it would give me and Mr. Firenze a chance to work out several kinks when it comes to our teaching methods,'

    The three students got up and left the classroom, and Harry felt extremely relieved to have Firenze around to liven up the class a little.

    He found Ron five minutes before their next class, which was Herbology again. As they went down to the greenhouses, they heard a shriek. 'The Hufflepuffs are having Care of Magical Creatures right now,' grinned Ron. 'And I'm guessing that they don't find Krolls a very relaxing subject,'

    They laughed and walked past the Hufflepuffs where Hannah Abbot was running around in circles and Professor Grubbly-Plank was telling her to stop making sudden moves. 'Think we should help?' asked Harry uncertainly. Ron shrugged and Harry decided that he could be of service.

    Walking over with Ron, they saw Ernie was shaking in fright while Justin Finch-Fletchley and another boy Harry didn't recognize backed away slowly from the Kroll. Harry took out his wand and opened his mouth to stupefy the Kroll, not too sure if it would work against its skin but deciding it was worth a try. What came out, however, was a command to stop advancing. The Kroll froze in its steps and looked over at Harry in interest.

    'Don't touch them,' Harry commanded it. 'Go back to your box.'  The Kroll nodded at him and turned around and slithered to its wooden crate. Harry saw students jumping out of the way as it passed. When he looked up, he saw that Grubbly-Plank was staring at him with a stunned expression, hand over her heart and the Hufflepuffs were shifting awkwardly.

    He realized too late that he had used his Parseltongue gift in public. The Hufflepuff sixth-years were no stranger to his gift, of course, having been exposed to it in their second year when they had briefly thought of Harry as the thug who was attacking students, naming him the Heir of Slytherin. He hoped that they would be open minded the second time around, especially after all that had happened in the past few years.

    He felt Ron pulling on his arm. 'Come on,' his friend muttered. 'Let's get out of here,'

    Harry let himself be pulled away by Ron, but he didn't lead them to the greenhouses. 'Where are we going?' he demanded. 'We have Herbology now!'

    'Don't be daft,' said Ron. 'After that? Sprout is the Hufflepuff head. Trust me, things are going to get a little thorny with her. Best avoid her until after things blow over,'

    'But she won't know yet,'

    'Trust me,' said Ron firmly. 'News travels fast. Gryffindors could have been passing by on the way to Herbology before your little show, and in any case, Grubbly-Plank won't be too eager to continue today's class, so chances are the sixth-years are free to go and warn their precious little Head about you,'

    They spent their lesson up in the Gryffindor Common Room and sure enough, the door open and Hermione flew inside, looking distressed. 'Where were you?' she demanded of them when she reached them. 'The Hufflepuffs were with us at Herbology and I heard them say that Harry spoke Parseltongue—well, it wasn't too hard to hear, actually, they were practically hysterical—and everyone started staring at me as thought I was the one who spoke that accursed language—'

    'I was helping them!' said Harry indignantly. 'Great. Perfect. It's second year all over again.'

    'Harry,' said Hermione after taking a few deep breaths, 'what happened?'

    'They were studying Krolls and the Hufflepuffs were scared, so I went to help them and ended up telling the Kroll to leave them alone,' explained Harry. Hermione stared at him as if he was the biggest idiot she had ever seen.

    'And it didn't occur to you that Professor Grubbly-Plank could handle it herself?' she inquired.

    'She obviously couldn't,' said Harry stubbornly.

    'Well, why didn't you just try to freeze it?' challenged Hermione.

    'I wanted to,' answered Harry. 'I raised my wand to Stupefy it, and instead I spoke Parseltongue. It's not like I can help it, Hermione,'

    'Oh, I know,' she said, twisting her robes with her hands. 'But you should know that the Hufflepuffs have the whole school talking. It would be best if you didn't show up for dinner. Both of you,' she added, looking at Ron, whose jaw dropped.

    'What are we supposed to do, starve?'

    'Oh, Ron, you can go one day without your dinner,' she snapped. 'The important thing now is damage control. The whole school is going to be talking about you again, Harry and—'

    'You know what?' Harry raised his hands, 'I don't care,'

    Hermione stopped. 'You don't care?' she asked.

    'Nope. Not even a little bit. If they think that I'm the enemy, go ahead. Lets see how well they do on the battlefield,' said Harry.

    'Oh, but you must not talk that way,' said Hermione.

    'I can't help it, Hermione,' said Harry. 'I'm through defending myself,'

    'Harry's right,' Ron spoke up. 'Why should he have to waste his time telling people he's on their side. If they don't want to believe him, that's their problem, not his,'

    Hermione chewed on her bottom lip. 'Well …' she said hesitantly, 'I suppose I see your point …'

    'Right then,' grinned Ron. 'We've got an hour to kill before our next lesson. Anyone for a game of Wizards Chess?'

     That night at dinner, Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way down to the Great Hall confidently. All through the meal, Harry heard his schoolmates whispering and managed to even catch slivers of their conversations. Thankfully, he saw that Dean, Neville and, most importantly, Seamus, were by his side. 'Don't listen to them, Harry,' said Neville when one of the Slytherins gave a particularly nasty laugh.

    'Yeah, their just a bunch of small fucks,' agreed Dean. Seamus didn't say anything, but Harry was gratified to feel his boyfriend's fingers lace through his own. At that very moment, the doors flew open and Professor Grubbly-Plank ran in, huffing and puffing.

    'The Kroll—' she gasped. 'The Kroll is loose on school grounds!'

    There was a moment of silence.

    Then everyone screamed.

    The teachers got to their feet and Dumbledore tried to reinstall the peace, but to no avail. Unlike Harry's first year, when a troll had been let in by Professor Quirell, chaos now ruled the students. Apparently, they all found a Kroll slightly more dangerous than a troll. Harry got to his feet too. 'Come on,' he told Ron and Hermione. 'We've got to find it,'

    'Oh, but—' Hermione started, but Harry didn't let her finish.

    'Come on,' he said insistently. 'I'm probably the only one the Kroll will listen to,'

    Hermione obviously found this logical, for she nodded and the three of them took off, not noticing Seamus, Dean, Neville and Ginny running after them.

    'Where do you think it is?' asked Ron as they ran.

    'I don't know,' Harry panted. 'Hermione, do you—'

    'Krolls like dark places,' she said before Harry could get his question out.

    'Wow, that narrows it down, doesn't it?' said Ron sarcastically.

    'Why don't you try the third floor corridor?' suggested Ginny, as she, Neville, Dean and Seamus caught up to them. Harry looked surprised to see them, but nodded anyway.

    'Let's go,' he said. They ran up the staircase leading up to the third floor, thankfully reaching it before the stairs started to shift. It was just as Harry remembered. Dank and dark, which few torches to light up the place. An ideal condition for the Kroll.

    'Here, Krolly, Krolly, Krolly, Krolly,' whispered Ron. Everyone stared at him. 'What?' he asked. 'I thought it might work,'

     Ginny rolled her eyes. Then they heard it. A low hissing sound.

    'The Kroll,' muttered Harry. 'Keep quiet, all of you,'

    They fell silent and Harry heard the hiss again. Then he saw the figure of the snake, but it wasn't the Kroll.

    'H—Harry,' Ron whimpered.

    'Yeah, Ron?' Harry's eyes were trained on the snake before him.

    'Are Krolls supposed to be that big?'

    'Not that I remember.' He turned to Hermione. 'Hermione?'

    She shook her head.

    The snake let out a hiss again and began to talk. 'Harry Potter,'

    Harry bit his lip. 'Voldemort,' he hissed.

    The snake didn't deny it. 'You see the greatness of my power, Potter,' it said to him in Parseltongue. 'There are no more chances for you. You will not survive this year,'

    'How long have you been hiding here?'

    'Not as long as you think. In fact, I have only just appeared here,'

    Harry paused. 'Everyone,' he said in an even voice. 'Run!'

    The snake let out a hiss that Harry guessed was supposed to be a laugh before it lunged forwards, its mouth open. Harry shut his eyes tightly and heard everybody scream in terror. But then the snake passed through him and dissolved, as though it were made from sand. Harry opened his eyes.

    'An—an illusion,' said Hermione in a shaky voice. 'Only an illusion,'

    'Harry was that—?'

    'Voldemort, yeah,' Harry said, trembling. He patted himself as if to make sure that his clothes hadn't turned into snake skin.

    'That was too scary,' said Seamus in a quivering tone. 'Let's go up to the Tower. I'm sure the teachers can find the Kroll on their own,'

    'Yeah,' Harry granted. 'Let's go,'

    They left the third floor corridor and returned to Gryffindor Tower. The students had already returned to the safety of their dorms to hide from the Kroll, and Harry, Ron, Seamus, Dean and Neville bade Hermione and Ginny goodnight as they went up to their room. While they were changing for bed, they froze when they heard a hiss.

    'Oh, nooooo,' moaned Neville.

    The Kroll slithered out from under Harry's bed, hissing. 'So that's where you were,' said Harry. After meeting with the Voldemort-snake, the Kroll didn't seem half as intimidating as before. His roommates obviously felt the same because they made no move to run out of the room. Harry picked up the Kroll gently, relived its quills didn't shoot out.

    'Are you going to give it back to Grubbly-Plank?' Ron eyed the Kroll warily.

    'No, I don't think so,' said Harry. 'I don't think he likes it in that crate,'

    'So, it's going to be your pet?' asked Seamus.

    'Snakes eat owls, don't they?' asked Dean.

    'I don't think Krolls do,' said Harry, though he wasn't very sure about this. 'But I would like to keep him,'

    'What's your name?' he asked it. 'I'm Harry. Harry Potter,'

    'I don't have one,' the Kroll told him.

    'Then I'll give you one,' decided Harry. 'How do you feel about Goliath?'

    The Kroll didn't answer at first, seeming to think it over. 'I like it,' it said finally.

    'Good,' said Harry happily. 'Goliath it is, then,'

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews. It's been a challenge writing this chapter, but I hope you like it. Thanks!