Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot.
The Second Darkness.
Chapter 5: Voldemort's Plan.
Deep in the northernmost Highlands of Scotland, amongst the rugged mountains and misty glens lay a ruined castle, perched high upon a heather coated hill overlooking one of the many lochs in the area. Hidden by large, jagged snow-covered mountains this castle hid the one of the greatest evils of all time alongside Salazar Slytherin.
At least it looked ruined to the few muggles who saw it. It actually looked as if it had been built only yesterday, apart from the massive cobwebs and the army of spiders and rodents that dwelled within its walls.
Spiders and rodents weren't the only inhabitants. Lord Voldemort and his closest Death Eaters hid here. From here Voldemort ordered the killings and torturing that terrified the wizarding world. From here he brewed his evil plans and ordered the recruitment of more Death Eaters. From here he gathered his army. But there was something more disturbing,
Legend has it that this was the ancient home of Salazar Slytherin.
And who knows what evil he hid in this castle. Evil waiting to be discovered. Evil waiting to be unleashed once more.
******
Lord Voldemort sat in a high backed wooden throne at the back of a large room in the centre of the castle. The few torches around the walls gave a little light and no warmth. His closest Death Eaters lined the walls on either side of the room, trying to get as close to the torches as is possible. Apart from a faded red rug leading up to the throne and a long wooden table on the left hand side of the room there was little furniture. There were a few shields, swords and axes hanging on the walls but they were old and faded and the swords and axes had lost their shine centuries ago.
Voldemort surveyed the Death Eaters standing next the walls. Less then a month ago fifty of his best and most loyal men had stood here, now less then half remained. What angered him most was that Lucius Malfoy had died. Died in agony, weeping like a baby.
What's more was that he was growing impatient.
"He's had enough time, he should have found it by now." He mused to himself.
"More than a month, my lord." Agreed what looked to be a small bundle of robes heaped in an untidy pile by Voldemort's feet, but on closer inspection turned out to be a small mouse-like man.
"Nobody asked for your opinion, Wormtail." said Voldemort coldly.
"My apologies, my lord." Voldemort did not reply.
"Fetch my librarian." Wormtail leaped to his feet and ran off. Five minutes later he returned with a tiny hunchbacked man, hair was white and he looked to be about eighty years old. He was clutching an old leather- covered book protectively to his chest.
"Well?" demanded Voldemort coldly, "Have you found it yet?" The old man looked fearfully into the slit like eyes and hurriedly looked down at the floor,
"I believe I have, my lord, I came across it this morning and I was just double checking it when Wormtail came in." The man paused,
"Well? What is it?" The old man carefully opened the book and hurried up to Voldemort. He held the book out and Voldemort quickly read it.
"Good, well done. How long will it take?"
"About three months, master." Voldemort looked thoughtful,
"Could it be done any quicker?"
"Not without weakening the effects, my liege, as you no doubt see it is a very complicated potion, what's more we have to start it tomorrow, the full moon of January, otherwise, if we miss it, the position of the planets required will not come round for another decade." Voldemort nodded.
"Have we all the ingredients?" The old man hesitated,
"All apart from one, my lord."
"Which one is that?" demanded Voldemort.
"The blood of a hero, but that doesn't need to be added till the very end so we have some time to get that." The old man said hastily, Voldemort narrowed his eyes and leant back.
"The blood of a hero?"
"Harry Potter, my liege." The old man said fearfully. Voldemort stood up furious.
"And no other can be used?" he said, the old man cowered back,
"No, my lord." Voldemort looked around,
"Well? What are you waiting for? Organise plans, send assassins, Death Eaters, anyone, but I want him back here alive!" shrieked Voldemort. The Death Eaters bowed low and hurried out of he room. Voldemort turned on the librarian, the old man cowered back even further,
"You have done well, you shall be rewarded for this work." Voldemort thought for a minute then waved his wand over the old man's back, the lump in his back disappeared and the man stood up straight, his eyes widening in wonder.
The old man fell to his knees and crawled towards Voldemort. He kissed the hem of his robes murmuring,
"Thank you my lord, thank you so much, thank you, thank you." Before standing up and hurrying out of the room. Voldemort stood alone in the centre of the room, he let out a high-pitched, burst of insane laughter.
"Your days are numbered Dumbledore, for when I drink the Potion of Eternal Life I shall be invincible!" He walked out of the room still laughing.
Hidden in the shadows, a single pair of eyes widened.
******
"I'm telling you, Albus, I heard it with my own ears!" Exclaimed Snape, banging his fist on the headmaster's desk.
"I believe you Severus it's just that I need to know all of the facts before I make a decision." Snape nodded,
"That's not the worst of it though, to complete the potion they need Potter's blood," collective gasps went round the room but Snape carried on relentlessly, "And he's not hanging around in trying to get it, nor is he sparing any men."
"How is the search for the information concerning the wards going?" asked Emmeline Vance from the back of the room.
"The Unspeakables have barely touched the surface of the information about Hogwarts they have down there." Dumbledore said shortly. Muttering broke out in the room. Dumbledore politely waited for it to subside before continuing,
"We need a guard for Harry, now we don't have any members in the Order that we can afford to spare-" At this one of the Goblins stepped forward, it was Ragnok.
"We would be quite happy to provide a guard for him." Remus Lupin stepped forward,
"Thank you for your kind offer but Harry wouldn't put up with a guard, be it human or Goblin." Ragnok raised his eyebrows,
"Not even if he was forced to?" Lupin smiled wryly,
"He would just give them the slip, anyway is a guard really necessary? The DA are fiercely loyal to him. They wouldn't let any harm come to him." Dumbledore nodded.
"You're right, Harry would just give a guard the slip, he's just like his father or Sirius, too independent. If he won't put up guard then precautions will have to be taken to minimise the danger he is in. Anyway back to the original problem, what are we going to do about Voldemort's plan?"
******
The Gryffindor common room was completely deserted apart from Harry and Ginny who were sitting on one of the couches in the talking; Ron and Hermione had gone of to the library to do some homework.
"I mean, it's so obvious that they like each other so why won't they just admit it to each other?" asked Ginny.
"I wish I knew."
"I still want to know why Hermione was all embarrassed and was crying the other night. She still won't tell me." Harry grinned. Ginny hit him on the arm, "Tell me!" she demanded, hitting him again.
"Ok, ok." Gasped Harry between fits of laughter. He quickly told her about Hermione kissing Ron on the lips accidentally. Ginny looked at him open mouthed.
"She got worked up over that!"
"Yep, and that's not the best bit. I was in our room with Ron trying to reassure him and I told him it didn't matter and you know what he said? He said 'That's what hurts most, that's all it was, a mistake.'" Ginny looked even more surprised,
"He didn't!"
"He did."
"Whoa! We really have to get them together, now that Ron's admitted he likes her."
"Which we knew anyway."
"Yeah, but it makes it easier now that Ron's admitted it."
"True." At that point the portrait hole swung open and Ron and Hermione walked in talking animatedly. Harry and Ginny smirked at them both. Ron looked at Harry warily, he knew that smirk of his and didn't like it one bit.
"What've you two been talking about?" he asked cautiously.
"How much you two fancy each other." Said Harry, still smirking. Ginny burst out laughing.
"I don't fancy her!" protested Ron.
"That's not what you said the other night, after she 'accidentally' kissed you on the lips, remember?" Asked Harry innocently. Ginny howled with laughter.
"What did you say?" Hermione asked Ron curiously.
"I didn't say anything, he's making it up" Ron said desperately.
"Don't believe him. He said, when I tried to reassure him by telling him it was only a mistake, he said 'That's what hurts most, that's all it was, a mistake.'" Said Harry confidently, still smirking. Ron turned on Harry looking furious, he started walking towards him slowly, Harry's smirk faded slightly and he started backing away from him,
"Easy Ron, we can talk about this." Ron gave a roar of rage and leaped towards Harry, Harry jumped to the side, Ron leaped at him again and this time Harry wasn't quick enough, Ron rugby tackled him to the floor and started pummelling every bit of Harry he could reach. Eventually Harry managed to push him off. Gingerly, Harry stood up; he tasted blood in his mouth, he put his fingertips to his lips and then looked at them. There was blood on them.
"I guess I deserved that." He said calmly. Ron shot him a venomous glare before running up to the boy's dormitory. Hermione looked from Harry to Ginny and then back again.
"You weren't lying then?"
"No." said Harry, putting his fingers to his lips again. Hermione then ran up to the girl's dormitory.
"That could've gone better." Harry said to Ginny a minute later.
"Never mind," she said bracingly, "At least Hermione's aware of Ron's feelings for her." Harry nodded in agreement,
"I'll be lucky if he ever talks to me again."
"He'll get over it and he will thank you for it in the end." She said consolingly.
"What would I do without you, Gin?"
"Go insane?" she suggested, Harry laughed and gave her a hug before heading up to the boy's dormitory to see if Ron was prepared to talk about it, leaving an incredibly pleased Ginny in the common room.
He entered the dormitory to see Ron sitting on his bed staring blankly ahead, Harry almost felt sorry for him; he looked so pathetic, so...lost. The only thing that stopped Harry feeling sorry for him was that Harry knew how unpredictable Ron could be.
"You'll thank me in the end." He said. Ron looked up.
"What for? For ruining my friendship with Hermione?" All this was said without spite, Ron said it sadly, as if he was stating a simple fact but he didn't want to accept it. Now Harry did feel bad. He felt really sorry for him. He sat down next to him on the bed.
"Listen, you didn't see Hermione's reaction, she didn't looked disgusted or...or repulsed or anything like that." Ron perked up slightly,
"Really?"
"Yeah, she looked surprised and sort of embarrassed and then she ran up to her room but she definitely didn't look disgusted." Ron nodded.
"If you don't mind I would like to be alone now." Harry nodded, squeezed Ron's shoulder reassuringly and walked slowly down to the common room. As soon as she saw him Ginny's face became concerned,
"How is he?"
"He looks so pathetic, so lost, like he doesn't know what to do and just wants to hide." Ginny nodded,
"I went up to speak to Hermione."
"Oh yeah? How much does she hate me?" Ginny gave a weak smile,
"Not at all, but I asked whether she fancied Ron and she admitted she did but she refuses to believe that you were telling the truth and nothing I said would change her mind. She thinks it's all some elaborate joke."
"She can't really think that I would play a joke that involved me getting beaten to a pulp by a homicidal, psycho redhead!" exclaimed Harry angrily. Ginny shrugged,
"I guess she does."
"How blind can two people be?" He said furiously. Ginny gave another weak smile.
"Extremely, by the looks of it." Before Harry could reply the portrait and Lupin stepped in.
"Harry, Dumbledore wants to see you." He said. Harry sighed and nodded,
"See you." He said to Ginny, giving her a hug.
"Bye." Harry followed Lupin out of the common room and along the corridor to Dumbledore's office.
"What does he want to see me about?" Lupin looked grim,
"You'll find out and you're not going to like it." They reached the headmaster's office and Lupin gave the password. They walked up the steps; in the room were the three Goblins, most of the teachers and some Order members. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk looking grave.
"Harry, certain precautions need to be imposed on you for your own protection." Harry nodded slowly, he didn't like where this was going.
"One, you will now wear your dragon skin armour instead of your school robes-"
"What!" spluttered Harry, "Do you realise how many looks I get from just wearing the sword? I don't need any more of those looks."
"The other option," said Dumbledore as if he had never been interrupted, "is that you be escorted by a guard wherever you go." Harry gulped,
"I'll take the armour."
"The next rule is that you do not leave the castle under any circumstances."
"No." said Harry forcefully, "I don't know if you've realised it but I've got a girlfriend and I'm not cutting down my private time with her just because you don't want ickle Harry to get hurt. You can attempt to force a guard on me but I'll just give them the slip. Cho comes first, you lot come second." Lupin grinned to himself this was exactly what he had expected Harry to say. Dumbledore spread his hands on his desk; he could see that Harry would not obey that rule at all.
"Ok. I will not force you to stay inside the castle. But you are not to leave the grounds." Dumbledore's tone showed that that was final. Harry nodded.
"You may go now." Said Dumbledore. Harry nodded and turned round. He strode out of his office and towards the Gryffindor common room. He snapped the password at the fat lady and entered the common room. He flung himself down on one of the couches next to Ginny. She looked up from the book she was reading.
"What's wrong?" she asked seeing his angry expression.
"I have to wear my armour instead of my school robes now." Ginny nodded sympathetically.
"He also tried to make me stay inside the castle all the time. But I refused, as I didn't want my private time with Cho being cut down. Ginny nodded again.
"It would be unfair to make you stop spending time with Cho."
"Has either Ron or Hermione come down yet?" Ginny shook her head sadly,
"I'm starting to get quite worried about them." She admitted.
"We shouldn't have got involved." Said Harry.
"We had to, otherwise they would have gone through life being to scared to admit they loved each other no matter how many times people told them how obvious it was." She said forcefully. Harry nodded.
"You're right." He said. He stood up,
"I'm going for a walk, you coming?" he said to her.
"Yeah." She said, standing up and following him out of the portrait hole."
A/N Ok, I know that this chapter has been very Harry, Ginny orientated so I want to make one thing clear. Neither this fic nor the next one will be Harry/Ginny. There are good friends in my fics and that is how they shall remain.
LogicalRaven – Thanks for the review.
Charmed-103 – Thanks for the review. You won't find out who Harry saw in his vision until the last chapter of the trilogy, sorry!
Colm – Thanks for the review, if you have anymore questions don't hesitate to ask.
Rocky235 – Thanks for the review, could you just let me know how Cho's character is a bit over the top? Cheers.
Keep reading and reviewing, 'cos I'll keep writing.
Fireboy.
The Second Darkness.
Chapter 5: Voldemort's Plan.
Deep in the northernmost Highlands of Scotland, amongst the rugged mountains and misty glens lay a ruined castle, perched high upon a heather coated hill overlooking one of the many lochs in the area. Hidden by large, jagged snow-covered mountains this castle hid the one of the greatest evils of all time alongside Salazar Slytherin.
At least it looked ruined to the few muggles who saw it. It actually looked as if it had been built only yesterday, apart from the massive cobwebs and the army of spiders and rodents that dwelled within its walls.
Spiders and rodents weren't the only inhabitants. Lord Voldemort and his closest Death Eaters hid here. From here Voldemort ordered the killings and torturing that terrified the wizarding world. From here he brewed his evil plans and ordered the recruitment of more Death Eaters. From here he gathered his army. But there was something more disturbing,
Legend has it that this was the ancient home of Salazar Slytherin.
And who knows what evil he hid in this castle. Evil waiting to be discovered. Evil waiting to be unleashed once more.
******
Lord Voldemort sat in a high backed wooden throne at the back of a large room in the centre of the castle. The few torches around the walls gave a little light and no warmth. His closest Death Eaters lined the walls on either side of the room, trying to get as close to the torches as is possible. Apart from a faded red rug leading up to the throne and a long wooden table on the left hand side of the room there was little furniture. There were a few shields, swords and axes hanging on the walls but they were old and faded and the swords and axes had lost their shine centuries ago.
Voldemort surveyed the Death Eaters standing next the walls. Less then a month ago fifty of his best and most loyal men had stood here, now less then half remained. What angered him most was that Lucius Malfoy had died. Died in agony, weeping like a baby.
What's more was that he was growing impatient.
"He's had enough time, he should have found it by now." He mused to himself.
"More than a month, my lord." Agreed what looked to be a small bundle of robes heaped in an untidy pile by Voldemort's feet, but on closer inspection turned out to be a small mouse-like man.
"Nobody asked for your opinion, Wormtail." said Voldemort coldly.
"My apologies, my lord." Voldemort did not reply.
"Fetch my librarian." Wormtail leaped to his feet and ran off. Five minutes later he returned with a tiny hunchbacked man, hair was white and he looked to be about eighty years old. He was clutching an old leather- covered book protectively to his chest.
"Well?" demanded Voldemort coldly, "Have you found it yet?" The old man looked fearfully into the slit like eyes and hurriedly looked down at the floor,
"I believe I have, my lord, I came across it this morning and I was just double checking it when Wormtail came in." The man paused,
"Well? What is it?" The old man carefully opened the book and hurried up to Voldemort. He held the book out and Voldemort quickly read it.
"Good, well done. How long will it take?"
"About three months, master." Voldemort looked thoughtful,
"Could it be done any quicker?"
"Not without weakening the effects, my liege, as you no doubt see it is a very complicated potion, what's more we have to start it tomorrow, the full moon of January, otherwise, if we miss it, the position of the planets required will not come round for another decade." Voldemort nodded.
"Have we all the ingredients?" The old man hesitated,
"All apart from one, my lord."
"Which one is that?" demanded Voldemort.
"The blood of a hero, but that doesn't need to be added till the very end so we have some time to get that." The old man said hastily, Voldemort narrowed his eyes and leant back.
"The blood of a hero?"
"Harry Potter, my liege." The old man said fearfully. Voldemort stood up furious.
"And no other can be used?" he said, the old man cowered back,
"No, my lord." Voldemort looked around,
"Well? What are you waiting for? Organise plans, send assassins, Death Eaters, anyone, but I want him back here alive!" shrieked Voldemort. The Death Eaters bowed low and hurried out of he room. Voldemort turned on the librarian, the old man cowered back even further,
"You have done well, you shall be rewarded for this work." Voldemort thought for a minute then waved his wand over the old man's back, the lump in his back disappeared and the man stood up straight, his eyes widening in wonder.
The old man fell to his knees and crawled towards Voldemort. He kissed the hem of his robes murmuring,
"Thank you my lord, thank you so much, thank you, thank you." Before standing up and hurrying out of the room. Voldemort stood alone in the centre of the room, he let out a high-pitched, burst of insane laughter.
"Your days are numbered Dumbledore, for when I drink the Potion of Eternal Life I shall be invincible!" He walked out of the room still laughing.
Hidden in the shadows, a single pair of eyes widened.
******
"I'm telling you, Albus, I heard it with my own ears!" Exclaimed Snape, banging his fist on the headmaster's desk.
"I believe you Severus it's just that I need to know all of the facts before I make a decision." Snape nodded,
"That's not the worst of it though, to complete the potion they need Potter's blood," collective gasps went round the room but Snape carried on relentlessly, "And he's not hanging around in trying to get it, nor is he sparing any men."
"How is the search for the information concerning the wards going?" asked Emmeline Vance from the back of the room.
"The Unspeakables have barely touched the surface of the information about Hogwarts they have down there." Dumbledore said shortly. Muttering broke out in the room. Dumbledore politely waited for it to subside before continuing,
"We need a guard for Harry, now we don't have any members in the Order that we can afford to spare-" At this one of the Goblins stepped forward, it was Ragnok.
"We would be quite happy to provide a guard for him." Remus Lupin stepped forward,
"Thank you for your kind offer but Harry wouldn't put up with a guard, be it human or Goblin." Ragnok raised his eyebrows,
"Not even if he was forced to?" Lupin smiled wryly,
"He would just give them the slip, anyway is a guard really necessary? The DA are fiercely loyal to him. They wouldn't let any harm come to him." Dumbledore nodded.
"You're right, Harry would just give a guard the slip, he's just like his father or Sirius, too independent. If he won't put up guard then precautions will have to be taken to minimise the danger he is in. Anyway back to the original problem, what are we going to do about Voldemort's plan?"
******
The Gryffindor common room was completely deserted apart from Harry and Ginny who were sitting on one of the couches in the talking; Ron and Hermione had gone of to the library to do some homework.
"I mean, it's so obvious that they like each other so why won't they just admit it to each other?" asked Ginny.
"I wish I knew."
"I still want to know why Hermione was all embarrassed and was crying the other night. She still won't tell me." Harry grinned. Ginny hit him on the arm, "Tell me!" she demanded, hitting him again.
"Ok, ok." Gasped Harry between fits of laughter. He quickly told her about Hermione kissing Ron on the lips accidentally. Ginny looked at him open mouthed.
"She got worked up over that!"
"Yep, and that's not the best bit. I was in our room with Ron trying to reassure him and I told him it didn't matter and you know what he said? He said 'That's what hurts most, that's all it was, a mistake.'" Ginny looked even more surprised,
"He didn't!"
"He did."
"Whoa! We really have to get them together, now that Ron's admitted he likes her."
"Which we knew anyway."
"Yeah, but it makes it easier now that Ron's admitted it."
"True." At that point the portrait hole swung open and Ron and Hermione walked in talking animatedly. Harry and Ginny smirked at them both. Ron looked at Harry warily, he knew that smirk of his and didn't like it one bit.
"What've you two been talking about?" he asked cautiously.
"How much you two fancy each other." Said Harry, still smirking. Ginny burst out laughing.
"I don't fancy her!" protested Ron.
"That's not what you said the other night, after she 'accidentally' kissed you on the lips, remember?" Asked Harry innocently. Ginny howled with laughter.
"What did you say?" Hermione asked Ron curiously.
"I didn't say anything, he's making it up" Ron said desperately.
"Don't believe him. He said, when I tried to reassure him by telling him it was only a mistake, he said 'That's what hurts most, that's all it was, a mistake.'" Said Harry confidently, still smirking. Ron turned on Harry looking furious, he started walking towards him slowly, Harry's smirk faded slightly and he started backing away from him,
"Easy Ron, we can talk about this." Ron gave a roar of rage and leaped towards Harry, Harry jumped to the side, Ron leaped at him again and this time Harry wasn't quick enough, Ron rugby tackled him to the floor and started pummelling every bit of Harry he could reach. Eventually Harry managed to push him off. Gingerly, Harry stood up; he tasted blood in his mouth, he put his fingertips to his lips and then looked at them. There was blood on them.
"I guess I deserved that." He said calmly. Ron shot him a venomous glare before running up to the boy's dormitory. Hermione looked from Harry to Ginny and then back again.
"You weren't lying then?"
"No." said Harry, putting his fingers to his lips again. Hermione then ran up to the girl's dormitory.
"That could've gone better." Harry said to Ginny a minute later.
"Never mind," she said bracingly, "At least Hermione's aware of Ron's feelings for her." Harry nodded in agreement,
"I'll be lucky if he ever talks to me again."
"He'll get over it and he will thank you for it in the end." She said consolingly.
"What would I do without you, Gin?"
"Go insane?" she suggested, Harry laughed and gave her a hug before heading up to the boy's dormitory to see if Ron was prepared to talk about it, leaving an incredibly pleased Ginny in the common room.
He entered the dormitory to see Ron sitting on his bed staring blankly ahead, Harry almost felt sorry for him; he looked so pathetic, so...lost. The only thing that stopped Harry feeling sorry for him was that Harry knew how unpredictable Ron could be.
"You'll thank me in the end." He said. Ron looked up.
"What for? For ruining my friendship with Hermione?" All this was said without spite, Ron said it sadly, as if he was stating a simple fact but he didn't want to accept it. Now Harry did feel bad. He felt really sorry for him. He sat down next to him on the bed.
"Listen, you didn't see Hermione's reaction, she didn't looked disgusted or...or repulsed or anything like that." Ron perked up slightly,
"Really?"
"Yeah, she looked surprised and sort of embarrassed and then she ran up to her room but she definitely didn't look disgusted." Ron nodded.
"If you don't mind I would like to be alone now." Harry nodded, squeezed Ron's shoulder reassuringly and walked slowly down to the common room. As soon as she saw him Ginny's face became concerned,
"How is he?"
"He looks so pathetic, so lost, like he doesn't know what to do and just wants to hide." Ginny nodded,
"I went up to speak to Hermione."
"Oh yeah? How much does she hate me?" Ginny gave a weak smile,
"Not at all, but I asked whether she fancied Ron and she admitted she did but she refuses to believe that you were telling the truth and nothing I said would change her mind. She thinks it's all some elaborate joke."
"She can't really think that I would play a joke that involved me getting beaten to a pulp by a homicidal, psycho redhead!" exclaimed Harry angrily. Ginny shrugged,
"I guess she does."
"How blind can two people be?" He said furiously. Ginny gave another weak smile.
"Extremely, by the looks of it." Before Harry could reply the portrait and Lupin stepped in.
"Harry, Dumbledore wants to see you." He said. Harry sighed and nodded,
"See you." He said to Ginny, giving her a hug.
"Bye." Harry followed Lupin out of the common room and along the corridor to Dumbledore's office.
"What does he want to see me about?" Lupin looked grim,
"You'll find out and you're not going to like it." They reached the headmaster's office and Lupin gave the password. They walked up the steps; in the room were the three Goblins, most of the teachers and some Order members. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk looking grave.
"Harry, certain precautions need to be imposed on you for your own protection." Harry nodded slowly, he didn't like where this was going.
"One, you will now wear your dragon skin armour instead of your school robes-"
"What!" spluttered Harry, "Do you realise how many looks I get from just wearing the sword? I don't need any more of those looks."
"The other option," said Dumbledore as if he had never been interrupted, "is that you be escorted by a guard wherever you go." Harry gulped,
"I'll take the armour."
"The next rule is that you do not leave the castle under any circumstances."
"No." said Harry forcefully, "I don't know if you've realised it but I've got a girlfriend and I'm not cutting down my private time with her just because you don't want ickle Harry to get hurt. You can attempt to force a guard on me but I'll just give them the slip. Cho comes first, you lot come second." Lupin grinned to himself this was exactly what he had expected Harry to say. Dumbledore spread his hands on his desk; he could see that Harry would not obey that rule at all.
"Ok. I will not force you to stay inside the castle. But you are not to leave the grounds." Dumbledore's tone showed that that was final. Harry nodded.
"You may go now." Said Dumbledore. Harry nodded and turned round. He strode out of his office and towards the Gryffindor common room. He snapped the password at the fat lady and entered the common room. He flung himself down on one of the couches next to Ginny. She looked up from the book she was reading.
"What's wrong?" she asked seeing his angry expression.
"I have to wear my armour instead of my school robes now." Ginny nodded sympathetically.
"He also tried to make me stay inside the castle all the time. But I refused, as I didn't want my private time with Cho being cut down. Ginny nodded again.
"It would be unfair to make you stop spending time with Cho."
"Has either Ron or Hermione come down yet?" Ginny shook her head sadly,
"I'm starting to get quite worried about them." She admitted.
"We shouldn't have got involved." Said Harry.
"We had to, otherwise they would have gone through life being to scared to admit they loved each other no matter how many times people told them how obvious it was." She said forcefully. Harry nodded.
"You're right." He said. He stood up,
"I'm going for a walk, you coming?" he said to her.
"Yeah." She said, standing up and following him out of the portrait hole."
A/N Ok, I know that this chapter has been very Harry, Ginny orientated so I want to make one thing clear. Neither this fic nor the next one will be Harry/Ginny. There are good friends in my fics and that is how they shall remain.
LogicalRaven – Thanks for the review.
Charmed-103 – Thanks for the review. You won't find out who Harry saw in his vision until the last chapter of the trilogy, sorry!
Colm – Thanks for the review, if you have anymore questions don't hesitate to ask.
Rocky235 – Thanks for the review, could you just let me know how Cho's character is a bit over the top? Cheers.
Keep reading and reviewing, 'cos I'll keep writing.
Fireboy.