Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the plot.
The Second Darkness
Chapter 11: Fudge and The Goblin Council
Harry followed Lupin and Moody towards Dumbledore's office.
"What happens if we try to turn the Aurors and find out that only a few will turn despite what we expect." Lupin shrugged,
"We're in trouble. At a guess I reckon Dumbledore would try to convince Fudge that we were acting for the best, if Fudge refused to be consoled then we would probably end up fighting each other while Voldemort laughed his head of as two of his enemies destroyed each other." Harry nodded and said nothing else.
They reached the stone gargoyle guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office and Lupin gave the password, and they climbed the revolving staircase to the Headmaster's office. Fudge was inside talking to Dumbledore vigorously while Dumbledore listened politely. When he heard the door open Fudge turned round,
"Ah, yes - hello Harry." Fudge said distractedly before turning back to Dumbledore, "see here, Dumbledore, I cant risk all our Aurors, I'd be kicked out of office for even suggesting it!" Harry stared at Fudge disbelievingly, still angry with him for what happened last year Harry didn't particularly feel like being polite to him,
"Is that all you care about? Staying in office?" Fudge turned around incredulously, stunned by Harry's insolence.
"What?"
"I said, is staying in office all you care about?" Fudge turned back to Dumbledore,
"Is he meant to be in here?" Dumbledore nodded,
"Yes, he is. Now, I'm sure Harry would appreciate it if you answered his question." Said Dumbledore pleasantly. Fudge turned back to Harry, slowly regaining some of his composure.
"No of course not, it's just that as Minister of Magic I need the support of the Wizarding population." Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing,
"Do you know what Voldemort," Harry ignored Fudge's flinch, "is trying to do?"
"Of course! He's trying to become invincible and increase his power."
"Then how do you intend to gain the support of the Magical population if Voldemort is running around killing everyone completely invincible?" By a mutual unvoiced agreement Moody, Lupin and Dumbledore decided to let Harry take control.
"I don't intend to let him get that far."
"How are you going to stop him if you won't fight? Do you think people are going to vote for you if you do nothing and let Voldemort win? Or if you give us the Aurors and let us fight?"
"There has got to be another way!"
"There is no other way."
"Of course there is! There always is." Fudge argued.
"There isn't." Fudge's face grew angry,
"I have had enough of an impertinent sixteen year old who doesn't know what he is talking about talking to me like this!" Lupin stepped forward,
"For your information, Minister, Harry does know what he's talking about." Fudge turned on him angrily,
"Keep out of this!" Fudge turned to leave and walked towards the door, and for the first time in his life Harry decided to use his status as the Boy-Who-Lived. He stepped forward,
"Minister, who do you think the Aurors would rather follow, the Boy- Who-Lived and Albus Dumbledore or Cornelius Fudge?" Fudges eyes widened as he realised what Harry was suggesting. For a moment he looked uncertain, and then he sagged, all the fight gone out of him. He knew he was beaten. He waved a hand dismissively,
"Very well, you can have two and a half thousand Aurors. No more." And before any of them could reply Fudge had left the room. Dumbledore, Lupin and Moody all looked at Harry impressed.
"I doubt we could have done it that easily without you." Said Lupin. Harry smiled,
"It's all about knowing what to ask and knowing your opponents weaknesses. It was obvious that the only thing Fudge really cares about is staying in office. I just had to exploit that and I won." There was a few minutes silence as they savoured the relief that they wouldn't have to turn some of the Aurors into renegades.
"Lupin if you wouldn't mind leaving us for a few minutes I need to say a couple of things to Harry and Alastor." Lupin nodded, bowed and left the room. When Lupin had left Dumbledore turned to Harry and Moody.
"There is something I need you two to do. I have called a meeting with the Goblin leaders and their lieutenants later today. Seeing as you two will be leading part of the army each of you need to get three subordinates, your lieutenants. The Goblin Council will be later today, about five o'clock and tomorrow there will be a briefing." Harry and Moody bowed and left the room. Harry already knew who his lieutenants and he ran down to the lake where Ron, Hermione, Cho and Ginny would be.
Sure enough he got there and saw them sitting under a tree. When Ron saw him he nudged the others and leapt up to greet Harry.
"Twenty minutes! It's been forty-five minutes!" Harry grinned apologetically,
"Sorry, something came up."
"What?" Harry shook his head at him.
"I'll tell you later." Ron nodded,
"Ok but make sure you do."
"Trust me, I won't forget this." They walked over to the girls. Harry and Cho immediately walked away to have some time alone. Ginny saw Ron watching them go.
"Jealous?" she teased, Ron turned back to her.
"Jealous? Of what?" Ginny jerked her towards Harry and Cho.
"The fact that Harry's got a girlfriend and you haven't." Ron shook his head.
"Not particularly, no. Why?" Ginny grinned,
"Because you could have one if you wanted." Ginny looked pointedly at Hermione. Rn groaned and Hermione blushed.
"Don't you start. I don't need you teasing us as well as Harry." Ginny nodded her head,
"Ok. I won't tease you but don't forget, it isn't hard." The three of them sat talking for ten minutes. Ron glanced at his watch and realised that dinner was starting in a few minutes. He looked up at Harry and Cho and rolled his eyes. They were snogging and Harry's hand could be seen sliding up Cho's top. Ron stood up and started walking towards them.
"Ron!" Hermione hissed angrily at him when she saw what he was going to do, "Don't you dare!" Ron merely waved at her over his shoulder. Hermione turned to Ginny,
"Your brother is one of the most insensitive idiots ever to grace the earth." Ginny smirked at her.
"So that's why you like him so much is it?" Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Give it up, Gin, it's just getting annoying. Ok maybe we do fancy each other but just let us do what we want to do about it." Ginny nodded,
"Maybe we're getting somewhere, Harry." She mused to herself under her breath. She glanced up to watch Ron.
Ron grinned to himself as he approached the couple. Grabbing their collars he pulled them apart.
"Come on." He whined, "Dinner."
"Ron." Growled Harry angrily.
"Yeah whatever Harry, come on." Ron said dismissively, Cho laughed as she got to her feet and walked off to catch up with Ginny and Hermione.
"Well, isn't this a scandal. The great Harry Potter caught with his hand up a girl's top." Ron teased as soon as Cho was out of earshot.
"Shut it Ron."
"I can see the Daily Prophet headline now –"
"You know, I'm still waiting for the day I catch you with your hand up Hermione's top." Ron shut up immediately.
For some reason Ron ate dinner faster then he usually did, obviously eager to get somewhere. Harry, Hermione and Ginny ate theirs more slowly. After his third helping of steak and kidney pie, Harry decided to go back up to the Gryffindor common room with Hermione and Ginny.
He gave the password to the Fat Lady and entered the common room to see Ron sitting with his back to the Portrait Hole and all the sixth year boys and girls and a few fifth years sitting opposite him, listening intently. Harry heard what Ron was saying and moved to stand behind him. Ron didn't notice he was so wrapped up in the story he was telling.
"–And I walked over to them, yeah, and he had his hand right up her top, right up and –" at this point the eager faces turned to horror as they saw Harry standing there. Ron looked at them confused,
"What?" His face turned to horror as he saw the shadow that had descended over him, he turned around slowly. He glanced up at Harry nervously,
"Hello Harry! Good dinner?" his voice a nervous squeak.
"Any last words, Weasley?" Harry growled at him. Ron jumped up but had barely got two steps before Harry tackled him to the ground. Ron rolled on to his back to see Harry standing over him, blind fury in his eyes.
"Do you know why I don't mind doing stuff like that in front of you?" Ron shook his head slightly, "Because I trust you, because you're my best friend and I bloody trusted you to keep my secrets. Do you know what doing this means? It means I can't trust you." Harry's voice was low and furious but everyone could hear what he was saying. "How can you be my best friend if I can't trust you?" Harry turned and strode angrily away. Hermione glared at Ron.
"God, you are so dense! Light must bend around you!" She yelled at him before running out of the common room after. Ginny came and knelt by Ron,
"I don't know how in hell I got such an insensitive idiot for brother. Do you have any clue how bad this is?" She said angrily before following Hermione out of the common room. Ginny and Hermione caught up with Harry on the second floor.
Beneath the fury Hermione could easily see that he was hurting. They dragged him off to a deserted corridor,
"Listen Harry, forget about what Ron said, he's an insensitive prat."
"He's meant to be my best friend! How can he do that to me!" Hermione sighed,
"Harry, Ron doesn't think before he acts, he just does it." Harry shook his head,
"You don't get it Hermione, this isn't some petty thing that I'm annoyed at, it doesn't really bother me that Ron is going around telling everyone what me and Cho were doing." Hermione looked confused,
"Then what is bothering you?" Harry sighed and led Hermione to a window overlooking Hogwarts' grounds.
"Hermione, what's out there?" Hermione looked even more puzzled but offered an answer anyway,
"The grounds?" Harry shook his head,
"My point proven. In one respect you are just like Ron. You only see what is right in front of you; you only concentrate on what is right in front of you. You don't look beyond what you can see. I will tell you what is out there. War. Hatred. Death. Fear. The reason I am so annoyed at Ron is because I can't trust him to keep my secrets." Hermione's face took on a look of dawning comprehension.
"I get it now."
"In a few days something big is going to happen, something in which a lot of people are going to die." Hermione looked puzzled for a moment and then she remembered,
"The assault on Voldemort's castle."
"Yes."
"Hang on, what assault?" Ginny interrupted, Harry swore under his breath, he had forgotten Ginny was there. He turned to her.
"Ginny, just trust me, yeah? I will tell you at the DA meeting tonight." Ginny nodded and Harry turned back to Hermione.
"I need Ron, I need to trust him. In war you need to be able to rely on your friends. I need to rely on Ron, I need to be sure he won't betray me or double cross me and if he can betray my trust over such a little thing then how can I trust him in the important things? I need Ron, now more than ever, I have made a huge decision that requires me to trust him more than I have ever done before."
"What?"
"I'll tell you later. Listen; if you want me to trust Ron ever again you need to convince him to prove he can trust me. I'll be by the lake you have less then an hour." With that Harry turned and left.
"Till what?" yelled Hermione after his retreating figure, Harry said nothing, he merely kept on walking. Ginny turned to Hermione curiously,
"What do you think he meant by all that?" Hermione shook her head.
"I don't know but that doesn't matter now. Harry's serious, we've got to get Ron to regain Harry's trust." Ginny looked at her perplexed,
"How?" Hermione flashed a grin at her,
"Trust me, I have an idea." Ginny nodded her head and followed Hermione along Hogwarts' many corridors; a thousand plans flashing through her mind. Unfortunately each one would take too long. She cast a sidelong glance at Hermione, who had a satisfied smile on her face. Ginny shook her head slightly; she would just have to trust her friend.
To Ginny's dismay Hermione faltered outside of Gryffindor tower, evidently she was not so sure of her plan that she was one hundred percent sure that it would work. Hermione turned to Ginny, a reassuring smile on her face,
"Oh well, here goes nothing." Giving the password to the Fat Lady she stepped into the common room to find it completely empty apart from one sad figure sitting head down in front of the fire with his back to them. His red hair gave him away immediately. Hermione crossed to him tentatively.
"Ron?" Ron turned to her slowly,
"Oh, hey Hermione." He said heavily. Hermione turned around and flashed a nervous grin at Ginny.
"Ron, I reckon I have an idea of how to get you back in Harry's good books."
"How?" Hermione hesitated, she wasn't as confident as she had tried to look and now that she was about to do it she wasn't actually sure that it would work. In fact, she was sure it wouldn't. She took a deep breath,
"Apologise." Ginny snapped out of daydreaming and Ron looked up sharply,
"What?!" They said in unison. Hermione looked at them nervously.
"Well, if you just apologise then you show you can accept you have done wrong, you show that you're adult enough to accept responsibility for mistakes. Plus, what else can you do?" There was a slightly defiant edge to her tone when she said the last sentence, obviously she was still proud of her plan, whether it would work or not. Ron nodded and stood up slowly and heavily,
"Well, might as well try." Ron walked out of the Portrait Hole, Ginny held Hermione back until Ron was safely out of earshot.
"Hermione – that was your plan?!" Hermione nodded rather sheepishly, Ginny turned away,
"Oh God, we're screwed, we're really screwed," She turned back to Hermione, "It will never work!" Hermione brushed off the last comment with a wave of her hand,
"Have a little faith, Gin. It'll work." Hermione said, a lot more confidently then she felt, in truth she didn't thing it would work but she was not going to tell Ginny that.
"Hermione – It will never work! Oh God, we're screwed!" Ginny did not stop muttering that until they got down to the lake. Ron was hovering some distance away from Harry and Harry was ignoring him. Hermione and Ginny wandered over to Ron,
"Go on." Said Hermione, giving him a little push. Ron nodded, a slight greenish tinge to his cheeks. He walked determinedly over to Harry who looked up at him, Ron hesitated, Ginny turned away, she couldn't watch,
"We're screwed." She said with even more conviction. Ron took a deep breath,
"Harry." He said slowly, Harry turned and looked at him.
"Yes?" There was no hostility in his voice or gloating, it was politely incredulous.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I was completely out of order, I have no idea why I did that, maybe it was for attention, I don't know. I just wanted to say I'm sorry and I know I shouldn't have done it, you had done nothing to deserve that and it was wrong of me to go round telling everyone. I fully understand about you not trusting me. I just wanted you to know I'm sorry." Ron turned to leave when Harry smiled up at him,
"Don't worry, you're forgiven." Ron looked stunned then a huge grin appeared on his face.
"Serious?"
"Serious." Hermione stood and watched the two of them laughing and leaping at each other with a smile on her face almost as big as Ron's. Next to her Ginny had her back to the two and had her eyes closed muttering worriedly,
"We're screwed, we're really screwed."
"We're alright."
"No we're not! We're – what?
"We're alright." Ginny could have leapt for joy. Hermione saw Harry beckoning her over, all his playfulness gone,
"Gin, I have to go now, I'll see you later." Ginny nodded and began walking towards the castle. Hermione ran towards Harry and Ron.
"What?" she asked breathlessly,
"We need to go up to Dumbledore's office."
"Why?" Hermione asked him.
"I'll fill you in on the details on the way there so let's go." On the way to Dumbledore's office Harry told them everything they didn't already know. He paused opposite a portrait of a stately looking witch and wizard. He didn't really want to tell Hermione that he had been put in charge of a third of the army but he knew she would find out sooner or later. After a seconds pause he told her. Hermione grinned at him,
"Excellent, then at least we know we have a competent commander in charge." Harry stood still, stunned at her reaction.
"You don't think it's stupid?"
"No, why? Did you think I would've?" Harry considered this, he knew the answer of course, he just didn't want to hurt her feelings, eventually he decided to be blunt.
"Yes." Hermione laughed,
"I trust you Harry, I would rather have someone I know and trust leading me the someone I barely know." Harry was relieved to say the least. Having told them everything they continued down the corridor in silence. It was only when they reached the stone gargoyle that Harry remembered something.
"Listen, I need three second-in-commands, I have decided on you two and Lupin, ok?" Without waiting for their response he gave the password to the stone gargoyle and walked up the revolving staircase and into Dumbledore's office with Ron and Hermione following him.
Inside the office were the three Goblins, Dumbledore, Lupin, Moody, Tonks, Emmeline Vance and McGonagall. Harry walked over to Lupin and stood next to him with Ron and Hermione standing on his left. When the talking had died down Dumbledore stepped forward,
"I will not waste time with pleasantries when time is so short, we are here to decide on one thing, how many Goblin warriors will we need for the assault on Voldemort's fortress. You all know about the assault, it will take place in two days time. Ragnok and I will not take part in the discussions, we will preside."
Moody stepped forward and surveyed them all for a moment before speaking,
"I say we take no more than half. We do not want to risk all of the Goblins if it goes wrong." Harry suppressed a snort with difficulty.
"I would have thought it was obvious. We take all of them. The more warriors we have the less chance there is of something going wrong." A few voices spoke up in agreement. Moody shook his head,
"Don't be stupid, we can't risk all of them. There will always be a chance of something going wrong. If we lose all our Goblin warriors then we will be at a serious disadvantage."
"You're forgetting the point of this mission. To stop us being at a disadvantage, to give us an advantage. If we fail because we didn't have enough warriors to push through then we will regret it. We have one shot at this and you know it, Moody." Moody snorted scornfully,
"Don't be stupid, boy, there is always another chance." Harry glared at Moody, his temper was reaching boiling point, the room was silent and still, everyone looking at either Moody or Harry.
"Prejudiced against me because of my age now Moody? I'm not the one whose being stupid, I'm the one making the right decision." Moody stared at him incredulously, his surprised look slowly turned to anger,
"How dare you speak to me like that." Moody growled.
"Shut up Moody," Harry said scornfully, "We take all the Goblins. That's final." There was a sharp intake of breath at this, Moody's anger turned to fury,
"I will not have anyone talking to me like that, least of all a sixteen year old fool who doesn't have a clue what he's on about." Harry grinned nastily,
"Fudge tried that one earlier on and ended up giving me two and a half thousand Aurors after refusing to give me one." Harry taunted. Moody's patience seemed to snap and his wand rose. Ron and Hermione stepped in front of Harry without hesitation, their wands pointing at Moody. Lupin stepped forward,
"Enough!" Moody, Ron and Hermione lowered their wands. "Good, now, the easiest thing to do is to take a vote. All in favour of taking all the Goblins raise your hands." Harry looked around the room, everyone apart from Moody, Dumbledore and Ragnok raised their hands.
"Very well, all the Goblins it is, there will be a briefing tomorrow and we will depart the day after that." Said Dumbledore. Harry nodded and without a word left the room, Ron and Hermione following without a look back. Moody watched Harry's retreating back with great dislike. Lupin sighed and glanced at him.
"You won't win, he isn't an ordinary sixteen year old. For one thing the DA are extremely loyal to him, Ron and Hermione even more so. You pick a fight with Harry and you pick a fight with the DA." Moody's frown faded,
"I know. That's what unnerves me. I know I won't be able to win. He has a knack of making you see his point of view." Moody cast a sidelong glance at Lupin, "But if I remember correctly, so did James." Lupin nodded,
"So did Lily. We had no chance from the start." Laughing and savouring the memories, Lupin left the room.
A/N Ok, I hope you enjoyed that chapter. I am sorry it is late, On Monday I had to go to an RAF museum as I am in the RAF section of the CCF (Combined Cadet Force) and on Tuesday I didn't have time, then my laptop and floppy disk decided to mess up. Next chapter will be out shortly, next Tuesday hopefully.
If you would bear with me, I would like to take a minute of your time to explain a couple of things. Until now I have left you pretty much in the dark about why I sometimes miss update deadlines and why chapters take so long to come out.
First of all I want to make one thing clear: I will never stop writing this fic until it is done. Then I will write the next fic all of it. I dislike writers who write half a story and then leave it because they get bored of writing it. I will not do that. I enjoy writing it and will not stop until the trilogy is finished.
Second I would like to explain why updates take so long (at least in my eyes they take a long time) I am at a boarding school and do not have access to a computer all the time. During prep time, 7pm – 9pm (at boarding school homework is called prep) I do my prep and then I will write some of a chapter I'm currently doing on my laptop. That usually takes about a week. When a chapter is finished I save the chapter on a floppy disk and the next day I upload it using the computers in the IT room as I don't have access to the internet on my laptop, sometimes the IT room is closed or my floppy disk is playing up and I will not be able to upload so I will miss a deadline. If that happens then I am really sorry.
LogicalRaven – I am not getting Ginny together with anyone, you must have misread something in the A/N of the last chapter. You're right, that is just Ginny's way. If you don't like it then I will try and tone it down slightly, but that is how I would like her to act so I apologise. Anyway your comment, as always, was useful so thanks.
Anime-Master7 – Thanks for the review.
Sarah – Thanks for the review.
Pixielax06 – Thanks for the review.
The Enchantresses – I can't promise anything, but none of the really important characters will die. Thanks for the review.
Colm – Thanks for the review.
The Second Darkness
Chapter 11: Fudge and The Goblin Council
Harry followed Lupin and Moody towards Dumbledore's office.
"What happens if we try to turn the Aurors and find out that only a few will turn despite what we expect." Lupin shrugged,
"We're in trouble. At a guess I reckon Dumbledore would try to convince Fudge that we were acting for the best, if Fudge refused to be consoled then we would probably end up fighting each other while Voldemort laughed his head of as two of his enemies destroyed each other." Harry nodded and said nothing else.
They reached the stone gargoyle guarding the entrance to Dumbledore's office and Lupin gave the password, and they climbed the revolving staircase to the Headmaster's office. Fudge was inside talking to Dumbledore vigorously while Dumbledore listened politely. When he heard the door open Fudge turned round,
"Ah, yes - hello Harry." Fudge said distractedly before turning back to Dumbledore, "see here, Dumbledore, I cant risk all our Aurors, I'd be kicked out of office for even suggesting it!" Harry stared at Fudge disbelievingly, still angry with him for what happened last year Harry didn't particularly feel like being polite to him,
"Is that all you care about? Staying in office?" Fudge turned around incredulously, stunned by Harry's insolence.
"What?"
"I said, is staying in office all you care about?" Fudge turned back to Dumbledore,
"Is he meant to be in here?" Dumbledore nodded,
"Yes, he is. Now, I'm sure Harry would appreciate it if you answered his question." Said Dumbledore pleasantly. Fudge turned back to Harry, slowly regaining some of his composure.
"No of course not, it's just that as Minister of Magic I need the support of the Wizarding population." Harry couldn't believe what he was hearing,
"Do you know what Voldemort," Harry ignored Fudge's flinch, "is trying to do?"
"Of course! He's trying to become invincible and increase his power."
"Then how do you intend to gain the support of the Magical population if Voldemort is running around killing everyone completely invincible?" By a mutual unvoiced agreement Moody, Lupin and Dumbledore decided to let Harry take control.
"I don't intend to let him get that far."
"How are you going to stop him if you won't fight? Do you think people are going to vote for you if you do nothing and let Voldemort win? Or if you give us the Aurors and let us fight?"
"There has got to be another way!"
"There is no other way."
"Of course there is! There always is." Fudge argued.
"There isn't." Fudge's face grew angry,
"I have had enough of an impertinent sixteen year old who doesn't know what he is talking about talking to me like this!" Lupin stepped forward,
"For your information, Minister, Harry does know what he's talking about." Fudge turned on him angrily,
"Keep out of this!" Fudge turned to leave and walked towards the door, and for the first time in his life Harry decided to use his status as the Boy-Who-Lived. He stepped forward,
"Minister, who do you think the Aurors would rather follow, the Boy- Who-Lived and Albus Dumbledore or Cornelius Fudge?" Fudges eyes widened as he realised what Harry was suggesting. For a moment he looked uncertain, and then he sagged, all the fight gone out of him. He knew he was beaten. He waved a hand dismissively,
"Very well, you can have two and a half thousand Aurors. No more." And before any of them could reply Fudge had left the room. Dumbledore, Lupin and Moody all looked at Harry impressed.
"I doubt we could have done it that easily without you." Said Lupin. Harry smiled,
"It's all about knowing what to ask and knowing your opponents weaknesses. It was obvious that the only thing Fudge really cares about is staying in office. I just had to exploit that and I won." There was a few minutes silence as they savoured the relief that they wouldn't have to turn some of the Aurors into renegades.
"Lupin if you wouldn't mind leaving us for a few minutes I need to say a couple of things to Harry and Alastor." Lupin nodded, bowed and left the room. When Lupin had left Dumbledore turned to Harry and Moody.
"There is something I need you two to do. I have called a meeting with the Goblin leaders and their lieutenants later today. Seeing as you two will be leading part of the army each of you need to get three subordinates, your lieutenants. The Goblin Council will be later today, about five o'clock and tomorrow there will be a briefing." Harry and Moody bowed and left the room. Harry already knew who his lieutenants and he ran down to the lake where Ron, Hermione, Cho and Ginny would be.
Sure enough he got there and saw them sitting under a tree. When Ron saw him he nudged the others and leapt up to greet Harry.
"Twenty minutes! It's been forty-five minutes!" Harry grinned apologetically,
"Sorry, something came up."
"What?" Harry shook his head at him.
"I'll tell you later." Ron nodded,
"Ok but make sure you do."
"Trust me, I won't forget this." They walked over to the girls. Harry and Cho immediately walked away to have some time alone. Ginny saw Ron watching them go.
"Jealous?" she teased, Ron turned back to her.
"Jealous? Of what?" Ginny jerked her towards Harry and Cho.
"The fact that Harry's got a girlfriend and you haven't." Ron shook his head.
"Not particularly, no. Why?" Ginny grinned,
"Because you could have one if you wanted." Ginny looked pointedly at Hermione. Rn groaned and Hermione blushed.
"Don't you start. I don't need you teasing us as well as Harry." Ginny nodded her head,
"Ok. I won't tease you but don't forget, it isn't hard." The three of them sat talking for ten minutes. Ron glanced at his watch and realised that dinner was starting in a few minutes. He looked up at Harry and Cho and rolled his eyes. They were snogging and Harry's hand could be seen sliding up Cho's top. Ron stood up and started walking towards them.
"Ron!" Hermione hissed angrily at him when she saw what he was going to do, "Don't you dare!" Ron merely waved at her over his shoulder. Hermione turned to Ginny,
"Your brother is one of the most insensitive idiots ever to grace the earth." Ginny smirked at her.
"So that's why you like him so much is it?" Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Give it up, Gin, it's just getting annoying. Ok maybe we do fancy each other but just let us do what we want to do about it." Ginny nodded,
"Maybe we're getting somewhere, Harry." She mused to herself under her breath. She glanced up to watch Ron.
Ron grinned to himself as he approached the couple. Grabbing their collars he pulled them apart.
"Come on." He whined, "Dinner."
"Ron." Growled Harry angrily.
"Yeah whatever Harry, come on." Ron said dismissively, Cho laughed as she got to her feet and walked off to catch up with Ginny and Hermione.
"Well, isn't this a scandal. The great Harry Potter caught with his hand up a girl's top." Ron teased as soon as Cho was out of earshot.
"Shut it Ron."
"I can see the Daily Prophet headline now –"
"You know, I'm still waiting for the day I catch you with your hand up Hermione's top." Ron shut up immediately.
For some reason Ron ate dinner faster then he usually did, obviously eager to get somewhere. Harry, Hermione and Ginny ate theirs more slowly. After his third helping of steak and kidney pie, Harry decided to go back up to the Gryffindor common room with Hermione and Ginny.
He gave the password to the Fat Lady and entered the common room to see Ron sitting with his back to the Portrait Hole and all the sixth year boys and girls and a few fifth years sitting opposite him, listening intently. Harry heard what Ron was saying and moved to stand behind him. Ron didn't notice he was so wrapped up in the story he was telling.
"–And I walked over to them, yeah, and he had his hand right up her top, right up and –" at this point the eager faces turned to horror as they saw Harry standing there. Ron looked at them confused,
"What?" His face turned to horror as he saw the shadow that had descended over him, he turned around slowly. He glanced up at Harry nervously,
"Hello Harry! Good dinner?" his voice a nervous squeak.
"Any last words, Weasley?" Harry growled at him. Ron jumped up but had barely got two steps before Harry tackled him to the ground. Ron rolled on to his back to see Harry standing over him, blind fury in his eyes.
"Do you know why I don't mind doing stuff like that in front of you?" Ron shook his head slightly, "Because I trust you, because you're my best friend and I bloody trusted you to keep my secrets. Do you know what doing this means? It means I can't trust you." Harry's voice was low and furious but everyone could hear what he was saying. "How can you be my best friend if I can't trust you?" Harry turned and strode angrily away. Hermione glared at Ron.
"God, you are so dense! Light must bend around you!" She yelled at him before running out of the common room after. Ginny came and knelt by Ron,
"I don't know how in hell I got such an insensitive idiot for brother. Do you have any clue how bad this is?" She said angrily before following Hermione out of the common room. Ginny and Hermione caught up with Harry on the second floor.
Beneath the fury Hermione could easily see that he was hurting. They dragged him off to a deserted corridor,
"Listen Harry, forget about what Ron said, he's an insensitive prat."
"He's meant to be my best friend! How can he do that to me!" Hermione sighed,
"Harry, Ron doesn't think before he acts, he just does it." Harry shook his head,
"You don't get it Hermione, this isn't some petty thing that I'm annoyed at, it doesn't really bother me that Ron is going around telling everyone what me and Cho were doing." Hermione looked confused,
"Then what is bothering you?" Harry sighed and led Hermione to a window overlooking Hogwarts' grounds.
"Hermione, what's out there?" Hermione looked even more puzzled but offered an answer anyway,
"The grounds?" Harry shook his head,
"My point proven. In one respect you are just like Ron. You only see what is right in front of you; you only concentrate on what is right in front of you. You don't look beyond what you can see. I will tell you what is out there. War. Hatred. Death. Fear. The reason I am so annoyed at Ron is because I can't trust him to keep my secrets." Hermione's face took on a look of dawning comprehension.
"I get it now."
"In a few days something big is going to happen, something in which a lot of people are going to die." Hermione looked puzzled for a moment and then she remembered,
"The assault on Voldemort's castle."
"Yes."
"Hang on, what assault?" Ginny interrupted, Harry swore under his breath, he had forgotten Ginny was there. He turned to her.
"Ginny, just trust me, yeah? I will tell you at the DA meeting tonight." Ginny nodded and Harry turned back to Hermione.
"I need Ron, I need to trust him. In war you need to be able to rely on your friends. I need to rely on Ron, I need to be sure he won't betray me or double cross me and if he can betray my trust over such a little thing then how can I trust him in the important things? I need Ron, now more than ever, I have made a huge decision that requires me to trust him more than I have ever done before."
"What?"
"I'll tell you later. Listen; if you want me to trust Ron ever again you need to convince him to prove he can trust me. I'll be by the lake you have less then an hour." With that Harry turned and left.
"Till what?" yelled Hermione after his retreating figure, Harry said nothing, he merely kept on walking. Ginny turned to Hermione curiously,
"What do you think he meant by all that?" Hermione shook her head.
"I don't know but that doesn't matter now. Harry's serious, we've got to get Ron to regain Harry's trust." Ginny looked at her perplexed,
"How?" Hermione flashed a grin at her,
"Trust me, I have an idea." Ginny nodded her head and followed Hermione along Hogwarts' many corridors; a thousand plans flashing through her mind. Unfortunately each one would take too long. She cast a sidelong glance at Hermione, who had a satisfied smile on her face. Ginny shook her head slightly; she would just have to trust her friend.
To Ginny's dismay Hermione faltered outside of Gryffindor tower, evidently she was not so sure of her plan that she was one hundred percent sure that it would work. Hermione turned to Ginny, a reassuring smile on her face,
"Oh well, here goes nothing." Giving the password to the Fat Lady she stepped into the common room to find it completely empty apart from one sad figure sitting head down in front of the fire with his back to them. His red hair gave him away immediately. Hermione crossed to him tentatively.
"Ron?" Ron turned to her slowly,
"Oh, hey Hermione." He said heavily. Hermione turned around and flashed a nervous grin at Ginny.
"Ron, I reckon I have an idea of how to get you back in Harry's good books."
"How?" Hermione hesitated, she wasn't as confident as she had tried to look and now that she was about to do it she wasn't actually sure that it would work. In fact, she was sure it wouldn't. She took a deep breath,
"Apologise." Ginny snapped out of daydreaming and Ron looked up sharply,
"What?!" They said in unison. Hermione looked at them nervously.
"Well, if you just apologise then you show you can accept you have done wrong, you show that you're adult enough to accept responsibility for mistakes. Plus, what else can you do?" There was a slightly defiant edge to her tone when she said the last sentence, obviously she was still proud of her plan, whether it would work or not. Ron nodded and stood up slowly and heavily,
"Well, might as well try." Ron walked out of the Portrait Hole, Ginny held Hermione back until Ron was safely out of earshot.
"Hermione – that was your plan?!" Hermione nodded rather sheepishly, Ginny turned away,
"Oh God, we're screwed, we're really screwed," She turned back to Hermione, "It will never work!" Hermione brushed off the last comment with a wave of her hand,
"Have a little faith, Gin. It'll work." Hermione said, a lot more confidently then she felt, in truth she didn't thing it would work but she was not going to tell Ginny that.
"Hermione – It will never work! Oh God, we're screwed!" Ginny did not stop muttering that until they got down to the lake. Ron was hovering some distance away from Harry and Harry was ignoring him. Hermione and Ginny wandered over to Ron,
"Go on." Said Hermione, giving him a little push. Ron nodded, a slight greenish tinge to his cheeks. He walked determinedly over to Harry who looked up at him, Ron hesitated, Ginny turned away, she couldn't watch,
"We're screwed." She said with even more conviction. Ron took a deep breath,
"Harry." He said slowly, Harry turned and looked at him.
"Yes?" There was no hostility in his voice or gloating, it was politely incredulous.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I was completely out of order, I have no idea why I did that, maybe it was for attention, I don't know. I just wanted to say I'm sorry and I know I shouldn't have done it, you had done nothing to deserve that and it was wrong of me to go round telling everyone. I fully understand about you not trusting me. I just wanted you to know I'm sorry." Ron turned to leave when Harry smiled up at him,
"Don't worry, you're forgiven." Ron looked stunned then a huge grin appeared on his face.
"Serious?"
"Serious." Hermione stood and watched the two of them laughing and leaping at each other with a smile on her face almost as big as Ron's. Next to her Ginny had her back to the two and had her eyes closed muttering worriedly,
"We're screwed, we're really screwed."
"We're alright."
"No we're not! We're – what?
"We're alright." Ginny could have leapt for joy. Hermione saw Harry beckoning her over, all his playfulness gone,
"Gin, I have to go now, I'll see you later." Ginny nodded and began walking towards the castle. Hermione ran towards Harry and Ron.
"What?" she asked breathlessly,
"We need to go up to Dumbledore's office."
"Why?" Hermione asked him.
"I'll fill you in on the details on the way there so let's go." On the way to Dumbledore's office Harry told them everything they didn't already know. He paused opposite a portrait of a stately looking witch and wizard. He didn't really want to tell Hermione that he had been put in charge of a third of the army but he knew she would find out sooner or later. After a seconds pause he told her. Hermione grinned at him,
"Excellent, then at least we know we have a competent commander in charge." Harry stood still, stunned at her reaction.
"You don't think it's stupid?"
"No, why? Did you think I would've?" Harry considered this, he knew the answer of course, he just didn't want to hurt her feelings, eventually he decided to be blunt.
"Yes." Hermione laughed,
"I trust you Harry, I would rather have someone I know and trust leading me the someone I barely know." Harry was relieved to say the least. Having told them everything they continued down the corridor in silence. It was only when they reached the stone gargoyle that Harry remembered something.
"Listen, I need three second-in-commands, I have decided on you two and Lupin, ok?" Without waiting for their response he gave the password to the stone gargoyle and walked up the revolving staircase and into Dumbledore's office with Ron and Hermione following him.
Inside the office were the three Goblins, Dumbledore, Lupin, Moody, Tonks, Emmeline Vance and McGonagall. Harry walked over to Lupin and stood next to him with Ron and Hermione standing on his left. When the talking had died down Dumbledore stepped forward,
"I will not waste time with pleasantries when time is so short, we are here to decide on one thing, how many Goblin warriors will we need for the assault on Voldemort's fortress. You all know about the assault, it will take place in two days time. Ragnok and I will not take part in the discussions, we will preside."
Moody stepped forward and surveyed them all for a moment before speaking,
"I say we take no more than half. We do not want to risk all of the Goblins if it goes wrong." Harry suppressed a snort with difficulty.
"I would have thought it was obvious. We take all of them. The more warriors we have the less chance there is of something going wrong." A few voices spoke up in agreement. Moody shook his head,
"Don't be stupid, we can't risk all of them. There will always be a chance of something going wrong. If we lose all our Goblin warriors then we will be at a serious disadvantage."
"You're forgetting the point of this mission. To stop us being at a disadvantage, to give us an advantage. If we fail because we didn't have enough warriors to push through then we will regret it. We have one shot at this and you know it, Moody." Moody snorted scornfully,
"Don't be stupid, boy, there is always another chance." Harry glared at Moody, his temper was reaching boiling point, the room was silent and still, everyone looking at either Moody or Harry.
"Prejudiced against me because of my age now Moody? I'm not the one whose being stupid, I'm the one making the right decision." Moody stared at him incredulously, his surprised look slowly turned to anger,
"How dare you speak to me like that." Moody growled.
"Shut up Moody," Harry said scornfully, "We take all the Goblins. That's final." There was a sharp intake of breath at this, Moody's anger turned to fury,
"I will not have anyone talking to me like that, least of all a sixteen year old fool who doesn't have a clue what he's on about." Harry grinned nastily,
"Fudge tried that one earlier on and ended up giving me two and a half thousand Aurors after refusing to give me one." Harry taunted. Moody's patience seemed to snap and his wand rose. Ron and Hermione stepped in front of Harry without hesitation, their wands pointing at Moody. Lupin stepped forward,
"Enough!" Moody, Ron and Hermione lowered their wands. "Good, now, the easiest thing to do is to take a vote. All in favour of taking all the Goblins raise your hands." Harry looked around the room, everyone apart from Moody, Dumbledore and Ragnok raised their hands.
"Very well, all the Goblins it is, there will be a briefing tomorrow and we will depart the day after that." Said Dumbledore. Harry nodded and without a word left the room, Ron and Hermione following without a look back. Moody watched Harry's retreating back with great dislike. Lupin sighed and glanced at him.
"You won't win, he isn't an ordinary sixteen year old. For one thing the DA are extremely loyal to him, Ron and Hermione even more so. You pick a fight with Harry and you pick a fight with the DA." Moody's frown faded,
"I know. That's what unnerves me. I know I won't be able to win. He has a knack of making you see his point of view." Moody cast a sidelong glance at Lupin, "But if I remember correctly, so did James." Lupin nodded,
"So did Lily. We had no chance from the start." Laughing and savouring the memories, Lupin left the room.
A/N Ok, I hope you enjoyed that chapter. I am sorry it is late, On Monday I had to go to an RAF museum as I am in the RAF section of the CCF (Combined Cadet Force) and on Tuesday I didn't have time, then my laptop and floppy disk decided to mess up. Next chapter will be out shortly, next Tuesday hopefully.
If you would bear with me, I would like to take a minute of your time to explain a couple of things. Until now I have left you pretty much in the dark about why I sometimes miss update deadlines and why chapters take so long to come out.
First of all I want to make one thing clear: I will never stop writing this fic until it is done. Then I will write the next fic all of it. I dislike writers who write half a story and then leave it because they get bored of writing it. I will not do that. I enjoy writing it and will not stop until the trilogy is finished.
Second I would like to explain why updates take so long (at least in my eyes they take a long time) I am at a boarding school and do not have access to a computer all the time. During prep time, 7pm – 9pm (at boarding school homework is called prep) I do my prep and then I will write some of a chapter I'm currently doing on my laptop. That usually takes about a week. When a chapter is finished I save the chapter on a floppy disk and the next day I upload it using the computers in the IT room as I don't have access to the internet on my laptop, sometimes the IT room is closed or my floppy disk is playing up and I will not be able to upload so I will miss a deadline. If that happens then I am really sorry.
LogicalRaven – I am not getting Ginny together with anyone, you must have misread something in the A/N of the last chapter. You're right, that is just Ginny's way. If you don't like it then I will try and tone it down slightly, but that is how I would like her to act so I apologise. Anyway your comment, as always, was useful so thanks.
Anime-Master7 – Thanks for the review.
Sarah – Thanks for the review.
Pixielax06 – Thanks for the review.
The Enchantresses – I can't promise anything, but none of the really important characters will die. Thanks for the review.
Colm – Thanks for the review.