A few words to the reviewers down below...
Chapter 11
Preparations
- - - - -
"I give up," she muttered, prodding the raccoon with her wand.
"You're doing it wrong," one of the Hufflepuff girl's she sat next to was saying, using her own hand to demonstrate the wrist movement. "You need more of a flicker... not so much flourish."
"Sure," Dawn replied, picking up her wand and trying it again. But it was no use. Dawn had never so much transfigured a button before she'd come into this class, and it was the gravest of luck she was scraping by with an Acceptable as it was.
The girl gave her an encouraging smile as Professor McGonagall swept up to their table and asked either one of them to transfigure. The girl next to her did it quickly and the Professor turned away, using her own wand to magic-write the assignment on the board.
To no one's surprise, they were all given the assignment to practice for the newest transfiguration. "Now where are we supposed to find a stupid raccoon to practice on?" Dawn grumbled as she shoved her 'Advanced Transfiguration' text in her bag.
A few tables ahead of her, Hermione Granger had just pulled her overflowing bag on her shoulder and grabbed the other stack of textbooks on the table as she, Harry, and Ron filtered out. "She wants you to restart the defense group?" she asked in a slightly breathless voice as the group moved down toward dinner.
"Strange, isn't it?" Ron asked as they marched down one set of stairs in a big, compressed group. "First, Fudge wants to arrest Dumbledore. And now Dumbledore has McGonagall ask you to reform the group?"
"I thought it was strange too," Harry said quietly, so that the crowd pressing in around them couldn't hear, "until I went to Professor Summers."
"What did she have to say?" Hermione asked, hitching her bag from one shoulder to the other.
"At first she just looked at me," Harry replied. "And then she started to explain why we should learn to defend ourselves. Apparently," he continued, leaning closer, "Hogwarts may be a target."
Hermione cupped a hand to her mouth, her eyes wide in horror. "I thought the Ministry would be a target, for sure!"
"That's not what Professor Summers said," Harry sighed as they entered the Great Hall. "She said that Hogwarts is vulnerable, with just Dumbledore strong enough to protect the school. The Ministry has its own army. But here, the Order is miles away and would be impossible to summon."
The Great Hall was always fun to look at when it was close to Halloween, for there were now pumpkins carved in the corners, and long black cloths decorated the long tables elaborately, and the pumpkin juice in particular tasted better.
Ron was still looking thoughtful. "So we just ask everyone who was back in it last year?"
"That's the thing," Harry replied, spooning some boiled potatoes on his plate. "She wants the group opened to everyone, even the Slytherins."
Hermione snorted into her ham. "I can hardly believe Malfoy or any of his thugs joining our group. We spent months on it."
"Clearly," Ron said, his eyes narrowing as Draco and the rest of the Slytherin sixth years, stalked by on the way to their table. He didn't notice Hermione staring at him intently.
"So we'll just tell everyone," Harry finally said, "at the very least, anyone who was in our group last year."
Ron nodded and jumped to his feet. "I'll go to Ravenclaw and tell Cho, if you don't mind, Harry."
Harry shook his head and returned to his meal while Hermione scooted closer. "Why is Ron acting so strangely?"
"It's those Ravenclaw girls... they won't stop staring at him," Hermione seethed.
"And you're calling me an idiot?" Harry asked lightly as he selected an apple from a large basket in front of him.
"We're both idiots," Hermione said, and for the first time in a long while, Harry detected a note of wistfulness in her voice. Suddenly, her eyes came into focus. "Harry," she hissed. "Look at Snape!"
Harry followed Hermione's gaze up to the Staff table. Professor Snape was at his usual seat on the end, but for the first time in a long while, he wasn't scowling or glaring out to the students. He seemed to be having a comfortable conversation with Professor Summers. And, to his greater surprise, she wasn't frowning or sneering, but smiling. Snape, too, had a more pleasant look on his face, and was even gesturing when speaking. It was then that Harry noticed how Snape looked when he wore his hair pulled back slightly, exposing that eerie face a bit more, but he looked relaxed nonetheless.
"What is that all about?" Harry mused.
"I have no idea," Hermione said stiffly, returning to her plate. Behind them, the Ravenclaw table erupted into the sounds of very feminine giggles.
He glanced around the grounds, which were tinged in shadow, since the sun had dipped below the mountains in the distance. It was then he spotted a figure sitting near the lake. As he moved closer, he saw it was Tara, the woman from Grimmauld Place. He tried to move away without her seeing him, since she looked like she wanted to be alone, yet she turned, and smiled. "I don't bite, you know."
Harry crept closer before falling onto the grass beside her. "Nice evening."
"Just like I remembered," Tara said softly, wrapping her arms around her robe-clad knees and resting her chin on them. "Isn't it funny how life gets so complicated at the one place you can call home?"
Harry couldn't agree with her more. He felt comfortable around Tara, so he didn't mind talking to her about things he couldn't say to Ron or Hermione. So he told her everything, about the prophecy, about solitary life back in Little Whinging, and about Sirius. He noticed that Tara smiled sadly when he spoke of Sirius, yet she waited until he was done venting before cutting in.
"He was a good man, Harry," Tara said, tilting her head to the side pensively, "he knew what he was doing. He was never one to stay behind."
"He was someone I could look up to, like a father," Harry said bitterly. "I never realized before how much I missed him."
"We love those we lost the most," Tara said, and there was a definite hint of sadness. "I'm sure you know by now that Willow and I are here to assist Professor Summers in her transition here."
"Why?" Harry asked, astonished. "She seems to be doing fine on her own."
"I'm going to tell you something, Harry," Tara said, her gaze drifting out over the lake before she turned and looked into his eyes. "But I want it to stay between the two of us, for now. Professor Summers is a muggle. She was given a great gift about ten years ago that enables her to fight the forces of darkness. So, when you tell that Hogwarts is vulnerable, it isn't. Not with her here."
"So there is a reason she came here," Harry said, his eyes dropping. "I was wondering. Things seem a bit different with her around."
"You shouldn't underestimate her," Tara shrugged. "I watched her die and now look at her, alive and teaching."
"How did she come back to life?" Harry asked slowly.
"I think I've said too much," replied Tara, backtracking.
"All right then, I have one more," Harry said. "Who is Willow?"
"Willow is someone I love," Tara said, once again struggling with her words. "She is someone that got me through a very dark time after my mother was killed and I came to the states. She's also a witch, the most powerful one from the states."
"So, we do have a battle front here, if it should come to that," Harry said, trying to put things together in his mind.
Tara nodded, beaming. "Not only do you have Professor Dumbledore and the rest of the faculty and your defense group, but you also have Professor Summers, Willow and I. And if it comes down to it, Professor Summers has her own army."
"She does?"
"Forget about it, Harry," Tara said lightly as she rose to her feet. "I'm starving," she continued, looking around the grounds, which had gone from dusk to nearly pitch-black. "Let's go inside. I'm sure you have a lot of homework to do."
They glanced at each other, both looking thoughtful. "It makes sense, though," Hermione finally said. "Remember all of those girls in the navy robes at Diagon Alley? They must know her, maybe they are part of that army."
"Maybe," Ron said, looking skeptical. "Then again... maybe she has a vampire army."
"She kills them," Harry said. "But I can't believe she's a muggle. She doesn't look like one and she certainly fights like one of us."
"It's good she's around then, you're telling us," Hermione said slowly. "But that doesn't tell us why both you and Neville managed to get into advanced Potions."
"I still can't believe Neville beat me to get into advanced Potions," Ron said, a dark look crossing his face.
But something had suddenly clicked in Harry's head. He took a deep breath and he could tell that the look on his face had changed, because Ron and Hermione stopped talking and looked at him. "Harry?"
"I have to tell you guys something," he said softly. "I think it's the only reason that Neville and I could have gotten into advanced Potions. It concerns that prophecy, the one that smashed, only it didn't..."
They both turned to him, giving him their full attention.
"Professor Trelawney isn't any fraud, she's made two predictions. One was the day that we found out about Sirius. The other was before I was born. Although the sphere was smashed, someone else witnessed the prophecy. Professor Dumbledore. And last June, after Sirius died... he told me. He showed me.
"The prophecy said that the one to vanquish the Dark Lord would be born when the seventh month dies. He would be marked as his equal, and then only one would be able to live when the other one dies. Meaning whoever the prophecy was made for would either have to kill or be killed to end Lord Voldemort.
"The person would be one who's family has defied him three times. There were two boys born in July who do fit. One was me. The other was Neville Longbottom. But when Voldemort came and murdered my parents, the prophecy was renamed in my name, because there was no doubt anymore that Voldemort had marked the half-muggle, like himself. And now..." his voice trailed off as he noticed Ron's and Hermione's faces. Ron looked mortified, beyond words. And Hermione sat next to him, tears sparkling in her eyelashes.
"Oh, Harry," Hermione said softly, wiping her tears on the sleeve of her robe. "Why didn't you ever tell us?"
"Because this is the reason Voldemort wanted in that night at the Ministry. He only heard half of the story. He didn't know that he'd be marking his equal, he thought he'd be killing him, the night my parents died.
"Sirius died in vain because of me. He died because I was about to throw my life away, and then Voldemort would never be destroyed!"
"Are you telling us," Ron said, very slowly as though he were still trying to comprehend it all, "that the only way V-Voldemort will die is if you kill him?"
"Yes," Harry said and they both sighed, realizing the seriousness of the situation. "It will either be him. Or me."
Chapter 12 -- Halloween and an ambush.
To the reviewers: thank you so much for reviewing this! This is the first time I have ever written a crossover. Although it looks like I've lost some readers, it doesn't mean it'll affect the quality of this fic, because I put a lot of time and effort into it the last few weeks of my winter break.
It should be between 25 to 30 chapters in the end.