Uh, Head Master Cromwell? I cant really get to the rpg…but I'll sure as hell try again! Thanks for your comments, Achilles4. Is Harry gonna be with Phoebe? *chuckles* nah. That'd all have come out (sort of) in chapters to come anyway. Um…Harry did get that letter, but no one can be sure of who it's from…
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters except Phoebe and Zebidia.
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No, it couldn't be watching him. It couldn't see him. And it was only a cat, why would it watch him?
"Hey, Ron!" Harry said quickly.
"Hm?" replied Ron.
"C'mere, look at this cat." Harry said quickly.
Ron strode over and looked down at where the cat was.
"It's a cat." Ron replied, "What about it?"
"It's watching me!" Harry told Ron. Seeing the look of disbelief on Ron's face, he added, "No really! It is!"
"Whatever you say, mate, whatever you say." Ron replied, shaking his head slightly and walking away.
"Oh my god!" Ron exclaimed suddenly, "Harry! You'll never believe this! God! Harry!"
"What?" asked Harry.
"Harry, you've got a tail! It's like a rat's tail!" Ron said, sounding faint. He ran to the door and yelled "Professor Dumbledore! Harry needs your help!"
"Mate, hold on." Harry said quickly, "I don't have a tail!"
"Just look!" Ron said.
Harry looked and sure enough, there was a long rats tail was sticking out of the back of his pants. Dumbledore rushed up, but he didn't seem surprised.
"Ah," Dumbledore said softly, "I expected this."
"What do you mean?" Harry panicked, "You expected me to have a tail?"
"No…" replied Dumbledore, still softly, "I told you a few years ago that when you saved Wormtail's life, he was bound to save your life sometime."
"Yes, but that has nothing to do with…" Harry began, but a look of dawning comprehension came to his face, "Oh…"
"You see, no matter how, he was bound to save your life sometime, in some way, shape or form," Dumbledore explained, "And I know it is unclear how transferring his power to change to a rat to you can possibly help, but it will come clear sometime. He is bound to you for life."
Harry sighed, "Well, how do I get rid of this tail? I mean, how do I even change into a rat?"
"Focus, Harry, and you will know." Dumbledore replied, smiling slightly. He walked over to the window and smiled even more, "And remember this: the cat chases the rat, never the other way around."
With a sharp crack, Dumbledore was gone.
"Ok…focus…" Harry said.
And he focused. And he focused. And finally, he felt himself shrinking and turning into a rat. Quickly, he turned back.
"Harry! That was awesome!" Ron exclaimed.
"Maybe, but I'm never doing it again." Harry replied, "I'm going to sleep."
With that, and wondering what Dumbledore meant by 'The cat chases the rat, never the other way around', Harry drifted to sleep.
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The next day, August 29, was a bit of a drag. None of the members of the Order were there, they were all out looking for Phoebe. Harry was depressed. He now had something in common with Peter Pettigrew, the man who had given details to Voldemort, details that had resulted in Harry's parents, Lilly and James Potter's deaths. Harry could never forgive him for that.
Yet, he could not help wondering; what had Dumbledore meant? Harry made up his mind. The next time he saw Dumbledore, he would ask. The next time was sooner than he thought.
"Professor?" Harry called as he saw the old, tall man walking down the stairs and in the direction of the petroom.
"Why, hello Harry!" Dumbledore smiled, turning around and stopping so that Harry could catch up.
"I've been meaning to ask you something," Harry told him, "What did you mean by 'the cat chases the rat, never the other way around'?"
Dumbledore smiled softly. "How silly of me!" he chuckled, "I said it wrong. What I was supposed to say was 'The cat chases the rat but the dog chases the cat'. A big difference, you know?"
Harry nodded, "But I still don't get it."
"Harry," Dumbledore said, placing a soft hand on the teenager's shoulder, "It will be clear to you soon enough. Now, I must be going. Take care and good day!"
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Harry still didn't understand. He sat on the window again, hoping to see that magnificent black cat again, but to no avail. He reminded himself that it had been night-time when he'd seen it before but a loud hooting noise made him jump.
He turned around and saw a small orange owl flying towards him. He hadn't seen it before but the orange reminded him of someone's hair…
The owl landed on the ground in front of him and began to stretch upwards. It was Ginny and she was beaming at Harry.
"Harry! It's wonderful, isn't it?" she said breathlessly.
"Wonderful?" Harry asked blankly.
"I'm able to change into an owl!" Ginny said, positively dancing with delight, "I've been working on it for awhile now, but that was the first time I've done it properly!"
"Congratulations." Harry smiled, trying to sound very happy for her.
"And I heard that your able to turn into a rat," the smile from Ginny's face suddenly faded, "Harry, I'm sorry." she said tentatively.
"Yes, well, just make sure you don't eat me when I'm a rat!" Harry grinned.
Ginny smiled again, "Don't worry, I wont!" Ginny suddenly lit up even more, "Harry, why don't we practise together?"
"Practise?" asked Harry weakly, "Ginny, I dont want to be able to change into a rat!"
"Oh…" Ginny said, sounding disappointed, "I understand…I just thought it'd be fun, you know?"
Harry sighed, "Fine then. I'll practise with you. Who knows? It could come in handy…sometime…"
Ginny grinned happily, "Thank you, Harry!" she said, hugging him.
Harry smiled back. Well, just because he wasn't happy didn't mean he had to make other people unhappy, too.
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After hours of 'practise' with Ginny, she'd finally had enough and let Harry go. One thing was for sure, though. He'd changed his mind about being able to turn into a rat. Even if it did mean that, since he was currently situated in a house full of cats, he'd probably be attacked a few times, he didn't mind. What was a small sacrifice like that?
He just hoped that Zebidia wasn't there, because a cat with wings would definitely have an advantage. Then he remembered what Phoebe had said…Zebidia wasn't even a cat…
Harry's thoughts drifted to Phoebe's whereabouts. Was she, as Moody had said, dead? Or was she simply in an animal shelter, fed up of being in the Order and fed up of Kingsley and her sister fighting all the time.
"Mum says to tell you dinner's ready," Ron said, walking into his and Harry's room, "Whats up?"
"Huh? Oh, nothing…" Harry replied, getting up and walking to the kitchen with his friend.
At dinner, Lupin seemed grave and was talking to Tonks.
"Nymphadora, you have to consider the possibility that…that a deatheater found her, that she's not out there." Lupin was saying softly.
Tonks shook her head, "No." she said flatly, "Phoebe's out there. She's alive, I know it. If she was dead…well, she's not!"
The rest of the meal went by in deadly silence, broken only by the door flinging open and Mundungus falling through it, wheezing.
He looked as if he'd been in some kind of fight; his nose was bleeding heavily, he had a black eye, there was a deep cut from his right eye to his mouth and he was limping. He immediately fell to the floor, still wheezing and panting.
"Mundungus!" Lupin gasped and ran to him, "What happened to you?"
Dung shook his head, although he was smiling, "Remus-It's ok, its fine."
"What happened?" Tonks asked, throwing herself down beside him with Kingsley hot on her heels, "Dung?"
Dung was grinning from ear to ear, his injuries dripping with blood.
"Your not drunk again, are you?" asked Mrs Weasly.
"No, Molly, I'm not." Dung replied, still grinning, "Malfoy got out of Azkaban."
"WHAT?!" yelped Kingsley, Lupin and every other person in the room.
"Is that what your happy about?" growled Lupin.
Dung shook his head, "No, no. I got into a fight with 'im!"
"And?" asked Kingsley anxiously.
"And 'e let 'is only weapon against me slip!" Dung laughed, "'E told me somethin' useful!"
"Which was?" asked Tonks.
"If we were upset cause someone had died, they'd have an advantage. But Malfoy let somethin' slip." Dung repeated.
"WHAT WAS IT?!" yelled everyone else.
"Phoebe's not dead. But-" Dung replied. Then he passed out.
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By the time Dung woke up again, he'd forgotten what the 'but' was, so he couldn't tell them. But Tonks didn't mind; her sister was alive.
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That night, when Harry and Ron went up to their room, Harry sat on the window once more. He was hoping to see that cat again, to see if it would watch him. To prove to Ron that he wasn't imagining things.
And sure enough, he saw two little almond shaped yellow lights shining out of the darkness. Harry looked into them and they looked into Harry's eyes. And the cat started to move, not taking its yellow eyes off Harry.
It got under a streetlight and Harry could see it properly for the first time. It was, as he had thought the night before, black. It did have white whiskers and yellow eyes. But the mark on its foreleg was still too far away for him to see.
"What you watching?" asked Ron curiously, walking over to the window and sitting on it beside Harry.
"A cat." Harry replied, still looking into its eyes and it continued to look into his, "See that mark on its leg? Can you make out what it is?"
And as if the cat heard them, it moved forwards, displaying the mark clearly for anyone to see.
It reminded Harry of something he'd seen before, though he couldn't place it in his head. He looked to Ron, who looked horrified.
Slowly, Ron began to speak.
"Harry-That's the Dark Mark!"
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Chapter 7 done. Please review!