Disclaimer: I own only the plot.  No copyright infringement is intended.

A/N: Keep up the reviews!  ^_^

Chapter 10: Trelawney's Prediction

Harry walked through the halls to his DADA lesson.  His classes had become more difficult compared to past years, but he had so far managed to keep up in his lessons.  His favorite class by far was his own DADA with Dumbledore.  They were learning more advanced dueling spells and he was enjoying the class thoroughly. 

Harry walked to the classroom to find that only a few of the Hufflepuff students had arrived.  Sunlight peaked through the windows and he could see Ginny at the front of the classroom, reading over some papers.  As he neared her she looked up and smiled.  "I'm so excited to see how they do today."

Harry smiled reassuringly, "Remember taking notes on how to deflect the Imperius is one thing, actually doing it is a whole other story."

"I know Harry."

Harry himself had been very excited about the upcoming lesson but not for the same reasons that had been the cause of Ginny's excitement.  Harry was excited because Nymphadora Tonks was helping them with the lesson.  They had told Dumbledore about wanting to actually give the students some practice with the Unforgivable Curses.  Dumbledore decided that he did not think that it was the best idea to allow students to practice the Unforgivable curses on their fellow students, teaching or otherwise.  So he had contacted the ministry to ask an Auror to come and aid in the lesson. 

Tonks had agreed right away.  Harry was so eager to talk to her and learn of the recent activities of the Order of the Phoenix. 

Slowly the whole class had crept in and sat down in their seats.  Harry could feel the excitement permeating throughout the class as they quietly whispered amongst themselves. 

Time crept by and it became obvious to Harry that Tonks would be late, so he decided to start, "Today we are having a guest teacher in the classroom.  She is a highly skilled Auror who will be demonstrating the Unforgivable Curses for us."

All heads turned toward the back when they heard the large doors creak open.  A young woman with shoulder length black hair appeared from behind the door.  She was wearing simple black Wizard robes and a large smile, the one thing that gave away her identity to Harry.  Harry remembered that Tonks was a Metamorphmagus, someone who had the power to change their appearance at will. 

Tonks quickly made her way up to the front of the room.  Harry noticed that as she passed, many of the boy's heads had turned, as she was more than quite attractive in her newest disguise. 

Tonks pulled Harry into a warm hug and whispered, "I figured I should look more professional."

She turned and nodded at Ginny, who smiled in reply. 

Finally she abruptly turned toward the class, almost as if she had temporarily forgotten her reason for being there.

"Hello everyone."

There were muttered replies scattered throughout the room.  Everyone looked too nervous to speak.

"My name is Nymphadora Tonks, but please call me Tonks.  I am an Auror.  Does anyone know what that is?"

Several students raised their hands and she pointed to a girl with light brown curly hair, "Isn't that a dark wizard catcher?"

"More or less," she replied with a smile.

"Something that we have to be very familiar with in my line of work is the Unforgivable Curses, as many dark wizards are not above using them.  I will be using the Imperius on each of you today, and I will demonstrate the Cruciatus."

She paused for several minutes before continuing, "I will not be demonstrating the killing curse, as I think we are all well aware of what that does."

Tonks turned around, "Where should I start?"

Harry looked at Ginny, who motioned with her arm for Harry to take the floor.

"Ok everyone," Harry said clearly, "I want the Hufflepuffs to line up first, followed by the Ravenclaws.  Tonks can you please move the tables to one side of the room."

Tonks got her wand out of her robe and muttered a spell.  Seconds later, the desks had been piled to the side, leaving an adequate opening in the center of the classroom.  Tonks stepped forward, "I don't want anyone to worry; the worst I will make you do will be prancing across the classroom."

The first Hufflepuff stepped forward, a small boy that Harry recognized as the boy Michael.  Tonks positioned herself in front of the trembling boy and raised her wand, "Imperio!"

Harry could see the boy immediately go stiff.  Tonks continued, "Jump up and down three times."

The small boy bent his legs and sprang several inches into the air.  The second time however, Harry could see his brow wrinkling, as if in deep concentration.  He bent his knees, but instead of jumping up he fell over to the side.

Tonks clapped loudly, "That was amazing! He did it!"

Ginny clapped also and lunged forward to help Michael off of the floor.  The students also cheered, and they appeared to relax slightly. 

Tonks had continued through the rest of the class.  Michael had ultimately been the exception, as most of the students had not been as successful.  No more students had been able to throw off the curse, but several students had come close. 

Harry and Ginny were excited nonetheless.  Tonks had replaced the desks in order to continue with her demonstration.  The students took their seats and waited silently.  Tonks moved behind the large oak desk and reached into her robes.  From them she pulled a small silver bag.  She opened the bag and placed its contents on the desktop.  Harry was immediately reminded of when the Moody-impersonator had demonstrated the Cruciatus Curse on a spider because that is exactly what Tonks had.  Harry wondered if it was some kind of protocol to use spiders, or if it was simply the insect that most people hated. 

The small black spider scurried along the desk.  Tonks raised her wand.  "Crucio!" she exclaimed. 

The small spider writhed and twitched.  There were several audible gasps from the class and the people in the front row had moved back slightly in their seats.  "Finite Incantatum," whispered Tonks while swishing her wand.  The small spider stopped twitching, but it did not appear to be in a state to wander around as it previously had.

                   ~~~***~~~***~~~

After the lesson ended everyone had exited except for Ginny, Harry, and Tonks.

Harry smiled at Tonks, "Thanks for doing this, I don't think reading about them is the same as witnessing them."

Tonks nodded, "I agree, it's just too bad that we have to see these things nowadays."

She gathered up her spider and placed it in the pouch that it had arrived in.  "Harry, I think you might want to talk with someone who came with me today."

Before Harry could respond, the doors opened and the familiar figure of Remus Lupin stepped forward.  "Hello Harry."

The sandy haired man was dressed in tattered gray robes.  He walked swiftly toward the front and pulled Harry into a large embrace.  "As soon as I heard that Tonks was coming here, I told her I had to come along."

He looked at Harry with worried eyes, "So how've you been?  I hope the year has been okay so far."

Harry nodded and motioned for everyone to sit in the chairs of the front desks.  He arranged them around one of the front tables so that each pair sat facing the other.

"Aberforth is here also, but he is up in Dumbledore's office discussing who knows what," Tonks said.

Harry looked directly at Lupin, "So has anything happened with the Order?  I mean since Hog's head burned down?"

Lupin shook his head, "Unfortunately we have no news right now… we think that the death eaters are planning another attack… I hope we are able to just figure out where and when."

"The other thing," Tonks said eagerly, "is that we don't understand their attacks thus far.  They doesn't appear to be a pattern and they have been small."

"But isn't that a good thing?"

Lupin shook his head, "If we can't make any connections than we have no way of knowing what they will do next?  I fear that the next move might be a big one… when we are least expecting it."

"The ministry is also not being very helpful" Tonks said.

Ginny propped her head on her arm, "I thought that Fudge said he acknowledged You-Know-Who's return?"

"Well," Tonks replied slowly, "He still doesn't place all of his confidence in the word of others."

Harry smiled to himself, "My words, you mean."
Lupin smirked as well, "Well yes… but Dumbledore also."

"Are you telling me," Ginny stated bluntly, "That the stupid git still does not believe what Harry and Dumbledore have been saying all of these years?  Not to mention the fact that he was at the Ministry last year… he saw what happened."

"It's not as simple as that."  Lupin slumped in his chair slightly, "Fudge wants it to appear like he has everything under control… so he is not really taking an active approach to the problems."

                   ~~~***~~~***~~~

Harry was sad to see Lupin go.  He was one of the last people that he could connect with.  Aside from the Weasleys and Sirius he was the closest thing to a family that he had known in his life.  Lupin had said that he would be sure to write and that if anything new had happened, pertaining to the order, that he would owl Harry with the update. 

The four of them had left the classroom and made their way toward Dumbledore's office.  The two men were talking outside.  Harry faintly heard Aberforth mention something about goats, but they quieted when they saw the others coming. 

"Well Albus," Lupin started, "I think that Tonks and I should be off, we have some business to attend to."

Dumbledore watched him carefully for a second.  A smile crept playfully from the side of his mouth, "Ah yes… business… Well thank you for coming to help us today… You know how important it is to me to make sure the students are given a proper education."

Tonks nodded, "Anytime, it was great to see you all again."

With that Tonks and Remus walked off down the hallway.  Dumbledore turned to Harry, "Please excuse us Harry, we have some things to discuss… Miss Weasley."  Dumbledore nodded his head slightly and motioned for Aberforth to enter the moving staircase to his office.

Only Ginny and Harry were left in the hallway.  He turned to her and noticed that she was absolutely beaming.  "Ginny, what is it?"

Ginny replied rather distantly, "Aren't they so great together?"

Harry's mind was filled with confusion.  "Ginny, what on earth are you talking about?"

Ginny turned toward Harry and appeared perfectly normal once again, "Tonks and Lupin, Harry… I wouldn't be surprised if they end up marrying one day."  She glanced down the hall once more before turning around and heading the opposite way to the common room.  Behind her, she left an extremely confused and surprised boy, watching two distant figures surreptitiously join hands, seemingly unaware that they were being witnessed. 

Harry wandered aimlessly around the castle, determined not to go back to the common room right away.  He found himself walking out toward the lake.  The sun was starting to go down and Harry watched as the bright colors reflected in the lake.  He could not believe that Tonks and Lupin were together.  Why hadn't they told him?  Although, he realized, that Ginny could have just guessed wrong.  He couldn't ignore the fact that he had seen them hold hands.  Despite appearing to be rather innocent, Harry knew that Lupin was not your touchy feely bloke.  He knew that they had something; his only option was to drag it out of Lupin. 

As he walked along the edge of the lake he could see a small shadow of a person sitting near the water's edge.  Curious, Harry strolled toward it.  Luna Lovegood was sitting in the grass with her eyes closed.  Alerted by Harry's footsteps, she opened her eyes. 

He looked questioningly at her, "Err… Luna – what are you doing exactly?"

She threw down what looked like a beaded necklace that she had been clutching in her hand, "I am doing an ancient ritual that I read about in my dad's magazine.  If you do it at sundown by a body of water, all of the living creatures inside the water will be drawn to you."

Harry looked at the lake, which was very still, it did not look as if any animals at all had been drawn to her.  Suddenly a thought came to Harry.  "Luna can I ask you a question?"

She nodded and motioned for him to sit.  Harry kneeled down on the moist grass, "Remember being at the Ministry last year?" 

"Of course," she replied.

"Well, you said something to me… about hearing voices… and how your mum is still with you.  Why did you say those things?"

Luna showed no change of emotion, "Because it is true."

Harry moved into a sitting position and stared out over the lake.  "You know about that veil don't you?"

She was quiet for several moments "I remember reading something about it… but not much."

"Where did you read about it?"

"In an old edition of the Quibbler," she replied.

Harry could feel the wheels start to turn as thousands of thoughts started racing through his head.  "Is there anyway you can get me that copy?"

She nodded and slowly rose to her feet, still staring into the lake.  "I'll owl my dad tomorrow."

"Luna," Harry stated seriously, "Can we keep this between us?  I don't want everyone worrying about me."

Luna turned her gaze from the lake and back to Harry.  Her eyes bore into his for several seconds before she nodded.  Luna turned and walked slowly back up to the school.  Harry sat thinking while he saw her disappear into the distance. 

He was determined to learn anything he could about the veil.  He knew that he could not tell Ron or Hermione, as they were well aware that the Quibbler was not exactly a reliable source.  He did remember that Aberforth told him that no one believed the portals still existed, so it made sense that the magazine might've done a piece on them.  Harry looked back out to the lake and silently wished that he would find out anything about the veil that had taken Sirius.  He was about to leave when he heard small splashing noises coming from the water.  He moved in closer to see that hundreds of small little creatures were perched on the water's edge, as if they had been called.  He looked back over the distance to where Luna had gone, his hope and faith being slightly restored.

~~~***~~~***~~~

By the time Harry made his way back the common room, darkness had fallen outside the castle.  He opened the portrait hole to find people talking excitedly, apparently in the midst of a party. 

Harry had forgotten that they were to announce the new Quidditch player that night.  As soon as his entrance became known, everyone became quiet.  Katie Bell, as well as members of the team came forward and led him to the couch.

"As you all know," Katie began, "We have a few announcements to make… the first is that because Angelina finished school last year we are without a captain.  As everyone is aware yesterday we held the vote…"

Harry remembered the vote, which had happened the previous night at the practice.  They each had to write their vote for captain on a piece of parchment.  Krum had explained that they would vote and then the captain would have to be passed by the Head of House.  As far as Harry could remember, that was all that Krum had said.  During the entire tryout he sat silently in the stands. 

The news of the new flying teacher had been with met mostly with excitement and awe.  A certain obdurate redhead excluded.

Most of the younger students had remembered him as the famous Quidditch player and as a participant in the Triwizard Tournament, held two years before.

Most of the first years had told others that during flying lessons he was very quiet but extremely helpful.  Harry was forced to listen as Hermione would go on and on about how nice Krum really was.  Harry was at least grateful that she waited until Ron was not around to start complimenting Krum. 

Harry had heard that he was staying in the staff wing.  He kept to himself, and he had to be getting food brought to his room because he never showed up to the meals.

Harry figured that this better for everyone, as seeing Krum only reminded him of Cedric, and that brought back guilt that he still carried. 

Harry was carried out of his thoughts as he felt people swatting him with their hands from all sides.  "Congratulations Harry!" shouted Hermione from somewhere.  "Alright mate!" Ron was seated next to Harry and had grabbed his hand, which he was shaking fervently.  Harry slowly comprehended the fact that he had been made captain.  It appeared that others had finally caught wind of his confusion, "I hope you are more focused during games Harry," laughed Ginny.  The crowd around Harry laughed as well.

Katie moved next to Harry, "Congratulations Harry… it was short of unanimous by only a single vote."

Harry clearly remembered that he had voted for Ron, knowing that strategy had always been his strong point.  It appeared that his best mate was genuinely happy for him.  Ron, surprisingly enough, did not show any signs of jealously, and for that Harry was grateful. 

The party lasted well into the night.  It concluded with Harry announcing Dean Thomas as the new chaser, as he had been rather good.  The excitement was brought to a halt, however, when Harry announced that their first practice would be held the following Saturday at eight in the morning.

As he heard his teammates groan, Harry mused at how he would make Oliver Wood proud.

                   ~~~***~~~***~~~

Saturday had quickly arrived.  Quidditch practice had run rather long.  Dean Thomas was so excited about being back in sports again that he had nearly fallen off of his broom twice. Ron was more relaxed than the previous year, apparently gaining a lot of confidence from the last Quidditch match of the year.  He was successful in catching most of the quaffles that had been hit to him.  When they had returned to the common room they found that Hermione had decided to wait for their return to go to breakfast.

As they entered the Great Hall all of the students were conversing excitedly.  They filed into three empty chairs that Neville had saved for them. 

Seamus leaned in toward them, "You just missed the news."

Ron spoke through a mouthful of eggs, "Wha' news?"

"Well… Professor Dumbledore came in and made an announcement… there is going to be a Halloween ball."

Harry looked at Ron, whose face had turned a definite shade of green.

Harry watched as Hermione, for once, pretended that she was reading a book.  He struggled to hold back the smile that was battling to come across his mouth.  "Ron… so, who will you ask?"

Ron's head whipped around to Harry.  Harry did not think that he had ever seen such a murderous look in his best friend's eyes.  "Erm," Ron swallowed hard, "Hermionedoyouwannagowithme?"

Hermione looked up, "What did you say?"

Ron took a deep breath and continued, "Do you want to go with me?"

"I would love to."

Harry watched as his friend's visibly relaxed and went back to what they had been doing.  If anything ever did happen with them officially, he did not think either one of them would have the energy. 

Ginny appeared behind Hermione and stared at the three of them, "Ron did you forget something?"

Ron looked baffled for a second before comprehension dawned on his face, "Oh yea… Harry we need to talk to you… now."

Harry followed his three friends out of the doors of the Great Hall and back to the common room.  It was virtually empty as most people were still in the Great Hall. 

"Wait here." Ron commanded before disappearing up to the boy's dormitories.  Harry sat in silence while Ginny and Hermione stared at him uncomfortably. 

Ron came lunging down the stairs several moments later with a piece of parchment rolled up in his hand. 

He sat down in the chair across from Harry, "We are best mates right?"
 Harry nodded.

"So you would never keep anything from us… right?"

Harry nodded reluctantly becoming increasing unnerved at the direction in which the conversation was going.

Ron unrolled the paper before continuing with a disbelieving look on his face, "That's interesting… does this sound familiar to you?"

                   "The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches… Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… And the dark lord will mark him as his equal but he will have power the dark lord knows not… and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live as the other survives.  The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord will be born as the seventh month dies."

Harry sat paralyzed the whole time Ron recited the words he knew too well.  Ron stopped but they sat in silence.  The three of them looked inquisitively at him.  He had not told them about the prophecy after Dumbledore had told it to him the year before.

"Ron… where did you hear that?"

"Well," Ron said, "I was told to stay after in Divination yesterday as a punishment, I said something that Trelawney did not like apparently.  Anyway, I was cleaning out teacups and the old bat went into some kind of trance.  For several minutes she repeated what I just read to you.  After the first time I decided to write it down, I thought it sounded an awful lot like this bloke I know.  When I got back to the common room Ginny and Hermione were here.  So I told them… We were waiting to tell you – but then it dawned on us that you might already know."

Harry could tell that they knew he had heard it before.  He figured it was no use in lying to them.  "I might've left something out after everything that happened at the Ministry last year."

Hermione looked slightly hurt, "That's an understatement."

Harry looked at the floor, trying to find the words to explain everything Dumbledore had told him.  "It's pretty simple actually… you see… either I die or Voldemort does… pretty black and white to me."  Harry got up from the couch and walked swiftly to the staircase.  He knew that they were just trying to help… but he did not feel like talking about his eminent death just yet.

                   ~~~***~~~***~~~

bee11:  I hope the teaching of the Unforgivable curses was clarified… I never intended for them to perform them for the class… thanks ^_^

HpFan: pretty much ^_-

Avid reader: thanks to my most loyal reviewer ^_^

Pointy-eared bow twanger: hope that was long enough

Thanks to everyone who reviewed chapters 8 and 9!  …, Alynna Lis Eachann, AmethystStar, DumbFlyingMonkey, elayne, ginnygal189, Howl, Jesse, jods-luvs-draco, LuCz, mell5, PhoenixPadfoot89, Preciousgirl, rachie-baby18, Raiining, SiriusWolf, Star06, tears4sirius08, vamperfly… Again Thanks and keep up the reviews… they act as an inducement to update! ^_-

Thanks to my beta… "Bootstrap" Jim for his fine beta work and title concoction ^.^