Disclaimer: I don't own anything… all characters belong to JK Rowlings… I own the plot though… hahaha ::one step closer to owning the universe:: ^_^
Authors/Note: This chapter is a little shorter than normal… but life has been hectic lately; expect a return to normal length next chapter. I will try to answer questions at the end… Thanks for all the reviews… they keep me updating ::cough *blackmail* cough::
Chapter 11: Unforeseen Occurrences
The air around Hogwarts became exceptionally cooler as the autumn season fully set in. Most students tended to stay inside the castle where the temperature was warmer. A boy with jet black hair sat alone under a leafless tree.
Ever since the confrontation with his friends, Harry had spent a large amount of time by himself. He was not particularly angry with anyone, but he was again reminded of the burden that had predestined his life. Ron and Hermione had been respectfully avoiding him as well. They were perfectly congenial, but also seemed afraid of saying something wrong, something they had rarely done since he had met them. This only resulted in Harry being even more disheartened.
Ginny was treating Harry normally, and she didn't ask any more questions since the confrontation. He hardly saw her. The only time they spent together was in their DADA class. She hung around with Dean most of the time. Harry noted that he should again ask her if she was interested in Dean.
As Harry watched the smoke rise out of Hagrid's cabin, he heard loud footsteps behind him. He turned around to see Snape trudging up toward him.
"Daydreaming outside of class too Potter?" Snape spat.
Harry, not caring that he was addressing a teacher, mumbled, "None of your business."
"Yes well, Professor Dumbledore thinks it is his… which is why he wants you in his office now.
As Snape turned and walked away, Harry couldn't help but smile. It appeared that Snape had been demoted to messenger boy.
Harry entered the castle and made his way to the familiar gargoyle statue that was outside Dumbledore's office. After getting off of the moving staircase, he paused before knocking on the large door. The door opened and Harry walked in. He took in the office once again. He remembered all of the portraits on the walls. He was at once reminded of Meracordia Castle.
Dumbledore sat at his desk.
He looked up as Harry moved closer, "Ah Harry… do sit down."
Harry sat down in a large red chair in front of Dumbledore's desk.
"Harry… there are a few things I wish to discuss with you."
Harry nodded his head in understanding and Dumbledore continued, "I have had to ask Sybil Trelawney to take an extended vacation."
Harry opened his mouth to explain what happened with Ron to Dumbledore, but he held out his hand to quiet him.
"Something that unnerves me greatly has been happening. It appears that she has repeated the prophecy that you heard last spring. She has said it on at least three more occasions that I know of…"
Harry watched as Dumbledore rubbed his chin, "I don't understand this–prophecies are rarely repeated in their exact entirety. She has only started doing this within the last month or so."
Harry final interrupted, "Professor Dumbledore, I already knew this… Ron told me that she went into a trance one day and recited the prophecy."
"This" said Dumbledore, "is something that must stop. Like I told you before, Voldemort cannot know the entire prophecy."
"Did anyone hear her?"
Dumbledore nodded his head, "Luckily it was only Professor McGonagall, but we cannot risk anyone else finding out. So I have asked her to leave for a while… which she reluctantly agreed to. I must ask Harry that you try as hard as you can to prevent anyone else from finding out about the prophecy… that would put you in great peril."
"But," Harry asked, "Why is Professor Trelawney repeating the prophecy? I mean you said yourself that it rarely happens."
Dumbledore paused, "My only guess is that Voldemort is using his power to the fullest… but I also know that when it has pertained to you in the past Harry, nothing happens the way it usually does. All we can do is hope that Voldemort does not find out about what she has been saying. She of course, has no recollection of reciting the prophecy so she was slightly confused as to why I suggested that she leave."
"Excuse me for asking, but how did you convince her to leave?" Harry couldn't help but ask.
"You will find Harry that sometimes you have to use different ways to deal with different people. In this case I determined flattery to be the best way of going about things. I simply informed Professor Trelawney that she needed to give Firenze a chance to get settled in here and that her presence was an impeding force on him."
Dumbledore chuckled quietly and Harry nodded.
He liked the way that Dumbledore was able to get people to do things that he wanted them to do and still make it seem like they were the ones who were in the right. Harry knew that Trelawney probably thought that Firenze was intimidated by the fact that she was a 'real' seer. Harry knew for a fact that Firenze had found her presence impeding because she was filling all of the students' heads with nonsense. He had overheard Firenze telling Hagrid the exact thing.
~~~***~~~***~~~
Harry went back up to the common room late, like he had for the last few nights. He walked in to find Ginny and Ron involved in a very serious game of Wizard's chess. Hermione appeared to be very confused as to whom she should be cheering for. Harry sunk into his favorite chair while they finished their intense match.
At last Ron defeated Ginny. Ron cleared up the game, "So Harry, who are you going to the dance with?"
Harry shrugged his shoulders, "I dunno."
"Well," Ron's eyes glinted mischievously "you should just go with Ginny."
Harry looked up at Ginny who became uncharacteristically still, "Er… I already have a date."
"This seems vaguely familiar, please don't tell me the lucky mate is Neville again" Ron snickered.
Ginny's face lost all color, "Actually yes."
Ron looked absolutely dumbfounded. Harry watched as Ginny slowly recovered and turned toward him. She was about to say something when Ron interrupted, "Wait… I thought he liked Loony Lovegood."
Hermione punched him lightly on the arm.
"Actually" Ginny glared at her brother "I was about to explain before you rudely interrupted."
Ron sat back and Ginny turned back to Harry, "I have been meaning to ask you for a favor. I know that Neville likes Luna but he is too afraid to ask her to the dance. So I agreed to go with him – But I have a plan if you are interested."
Harry was slightly nervous as he realized what she was about to ask.
"Harry, can you ask Luna to the dance?"
Ron laughed out loud, "Are you serious? Harry would never go with her! That's absolutely mad."
"Actually… I think I will." Harry watched as Ron's draw dropped to the floor.
"Harry, are you feeling all right?"
Hermione looked extremely perturbed. "Ron… I cannot believe you! Unlike you, Harry is not such a hopeless prat!"
Ginny ignored the two as they bickered and focused on Harry, "You really will? That would be perfect because then we can get them to dance. Neville is too shy and Luna is… well, Luna."
Harry nodded as a furtive smile played across Ginny's face.
~~~***~~~***~~~
Harry walked alone after Quidditch practice the following Saturday morning. He was a boy on a mission. Shortly in front of him he could see a small figure sitting next to the water's edge. Luna was exactly where he thought she would be. His excitement rose as he saw that she was holding what appeared to be a magazine in her hands. She looked up as he approached.
"Hello Harry," she stood up from where she had been sitting.
"Hey Luna," Harry couldn't help but stare at her hands. Noticing, she held out the magazine. "My dad found what you needed, it's dated back to 1981."
Harry took the Quibbler into his hands. He stared at the cover and saw a small caption that read, "Secrets of the Portals revealed."
Luna started walking away and spoke over her shoulder, "I need that back when you are done… it is my father's last copy."
Harry tore his eyes away from the magazine when he remembered something that he needed to ask her, "Wait… Luna." She stopped and turned in place and he jogged up to her, "Luna do you want to go to the dance with me?"
Luna looked at Harry for several moments, apparently sizing him up. "Sure Harry, as friends right?"
Harry nodded profusely. He felt his face turn red and he smiled, "Of course."
Luna tilted her head in confusion and turned to walk back up to the castle.
Harry could only laugh to himself that Luna might be afraid that he had a crush on her. He thought that she was definitely in her own world. Thoughts that had been temporarily subsided, surfaced to the front of his mind. He immediately looked down at the magazine in his hands before he rushed back up to the castle.
He ran directly up to the library where he knew that he would get some privacy.
He sat down at a table by himself and placed the magazine on the table in front of him. He turned to the table of contents that listed the articles. He was directed to turn to page 13 on which he would find the secrets of the portals.
Harry paged through the magazine until he founds the article that he had been waiting to find. He read on:
Secrets of the Veil Revealed! Doorway to the Dead… Fabrication or Ministry secret?
It has recently come to our attention that the Ministry has recently lost and recovered an item of the most importance. Not many people remember the tale of the "Three Great Portals." We have reason to believe that these things not only exist, but at least one of them is in the Ministry's possession. This item is known as the Veil of Esimed. This was in Grindelwald's possession up to his defeat in the 1940's by Albus Dumbledore. We have reason to believe that since then, the Ministry has taken it and held it within the Department of Mysteries. That was until early this month when it was reported that a break in to the Ministry had occurred. Despite the Ministry's insistence that nothing of importance was taken, an undisclosed source has informed us that you-know-who was the culprit and the Veil was the object of thievery. It is the Quibbler's belief that you-know-who wished to get a hold of the veil so that he could contact the original maker, and perhaps find out the mystery of the long forgotten Gateway of Ecnanimod. The Ministry has refused all of our claims on the subject calling them "bogus" and "fabrication on the Quibbler's part." We, of course, know the truth. The only thing that we can hope for is that you-know-who is not successful in using the Veil, as no one has in thousands of years. With the dark lords recent escalation to power, we can only hope that this item will be recovered.
Harry turned the page. Much to his disappointment there was no more. He closed the magazine and covered his face in his hands. He knew that the magazine was not read by a large audience, but someone had to know something more about it. He knew that he had to speak with Dumbledore.
If Voldemort had once had the Veil in his possession then Dumbledore had to have known about it. The one thing he still was unsure of was whether or not to tell Ron and Hermione about his discovery about the Veil so far. He knew that if they found out then they would probably be more concerned about him than anything. Besides, they would only be angrier with him about keeping another secret from them.
He thought about perhaps confiding in Ginny, as he figured she would keep the secret and she appeared to be quite level headed. He knew that he eventually would have to tell someone what was going on. With the things that had been happening, especially Trelawney's predictions, he knew that Voldemort was gaining power and probably planning something.
~~~***~~~***~~~
Harry got back to the common room to find it relatively empty. Only a few of the younger years were playing in the corner by the window. Harry interrupted their game of exploding snap, "Do you know where Ron and Hermione are?"
One boy who he recognized as a third year boy looked up, "None of the upper year students are here… it's a Hogsmeade weekend – why didn't you go?"
"Oh," Harry answered, "Err… I wanted to get some work done."
Harry stood as the younger kids packed up their things, apparently leaving the common room. He had completely forgotten about the weekend. He had arranged to meet with Hermione and Ron before everyone left, but he figured that they had just gone on without him. They must've left while he was in the library.
He was at a loss as to what he would do for the rest of the day because he hadn't really been planning on doing work.
The same boy who had spoken to him turned as he was walking out the portrait hole, "Oh… I think that Ginny Weasley stayed… but she went up to her dorm alone a while ago."
The small brown haired boy disappeared out of the portrait hole with his friends and Harry was left by himself. He knew that he was probably not allowed to go into the girl's dormitories but he decided he would rather take the chance of getting in trouble than spending the rest of the day thinking about the Veil and the prophecy.
He turned to the unfamiliar route of the stairs leading up to the girl's dormitory.
As he went up the stairs he checked quickly behind him once more to make sure that no one was there. He hoped that the girl's stairs mirrored the boys. He walked to the door that was where the fifth year boys would be on the other side. He knocked lightly and waited. He heard some muffled shuffling and then Ginny's voice, "Err come in."
He hesitated before cracking the door so that he could just peek in. He still did not feel right about being in her room. "Uh.. Ginny, can I come in?"
"Harry?" He felt the doorknob being ripped from his grip as the door swung open. Ginny was wearing a long satin emerald green dress. She shifted slightly before grabbing his arm and pulling him into the room, "Harry, you aren't allowed to be up here." She moved awkwardly back and crossed her arms, "Why are you here anyway… I thought you were going to Hogsmeade?"
Harry shrugged his shoulders and moved further into the room, "Why aren't you there?"
"Well," Ginny sat down on her bed, "If you must know I was trying on my dress for the dance. I got it as a present from Percy for making prefect."
She paused before continuing, "I know that he is just trying to get me to be more like him… but I figured, why should I let a nice dress go to waste. Please Harry, don't tell Ron where I got it… he will just get mad."
Harry nodded, "You do look very nice." He had to admit that she did look very beautiful. Her Weasley red hair was tucked behind her ears. He quickly averted his gaze to the window. "Are you and Dean dating again?"
Ginny had moved over to her mirror and was twisting her hair into different buns.
"No, I told you we are just friends."
"You seem to be spending a large amount of time with him."
"Don't be stupid Harry, it's called being a friend… you do remember what that is don't you?"
"Ouch," Harry muttered to himself.
"I'm sorry Harry… I didn't mean that. Dean has just been kinda lonely lately, you know, with Seamus dating Lavender. He just needs someone to talk to – you know I can be your friend too Harry."
Harry looked away.
After a few minutes he changed the subject, "Oh I asked Luna to the dance."
Ginny beamed, "That's so great Harry – Neville and Luna will be so good together. They just need a little push."
Harry grinned, "Or just some of your evil scheming."
Ginny smiled. They remained silent for a few seconds before her eyes drifted from his to the window behind him, "Harry you better go… it looks like everyone is coming back."
Harry nodded and turned to walk out the door. He paused while he opened the door, "You know I think I might take you up on that offer of friendship sooner than you think."
He looked at Ginny who smiled warmly, "I'm glad."
Harry walked back down to the empty common room where he sat in his chair, waiting for the return of his friends. He felt more at ease, knowing that he did in fact have people who cared for him and wanted to be there for him.
~~~***~~~***~~~
Wayne: I tried to clarify the fact that it is not a certainty that prophesies are only divulged once. She is repeating the exact same prophecy word for word that was revealed to Harry in Book 5, so there was no reason to change the words of the prophecy in any way. It is not supposed to be a new prophecy, it is related to Voldemort's increasing power. Harry's life has never gone according to the norms, thus neither will the prophecy concerning his life.
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