"Stupefy!" Harry shouted, pointing his wand at one of the animals, who quickly fell. "Harry! Put up your shield!" Lupin told him. "Infragilis Contego!" Harry said, and the shield he had been learning immediately formed around him. Moments later, one of the creatures came running at him, but immediately burnt up into ashes as soon as it touched the shield. He let the shield off, as no other animals were in sight, Lupin, Snape, and Tonks had stunned most of them. They continued down a pathway, which led to a chamber. It was very dark, and Harry could hear a muffled voice. They lit their wands, and to their surprise, Charlie Weasley was sitting there with his mouth taped. These animals were surprisingly smart. They walked over to him, and untaped his mouth. "Are you alright?" Harry asked. "Yes, I'm fine. But we must get out of here. The porgybesses will be here any minute. They have been keeping an eye out for people trying to help me out of here," Charlie told him. They hurriedly untied Charlie, and helped him to his feet. They exited the chamber, and once again, there were many porgybesses, surrounding them from all sides. But they were lucky, because off in the distance, other Order members were coming, after hearing Tonks shriek.
Harry hurriedly stunned one that was coming right at him, not wanting to be torn apart by their claws. "Stupefy!" Charlie yelled at one of the creatures, sending it flying to the ground. "Stupefy!" came another voice. It was that of Bill Weasley. It seemed as though one of the other groups had caught up to them. There were still two other groups coming from other parts of the caverns. Bill, Mrs. Weasley, Kingsley, and a younger wizard whom Harry did not know, were now fighting the animals with them. Harry was about to attack one of them, when it prounced upon him, knocking his wand out of his hand. The animal was on top of him, breathing deeply. He remembered reading about wandless magic in his book, and realized this would be the perfect time for it to work. "Conglutino," he thought in his mind, staring intently at the porgybess. "Conglutino," he thought in his head once more, this time more intensely. Thick metal ropes came out of nowhere, binding the animal's hands together, leaving the animal defenseless. Harry pushed the animal away, and got up, going straight for his wand.
Just then, another group of Order members arrived. Dumbledore and Moody were in this group, along with Mundungus Fletcher and the Minister of Magic himself, Arthur Weasley. Many of the porgybesses were now on the ground, and there were only about ten left. They went down fairly quickly, as now there were more Order members than there was porgybesses. After stunning them all, or at least incapacitating them, everybody headed out of the chamber, and headed outside towards where the brooms were. As Dumbledore instructed them on what was to be done next, they retrieved their broomsticks, and mounted them. When Dumbledore ordered them to take off back for the castle, they all gladly did so, not wanting to be around those caverns any longer. By the time they had reached the castle once again, it was about two o'clock in the morning. He knew he had missed quidditch practice and astronomy, but Harry knew everybody would understand. Ron had told the team that Harry was not going to be able to make it to practice, and Dumbledore had informed his Astronomy professor about Harry doing something with him that night.
He fell asleep that night, very glad that Dumbledore had let him help for his first time on an Order mission, and he was very glad that he was able to help save Charlie. He had a very freaky dream. He had one like this a couple times before, and it had always felt weird to him. He was in the room in the Department of Mysteries where the veil was, and he could hear his godfather's voice. "Harry! Help me! You have to get me out!" he could hear Sirius saying. Before he awoke, he heard Sirius' voice saying something like "Undorido." Harry did not know what it meant, or if it even meant anything. All he did know was that it was early in the morning, and that he was very hungry, so he decided to go get some breakfast.
He had Defence Against the Dark Arts later that day, in which he was learning a few counter jinxes. He was told by Lupin to stay after class, apparently there was something important he had to tell Harry. "Harry, I am very proud of you. And I was thinking, since you've been so helpful to me and the Order, I should tell you something that you should be wanting to know. Last night, I talked to Sirius. Apparently, he was clumsy and he lost his two-way mirror, but he found it, and was still able to contact us through the portal. I have the third mirror. He told me he didn't really want you to see him, as he knew it would only make you more depressed, and he did tell me that he heard Bellatrix try to use a sort of curse on the veil, but was not able to tell what it was. He wants you to know that he still cares for you Harry, and he wants you to know that he always will. Now Harry, I'm not sure we have a lot of time to help ol' Padfoot out. I hope we can, but we still don't konw what to do. I'll let you know if I find anything," Lupin told him, and with that, they both left the room.
Harry sulked back towards his common room, thinking about his godfather. Sirius had always been there for him, and had always been there to help him when he needed it the most. Harry knew that he was in Sirius' debt, and he knew he had to help Sirius out of this mess. But he knew he couldn't do it on his own. He would have to get some help from Ron and Hermione. He continued to think about Sirius, not paying any attention to where he was going. He ran into something that was very hard. "Watch where you're going Potter!" he heard someone say. He looked to see what, or whom, he ran into, and saw that it was Draco Malfoy. "Sorry Malfoy," was all Harry said before he kept walking towards his common room. He heard Draco say to his two cronies, "Geesh, what's wrong with him?" Harry let out a tiny laugh, and followed the corridors back to his common room.
Upon entering the common room, he heard Hermione say his name. "Harry!" she called, "Where have you been? We've been looking all over for you!" Harry knew that this was his one chance to let Hermione and Ron know about Sirius. "Listen guys, I have something to tell you. It's very important," Harry told them. "Well, spit it out!" Ron said, getting anxious as usual. "Well, I found a way to get Sirius back. I also found out a way to get in contact with Sirius. We have two-way mirrors, and they still work. I was just talking to him, but he told me he didn't want me to do anything about it," Harry told them. "Well, we can't just let him stay in there and die! We have to help him!" exclaimed Ron. "I don't know guys, it sounds rather dangerous," Hermione said, rather nervously. "Don't worry, Mione. Everything will work out fine!" Ron told her, "So, when are we going to go help him?" "Well, it's not that simple. Voldemort had sent Bellatrix Lestrange to try to get some of their old followers back from behind the veil, but she was not powerful enough to use the spell. If she wasn't powerful enough, then how are we supposed to do it?" Harry explained. "It's easy. The three of us together have more power than just Bellatrix, so we should be able to pull it off if every single one of us did it at the same time," Hermione told him. "But still, don't you think Voldemort would have thought of that?" Harry asked her. "Yeah, he probably did," Hermione admitted.
"Guys, there's something else," Harry told them. "What?" Hermione asked. "Well, the reason Voldemort is after me is because there was a prophecy made by Professor Trelawney," Harry answered. "You can't trust that it's real then! You know she's a fluke!" exclaimed Ron. "I'm afraid to say that it is real. The prophecy states that I, well it states it indirectly, not once actually saying my name, I am the only one with the power to destroy Voldemort. One of us has to kill the other in the end," Harry told them. They sat there with their mouths hung wide open in shock. "I know, it sucks, tell me about it. I'm the one who has to kill Voldemort," Harry said to them. "Wow," was all Hermione could muster up. "Sorry to hear that mate," Ron told him. "Nah, don't worry about it. I'm the one who should be worrying about it. Any moment Voldemort could kill me," Harry said, his mind now thinking of the bigger picture. That was why Sirius didn't want Harry to come rescue him. It was because Harry could be killed at any time, and he didn't want Harry to risk his life.
Dinner that night was very quiet for the trio. They did not talk to each other, not because they were fighting, but because they were frightened. Hermione and Ron were still thinking about what Harry had said, and Harry was still thinking about what Sirius had said. He didn't care what Sirius said. He had to help his godfather. He just had to. He hurriedly ate his dinner, and Dumbledore stood up as if to make a speech. "I would like to announce the return of Rubeus Hagrid!" Dumbledore said excitedly. The whole school turned their heads towards the doors of the Great Hall as they opened. Hagrid walked, or rather stomped, through the doors, and towards the staff table. Harry was glad to see him back. That meant there would be no more awkward lessons with Krum. Ron, Harry, and Hermione smiled at each other when they heard of his return. Hagrid took his seat at the staff table, and began eating. The rest of the school was leaving.
Harry and his two friends, however, walked towards the staff table. They wanted to greet their old friend, and tell him they were glad to have him back. "Hey Hagrid!" Hermione said, running up to him and giving him a giant hug. "Oh, 'ey Mione! Hey Harry! Hey Ron!" Hagrid said, his face lit up as well. "Glad to have ya back, Hagrid!" Harry told him. "Yea, mate!" Ron agreed. "Well, I'm glad to be back as well. I'll tell ya all about it after class tomorrow!" Hagrid told them, "Now why don't you guys get off to bed. I have some things I have to discuss with Dumbledore." The trio did as they were told, heading back towards their common room. They were very eager to learn of Hagrid's journey, and hear what went on during his trip. They knew that Hagrid would most likely have some pretty interesting stories to tell yet again about his trip to the giants.
The next day went by slowly, especially Hagrid's class. They were finished talking about porgybesses, and had started now to talk about goblins, as a creature, not the history of them. Harry learned some interesting facts about the goblins, and about their magic. Hagrid was much more interesting than Grubbly-Plank or Krum had been. And amazingly, he was easier to understand than Krum. Usually Hagrid was much harder to understand than other people, but Krum's Bulgarian accent made it hard for the trio to understand what he was saying. They were all happy to have Hagrid back.
Hagrid began to tell them about the giants when there was about twenty minutes left in class. "Well, when I got there, I found that Voldemort had recently sent Death Eaters, and there was still one there, which I totally destroyed, causing Voldemort to lose one more follower," Hagrid told them, laughing. Harry laughed as well. "Well, I have persuaded most of the giants to help us, and I have done the best I could. Although some giants have decided to stay out of it for good, I don't think I can get those giants to change their minds," Hagrid continued, "I also saw Grawp while I was there. He was with a female giant, who was holding a little baby giant, which is abou' as big as Harry." Harry laughed. He had never realized how big baby giants would be. The thought of them being as big as him made him laugh.
They ended up going to lunch late, and this was probably the first time in a couple days that Harry had actually eaten lunch. He was very hungry that day though, so he decided that he probably shouldn't skip lunch. They left for the common room after eating, where they hung out and began talking once more about saving Sirius. Harry did not really want to talk about it with his friends, as it was beginning to make him feel rather depressed. They decided that the three of them alone would not be able to go to the Ministry of Magic and save Sirius. They would have to recruit a few others, like Ginny and Neville, who had both helped them last year.
Harry hurriedly stunned one that was coming right at him, not wanting to be torn apart by their claws. "Stupefy!" Charlie yelled at one of the creatures, sending it flying to the ground. "Stupefy!" came another voice. It was that of Bill Weasley. It seemed as though one of the other groups had caught up to them. There were still two other groups coming from other parts of the caverns. Bill, Mrs. Weasley, Kingsley, and a younger wizard whom Harry did not know, were now fighting the animals with them. Harry was about to attack one of them, when it prounced upon him, knocking his wand out of his hand. The animal was on top of him, breathing deeply. He remembered reading about wandless magic in his book, and realized this would be the perfect time for it to work. "Conglutino," he thought in his mind, staring intently at the porgybess. "Conglutino," he thought in his head once more, this time more intensely. Thick metal ropes came out of nowhere, binding the animal's hands together, leaving the animal defenseless. Harry pushed the animal away, and got up, going straight for his wand.
Just then, another group of Order members arrived. Dumbledore and Moody were in this group, along with Mundungus Fletcher and the Minister of Magic himself, Arthur Weasley. Many of the porgybesses were now on the ground, and there were only about ten left. They went down fairly quickly, as now there were more Order members than there was porgybesses. After stunning them all, or at least incapacitating them, everybody headed out of the chamber, and headed outside towards where the brooms were. As Dumbledore instructed them on what was to be done next, they retrieved their broomsticks, and mounted them. When Dumbledore ordered them to take off back for the castle, they all gladly did so, not wanting to be around those caverns any longer. By the time they had reached the castle once again, it was about two o'clock in the morning. He knew he had missed quidditch practice and astronomy, but Harry knew everybody would understand. Ron had told the team that Harry was not going to be able to make it to practice, and Dumbledore had informed his Astronomy professor about Harry doing something with him that night.
He fell asleep that night, very glad that Dumbledore had let him help for his first time on an Order mission, and he was very glad that he was able to help save Charlie. He had a very freaky dream. He had one like this a couple times before, and it had always felt weird to him. He was in the room in the Department of Mysteries where the veil was, and he could hear his godfather's voice. "Harry! Help me! You have to get me out!" he could hear Sirius saying. Before he awoke, he heard Sirius' voice saying something like "Undorido." Harry did not know what it meant, or if it even meant anything. All he did know was that it was early in the morning, and that he was very hungry, so he decided to go get some breakfast.
He had Defence Against the Dark Arts later that day, in which he was learning a few counter jinxes. He was told by Lupin to stay after class, apparently there was something important he had to tell Harry. "Harry, I am very proud of you. And I was thinking, since you've been so helpful to me and the Order, I should tell you something that you should be wanting to know. Last night, I talked to Sirius. Apparently, he was clumsy and he lost his two-way mirror, but he found it, and was still able to contact us through the portal. I have the third mirror. He told me he didn't really want you to see him, as he knew it would only make you more depressed, and he did tell me that he heard Bellatrix try to use a sort of curse on the veil, but was not able to tell what it was. He wants you to know that he still cares for you Harry, and he wants you to know that he always will. Now Harry, I'm not sure we have a lot of time to help ol' Padfoot out. I hope we can, but we still don't konw what to do. I'll let you know if I find anything," Lupin told him, and with that, they both left the room.
Harry sulked back towards his common room, thinking about his godfather. Sirius had always been there for him, and had always been there to help him when he needed it the most. Harry knew that he was in Sirius' debt, and he knew he had to help Sirius out of this mess. But he knew he couldn't do it on his own. He would have to get some help from Ron and Hermione. He continued to think about Sirius, not paying any attention to where he was going. He ran into something that was very hard. "Watch where you're going Potter!" he heard someone say. He looked to see what, or whom, he ran into, and saw that it was Draco Malfoy. "Sorry Malfoy," was all Harry said before he kept walking towards his common room. He heard Draco say to his two cronies, "Geesh, what's wrong with him?" Harry let out a tiny laugh, and followed the corridors back to his common room.
Upon entering the common room, he heard Hermione say his name. "Harry!" she called, "Where have you been? We've been looking all over for you!" Harry knew that this was his one chance to let Hermione and Ron know about Sirius. "Listen guys, I have something to tell you. It's very important," Harry told them. "Well, spit it out!" Ron said, getting anxious as usual. "Well, I found a way to get Sirius back. I also found out a way to get in contact with Sirius. We have two-way mirrors, and they still work. I was just talking to him, but he told me he didn't want me to do anything about it," Harry told them. "Well, we can't just let him stay in there and die! We have to help him!" exclaimed Ron. "I don't know guys, it sounds rather dangerous," Hermione said, rather nervously. "Don't worry, Mione. Everything will work out fine!" Ron told her, "So, when are we going to go help him?" "Well, it's not that simple. Voldemort had sent Bellatrix Lestrange to try to get some of their old followers back from behind the veil, but she was not powerful enough to use the spell. If she wasn't powerful enough, then how are we supposed to do it?" Harry explained. "It's easy. The three of us together have more power than just Bellatrix, so we should be able to pull it off if every single one of us did it at the same time," Hermione told him. "But still, don't you think Voldemort would have thought of that?" Harry asked her. "Yeah, he probably did," Hermione admitted.
"Guys, there's something else," Harry told them. "What?" Hermione asked. "Well, the reason Voldemort is after me is because there was a prophecy made by Professor Trelawney," Harry answered. "You can't trust that it's real then! You know she's a fluke!" exclaimed Ron. "I'm afraid to say that it is real. The prophecy states that I, well it states it indirectly, not once actually saying my name, I am the only one with the power to destroy Voldemort. One of us has to kill the other in the end," Harry told them. They sat there with their mouths hung wide open in shock. "I know, it sucks, tell me about it. I'm the one who has to kill Voldemort," Harry said to them. "Wow," was all Hermione could muster up. "Sorry to hear that mate," Ron told him. "Nah, don't worry about it. I'm the one who should be worrying about it. Any moment Voldemort could kill me," Harry said, his mind now thinking of the bigger picture. That was why Sirius didn't want Harry to come rescue him. It was because Harry could be killed at any time, and he didn't want Harry to risk his life.
Dinner that night was very quiet for the trio. They did not talk to each other, not because they were fighting, but because they were frightened. Hermione and Ron were still thinking about what Harry had said, and Harry was still thinking about what Sirius had said. He didn't care what Sirius said. He had to help his godfather. He just had to. He hurriedly ate his dinner, and Dumbledore stood up as if to make a speech. "I would like to announce the return of Rubeus Hagrid!" Dumbledore said excitedly. The whole school turned their heads towards the doors of the Great Hall as they opened. Hagrid walked, or rather stomped, through the doors, and towards the staff table. Harry was glad to see him back. That meant there would be no more awkward lessons with Krum. Ron, Harry, and Hermione smiled at each other when they heard of his return. Hagrid took his seat at the staff table, and began eating. The rest of the school was leaving.
Harry and his two friends, however, walked towards the staff table. They wanted to greet their old friend, and tell him they were glad to have him back. "Hey Hagrid!" Hermione said, running up to him and giving him a giant hug. "Oh, 'ey Mione! Hey Harry! Hey Ron!" Hagrid said, his face lit up as well. "Glad to have ya back, Hagrid!" Harry told him. "Yea, mate!" Ron agreed. "Well, I'm glad to be back as well. I'll tell ya all about it after class tomorrow!" Hagrid told them, "Now why don't you guys get off to bed. I have some things I have to discuss with Dumbledore." The trio did as they were told, heading back towards their common room. They were very eager to learn of Hagrid's journey, and hear what went on during his trip. They knew that Hagrid would most likely have some pretty interesting stories to tell yet again about his trip to the giants.
The next day went by slowly, especially Hagrid's class. They were finished talking about porgybesses, and had started now to talk about goblins, as a creature, not the history of them. Harry learned some interesting facts about the goblins, and about their magic. Hagrid was much more interesting than Grubbly-Plank or Krum had been. And amazingly, he was easier to understand than Krum. Usually Hagrid was much harder to understand than other people, but Krum's Bulgarian accent made it hard for the trio to understand what he was saying. They were all happy to have Hagrid back.
Hagrid began to tell them about the giants when there was about twenty minutes left in class. "Well, when I got there, I found that Voldemort had recently sent Death Eaters, and there was still one there, which I totally destroyed, causing Voldemort to lose one more follower," Hagrid told them, laughing. Harry laughed as well. "Well, I have persuaded most of the giants to help us, and I have done the best I could. Although some giants have decided to stay out of it for good, I don't think I can get those giants to change their minds," Hagrid continued, "I also saw Grawp while I was there. He was with a female giant, who was holding a little baby giant, which is abou' as big as Harry." Harry laughed. He had never realized how big baby giants would be. The thought of them being as big as him made him laugh.
They ended up going to lunch late, and this was probably the first time in a couple days that Harry had actually eaten lunch. He was very hungry that day though, so he decided that he probably shouldn't skip lunch. They left for the common room after eating, where they hung out and began talking once more about saving Sirius. Harry did not really want to talk about it with his friends, as it was beginning to make him feel rather depressed. They decided that the three of them alone would not be able to go to the Ministry of Magic and save Sirius. They would have to recruit a few others, like Ginny and Neville, who had both helped them last year.