Chapter 3

O.W.L.'s and Nightmares

"Wow, Harry! Class 2, that's really great." Hermione had been waiting up in Harry's room for the meeting to end, obviously anxious to find out more information of what went on. "That means that the only person higher than you would be..."

"...Dumbledore. I know." Harry was beaming. He hadn't been this happy since he witnessed Professor Umbridge being brutally thrown out the Hogwarts last year by Peeves. "I don't reckon it'll make some of the other members too happy, though. The only other people that are Class 2 in the Order are Moody, Lupin, McGonagal, and Snape."

"That is great! Do you have an assignment yet?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, Harry. What is it? Can I help in any way?"

"Yeah. I have to go to school." He and Hermione laughed. They had not been this excited for at least a week, and they were staring at each other with glee in their eyes.

"Oh, guess what Mrs. Weasley found. Dumbledore told us they were just running late, but I think he knew where they were."

"What? Oh, you don't mean. Did our O.W.L. results come?"

"Of course! Here's yours. I've been waiting to open mine with you, but, mind you, it's been difficult with it sitting right here. I've almost been in tears half of the time." She smiled at Harry and they both opened up their letters. First out, was a piece of paper addressed from Dumbledore, himself.

Dear Mr. Potter,

I am pleased to congratulate you on your excellent achievement on last year's Ordinary Wizarding Level examination. It is my honor to congratulate you on earning one of the top five cumulative scores on this examination. This honor is shared by Cho Chang, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, and Padma Patil. It is in consequence of this great achievement that you and these four others will be traveling to the First Annual Wizarding Tournament being held outside Peoria, Illinois, United States of America. Other schools in attendance will be Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, Merlin's Academy of Exceptional Wizardry, the New York Wand Acadamy, and the United States Establishment of Modern Spells. You will receive more information regarding this tournament in future mailings.

It is also my great pleasure of informing you that you have scored the highest score in your grade level in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration. Other high scores were Hermione Granger (Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, Astronomy, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, and History of Magic), Neville Longbottom (Herbology), Draco Malfoy (Potions), and Parvati Patil (Divination).

Congratulations once again on your achievement, and I look forward to seeing you this fall.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Headmaster,

Albus Dumbledore

Harry looked at Hermione who had already finished reading her letter. "Congratulations. What do you think this tournament is? Do you think it's smart with what's been happening lately?"

"I would suspect that's why they're having it."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, they are doing things to try to keep our minds off of what's going on around us. Also, if some of the best are over across the sea in America, then they are at less risk. I think that everyone knows what they are doing. So, we can trust them."

"I hope you're right, Harry. Now, let's get to looking at these O.W.L.'s?" They both pulled out the rest of their papers. The first paper showed nothing but a quick summary of his levels. This is all Harry cared about, yet he could see Hermione rummaging through all of the papers scattered in front of her muttering about how dumb she was to make those mistakes. Harry quickly scanned his top sheet. Defense Against the Dark Arts-Superior (60). Potions-Outstanding (57). Charms-Outstanding (55). Divination-Exceeds Expectations (52). Care of Magical Creatures-Exceeds Expectations (48). Astronomy-Average (45). Transfiguration-Outstanding (59). Herbology-Outstanding (54). History of Magic-Exceeds Expectations (51).

"Hermione, isn't the highest score supposed to be outstanding?"

"That's what I thought, but I have 'superiors' on mine."

"Yeah, me, too."

"Well, I guess it must be higher than Outstanding." Harry then pulled out his scoring sheet. This was the sheet that showed his scores compared to the average. His cumulative score was a 53.4 (Outstanding). The average score for the students in his grade level at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was a 38 (Acceptable). In the world, a 42 (Acceptable). "What did you get, Hermione?"

"I only got a 56.7 overall."

"A 56.7?!?! I was excited about my 53.4. It looks like a superior is a perfect score."

"Yes, it is. According to this sheet there is only one superior given out to a student in each subject around the world. If you get all the questions right your score sheet and test are sent to a committee that reviews your answers and picks one student to be a superior. All the others get a 59."

"I was superior in Defense Against the Dark Arts." Harry ignored that snort that said 'I told you so' coming from Hermione. "I have a 59 in Transfiguration. I guess that was good then."

"I only got a 58 there. I got a 57 in Defense Against the Dark Arts. My score in Herbology brought me down. I did well on the theory test, but the field score was too low. I ended up with a 49. At least I only got one E, though."

"Hermione, you were probably the top in our school. You shouldn't always beat yourself up. You're great, you know that." A moment of silence was felt between the two of them, during which Harry reached out and grabbed Hermione's hand.

"It's getting late," Hermione said with a jolt as Harry touched her.

"Yea—er—I guess we'd better get to bed." Hermione slowly pulled her hand away and backed out of the room.

"It's nice to find you again, boy!" Bellatrix Black shouted.

"Shut up. You killed Sirius, and now you want to kill me!" Harry knew he had nothing to fear. After his speech with Dumbledore, he knew that the only person that could kill him would be Voldemort himself. He was ready to do his worst to Bellatrix, and he was willing to accept anything she threw at him. Just hurting her is enough to pay her back. At that moment Ron came running up to him.

"Harry, you can't do this. Especially in the middle of London. There could be muggles anywhere." Harry didn't care. He was ready to attack.

"Come on, boy. Give me your worst," Bellatrix was coaxing him on. Harry stepped forward with his wand raised, but Ron stepped in front of him. "Get out of the way, idiot! This doesn't involve you."

"No!" Ron yelled, "I won't let you hurt Harry." He pulled out his wand at that moment, too.

"Give me a break," Bellatrix said obviously exasperated at having to deal with Ron and Harry. "AVADA KADAVRA!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Harry shouted, but he was too late. There was a bright flash of green light and Ron slumped down right in front of him. Harry broke down crying over Ron's limp body.

"Get up. I won't bring myself to killing a child who won't even face me." Harry stood up with a look of pure fury in his eyes.

"Good. Crucio," Bellatrix screamed pointing her wand at Harry's chest.

"Protego!" Harry shouted and the spell bounced off. "YOU KILLED SIRIUS! EXPELLIARMUS!" Bellatrix was caught off guard and her wand flew thirty feet into the air and was knocked far off to the right of her as she flew back five feet. "YOU TRIED TO KILL ME! CRUCIO!" Bellatrix's body started to curl and twinge over and over. "FINITE!" She stopped.

"Wha—how are you doing this?"

"AND NOW YOU KILLED MY BEST FRIEND! MORTE TOTALLUS!" A bright red light flashed through the area and swept through Bellatrix's heart. Her body flew into the air before her limbs were ripped in all four directions from her body and she fell back down, dead.

"Harry! Wake up, Harry!" Harry opened his eyes and saw Fred Weasley stooping over him. "You've been tossing and yelling for the last hour. What have you been dreaming about?" Harry wasn't able to bring himself to tell Fred that he had dreamt about, for what seemed like the twentieth time, seeing Ron's fall. "Hurry up, we're going into Diagon Alley today. We need to get the school supplies. Owls just came by today, and Moody says there's no better time than the present."

Harry got out of bed and began to get his clothes on. The dusty mirror of Phineas still stood in the corner and Harry could hear him talking from inside of it. When Harry had finished, he went down the stairs. There waiting for him at the bottom were Tonks and Lupin.
"Ready?" Tonks asked, beaming at Harry. Her hair was a bright shade of neon green.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"One more thing, Harry," Moody interjected into the conversation. "You left in such a hurry last night I couldn't get this on you."

"Get what on me?" At this point, Moody grabbed Harry's right arm, touched his wand to Harry's shoulder, and said 'pyramark'. Harry felt a slight burning sensation on his arm. When Moody released his hold, Harry pulled his robe up to see what he had done. When Harry got it up to his shoulder he saw a small bird ink mark.

"It's the mark of the Order," Moody said. "Only those Class 3 and higher wear it. We are the ones allowed into all of the meetings. Everyone else carries a small coin around with them that will vibrate when there is a meeting being called." Harry was briefly reminded of the galleons they used last year for the D.A. meetings. "You must never tell anyone what that is. Not even you friends, do you understand me? They won't see it anyhow. The mark of the Order is protected under Dumbledore as the secret keeper. The only people that will see it are those that are in the Order and those whom Dumbledore has personally told about it. Now, shall we meet the others for a day of shopping?"

"How are we getting there?"

"Portkey," Tonks said almost immediately, "Keep it down, though; the ministry doesn't know." When they got into the kitchen there were three empty pots on the table and everyone was standing around. Harry got the slight impression that he was running late that morning.

"Well," Mr. Weasley said, "now that we're all here. Let's go. On the count of three, everyone. One—two—three." Harry felt the all too familiar jerk at his navel and when he felt his feet hit solid ground again, he found himself in a crowd of bustling people. He didn't recognize any of them, but he did know, however, that, wherever he was, it sure wasn't Diagon Alley.