In the second week of August Harry sat on his trunk in his room, his things neatly packed and Hedwig already sent to Ron at Grimmauld Place, and watched the hands of his watch move slowly. The watch was his birthday present from Ron and his family, along with a card that sang loudly "Happy Birthday" with all the Weasley´s voices. Harry had been very glad that the Dursley´s apparently still had been under the influence of the Pleasing Popps and therefore didn´t complain about the singing in the middle of the night. Even after the effects of the Popps wore off they seemed to affect their memory, because all the Dursleys talked about the next day was how nice an evening it had been with the Wheelers.
Harry´s other presents had been a book from Hermione –no surprise –called "Obscure and Fascinating Curses for the Advanced Dueler" with a note saying that she "had a feeling that it might be beneficial" and another one from Lupin –no, Remus – called "1000 Spells to Protect your Friends and Beat your Enemies".
And Neville, although he hadn´t known Harry´s birthday, sent him a few days later another book about plants and how to use them in Defence and Charms, saying that he had seen it in an old book store in Diagon Alley and thought Harry could use it for the DA meetings. He felt fairly confident that he had enough stuff to teach now, should he indeed continue with the DA.
Over the last few days Harry had gotten letters from nearly everyone in the DA, thanking him for passing their OWLs or NEWTs and asking if he would start the club again this year. But underneath it there was a tone of worry and urgency that hadn´t been there last year; it wasn´t only about marks anymore, now the threat seemed much more real and near to most of the students.
Harry had replied to all of them that he would wait to find out who the new Defence teacher was and ask Dumbledore for permission first, but they should all keep their charmed galleons just in case.
Another thing to ask Dumbledore about, he really hoped he would see him some time before school started again. He had been furious with the Headmaster at the end of last term; being locked up in the house he had had much time to think, and –
The doorbell rang and Harry jumped up, it was three o´clock sharp in the afternoon, they were here, at last he was going to get out of the Dursley´s house! He grabbed his trunk and Hedwig´s cage and dragged everything down the stairs as fast as he could. As he ripped the door open he was met with Mad-Eye Moody´s magical eye, eyeing him suspiciously from head to toe and up again, before its owner gave him a brief nod and moved into the Dursley´s home, quickly checking if there was anyone in the kitchen or the sitting room. The Dursleys, who had wisely made other plans for the afternoon since Harry had told them the time of his departure after a visit at Mrs Figgs, probably would have been more appalled by the second person to enter the house. Apparently Tonks had decided pink, spiky hair wasn´t shocking enough and had opted for a punk style instead. On top of her head there was only one row of hair left, standing up, in neon green and bright orange.
"Hey Harry! What´s up?" she asked, grinning from ear to ear. She looked around, then added a little disappointed: "Your relatives aren´t home?"
"Eh, no, they wanted to go shopping this afternoon, they said…" With Tonks entrance Harry had never noticed Mungdungus Fletcher, the last person standing on the doorstep. When he invited him in, Dung shot him an unfocused look and then walked staggeringly into the hall, where he leaned against the wall, his body swaying a bit.
Tonks pulled Harry back before he could ask Dung if there was anything wrong with him, and whispered into his ear: "Don´t mention it! He has been brewing firewhisky lately and apparently he has to test the stuff all the time if it´s ready and good, so he´s been like this for most of the time. Don´t mention it anywhere near Moody, you know how he is! Let´s just get back to headquarters before he gets into another of his Constant Vigilance´-lectures!"
As Moody was coming back from his inspection of the house at this, Harry asked: "How are we going there then?"
Moody growled in response: "Portkey. Ministry has given Dumbledore permission to use them as he likes. That foolish Minister seems to think he can buy the Headmaster´s support back with this."
Harry nodded, touched his trunk with one hand while Tonks took the cage and Moody tapped a long quill with his wand, "So, it´ll activate in thirty seconds." They touched the quill but Mungdungus seemed to have problems standing. He swayed back to the wall and had to support himself there before stumbling forward again. Just as Harry felt the portkey activate and heard Moody´s irritated shouting, Dung threw himself into the middle of the group.
After briefly feeling the unique sensation of portkey-travelling Harry landed hard on his back in the entrance hall of Grimmauld Place, with a heap of swearing, squealing and choking bodies around and on top of him. Of course the commotion had woken up the portrait of Sirius´ mother, who now added her shrieks and insults to the tumult, and as Harry got himself out of the tangle and could look up, he looked straight up into the face of Professor Snape, who had obviously just arrived.
Snape wrinkled his nose as he looked down, and when the noise died down a bit he sneered disgustedly, "Trust Potter to always make quite an entrance." before he stepped around them and without a look back vanished into the kitchen.
Moody´s growling got louder at that and Harry thought he heard a murmured, quiet "Damn that bloody git!" from Tonks. He himself was having a hard time to keep to his decision and ignore Snape –he would not let Snape get the satisfaction of showing him any reaction –he hadn´t shown any sign of pain to Umbridge, he could handle Snape –
And then there were the Weasleys and Hermione and various order members coming and Harry sighed relieved as someone pulled the curtains closed to shut up the portrait and he finally got to his feet. Hermione embraced him and Ron clapped him on the shoulders, and he could see the question and the anxiousness in their eyes and tried to give them his most reassuring smile. It was good to be back.
After everyone else had greeted him –Mrs Weasley with a hug and a critical look, assessing how much weight he might have lost and Remus with a serious face and a quiet "How are you?" – and a green looking Mungdungus had been dragged out by a snarling Moody, Harry was finally able to bring his things up to the room he shared with Ron again.
His two best friends had followed him in. When he closed the door and turned around, there was a awkward pause. Hermione sitting on Ron´s bed seemed determined, while Ron looked everywhere but Harry.
"Harry,-" Hermione started, then seemed to hesitate, before she rushed out, "oh, I´m no good at this. I, -It´s just, - Harry, how are you doing? I mean, I can´t imagine what it must be like for you, we all missed Sirius, and you didn´t say much in your letters, but it must be horrible, and with no one there, and- Harry, how are you?"
Harry suddenly found the floor as interesting as Ron. He really wished people would stop asking that. What did it matter to them anyways? –No, that wasn´t fair, they were only worried about him, and hadn´t he wished for the whole summer to be with someone who would at least understand some of what was going on in his life? They deserved a honest answer just as Remus had gotten one.
"Hermione, I´m- better, it- it´s okay, I´ve had a lot of time…- a lot of time to think about Sirius´ dea- about what happened at the Ministry, and really, it´s getting better lately."
He looked at his feet, his eyes prickling, and so he didn´t notice when she got up and her hug surprised him completely. She held him tight and he found her bushy hair in his face oddly comforting, shielding him from the world. He took a deep and shaky breath and felt a tension he hadn´t realised until then leave his body.
Her voice sounded equally strained as his had before when she spoke into his shoulder: "We were so worried about you, how you would cope,- oh, Harry, you know we´re always there for you, do you?"
"Yeah, mate, that´s what friends are there for," Ron stood at his side, shifting a bit nervously but nodding intently nevertheless as he managed to catch Harry´s eyes. Harry could only nod at them in return, he had a lump in his throat and as he closed his eyes briefly he thought that he could almost physically feel their friendship.
When Hermione released him, Ron gave her an odd glance before he turned to Harry and asked with a grin: "So what´s your guess on Hermione´s OWL scores?"
Harry had to laugh at that as well: "Well, let´s see, Outstanding in everything?"
"Oh, you two!" Hermione´s face was still a little bit blotchy, but she was smiling. "No, for your information, I got Exceeds Expectations in Ancient Runes and History; and Acceptable in Astronomy. I just couldn´t concentrate on History anymore, after your vision, and with that attack on Professor McGonagall and Hagrid during Astronomy…, - I can´t believe they marked our star charts as if nothing had happened!"
Harry smiled brightly –that was just the same old Hermione as always. Then he turned expectantly to Ron, "And? What about you?"
Ron´s ears went red, "Uh, no big deal, pretty similar to yours, except that I failed Astronomy, and got only Exceeds Expectations in Care of Magical Creatures and Acceptable in Herbology."
"And?" Harry was puzzled. There was nothing to be ashamed of with that marks, and Ron seemed really embarrassed. He looked at Hermione for an answer, but she only grinned smugly.
Ron took a deep breath – "Harry, Hermione, Ron! Come down, dinner´s ready!" came the voice of Mrs Weasley, -"Right, I think we should go downstairs, there´s an order meeting tonight, we might be able to hear something!" said Ron and rushed out of the door.
Harry looked at Hermione, who only snorted, shaking her head, so he went after Ron. He caught him just before the kitchen. "Come on, you´re not going to get out of this, what is it?"
Ron´s neck now had nearly the same colour as his hair, and he mumbled something barely comprehensible.
"What?! Outstanding? In Divination?! – But… - didn´t you say that you described that ugly man in your crystal ball until you looked up and realised it was the reflection of your examiner?!"
"Yeah, but, you know, then I was just so shocked the only thing that I could think of was to resort to the old habits of divination making, and so I said he would be run over by a Muggle car. – And, you see, he didn´t believe me at first, but then he apparently got in fact run over by a car, - Dad heard it in the Ministry - he wasn´t killed and got out of St Mungo´s fairly quickly, but it seems he was so impressed with my Inner Eye´ and divination skills, I got an Outstanding…" Ron trailed off.
Harry gaped at Ron, and then he suddenly broke down in hysterical chuckles with tears streaming down his cheeks.
"I´m just glad," he finally gasped out to a still deep red Ron, "that your Inner Eye´ wasn´t working before… Imagine all the times you predicted our death…"
"Yes, the only thing is, Mum now wants me to continue with that stupid subject, she reckons I might be a real Seer, and you know the whole thing is a complete waste of time! The only thing we ever learnt there is to make up stories about how we´re going to die!"
Yes, but sometimes there is a real prophecy in between the whole rubbish, and it might mess up the whole life of someone- Harry sobered up at that thought, he really needed to talk to Dumbledore, he needed to know more, he needed to know who he could talk to.
"But maybe Firenze is still at Hogwarts this year, and in his classes at least you won´t have to make things up." Harry managed to get out, hopefully distracting Ron from his sudden change of mood. "Let´s go get dinner!"
By now Hermione had joined them and together they walked into the kitchen. Already at the table were Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling more than usual, and Professor McGonagall, who seemed to be trying to look stern but the corner of her mouth was twitching. Harry thought they must have heard him and Ron talking about Divination, and he felt his own ears get a bit red now, too.
Further down the table were Remus, Moody, Tonks, Bill and Snape and two people Harry didn´t know. Dung was perhaps at his distillery again, or Mrs Weasley, who was serving dinner now, had forbidden him to come to eat while he was drunk like that.
The three of them sat down near Professor Dumbledore and Harry, looking over the people present, asked: "So, where is everyone? Fred and George, and Ginny? And what´s with Percy?" Though he said the last part quietly, so only Ron and Hermione would hear it.
Ron was too busy emptying his plate, so Hermione answered. "We don´t really know, where Fred and George are, they have rented a flat somewhere, but they won´t let anyone visit them. I think they are experimenting for new products there for that joke shop they want to open. Don´t mention it to Mrs Weasley, she´s still angry with them for not taking their NEWTs, and she thinks they are lazing around now all the time. We haven´t seen them for a while. And Ginny, well she is visiting Luna for a week, since Luna got back from Scandinavia and that Snorkack-search, or whatever it was."
"And Percy," Ron said scowling, "is still a git. He´s talking to Dad at the Ministry sometimes now, and he met with Mum in London once, but he didn´t apologise and he´s not moving back in. Still says that the Ministry is always right and we should have supported Fudge no matter what."
Searching for a safer topic Harry asked: "So when will Ginny come back here, then?"
Ron´s scowl deepened even more. "She isn´t. After she leaves Luna, she is going to Dean and stay the last week of the holidays there."
Harry remembered Ginny telling them she had chosen Dean as her new boyfriend on the train and wisely didn´t say a thing, but Hermione did.
"Really, Ron, your sister is fifteen! It´s none of your business when she dates someone! And Dean is really okay."
"He´s not! She deserves better! –" Harry tuned them out, this was heading into one of their familiar arguments, which Hermione was most likely going to win in the end. He caught Dumbledores eyes over the table and thought maybe he should ask the Headmaster if he could talk to him after the meal, but he didn´t get to that.
Through the open door came Kreacher. Harry froze in his place, his fists white. One insult to Sirius, and I´ll strangle him, no matter what Hermione will say –but he didn´t need to.
For it was a very different Kreacher, that entered, from the Kreacher that had betrayed Sirius. He wasn´t mumbling under his breath. He looked transfixed around at everything and everyone. He walked slowly to the desk and timidly picked up a spoon to examine it meticulously.
Perplexed Harry looked at Hermione for an explanation, and then at Dumbledore. But it was Remus who answered.
"Erm, I thought it best to get rid of Kreacher, and I wanted to modify his memory so we could chuck him out without him telling anything about the order. But it went a little wrong…" Remus looked apologetic, but couldn´t hide a small smirk. "You see, I was in bad mood already, and then he started mumbling about Sirius before I did the memory charm, and, erm, I guess I got carried away and overdid the spell a bit…Memory Charms are always tricky… and now he doesn´t remember anything at all… total memory loss…"
"Yeah," Ron added, now too watching the house-elf, "he´s got it as bad as Lockhart –and I must say they had both so much nicer personalities afterwards… Anyway, he has really totally lost his memory –you could give him a sock and he wouldn´t realise he was free. Of course, even if he did, he would probably forget that he had been freed five minutes later."
"Well, he might learn again with time and maybe this can be a second chance for him then," Hermione frowned at Ron, who only snorted but obviously didn´t want to get into another discussion about S.P.E.W.
Harry watched Kreacher walking out of the door, all the time trying to stuff the spoon into his flapping ear. If this was what Kreacher was like without his memories, his experiences… without knowing of his life with and work for Sirius´ family… Was it only their treatment that had made him the disgusting, traitorous creature he had been? Could he have turned out differently?
But wasn´t everyone responsible for their own actions nevertheless? Kreacher had made the decision to betray Sirius, he could have made another choice. So whose fault was it?
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After dinner Harry approached Dumbledore. "Sir, could you spare me some time? I need to ask you a few things."
Dumbledore seemed to have expected that. He nodded, "Yes, I believe you have. I have some time until all the order members have arrived for the meeting, so I suggest we go to the living room."
Ron and Hermione gave Harry a questioning look, but didn´t ask when he went out of the room with the Headmaster. After closing the door Dumbledore sat quietly down in an armchair opposite of Harry, meeting his eyes calmly.
Harry thought again of how much his perception of the old man had changed. He had been so furious with him last term. Only when he had cooled down over the last month had he realised where most of his anger had come from. It was his own disappointment at having his childhood belief of an invincible and infallible authority figure smashed. It destroyed the security of black-and-white, good-and-bad, and left him standing with nothing but his own doubts and half thought out judgement. After loosing Sirius and hearing the prophecy this had been too much.
Dumbledore was neither omniscient nor omnipotent, and he had made mistakes –but who could say if it really would have turned out better if he, Harry, had known about the prophecy? The headmaster was one of the wisest and most experienced wizards around, however Harry had finally seen that he was, after all, only human, just like everyone else was. He would ask for Dumbledore´s advice in the future, but then he would build his own opinions and trust his own judgements, too.
Harry didn´t know how long he had pondered this, but Dumbledore had a slight smile on his face then and raised an eyebrow a little, as if to ask whether he was ready to talk.
"I wanted to say that I´m sorry for loosing my temper like that in your office last year, it wasn´t really your fault, and I didn´t mean everything I said."
"Ah, Harry, there is no need to apologise for that. I dare say sometimes some open words are better than a lot of bottled up feelings. Alas, I believe I´m mostly responsible for your outburst anyway. I´m sure it wasn´t exactly the best moment to tell you about the prophecy, but I feared if I didn´t tell you then, I might loose my courage again."
Harry was surprised by the frankness of the Headmaster, but decided he would follow that example. "Yes, the prophecy. Who knows about it? I thought you would have told the order about it, but Remus didn´t seem to know."
"No one beside you and me know the full content. Your parents knew, as did Neville´s, and I wanted to inform Sirius, but I never got around to do it. As you learnt your third year, Professor Trelawney doesn´t remember her true predictions, and at the Department of Mysteries they only store the prophecies for those mentioned in it. The Unspeakables are not allowed to know about the contents without the consent of the prophesied ones because it would invade in their privacy.
About the order, well, they know as much as Voldemort does, only the first half of it. And I –hm, let´s say I didn´t attach much importance to it when I told them. And either they don´t put that much faith in Sybil´s talent –many of them have been her students at some time –or they believe the prophecy has already been fulfilled nearly fifteen years ago, when you 'vanquished the Dark Lord´."
"And I wanted to ask if I can tell someone about it."
Dumbledore sighed. "I thought you would ask that. I don´t think I could forbid you to, nor do I know if that would be wise. I understand that you will need to talk to someone about it, and I also understand that Miss Granger and Mr Weasley would most likely try to find out as soon as they realise that there is something worrying you. As Miss Weasley, Miss Lovegood and Mr Longbottom were at the Ministry with you they might have some questions or suspicions as well.
However that knowledge is a dangerous burden, and it must not fall into the wrong hands. I advise you to keep it to as few people as possible and to make sure that they understand the importance of keeping it quiet. Not only would the information be of great use to Voldemort, it would also make any person a prime target if the Death Eaters found out about their knowledge.
Because of that we will also need to work on your Occlumency skills, so you can prevent Voldemort from finding out that you know about the prophecy."
Harry nodded. He had thought along the same lines. "I´ll keep it to Ron and Hermione for the time being. They have been with me in this from the beginning, and will most likely be in the future. But I want them to decide so for themselves and make their choice knowing what the -well, what will happen in the end."
"Ah, but we don´t know that yet. The future is a blank page that only we can fill while living our lives, and, of course, then it won´t be the future anymore."
Considering they were talking about prophecies and Harry felt like his life had been planned out for him since his birth he thought that comment a bit odd. But compared to past conversations the Headmaster had been more serious than ever and hadn´t offered him any lemon drops or something like that at all. Harry wondered if it was all an act to put people more at ease; and although he was pleased that Dumbledore talked with him almost like an equal, he missed the funny quirks and weird trains of thought somehow.
"There´s another thing, most of the members of the DA wrote me and asked if we would carry on with our meetings this year. I told them that it depends on who would be the new DADA teacher, and that I would ask for your permission first."
"Ah, that rebellious little group of yours that Dolores was so afraid of," with the twinkle returning to his eyes Dumbledore continued, "I can´t tell you who´ll be the DADA teacher this year, it would ruin the whole excitement and speculation! I always enjoy the wildest guesses so much! But whoever it will be I think no sensible teacher would be displeased with his students practising in their free time. And since that Educational Decree –ah, I forgot which number it was, there really were a lot of them, weren´t there? –was revoked, study groups are no longer forbidden, so you will be able to meet as openly as you like and won´t need anyone´s permission for that."
Only after Dumbledore had left to go to the meeting and Harry sat pondering how to tell his friends about the prophecy, he realised that the Headmaster had left both decisions –whom to tell and whether to continue with the DA or not –completely to Harry, merely making some suggestions.
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When he finally left the now dark living room the door to the kitchen was closed, the order meeting must be going on there, and there wasn´t anyone to be seen. Harry considered trying to eavesdrop, but as he hadn´t any Extendable Ears and there seemed to be a Silencing Charm on the door for he couln´t hear a single sound from the inside, he decided to go upstairs to his room instead. Ron and Hermione must be somewhere up there, too, and although he still hadn´t figured out how to tell them, he could at least have some company.
"Where can Harry be that long? You don´t think they would allow him in the order and us not, do you?"
"Oh Ron! You saw that he went with Dumbledore into the living room, and only Dumbledore came out for the meeting! And they won´t allow anyone who isn´t of age into the order! But I wonder what they needed to talk about. There is something different with Harry, I think there is something he hasn´t told us."
"Different? What do you-" Ron suddenly noticed Harry standing in the door and stopped in mid-sentence. Hermione turned around startled, clearly abashed at being caught talking about Harry behind his back.
His thoughts raced. It seemed they were already right in on the topic, why hadn´t he thought out what he would say before coming up? How do you tell your friends you are to face the most evil dark wizard of your time, and either kill him or die at his hands? That they would be in danger just by staying close to him, so they should better stop that? And do you tell them that you don´t know if you could carry on should they follow that piece of advice? Would they follow that piece of advice?
"You´re right, Hermione, there is something I haven´t told you." They looked expectantly at Harry. "I didn´t know how to tell you, in fact I don´t know now, too… and I didn´t want to believe it myself, I just kept thinking that it wasn´t real… right, I´ll better start at the beginning. When Dumbledore sent me back after that night at the Ministry, he – he told me something. The reason why Voldemort attacked my family that night fifteen years ago. Why he´s so focused on me all the time."
Something like dread began to show in Hermione´s face at that, while Ron made no move at all, he hadn´t even flinched at the use of Voldemort´s name.
"The prophecy, that smashed, was made by Trelawney –and yes, it really was a true one- and Dumbledore witnessed it. He recounted it to me that night. '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 will die at the hand of the other, for neither can live will the other survives…´"
There was a moment of silence, then Harry continued monotonously. "It could have been someone else, but Voldemort heard only the first part of the prophecy and so he didn´t know that marking me would result in making me his equal… he chose me… and so, in the end, I will be the one who has to kill him, or he has to kill me…"
Harry looked up at his friends again. Ron was so pale he seemed almost white, even his lips had lost their colour. In Hermione´s eyes he could see her fear and her hands were shaking although she hugged herself tightly.
"You can´t let anyone know about this prophecy, understood?" he added sharply, "You can´t even let anyone know that you know about this prophecy at all! You and Dumbledore and me are the only ones who know it, and you´ll be in danger when anyone finds out."
He waited till they had both nodded weakly before he drew a shaky breath and came to the last part of his explanation.
"I- You will be in danger as it is… just for being my friends… there were a lot of situations in the past where one of us could have died, and it will get worse from now on. I don´t want to risk you, I don´t know if I could live with myself if something happened to you… Now that I know that prophecy, I´ll oppose Voldemort more …I have to…And I´ll understand if you don´t want to be with me in that… I want you to be safe… I don´t know if I would fight him if I had the choice. I told you about the prophecy so you´d know what you would get yourself into, so you could make your choice… And I´ll really understand if you decide against it, I won´t think any less of you, in fact I´ll be glad because you would at least be safe…"
Harry stopped his rambling. The shocked silence of his friends seemed to wear off and he sensed they were about to object him. He held his hand up. "No! Please think it over! Are you really absolutely sure? Is this really what you want? You have the chance to avoid it. Please think it over… –I, -I´ll be downstairs…"
He stumbled out of the room, his knees trembling. It was the hardest thing he had ever done, and now he could only wait for their answer. When Harry had calmed himself down so far that his hands stopped shaking too badly, he went further down and saw that the meeting must be over because the kitchen door was open. Making up his mind he decided that some company might be better than brooding alone in the dark living room, and walked into the kitchen.
Most order members had already left. Mr Weasley was hungrily eating from a plate his wife had saved him from dinner, Tonks was studying a fashion magazine with a young girl dressed in a gothic style on the front page and Dumbledore and McGonagall were quietly talking over the last sips of their tea. Snape stood near the table, impatiently tapping his foot, but his irritated stare didn´t have the desired effect as his fellow Professors seemed immune to it.
Remus saw Harry entering. "Want a cup of tea, too, Harry?"
Harry nodded, he had clenched his teeth so hard, it felt like his jaw might burst from the tension.
"You all right, dear? You look a bit pale." Mrs Weasley said as she placed a cup in front of him.
"Yes, I´m fine," he forced out and thought he saw a brief understanding shimmer in Dumbledore´s eyes, while Mrs Weasley kept on fussing over him.
Time seemed to stretch out as he listened absently to the others. It was worse than the waiting before the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament, at least then he had known that he would face a dragon, now he didn´t know what to expect.
Finally there were steps of two people coming down the stairs and then Ron and Hermione were standing in the doorway. They looked still shaken, however now there was also a grim determination and a fierce glint in their eyes. And Harry knew what their decision was.
Ron looked at the other people present, who were watching their entry curiously, then stepped closer to Harry and muttered so quietly only he could hear it: "There never was much of a choice to make, mate. We´ve gone through everything together so far, and if you have to fight him, then we ´ll come with you."
Hermione put an arm around each of them. "Yes, you didn´t really think we would leave you alone, did you? Besides, no one will be safe as long as Voldemort is on the loose anyway, and this isn´t only your fight. You may kill him in the end, but we´ll be there at your side."
They remained standing together for a moment until Tonks asked: "Anyone care to explain? –Oh never mind, keep your secrets then! –But what do you say to that hairstyle? D´you think I should try some silver, too?"
Things were definitely looking up.