OMG! I have a new story that you all have to go and read. It's called Darkness Rising: The Unicorn Hunt, and it's co-written with a friend of mine. I would really like to hear your views on it - you can find the story on my favourite stories list, and the author (Three Craaaaaaaazy Aussies) is on my fav. authors. Please go and read it and let us know what you think.

Shines A Light

Chapter Ten: The Morning After

Harry awoke the next morning at his usual before sunrise time. Rather than get up and do his various exercises this morning, Harry remained abed; stroking Grypis's soft, sleeping form. Grypis did not awaken, still worn out from his effort the night before, but he shifted slightly, so that Harry could pet him easier.

After awhile of this tranquil pastime, Harry's back began to ache, and he arose, slipping from the bed carefully, trying not to awaken Grypis. Grypis gave a soft mew at the loss of the extra body warmth, but did not wake, and instead shifted to a slight more comfortable position.

Harry quickly dressed and headed downstairs to the Great Hall. There he found almost the entire staff up and sitting at the Head Table. The aroma of coffee was strong on the air, as the teachers tried to get a caffeine hit to make up for the late night. At one end of the table, Tatsu and Neko were sharing a pot of green tea, and waved Harry over to join them.

No one made any comment when Harry pulled up a chair and settled beside his guardian, pouring himself a cup of green tea and drinking it silently. No sound bar those of breathing and drinking was made for some time, and Harry was unwilling to be the one who broke the silence.

Eventually McGonagall spoke, "I should ask you, Mr. Potter, how you came to be in Hogsmeade in its hour of need … but I am not going to."

Harry just smiled, "All's well then," he murmured, his voice slightly hoarse, from shouting spells the night before, and in the general effects of one who has not spoken for a time. "I don't know exactly what I might have told you … will the villagers require help to clean up the town?"

"The older students will be going down in the afternoon," McGonagall replied, "Once the dead have been found and decently buried. I trust you will be part of that force?"

"Of course," Harry replied. "There is much to be done down there."

The teachers all nodded in agreement. "Classes have been cancelled. Most of the school will be kept in the Great Hall, under the supervision of a few teachers, and the rest of the staff and students will be down in the village, doing everything we can to help," McGonagall said.

Michael sighed, "I hate this," he remarked, "I hate having all this death and destruction going on, especially in a place such as Hogwarts, where children, eleven years and older, can be exposed to it … Why can this not stop?"

Harry looked down, now more than ever feeling the weight of the prophecy on his shoulders. One day he would have to fight Voldemort – but he wasn't ready yet, and because he was not ready, people were dying, like that young girls mother last night …

Tatsu rested a hand on Harry's arm, silently telling Harry that he understood, and that it was not Harry who was to blame for what had gone. "Blame Voldemort," he murmured, almost too softly for Harry to hear, "But do not blame yourself."

Harry nodded slightly, hearing the message. Suddenly the doors opened and the rest of the school, those students not in Gryffindor, started coming in. They all seemed rather surprised by the fact that all of the teachers were awake, and that Harry was sitting with them. It was also very obvious that apart from Harry, no Gryffindor student was yet up.

Whispers passed through the three present houses as everyone started asking why that was. Headmistress McGonagall got to her feet, and everyone fell silent, turning to her. "Students, I have some very grave news for you … last night, Hogsmeade was attacked by a group of Death Eaters – You-Know-Who was not present, but the attack was bad enough.

"Ten residents of Hogsmeade village were killed, and many more were injured. For the rest of the week, classes have been cancelled, and all of the older students will be accompanying most of the staff to Hogsmeade in the afternoon to help with the clean up of the village."

The muttering intensified. "Thanks to the actions of Mr. Potter and a group of students from Gryffindor, along with the staff, the attack was able to be halted without any more death … and so, we salute him!"

Everyone cheered; through from many of the Slytherins, this was obviously half-hearted at the very best. Draco Malfoy at the very back of the crowd, made eye contact with Harry, and jerked his head toward the door – he had something to tell Harry.

Harry murmured an excuse to Tatsu, yawned widely, and headed for the door, going up the staircase to the next floor, and staying there, standing in the shadow of a statue while he awaited Malfoy. Finally the Slytherin boy came outside, and Harry stepped away from the wall. Malfoy came upstairs, and they turned into a secret passage so that if any Gryffindors came downstairs, they would not find Harry speaking with his arch enemy civilly.

"Did you know about the attack?" Harry asked.

"No," Malfoy replied, shaking his head, "That's what I wanted you to know. The Dark Lord rarely summons me to meetings because he knows that I do not know the Unforgivables. He only summons me when he wants information about what it is going on at Hogwarts, never on attack nights."

"You found out about the attack on the train," Harry pointed out.

"Only because they needed my information about how the train was set out, and where I thought you would be," Malfoy replied. "Don't worry, I didn't get in trouble when the attack failed – you made your response seem natural enough, which I suppose I should thank you for, really."

Harry inclined his head slightly, "Well, tell me anything you do learn at the Death Eater meetings … as a matter of interest, the Dark Lord probably wants you to learn the Unforgivables, does he not? He will force you to learn them eventually."

"My father is to teach me over the Christmas break," Malfoy said bitterly. "I will be ordered to participate in the murder of innocents after then. I believe, however, that I will not be requested to come on most raids, because of having to attend classes and not arouse suspicion."

"Well, I suppose that's a good thing. If you need help with anything, I hope you'll come to me" Harry replied, "If not, Tatsu and Neko both know of your role, and they might be able to help you with things. You might like to ask."

Malfoy nodded, and then left. Harry followed the passage to its other end and then headed for the Room of Requirement – he had exercises to do, if they would be going down to the village in the afternoon.

Clean up was hard work, Harry decided, as he trudged up toward Hogwarts that night, with his friends in tow. They had spent the entire afternoon helping the residents clear up Hogsmeade village, clearing away the rubble and using magic to help rebuild. Harry learnt more building charms that night than he had thought possible.

"It's good that we're all such fast learners when it comes to spells really," Hermione remarked as they walked. "Otherwise we'd have had to spend most of the day learning the charms we needed to use." They had learnt everything on site, so the villagers had taught them all what they knew.

"Yeah," Harry agreed. Ron just massaged his wand arm, with a pained expression on his face.

That night they all slept deeply, and Harry dreamt of Sirius, and told him of what had been going on the last few days. Back before Harry had come to Hogwarts this year, Sirius had come to him in one of his dreams and found out that Harry had been made Head Boy. They had had a party that night in celebration, and Sirius had told Harry that his parents would be proud. This night he taught Harry some more building charms, since they would be needed the next day when the students went to continue helping to rebuild Hogsmeade.

It took them the rest of that week to rebuild the town, though several houses were taken down rather than repaired because their residents had died in the attack. The students only helped to rebuild the residential area of the town, leaving the shops and such to the people who lived there. Once the place was habitable again, the students returned to their much needed lessons.

The rest of October passed very quickly, and the first Quidditch match of the year was coming up fast. Gryffindor versus Slytherin – the first game against Slytherin that Harry wouldn't play. He felt sad, but he knew that the Gryffindor team stood a good chance without him, especially since Ginny would have the Firebolt to speed her. She was a good flyer.

The morning of the match dawned bright and clear and Harry dressed as a spectator, rather than a player. That morning most of the school remembered Harry's back and many of them came to give him condolences on not being able to fly. Several people said that in the past they had looked forward to Quidditch matches simply because they got to see him in the air.

Harry didn't find any comfort in this at all, and he and Hermione soon left the Great Hall to journey to the Quidditch Pitch. There, they made their way up to the top of the stands, accompanied by Tatsu and Neko. Down on the pitch, Madam Hooch was preparing for the game. When she released the balls, Harry forced himself to pay attention to the Gryffindor changing room doors, rather than track the Snitch across the pitch.

Soon enough, the door swung open and the Gryffindor team came out onto the pitch, Ron walking proudly in the lead. Harry wished, as he often had, that he had been Quidditch Captain instead of Head Boy. Organising Prefect meetings wasn't all that fun, though the Heads had their own bathrooms, which were pretty nice, and they were allowed out of the common room at any time they chose. They could also give out detentions and take away House points.

Still, he would have preferred to have been Quidditch Captain and take Ron's place, leading the Gryffindor team out across the pitch to stand before their green-garbed opponents. Ron and Malfoy shook hands and the two teams took off. Ginny was in his position, on his broom, but she was flying well. Harry knew that as long as Gryffindor won, the game would have been a success … but he still wished he was up there.

The Slytherin's tried to cheat as much as they ever did, but the Gryffindor team kept their good spirits and refused to allow the Slytherin's to get to them.

Ron did a brilliant job of defending the goals and the Chasers worked as a great team, getting plenty of goals passed the Slytherin Keeper. Harry, watching the game, realised that the Slytherin's relied to much on cheating, as opposed to amazing skill, although the team was a good one, to deal well when the other team didn't get frustrated.

When both Ginny and Malfoy spotted the Snitch and went hurtling after it, the Firebolt's extra speed enabled Ginny to beat Malfoy to the Snitch with ease, and Gryffindor won the game. Even if Malfoy had caught the Snitch, his team was so far behind that it wouldn't have won them the game in any case.

Despite his feelings about not being able to play himself, Harry cheered as loudly as anyone else in the Gryffindor stands.

When everyone headed down to congratulate the team in person, Harry slipped away and headed for the Forbidden Forest. He was not sure why he went that way, but he felt drawn there. Grypis, on his shoulder, did not protest, so Harry figured it was alright.

He entered the forest calmly, and felt no fear as his instincts guided him deeper into the forest. When he did stop, he knew that he was not a tremendous distance into the forest, but certainly enough that no one would hear him if he screamed for help, and even if they did, no one would get to him in time to stop anything from happening.

He heard something moving off to one side of him, and turned in a circle, eyeing the surrounding forest carefully, ready for anything and not in the least afraid of what might come. He was just slightly nervous that he would undo all the work he'd done on his back if he strained it too much.

"Grypis?" Harry asked, wondering if the griffin knew what was going on.

"There is no danger," Grypis replied immediately, sounding calm.

As Harry stood in the clearing, still and listening, safe within his centre, there was another sound from the bushes and then a huge, completely white wolf came into the clearing to stand before Harry, gazing up at the human with mature, gentle, and very proud silver eyes.

"Your friend has grown up," Grypis remarked, as Harry knelt on the ground so that his eyes were on a level with those of the wolf-creature. "It is much more powerful than when you last saw it."

"Do you remember me?" he asked the creature allowed, not completely sure why he was talking to it, but feeling that he should.

"I gave you a gift," the creature told him, it's voice echoing through Harry's mind, like, and unlike, Grypis's voice. "Of course I remember you."

"You can speak to me now," Harry said softly, with a feeling of awe that he did not completely understand. This creature was powerful.

"It is something I have learned," the creature agreed. "Have you enjoyed the gift I granted you?"

"I have," Harry replied, "But … being fearless is all very well, don't get me wrong, but it makes me take dangerous risks. Could you possibly take the gift back, and let me fear again?"

The creature looked up at him, some unreadable emotion hovering in its silvery eyes, then game forward and pressed its snout against Harry's forehead. Suddenly Harry felt fear rushing back to him, a feeling he hadn't had for many months now … and one that, surprisingly, he almost missed.

" You are one of only a few who have ever received a gift from my kind, and the only one who as ever requested it be taken back… you are wise for one of you kind. When you are in need of a gift, and decide on one that you feel you will need, call me, and I shall grant it to you," the creature told Harry softly, stepping back.

"Can you bring someone back from the dead for me?" Harry asked, thinking longingly of Sirius.

"Such a gift would not be for you, so no, I cannot," was the gentle reply. "Until we meet again … and rest assured – we will," with that, the wolf-creature was gone, bounding off into the forest, which was beginning to go dark, heralding the fall of night.

Harry shivered with nerves, and started back for the castle, "Let's get home before anything nasty comes out to play," he remarked to Grypis. "I'd forgotten how it felt to be frightened," he added thoughtfully, "I think I'm glad I remember."

They continued walking for a short time, as dusk continued to settle, and, as Harry dodged under a branch and cursed when the pain in his back flamed into life, he realised something. "I could have asked for it to mend my back completely," he remarked to Grypis, "Why didn't I think of that at the time? I feel really stupid now."

"Perhaps it is best if you don't ask for your gift right now anyway," Grypis remarked, "You never know what you will need tomorrow, and even more so what you will need in several months time. You know that in another five or six months your back will be able to function as it always has."

Harry nodded thoughtfully, "Yes, I suppose you're right," he agreed, "perhaps it is a good thing I forgot."

Harry emerged from the forest and made his way up to the castle, Grypis purring contentedly on his shoulder. It was nice to be back to normal ... or as normal as he ever got.

You've been rather lucky when it comes to updates recently, and look at this, I've updated three stories in one day! Deceptions, this and Darkness Rising: The Unicorn Hunt. I don't have time to put up the thanks, but I'll do that next chapter ...Please read the new story!

Thanks everyone!

WolfMoon