Shines A Light

Chapter Seventeen: Plans

The Easter holiday was by no means a fun one by anyone's standards. The only good thing was the Easter eggs that Mrs. Weasley sent them, which they gorged upon while they continued to study, and, in Harry and Ron's case, exercise as well. Harry was flying with the Quidditch team as well as practicing with both Tatsu and Neko now. While he was not going to participate in the last game of the year, he'd been longing to fly again for ages now.

He didn't fly every practice, but the exercise he was getting was taking up a fair bit of time none-the-less, and while he didn't concentrate on that as much as his schoolwork, Hermione still frowned at him when he came in from one of his rounds. He was very glad that he didn't have consecutive tests, because otherwise he would be in a really bad position. He needed to exercise if he was going to keep his back limber, but at the same time he needed to do well in the tests for his career after school.

Still, he had enough time that he could do both reasonably well, and he was still doing ok in his tests, or so he thought, at least. He'd now done both of the Transfiguration and Potions exams, and his first test after the holidays was Defence Against the Dark Arts, so he was studying for Charms instead, which would be the test after that. Even Hermione had to admit that Harry would ace the Defence Against the Dark Arts exam with no study at all. He simply knew too much about the subject to fail it.

Harry was looking forward to the exam, because he knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew very well that he would be one of the best in his year at the subject, if not the best. It was nice to know that you were going to do really well before you even went into the exam, which was something that Harry hadn't really experienced before.

The theory exam was very easy, as far as Harry was concerned, but then, he'd been studying the books that Aurors would learn from in their training courses more than he had the actual texts that seventh years were supposed to be working with, so he knew a lot more about most of the spells than was usually taught in school.

When the time for the practical test came around, Harry was feeling both happy and energetic, a state which was in no way mirrored by any one of his friends or year mates. He couldn't wait for his turn to come around so that he could go out there and do something that he knew exactly what to do in.

It seemed an absolute age before his name was called, along with that of several others in his year, who all looked nervous and hesitant. Harry walked straight into the hall and up to the nearest supervisor, who was the same man that had been there in Harry's OWL exam for this subject. "Hi Professor," he greeted the man happily enough.

"Mr. Potter, good to see you again," Professor Tufty smiled in greeting. "Now, I think we all know that you're going to be absolutely brilliant at this, so lets get started so we can see what you can do …" The test turned out to be as easy as Harry had hoped it would be, and by the end of it, he was certain that he had passed with flying colours. Professor Tufty did nothing to dissuade him from this view, murmuring things like 'extraordinary' and 'exceedingly well done' under his breath whenever Harry did something.

Then the examination was over, and Harry was sent out of the Hall, his who body filled with happiness at what he knew had been an exam well done. He found Hermione in the Gryffindor tower, already studying for another exam, and joined her to work more on Charms. He didn't know what he was going to do about Divination, which would be held the day after Charms, but after two years with Firenze, he was sure he would be able to do something, though probably not as good as he would like to do.

He would study a little, but Charms was more important, as far as he was concerned. It would actually go towards his career as an Auror, and the only reason that he viewed Divination as being important was because if he failed that, they might not allow him to go for Auror training.

So he would have to study for that as well, however much he wished he had dropped the subject – Firenze was a good teacher, but that shouldn't have been enough to get him to do the course. But he'd been foolish and had done it, now he had to finish what he had started.

Throughout the exams so far, Harry had been keeping an eye on the news, and had discovered that Voldemort was attacking with more ferocity than ever before – Harry had the feeling that the Dark Lord was trying to draw Harry away from Hogwarts, as he had back when Harry had been doing the OWLs. But he had to take a different course this time, as he could no longer enter Harry's mind and send him visions. Now Voldemort had use physical means to try and convince Harry to come after him.

And they weren't going to work.

If Harry was going to go after Voldemort he would certainly not do so alone, and he would not leave Hogwarts without a very detailed plan in mind that he could enact and which would prevent harm to anyone within his group. He simply listened to the reports that Blaise gave him, often second hand from Snape, and plotted in his mind whenever he found the time.

He knew that his friends were worried about him. He wasn't reacting to what he saw in the newspapers, just reading the reports and adding the information to what he already had – he didn't have the time to become emotional over it. After the exams, when he had more time to think about things, then he could shout and scream and carrying on about the deaths that needn't have happened, but that would only distract him now, and he had no time for such distractions. His friends probably thought that he was keeping quiet because he was going to do something stupid, but he didn't tell them any different because he wasn't sure that he wouldn't end up doing something stupid, but he hoped that he could avoid that.

He spoke with Tatsu and Neko a lot, because he knew that they were both level headed, and, while they cared about him a lot, they wouldn't try to stop him doing what was necessary – so long as he had a solid plan of action and would only do something if he had help. They were helping him form his plan, and he knew that he would not have been able to think of many of things that they had on his own.

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The next two weeks passed in something of a blur for Harry. When he looked back on the time, he could vaguely remember studying for exams and sitting them, and his elation when he knew that he got something right. He knew that he did reasonably well at most of the exams, although Divination hadn't been very fun at all, but he thought he'd gotten a decent mark for that.

Charms, Care of Magical Creatures and Astronomy also passed well, and then, suddenly, the exams were over …

"I can hardly believe it," Harry remarked the night after the last exam, sitting at the table with Tatsu and Neko in their rooms, "The exams hardly seemed to start, and then they were over. I can hardly remember doing anything this last month …"

Tatsu laughed, "I think I know how you feel," he replied. "I'm sure you're going to be utterly exhausted tomorrow as the workload catches up to you, so we'll give you the morning off, but I expect you down here in the afternoon, because you can't be allowed to get lazy, or encourage you to skip training for any reason what so ever."

Harry nodded. He had come to eat dinner with his family in celebration of the end of the NEWT exams, and he knew that it would be as Tatsu said. By tomorrow morning, the euphoria of being finished with school would have worn off to be replaced by absolute exhaustion from all the late nights and continuous studying he'd been doing.

He finished his meal, stayed for awhile to chat with Tatsu and Neko, then headed back to the Tower to collapse on his bed and fall immediately into a very deep sleep, the like of which he hadn't been able to enjoy for some time now, with all the things that he had been doing.

By the time he woke the following morning, Harry was amazed to discover that it was already almost noon. The deep sleep had left him feeling well rested and ready for just about anything, so he headed downstairs for lunch, then, when all of his year-mates headed outside to celebrate finishing school, he went upstairs to join Tatsu and Neko for training.

School might be over, but as Tatsu had said, that didn't mean Harry could get away with not training. He could celebrate later, after he'd exercised and planned. Or at least, that's what he thought he could do.

"Now, Harry, I know you're probably very tired and more than ready to go and celebrate quietly with your friends, but … the Order wants to speak with you," Tatsu said. "The attacks are going on, and more wizards are dying every day – they were willing to leave you alone when you had to concentrate on your exams, I made sure of that, but they want to do something about it, and Moody thought that you should be involved with it, since it's your fight more so than anyone else's."

"Have you told them my plan?" Harry asked.

"No. I thought that I'd leave that to you," Tatsu replied. Harry nodded. "Let me change and then let's go," he said coolly, before ducking into the bathroom and changing from his Gi into black pants and a white shirt, shrugging a jacket on over the top of that and running a comb quickly through his hair.

Appearances, he'd found, often made the world of difference. Hurrying back out, he joined Tatsu and Neko at the fireplace and they Flooed together to Grimmauld Place and the Order of the Phoenix. When they walked into the kitchen, they found the entire Order gathered there, looking worried, all of them seeming to be talking at once.

"We have to do something-"

"Can't go on like this-"

"What can we do?"

But everyone slowly quietened down as they saw Harry, Tatsu and Neko in the doorway, and all of them were looking at Harry as if he was the answer to their prayers, which was not what he wanted to see. That meant that they had probably come up with some plan on their own, and one which they would need his help for.

And indeed, that was the case. They wanted to move the battle straight along, and, with the entire Order and the Aurors from the Ministry in support, send Harry up against Voldemort. They thought he was close to being ready, and their main plan seemed to be that Harry would be kept back, while they attacked Voldemort first off, kept back the Death Eaters and tried to wear Voldemort down enough that they could Harry in to deal the death blow which only he could give.

Harry listened politely as Moody went through the plan, although by the looks of things Moody didn't seem to think the plan had much merit – Harry was willing to bet that it had been concocted by one of the other members of the Order and, without any better plan to go on, and with all the terror that Voldemort was spreading, and the death count rising daily, Moody had seen no option but to agree to the plan.

Beside him, he knew that both Tatsu and Neko didn't like the plan either. Nothing showed on their faces that anyone who didn't know them extremely well could see, but Harry knew Tatsu very well, and he could see the traces of anger and disbelief that the man was trying to hide.

When Moody stopped talking, Harry looked at him and asked, "Is that it?" when Moody nodded, Harry rose to his feet and swept his gaze around the room. "I'm sorry to have to say this, but I must. That is one of the stupidest plans I've ever heard. Voldemort does not use brute strength, he uses subterfuge, but he is very used to us using brute strength against him – that is what we did last time he rose to the power, and so far, that is what we have done this time, more often that not. I do not think that it will work again.

"I say that we should fight subterfuge in like kind. We have spies amongst the Death Eaters, we can use them to plant rumours and sew discontent amongst Voldemort's supporters, but only when he can't see them. The Death Eaters crave power above all else, we know that, and if let some of the know that this person, or that one, is moving up fast in the ranks, or has Voldemort's ear, then they will do all they can to supplant that person and get power for themselves.

"If we could get the Dementors on our side, that would be good, but I doubt that we could – we might be able to convince some of the Death Eaters to join us, depending on who we ask, when, and how. If they can be convinced that Voldemort is losing his grip, then they might turn.

"Use the spies also to find out when and where Voldemort is going to attack, but instead of going there and meeting him in battle, just take the people and their most prized possessions away and hide them, make it look like they've just gone out for the night, or left on holiday, and make it seem like Voldemort mistimed his attack."

Harry paused there, and looked around. Everyone was nodding slowly, many of them wanted to agree with Harry, but they weren't completely sure. He supposed that he had better make them listen, and so, before anyone could speak up and say anything about the plan, he spoke again, just one sentence, but it was enough to send everyone into a momentary silence, "I refuse to take part in the plan that you presented to me, because I doubt that it will work."

Harry gave an internal smile after that – he, and they, knew perfectly well that their own plan would never work unless he was there to help them, even though his role was so minor, or so it seemed. He would only have to deliver the killing blow. Finally, the silence was broken by the woman Katharine, who Harry didn't know very well, but he knew that many of the Order didn't like her all that much, and she had been guarding him when he first met Tatsu, almost two years ago now.

"So you think that your plan is better than ours, and you refuse to take part in any plan that you didn't come up with?" she asked him, somewhat mockingly. "Playing the hero and thinking that you're better than the rest of us, just because we need you?"

"No," Harry said calmly, looking her straight in the eyes. "If you can come up with another plan, one that it is not as stupid as your first one, and one that you can convince me will work better than mine, then I will help out in any way I can. I merely refuse to follow your first plan. I will leave you to think, and possibly act, upon my words – if you think of another plan, or wish to ask my advice, or my aid, with anything, you will find me at Hogwarts."

With that, he nodded indiscriminately to the room and left. He knew that he was being a little dramatic, but in his mind, it was completely justified. He hadn't been able to do much for the Order while he'd been at school, and he had never taking much of a role within the group, other than that of the necessary saviour, but they had to realise that he was more than just a necessity. He could help out … but he had not wish to take a leading role – they had heard the first part of his plan, and they could talk it over and decide if they wished to act on it, Tatsu and Neko could always tell them about the later stages of the plan, but for now, he was going back to Hogwarts. He'd finished his seven years training to be a wizard, now he wanted to celebrate for awhile, and not think about the other responsibilities that he had.

Just for one night.

Well, it looks like I've managed to finish a new chapter before anyone got around to reviewing the last one. Then again, I did only upload it a couple of hours ago. Here's chapter seventeen! I have decided to upload chapters as I finish them, so expect lots of updates in the next little while. Please review! I love reviews, and without them, I lose the want to write fast, or update …

WolfMoon