A/N: I'm back. I abandoned writing this story months ago but rereading the fifth book has resparked my interest so I'm giving it another go. Sorry to all those (very few) who were enjoying the story. I'm going to try to stick with it to the end this time. All your reviews are what keeps me going. You woulnd't believe how much I appreciate a review. Even "YOU SUCK!" at least I know that somone read it.

Chapter 6: The time will soon come

Harry was awoken just before the last classes of the day ended by Neville.

"C'mon, lets go down for supper," he said.

Grudgingly Harry removed himself from his bed and walked out of the room with Neville. Harry had a feeling Neville wished to discuss something with him so he followed, much as he would have like to have stayed in bed and sleep off his wounds.

When they arrived in the hall classes had finished and some students where coming into the great hall rather than wait a bit for supper in their common rooms. Harry and Neville took a seat at Gryffindor table.

"Harry, I think Voldemort's up to something and it's going to happen here, very soon," Neville whispered.

Harry nodded for his friend to continue on.

"I have a feeling though that he will not try to attack you though."

"Why not?" questioned Harry, "I told you the prophecy."

"Yes, that's why he won't go after you. He'll go after on of your friends since he wouldn't come here himself since he knows that he probably wouldn't stand a chance against you and Albus so he'll send someone else."

"Yeah so?"

"So, since the prophecy says that," he looked around, "'one must die at the hand of the other' that means that only he can kill you, not somebody else. In fact if you wanted right now you could have fifty people cast the killing curse on you while getting stabbed by seventy daggers and having your eyes poked out by vultures while suffering of every disease imaginable and you still wouldn't die! But if one of the people was Voldemort, you would."

Harry thought about it for a moment, "I guess you're right. Wow, I could do anything pretty much!"

"Well you'd probably still get really badly hurt but you wouldn't die."

From there they moved on to lighter topics such as their first classes and the beating Harry had received courtesy of Professor Verplank. Eventually the rest of their friends joined them at the table.

"Bloody hell Harry, what happened to you?" asked Ron upon seeing Harry's slightly more beat up appearance.

"Er,-" Harry started.

"-tripped and fell on our way to class he did," answered Neville for him. Harry sent him a grateful smile.

"On his face?" asked Ginny.

"It was nasty," replied Neville.

Soon supper was starting but before it did Dumbledore gave a brief announcement, "Tomorrow at seven we will be holding the captains tryouts, all who wish to be team captains should report to the pitch by quarter to seven tomorrow evening. Let us eat."

And the discussion quickly changed to quidditch.

"Who d'you recon will be the captains?" asked Ron.

"I'm betting that Harry gets in," said Ginny.

"Well, I'd be okay with that," said Harry modestly.

The next day found the Gyrffindors chatting over breakfast until it was time for classes to start. Harry's first class was potions, which he had mixed feelings about. It would be his first ever potions class that wasn't under the direction of Snape, but it would also be under the direction of a seventy-eight year old that beat him up the day before.

As he and Hermione entered the class he picked a seat at the far back. Hermione looked longingly at the front of the class but came to sit beside Harry. It turned out that Neville too was in Potions and he sat on Harry's other side.

"Hi, Harry!" said Neville cheerfully, "Bet you didn't expect to see me in advanced Potions did you? But without Snape watching over me I did really well on the exam!"

"Nice one." Said Harry without much conviction, for Professor Verplank had just entered the class.

"Good morning everyone!" he beamed at them all, "My name as you may know is Professor Verplank" he waved his wand at the board and the proper spelling appeared there, "I'm glad to see such an eager group of students with me this year as we will be covering a lot of ground this year to prepare you for your NEWT year. You will be tested on a regular basis and will submit a sample of every completed potion you produce in this class. Well I think that should do for introductions."

Harry took a glance around the room and saw students from all four houses, indicating that only one advanced potions class had been assembled this year.

"Today we will begin with a simple potion that you will be able to have finished for the end of class. The potion is a hair-growing potion. Your instructions are," he waved his wand at the board and his name was replaced with the recipe, " on the board. Any questions, feel free to ask."

Professor Verplank walked behind his desk and watched as the students began work on their potions. Harry found it all together more enjoyable than any lesson he'd ever had with Snape. He felt confidant that as his brown hair-growing potion lay on professor Verplank's desk after class that his potion was near perfect.

He walked to his next class, another defense with Snape.

Hermione and Harry entered to find Ron already at his trademark spot in the back. The two took seats on either side of him.

Snape was nowhere in sight, and remained that was for 5 minutes. Suddenly when Harry was considering leaving to catch up on his homework Snape fell from the ceiling with his wand pointed at the floor.

"TRAMPOLINO!" he bellowed while falling.

He hit the floor hard but surprisingly he bounced up and landed on his feet.

"I have just given you a demonstration of the bouncing charm and the sticking charm." He announced with but a trace of modesty, "We will be practicing these charms today under my careful supervision."

He went on to give the proper annunciation and wand movements for both charms. Then the students lined up and tried it for themselves. All was going well until Lavender became panicked and used a reductor curse rather than the bouncing charm. Luckily Snape had stopped it and placed his own bouncing charm on the floor.

And then it was Harry's turn. He climbed his way up the wall then let go and started his bouncing charm.

"Trampol-" but he never finished, "-Shut up you imbecile boy! CRUCIO!" Harry's wand pointed at Snape who was about to apply his own bouncing charm.

Snape writhed in pain and nobody stopped Harry from colliding with the floor.

Pain seared through Harry's body. No sooner had he felt it than he had started laughing. The same laugh as the year before. All the students watched on in horror, some shrieking and the odd few fainting. And that was the last thing Harry knew.

He awoke in the hospital wing several hours later with a much reduced throbbing in his chest where he had belly-flopped onto the floor. He supposed by now he had the all-time record for most visits to the hospital wing by a single student but he wasn't in any hurry to extend his record. Mme. Pomfrey who had noticed Harry's arousal hurried over to him.

"You mustn't move dear, the potion works best on an immobile body." She told him.

"Yeah, alright." Said Harry absently. What had happened to him? Had Voldemort once again intruded into his mind? He didn't dare think that he himself had produced such a powerful cruciactus curse. The cruciactus curse! Fudge was sure to get wind of that and he'd have him expelled and sent…to Azkaban. Although with the recent rebellion of the dementors he couldn't expect it to be quite so bad.

At that moment Dumbledore rushed into the room, robes billowing behind him.

"Ah, Harry!" He said, joyfully, "Good to have you back. I suppose you're wondering what happened just now."

"No, not at all, I'm certain that Voldemort tried to take control of me so that he could kill me but what I want to know is why since he knows that the only one who can kill me is him?"

"It would seem you've figured out how the prophecy may help you! As to your question though I have no idea. You'd best stop getting into trouble like this though your aunt is back at home now but she feels an odd tugging at her heart whenever you sustain an injury" replied Dumbledore.

"Oh." Said Harry only partially interested as he was beginning to feel very sleepy, "Sorry, Albus, I'm feeling drowsy at the moment."

"No problem at all Harry, I'll be sure to catch up with you on another occasion though."

And with a sweep of his robes he was out the door. Harry was asleep before his head hit the pillow. It was a good while later until he woke up, quite unnaturally though as he was being shaken.

"Stofit," he said groggily, "g'way"

"Harry! Wake up!" screamed a voice.

That was enough to wake the other half of him up.

"I'm up! I'm up!" he said sitting up sharply to a large pain in his ribs and right leg. He saw Ginny looking frantically around the room.

"It's terrible!" she managed in between gasps, "Apparently all the death eaters broke out of Azkaban and a total of 30 of them broke into the school!"

Harry tried climbing out of bed but found that his leg could not support his weight. As much as he hated to resort to muggle means he could think of no other way and he conjured up a pair of crutches. It never occurred to him that he neither knew how to do a conjuring spell nor did he have his wand.

As much as it pained him he hobbled to the door and turned to Ginny, "Where are they?"

"Is the widdle Harry wost?"

Harry froze. And just as quickly his temper boiled over the top. There was no mistaking the voice of Bellatrix Lestrange. He wheeled around wand already drawn from its quick draw location on his back.

"You," he said his voice shaking and arm outstretched towards Bellatrix, "YOU!"

"Wooks like the widdle Harry hurt himsewf. He won't be able to fight wike that."

Harry's anger took control. The inferno blazed around him. Blazing to life with a loud explosion. Ginny had been thrust against the wall but he did not care. All that mattered was squeezing the very last drop of blood out of that vile woman. His crutches seemed to have disappeared and he was holding two cannon-like things.

He fired spell after spell towards Bellatrix, wandless or not.

"STOP HARRY!" cried a voice that seemed quite distant; he would not let it interrupt this. He fired a curse in the voice's direction and was surprised to see it deflected.

Neville ran at top speed towards the hospital wing, Harry was the one he needed to see, he always knew what he was doing. He heard noises coming from the room and nothing could have prepared him for what he saw. Harry was holding two strange objects and firing curse after curse at something he could not see, as it was behind a curtain. He was literally on fire, green fire all around him.

He saw Dumbledore beside him yell at Harry to stop. Harry turned to Dumbledore and for a moment Neville saw his eyes and saw nothing but evil. Then he fired on Dumbledore. Neville whipped out his wand and sent the curse away. That had been a cruciactus curse!

Neville quickly threw a stunning charm at Harry but the fire surrounding him ate is with a sinister crackle. He threw everything he had and saw Dumbledore doing the same. He also noticed Ginny lying on the floor against the wall and hoped desperately that she wasn't dead.

It was then that he decided to try his powers. He reached down inside himself and the familiar glowing enveloped him. He put his wand away. He knew that he had no need of it. He summoned a rod holding up one of the curtains but not before Harry sent it away. He conjured one of his own.

He didn't want to hurt Harry but he knew that he needed to do something about what Harry was doing. What was wrong with him? He bent the pole into a circle and was just finishing when Harry sent a cruciactus curse at him. He dropped his hoop and placed some of his magic in it and leapt to the side before rolling behind a bed.

Soon after the bed was incinerated. He sent a disarming charm at Harry while running towards another bed, he jumped onto it as Harry did the same across the room from him. Neville jumped and managed to grab the chandelier and it ripped from the ceiling and it was about to fall on top of him.

Quickly he levitated it above himself and kick-jumped himself up just in time to see one of Harry's next volley of curses. But just as they were approaching time seemed to slowe down and Neville could easily wind his way in and out of the various curses. Then he sent the chandelier back to the ceiling above his hoop.

Neville ran under it. Harry slowly started walking towards him. Neville too was now slowly backing away until he came against the wall. He was nearly there.

As soon as Harry stepped into Neville's make shift hoop, Neville flicked his wand at the chandelier, which began its descent to Harry's head just as Harry shouted, "AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Neville had little time to think, he conjured a mirror in front of him realizing too late what might happen to Harry. Harry was looking up at the chandelier and also realized too late that his spell had come back on him, he thrust out his right hand to block the spell but it was too late and blasted his hand, right before the chandelier landed on his head.

If it wasn't for the fact that only Voldemort could kill Harry he'd have been long dead twice over.

Dumbledore awoke Harry several minutes later. He had a grave expression on his face. There was a pounding on the door but Dumbledore ignored it. Neville was standing nearby his face both pale and sweaty from exertion. Harry's hand felt pain beyond imagination, he couldn't even feel it. He decided to just stay lying on the floor.

"Harry there is something which I think you should see." Said Dumbledore, there was no expression in his voice.

He levitated Harry around the curtain which Neville had seen him firing curses at. Harry felt his stomach lurch, he remembered what he had just done just not the details. Dumbledore set him down leaning against the nearby wall and he drew back the curtain.

Inside was the most disgusting thing Harry had ever seen. In the center of the enclosure was a mangled corpse not even distinguishable as Bellatrix's. Blood was all over the walls and most of her bones were broken. Harry sickened at the though that he had done that, even if it was Bellatrix. He leaned to the side and vomited.

"Now Harry, I don't care what your excuse is, I'm taking 100 points from Gryffindor. He looked at Harry's hand. And I'm going to have to give you detention for a month, this is going to look very bad indeed." He said shaking his head, "It's lucky for you that Neville is such a skilled wizard. Today in class Voldemort took over your mind but just now he did not. That," he gestured to Bellatrix, "is your doing alone. You need to learn to control your powers not the other way around. Power is a dangerous thing and it corrupts, we have Voldemort to attest to that. Also the attack wasa failure in that, nobody was harmed. Only 3 death eaters actually came, the rest were illusions."

He decided not to tell Harry that the words: THE TIME WILL SOON COME, on the walls of the great hall. He then walked over to Ginny and uttered, "Enervate," and then flicked his wand at the curtains, which closed, then the door.

Professors McGonagall, Snape and Flitwick all tumbled into the room. Their conversation was lost on Harry. He was still revolted with what he had done to Bellatrix. He did not even notice Ginny crawl to the left of him. She seemed apprehensive.

"Are you alright Harry?" she asked, "All I remember was being thrown against the wall." She rubbed the back of her head gingerly.

"I'm sorry," said Harry plainly, "I, I, I'm a monster! I don't even deserve to talk to you!"

He stood up. Ginny moved towards him to hug him.

"Go!" cried Harry. He stretched his arms out to push her away but only one hand connected. It was as if his right hand had gone right through Ginny. He could see his wrist sticking out of her loose robes. And then it struck him. He felt sense of helplessness that he had never before felt.

He could see Ginny's robes were already shining from the blood on them and he knew the truth, the horrible truth.

He slowly removed himself from Ginny's robes. As he did she gasped. For after Harry's wrist there came nothing for the blast had incinerated his hand.