New chapter! Sorry about the delay to anyone who actually reads this, but... I'll explain at the bottom.

"You're the new Prefect!"

The rest of the holidays passed quickly for the four Gryffindors, and they were soon approaching a close. Harry continued to make his lists, now with Hermione helping him when she wasn't busy helping Ginny with her summer work, or nagging Ron about anything and everything under the sun. Soon, Harry had a large list of spells to teach the D.A., and he moved onto other things.

"Why the bloody hell are you working on Potions, Harry? Can't you wait till we get back to school to inflict that stuff upon yourself!" Ron said as he threw himself down into the chair next to Harry. He looked up from the Potions text he was reading, and watched as Ron flipped open the pages of the Quidditch book and began to intently thumb his way through it.

Shaking his head, Harry went back to his reading as he replied. "Because, Ron, if you think Snape is going to go easy on me for one second, your more delusional than Malfoy thinking he could ever beat me in a duel. He's going to be trying his hardest to kick me out of class, and considering it's the NEWTs, he can do so rather easily if I don't at least try and stay ahead of him. So, for now, I read!"

"Oh… well, if it's to spite that greasy git, then I suppose it's okay. I'm just thankful that I don't have to take it anymore." The two read on in silence, only broken by the turning of the pages as one studied and the other strategized.

The library door swung open silently, and a short figure quietly slipped inside. It waited for a few seconds, and then began a slow, roundabout advance towards the two teenage boys, taking its time to not make any noise and stay out of view of both of them. Slowing reaching into its pockets, it drew out an item and a wand. When the figure had made it within a few steps of the two readers, the figure tapped its wand to the item, and flung it towards them.

Harry dove to the ground the second the item was thrown, and therefore only Ron was turned bright purple with electric blue and orange spots. He blinked down at himself for a second, before he roared, leaping out of his chair to chase down the fleeing figure, the long red hair identifying it as the youngest of the Weasley siblings, Ginny. Harry remained on the floor, curled up from laughter. The sounds of the pursuit could still distantly be heard, mainly Ron's shouted promises of vengeance most dire, when Hermione joined him in the library and closed the door.

"Honestly, those two. I wish Fred and George had never come up with that idea." The idea she was referring to was the brilliant (or so Ron and Harry thought, Hermione and Mrs Weasley believed otherwise) idea of giving Ron, Ginny and Harry access to the latest lines of pranks, before they were fully tested. They called it beta-testing, something they said they'd overheard some Muggles talking about when they'd been wandering around in Muggle London one day, so they'd appropriated the term for their own use. They'd assured the others that these pranks had been tested to the point where they were mostly certain of the side-effects, and that the whole thing was easily reversible, but they wanted to test them for use 'in the field' so to speak. This, of course, had triggered a minor war between Ron and Ginny, and also between Harry and Remus, the siblings one being the more overt. Still, it had become a common sight to see any of the four with some symptoms of a new Wheeze affecting them, though Remus often cancelled the effects as soon as he could, which had the other three complaining about how the under-age magic laws were rubbish.

"Don't worry about, Hermione" Harry said, dusting himself off as he got up off the floor, "they're just letting off some steam. And let Mrs Weasley yell at them if anyone is going to." Sitting back down, Harry took the Potions text and started reading from where he had left off. He heard her wander off amongst the bookshelves, before she came back and sat down in one of the nearby chairs with a huge book.

Ron wandering back in, muttering under his breathe. The colours were already fading from the prank, so he sat down and went back to reading his book. Harry watched for a second as he pulled some parchment from out of his pocket, and began to note down something from the book, pulling a quill from another pocket. A few minutes later, Ginny slunk in as well, carrying a textbook along with some parchment. She sat down and started to work, and the four sat there silently for some time.

A few hours later, the cry of dinner made Ron and Harry's heads snap up, and they almost immediately dropped their books and headed downstairs, almost getting jammed in the doorway. The two girls followed more sedately after them, laughing at their behaviour. Dinner was quickly over, and the four were sitting at the table over the last of the dessert when the front door slammed open. Mrs Black began screaming, and the four drew their wands and pointed them towards the door. When the screaming quickly stopped, Harry cautiously advanced to the door, and carefully opened it up a fraction. He sighed in relief, and swung the door open fully. A few members of the Order of the Phoenix stood in the hallway, looking like they'd been in the middle of a savage storm. He waved to Tonks, who waved back, before he moved back into the dining room. "Weather must have changed, they all look fine, just a bit weather-worn." The others sighed in relief, and went back to their desserts.

Soon, Tonks and Kingsley Shacklebolt joined them in the dining room, both bitterly complaining about the weather, Tonks in particular. Her hair was even wilder than usual, continuously in motion between colours as she voiced her discontent, and even changing in length sometimes, which just seemed to make it worse. She shook her head in disgust, only to fling water at everyone in the room as her incredibly long hair went everywhere, to cries of "Bloody hell Tonks!"

The metamorphagus blushed before pulling herself to her full height and sending a glare around the room. As everyone sat down around the kitchen, her hair shrunk back to its normal length, though the colours kept rotating quickly. Again the portrait of Mrs. Black began screaming as the front door banged open again, more Order of the Phoenix members pouring in through the door, shaking off the rain and moving into the kitchen quickly. Soon the kitchen was full, and the youngsters were hustled out by the Weasley matriarch, protesting as they went.

The four stood outside the kitchen briefly, before making their way back up the stairs to the library to continue the reading that dinner had interrupted. While last summer, they would have made some effort to listen in on the Order meetings, this summer they didn't bother. The only news the Order usually had was routine surveillance information on Dark activities. The Death Eaters and Voldemort had been largely silent, only the occasional Muggle disappearance taking place. Even though the Dementors had already left Azkaban Prison, the Death Eaters captured at the Department of Mysteries were still securely locked up. Harry and the others could only assume that it was the calm before the storm.

A couple of hours later, the shrieking of the portrait heralded the ending of the Order meeting, and surely enough a few minutes later Mrs. Weasley came to huddle them along to their bedrooms. Harry yawned and tiredly waved to Ron and the girls as he headed for his own bed, quickly running through his Occulmency exercises before falling into a deep sleep. Unfortunately, it wasn't to remain that way for long.

Harry felt himself flying around the countryside, before he suddenly slammed into a room, the flickering of the light from the fireplace and the candles telling him it wasn't a Muggle dwelling. He looked around, and could only see shadows along the plain stone walls. Sweeping his gaze along the walls again, he noticed something beginning to emerge from the shadows.

"My loyal Death Eaters" he said, waving his pale skeletal hand out in front of himself, "now that our guest has arrived, we can begin our meeting in earnest. Wormtail, come to me now!" As one of the figures, now clearly definable as Death Eaters in their black cloaks and white masks, came scurrying towards him, Harry realised with dawning horror what was happening. A vision! But that's not possible, I've been practicing…

He was interrupted by a dry chuckle. "Potter, Potter, Potter. I must admit, you have made some progress in protecting your thoughts, but that doesn't mean I can't draw you out when I want you to come. But now, we come to the reason why I want you here." Voldemort grabbed Pettigrew's left arm, rolled up the sleeve and pressed his fingers to the Dark Mark.

"As you are by now no doubts aware, there was a prophecy made around the time you were born about the one who could defeat me, Potter. And at the time I came after you and your family, it was thought to be one of two boys, yourself… and Neville Longbottom. Now, I still don't know what the prophecy said, and seeing as how you are too heavily guarded to strike at easily, I thought I would eliminate the other possibility."

Harry felt himself go cold. Voldemort had turned to face the door which he had had his back to, and watched as a small group of Death Eater's approached, two carrying something between them. Harry felt his stomach clench up as he realised it was a body. But… that couldn't be Neville. For one thing, it looked too… old. And it seemed Voldemort had noticed the same thing, as his wand suddenly appeared in his hand and his voice dropped to a lethal hiss.

"Who is this? Where is the Longbottom boy?" he demanded as the group of Death Eaters cowered, the two carrying the body dropping it to the floor. One began to slink forward, saying, "Forgive us, master-"

"Crucio!"

As the Death Eater screamed and tossed around in pain, Voldemort and Harry looked over the other Death Eaters. The ones who had entered the door were all now lying completely prostrate. Lifting the curse, they watched as the Death Eater slowly recovered, and waited for him to speak.

"My Lord… we were unable to capture the boy. Resistance from him and the rest of his family was significantly stronger than was anticipated, and we only managed to get this man, the boy and his grandmother fled the scene using Portkeys. We are sorry, master, we failed you." The Death Eater had crawled his way forward during his speech, and now he grovelled at Voldemort's feet. Harry could feel Voldemort pause to consider what he was going to do next, before he again hissed out the Cruciatus, this time directing it at all the figures in the group. Harry desperately tried to pull away from the vision, only to be surprised when he began to float away from the scene. The last thing he saw was the lack of reaction the body that the Death Eaters had brought in had when Voldemort swung his wand over it, the Cruciatus still spilling forth from it.

Harry awoke suddenly, lurching up out of the bed and almost slamming his head into Ron and Hermione's, both of who hovered over him with concern etched into their faces. He could see Remus and the elder Weasleys further back, with Ginny just running into the room with what looked like a wet cloth of some sort. He slumped back down onto his bed, sucking in deep breaths as the questions began to flow from the two above him. Nodding gratefully to Ginny who had placed the cloth on his aching scar, he focused in on Remus first.

"Tell Dumbledore, Remus, thatNeville's house was attacked. He and his grandmother made it out, but beyond that, I don't know what happened to them." Remus nodded tightly and left the room, even as Ron, Hermione and Ginny gasped at the mention of Neville's name, especially in conjunction with the news of an attack on his house. They backed off a bit, and Harry edged himself into a seated position against the headboard of his bed.

"Harry, what happened? Did you do your Occulmency exercises? What did you see?" Hermione asked him, concern written all over her face and voice. Harry looked over at her, and grimly smiled.

"Apparently, that isn't quite enough. Oh, it will stop me just being pulled into the visions, but apparently Voldemort can pull me in if he wants me to see something. I think he was going to torture and kill Neville, and keep me along for the ride just to torment me. Seems he didn't count on heavy resistance though, and Neville and his gran managed to get away. They got someone else though, but I think he was already dead… there was no reaction when Voldemort hit the whole crowd with Crucio, not even a twitch. That was about when I tried to pull away again, and it worked this time." Harry said, almost matter of factly.

"How do you know it wasn't a false one, like…" she began again, before trailing off guiltily. Harry looked her in the eyes, and shook his head.

"Why would he want to send me a vision of just how incompetent his Death Eaters can be? What would be the point?"

"Indeed, Harry, what would be the point?" Dumbledore swept into the room, his eyes gently twinkling. Harry went to speak, but the old wizard waved him quiet. "Mister Longbottom is safe, along with his grandmother. They are currently at Saint Mungo's, where Madam Longbottom is being treated for a broken ankle. Mister Longbottom is unharmed, and will be joining us here shortly. Now, can everyone leave Harry and myself alone for a few moments?" He looked around the room, fixing his gaze on each of them as they moved past him and out the door. Dumbledore moved to stand next to Harry's bed, and locked eyes with him. "Now, Harry, tell me what happened from your point of view."

Harry described what he had felt had happened during the vision, while Dumbledore nodded and gently tugged at his beard during the recounting. Once Harry had finished describing it in detail, Dumbledore began to speak. "Harry, you have made considerable progress on your own with your Occulmency, but I must ask you to resume your training with Professor Snape. Now, before you begin protesting, you will also be doing it with me, but Professor Snape has considerable experience in resisting a Legilimens of Voldemort's capabilities on a regular basis, whereas I have never been in such a situation for any prolonged period of time. The two of you will have to work together on this, and I have already warned him about his behaviour, Harry. I ask that you also watch yourself. I think you agree with me when I say we cannot afford a repeat of last years fiasco between the two of you."

Harry set his jaw, grinding his teeth together. He in no way wanted anything to do with Snape, it was almost bad enough he had to see him during Potions, now he had to go back to Occulmency practice again? Well… at least I know what I'm supposed to be doing this time! He nodded briefly, and almost laughed as Dumbledore let out a relieved sigh. "It's not like I've got any other opinion, sir. I need to be able to stop him from getting into my mind."

"A good attitude Harry, not the best though it will have to do. Now, I will leave you to get some sleep, and I will speak to you again in the morning. Good night." With that, Dumbledore stepped from the room, Harry's faint farewell floating after him. Harry could hear the Headmaster asking the others to return to their beds, as there was nothing more they could do for Harry at the moment, and that he was just off to bring Neville to Grimmauld Place.

Ron, Hermione and Ginny tiptoed back into his room a few minutes later, the three of them sitting on the bed with Harry. He looked up at them all, reading the concern in all of their faces. He shook his head when Hermione opened her mouth to speak, and she shut her mouth and reached a hand out to one of Harry's. They all sat like that for a time, before Harry opened his mouth to speak. "Guys, I guess I should tell you why Neville was attacked tonight…"

He then went on to tell them about how it had been Trelawney who gave the prophecy that had been smashed at the Department of Mysteries, and that it had foretold that the "one with the power to defeat the dark lord" was to be born soon. He also told them how it had been given to Dumbledore while he was interviewing Trelawney for the position of Divinations Professor, at the Hog's Head, and that one of Voldemort's supporters had overheard the first part of the prophecy, enough for it to be narrowed down to two newly-born wizards, Harry and Neville, but had been kicked out before the full prophecy could be heard.

"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… That's what Voldemort's agent heard before he was ejected from the building. There is more to it, but I'm not going to tell you it, other than to say that it confirms that I am the one that the prophecy refers to, and not Neville." Harry had been staring down at his feet for most of the talk, and so was unprepared for the sudden lunges he got from Hermione and Ginny, both who had wrapped their arms around him and could be heard crying softly into Harry's chest. He looked up to see Ron staring at him, eyes wide with shock.

"Girls… its okay, I've kind of come to terms with it since then… I mean, it was a bit much to hear at once, especially after what had just happened… go to bed, I'll speak to you all in the morning, I really want to include Neville in the discussion. Go, get some sleep." Harry gently pried the two girls from their death-grips on his chest, and climbed out of bed to gently herd them out of his room. He turned back to see Ron still sitting on his bed, lost in thought. Helping Ron out of the room, he shut the door after him, but not before Ron blurted something out.

"Bloody hell Harry, you never cop a break do you?"

To explain: One, I am out of work, and while you would think that would leave plentiful time for writing, alas it is not so. My parents are threatening to kick me out of the house if I don't get a job soon, and deeming my efforts to look (at last count, somewhere near fifty jobs where I am waiting for word back on various things) unacceptable and forcing me to leave the house to go places to look for jobs I do not want to do or am vastly underqualified in.

That, and dad disconnected me from the network, and supervises all my computer time at home, and none of the places I go exactly have internet features without heavy restrictions.

All this means that this is the first time in the two weeks that I've had this written that I've been in a position to update. The next chapter is about... a third complete. And I'm annoyed with this chapter slightly. I hadn't meant for Harry to reveal that much of the prophecy till much later on... but that was all that would fill in the gap. I was going to write about a shock in the Order meeting, but... that's been done. Later y'all!

PS - Does anyone else notice that it says in OOTP that the Dementors have already left Azkaban? Because I know thats a major turning point in some stories... just a little bit of canon knowledge there... ;-)